International Solidarity Movement - Page 120 - Nonviolence. Justice. Freedom.

Umm al-Hiran, a village off the maps

2nd December 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, Hebron/al-Khalil team | occupied Palestine

Umm al-Hiran is a Bedouin village in the Negev desert in southern Israel. The village is surrounded by open landscape, the only structures in sight line. About a fifteen minute drive away is a small city called Hura, where the children from the village attend school. In 1956, Israel moved the people in the village from their original home in Wadi Zubala near Rahat to Umm al-Hiran. Approximately 1,000 people inhabit the village now, and it is one of the many unrecognized Bedouin villages throughout 48. The State of Israel is now planning to uproot this entire family once again so they can replace their homes with an illegal Jewish Israeli settlement that they want to call “Hiran”. And, this time, they are offering to send them to Hura, without any real plan for where they can live. The village does not intend to move there, and are now working on negotiations with Israel.

The infrastructure of the village is divided in two, split by a road. On the far side, one house was already demolished one to two weeks ago. They were given two days notice. That family is currently living in the houses of their neighbors. On November 22^nd, many activists joined the village to be present for the threat of demolition, which did not occur, and to this day has not yet happened.

construction begins right outside the buildings

Currently, there are bulldozers and trucks already at work building roadways and a water system surrounding the outside of the village.

Building waterways for the new Jewish Israeli settlement — Building waterways for the new illegal Jewish Israeli settlement

Any new structures that are put up are immediately knocked down. A couple of months ago, a new wall that the village built was demolished. A mother said that she has all the parts for a play area for her children to put up, but she is afraid to set it up because she knows that it will be quickly destroyed.

Members of the Bedouin village have been going to court and are speaking with the members of the Knesset in Jerusalem daily to form some sort of negotiation plan. At the moment, they still do not know what the end results of these talks will be. They are not requesting presence right now in the village, but those in solidarity are watching closely to be available when the need arises again. Miriam, a mother in the village said, “they tell us that it is not ours, that we came and took the land. But we did not come out of the air- we have been here always”.

For more on this story:

https://www.palestinecampaign.org/umm-al-hiran-demolition/

https://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=771498

http://www.alternativenews.org/index.php/headlines/265-israeli-forces-a-no-show-umm-al-hiran-s-demolition-delayed

Assira, surrounded on all sides

Assira al Quiblya is a West Bank village up on a hill between Huwwara and Nablus. But unfortunately, it is not sufficiently uphill enough to be free and safe from the Yitzhar settlement. This settlement, one of the most active in assaults, makes life more and more difficult for the Palestinian inhabitants.

outpost — Illegal colonial settlement Yitzhar

For many years Assira has faced the violence of the same script the rest of the occupied territories has faced: night raids, tear gas, sound bombs, and destruction of properties. There is tremendous fear, and the loss of peace and safety.

Currently, Assira is faced with a new problem, not coming from Yitzhar (for the moment), but from its own authorities – those who have the duty to protect its people. It’s hard to believe, but the Village Council has decided, without any consultation with the population, to open a road that will allow the settlers to reach the village more easily and quickly.

The path starts at the edge of Assira and this naturally frightens a lot the people living there, as they are completely exposed to the potential assaults from their extremists neighbors. In order to open the track, they will have to uproot olive trees, a source of both possible income and an important symbol for the Palestinian people. There has been no permission from the owners for this. Wasn’t there sufficient suffering and uncertainty already?

A group of citizens have gone to the Regional Authority hoping to find help to stop the project. It is absurd that the Palestinian people now must fight against the organising body that are supposed to be in charge of defending their rights. It is already a difficult situation caused by the violence of the illegal colonizing settlers and soldiers of the Israeli Occupation Forces.

The struggle continues for this community. Latest news states that the illegal colonial settlers have built a tower near the houses in order to continue to expand their territory.

Is there no end to their bullying?

Link to OCHA report from 2012 of settlement violence on the Palestinian village: https://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_yitzhar_map_february_2012_map_english.pdf

We want our children back!

29th November 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

On Monday, 28th November 2016, Palestinians gathered to demand the bodies of their loved (brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, daughters and sons) – killed by the Israeli occupation forces – back for burial. Many of these family members who attended were holding signs and posters of their loved ones and appeared very distraught.

Women holding signs of their killed family members

Hundreds of Palestinians gathered outside the Palestinian municipality, holding banners and pictures of their family members, who have been gunned down by Israeli forces, left to bleed to death. Afterward, the Israeli occupation forces would kidnap the dead body, denying the right of a funeral to the family. Palestinians, since October last year, have been gunned down by Israeli forces, often on the claim of having a knife. The policy of withholding the bodies from the families, is enacted as a form of collective punishment illegal under military law, punishing the family for an alleged act of the killed Palestinian. In this form, the family is denied to bury their family members, despite in Islam a body is supposed to be buried latest the day after death.

