International Solidarity Movement - Page 12 - Nonviolence. Justice. Freedom.

Illegal Israeli Settlers Continue Attacks on Shepherds in Masafer Yatta

23 March 2024 | International Solidarity Movement | Masafer Yatta

March 21. @ISM

On March 20 and 21, Palestinian shepherds from the village of Umm Fagarah in Masafer Yatta faced violent attacks and incursions onto their grazing lands by illegal Israeli settlers.

On the 20th March an armed settler, from the illegal outpost Jebel Dov, moved up the Sarura Valley where they intimidated Palestinian shepherds pushing them out of the valley. The settler called nearby settler/soldiers who arrived and backed the settler, forcing the shepherds to leave and threatened to detain internationals present. Police arrived at the request of the Palestinians, recorded identification and left, with no justice for the shepherds.

Armed settler approaching a shepherd on March 20. @ISM

At 9am on March 21, shepherds from Umm Fagarah, moved their flocks onto the hills directly to the south of the village. At 10am, two armed settlers ran down the hill from the nearby illegal settlement of Avigayil, located several hundred metres over the hill to the West. The settlers aggressively pushed the shepherds and their flock several hundred metres down the hill forcing them back to their village. At 10.30 two IOF soldiers arrived, also telling the shepherds to go back into the village.

The loss of grazing pasture through land theft and violent settler attacks has greatly affected one of the remaining sources of income for rural Palestinian villages. These attacks have been ongoing for decades, but are rapidly increasing in frequency and violence.

Illegal settlers coming down the hill on March 21. @ISM

Settlers chasing away Palestinian shepherd and his sheep. @ISM

Settlers and soldiers walking away together. @ISM

Second Friday of Ramadan at Qalandia Checkpoint

22 March 2024 | International Solidarity Movement | Qalandia checkpoint

Women performing mid-day prayers outside Qalandia checkpoint. @ISM

Palestinians perform Friday mid-day prayer outside of Qalandia checkpoint this morning while held at gunpoint by Israeli occupation soldiers, after being forcefully denied their right to enter Al-Quds to pray at Al-Aqsa.

People trying to enter were again met with an intensified militarisation of Qalandia checkpoint of heavily armed occupation border police, some of them masked, and vehicles.

Israeli occupation forces at the checkpoint. @ISM

While the Occupation Force officially has announced that men above 55 years, women above 50 years and children below 10 years from the West Bank are allowed to enter, today numerous people in the applicable age group were denied entry by Israeli occupation forces (IOF) claiming that “too many” had entered.

Close to 12 noon, IOF completely shut the checkpoint entrance.

In resistance, and under surveillance and held at gun point by IOF border police, denied women gathered in front of the closed gate to perform the midday Friday prayer, joined by a group of men.

One of the women stated: “We will pray here, what else can we do? Allah will understand that this is the closest we can get to Al-Aqsa”.

She had come from Al-Khalil with a permission to enter, but was denied entry at two attempts, and so was her 66 year old father; IOF told both that “too many” had entered.

Another 60-year old man who had been denied was told that now he had to apply online a week prior.

As the women were praying, a masked IOF border police officer shouted to disturb the prayers, while another masked officer made dance moves towards the prayers. During the IOFs surveillance of people trying to enter, a border police officer was observed removing the safe on their gun.

A large amount of Palestinian medics were present wearing fluorescent vest saying: “Don’t shoot me, I’m not a target. I am a health care provider”.

IOF dancing and disturbing prayers. @ISM

IOF closing Qalandia checkpoint. @ISM

IOF soldier removing safe from gun. @ISM

Deceptively “quiet” first week of Ramadan in Jerusalem: a result of restrictions at Qalandia checkpoint

19 March 2024 | International Solidarity Movement | West Bank/East Jerusalem

Stories from Israeli and international press extoll a safe and unencumbered celebration of the first week of Ramadan for the thousands of Palestinians with Israeli or Jerusalem ID cards, who were allowed entry to Al-Aqsa in most cases with minimal delay.

Unfortunately, Palestinian Muslim prayergoers from the West Bank encountered conditions very different from the story distributed by the press.

Instead of open access, the vast majority of Muslim Palestinians were denied entry to Jerusalem at a heavily militarized Qalandia checkpoint—the largest, most-trafficked access point out from the West Bank. This resulted in a chaotic scene of delay, frustration, and service taxis offering early long-distance rides home to Palestinians who traveled from far away for prayer, only to be immediately rejected at the gate.

