Category: Reports

The lucky ones had third degree burns: survivors of Israel’s latest Rafah tunnel bombing tell their story

8 September 2010 | ISM Gaza

Peace talks started on September 2nd. Following the resumption of negotiations, Israel refrained from attacking Gaza for just 2 days. Then it ordered the bombing of 2 Rafah tunnels, killed 2 workers, and left 2 severely injured. ISM activists filed this report

“Out of the blue, the tunnel was bombed, there was an enormous crash and I fell unconscious, I didn’t feel anything. When I woke up, I found myself at the tunnel entrance, screaming for help. There was fire all over the place, fire over me.”

This was 22 year old college student Ali Al-Khodary describing the horror of Israel’s bomb attack on Gazan tunnels four days ago (4 September 2010 – two days after ‘peace talks’ resumed) which left him and another man, Hassan Abu Armana, covered in severe burns. The bombing set alight the entrance of the tunnel – where they were delivering gasoline.

Yet it could be said that they were lucky. Two of their co-workers, Salim Al Khatab and Khaled Halawa, were killed in the same strike. According to witnesses, at 11:30pm Saturday night, Israeli F16s flew over the area to observe it. At midnight they returned and bombed 2 tunnels, one a tunnel for gasoline and the other for delivery of goods into Gaza. The missiles they used were silent in flight, making it impossible for people to escape. Each pierced a large hole in the tunnel before exploding inside.

“I was at a house above ground and the owner took me to hospital”, explains Ali. “The medics came inside and pulled out another person, also burned. I heard later that 2 people were still trapped in the collapsed tunnel.”  Large parts of Ali’s body were severely burned: he had 3rd degree burns covering his face, hands and arms.

His father, Alaa Al-Khodary, was against his son working in the tunnels. But to continue his studies (in sociology, at the University of Al Quds) Ali needed a source of income. “I started to work in the tunnels because there are no jobs in Gaza, there was no place else to work in this region.” said Ali.

“Thank god he came out in one piece. We hope he will recover from his injuries and the burns”, his mother told us.

Tunnel workers are not just young men, Hassan Abu Armana, 45 years old and married with 12 children, also suffered second degree burns stretching from his chest to his head and across his arms. He started working in the tunnels 3 or 4 months ago in an attempt to earn more money for his family than he could in his previous job as a taxi driver. When his wife was informed of the attack, she was terrified and ran immediately from the house to take a car to the hospital.

Nineteen year old Khalil Muhammad Al-Hattab from Bureij Refugee Camp, central Gaza, did not survive. He had decided to begin in the tunnels only 3 weeks before. When we visited the mourning tent in Bureij, his uncle, Hussien Al-Hattab, told us that Khalil was killed while working at the petrol tunnel and was burnt to death once the petrol caught alight. Khalil had a large family who were very poor; he had wanted to contribute to his family’s welfare, so he took the job.

When Khalil’s brother, who had been working in the tunnels for over 4 years, heard about the bomb he went to search for his brother and began digging for him. After over an hour, 30 metres below the ground, he saw some of his brother’s body and he was able to bring him up.

His uncle Hussien also had a brother, Gazy Badowy Al-Hattab, killed when he was 19 – during the first intifada. He was walking in the street with his sister when he was shot during an Israeli Incursion.

“Israel can’t reach the armed resistance in Gaza so they just attack civilians”, Hussien told us.

The second person killed was 35-year-old Khalid Abed Al-Kareem Al-Khateeb, married, and the father of three daughters and one son. His brother told us he was killed directly by the missile’s impact, in the goods delivery tunnel where the workers were operating. Their family discovered this at 2am early Sunday morning. Then they went to the hospital to see his body and take it back to Al-Bureij. Khalid also had a brother, Waleed Al-Khateeb, killed in 2003 during an Israeli incursion on Bureij camp.

“Israel wants complete control of the people of Gaza with the siege and bombings. Israel decides what it wants to do against us no matter how violent, with full support from America. The situation is so bad, if people were allowed to leave they would because of this oppression,” says Alaa, the father of the badly burned Ali.

“Why are tragedies allowed to continue like this?”

