Ynet: Hebron – Palestinian family says trapped by army

IDF troops seize control of Palestinian home in West Bank city as part of deployment during Sukkot holiday, female family member since released from home says relatives being held in enclosed room for three days now. Army denies abuse claims

By Ali Waked

To view original article, published by Ynet on the 17th October, click here


Photo by Magad Guzani, Activestills

The mitzvah of this holiday requires Jewish families to reside in their sukkah for seven days, but for some Palestinians this Sukkot means being forced to live in a small room for days. This was the case for Sultan family from Hebron, who said they were held captive in their home since Tuesday morning and were subjected to shameful treatment. The army, after confirming the troops had already left the house, vehemently denied the accusations.

IDF troops commandeered the family’s house as part of the army’s preparations for the arrival of numerous Israeli visitors to the city. The family members claim that despite initially being told they would only have to remain confined to the room for 24 hours, the soldiers have yet to leave the house.

Among the household members is Anha’ar Sultan, who is four months pregnant. “A large IDF force came into our house at four in the morning. About 40 soldiers came in and told us that they intended to stay until the next morning, under a military decree. They shut me and my one-year-old daughter in one room, and my husband and two brothers-in-law in one room with a kitchen – and we were forbidden to leave, or even open a window,” she told Ynet.

However after Israeli peace activists and the B’Tselem organization intervened, Anha’ar was allowed to leave the house. Her husband and his brothers are still being held in the house.

“A soldier sat in the hallway near the room and wouldn’t let us shut the door. He didn’t take into account that we need to sleep, or that there are women in the house. We couldn’t breathe, my one-year-old daughter collapsed because of the conditions, and when I begged to take her out onto the balcony they said no,” continued Sultan.

Sultan said that on Wednesday morning the family was sure the operation had ended, but then a different force arrived and refused to explain why the house was still being used.

“They were not polite and when we asked for help there was none. They wouldn’t even let us give the ewe in the yard food or water.

“I don’t know if because these were three days of hell I won’t have to get an abortion,” she said.

The IDF responded to the claims: “The soldiers’ presence in the house was an operational necessity, the sole purpose of which is combating terror.

“After the soldiers left the house they cleaned it and restored it to its original state. During the time they resided in the house the soldiers used a side room, and allowed the family members to exit the house and return to buy groceries and feed their sheep. As for the pregnant woman, the request to release her was transferred via the Red Cross to the Coordination and Liaison Administration – and was then granted.” The army denied other organizations had been involved in the handling of the woman’s request.

Dozens suffer from teargas inhalation in Bil’in protest

Report from the Bil’in Committee Against the Apartheid Wall and Settlements

Friday 17 October 2008

After the Friday prayer, the residents of Bil’in gathered in a protest together with Israeli and international activists. A group from France called on French people to support the Palestinian People and another group from Norway joined the demonstration in solidarity with the village in their struggle against the Wall and settlement building.

The protesters raised Palestinian flags and banners to allow Palestinian farmers to pick olive trees from their land. The protest called to remove the illegal wall and settlements, stop land confiscations, remove checkpoints and road blocks, and the release of all the Palestinian detainees.

Another delegation from the National and International Affairs Department from the PLO visited the village to support the families with picking their olives. The members of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlement Building gave a presentation to the delegation. The head manager of the department, along with the head of the Information Department, Abed Alrasol, and Myassar the manager of Foreign Relations gave a plaque in an appreciation for the efforts and standing of the village and the committee against Israeli aggression. They offered Bil’in greetings and support from the head of the Department of International and Arab Relations in the PLO Ghassan Asheka.

The demonstrators chanted against the discriminatory policies of the occupation and called for a national unity among the Palestinians, while they carried ladders and tools to pick olives. When the protest reached the gate, protesters tried to access the land to pick olives, but they were stopped by sound grenades and teargas canisters. The demonstrators managed to damage and take off the gate to bring it to the village, near the monument of Yassir Arafat in the center of the village.

A delegation from the village along with international and Israeli activists joined the village of Almazra’a Alsharqiya and the neighboring villages to remove a road block that has been placed for 17 years near A’in Al-Haramiya area on the road between Nablus and Ramallah.

The International Human Rights Organization in Berlin announced the nomination of Bili’in Popular Committee Against the Wall in Ramallah and the Israeli Anarchists Against the Wall for Carl Von Ossietzky’s prize 2008. Osseitzky was kidnapped and tortured in the Nazi prison camp (Soninburg), located near the Polish city of Slontnick because of his resistance against racism and war.

Bili’in Popular Committee Against the Wall in Ramallah and the Israeli Anarchists Against the Wall were nominated because of their massive efforts in resisting the wall which violates human rights. The award ceremony will be held on October 7th at the House of World Cultures in Berlin. That date was chosen to mark the sixtieth anniversary of signing the International Declaration of Human Rights on 10th of October, 1948 in the UN General Assembly.

Israeli navy again attack Gazan fishermen

On the 17th October, Three Human Rights Observers (HROs) accompanied a fleet of four Palestinian fishing boats, as they left the port in Gaza in the morning at 07:00.

