Two Palestinian women from the Tel Rumeida neighborhood were on their way to visit their aunt in the hospital when the police stopped them for an ID check. Because one of the women was not wearing a headscarf, as is normal in the particularly religious city of Hebron, one of the policemen did not believe the two women came from Tel Rumeida. Frequently police and soldiers deny entry to anyone coming into Tel Rumeida who cannot prove they live there. After after being verbally abusive to the women, the police officer returned the IDs. One of the women took it back from him quickly as she was in a hurry, causing the police officer to become upset and nervous. He took her ID back from her, and went to his car for a while. He then told her to come over to the car. She replied that if he wanted to talk to her, he could come over to her instead. She and the other woman left in disgust.
After they returned from the hospital they called the DCO to see if they could get the ID back. The DCO said that if she doesn’t get it back in a day, they’d see what they could do.
This family is harassed regularly by soldiers and settlers and frequently calls on human rights workers in Tel Rumeida to intervene. The family believes that the harassment is severe and frequent due to settlers wanting the family’s house. The house is in a somewhat strategic location on the top of Tel Rumeida hill. Recent bouts of harassment include settlers stealing the family’s water pipe, burning their olive trees and soldiers invading the property at night.
Three weeks in, and the International Solidarity Movement’s “Freedom Summer 2006” has gotten off to a flying start. More and more activists are coming to the West Bank every week, participating in two days of training before heading out to the regions of the West Bank where ISM are working. Led by these Palestinian communities, the international volunteers (who are mainly from the USA and Europe) are supporting Palestinians in their non-violent resistance to the Israeli Occupation.
One example of this can be seen at the village of Bil’in, where every Friday international and Israeli supporters are joining the local Palestinians as they march against the apartheid wall, which annexes their land to Israel. Because of the presence of international observers, the Israeli army is extremely reluctant to use live ammunition at any of the demonstrations in Bil’in, and no one has ever been killed whilst protesting there. This is in stark contrast to non-violent Palestinian demonstrations that have no international or Israeli supporters, during which 11 Palestinians have been killed. There is also a constant international presence maintained in the village to protect against incursions from the Israeli occupying forces, and some people spend their nights helping to protect a small outpost of the village on the Israeli side of the wall.
Similar solidarity work is being carried out in the village of Beit Ummar in the Hebron region. Beit Ummar has recently started to carry out demonstrations against the expansion of Israeli settlements in their area. The villagers there have invited internationals from ISM to maintain a constant presence in order to document and reduce the violence from Israeli military incursions to the village, as well as from Israeli settlers.
In the city of Hebron itself, human rights workers from ISM and the Tel Rumeida project work together to maintain a presence in the community. This is in order to non-violently intervene and document incidents of harassment, and stop violence from Israeli Jewish fundamentalists who live in settlements protected by the Israeli military. Other volunteers work in the ISM Media office in Ramallah.
This very successful start to ‘Freedom Summer’ is in spite of rumors published in the Israeli press that Israeli forces would start operating a “zero-tolerance” policy towards ISM activists. Articles published in the Israeli newspapers Ha’aretz and Ma’ariv warned that anyone suspected of connection to ISM would be stopped from entering the country, and those that did make it through into the West bank would be picked up at the numerous Israeli checkpoints and deported back to their home countries. Although this largely appears to be empty rhetoric, ISM and other human rights organizations still face plenty of harassment, both from the Israeli military and from Israeli settlers. The article published in Ha’aretz was nothing short of slanderous, accusing unnamed ISM peace activists of assaulting Israeli police and military. ISM members have never assaulted anyone, or ever been charged with doing so.
Our numbers have increased dramatically since the beginning of Freedom Summer. We have had at least 10 new volunteers at each weekly training for the past several weeks. However, we still need a lot more long term and experienced activists to put in place the infrastructure, and build the relationships and networks that will provide for more successful campaigns in the future. Now, more than ever, international volunteers are needed in Palestine. The Olive Harvest Campaign is coming up in October/November. Will you join us? Between our campaigns the occupation continues, and international solidarity workers are needed here even more. ISM needs long term volunteers to be able to build up and maintain our structures and our work. We need your presence! Please join us.
In Tel Rumeida, Hebron, six settler men between the ages of 16 and 25 entered a Palestinian shoe manufacturing shop across the street from the ISM/TRP apartment. They began throwing shoes around, disrupting the work and intimidating the staff. In response, three international human rights workers confronted the settlers verbally and with cameras. When the settlers realized they were being filmed, they left. In order to prevent settlers from entering again, the internationals blocked the entrance of the shop. Eventually, the police arrived but they did not try to prevent the settlers from harassing the Palestinian shopkeepers. Later that day a female settler continued the harassment at the shop and internationals successfully blocked the entrance to the shop once more.