For much of the Western media the 2 dead Palestinian workers and 2 severely injured during the Israeli Occupation Force bombings in Rafah on Saturday night were merely faceless, disposable lives of the Middle East “impasse”. Meeting their distraught family members reminds us that they are brothers and fathers loved by their families, guilty only of having hopes for a better life when all their educational and job opportunities have been taken away from them. They were driven to work in the tunnels transporting goods from Egypt to Gaza not because they wanted to, but because of the dire conditions imposed on the Gaza Strip, which have seen their economy and infrastructure intentionally sucked dry by the four year Israeli siege.

But Palestinian civilian loss of life – even in violence that occurs at a time when Israel is presenting itself as in pursuit of peace – is apparently acceptable to the international community and to the Western media, as compared to the outrage that erupts over the much rarer cases which involve Israeli casualties. When the same scrutiny of, empathy with, and action to prevent Palestinian casualties exists, and the siege on Gaza, the 47 years of occupation and the 62 years of dispossession of Palestinian land are taken seriously as the crimes they are, the day might come when Middle East peace summits attempt real justice for the people of Palestine.

All photos: Tilde de Wandel

Early release of Tom Hurndall’s killer symptom of wider Israeli crimes

8 September 2010 | ISM London

UPDATE:

Tom’s Killer was released this morning. The Hurndall family was not informed by any representative of the Israeli government. The British Foreign Office did contact Jocelyn this morning, but not before the news had reached her via ISM London. We are re-publishing our press release from July as our statement today.

20 July 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) condemns the early release from prison of the Israeli soldier that murdered photography student and ISM volunteer Tom Hurndall in Gaza in 2003. The Israeli press yesterday reported that Taysir Hayb will be released three years early from an already short eight-year sentence.

Tom in Gaza shortly before he was shot

His murder was only a symptom of a much wider culture of impunity in the Israeli army.

This early release serves to reinforce the notion that the Israeli army can continue to commit war crimes against Palestinians without fear of serious consequences.

Tom’s mother Jocelyn Hurndall told ISM London that: “this reduced sentence comes at a time when the world is becoming more sceptical about Israel’s investigations into its own actions. It’s a reminder of Israel’s disregard for international law and opinion.”

When Hayb was sentenced in 2005, human rights activist, Raphael Cohen, who was with Tom on the day of the shooting said, “On the very street where Tom was shot, two children had been shot just days before. This is why he and the rest of the group went to that spot, to protest against the shooting of children as they played outside their homes. There has never been any investigation into the shootings of those children.”

To this day, there has still been no investigation of these deaths or of the thousands of other Palestinian civilians killed by Israeli soldiers. Only last month in Jerusalem Ziad Joulani, 41, a Palestinian shopkeeper and father of three with no criminal record or history of political activism, was killed when Israeli police opened fire as he got out of his car. [1] His killing is not being investigated.

Tom’s family had to fight hard to achieve even the eight-year manslaughter conviction that they won in 2005, against a system of Israeli obfuscation and lies, and an indifferent British government. In a statement yesterday the Foreign Office merely said: “We note the court’s decision to release Taysir Hayb and recognise the grief this decision will cause to the Hurndall family,” describing the deliberate act of murder as “a tragedy”.

Tom’s father Anthony hit back in the Guardian today, condemning this as a “weak response” by the British government, and demanding to meet with ministers. He said: “I would like them to say that this is not just a tragedy but that the Israeli government is directly responsibile for Tom’s death and should acknowledge this and take steps to put matters right by changing policies to ensure that civilians are not shot or killed indiscriminately.”

Israel did not even bother to inform the Hurndall family in advance of the news reaching the Israeli press, and Tom’s sister Sophie only learnt the news when ISM London contacted her yesterday.

Hayb shot Tom in the forehead with a high velocity bullet using a rifle with a telescopic sight, while he attempted to rescue Palestinian children in Gaza from Israeli gunfire. According to an Observer report from the 2005 trial, Hayb was “an award-winning marksman”. [2] Tom never regained consciousness, dying nine months later in a London hospital at the age of 22.

