Category: Reports

Female teachers protests the arbitrary instructions that further restrict access to the school compound in Hebron H2

9th Januari 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

At Sunday December 8 at noon, when fourteen female teachers of the Qurtuba high-school were leaving the school compound on their way home, the Israeli forces at checkpoint 55 on the Shuhada street blocked their way and kept them waiting on the stairs for more then 45 minutes.

Reason for this harassment was the personal decision of the commander to implement a new rule:

  1. All the women should wait together high up the stairs,
  2. behind the newly installed iron gate-door,
  3. waiting for a soldier command to be allowed to proceed,
  4. have their ID checked and
  5. pass the checkpoint one by one.

The female teachers did not accept this arbitrary new rule, and stayed where they were, waiting to get through. Finally after 45 minutes they were allowed to pass the military checkpoint as a group.

[VIDEO] Commander:
[0’10”] “I take to three ..  when I take to three …, all the women behind it”  “Because I decided … Because I decided to…I decided … I … yes .. because you obey  … everyone obey”
 [0’30”] “because I decided to … because I deny you to do what you want now … and this is what I decided … I’m not talking anymore … I say just briefly … If you want to go this way from here you must go after the gate”
[1’33”] You don’t tell me what to do ..  no you shut up and I do what I want to .. now you, if you want to leave  .. now you wait .. after I tell you …  all the woman  …  I check you, then I let you… “
[2’29”]  (pointing at the settler boy) He’s your commander .. He’s the commander of this day
[3’15”]  I will touch you … I will touch you … now, go away … now you go back … do you hear me? … go back now”

The brave women of the school have a good reason to protest this arbitrary procedure. There are many Apartheid regulations for the Shuhada street and the entrance to their school, and more of those inhuman rules are expected to come in the future.

[Archive] Children of the Qurtuba school waiting on the stairs, to pass the checkpoint
If they wouldn’t protest it, the 6-10 y.o. schoolboys and 6-20 y.o. schoolgirls might be the next harassed with new implemented Apartheid rules.

For some children in occupied Hebron it can be a traumatic experience to pass these military checkpoints and heavily armed occupation forces all alone.

They go in groups, from their home to the school compound and back, passing at least two manned checkpoints.

Their teachers offered 45 minutes of their free time, after a busy school day, trying to prevent threatening new Apartheid rules, in which Palestinian children are not allowed to pass group-wise.

Shuhada Street and Qurtuba School. (the colors indicate Apartheid regulations) Children have to pass at least two checkpoints on their way to school

 More restrictions in Hebron since september 2015, allegedly because of ‘terror attacks’

After the military violence, responsible for the death of nearly 60 young residents of Hebron between September 2015 and March 2016, the occupation forces installed new concrete walls, metal gates and doors, extreme inhuman checkpoints, barbed wire blockades and Arabic text boards with new security instructions.

The occupier gave this violent period the name “Knife Intifada”.
Mainstream media copied this or labeled it the “Third Intifada”
The UN, Amnesty International, some countries Foreign Ministeries, and many other individuals and organizations asked for proper investigation, without success.

Gate door, installed by the occupation forces in November 2015, after an extra juridical execution.

The alleged knife attacks for which the occupation forces produced no evidence, no video footage of their security cameras, no statements by the executed suspects and no legal investigation, are clearly used as a reason for these additional Apartheid measures, i.e. less freedom of movement for Palestinians only, in their own statehood.

Most Palestinian families succeed in adapting to these inhuman situation and peacefully undergo all harassment. As long as their children have a chance to grow up undamaged, without fear or traumas, they can stay, peacefully resisting the ethnic cleansing of their statehood.

Israel is abusing International Law, and should be sanctioned by all other states

The international powers united in the NATO are liable supporters of this Israeli occupation. They are obviously abusing the international law which they agreed on and together signed, because it commits them to sanction those states who violate the regulations in it.

The Palestinian people, targeted by Zionist war crimes for more then 100 years, don’t give up their hope on justice in Palestine, knowing they have the UN and International Law on their side.