Instead, the Israeli occupation forces keep the bodies in “the freezers of the zionist occupation”. Many bodies of Palestinians are still held by the Israeli forces, with no-one knowing whether they will ever be given to the mourning families that have lost a loved member.

"We want our children back" — “We want our children back”

Children: marvelous examples that life must go on whatever happens

29th November 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

Children: marvelous examples that life must go on whatever happens, even if their growing up is influenced by negative experiences with settlers, soldiers, torture, humiliations…

We experienced this in the two days of the Jewish festival of “Chaye Sara” in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron) in which 2.500 settlers arrived, camped in tents, went on their tours along the Palestinian souq and all the streets around the Ibrahimi Mosque. Apparently they prayed, but… what did they ask to their God?

Palestinians and internationals were expecting the usual violence against people and shops. In fact, groups of youngsters, feeling protected by their army, destroyed a shop window, insulted shop owners, made exercises with their third finger… violently stole handcraft souvenirs from many shops. To steel is a crime…. But here in Palestine, it depends on who you are.

Some of the settlers in their tour, just in front of a soldier, threw stones at houses on the hill over the Ibrahimi Mosque. So we spent two nights in the area, trying to reduce more violence: soldiers and settlers could see us and ours cameras…

As usual, the families were very welcoming, never complaining… they knew… this is their life. And the children? After the first moments, the explosion of their innocence, of their hunger of attention, thirst of joy.

children-and-soldiers — drawing made by Palestinian child

In front of the houses, soldiers equipped and ready for the most terrible fight, the rifles pointing to a possible enemy and hundreds of Jewish settlers walking proud to demonstrate their presence there.

And the children? They went on playing with us, laughing, jokeing, even when we accompanied them to a shop.

The rifles and the most sophisticated guns against the incredible strength of these children able to smile and play with the simplest things in their streets, in their homes, thanks to their minds still free of a gray and oppressive wall.

The right to be a child – also in this situation of human stupidity and of too many adults against them. The international society has the duty to protect them. Too many of them have already had their lifes ruined. It’s enough!!!

There is Only One Struggle

28th November 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | occupied Palestine and Standing Rock

Sometime after 9-11 U.S. police departments (State, local, & Sheriff’s Departments) along with many U.S. governmental law enforcement agencies such as Homeland Security, the FBI, and Border & Customs Police began to send their officers to Israel for training with the Israeli Police and the Israeli occupation forces. Training has included counter-terrorism measures, crowd control, and protests. Much of the training takes place not in Israel proper but in the illegal settler colonized West Bank .
There’s many similarities between what is happening in Palestine and what is currently happening in Standing Rock in North Dakota to the Water Protectors. Many of the law enforcement officers at Standing Rock have been trained in Israel. The weapons and tactics are identical. The use of high pressure water cannons, rubber bullets, rubber coated steel bullets, the use of attack dogs, and sound grenades are the same in both places.

Palestinians in solidarity with first nation water protectors Photo credit: Fosna

The killing (read-murder) of so many unarmed people of color in the U.S. by the police with no accountability to speak of and police officers given paid time off with their superiors and the courts stating they acted properly. Hundreds of Palestinians have been murdered by the Israeli occupation forces stating the individual had a knife or was suspected of having a knife or other weapon, with complete impunity.
A medic at Standing Rock recently noted that the law enforcement personnel are intentionally targeting the legs and heads of the Water Protectors. This is a tactic that is commonly used on Palestinians.

Palestinian activist attacked by Israeli occupation forces security dog

A bridge leading to the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) that has been closed for over a week has had large cement barriers and razor wire place on the bridge. Road blocks like this are a common occurrence all over the West Bank, severely limiting freedom of movement, stopping emergency vehicles from getting through and often having to drive miles out of their way to get someone to a hospital. The one road blocked bridge is causing ambulances to drive an extra thirty minutes to get an injured person to the hospital.
There are many internationals working with Palestinians here in the West Bank and Gaza. At the same time there are a number of Palestinians who have traveled to Standing Rock in solidarity with the Water Protectors. One who recently arrived at Standing Rock stated that on his way there he thought a great deal about the similarities and conditions between Palestine and Standing Rock. Upon arrival he “no longer thought about the similarities. I felt them in my bones.”

Palestinians in solidarity with Standing Rock water protectors. Photo credit: mondoweiss

Our struggles are one. The Palestinians the Water Protectors and other activists in the U.S. are all working for the same freedoms against the same oppressors. A quote on our apartment wall reads: “Solidarity: if you come here to help, you are wasting your time…but if you have come because your freedom is bound up with mine then let us work together.”

For the Palestinian perspective on this comparison see this article by Issra Suliman.