Jewish nurse and peace activist Alice Coy, who saw Tom shot, said Hayb was only part of “a culture of impunity in which generations of Israelis are taught that Arabs hate them and are subhuman. They are then given guns and they know they can get away with killing Palestinians. The occupation and aggression of Zionist policy is harming ordinary Israelis as well as Palestinians.”

Amnesty International says that: “The shocking truth is that Israeli soldiers kill civilians in Gaza with near-total impunity, week in week out” [3]

B’Tselem, the Israeli human rights organisation, report that “From the beginning of the [second] intifada, on 29 September 2000, to the end of 2008 (not including Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, which began on 27 December), [Israeli] security forces killed more than 2,200 Palestinians who were not taking part in the hostilities at the time they were killed. However, a Military Police investigation was opened in only 287 cases of suspected illegal shooting by security forces. This number includes investigations into cases in which civilians were wounded. Only 33 of these investigations resulted in the filing of indictments” [4]

Israeli human rights group Yesh Din clarifies that of these, Haib is the only soldier to have been convicted for an offence causing death: “From the beginning of the second intifada until the end of 2009, Courts-Martial convicted soldiers of offenses connected with the deaths of only four civilians: three Palestinians and one British national. One soldier was convicted of manslaughter, and he was the only one convicted of an offense of causing death. Four other soldiers were convicted of offenses of negligence.” [5]

For more information:
Alice Coy, UK: +44 7828 540512
ISM Media Office, Ramallah: +972 59 760 6276   or +972 2 241 0604
ISM London: +44 7913 067 189

References
[1] “Family of Palestinian driver killed by police demands investigation”. LA Times online, 14th June 2010 http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2010/06/israel-family-of-palestinian-driver-killed-by-police-demands-investigation.html

[2] “Parents fight to learn why Israeli sniper shot their son”. Observer, 30th January 2005 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/jan/30/israel

[3] “Hurndall case: Israeli military forces still kill civilians with ‘near-total impunity’” Amnesty International statement, 7th October 2008 http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=17897

[4] “Military Police investigations during the al-Aqsa intifada” B’Tselem http://www.btselem.org/English/Accountability/Investigatin_of_Complaints.asp

REVISION, 21st July: The initial version of this press release erroneously stated that Ziad Joulani had been shot “last week”. In fact he was killed on the 14th of June, as stated in the text of our reference. This online version has been revised to read “last month”. The final paragraph with the Yesh Din figures on convictions was also added.

Hebron: soldiers convert Palestinian home into military base

Israeli soldiers have erected tents on the roof of the Salayma family's home and are occupying the building

6 September 2010 | ISM Media

Al Baqa’a, HEBRON

On Friday the Israeli army raided a Palestinian house in Hebron and converted it into a military base, forcing a family of 14 to move into the first floor of their home.

The following day the soldiers took over the roof as well. Yesterday an ISM activist visited the Salayma family in Al Baqa’a, east of Hebron, and spoke to Salem Salayma about the situation.

He said that now the roof has been taken over, soldiers have been on and off the roof constantly. Yesterday morning, at about 8am, six soldiers carried out some kind of exercise around our house, running up the hill, sitting in shooting positions and moving up and down the road. He added that sometimes the army move around in the area, walking or driving, and all the families in the area are very scared. When they see soldiers, they close the house, and stay inside because they fear the soldiers themselves – as well as the settlers who have been moving around the area regularly since the shooting of four settlers last week, and have carried out several attacks on Palestinians.

Salayma, who is in his forties, lives with his family who in total number 14, including 4 children. At present 5 family members are living on the second floor of the occupied house, and 9 are on the first floor. Now, the family has been ordered to vacate the upper floor by next Sunday, so the soldiers can expand their military base. The only reason given for the takeover of the Salayma home has been “security reasons” and no alternative provisions have been made for the family. Since their arrival soldiers have been using the house’s bathroom, water and electricity, without asking.

United Nations personnel logged a report from the family yesterday and Salayma says he wants to hire a lawyer to prevent the military from taking over his house. However, any court case would not happen for at least two weeks and by that time the military occupation of the house will likely be complete.

