On Thursday December 16, an Israeli court sentenced Ayman Al Ghawi, a 19-year-old Palestinian, to four days under house-arrest following a confrontation with Israeli settlers in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem the prior day.
15 December 2010 | International Solidarity Movement
House illegally occupied by settlers in Sheikh Jarrah
At around 3:30pm, Israeli police arrested a 19-year-old Palestinian man named Imen in Sheikh Jarrah, following a confrontation with settlers.
The settlers’ dog, on a 2-meter long chain, attacked Imen as he stood on the street outside of his former home, which the settlers had dispossessed. The settlers responded with laughter and walked up to another house, which they are occupying although it had been the home of another Palestinian.
As the settlers stood in front of the house, the man who had been attacked swung a pole against the house to make noise to scare the dog away. Then, the settlers began to take pictures with their mobile phones, and called the police.
Police collects settlers' statements
Imen left the area with his mother and his brothers. The police arrived and another settler, who now occupies in Imen’s former home, rushed to the police to point out Imen on the street. The police detained Imen.
Young Palestinian arrested
The police took statements only from the settlers, although international observers and Palestinians also witnessed the events. As this happened, nearly a dozen settlers surrounded and photographed Imen, as he waited in the back of the police car, and his family. Imen’s mother removed her shoe and used it to block the settlers’ cameras to prevent them from taking pictures of her. The police eventually separated the settlers from the Palestinian families.
Imen will most likely serve twenty-four hours in jail.
Settlers in Sheikh Jarrah often use their dogs to attack and intimidate Palestinians.
13 December 2010 | International Solidarity Movement
Adeeb greeting friends and family in Bil'inYesterday, the 12th of December, Adeeb Abu Rahma was released after 18 months of incarceration in Ofer Military prison. Adeeb Abu Rahma, 40 years old, is a leading activist in the struggle of Bil’in. For six years, the village has been holding a weekly demonstration against the Israeli occupation, the illegal settlement of Mod’in, and the annexation wall being built through the village.
Adeeb Abu Rahma, father of nine children, was arrested July 10th in 2009 for his involvement in the weekly peaceful demonstration in Bilin. Charged with “being present in a declared military zone”, “incitement” and “activity against public order,” he was sentenced to 12 months incarceration. The sentence was extended for six extra months. Adeeb is still suspended from political activism for four years – if he breaks this condition he will be fined with 6000 NIS.
Adeeb with his familyThe whole village was in a state of euphoria and Adeeb’s release was celebrated enthusiastically despite the bad weather. The village organized a parade through the village up to the house of Adeeb where his friends and family were already waiting. For eighteen months not even Adeeb’s wife was able to get permission to visit him.
Adeeb’s welcome was ecstatic. He was greeted, hugged and kissed by the waiting crowd, and even some tears were shed. Adeeb was lifted by the chanting crowd and carried to his house, where he was able to see his wife and children for the first time in 18 months. In the street, people danced, unhindered by the strong wind. The ceremony continued in a tent, decorated for the occasion, where Adeeb made a speech. Soon after, the celebrating crowd dispersed, leaving Adeeb alone to spend the first night at home with his family in 18 months.
11 December 2010 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza
Nidal Hasan El Najar, age 16The Israeli Offensive Forces are cracking down on people working in the buffer zone. In the past two weeks 20 people have been shot, four of whom were children. Today the atrocities continued: this morning three people were injured in Beit Lahiya; in Khuza’a, near Khan Younis, the army shot a child of 16.
Early this morning Nidal Hasan El Najar, age 16, set out to work with his two brothers and grandmother in the family’s bean field, which is in the border area. At approximately 7 am, a military jeep approached and quickly pulled over for a soldier to jump out and shoot Nidal in the upper leg. The jeep then just took off again. No warning shots were fired.
The boy was taken to Europa hospital in Khan Younis where he underwent surgery for a commuted bone fracture. At the time ISM volunteers visited him, Nidal was regaining consciousness from surgery while his family stood by with worry. One of his uncles exclaimed in disbelief: “Every day, every day! Every day things like this happen.”
The family owns 9 dunams, or 9 square km, of land in Khuza’a, stretching close to the south east border of the Strip. The family lives off the farming land they have there and previously had no problems with the Israeli army. This attack comes unexpected, but seems to be part of Israel’s crackdown on any presence in the border area. Israel has declared 300 meters from the fence to be a no-go-zone and does not hesitate to fire at anyone in or nearing this zone.
5 December 2010 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza
On Tuesday, the 30th of November 2010, four different individuals were wounded by Israeli gunshots while trying to make their living in the only way they could given the desperation in Gaza’s current economy.
Ismael Sa’aed Qapeen, 31 years oldIsmael Sa’aed Qapeen, 31 years old, was doing his daily work collecting stones when he was shot in the foot, causing him to lose three toes. He was in the “buffer zone,” the area spreading up to 500 meters into Gaza where people are at higher risk of being shot at by the Israeli military. He collects stones there, which later are crushed to cement. This is the only way he has to live, with jobs so scarce in the disastrous economic situation of Gaza.
