Palestinians assess damage as settlers rampage throughout northern West Bank

On the evening of December 1st and the morning of December 2nd, hundreds of Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian homes and cars, burnt Palestinian property, desecrated mosques, intimidated Palestinian residents while insulting Islam.

At approximately, 8pm, over 100 settlers attacked the town of Burin, shooting and throwing rocks at Palestinian houses. One house, the home of Khalib Kasam, next to Road 60, was surrounded by settlers who attacked the house, damaging solar panels, while Israeli soldiers stood by on the street, failing to intervene.

Israeli soldiers instead, attacked Palestinian residents who gathered behind the besieged house, firing tear gas and rubber bullets at the unarmed villagers. The soldiers momentarily detained one settler, before releasing him.

Shortly after, settlers amassed in front of Huwarra checkpoint, blocking the main passageway to and from Nablus. Later that night, the villages of Yatma, Sinjil, Turmosayya, Assawiyah, and Qabalan were attacked. Settlers slashed the tires of more than 15 Palestinian cars, broke windows on a Palestinian owned tractor, and spray painted a star of David on at least one car.

In Turmosayya, Assawiyah, and Sinjil, settlers vandalized mosques, painting more stars of David and writing “Muhammad is a pig” and “death to the arabs”. In Qabalan, 100 bundles of hay were burnt by settlers. According to one villager, this was one family’s food for their sheep for the whole year, “they just killed a whole family”.

It is believed that the rioting in the northern west bank was done in response to rumours that the Israeli military might evict settlers from a stolen building in the West Bank city of Hebron, ironically called the “peace house”. The settlers have been ordered to evacuate the house by the Israeli Supreme Court.

It seems that these latest incidents are a pre-emptive show of force by the “price tag” campaign, in which settler extremists have stated that they intend to respond to any Israeli governmental actions taken to curb settler theft and violence, by attacking Israeli forces and Palestinians.

Israeli forces extra-judicially kill pardoned Palestinian

At approximately 9:30pm on Monday 1st December, Israeli Special Forces entered Balata refugee camp in Nablus and arrested 28 year old Mohammad Kamal Abu Thraa – an ex-freedom fighter who had been granted amnesty by Israeli authorities in exchange for serving time in Palestinian prison. Two hours later he was pronounced dead from gunshot wounds.

Friends and residents of Balata report that Mohammad had been eating dinner with his family before he received a phone call from Palestinian police advising him to wait in front of a convenience store on Al Aqsa street, for a police car to pick him up and take him to the police station to sleep for the night. This was a routine call, as Mohammad had been sleeping in a Nablus police station every night for the past year, forsaking armed struggle in order to take advantage of an amnesty scheme organised between Palestinian and Israeli authorities. This agreement supposedly offers Palestinian freedom-fighters amnesty in return for time spent in Palestinian prisons.


No blood was found at the scene of the arrest

Mohammad, however, was not on the street for even one minute before he was arrested by six Israeli special forces officers, four of whom were dressed in typical Palestinian-style clothing, speaking Arabic “better than me” claims one Balata resident. Witnesses report that Mohammad was alive at the time of his arrest on the busy street, and the scene itself bears no sign of blood or struggle. It is believed that Mohammad was then taken to the Huwarra military base and detention facility,and that it was there that he was murdered.

Two hours after his arrest, Mohammad’s body was returned to Rafidia hospital in Nablus, from where, at 10am on Tuesday morning, his family collected it for the funeral march through the streets of Nablus before burying him in Balata cemetary. Friends who saw the body advise that Mohammad was killed by three bullet holes to the chest and abdomen, but that his face and body were also badly bruised; eyes swollen, with all of his front teeth broken and his face bloodied.

This is but the most recent in a long-history of Israeli forces extra-judicially killing Palestinians to whom they claimed to have granted amnesty. It coincides with hunger strikes by Palestinian prisoners in Nablus who, upon taking part in the amnesty agreement, have found themselves imprisoned indefinitely as the three-month sentence to which most of them agreed has long since passed, with no pardon in sight.

