Category: Reports

Fear and unrest in Silwan as soldiers surround village

26 December 2010 | International Solidarity Movement & SilwanIC

Since early this morning, Israeli forces have been surrounding the village of Silwan, creating fear among the villagers that a Palestinian family will be evicted. A new wave of unrest has overcome Silwan in the past few days, with two houses demolished on Christmas day, and clashes sweeping through the village on Friday after a young Palestinian was shot with a rubber bullet.

The Silwan Information Center claims to have received exclusive information that an Israeli court has approved the eviction of a Palestinian family, in order to resettle the soon-to-be evicted settlers of the Beit Yonatan Settlement. Israeli courts have ordered that the Beit Yonatan settlement be evicted, so authorities are attempting to take over the Abu Nab on the grounds that it was once the site of a Yemenite Synagogue.

This controversial eviction was planned to take place today, the 26th, while the international community is preoccupied with the holidays. However, Jerusalem Police issued a statement last claiming that the eviction would not take place today, with no further information about when it would happen.

While Yemenite pilgrims did for a time inhabit the Baten al-Hawa district of Silwan, the were only relegated to the area after being rejected by the jewish people living in the Old City. After a short time they left to resettle elsewhere.

In what is becoming an argument increasingly employed by Israeli expansionists in Jerusalem however, land that was ever owned or inhabited by Jews in the past must become property of modern-day Jewish owners. Similar arguments have been employed throughout the complex legal battles that have taken place in Sheikh Jarrah for several decades now.

While Israeli authorities may attempt to find legal loopholes allowing a Jewish “right of return” to historical lands, a decisive law the ensures just the opposite has existed for Palestinians for some 60 years: the notorious Absentee Property Law. The Law has enabled the Israeli state to become “custodian of absentee properties”, that is, all land abandoned by Palestinian land-owners during the Nakba in 1948, when the creation of the Israeli state forced some 900,000 Palestinians to flee their homes and land, the vast majority of which had been in their families for centuries.

Santa Claus brings rubber bullets, tear gas, and arrests

25 December 2010 | International Solidarity Movement

While the media’s attention was focused on the Christmas spectacle in Bethlehem and people were celebrating Christmas eve, the village of An Nabi Saleh, located in the Ramallah region and in the direct neighborhood of the illegal settlement Halamish, faced another reality. Yesterday’s demonstration was met by excessive violence on behalf of the Israeli military. Several people were injured; three Israeli activists and one Palestinian member of the community got arrested.

Even before the demonstration began, at about 9:00am, several Israeli jeeps entered the village. A 16 year old Palestinian encountering them alone got shot by 12 rubber coated steel bullets, aimed from close range directly at his chest area. He was brought to the hospital in Ramallah, but did not suffer severe injuries.
The demonstration started after the prayer. The demonstrators, the people of An Nabi Saleh and a group of Israeli and International activists, were joined by Santa Claus as they walked down the main road of the village to the junction, chanting slogans. At the junction they were met by the Israeli military and Border Police, who tried to forcefully put an end to the demonstration by hitting demonstrators and using sound bombs.

The demonstrators retreated back into the village, while the shebab engaged in a confrontation with the army that carried on throughout the whole day. The military used sound bombs, excessive amounts of tear gas, and shot rubber bullets: many of them aimed directly at people.

Two people–-a 60 year old villager and his 50 year old wife–-were hit in the head by rubber bullets shot through the window, while inside their house. They were brought to the hospital. Several more demonstrators suffered from the effects of inhaling massive amounts of tear gas. One elderly man had to be treated by an ambulance after tear gas canisters entered his house.

16-year-old Palestinian shot by 12 rubber coated steel bullets at close range

In the chaos caused by the military, three Israeli activists and one Palestinian were arrested. One of the Israelis was released a few hours after being detained, while the other two were kept first in Halamish and later at the Russian compound in Jerusalem. They have been accused of stone-throwing and might face charges.

The 20 year old Palestinian, Allae Tamimi, was transferred to Ofer Military Prison, where he is going to be investigated. He was released from Prison only a short while ago with the condition that he won’t participate in any demonstrations, for which he would face a sentence of 6 months in prison. This arrest comes three days after the arrest of Bahaa Tamimi, another member of the community of An Nabi Saleh.

When the day came to a close, Santa Claus had brought only more tear gas and rubber bullets for the villagers of An Nabi Saleh. Merry Christmas!

