Early Thursday morning, at approximately 2:00am, Israeli forces from the Gush Etzion military base came to the homes of brothers and National Committee members Yousef and Mousa Abu Maria. Both are also co-founders of the Palestine Solidarity Project.
Mousa, whose wife and baby girl–both Israeli citizens–were visiting family, was forced outside while his home was searched. 3 computers belonging to the Palestine Solidarity Project were taken. Yousef, father of 10 year-old Reem, 4 year-old Obay, and 1 month-old Della’, was also taken from his home in the middle of the night.
Both were held outside in freezing temperatures in Gush Etzion military base for over 5 hours; neither were allowed to put on proper shoes or clothing and repeated requests to be put inside were denied.
The soldiers, who have been harassing the committee of Beit Ommar for months now, including a previous late-night home invasion last month, accused both brothers of organizing the demonstrations in Beit Ommar, held every Saturday against the illegal settlements surrounding Beit Ommar, particularly Karmei Tsur. They were also “accused” of “bringing internationals” to Beit Ommar.
The brothers were also threatened if they did not stop the PSP program of reclaiming land in Saffa, this just days after settlers from nearby Bat ‘Ayn settlement set fire to Saffa land. In addition to Mousa and Yousef, two youth from Saffa were also arrested and released the next day.
25 November 2010 | International Solidarity Movement
In the early morning hours of November, the 25th, a night raid took place in the village of An Nabi Saleh. The four Soldiers entered the village at about 2:30 am with two jeeps, searching the house of Bassem Tamimi. Asked for the reason of their coming they claimed “it was their job” to come on a nightly basis, due to the weekly demonstrations held in the village since December 2009.
They searched the house, opening cupboards and spreading the family’s belongings on the floor, without looking for anything in particular or finding anything. The family and two internationals that were at that time present were asked for their passports and threatened. The soldiers refused to speak in English and Arabic, insisting on speaking Hebrew in spite of it not being understood by everyone. The military tried to stop the taking of any photos or videos of the incident.
They left at about 3 am, but not without mocking the family and announcing they would “come every night” and cause further problems. It became clear that the soldiers target Bassem Tamimi because they consider him the main initiator of the weekly protests. It has not been the first night raid in the village.
24 November 2010 | Ma’an News Agency & ISM ISM: demolished house, lamb injured by falling rubble which died soon afterwardAs the sun rose early Wednesday, Palestinian Bedouins living in Abu Al-Ajaj, a small village in the Jordan Valley, were surprised to see Israeli bulldozers demolishing their sheds and sheep shelters.
The incident came only two weeks after Israeli authorities confiscated lands belonging to the village slated to expand an illegal settlement.
Ma’an’s correspondent visited the village whose 135 residents are all members of the D’eis family. He said he saw demolished sheds and barracks as well as water tankers which provide water for domestic use and for animals to drink. The water was spilt on the ground. Locals told him that bulldozers completed the demolition in the early morning.
He was also told that Israeli soldiers who escorted the bulldozers attacked residents when they attempted to defend their property. Amongst those beaten by the soldiers was an elderly man identified as Shihda D’eis. The soldiers detained several people and released some of them later. Osama Omar D’eis and Ali Shihda D’eis remained in detention, according to locals.
After the demolition, military vehicles were stationed at the entrance to the village and later on Red Cross staff and international solidarity activists from the International Council of Churches arrived in the village.
Abu Al-Ajaj is a small village in the Jiftlik area which is the second largest populated area in the Jordan Valley after Jericho. About 7,000 Palestinian farmers live in Jiftlik and earn their living from agriculture and livestock.
The “Save the Jordan Valley” campaign described the attack on Abu Al-Ajaj village as “ethnic cleansing practiced before the very eyes of the whole world and international human rights institutions.”
Israeli authorities removed the village in the 1970s and built a settlement called Miswah on its lands.
A military spokesman confirmed that troops in the Jordan Valley destroyed two buildings and a tent being used by Palestinians in Massu’a, southwest of Nablus, near the border with Jordan.
The buildings, which were being used to house cattle, were demolished because they had been erected illegally on public land, the spokesman said.
Tribunal finds British and international business complicit in Israeli war crimes, identifies legal remedies and calls for civil society boycott action
The Russell Tribunal on Palestine this morning announced its verdict after weekend deliberations. The jury said it had been presented with “compelling evidence of corporate complicity in Israeli violations of international law”.
Juror Michael Mansfield QC, who chaired this morning’s press conference, announced the jury’s call for the mobilisation of civil
society to end the involvement of companies in Israeli human rights violations.
Both Israel and the complicit businesses, are in clear violation of international human rights and humanitarian law, he said. This relates to “the supply of arms; the construction and maintenance of the illegal separation Wall” and providing services to illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
In its public statement, the Russell Tribunal named seven examples of corporations complicit in Israeli violations, including British-Danish prison firm G4S which supplies equipment to Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank.
Israel is in “flagrant disregard” of international law and is on the wrong side of world opinion, and morality said Mr. Mansfield.
Juror and South African liberation struggle veteran Ronnie Kasrils said one “can not underestimate the importance” of civil society action on boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS).
The jury concluded there were positive legal ramifications for those took action on boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel.“Those who wish to actively protest about this, are entitled to do so,” said Mr. Mansfield. Those prosecuted for criminal damages have a defence: necessity.