Silwan Occupied

25th December 2016 | International Solidarity Movement |Huwarra team | occupied Palestine

Yusef Sheukhy is one out of many Palestinians in Silwan who has already suffered much from the Israeli presence in occupied East Jerusalem. Five of his children have spent time in Israeli jails; the most recent released on 27 May this year. And on Tuesday 29 November, he and his wife and children got brutality woken up at 3am by Israeli soldiers and workers who had arrived to demolish half of the family’s home.  According to Yusef Sheukhy, between 150 and 200 soldiers were surrounding the home and neighboring houses, blocking off the roads, as the workers began destroying his family home.

The Palestinians living in Silwan area of occupied East Jerusalem, Palestine, have faced much suffering from the Israeli military occupation. Daily encounters with violent illegal settlers, several killings and arrests by the Israeli forces, as well as an unnumbered amount of home demolitions.

More than 150 families in the East Jerusalem area of Silwan have recently been given demolition warnings by the Israeli authorities. The exact dates of the demolitions have yet to be revealed, and are very likely not to reach the Palestinians until (at the very best) a couple of days before. The families do not know where to go when their homes are destroyed, and many people are expecting to be homeless in the middle of winter.

Yusef Sheukhy was born and raised in the Old City in East Jerusalem, but when Israel began their illegal occupation of Palestine in 1967, the family was forced to leave the home that had belonged to them for generations. As many other families, they left the city and moved to the poor nearby village of Silwan. Several houses were empty and ready to move into, as many families that were originally living in Silwan had fled to Jordan, fearing for the future under Israeli military occupation. Today, Silwan families are once again being forced to leave their homes without any kind of justifications or proper alternatives provided.

Yusef Sheukhy and his sons built the second house as an extension to the original two years ago, in order to house the big family. Yusef Sheukhy and his wife have six boys and two girls and the three small rooms in the first house are not nearly enough to house a family of ten. His three youngest boys are already sharing a small room, and it is almost impossible to imagine how they will manage to fit in another six adult children in this small space.

Before building the house, Yusef Sheukhy made sure to obtain the necessary building permission from the Israeli authorities that are in control of the occupied city. But a couple of days before Tuesday, the Chief of Police in Jerusalem told the family that there were definite plans to demolish the house, as it was an “illegal construction”. Unfortunately, at this point Yusef Sheukhy was not able to find the permission papers that prove his right to having built the house, and the Israeli authorities did not give him the opportunity to get the papers reissued.

As the Chief of Police, on Monday 28, informed one of Yusef Sheukhy’s sons that the demolition would happen within the next 48 hours, Yusef Sheukhy contacted the Chief of Police in order to gain more time to, through his lawyer, receive a new copy of the original permit. So Yusef Sheukhy had a meeting with his lawyer Monday afternoon, and they would meet Tuesday morning at 8.30 to go through the process of regaining the papers. When Yusef Sheukhy told the Chief of Police that he was in the process of getting a new copy of the permit, he was relieved as the Chief of Police seemed to be willing to wait for this. “He said, “okay, if you can do it we will not do it”, Yusef Sheukhy told us.

But in the end, the Chief of Police gave the family no opportunity to prove their rights or object to the order, as the soldiers arrived without warning in the middle of the night only five hours before Yusef Sheukhy was meant to meet the lawyer and hopefully get his papers again.

But Yusef Sheukhy will not let the illegal occupiers succeed once more in dispossessing his family. He is determined to stand his ground: “We will rebuilt, don’t worry. We will not give up. We are suffering but we will never give up.

Israeli Military Exercise on Palestinian farmers fields

19th December 2016 | International Solidarity Movement & Jordan Valley Solidarity| occupied Palestine

At around 12:30pm December 19th, 2016, the Israeli Occupation Forces blocked  the road leading to Tubas and the north of the Jordan Valley for around two hours.  Dozens of Palestinians farmers and civilians had to wait for an Israeli military exercise to conclude before being able to continue their way.

                         An Israeli soldier blocks and guards the road while Palestinians are waiting for it to open.

From the roadblock, the location of the military training could not be seen, but Jordan Valley Solidarity (JVS) received a call from a resident of the community of Khirbet Yarza saying that the exercise was actually happening in the fields of their community, 20 meters in front of their houses.   The military were also on the land of two other communities, Hamamat Al-maleh and Ras Al-Akhmar , only a few kilometers away.