After much debate in the executive branch of Israeli government, it was recently announced that only Muslim men over 55, women over 50, and children under 10 would be granted passage through Qalandia. These parameters exclude more than 90% the West Bank population—and, of course, all of Gaza. For comparison, the Ramadan 2023 restrictions on passage from West Bank permitted all men over 45, and all women.

But the constraints and confusion did not stop here; even among those who met the age requirements, West Bank residents could not enter through Qalandia unless they had been previously approved for a special entry ID.

Regarding his exclusion under the entry ID restriction, a Palestinian man in his early 60s shared: “They told me I needed a special permit. But no one here knows they need this permit. And even when you apply, they use any reason to deny you.” Absence of this “entry permit” was used as an excuse to turn away thousands of prayergoers on the first Friday of Ramadan. Another man denied entry (he was twenty days shy of 55) added that those standing outside Qalandia represented only a small fraction of those rejected, because “mostly everyone don’t bother to try. With the [Gaza] war, people don’t feel like celebrating. They don’t think they will be let in.”

For many Palestinian Muslims, praying at the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque is considered a special religious responsibility.

A group of women who had been banned from meeting this responsibility staged a protest Friday morning outside Qalandia. Together, standing meters away from heavily armed IOF soldiers, these women gathered and chanted—in the shadow of the wall, 10 kilometers from Al-Aqsa, as close to the Dome of the Rock as Israeli authorities would permit them to stand.

Photos and videos @ISM.

Masafer Yatta: Israeli Settlers Burn a Family Car in Um Dhorit

17 March 2024 | International Solidarity Movement | Masafer Yatta

Last night, illegal settlers burned a family car in Um Dhorit, in Masafer Yatta. They snuck onto the family’s land and set fire to the family only car in an attempt to make it irreparable. On previous occasions, the settlers have stolen the license plates, slashed all the tyres, ripped out engine components, smashed all the glass and mirrors and destroyed the interior. This car was in working order before the 7th of October.

In the recent months following the 7th of October and the subsequent spike in settler violence in the West Bank, multiple members of this family have been arrested and held in administrative dentition where they were subject to physical abuse and starvation over false accusations of stone-throwing. The house has been persistently raided and attacked by the occupation army and settlers during the day and at night.

Settlers have entered the property on multiple occasions and proceeded to trash the family home, cutting electrics and breaking water pipes and water butts, destroying the vegetable garden and fruit trees and poured petrol into wells.

Settlers attempt to make life here impossible, hoping to force the Palestinians to leave: cutting off all water sources is a common tactic used by the settlers.

The family live isolated at the edge of the firing zone 918 within the Masafer Yatta region, surrounded by settlements and outposts and is at constant risk of attack and forcible displacement. Despite the army and settlers’ efforts to remove them from their land, still they stay strong and hope to remain.

Violent arrest of Palestinian women in Susiya, Masafer Yatta

13 March 2024 | International Solidarity Movement | Masafer Yatta

Israeli soldiers arresting a Palestinian woman. @ISM

Today in Susiya (Masafer Yatta), on the third day in Ramadan, a large number of IOF soldiers and armed settlers arrested a Palestinian woman and an Israeli activist, shot live ammunition in the air and pointed guns to prevent documentation.

The IOF and settlers came and arrested the woman while she was picking akkoub in a place where the army said it is legal to do so.

As Israeli and international activists arrived to observe and document, an Israeli activist got arrested and handcuffed for filming. Eleven armed soldiers and settlers guarded the area of the two detained and started to point guns and shoot live ammunition in the air to force the rest of the activists away from the area and prevent them from filming. IOF threatened to detain anyone who would get nearer calling their situation an “operation”.

IOF arresting an Israeli activist. @ISM

After keeping the detained for a long time on the ground in the burning sun, they took both the Palestinian woman and the Israeli activist in a big white van and drove off. A few hours later, the woman was released and the Israeli activist taken to a police station.

The IOF brought in seven vehicles including a green army jeep, a police jeep and four vans and a large number of soldiers and police for the “operation”.

A large amount of soldiers and military vehicles were present at the scene. @ISM

The palestinian woman was picking Akkoub, a wild plant that Palestinians have been picking and using for cooking for decades. Akkoub is amongst the wild plants and herbs that the occupation force has made illegal for Palestinian to harvest under false accusations of over-harvesting; yet another fraction of the ethnic cleansing of all aspects of Palestinian life, culture and history.