Friends and neighbours say that Mohammad was beloved by his whole community. “Everyone here loved him”, said one resident, “But the Israeli soldiers will shoot anyone”. Mohammad is survived by his parents and five siblings.

Candle-light vigil held in Nablus in solidarity with Gaza

On the evening of November 30th, Palestinians from the West Bank city of Nablus assembled in the city centre to show support for the people of Gaza, who have been denied access to food, water, medicine and electricity as a result of the complete closure of the Gaza Strip by Israeli authorities.

To commemorate the International Day of Solidarity with Palestinian People, over 100 Nablus residents, together with international activists, lit candles and held signs saying “Long Live Gaza,” and “Stop Ethnic Cleansing in Palestine”, referring to the systematic Israeli attempt to further expel Palestinians from their homelands and diminish Palestinian national identity.

The demonstration, organized by a coalition of different Palestinian political parties and organisations, called for unity against the Israeli occupation, chanting, “One flag, one homeland”. Many speakers pointed out that although it does not match the totality of the siege on Gaza, Nablus too is under siege from Israeli checkpoints and closures.

Solidarity was also expressed between the refugee camps in Nablus and those in Gaza, with the crowd chanting “From Nablus to Gaza, we will live with dignity!”.

In a clear act of collective punishment and violation of international law, the Gaza Strip has been almost completely sealed, making de-facto prisoners out of the region’s 1.5 million people. These policies have already cost hundreds of lives, and destroyed the livelihood of hundreds of thousands, leaving over 80% of the population below the poverty line, and facing imminent starvation as much needed food supplies are denied.

Ni’lin holds prayer demonstration against the Apartheid Wall

28th November 2008 – Ni’lin village

On Friday 28th November at 12.30pm approximately 150 Palestinians, internationals and Israelis gathered in protest against the illegal Apartheid Wall that is now under construction on Ni’lin village’s land.

The army met the protesters with teargas and rubber-coated steel bullets half a kilometer before they reached the construction site of the wall. This meant that the people of Ni’lin were now even being restricted from land that is not being confiscated by the Apartheid Wall.

Several people were hit by rubber coated steel bullets and tear-gas canisters aimed directly at persons in the demonstration.

Two Palestinians and one international activist required medical treatment after being hit by tear gas canisters. One of the Palestinians was hit in the chest, breaking a rib, and was taken to Ramallah hospital for treatment.

Todays demonstration started with a prayer close to the medical clinic in Ni’lin with the plan being to continue to the construction site of the Wall.

A bus full of students from An-Najah university, Nablus, came to support the local activists in their shared struggle against the construction of the Apartheid Wall.

The protesters were stopped on a hill top right next to the clinic by Israeli soldiers who shot huge amounts of tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets from all sides of the group on the hill top.

There were several attempts from protesters to continue towards the construction site, but every time they moved forward they were targeted by the army and pushed back again.

The demonstration ran from 12.30pm to around 5pm in the afternoon.

ISM Gaza Strip: IOF bulldozers and tank on Gazan land east of Khan Younis

On Thursday the 27th of November a group of ISM volunteers who were accompanying farmers and monitoring the situation in Khouza’a east of Khan Younis, observed a concentration of IOF (Israeli Occupation Forces) behind the Green Line. At about 10.15 a.m. two D-9 armoured bulldozers and a tank crossed the fence and entered the Gaza Strip. Farmers in Khouza’a stopped working in their fields and started to return home. ISM volunteers accompanied them and in the same time were taking footage proving the incident.

The IOF forces entered for about 100 to 150 metres and started to move northbound along the Green Line towards Al Faraheen, whilst approaching Palestinian houses and the school in Khouza’a. The Israeli bulldozers were destroying whatever lay in their path along this stretch of Palestinian land, although most of it is not worked by Palestinian farmers as they are prevented from reaching it by IOF shooting.

By the time the two bulldozers and the tank reached Al Faraheen, they were supported by at least two more tanks behind the fence. Together they continued their operation towards Al Qerrara. According to Palestinian residents, this type of military activity inside the Gaza Strip is not unusual, even in the time of ceasefire; however this was the third consecutive day that it was repeated in the area east of Khan Younis.