13th December 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, Huarra team | occupied Palestine
Ziad Abu Ein- 22-11-1959/10-12-2014
On December 9th,2016, hundreds of people gathered in the small village of Turmas Ayya, north of Ramallah, to commemorate the death of Ziad Abu Ein, a high profile Palestinian politician, Minister and Fatah leader, who died after inhaling tear gas and being violently beaten by Israeli Forces on Dec 10th, 2014. This event also marked the third year of demonstrations against the uprooting of hundreds of trees by Israeli settlers and the confiscation of land by Israel in Turmas Ayya. The Commission Against the Wall and the Settlements organized this event together with the Abu Ein family. Representatives of political parties as well as dozens of internationals also participated in the tree planting, and reclaiming the land, which followed the midday prayer.
Men praying in the land nearby the village of Turmas Ayya. Olive trees waiting to be planted.
Not long after the prayer, while people were planting trees, Israeli Forces arrived and started shooting tear gas from up on the hill. The peaceful and non-violent event was once again interrupted by the excessive and brutal use of force by Israeli soldiers. Once again, tree planting turned into tear gas. Tear gas thrown to the crowd
The land of Turmus Ayya is divided by Area B and Area C. The tree planting took part on Area B land, and just above the event in Area C, dozens of “shabab” (teenagers and young Palestinian men) were making small fires while carrying Palestinian flags and protesting against the Israeli occupation force. Within minutes, two jeeps and several armed soldiers appeared. Thus began a stand off where stones were thrown, and tear gas followed beginning with one canister at a time.
Stand off. Israeli Occupation Forces observing the crowd and the shabab movement.
As the clash continued to stir, more and fast rounds of the gas erupted into the air. The “shabab” starter running downhill and soldiers began to race down chasing the group.
Palestinian Youths and Israeli soldiers
Israeli Occupation Forces chasing down the hill the Palestinian “shabab”.
Two soldiers managed to catch a fourteen-year-old boy. They pinned him to the ground, punched him while holding down his body, and then picked him up and dragged him back up the hill towards the jeep.
A fourteen-year-old boy being pinned down by Israeli Forces.
The teenager being arrested and dragged up the hill.
At that point, there were about twenty-five soldiers spread out along the hillside, and a still tension awaiting the next move. Some of the young boys came close to the soldiers and a few more tear gas canisters were thrown up. Eventually negotiations began with leaders of the demonstrations and members of the Turmus Ayya village. They told the Israeli Forces that they will not leave until they release the boy. Hours later, he was indeed released; a positive moment in the constant battle for the Palestinian’s basic rights.
This day of remembering Ziad Abu Ein, whose life was taken for the resistance struggle, is the reality that people are still fighting, still standing up for the rights to their land and to a free Palestine.
People disperse after the confrontation and leave behind newly planted olive trees.
5th December 2016 | International Solidarity Movement | Huwwara team, occupied Palestine
Members of the Circus School in Palestine, representatives of the embassies
of Italy, Spain and Switzerland, Amnesty International and ISM were in the
Israeli Supreme Court today to witness the hearing of the appeal for the release
of the Palestinian circus trainer Mohammad Abu Sakha. Abu Sakha has been on administrative detention for almost a year. Administrative detention means that Israeli military can detain him for an indefinite period, without indictment and the right to a trial.
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Mohammad Abu Sakha lost his freedom on 14 December 2015, when he was first arrested and detained at Zaatara military checkpoint, south of Nablus, as he was going to work at the Circus School in BirZeit. On 25 December of that year, he received a 6-month administrative detention, which was renewed on 13th of June 2016.
The hearing session at the Supreme Court went fast. First, Mohammad’s lawyer read the appeal and once he finished few men from the Shabak, (Israeli Security Agency also known as Shin Bet) stood up and passed a file to the judges in the room. After taking few minutes to read the file, the judges promptly decided to dismiss Abu Sakha’ appeal and ended the court session.