Salaymi, has not been out of the house since the soldiers came, because he fears for his family. He is also deeply worried however because this means he is losing the income he needs to support his family since he has not been able to go to work. He has also been unable to attend prayers.

West Bank protests against Israel’s many crimes violently dispersed by military: ten arrested

5 September 2010 | ISM Media

Al Ma’sara

At around midday on Friday, thirty demonstrators including around ten international and Israeli activists, met to protest against land-theft by the nearby illegal Israeli settlement of Efrat and against the illegal military occupation.

The marchers carried a banner saying there should be “No Peace Show” until the occupation ends and international law is upheld in Palestine – referring to the negotiations that began in Washington the previous day (September 2nd). Still within the village boundaries, they were met by five Israeli army jeeps. An officer showed the group an order declaring the area a closed military zone and gave them one minute to disperse. A soldier immediately threw a salvo of three sound bombs into the crowd.

The soldiers continued throwing sound bombs while border police pushed the demonstrators several metres backwards, as they shouted out clearly in response that they were peaceful and the army had no reason to use force. After some minutes, the group began to march forwards again, but were met with a further series sound bombs. In total, around 30 sound bombs were used in the demo. Since some activists were undeterred, the soldiers also threw tear gas.

The demonstrators sat in the road and chanted. After some minutes, the jeeps drove off – one soldier giving the Palestinians the middle finger. The protest leader, Mahmoud, declared that the demonstration had been a victory, the dissidents remaining peaceful, and the aggressive soldiers once more being exposed as the thugs they are. The group shouted “Free Palestine!” and walked back into the village.

The agricultural village of Al Ma’sara has been holding weekly nonviolent demonstrations since November 2006, when construction of Israel’s Apartheid Wall began in the area. They are a means to voice opposition to the expansion and construction of the nearby illegal settlement bloc of Gush Etzion – including Efrat – and the annexation of thousands of dunams of stolen Palestinian land.


Ni’lin

Ni’lin’s Friday protest, which began as always, with a prayer under the olive trees, was quickly shut down by the Israeli military this week. Around 30 Palestinians and eight internationals gathered and began marching through the village’s land towards the Apartheid Wall, when the military began throwing teargas at the demonstrators. The demonstrators carried pictures showing images of the crimes committed by Israeli soldiers against Palestinian prisoners. In protest against the wall and settlements which prevent them farming their land – some of which was set on fire by Israeli soldiers 3 weeks ago – the demonstrators from the village set fire to some rubber tyres in front of the Apartheid Wall.

The soldiers came through the gate in wall in pursuit of demonstrators, who retreated towards the village. Two internationals, a man and a woman, were detained, beaten by soldiers and threatened with arrest but were released after half an hour. There were no injuries, although one Australian activist was tackled by soldiers as she attempted to take pictures near the wall. The popular committee also reported that 6 demonstrators suffered from tear gas inhalation and needed medical attention. The demo was finished at 2pm.

The people of Ni’lin village continued their struggle this Friday – despite the advanced stage of Ramadan – and have been doing through weekly protests since May 2008. In attempting to crush and deter peaceful protests against the wallm Israeli soldiers have killed 20 Palestinians since Februrary 2004 including 5 from Ni’lin village, where an American solidarity activist was also critically injured. The illegal settlement of Mod’in Illit is one of the biggest in the area and is in the process of expanding and constantly attempting to annex Palestinian land to this end.


Bil’in
Palestinians in Bil’in marched against the wall and settlements on September 3rd, the fourth Friday of Ramadan, along with dozens of peace activists, Israelis and internationals. The demo was smaller than usual the participants were as spirited as always, raising flags, and holding pictures of prisoners of the popular resistance, as well as placards bearing slogans condemning the occupation, settlements, Apartheid Wall, and the siege on the Gaza Strip. The demonstrators also called for Palestinian national unity, for the release of all political prisoners and for an end to ethnic cleansing in East Jerusalem.

