Category: Reports

Armed Settler Militia Harrass Farmers in Beit Ummar

by Ernesto

At 8:30am on Sunday, July 30th, six internationals accompanied Abu Ayyash and Yousef, both farmers, and Ahmed, a local organizer, from Beit Ummar, to spray their grapes with pesticides. Despite aggressive activity by settler militia and an Israeli military presence, the farmers successfully completed their tasks.

The Karme Tzur settlement has been constructed directly across the street from the farmer’s grape vines. The farmer’s plot of land is bordered on two sides by a paved road that carries settlers in and out through a gate with a guard post. The settler militia is extremely hostile to Palestinian farmers working their land, referring to them as “terrorists.”

When we arrived, one international who had accompanied these farmers before noticed that a dirt road had been created where grape vines once grew. There were pink ribbons on some of the vines that remained that might have signaled the path of the road. The bulldozer was parked a few meters away on the other side of the settler road. It was probably the one that bulldozed over a few dozen grape vines on this plot alone and countless numbers on farmlands around the settlement.

As the farmers sprayed their vineyard, four settlement guards arrived and one attempted to enter the land by force but was called back by his comrades, when he couldn’t manage to get past internationals who demanded to know why he was entering land that didn’t belong to him.

Another settlement guard began to become verbally abusive and taunt the farmers and internationals by making fun of the greeting “salaam”, and plainly stating “You are my enemy! If you come here with Palestinians and have no military permission you are my enemy.” He also attempted to enter the land proclaiming, “This is my land!”

The military also attempted to remove the farmers from the land saying that the Palestinians need to get permission from the military to be on land so close to a settlement. However, we were able to stall the military and the settler militia long enough for Abu Ayash and Yousef to finish their work for the day. Unfortunately, Abu Ayash is afraid that the next time he is due to spray his grapevines, there will be none left, either as retribution for his summoud (steadfastness) or to pave a wider road.

We will provide Abu Ayash with photos of the land for his legal battle to protect his rights and property.

Israeli Special Forces Excecute Two in Nablus


AP photo: Ewijan after he was taken to the morgue

by Michael

Last night, in the Ash Sheikh Musallem district of Nablus’s Old city, undercover agents of the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) carried out two extra-judicial assassinations.

According to eyewitness accounts, the IOF undercover soldiers entered the area in civilian clothing, in a civilian car, and shot Hani Ewijan, 29 and Ameid al Masri, 26. According to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) press release, Ewijan was a member of the Al-Quds brigades (a militant wing of Islamic Jihad), and al Masri was a civilian not involved in any political activity. During the assassination, al Masri was killed and Ewijan was seriously wounded, and transported to a hospital where he died from injuries sustained. The two men were unarmed shot while playing soccer with their friends and realatives.

In respose to these attacks, there is an almost total strike in Nablus’s Old City, and there were at least two non-violent protests. One involved school boys who marched from the Old City, down the main street towards Balata Camp before turning around and marching back up, past the demolished Muqtada. The other involved mostly adults, and numbered almost 2,000 people.

These attacks are a continuation of Israel’s policy of extra-judicial “targeted assassinations.” Those who are killed are denied the ability to see the evidence against them, or to defend themselves in a court of law. Israel is obliged under article 3 of the First Geneva Convention to the provision prohibiting “passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgement pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples.” The PCHR reports that “the failure of the international community and the High Contracting Parties of the Fourth Geneva Convention to take effective steps to stop Israeli war crimes has served to encourage Israel to commit more war crimes against Palestinian civilians.”

Israeli Military Harrassment of Human Rights Workers in Hebron Continues

On July 28th, a human rights worker (HRW) was sitting by checkpoint 56 (which is the main entrance to Tel Rumeida, Hebron from the Palestinian controlled H1 area) from about 12 noon til 3:00 in order to monitor the behavior of the soldiers. During this time she was also drawing the surrounding buildings in her sketchbook. The two soldiers on duty who were friendly, asked to see what she was drawing and she showed them. The soldiers behaved well towards the Palestinians coming and going through the checkpoint and complied when the HRW requested they keep their dogs away from the Palestinians. They made an effort to control the dogs and the HRW thanked them for this.

