27 January 2011 | Popular Committee Against the Wall
The Israeli army detained two children Thursday evening from the village of Bil’in. Mutasim Ali Mansour and Khalil Ibrahim Yassin were by the apartheid wall, when they were restrained and blindfolded before being taken to an undisclosed location
25 January 2011 | International Solidarity Movement
Today, the Israeli Border Police entered the village of An Nabi Saleh and detained an 11-year-old boy, Karim Tamimi, without reason. They came to the village in police jeeps and were dressed in uniform, but were without the normal riot weapons; nobody had been informed about their coming previously, nor knew what they were supposed to be doing in the village. Before they left, they detained Karim without giving any reason for it. His older brother, 14-year-old Islam Tamimi, was arrested on Saturday during a night raid. He will face charges of stone throwing this Thursday.
The border police took the young boy to an interrogation center, close to Jerusalem, and detained him for several hours. He was asked to identify people from pictures, but he refused. His father had to collect him when he was released late in the afternoon.
This happens following several night raids in just one week on the village, in which soldiers have entered houses in the village and taken pictures of the men and boys, together with their ID cards.
Weekly protests are held in An Nabi Saleh, but are new compared to those held in the village of Bil’in. On 25th December, 2010, they celebrated the first anniversary of the protests by holding a tree planting. There is a strong desire within the Israeli military to crush the resistance here, and as such the army commonly use many violent and inhuman methods to stop the protests.
24 January 2011 | Operation Dove & Christian Peacemaker Team
In the early afternoon of 23 January 2011, an armed man killed two animals near the South Hebron Hills village of Maghayir Al-Abeed. Two teenage shepherds reported that they were watering their family’s flock at a well just above their village when a man running through the area, carrying an M-16, fired four or five shots at the dog which accompanies their flock. The shooter proceeded to chase the flock, kicking a ewe and throwing rocks at its head. The dog died immediately from four gunshot wounds and the incapacitated sheep died approximately two hours after the beating.
The two teenage shepherds, Mohammed Mahmoud Mukahmri, 15, and ‘Awli ‘Ali Mukhamri, 13, ascended the hill, following the assailant from a distance, in time to see the man enter the grouping of trees which surrounds Ma’on settlement and Havat Ma’on outpost. They reported the man had a dark brown beard and was wearing black pants, a black shirt, and a yarmulke.
Ninety minutes after the incident, Israeli authorities arrived to investigate the crime scene and take testimonies from those present during the incident.
Hani Salaami Mukhamri, the owner of animals who arrived at the scene mere moments after the shooting, reacted sharply to the police investigator’s doubts that Mukhamri could be certain the assailant that he saw was an Israeli settler, and not an Arab. “Palestinians in this area don’t have guns, never in my life have I seen a Palestinian civilian with a gun. Only settlers have guns here.” Mukhamri also lamented the utter disregard for the lives of his animals, “three lives were lost here today: my shepherding dog, a sheep, and the unborn lamb that the ewe was carrying.”
The well where the shooting took place is a main source of water for the families in Maghayir Al-Abeed . In early 2001, Mukamri’s mother was shot in the leg by an Israeli settler while she drew water from the very same well.
International peace activists from Christian Peacemaker Teams arrived at the scene after the shooting, taking testimony and photo and video documentation.
Operation Dove and Christian Peacemaker Teams have maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and South Hebron Hills since 2004.
23 January 2011 | Operation Dove & Christian Peacemaker Teams
At-Tuwani, South Hebron Hills, West Bank – On Saturday, 22nd of January, Palestinian farmers successfully plowed fields in Khoruba valley, despite heavy harassment by settlers from the nearby settlement of Ma’on.
In the early morning, about twenty farmers from At-Tuwani started sowing seed and plowing fields in Khoruba valley, southeast from At-Tuwani. Soon thereafter, five settlers arrived from nearby Havat Ma’on outpost and positioned themselves in front of the tractors, in an attempt to prevent the farmers from completing their work. As more settlers arrived, tempers flared and the farmers attempted to move the settlers and physically block them from interfering with the land cultivation.
Approximately thirty minutes later, Israeli soldiers and Border Police arrived and immediately stopped the tractors from plowing. The Israeli forces took the ID cards of three farmers while removing both settlers and farmers from the immediate vicinity of the tractors.
The Israeli District Coordinating Office (DCO), the branch of the Israeli military responsible for the coordination of civilian affairs, later confirmed the right of Palestinians to plow the fields but the Border Police requested that all Palestinians and international peace activists leave the area, except for the farmers directly involved in the agricultural work.
Three settler youths moved from Khoruba valley to an area one kilometer south where they stopped another tractor from plowing and proceeded to throw stones at a Palestinian shepherd and his flock. Israeli forces again intervened, removing the settler youths from the area.
After the completion of the agricultural work, one Palestinian farmer was taken to the Kiryat Arba police station for questioning, and later released, after a settler made a formal complaint that he was assaulted.
An international delegation with four British MPs, was present for part of the incident and spoke with Palestinian farmers, Israeli forces, and an Israeli settler.
In the last five years, through several coordinated nonviolent actions, Palestinians from At-Tuwani and Yatta have successfully cultivated fields previously made inaccessible due to settler violence and harassment, Through the reacquisition of this land, Palestinians are asserting their right to the land and working to ensure their food security for the coming seasons.
Operation Dove and Christian Peacemaker Teams have maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and South Hebron Hills since 2004.
[Note: According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Hague Regulations, the International Court of Justice, and several United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements and outposts in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Most settlement outposts, including Havat Ma’on (Hill 833), are considered illegal also under Israeli law.]
23 January 2011 | International Solidarity Movement
Last night, two military jeeps full of soldiers invaded the village of An Nabi Saleh. At around 1.30am they entered a house and immediately arrested 14 year old Islam Tamimi. He had been arrested only two weeks before and was detained in the illegal settlement of Halamish, and was asked to identify people from pictures of the weekly demonstration, held every Friday in the village.
At the same time, the soldiers detained his older brother Omar Tamimi, but released him after massive protest from his family and neighbors. None of the soldiers spoke Arabic, except for one who was masked, and refused to cooperate when a woman from B’Tselem tried to take a picture of him. During the detention of the older brother the army punished him in front of his family, and released him without cutting the hand-cuffs.
When asked why they were doing this, one of the soldiers said “because I have a weapon.” This is the reality which the Palestinians face under the occupation by the “democratic” state of Israel.