Besides Shabak and the three judges, no one knows what is the content of this file, including the prosecutor, Mohammad’s lawyer and Mohammad himself. After one year in Israeli prison Abu Sakha still doesn’t know what he is accused of. The Shabak file, which is classified, might be the only thing that keeps him in prison.
The Ketziot prison located in the Negev/Naqab region, outside the West Bank, is a violation of the Geneva Convention which states that Detainees from the population of an occupied territory must be detained within that territory. During his time in prison he has only been allowed to three visits, all from his mother. On 12 December this year his detention should have ended. His lawyers and supporters believed that he would finally be free but on the same day he was given, again, another 6-month administrative detention period, exactly as it had happen in the past.
Today, no one knows what will happen to Mohammad. Palestinians live under a contempt military occupation. With his work as a circus trainer, Mohammad Abu Sakha fills a much-needed role to bring happiness and light to those around him.
End Administrative Detention.
Free Mohammad Abu Sakha !
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.
6th December 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, England support group | England
ISM-England is offering a training for interested ISM-volunteers in Sheffield on 18th and 19th of February ! If you’re interested in joining the team on the ground in Palestine, make sure to reserve the date and join the training.
Any volunteer is required to participate in training before joining activities in Palestine. This training will prepare you for the solidarity work with communities in Palestine, give you a first impression, connect with people that have been in Palestine, and give you the chance to have all your questions answered!
Even if you’re not interested in joining activities in Palestine, but feel passionate about human rights for Palestinians, contact ISM England and get involved in advocacy work at home.
For any questions, signing-up for the training and more information please contact ISM England on training.ismlondon@riseup.net.
6th December 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine
As for colonial Israel, nothing happens without a reason. Periods of extreme violence are followed by relative calm periods with more intense colonial construction activities and preparations for the next facts on the ground.
Palestinian daily life is inhumanly restricted by the military occupation and by apartheid rules and regulations. Added to that, the daily lives of the Palestinians can be traumatically dangerous because of the unpredictable military violence against Palestinian men, women, boys and girls.
Following the escalation of Israeli military violence with 230+ Palestinians killed and 1850+ severely wounded mostly from September 2015 to March 2016, the actual situation since then seems one of relative calm and seemingly less dangerous.
But, the violence is in the preparations for the next stage of the ethnic cleansing project.
The occupation forces are remarkably active in replacing three temporary checkpoints by more extended permanent ones, replacing the temporary entrance-control at the Ibrahimi mosque with a new permanent stone building, installing many military streetlights and its newest security cameras on all streets, raising more gates, concrete walls, barber-wire and other barriers, and putting new Hebrew-English street signs in the ethnically cleaned streets and in Palestinian neighborhoods, as if they are in fact Israeli neighborhoods with some remaining Palestinian residents.
In the old center of Hebron, during a period of relative silence, many new colonial structures have been put in place by the colonial occupation forces.
New fortified checkpoints
Three new permanent checkpoints, replacing the smaller ones, surrounding the Shuhada Street area and a new permanent access control building in front of the Ibrahimi Mosque
New Shuhada street checkpoint
As an alleged logical result of the preceding period of violence, named ‘Knife Intifada’ in the Israel News, the Israeli occupation fortified all checkpoints surrounding the Suhada Street and Ibrahimi Mosque area.
All four new structures are in place and ready to be used for more restriction of the Palestinian residents on their way to and from their neighborhoods, their mosques, their shops and their schools.
At each checkpoint, the residents have to pass two metal turn-gates, of which one is closed by design, and two remotely lockable doors .
They also have to pass through a closed concrete surveillance box with soldiers behind bulletproof glass.
From outside the checkpoint, it is impossible to see what happens with the man, woman, boy or girl who enters this inhuman soldier- controlled room.
Imagine that you can be executed and left bleeding to die, totally unseen by other residents, journalists and human rights observers who are in the vicinity of this inhuman steel & concrete military surveillance structure.
New Hebrew-English street signs
Many new street signs, some of them replacing the traditional Arab-Hebrew-English street signs, but most of them are new signs and text boards.