At about 3pm the “nice” soldiers left and were replaced by two new ones. At about 3:30pm, approximately six other soldiers and a police jeep showed up. One soldier asked the HRW what she was doing. She showed him the drawing she had been doing and he asked to see the whole sketchbook. She denied his request. The police officer asked her if she was causing problems or taking notes about the soldiers at the checkpoint. She said no she was only sketching the buildings. At this point there were about six soldiers standing around her, accusing her of causing problems for the soldiers on duty at the checkpoint and demanding that she show them her sketchbook. She refused again and tried to leave the area. The soldiers physically blocked her path but she pushed passed them.

She headed back to the her apartment and was intercepted by a soldier at the top of the hill by the apartment. He told her she needed to stop. She refused, telling him she urgently had to go to the bathroom. He told her she must leave her backpack with him if she wanted to go to the bathroom. She refused and he attempted to grab her backpack and physically prevent her from going into the apartment. She held onto the backpack, pushed passed him and entered the apartment.

IOF Death Threats, Harrasment & Interrogation – Life in Balata as “Normal”

by Micheal and Lina

Last night, July 28th, at approximately 3:00 am, Saeed Haettalla, 53, from Balata refugee camp, was arrested and interrogated for the second time in two day, aparently without reason.

In the middle of the night, Saeed was awoken by over 30 soldiers of the Israeli Occupation Force (IOF), backed by six armored jeeps and one armored bulldozer. These forces arrived at his home in Balata camp, and the soldiers entered his home in search of Saeed’s son, Hathyem.

Saeed and his son run the small internet café inside Balata camp, which is why the IOF keeps harassing them. Hathyem is not suspected of doing anything illegal, but according to the arresting officers, someone has used one of the computers in his café for “illegal activity” related to the Israeli onslaught in Lebanon. After the IOF searched Saaed’s home on the 28th, they forced him to open the cafe at approximately 4:00am. He was coerced to agree to the search. The soldiers entered the café, searched the premises, and photographed the interior. After finishing in the café, the soldiers told Saeed that he had to be transported to Huwarra camp for further questioning. Once again Saeed agreed, as he had no choice. He was transported to the camp to face interrogation from an IOF “commander,” and spent an additional nine hours in questioning.

This is the second time in two days that Saeed was interrogated about his son’s whereabouts. The day prior, a similarly sized force of soldiers entered his home in the middle of the night, searched the premises, and interrogated Saeed. The IOF informed Saeed that if he did not surrender his son by 12:00 on Sunday (tomorrow), that his son would be assassinated or Saeed would be arrested once again. Saaed’s two other sons, Hani and Ahmed, are already serving jail sentences in Israeli prisons. Hathyem is now planning on giving himself up to be interrogated at Huwarra, although the entire family is of course worried that they will lose yet another son.

This type of harassment is regular inside Balata Camp. Nightly, soldiers enter the camp, harassing and arresting residents and occasionally carrying out assassinations.

Settler Vandalism Caught on Tape

by B.B.

On Wednesday, July 26th, at approximately 1:30 pm, a group of internationals went with the farmer Abu Jabber Soleiby to document the most recent damage to his land by settlers from the nearby settlement Beit ‘Ain. The settlers from Beit ‘Ain have been bringing their sheep down the steep hill to graze from the settlement onto Soleiby’s land. As the group of three internationals and two Palestinians including Abu Jabber and his brother approached Soleiby’s land, they noticed at first one sheep among the trees. It was then observed that an entire flock of approximately 15-20 sheep were on Soleiby’s land and were clearly destroying the trees and grape vines.

The sheep were accompanied by two male settlers, one of whom was armed with a large automatic rifle. The group approached the settlers and demanded that they take the sheep off the land immediately. Internationals took pictures and filmed as the Palestinian men herded the sheep -and the settlers- back towards the settlement. As one international woman was taking pictures of the armed settler, he turned and raised his gun to her head from 12-18 inches away. Other than this particular show of force, the settlers were clearly outnumbered by internationals and Palestinians and allowed themselves to be escorted off of the land with little direct confrontation.

In the past, settlers from Beit ‘Ain have beaten and shot at Abu Jabber and his family, cut down limbs of trees, burned trees, and dammed up the small stream that provided the irrigation for his land by rolling large boulders down the hill from the settlement into the water. The nearby larger settlement, Gush Etzion also controls the piped water to the area (including some Palestinian homes in Beit Ummar) and had cut the water off for the previous three days.

Abu Jabber attempted to file a complaint with the Israeli police stationed in Gush Etzion the next day, but when he arrived he was told that the settlers were free to do whatever they want and refused to take his statement (this would have been the ninth complaint filed by the Soleiby family about the actions of settlers from Beit ‘Ain).