The army set up barbed wire in between the village and the wall, and soldiers positioned themselves several metres behind it. The demonstrators gathered behind the barbed wire, here there was also a sign declaring the area a ‘closed military zone’ and soon removed it in order to continue marching to the wall. This provided an excuse for the army to start shooting gas, and most demonstrators were forced to retreat. Although the soldiers themselves were treated to a little taste of their own medicine, inhaling some gas “blow back” due to the shifting winds, they fired towards protesters relentlessly as well as using rubber-coated steel bullets and sound bombs, until all the protesters began to head back to the village, with soldiers in chase. Dozens suffered tear gas inhalation but no further injuries were inflicted this week (since last week a young Palestinian was hit in the knee with a rubber-coated steel bullet.)

Israel started building the separation wall through the village in 2005, completeng it in 2007 and cutting off 230 hectares of land belonging to the village. Demonstrations have been held every week since February 2005 to protest against the wall and the confiscation of land. In April 2009 Bil’in resident Bassem Abu Rahma was killed, when a high velocity tear gas canister was fired directly at his chest by an Israeli soldier. Last week Abdallah Abu Rahmah, the head of the popular committee was imprisoned by Israel in December 2009 and just last week convicted of “incitement” and organizing “illegal demonstrations” as part of Israel’s ongoing criminalization of peaceful protest.


An Nabi Saleh

The people of Nabi Saleh village were joined by around 12 international activists for the weekly protest on Friday, including 3 ISM volunteers. Those not from the village trying to reach it for the demonstration sighted a flying checkpoint The soldiers claimed the area was a closed military zone (and had paperwork displaying the correct dates) so after being refused entry, international protestors disembarked out of sight of the roadblock and followed the road around to reach the village and join the demonstration.

When crossing the main hill to meet the Palestinian protest organizers, a soldier pointed a gun (without attachments) at the group of internationals. Shortly afterwards soldiers got out their closed military zone papers and tried to get the group’s attention, but the children on the demonstration noticed and surrounded the soldiers in question and started chanting (if a CMZ order has not been displayed, you cannot be charged with violating it).

During the demonstration soldiers detained a Palestinian youth (22 years old). The children mobbed in front of the jeep that he had been put in, chanting and shouting and jumping on the jeep to stop it leaving. After moving the detainee to a second jeep, the children repeated their performance. Finally the soldiers threatened the children and advanced towards them enough to make them move out of the way, and drove away with the young Palestinian inside. No one had seen him commit  any crime.

Later on in the village a number of women heading warned the internationals to flee with shouts of “Jeesh! Jeesh fii al-bayt” (“Soldiers! Soldiers in the house!”) One international had also been detained at this point and signs indicated that the soldiers were aiming to remove all of the internationals from the protest. At last count, there were 7 internationals arrested (about 4 of which were Israelis) and one Palestinian – he was released later on that day and it is believed that the 7 internationals and Israelis were too.

Today and every Friday since January 2010, around 100 un-armed demonstrators leave the village center in an attempt to reach a spring which borders land confiscated by Israeli settlers. The District Coordination Office has confirmed the spring is on Palestinian land, but nearly a kilometer before reaching the spring, the demonstration is routinely met with dozens of soldiers armed with M16 assault rifles, tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets and percussion grenades.

The demonstrations protest Israel’s apartheid, which has manifested itself in An Nabi Saleh through land confiscation. The illegal Halamish (Neve Zuf) settlement, located opposite An Nabi Saleh, has illegally seized nearly of half of the village’s valuable agricultural land.


Iraq Burin

Five ISM activists headed to Iraq Burin for the Saturday demo yesterday but on arrival, they met a friend in the village, who informed them that the protest had been cancelled that week.

The army had phoned up the popular committee the previous day and told them that the settlers from the nearby settlements were angry following the killing of four settlers in Hebron, and that if the demo went ahead, Palestinians would probably be killed and that “the army wouldn’t protect them.”

The last time that a similar threat was made (the army phoned up and saying “if the protest goes ahead tomorrow, Palestinians will be killed”), border police shot and killed two local youths that had no connection with stone-throwing: one in the head, and one in the heart, from a distance of around 30 metres away. Even though some shebab apparently still wanted to attend the demo, the protest was ultimately cancelled.

ISM activists stayed a while in the village nevertheless, and left just before Iftar.