“I was about 200m from the fence when I was shot at, without any being given any warning shot. In the beginning I didn’t feel anything, but after a few seconds I started to feel something in my foot. Then I knew that I had been shot. I fell unconscious,” he tells. His friends carried him on a horse cart to Bait Lahya, where an ambulance picked him up and brought him to Kamal Odwan hospital. This was not his first time getting shot, but the third time. The first time was during an Israeli incursion in 2004, when he was shot near his right knee. The second time was two years ago in his hand. This time has been the hardest as the doctors have had to remove three of his toes.
He isn’t the only one in his family who has been shot while working for his livelihood. Two of his brothers have been injured before, too. The first one, Soltan, was 25 when he was shot at his head: by luck, it wasn’t serious. His other brother Mahmoud was shot during an Israeli incursion in 2004 when he was 18 years old, and injured in both of his legs.
Bayan Farouk Ahmad Tambor, 26 years oldIsmael also wasn’t the only person shot on Tuesday. Bayan Farouk Ahmad Tambor, 26 years old, works in trading potatoes. He was was on his way to the field from where he buys potatoes, unaware of an Israeli incursion in the area. At 8am, when Bayan was 600 meters from the fence, without giving any warning shot Israeli soldiers fired two bullets at him: one missed his leg, but the other smashed his shinbone. People from the area rescued him and took him to the hospital, where he received surgery.
Other members of his family have also been shot by Israeli soldiers. Two of his brothers have been injured by bullets. Adham was 21, working as a farmer harvesting potatoes, when he was shot in the knee 700 meters from the fence. His other brother, Kaled, was shot in his chest two years ago, in the same area. The wound was so serious it is miraculous he was able to survive.
The third person shot on Tuesday was Ameen Akram Abo Saweash, 22 years old. He and two of his brothers are the only men who have work to support their 14 member family. Ameen and his brothers, Emad, 14 years old, and Moamen, 13 years old work together as scrap collectors. They were 500 m away from the fence when they were shot at on Tuesday. During our interview with them, Ameen himself was not yet able to speak because of the operation he had to undergo. A friend said, “I was with him, we always work together in that area. I was only a few meters away from him when he was shot at without any warning shot. They shot him in his thigh with a dum-dum bullet. The doctors said that it’s going to take him four to six months to recover from this injury until he will be able to start walking again.”
Ameen Akram Abo Saweash, 22 years old“Isn’t that a crime?” his father interrupts. “With a dum-dum bullet!” It is a crime according to the Hague Convention of 1999, Declaration III, which prohibits the use of expanding bullets, called “dum-dum” bullets, in international warfare.
The fourth person injured on Tuesday was Gasan Abo Ryala, 21 years old. He was transmitted to Kamal Odwan hospital where he was treated for a gunshot wound in the leg, but fortunately he was able to leave the hospital soon after.
Tuesday wasn’t an exceptional day. This is an ordinary excerpt from the life of Gaza’s workers in the buffer zone: routine violations of human rights, and brutal crimes committed against Gazan civilians. Ismael, Bayan, Ameen and Gassan will be commemorated only as statistics in the bloody record of the Israeli occupation. But one of them will go on living without three toes, one with a smashed shinbone, and one will go without work for half a year until he can walk again.
“What we will do tomorrow?” one of the friends and fellow scrap collectors at Ameen’s bed laughs bitterly. “We will go back to work, of course. There is no work in this country, as you can see. There is no other option. It’s the only job that is available. If the situation changed, and I found another job, I would do that, of course. I know well how risky this job is, but right now, there is just no other option. So I will go back to work as usual tomorrow”.
3 December 2010 | International Solidarity Movement
Friday, hundreds of Israelis and Palestinians marched together in the Issawiya neighborhood of East Jerusalem against recent brutality toward the village by the Israeli government: house demolitions by Israeli authorities, a siege on entrances to the neighborhood, and police misconduct with local residents. This is the first joint protest to be held in Issawiya, a neighborhood that has experienced much turmoil in recent years.
Like most Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem, Issawiya is neglected by the municipality. Portions of its land have been annexed at different times to build up Jewish neighborhoods, roads, and parks, and the villagers suffer from continuous harassment by the police. Within the last month Israeli authorities have significantly increased the number of house demolitions, set up barricades and roadblocks, and repeatedly entered the area to patrol and issue fines for minor vehicular defects.
There is only one main entrance now open to traffic going in and out of the village; the rest having been sealed off by the authorities with concrete barricades. Israelis joined the residents in solidarity and walked through the neighborhood, ending the procession at its other end where a narrow opening in the concrete barricades is wide enough to allow only one or two people to pass at a time.
Despite that the protest was non violent, after it had ended and Israeli and International activists had left, Israeli border police entered the neighborhood and fired tear gas grenades. Once again, Occupation forces brutally punished any form of resistance by the residents.