Some of these street signs, on which the Arabic language has been eliminated, point to illegal colonial settlements naming them “Jewish Neighborhoods”, as if the colonial settlers are the only existing populations.
The other signs and text boards refer to alledged Jewish history and heritage, as this is the true and only history in this Palestinian city-center.
The occupation changed the name al Khalil (most of western people don’t even know this real name) to ‘Hebron’, locking the front doors of nearly all family houses in this central part of the city. This changes the reality in a way that it will fit into the Zionist colonial narrative, in which (Greater) Israel belongs to the Jews and the “Arabs” (Palestinians who could be either Muslim or Christian) are the intruders.
The Israeli state reserved multi-million dollars for these new signs and text boards.
The state’s ethnic cleansing project
The native Palestinian residents who rightfully resists to leave their homes, their neighborhoods and their lands, see their cultural identity and a prosperous future incrementally exterminated and will have a more harsh time being confronted with the next period of military occupation violence, due to the additional permanent restrictions in movement.
No entrance in Hebron-H2
With the deterrence of their weapons, surveillance and prisons, with the threat of another military escalation, and due to the peaceful character of the indigenous Palestinian residents, the occupation forces can do what they want in occupied Palestine.
The collaborating western mainstream media and political institutions will allow them to proceed with their war-criminal agenda. International law seems to be a cynical joke.
The new Israeli legal draft that will forbid the Islamic call for the prayer is just another attack on the culture, religion and identity of the native Palestinian people, whose land and resources are stolen by the colonial Israeli State, supported by all NATO countries and Australia.
By kidnapping and imprisoning children, who traumatically have to undergo extreme psychological torture, the colonial state tries to effectively destroy the next generation of native Palestinians and any hope for a better future for the Palestinian people.
preparations for new settlement expansions
Since the execution of more then ten Palestinian residents at the Gilbert checkpoint in Tel Rumeida, this Palestinian Neighborhood is inaccessible for anyone who is not implicitly listed as an resident. Inside the neighborhood, on top of the old Jewish cemetery a new temporary army base was built, and removed a year later. The new street signs now refer to it as the ‘old Jewish cemetery’ and a new ‘Chabad cemetery’, open for new funerals.
Next to this Jewish cemetery compound, lies the part of Tel Rumeida, that was destroyed for archaeological reasons. It is is now surrounded by a new military steel fence and made ready for possible new settlement expansions. It already has the new name “ancient Tel Hebron” on all those new street signs.
On another compound in Hebron, between the Shuhada Street and the remaining part of the Palestinian souq, until this year in use as a temporary army base, a new colonial settlement is announced to be build. It will initially consist of 28 new colonial houses. It is, just like all settlement construction, illegal by international law.
Replacing an Israeli army base by an illegal colonial settlement isn’t a new unprecedented strategy. In the first years of the occupation of the West Bank, the colonial settlement Kyriat Arba arose illegally in a very temporary Israeli army base on the North East hill of Khalil (Hebron). Today it houses some 7000 colonial Israeli settlers, and is the reason for many restrictions, harassment and attacks on the Palestinian population in al-Khalil.
This is the sad reality of a 70 year Zionist colonization of Palestine, the Israeli strategical approach to non-violent Palestinian resistance since 2005, the silence of the mainstream media, the unconditional support of the US, and the refusal of politicians in all NATO countries to apply to international law and put sanctions on Israel.
Ziad Abu Ein- 22-11-1959/10-12-2014
Men praying in the land nearby the village of Turmas Ayya. Olive trees waiting to be planted. 
Tear gas thrown to the crowd
Stand off. Israeli Occupation Forces observing the crowd and the shabab movement.
Palestinian Youths and Israeli soldiers
Israeli Occupation Forces chasing down the hill the Palestinian “shabab”.
A fourteen-year-old boy being pinned down by Israeli Forces.
The teenager being arrested and dragged up the hill.
People disperse after the confrontation and leave behind newly planted olive trees.