This harassment is a small incident in a pattern of settler violence that internationals have witnessed while working in the area. Two days previously, fifteen settler girls between the ages of 10 and 15, were documented once again threatening Palestinian children. The young settlers threatened a Palestinian boy saying, “I’m going to kill you”, and called them derogatory names including “donkey.” After the settler girls left, the police arrived and warned them not to go near the Jewish children. Later another police officer told the internationals to leave and if not, he would not help them even of they were ‘bleeding from the head.’ The officers blamed the internationals for the harassment and told them that by documenting the settlers, they were provoking them.
One day prior to this, a young settler tore up a recently completed brick path to the Qurtuba School in Tel Rumeida. When the damage was discovered, police were contacted. When they arrived, they refused to get out of the jeep to look at the damage; they simply instructed the internationals to stay away from the construction site to avoid “provoking” the settlers – even though the vandalism took place when human rights workers were not present. The attack at Qurturba School is the latest step in a long campaign by settlers to disrupt the project. The path was created to stop rock attacks by Jewish settlers targeting Palestinian students and teachers. In response to over 10 years of such violence, the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH), agreed to fund the paving of the path with bricks and the installation of fences. Throughout the last few months of construction, settlers have attacked the workers, pulled up the bricks, and smashed much of the retaining wall built next to the path.
Today, July 21, 2006, the people of Bil’in marched in silence to the Apartheid Wall with the support of Israelis and internationals. The weekly march turned into a mourner’s procession as two hundred and fifty demonstrators carried a 20 meter long black flag as a symbol of the over 425 Palestinians and Lebanese killed in recent weeks. They also carried posters with the message “Is this the world we want for our children?”. To download a poster for printing and posting click here For PDF.
The demonstrators gathered in front of the Wall and held a moment of silence and prayer for those killed in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, and the West Bank. The normal celebratory tone of the demonstration was replaced with one of somberness and grief. After the moment of silence the procession marched back to Bil’in without any violent response from the Israeli army.
Mohammed Al Khateeb of the Popular Committee of Bil’in stated, “We are protesting against the Israeli military aggression that targets innocent civilians and infrastructure”. He explained the tape that many people wore over their mouths, “We are against the Arab and International apathy and silence towards the ongoing Israeli violations of human rights”.
Al Khateeb also called on the Palestinian, Israeli, and international peace activists to continue to protest, in Palestine, in Israel, and around the world, against the Israeli attacks and violations.
After the demonstration Israelis and internationals joined people of Bil’in in a discussion about the non-violent joint struggle in Bil’in and new strategies of working together and resisting. Israelis and internationals also took posters to place in Israel and to send abroad.
Documents granting the Bedouin the right to the land
Today Bedouin houses were under threat of demolition in Bir Nabala village in the Jerusalem area. Since 1994, when forced to leave their homes in Al Ram by the Israeli military, about 100 Bedouin have been living in small shanties near the Atarot Industrial Area. The homes of these refugees are once again facing demolition due to the Israeli expansion of the annexation wall, where the Israelis claim 200 meters of free space are necessary to secure the area.
The Bedouin here are already facing numerous problems with the annexation wall. The construction of the wall has cut water pipes to their homes. In addition, the wall severely hinders their movement as they have to cross into Jerusalem to work and sell their products, but are forced to go through Ramallah and the Qalandiya Checkpoint. If they are successful in crossing, these checkpoints can cause major delays. The Bedouin children are also forced to take the same circuitous and road-blocked routes to get to their school. The soldiers guarding the wall often will not let sheep herders go out to hills for grazing. The situation with travel is compounded by the fact that Israeli factories in the industrial area are draining their sewage water next to the Bedouin homes (see photo below).
Bedouin in the West Bank are forced to move again and again by the Israeli Military and it is nearly impossible for them to get permission to stay anywhere regularly. This threatens their culture and economy which is largely dependent upon grazing. The water and air pollution from the factories as well as the wall is undermining dairy production and will make Palestinians even more dependent on Israeli products.
The Bedouin in Bir Nabala hold documents granting them permission from the Palestinian land owners to stay in the area (see above). They have taken their case to the Israeli court which today, while the Bedouins stood by fearing destruction of their homes, ruled that they could remain temporarily. Even if they court rules in their favor, the community faces a future completely surrounded by fences and soldiers effectively strangling the Bedouin way of life.
