On the morning of Wednesday, 4 August, Palestinians from At-Tuwani found that their fence built between the village and the nearby Havat Ma’on settler outpost had been partially destroyed during the night. The fence, made from cemented metal supports and barbed wire, was funded by European Commission for Humanitarian Aid, Union of Agricultural Work Committee, and Save the Children UK. At-Tuwani villagers built the fence in March 2010 with the aim of protecting crops planted in the area, defining the borders of the agricultural land belonging to Palestinians, and as a response to the ongoing and rapid expansion of the nearby Ma’on settlement and Havat Ma’on outpost. The villagers also constructed the fence to help protect the village from Israeli settler raids (such as the events of 26 January, see press release “Israeli settlers and soldiers invade At-Tuwani, attack and injure villagers” and 12 June, see press release “Israeli masked settlers attack At-Tuwani Palestinian village”).
The morning of August 4, Palestinian villagers found 17 poles supporting the fence pulled up and about 100m of barb wire fencing cut in pieces. They suspect that the perpetrators of this action are the Israeli settlers from the outpost. During this year the same fence had already been damaged on 11 May (see press release “Palestinian fence vandalized in At-Tuwani village”). After that incident, the owner of the land filed a complaint to the Israeli police but he never received any update from them concerning the progress of the investigation.
This property damage is just the last of several ongoing provocations carried out by the Israeli army and Israeli settlers which Palestinian communities in the South Hebron Hills have committed to respond to with nonviolent resistance.
For further information:
Operation Dove, 054 992 5773
Christian Peacemaker Teams 054 253 1323
[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.]
This morning, Thursday 5th August, the Israeli Civil Administration authorities in the Jordan valley demolished the village of Al Farisiya for the second time in two weeks.
This morning at 6:30 the army arrived in the village with two bulldozers and 13 jeeps, evacuated the villagers and destroyed 26 homes in one hour, making an estimated 170 people homeless. They beat two people with sticks but there were no serious injuries.
The villagers had just been able to rebuild the damage that was done on 19th July when 23 homes were demolished and over 91 made homeless.
Latest reports today indicated that water pipes connected by Life Source in the last two weeks are still in tact.
When ISM activists arrived in Al Farisiya the village committee were discussing how and where to rebuild when the chances of another demolition are so high. The inhabitants are of course very angry and tensions are high. International presence will be needed there constantly in the coming weeks.
Today’s demolitions followed an incident on Tuesday when, according to the Ma’an News Agency, the army confiscated the village’s tractors.
The Jordan Valley was designated as Area C by the 1993 Oslo Agreements, along with 60% of the West Bank, giving Israeli full civil and military control. Israel justifies demolitions by stating that the buildings were constructed illegally.
Amnesty International has called on Israel to stop demolishing Palestinian homes, and voiced fears about an apparent policy of ethnically cleansing Area C. saying: “These recent demolitions intensify concerns that this is part of a government strategy to remove the Palestinian population from the parts of the West Bank known as Area C.”
Coordinator of the Save the Jordan Valley campaign, and village council member, Fathi Khdeiri described the demolitions as an “attack by occupation forces and an attempt to displace the residents of the Jordan Valley.”
Khatib during a speaking his speaking tour in Canada. Photo: Tadamon!
On August 4, 2010 about 1 PM, Mohammed Khatib from Bil’in was denied exit to Jordan via King Hussein Bridge. Khatib was on his way to Spain via Amman when Israeli border officials prevented him from crossing the border to Jordan. Denying the leaders of the non-violent Popular Struggle to go abroad is clearly an attempt to silence Palestinians who speak about human rights violations committed by Israel.
This is not the first time Israel has prevented leaders of the Popular Struggle from going abroad. Earlier this year Iyad Burnat, the leader of the Popular Committee in Bil’in was denied exit via King Hussein’s Bridge when on his way to Europe via Amman. Burnat and his 5 year old daughter were detained at the border, and after hours of waiting they were sent back to Bil’in. Later Burnat was given permission to travel abroad, on condition he did not speak about the situation in Bil’in. He is now threatened with arrest if he chooses to do so.
Both Khatib and Burnat had valid visas for their destinations, and had been planning their departure months in advance. Since Israel denies the vast majority of Palestinians entry to Jerusalem where the consulates are located, obtaining a visa is a time consuming process.
Crossing the border back to Israel after travelling abroad is also a complicated and potentially dangerous process. In 2009 Mohammed Othman was arrested at the Jordan border when returning from a speaking tour in Norway. Othman was held under administrative detention for months, without trial, allegedly considered a “security threat”.
Mohammed Khatib and other activists for the Popular Struggle can tell of frequent human rights violations: arrests and night raids carried out by the army, and theft of Palestinian land that makes life extremely difficult in their villages. As more and more people become aware of the situation in Palestine, Israel needs to find new strategies to silence those Palestinian voices speaking out – and denying Palestinians freedom of movement and freedom of speech is one tactic.
