Category: Reports

Israeli armed forces fire live ammunition at protesters in Kafr Qaddum

9th March 2018 | International Solidarity Movement, al Khalil team | Occupied Palestine

Today local Palestinian citizens gathered in their village of Kafr Qaddum, protesting against the illegal Israeli settlement of Kadumim and the road blockage that inhibits access to their village. Israeli armed forces fired copious rounds of tear gas, stun grenades, rubber coated steel bullets and live ammunition. During the protest an 18-year old Palestinian man was hit in the shoulder by a rubber coated steel bullet.

Shortly after Friday prayer, Palestinian demonstrators marched towards the main road in Kafr Qaddum. Israeli armed forces were positioned on hills surrounding the village, immediately firing rubber coated steel bullets and live ammunition at protesters. During the demonstration an 18-year old Palestinian man was hit by a rubber coated steel bullet in his shoulder, but was luckily not in need of hospitalization. The protests went on for about 3 hours where Israeli soldiers kept firing live ammunition as well as tear gas and stun grenades whilst advancing toward the village. An Israeli drone accompanied the soldiers on top of the hills surveying the area.

The villagers of Kafr Qaddum have had weekly protests since 2011 due to the closing of the main road in 2003 that now leads to the illegal settlement of Kadumim. This has had severe effects on the citizens of Kafr Qaddum and is a form of collective punishment, what was once a 15-minute drive to Nablus is now 40-minute drive.

Resistance & Death in al Khalil/Hebron

9th March 2018 | International Solidarity Movement, al Khalil team | Occupied Palestine

Friday at around 16.00, 24-year old Al Khalil resident Mohammad Zain al-Jabari was shot and killed by armed Israeli occupational forces during smaller clashes in Al Khalil, Hebron.

He leaves behind his wife and his 4-year-old child.

Al-Jabari was hit in the neck when Israeli soldiers opened fire with live ammunition against the local youth in the H1 area of Al Khalil, an area legally under full Palestinian control.

He was rushed to the local hospital where he died minutes later.

Fearing Israeli occupational forces would raid the hospital, Palestinians quickly removed Al-Jabari’s body from the hospital, to avoid the Israelis from confiscating the body.

The bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli occupational forces are often confiscated for longer periods of time, making it impossible for the Palestinians to bury the body within 24 hours of death, as is common practice for muslim funerals.

Minutes after the ambulance left the hospital clashes broke out in the streets outside the hospital and Israeli occupational forces quickly answered with extensive use of teargas and stun grenades.

Al-Jabari’s body was prepared for burial that evening, where three to four hundred chanting persons marched the streets to the martyrs’ cemetery where he was laid to rest with all too many others.

“In the first two months of 2018, 10 Palestinians have been killed in attacks carried out by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank,” says a report from The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied Palestinian territory.

This death was one more example of the Israeli military using excessive force to impose their illegal control on the Palestinian people of the occupied territories.

May Mohammed Zain al-Jabari rest in peace.

International Women’s Day march met with tear gas and stun grenades by Israeli occupation forces

7th March 2018 | International Solidarity Movement, al Khalil team | Occupied Palestine

International Women’s Day kicked off today outside Youth Qalandia Club with Palestinian women, men and Internationals marching together to the gates of infamous Qalandia checkpoint in protest of the ceaseless Israeli military occupation and basic human rights.

Half way through the march, tear gas was fired into the crowd of peaceful protesters causing many to suffer from tear gas asphyxiation and seek refuge in nearby ambulances administering treatment.

The protesters continued marching to the checkpoint gates where they were met with several soldiers and border police who began throwing stun grenades and tear gas indiscriminately into the crowd. At one point, a tear gas canister was fired and broke the windshield of a nearby truck sitting in traffic causing the driver to flee the vehicle as it filled with tear gas and eventually caught fire. Palestinians rushed to the vehicle with fire extinguishers and doused the flames as the protest came to a dramatic end. Luckily no one was seriously hurt or arrested.

Today’s event was organized by the General Union of Palestinian Women, an organization with the end goal of raising the status of women in Palestine through increasing female participation in social, economic, and political life.

International Women’s Day is peacefully celebrated in many countries and surely not met with the same violent military response as here in the occupied West Bank. Strong women showed up today in solidarity against an oppressive Israeli regime where men are usually the face of the Palestinian nonviolent resistance. We honor the women that came out today and the women resisting from their homes.

Occupation forces invade downtown al-Khalil / Hebron arresting two teens from a shop

3nd March 2018 | International Solidarity Movement, al Khalil team | Occupied Palestine

Israeli soldiers invaded Bab-al-Zawiye today as young people protested the illegal occupation of Palestine. The soldiers used cameras with zoom lenses to photograph the protesters for well over an hour. Israel controls the population register of all Palestinians with a restrictive system of IDs. Protestors that are identified can be arrested from their homes at any time. 

Later soldiers pursued youth through the narrow alleyways and streets of the downtown neighborhood exploding stun grenades and firing tear gas. Families with young children live in apartments in the neighborhood where clouds of tear gas frequently fill the streets. A large amount of tear gas was fired right outside an open vegetable shop, affecting their business and causing shop owners harm.

Two young people working in a shop were randomly apprehended by the soldiers when they failed to capture any of the youth protesting. Hassan abu Gezele, aged 16, and Baja abu Haluwe, aged 15, were forced into an army jeep with excessive force and driven away.

The arrests of these two boys speak volumes to the careless criminalization of youth in occupied Palestine by Israeli forces. Unfortunately, their cases are not rare and teenage boys are used to such criminal treatment on the streets of al Khalil/Hebron.

Israeli soldiers lockdown checkpoints for jewish settler parade, Purim

Israeli soldiers close checkpoint 56 leading to the neighborhood of Tel Rumeida for an hour this morning, restricting the freedom of movement even further for Palestinian residents. Israeli settlers were celebrating the jewish holiday Purim as they paraded down Al Shuhada street and gathered outside Al Ibrahimi mosque playing loud music and drinking alcohol. Shop owners had to close due to the fear of violence from the settlers.

Palestinians wait as checkpoint remains closed, children sneak through the exit gate and play games.

Palestinians could not reach their own homes; checkpoint 56 stayed closed long after the parade had passed. A mother was separated from her child who had passed through the checkpoint on his own before its closure. Checkpoint 55 also closed today for 45 minutes just down the road for the same reason.

An Israeli soldier told us the checkpoints were on lockdown for ‘security reasons’. When questioned further the soldier stated, “Orders come from above I cannot do anything.” When pressed about the morality of stopping Palestinian adults and children from their homes the soldier stated, “I’m just following orders, if you ask me again in two years after my service is over I will tell you something else.”

This is the second time this week that Israeli forces have locked down checkpoints for prolonged periods of time in the immediate area. The last time this happened was thanks to a visit by the Israeli defense minister, Avigdor Lieberman, on his way to the illegal settlements in and around Al Khalil, Hebron. Checkpoint closures are common in H2, Palestinians are unfortunately used to the constant inconvenience of the oppressive Israeli occupation.