                     Israeli Military exercise occurring in front of the residents’ houses of the community of Yarza

Around 20 tanks, 2 bulldozers, 5 military trucks, and 10 jeeps carrying soldiers took part in this illegal military exercise.  The tanks and bulldozers seriously damaged the farmers land including breaking the irrigation pipes that were put in the ground.

           A calf stranded between Israeli Military tanks and farmers houses of the community of Ras Al-Akhmar 

                                                        Palestinian land damaged by Israeli tanks and bulldozers

The residents also told us that the Israeli Military didn’t give them any advance notice regarding the time and the location for their operation. Therefore the Palestinians were stranded inside their houses for the whole military exercise period, as they never had the time to evacuate.  No one has been injured but the residents were extremely scared of what could have happen to them and their livestock.  At the same time, Palestinians stopped at the roadblock could only see tanks being carried away by huge lorry to an unclear area.  While waiting, they could hear large explosions coming from the other side of the hills, making them jumpy, nervous and anxious.
                                    A lorry carries two Israeli tanks to the illegal military training exercise area

This part of the Jordan Valley is in Area C  (under Israeli control) and was declared by Israeli Forces a “closed military zone”, meaning that it is forbidden for Palestinian to walk around those lands.  Cars riding on the adjacent road cannot stop and if they do, the drivers risk being arrested and their car confiscated. There are military observation tours all around the Jordan Valley, consequently the arrest and confiscation are a real threat.  The only reason for Palestinians to stop their cars is a military roadblock.

On that day, not only farmers and drivers had their daily activity seriously affected but also the children attending school. The children from villages in this part of Area C must go to Tubas to attend school as there are none in their village due to restrictions imposed by Israel. The students are therefore bussed everyday to Tubas. But today, at the end of their class, they had to walk their way back home as the bus was stopped at the roadblock and could not get through to pick them up.  Most of the children had to walk in that frightening environment for seven to eight kilometers in order to reach their home.

                                                           Palestinians children walking back home from Tubas.

The Israeli Occupation Forces have conducted illegal military exercises around the Jordan Valley for many years. Not only blocking roads at any other moment but also forcing villagers to evacuate their homes for days while proceeding with their military exercises around and inside the villages.  A few months ago, in Yirza, Israeli bulldozers arrived in the village, destroying the connection of the irrigation pipes. The residents repaired the damaged connection but, once again, Israeli military tanks drove around their fields, passing on top of the pipes and destroying them, again.

Over the last few years, citizens all around the Jordan Valley have seen an increase in the confiscation of their land by Israeli Forces. These large patches of land are now used by the Israeli Forces as bases and for training exercises. All along the road at the edge of these lands, we can now see concrete blocks indicating the closed-military-zone, which forbids anyone to trespass on these areas. Therefore, shepherds and farmers have been deprived of their only means to provide for their families.  Other lots were given to Israeli settlers for agricultural development, which only benefit Israeli economy.

                                                               Israeli Military base in the Jordan Valley

Despite the continuous demonstration of control and power by Israel over Palestine, the resilience of the population from the Jordan Valley remains intact.

                                                      Palestinian kids playing football on an open land near Fasayel

7 year old boy targeted in Kafr Qaddum

23th December 2016 |  Popular Resistance Committee of Kafr Qaddum |  occupied Palestine

Today, Friday December 23rd, 2016, the village started its march as usual toward the blocked road. Suddenly 12 soldiers from a special unit of the Israeli occupation force surprised them in an ambush, and attacked and arrested a 7 year old Palestinian child.  Twelve heavily armed soldier’s surrounded the boy, attacking him.  One of them forcefully grabbed the boy from his neck, questioning him about his father.  Three Palestinians were also injured with rubber bullets.

Masked members of the Israeli security forces briefly detain a Palestinian boy during clashes following a demonstration against the expropriation of Palestinian land by Israel in the village of Kfar Qaddum, near Nablus, in the occupied West Bank on December 23, 2016. / AFP / JAAFAR ASHTIYEH

Kafr Qaddum’s weekly protests have been occurring since July 2011 to take back the road that connects their village to the city of Nablus, elongating Palestinians commute by 14 kilometers. These demonstrations are always met by the Israeli occupation forces and/or border police, who throw sound grenades, tear gas, rubber coated steel bullets, and at times live ammunition to prevent the nonviolent protesters from executing their democratic rights.