At 10 PM last night Mohammed Khatib returned to Bil’in. He reports that the reason Israeli border police gave for refusing to let him pass to Jordan was that the Israeli intelligence, Shebak, had given them instructions. The refusal came despite Khatib’s possession of a valid ruling by an Israeli court – issued on Tuesday – which allowed him to travel. This legal ruling was ignored by the border officials and proves once again that Israeli officials do not even follow their own legal system.
Dozens marched to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) headquarters in Jerusalem on Monday, August 2nd, to mark the first anniversary of the eviction of two Palestinian families from their homes in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah.
Holding UNRWA to account
Representatives of the al-Ghawi and Hanoun families, whose homes have been occupied by Israeli settlers since August 2nd 2009, were joined by Palestinian, Israeli and international supporters, who gathered at ten in the morning outside the houses in question, held a short prayer, and then marched to the UNRWA compound.
The group of around sixty people, including members of the media, asked to be admitted for an audience with UN representatives. Family members demanded of officials why, after one year, nothing had been done, and Palestinians from the same neighbourhood who are facing eviction asked why they had been show so little support.
Some ISM activists accompanied representatives from the Hanoun and Al-Ghawi family, as well as from the Al-Kurd family – who currently remain in Sheikh Jarrah but must endure daily harassment and humiliation from settlers who have occupied the front room of their property – inside the UNRWA building to speak with officials.
Demanding long overdue support
Nasser Al-Ghawi with Fillipo Grandi
The families made three principal demands of the UN: firstly that they provide the full financial assistance to which the families are entitled, and which they need to pay the rent for the apartments they have lived in since being dispossessed; secondly, that the UN help them establish and maintain a presence in Sheikh Jarrah as a symbol of resistance to the injustice of the situation; and finally that they provide UN flags to families in Sheikh Jarrah still under threat of eviction – as a sign of support and in recognition that international law views such evictions as illegal.
Eventually Filippo Grandi, Commissioner General of UNRWA, spoke, saying that the UN is working in Sheikh Jarrah and similar places such as Silwan, and is maintaining a strong presence as well as pressuring Israel to hear an appeal on behalf of the families and monitoring the cases of other families threatened with eviction. However, some ISM activists and family members felt that the UN’s response was unsatisfactory.
One member of the Al-Ghawi family – who have documents proving that they own the house from which they were evicted – commented: “It’s always the same, excuses, words but almost no action. Why can’t the UN at least show they are supporting us with something as small as a flag?”
Legally unjustifiable
The eviction on August 2nd 2009 was justified on the basis of the ruling by an Israeli court which recognized the settlers claim to own the properties, based on a document dating from the Ottoman era, riddled with inconsistencies. However, the American and British consulates as well as the United Nations, condemned the eviction. The court had refused to recognize the documents the Palestinian families had provided proving their ownership, granted to them by the Jordanian government and UN. Regardless of ownership their status as refugees also grants the families protection.
Under international law Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem violate UN Security Council resolutions 465, 242, 446, 452. All measures taken by Israeli to change the character and demographic character of Jerusalem lack legal validity and its policies and practices towards this end constitute a flagrant violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention relating to the protection of civilians in conflict situation
Despite this clear position, just last week another Palestinian family were evicted from their home under similar circumstances, showing that Israel’s policy of ethnic cleansing is continuing. The attempted Judaisationof Jerusalem – spoken of explicitly by several settler groups – and its corollary, the expulsion of Palestinians, is a slow and insidious but ongoing phenomenon, which has been condemned by Israeli human rights groups ICAHD and B’Tselem as well as the United Nations Commission for Human Rights.
Solidarity gathering
Later that evening the families hosted their usual Monday night community dinner and a drumming lesson taught by an Israeli samba band and attended by around 80 people followed.
Settlers could be observed filming people from the occupied houses. They also called Israeli police and complained to them that the road was being blocked. Police loitered on the scene for a long time but did nothing.
A talk was given by a Jewish Israeli professor from Tel Aviv University, in Hebrew and Arabic, analyzing the similarities – and difference – between the Holocaust and Palestinian situation. There was also a screening of the acclaimed film Bili’in Habibti.
Just before the projection of the film a settler threw a stone into the garden but no-one was hurt.
One ISM activist said: “It’s sad that on an anniversary like this, it’s clearer than ever that Israeli policy is not changing – a new eviction in the Old City happened just last week. These evictions are illegal, and create a massive obstacle to justice and peace, as well as on an individual level making families including young children homeless in a very traumatic way.”
This morning in Al-Walaja local Palestinian residents supported by Israeli and international solidarity activists nonviolently resisted the construction of the Apartheid Wall by blocking the work of a bulldozer.
Of the sixty protestors, fourteen people were arrested – six Palestinians and eight internationals.
Three were also injured as Israeli police forcefully and violently removed protestors from their blockade of the Caterpiller bulldozer, beating them with their rifle butts. One of the injured was a seven year old child. Numerous other people suffered chemical burns when the police used pepper spray on them.
The bulldozer was clearing ground to make way for construction of the Apartheid Wall which Israel continues to construct despite the ruling by the International Court of Justice ruling on July 9th 2004 that it was illegal and should be dismantled.
This evening those arrested were reportedly released and making their way home.
