Category: Reports

Visiting Your Neighbours in Tel Rumeida

by Shlomo Bloom

Closed Palestinian shops in what was once a lively market in Hebron

On June 4th at approximately 3:30 pm a delegation from France came to Tel Rumeida to learn more about the situation here. We met with them at the Tel Rumeida community center and I told them a bit about our work here. After we all talked for a bit, a man who lives directly across the street from the Tel Rumeida settlement invited the delegation of about ten people to visit his house. No one is allowed to even go near this house unless they actually live there (meaning Palestinians or internationals). Settlers, of course are allowed in this area which is about half a block from where I live.

We could have predicted what happened next of course. The soldier on duty at the top of Tel Rumeida hill refused to let the delegation go to the man’s house. I kept back and did not intervene because I wanted to give the French people a chance to experience for themselves the ridiculousness of the situation. However I can guess at the reasons the delegation were told why they were not allowed to visit the man at his home.

  • security
  • provocation to the settlers
  • no one is allowed in that area unless they are Jewish

So in the end, even with all the French passport waving and the French insisting that they were politicians and diplomats, the soldier did not give them permission. So I guess they are going to go back to their country now and write about how they got to witness first hand the racism that governs Tel Rumeida. Hopefully this will be more fuel for boycotts and a nail in the coffin for the settlements in Hebron.

Can you imagine not being able to visit your neighbor who lives half a block away because it will provoke the people who live near him?

Villagers in South Hebron Hills Win “Battle of the Gap”

Qawawis, 4th June 2006: About thirty inhabitants of the small Palestinian village of Qawawis and the neighbouring villages of Jatta and Al-Twane gathered in Qawawis this morning at around 9 am. They were joined by three internationals from ISM and CPT as well as several journalists. All were assembled in opposition to the construction of a meter-high wall on the nearby settler-only road that building started on last Wednesday, and was due to be completed this morning. The demonstrator’s demand was a gap in this wall, to make it possible to pass through to the village by car and to reach their farming land on the other side.

The group went to the road and positioned itself in the work area, preventing continuation of the building. At that time no army was present, only the workers, so a villager from Qawawis tried to talk to them to convince them to leave their work. After around 15 minutes the first army jeep arrived and the soldiers asked the demonstrators to leave the area. They were not prepared to debate with the villagers and threatened to use violence if the people continued hindering the work. Over the next half an hour, three more army jeeps and two police cars arrived. The demonstrators held firm in their places while some were trying to negotiate with the soldiers. One soldier and a police man were videotaping those gathered in the demonstration, and police men were taking passports and ID cards of some of those present.

After some time, the responsible officer agreed after negotiating with Moussa Abu Maria, a Palestinian activist in the Hebron region, that there will be an opening left that allows passing through.

Altogether the group hindered the continuation of the construction for about three hours, until around 12am. Afterwards we could see the army jeeps driving around nearby and soldiers harassing people who were on their way back from the demonstration.

A Quiet Shabbat in Tel Rumeida…

by Shlomo Bloom

One of the Palestinians said today that he thought most of the settlers were in Kiryat Arba and there were very few of them on the street so there was hardly any trouble.

At about 3pm, three settler boys of approximately 10 years of age began throwing rocks at two Human Rights Workers (HRWs) on Shuhada street. One HRW began filming and the other tried to get the boys to stop and encouraged the soldier to help. The soldier was able to get the boys to stop throwing rocks. A few minutes later a police jeep came by, asked if everything was OK and a HRW told him 3 boys were throwing rocks. The officer said he would look into it. After that, about three border police appeared at the stone stairs that lead to the Qutarba girls school.

At approximately 4pm the old man with his donkey attempted to pass through the checkpoint. The soldier on duty would not let him. A HRW inquired to see what the problem was. There was one nice soldier and one mean solder. The HRW spoke at length to the nice soldier who told her his commander had ordered them not to let the man through. The HRW told him the man goes through that checkpoint everyday. The soldier said he could not go through today. Attempts at reasoning with the mean soldier were futile. An HRW called Machsom Watch (the Israeli human rights group that monitors the behaviour of soldiers at checkpoints), who said she would see what she could do.

Eventually a deal was reached wherein the Palestinian man with the donkey would show the soldiers what was in the saddlebag and then he could go through. He was allowed to pass after approximately 20 minutes.