Demonstration to re-open Shuhada Street returns to Hebron

25 December 2010 | Youth Against Settlements

Saturday, in the city of Hebron, Israeli occupation forces suppressed an anti-settlement movement in the city to reopen Shuhada Street. Two internationals and two Israeli activists were arrested; four activists were beaten.

Seventy activists participated in the demonstration, which took place at the eastern entrance to Al-Shuhada Street, which was closed by the Israeli military in 1994.

Participants raised Palestinian flags and banners, demanding that Shuhada Street be opened, and an end to all forms of racial discrimination practiced by the occupation. They chanted—in Arabic, English and Hebrew–to condemn the closure of the street and the practices of the military and the settlers against the citizens of Hebron.

The protesters tried to enter Al-Shuhada Street, but Israeli border police, and soldiers who had gathered there, blocked the demonstrators at gunpoint, declaring the area a closed military zone. The soldiers became violent toward the non-violent demonstrators in the market area near the settlement of ‘Abraham Avenue’. Israeli soldiers and police arrested three solidarity internationals, and attacked demonstrators, beating wounding 4 demonstrators.

The demonstration is not violent, to emphasize the fundamental right of Palestinian human rights, the right to move freely in the city of Hebron through Shuhada Street.

One demonstrator said, “we demand, all countries in the world to exert pressure on Israel to stop settlement expansion and dismantle the settlements as a prerequisite to achieving a just peace.”

It is worth mentioning that Al-Shuhada Street, which is located in the heart of the city of Hebron, was once a main street connecting the northern and southern neighborhoods of Hebron. The trade in these areas is now paralyzed, and the Israeli occupation forces have closed more than 600 shops by military order since the end of 2000. More than a thousand shop-owners have had to close their shops in the old city, and about 100 military checkpoints and gates have been set up by the occupation forces, without care for the lives of Palestinian civilians living in the area.

Festive demonstrators assailed with tear-gas in Bil’in

25 December 2010 | Bil’in Village

At yesterday’s demonstration, a number of Bil’in’s citizens as well as a local journalist were wounded, in addition to the dozens of people who suffered choking from inhaling poison gas.

These events come during a week of international solidarity with the Palestinian people as well as the occasion of Christmas. The demonstration, organized by the Popular Committee Against the Wall and settlement of Bil’in, began after Friday prayers from the centre of the village and marched towards the Apartheid Wall where the soldiers were already waiting. Dozens of international activists and Israelis marched alongside the people of Bil’in with a number of protesters dressed in Santa Claus outfits shaking bells and distributing sweets as they marched. Participants chanted slogans calling for national unity and the ending of the occupation, as well as the destruction of the wall. They raised Palestinian flags and banners of the various factions and slogans calling for the liberation and national unity.

On reaching the wall, the protesters were met with a shower of tear gas, sound bombs and rubber bullets. A villager, Hamde Abu Rahma, was hit several times by tear gas canisters fired at his legs and back, while Tariq al-Khatib KISS was overcome by gas thrown in his face. The soldiers advanced towards the village, creating a bottleneck which trapped dozens of participants who were bombarded with the poison gas. The protesters were forced to retreat to just outside the village where they continued confrontation with the Israeli soldiers for hours.

Youth arrest in Nabi Saleh

24 December 2010 | International Solidarity Movement

Three days before the first anniversary of the weekly demonstration held in An Nabi Saleh, on December the 22nd, Israeli forces arrested 23-year-old Bahaa Tamimi, a member of the community. He will face a trial in an Israeli Military court within the following week. The military has been searching for him for the past few weeks, frequently entering the village and asking for him. He was on his way to his work in Ramallah in the morning, when he was stopped by an apparently private car. Police asked for his ID and arrested him.

In December 2009, the village started to hold a weekly demonstration as their answer to the Israeli occupation. One year has passed since that first peaceful demonstration, and the Israeli army still responds with excessive violence. Ever since then, the village has been subject to severe repercussion – night raids, demolition orders and arrests. More than fifty members of the community have been arrested since the beginning of the demonstrations. A big part of the village youth has served some time in jail, convicted on dubious charges and released (often after several weeks or months imprisoned) without any charges held against them.

This latest arrest of Bahaa Tamimi is continuing the Israeli policy of random youth arrests, serving as a tool to intimidate and threaten Palestinian families. Oftentimes their only offense is being young, male, and Palestinian. After the imprisonment of a family member, the whole life of the family revolves around this incident: affording money in order to pay for the court, the long process to be granted a permission to visit, the procedures of going through on such a rare visit. For the youth, future prospects – such as education, the chances to be granted a working permit, visas – are often smashed.