One hundred settlers gather to violate construction freeze; Israeli soldiers threaten besieged Palestinian family

2 September 2010 | ISM Media

Baqa’a valley, HEBRON

Last night (1 Sept. 2010) around 150 to 175 Israeli settlers, many armed, constructed an illegal outpost at a new location in the Baqa’a valley, east of Hebron, and attempted to harass a Palestinian family.

A large group of settlers constructing an illegal near Road 60

The Israeli army did not attempt to disperse the settler gathering but later did partially raze the area on which the makeshift outpost buildings had been built – near the illegal Israeli settlements of Kiryat Arba and Givat Harsina, on the opposite side of Route 60, the road where four settlers were killed the previous night.

ISM activists were staying in the house of Palestinian farmer Atta Jabr and his family, who have been subjected to numerous attacks due to the proximity of the illegal Harsina settlement and the nearby “Hill 18” outpost. The last incident was just two weeks when Atta and his pre-teen daughter were attacked by six settlers.

From the house the family and the activists could observe the settlers’ activities a very short distance away.

At 17:00 six settlers arrived with a truck carrying a large water tank. Three soldiers approached them and spoke to them but took no action and left. Around half an hour later, a truck came carrying timber and other building supplies. It was unloaded by twelve settlers.

By 17:45, around 100 settlers had congregated at the site, including many armed with pistols and M16s. A digger arrived carrying around 40 bags of cement in its scoop.

By 18:30, around 175 settlers had arrived, many taking part in construction.

The home of the Jabr family which was besieged for three hours

Some settlers approached the Palestinian house, located about 40m up the hill, no doubt with the intention to harass the Jabr family again. Around 20 settler youths walked around the house. A settler family car stopped outside the front porch of the Palestinian house for a short period of time while the driver looked inside – however they took no further action. The family was effectively under siege for about three hours.

Shortly afterwards the Israeli army arrived, led by the same Captain who two weeks earlier had harassed peaceful internationals instead of removing a large group of settlers from the Palestinian Baqa’a.

A squad of six soldiers walked up to the Palestinian house. The Sergeant shouted in Hebrew demands for the windows to be shut and the lights to be switched off. The internationals didn’t understand so the Sgt lifted up his rifle and cocked it. The soldiers then climbed onto the roof.

By 19:00 it appeared that some settlers had started walking away back to Harsina.

At 20:00, some Israeli activists including Rabbis for Human Rights, AATW and ICAHD tried to access the area but been denied by the army. They reported that the outpost seemed to have been demolished, apparently by the civil administration. The soldiers came down from the roof.

Meanwhile across the valley at Al Buwayra tension was high and a settler attack was fully expected due to the village’s extremely close proximity to the outpost and it’s history settler violence. Three members of CPT and one ISM activist stayed at a house in the village that often bears the brunt of these attacks. At 11.30 news came in that settlers were stoning a nearby house. On arriving near to the house it was apparent that 4-5 settlers were throwing stones from behind the security fence at a Palestinian house. Not far from the scene  the chanting and yelling of  party of settlers probably numbering 30 -40 people could be heard. Not long after the internationals arrived the settlers left and the Palestinians and internationals returned to the house.

When activists went to investigate the location of the Baqa’a valley outpost construction attempt this morning they found a 3×3 metres square of cement, covered in boot prints. Palestinian Atta Jabr told them that the settlers had already come up with a Hebrew name for the outpost they wish to illegally build on Palestinian land – ‘Navi Hevron’.

This incident occurred following an announcement by the settlers that they would unilaterally violate the freeze on settlement construction – deemed illegal under international law – which is not due to expire until September 26th.

The settlers carry out so-called “price tag” attacks on Palestinians whenever the Israeli authorities prevent settlement expansion. The resumption of construction comes after the shooting of four Israeli settlers in Hebron two days ago, an attack which the militant wing of Hamas claimed responsibility for.

Atta Jabr and his family have lived in the area for more than three generations. Their house has been demolished twice. Members of the family appeared in the acclaimed 2006 documentary Occupation 101 – (clip below)  – speaking about their experiences of life under Israeli occupation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VV8N9J9gJ9c&feature=related