Students Unite Against Checkpoints


photo from Reuters

A nonviolent demonstration was held at Atara checkpoint today to protest against the Israeli Occupation Forces’ preventing students from reaching their universities and schools.

Palestinian and Israeli students, including Palestinian Israelis, were joined by international solidarity activists. The Atara checkpoint is located on the road to Bir Zeit University, north of Bir Zeit village.

The area directly in front of the checkpoint was cordoned off by Israeli Border Police prior to the demonstration. The protest commenced with Palestinians, internationals, and Israeli students and anarchists chanting “Red Blue Green White, Palestine is going to fight!” in English and “Refuse!” in Hebrew. The latter slogan reflects the growing popularity of the refusenik movement, Israeli youth who reject conscription in the IOF to serve in Occupied Palestine.


photo by Sunbula

Soon after, Palestinians students from al-Quds Open University and Bir Zeit University arrived. The atmosphere was one of festive resistance. The protestors sang Palestinian revolutionary songs and Palestinians, Israelis, and internationals danced in front of the Border Police, who appeared more like sulky guests at a party and not an occupying military force.

The general message of the protest was, “Out with the Occupation. This time is the last time.” The call to move forward towards the checkpoint was given. Immediately afterwards, an Israeli commander presented ISM coordinator Abdullah Abu Rahme with an order that apparently stated that the area was a closed military zone, and that the presence of the protestors was forbidden. The commander then attempted to announce on a bullhorn that crowd had ten minutes to disperse. He was, however, drowned out by whistles and booing from the crowd.


photo by Sunbula

Two soldiers could be seen photographing and filming the protestors from a short distance.


photo by Sunbula

There was relatively little violence. Only once was an Israeli protestor shoved by a Border Policeman. At one point, several taxis carrying passengers were stuck behind the demonstrating crowd. The drivers asked the crowd to make enough room for them to pass, and they complied. However, the military refused to let the taxis through the checkpoint, blaming this decision on the protestors. The Palestinians present chose not let this turn of events deter the remainder of the protests. They began to shout, “It is not the protestors, but the checkpoint and the Occupation, that will not allow the taxis to pass.”

The demonstration continued in this way until it ended in stalemate. The demonstrators were not able to break the gauntlet of the military, nor was the IOF able to disperse the crowd of protestors. The spirit of solidarity was evident in the unity shown by protestors coming from different backgrounds sticking closely together.

Demonstrations will be held this evening simultaneously in al-Manara square in Ramallah and in Tel Aviv.

Palestinian Unity Against Military Brutality


This week’s demonstration a call for greater Palestinian unity against the occupation. It was also a recognition of the 39th anniversary of al-Naksa, “the great disappointment” which marked the beginning of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, Gaza strip and the Golan Heights in 1967.

About 300 demonstrators carrying Palestinian flags marched to the wall together. Among them were Palestinian Legislative Council members Mustafa Bargouthi and Kais Abu Leyla; al-Quds University President Sari Nusaybah; Knesset member, Muhammed Baraka, and Israeli supporters from Anarchists Against the Wall, Gush Shalom (including Uri Avnery) and other Israeli anti-occupation groups. International supporters from ISM were also present.

As they approached the gate in the annexation barrier, demonstrators found that Israeli soldiers had positioned themselves behind journalists, as well as in front of the gate, surrounding them. Some of the demonstrators tried to non-violently cross the gate. Soldiers attacked the demonstrators from all sides with sound bombs and serious beatings. The soldiers then rushed forward, violently pushing everyone back causing widespread injuries. The soldiers then proceeded to fire tear gas at Palestinians and internationals attempting to extinguish a fire which the explosion from a sound bomb had started in the olive groves.

Amongst those known to be badly injured by beatings and evacuated in ambulances so far are: Mohammed Mansour- who was hit with two rubber bullets in the arm and a sound bomb in his abdomen, Mohammed saw a soldier aiming for his head from close range and covered his eyes with his arm, Akram al-Katib- who was beaten, Abdullah Abu Rahme- from the Popular Committee, was beaten as well as a woman named Yahia Abullah Yasin. Two Israelis were also seriously injured. And there were many minor injuries from beatings.