The young boy was released after one hour, and he told his father, “I was very afraid. I didn’t know what to do. I just began shouting between 12 huge soldiers, and one of them hanged me from my neck and asked me about my father”. The boy continues to experience post traumatic stress, shaking continuously, and sharing more and more of the experience to his family.

After a good day comes a bad day

8th December 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

On 7th December 2016, Israeli forces at Shuhada checkpoint in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron) detained a group of teachers from nearby Qurtuba school, and then in collective punishment closed the checkpoint to everyone. Just after the teachers were finally allowed to reach their school, the Israeli occupying forces detained a father with his young son who were trying to reach a hospital for medical treatment, and in the end denied them to pass.

Teachers from the Qurtuba school are forced to go through the Shuhada checkpoint every day in order to reach their job.  On this particular day, the soldiers who are permanently stationed there, refused eight teachers to get to their students, holding them for more than 1.5 hours.  Qurtuba school, thus, had to start their day with the majority of the teachers absent.  Not only are teachers and students at the whim of the occupying army as to when and how they commute, they also have restricted access to the staircase connecting Shuhada Street with the school during school hours. The actual staircase leading to the school has been closed by Israeli forces as part of their attempts to ethnically cleanse Shuhada Street.

The teachers refused to leave and give up.  Instead, they waited outside the checkpoint demanding to be allowed to reach their school.  Israeli forces in an act of collective punishment closed the checkpoint, denying anyone else to pass. Thus, residents were stuck outside the checkpoint as well, adding to the number of people attempting to reach their homes or school. A man asking the soldiers to allow him to pass was told by the soldiers, that he could only pass if the teachers leave. Finally, after more than 1.5 hours, the teachers were allowed to pass, except for one female teacher, whom they kept inside the checkpoint box, claiming that she was not a teacher. The director of the school countered that she was recently updated to the list, and that the soldiers clearly missed adding her, and in the end, all the teachers were allowed to pass. This kind of arbitrary detainment of teachers, and at times also school-students, is not new to the Qurtuba school.

Israeli forces discussing with teachers, seen from the other side of the checkpoint

One man trying to pass during that time kept telling the soldiers that he just needed to bring several kilos of rice home.    Soldiers told him that he’ll have to wait till the situation with the teachers is resolved, and that “you have a good day, you have a bad day”. When he was finally allowed to pass once the teachers were gone, one of the soldiers, (first making sure that the Palestinian would not understand), insulted him in Hebrew calling him a ‘son of a bitch’.  When the man complained to another soldier, he was told to leave.

After that, Israeli forces detained a father with his son, as they were trying to reach a nearby hospital. The man lives in this area, and passes this checkpoint daily without any problems. On this day though, Israeli forces decided that his name is not on their list of ‘registered Palestinian residents’ – meaning that he was not given a number, which would allow him to pass. Therefore Israeli forces kept him waiting with his son, locked up in the exit of the checkpoint, with the turnstile locked, even after the man explained to them that he was taking his son to see a doctor. In the beginning, soldiers said that ‘there’s no hospital’ in this area and they don’t know a hospital there. Even when the man showed them a paper of the hospital, they would still not allow him to pass. When approached by internationals, the occupying forces insisted that they were ‘doing everything they can to let him pass’, while keeping the turnstile, that would allow him to pass, firmly locked. Israeli forces furthermore were adamant that they were not denying the boy medical treatment, as he would get it – eventually.  Instead of asking whether his treatment was urgent or not, the soldiers deemed themselves qualified to decide this.  They firmly insisted, that they can’t let him pass ‘yet’.

In the end, the boy and his father were denied from reaching the hospital, as one of the soldiers blamed the father, stating that it’s the father’s fault for even bringing his son to the checkpoint, rather than going another way.  This other route, that he was speaking of, was the longer and more expensive way around adding about 20 minutes to his trip.   This is a ridiculous attempt to move the attention from their lack of consideration for even allowing children to reach a hospital. This is a place where an occupying army can put the fault on the civilian (who thus far had no problems ever passing this checkpoint) bringing his sick son on the quickest way possible to treatment.  This then leaves the occupied population in the hands of a force that can determine their needs and lives.  In a city where every Palestinian is at the pure mercy of the occupying forces, expecting even the tiniest bit of humanity to be extended to them – futile.