By 08:15 the fishing boats were proceeding in a southerly direction, 8 nautical miles from the Gazan coast. At this point, an Israeli naval gunboat approached the fishing boats, and began to circle them. A loud explosion was heard, the cause of which is unknown. An international HRO close to the gunboat at this time reports that the sound of the explosion was consistent with her previous experience of the Israeli Navy throwing explosive charges into the water next to fishing boats. The gunboat continued circling the fishing fleet for several minutes, as a soldier fired several bursts from a deck mounted heavy machine-gun in their general direction.

At around 09:30, the large Israeli vessel with a high powered water cannon approached. Over the next two and a half hours it fired the water cannon at each of the fishing boats in turn, for long periods. As a result, the fishing boats were incapable of maneuvering properly, and the nets of two of the boats became entangled. One of the fishermen had to dive into the water to attempt to separate them, once the water cannon boat had ceased its assault. One of the HROs whose body was hit directly by the water cannon reported in a text message that he was, “OK but body aching like being beaten”.

As these attacks were taking place, an Israeli Navy spokesperson – Captain Benjamin Rutland – explained on BBC World Radio that the water cannon is powerful enough to cause damage to the fishing boats themselves;

“…it may cause damage to a boat…”

Somewhat paradoxically however he then went on to say that the use of such a high powered weapon

“…minimizes injuries to Palestinian fishermen.”

Captain Rutland didn’t say what precise level of injury the Israeli Navy considers itself justified in inflicting on these civilians on (what is now becoming) a daily basis.

Settlers hospitalise elderly woman in Susiya

On Saturday morning, October 11th, two shepherds from the Ehreni family were out grazing their sheep close to their home in the Susiya area. At the same time, one kilometre from the Palestinians, two settlers from the Susiya Settlement went towards the valley through a closed military area. At the same time three settlers came down from a newly built outpost placed West of Susiya settlement.

The five settlers went through the valley and approached the shepherds while yelling insults at them. They then began throwing stones at the Palestinians from a distance of 10 metres. Two of the settlers grabbed one of the boys and the other three threw stones at him. The mother of the shepherd was nearby in her tent. She saw the settlers beat her son and went towards them scared for his life. One of the settlers threw a big stone at her that hit her thigh, causing her to fall to the ground. Other Palestinians then arrived to try to protect the family from the attack.

The confrontation continued for around 40 minutes, with both groups throwing stones at each other. Meanwhile other Palestinians had called the police, but they arrived half and hour after the settlers had left the scene.

Four Palestinians were injured from the assault, but the most critical was Haje Ehreni who after she fell could not walk on her leg. She was taken with her son to the public hospital in Yatta. It is the second time she has been attacked by settlers and hospitalised.

Assaults from settlers in the Susiya area are a continuous problem. The settlers regularly attack Palestinian shepherds while they are out herding their sheep, even though the Palestinians avoid the most dangerous places. The settlers have also attacked the Palestinians during the night while they are sleeping in their tents.

ISM Gaza: ‘Please let farmers in your communities know what is happening to the Palestinian farmers here in the Gaza Strip’

On Tuesday morning, 14th October at around 09:30, two of the Human Rights Observers (HROs), who had spent the night at a house close to the
Green Line in the ‘buffer zone’ in Al-Faraheen, put on florescent yellow vests with reflective tape. They walked out in the demolished fields of olive, citrus, and guava trees surrounding the house. They walked in the direction of the Green Line closest to the house. Less than 250 meters from the house and more than 300 meters from the fence the two HROs sat on cement blocks left from a house or well demolition by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) soldiers on 1st May 2008.

They sat and looked out at the demolished fields and chatted. About twenty minutes later, around 10:00, they observed an IOF jeep on the road. The jeep parked next to another jeep. IOF soldiers got out and stood on the jeep. Shots were then fired by the IOF soldiers. The HROs stood facing the IOF soldiers.

One of the HROs stood with hands and arms raised as if asking “Why are you firing?”, “What are you shooting at?”. The IOF soldiers fired shots three or four times over a span of some minutes. After the firing stopped a third HRO joined the two HROs. Some minutes later the IOF soldiers then got into their jeeps and drove away. At 10:30 the HROs walked back to the house.

The HROs were at the house in Al-Faraheen close to the Green Line for a meeting with some of the local farmers to discuss what support, if any, the HROs could give them. Unfortunately, since the HROs cannot guarantee they will still be in the Gaza Strip another five to six months, there is little at the present time for the HROs to do to support the farmers. The farmers don’t want to plant a crop, such as wheat with a three to five month cycle of planting to harvest, unless the HROs would be available to accompany them for the harvest.

In the past when the Palestinian farmers had harvested their crops, but had not yet brought it in from the fields, the IOF soldiers demolished the crops in various ways. The farmers need a guarantee of HRO presence before they will take the huge risk, both physically and financially, of planting. In addition, some brothers who are sheep farmers, now no longer take their few sheep out to graze after the IOF soldiers killed five-hundred of their sheep on 1st May 2008. Since the IOF soldiers demolished so many dunams of various trees and crops on 1st May 2008, there is no grazing land for the sheep. It should be noted that many of the farmers that we met are older, in their seventies.

Please let farmers in your communities know what is happening to the Palestinian farmers here in the Gaza Strip.