Category: Reports - Page 67 - International Solidarity Movement

Violent clashes continue in Kafr Qaddum

15th July 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil Team | Kafr Qaddum, Occupied Palestine

A demonstration by locals in Kafr Qaddum once again turned violent on Friday as Israeli soldiers and border police showed up to block the march’s path. Around 150 Palestinians were attempting to march towards an illegal Israeli roadblock which cuts off the town from Nablus.

Israeli forces block path of peaceful demonstration in Kafr Qaddum

Palestinian children and teenagers responded by throwing rocks at the soldiers, who responded in turn with a volley of rubber-coated steel bullets.

Many local children were present at the clash, which saw extensive use of rubber-coated steel bullets

Locals attempted to block the soldiers’ line of fire by burning tires next to the road, and building a stone barricade. Shortly after, a skunk truck – a foul smelling chemically treated water used to spray on Palestinians- arrived but was not used. Soldiers used a commercially-available drone throughout the clash, surveying the situation and possibly taking photos of participants.

Local teenager hurls stone towards Israeli jeeps

Israeli border police, who had been waiting on a hill overlooking the demonstration, began to move downwards to confront the youths. When stones were thrown at them, they responded with more rubber-coated steel bullets, which narrowly avoided hitting the young children who were present.

Palestinian youths confront border police

Soldiers then attempted to disperse the march by firing a volley of teargas, but the wind blew it back towards them and away from the demonstrators. Realizing that teargas would be ineffective, soldiers and border police began firing their guns even more indiscriminately, from behind a protective barrier. Border police reinforced soldiers who had been observing from the hilltop, and began to fire at teenagers and children who were taunting them from the foot of the hill.

Border police fire at children and teenagers from behind a concrete barrier and wire fence

Border police fire on demonstrators from the top of a nearby hill

The town, located between Nablus and Qalqilya in the northern West Bank, has seen weekly clashes since 2003, when Israeli forces permanently blocked off the main road to Nablus. The introduction of this road block made a 1.5 kilometer journey to the neighboring village into a 15 kilometer journey, and a trip to Nablus 40 minutes instead of 15. Despite an Israeli court ruling in 2010 that the road block was illegal, it has still not been removed.

Israel raids Palestinian news agency, confiscates hard-drives

Early this morning, Israeli forces raided the al-Khalil headquarters of Al Quds media, kicking down doors to gain entry before confiscating computer hard-drives.

The soldiers searched two press offices in the building, belonging to Ramsat and Pal Media news agencies. After scattering documents across the floor, they confiscated the hard-drives from all computers in the Pal Media office. The soldiers were seen by a neighbour at between two and three o’clock in the morning, having apparently walked from Bab al-Baladiya military base in Hebron’s Old City.

Soldiers searched through Al Quds’ documents during the raid

Israeli authorities had given no prior warning of the raid to Al Quds, and journalists working there said that there had been no recent increase in tensions with the military. The reason for the raid is unclear, as the military have not responded to Al Quds’ requests for a comment. The only explanation offered by Israeli forces was a note posted on the door, which charged that the agency had been working with unnamed ‘illegal organisations.’

Soldiers confiscated all computer hard-drives in Al Quds’ al-Khalil headquarters

While Al Quds are not concerned that any sensitive information was contained on the hard-drives, some believe that the purpose of the raid was to scare journalists into conducting self-censorship. Akran Natsheh, a reporter for Al Quds, believes that this raid is simply part of an ongoing pattern of harassment.

“Two years ago they began shooting at reporters when they were covering clashes, and it made them much more afraid to cover what was happening”, Natseh explained. “When Israel starts attacking journalists, you know they are about to make a large violation that they don’t want the world to see.

“Our mission is the same as all journalists – to deliver the truth about what is happening. If they have something against our organisation, why don’t they take us to court? If they had solid reasons they would do that, but they don’t. You say something they don’t like and they shut you down. This is the occupation – when the army is control, this is how they deal with disagreement.”

The raid comes at a time when media laws are tightening under the Palestinian Authority, with a new law on ‘digital crimes’ set to restrict freedom of speech online.

While this is the first time that Al Quds’ Hebron office had been raided, such intimidation of journalists has been a common occurrence in occupied Palestine, where 383 such incidents were recorded in 2016 alone. Notable incidents include the storming of Trance Media offices across the West Bank in 2014, the forced closure of three local radio stations in al-Khalil in 2015 and the arrest of four journalists at a radio station in Dura last year.

Israeli forces shoot teargas and rubber coated steel bullets at the 6th anniversary demonstration of Kafr Qaddum

9th July 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

On Friday 7^th of July the residents of Kafr Qaddum gathered for their weekly demonstration marking its 6^th anniversary, which was repressed by the Israeli forces shooting teargas, stun grenades and rubber-coated steel bullets at demonstrators. Israeli forces approached the demonstrators in a jeep and were seen on a hill next to the road connecting Kafr Qaddum and the Israeli settlement. Towards the end of the demonstration Israeli forces also forced their way into a Palestinian house to use it as a vantage point to aim at the demonstrators.