The press conference heard breaking news of such an action happening in Covent Garden this morning, as activists shut down Ahava, an Israeli business based in a West Bank settlement.
The statements from those corporations who chose to engage with the tribunal will be annexed to the final report of the London session. This full report will be available in at the beginning of December.
It will identify specific legal remedies in the case of the many companies involved in Israeli human rights violations.
21 November 2010 | International Solidarity Movement
House bombed in Deir al-Balah
Rubble of bombed house in Deir al-Balah
The afternoon of November 19th an Israeli fighter plane bombed a house in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. The house of the Dar Shorafa family, located 400 meters from the border fence, has disappeared. At the center of the date palm garden is a 3 m deep crater with the rubble of the former house scattered around.
At the time of attack the residents were absent, but the neighbors witnessed the attack. The Abu Mustafa family lives opposite them, approximately 50 meters from the bombed house. When the strike happened they were in the back yard hosting visitors. A moderate strike was heard and while the family was looking for shelter, a loud explosion rocketed debris through the air. Four people were hit and the roof of the family’s basic house was pierced five times.
3 meter deep crater at the centre of the date palm garden, scattered with rubble of the destroyed house
Rokia Shaban, a 52 year old woman, was hit in the abdomen, the upper leg, and on the shoulder. She left the hospital this morning and is now recovering in her damaged home. Wijdan Samir (29), Abdal Aziz (20) and two year old Ibrahim Sulayman were slightly injured. Because the scene is close to the buffer zone, it took the ambulance more than 30 minutes to arrive. Palestinian public services, like police cars and ambulances, cannot come this near to the border without coordinating with the Israeli authorities on the risk of being shot. The buffer zone runs along the Israeli fence and “officially” has a width of 300 meters on the Palestinian side. Israel claims this is a no-go-zone and deems it legitimate to shoot people within the area. However, according to a recent UN report the danger zone runs up to 1.5 km.
Sulaiman Ibrahim Abu Mustafa, the head of the family, firmly states that there is absolutely no resistance taking place on this site, contradicting the terrorist accusations of the Israeli military spokesperson.
Rubble in place of obliterated house in Deir al-Balah
“The Israelis are lying by claiming that resistance is taking place here. This is but an agricultural zone: we grow olives and eggplants. Even during the attacks in Cast Lead, we were spared. I don’t know why we were attacked; it comes totally unexpected; we are normal civilians trying to live off our land.”
Israeli tanks hold daily incursions on the Palestinian side of the barrier here, but today the army has remained invisible.
“Maybe they finally went to sleep after they bombed us”, laughs Suleiman Ibrahim while comforting his crying two year old son.
Farmhouse bombed in Khan Younis
31 year old farmhouse guard Mohammed Abdel Hassan Abuhussien in Europa (Khan Younis) hospital bed, shrapnel in his side and shoulder
The previous night, a suspected Israeli drone bombed a farmhouse in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, severely injuring a man and mildly a child.
The shelling of the farmhouse began approximately at midnight on Friday night. The first hit next to the livestock farm and 31 year old Mohammed Abdel Hassan Abuhussien, on guard duty, tried to scramble for cover as the shrapnel flew scattering into the surrounding walls and roof, injuring 2 bulls and a cow. The second followed quickly after and this time Mohammed could not avoid the shrapnel flying directly at him. Luckilty his co-worker who was nearby came to rescue him.
“It’s just a farm yard, it’s a deserted place, that’s all there is there. It has never been a dangerous place – just livestock and a few factories. They have no idea why they’d hit the farm,” said his brother at the hospital. Mohammed was lying with his eyes half closed unable to communicate. He had a piece of shrapnel embedded in his shoulder and another in his right side that had penetrated his lung.
Livestock hit by shrapnel in Khan Younis farmhouse
His wife, four months pregnant, and two young sons and daughter were at his bedside. They say it will be hard for them now and much will depend on Mohammed’s father to handle the situation. His brother was injured in the first intifada when he was 5 years old and still has the bullet inside his body. “We expect nothing less from Israel than to just attack innocent people like this— a guy sitting as a watchman for some cows and bulls. He’s just a worker with a growing family. His life was difficult enough,” he told us.
On the visit to the farm there were two holes in the roof of the barnyard where the shells landed; one made a dent in the concrete floor between two bull pens. It was apparently another attack from an Israeli drone and the explosive impact sent shrapnel flying around the farmhouse, injuring 2 bulls and a cow. The shrapnel is still inside the large animals’ bodies, and one is now unable to walk. At the time of the attack, the security guard Mohammed had been sitting between them at one side. The roof of the barnyard is littered with holes.
Hole in roof of Khan Younis farmhouse
“It will cost 20,000 U.S. dollars to fix the roof,” said the farm owner Salah Saleem Afana. But this is not the first time for Salah. The Israeli forces destroyed 2 dunums of his land next to the border with Egypt during the war, turning to rubble a 400m2 house he had there.
“We also lost hundreds of animals and two relatives were injured when the car they were in was bombed. The cost of all that was 120,000 US$ — and our crime? Living and farming near to the border? Just like what will happen for us here, there was no compensation and no justice. It’s the same way the international community treats all the crimes against us everyday from the siege, the bombings, the destruction and the killings. When it’s the Palestinians they just look away.”