After the afternoon prayers at 1 pm, the people of Kafr Qaddum started their non-violent demonstration marching towards the illegal Israeli settlement of Kedumim. Soon after, the Israeli forces welcomed the demonstrators by shooting rubber-coated steel bullets and teargas. Halfway through the demonstration, an elderly Palestinian man was shot in the head with a rubber-coated steel bullet while taking cover from the shooting. Towards the end of the demonstration, an additional five Palestinians and a Korean activist were injured by the Israeli forces. Those who were injured were taken to receive treatment.

One of the Palestinians injured by Israeli forces gun-shots is brought to receive treatment

According to information provided by the Israeli military spokesperson to Ma’an news, no Israeli army forces were present at the demonstration, but instead it was the Israeli police that repressed the non-violent demonstration. This however is not true, as later during the demonstration Israeli army soldiers were seen at a nearby hill, and soon replaced the police on the road with more jeeps and an armored personnel carrier. The soldiers then proceeded to fire rubber-coated steel bullets at protesters and activists, and threw several stun grenades in an attempt to disperse the demonstration. Israeli soldiers also forced their way into a house and took up positions on the balcony overlooking the road.

Israeli forces inside a civilian Palestinian home aiming at protestors

Residential buildings in Qalandia facing demolition

6th July 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah Team | Qalandia, occupied Palestine

map_demolitions qalandia — *Israeli authorities have decided to demolish four buildings in Qalandia in order to expand the apartheid wall and build a “security road”*

Four buildings are at risk of being demolished by Israeli authorities close to Qalandia checkpoint, occupied West Bank. One of these buildings is still under construction, and the other three are undergoing major renovations, yet most of the apartments have already been sold or rented.

*All four buildings face the apartheid wall*

The decision to demolish the houses is justified by Israeli authorities with the need to both expand the apartheid wall, part of the Qalandia checkpoint, and to build a “security road” alongside the wall. The apartheid wall already separates Palestinians living in Qalandia from several dunums of their land, which were confiscated and turned into a military airbase, no longer in use, or for other military purposes. According to the Israeli plan, 18 meters (9 meters for the expansion of the wall and 9 meters for the construction of the road) of Palestinian private land are to be confiscated.

*Qalandia checkpoint, along with a deactivated military airbase, are only a few meters away from the residential buildings*

Around 80 households will be affected if the demolition is implemented and a few Palestinians families have already moved in. The owners have received the demolition orders on 14^th May and the construction hasn’t stopped. Along with the four residential buildings, a children’s playground, situated next to one of the gates Israeli forces often uses to make incursions into Qalandia, is also going to be destroyed.

*The demolition orders were issued to the owners on 14th May, and a petition to suspend it has been filed to Israeli courts*

The residents and future residents of the four buildings have filed a petition to prevent the demolition and even if a first ruling from an Israeli Court ordered its suspension there is still the fear that the demolition and further expansion of the apartheid wall will indeed take place, vaguely justified by “security reasons.”

*A children’s playground is also at risk of being demolished*

This is not the first time that Qalandia (located in both areas B and C, according to the 1995 Oslo II Accord) has been subjected to house demolitions. In July 1996, 15 structures were destroyed in the village, which remains under the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem but separated from the rest of the city by the apartheid wall.

Israeli forces shoot at and arrest 14-year old boy in Hebron

26th June 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

A fourteen year old Palestinian boy was shot at by settlers and soldiers before being arrested on the 25^th June at 4:00 pm outside Bab al-Baladiya, the military base overlooking the old city in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron). Sources are unclear as to why he was arrested however it is known that the Israeli forces have been looking for him for a long period of time.

The settlers that reportedly shot at Mohammad

Eyewitnesses claim that Muhammad was outside of the gate of Bab al-Baladiya when a group of settlers and soldiers shot three rounds of live ammunition as well as reportedly throwing sound bombs. After that, they came out from the gate and took him inside the base.

Muhammad’s brother Mahmoud (18) was arrested in a similar fashion on May 17^th and has yet to be released. After arresting Mahmoud, the Israeli forces called their family to demand that Muhammad be turned over in exchange for Mahmoud. This praxis is clearly against any human rights standards and is intended to exert pressure on the family to basically exchange one son for the other, clearly disregarding any kind of legal standards in the proceeding.

This took place on the first day of Eid al-Fitr “the feast of breaking the fast”, the most important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide, marking the end of Ramadan, the holy month of fasting. This feast, normally, is a family feast, where everyone would go and visit their families, which in occupied al-Khalil is impeded to a large degree by Israeli forces. Both Mohammad and Mahmoud though, will not be able to celebrate this feast with their families.