IOF target Hebron youth using photos from photographer-collaborator

by ISM Hebron, February 15th


Federico the “photographer”, chatting to a soldier

At around 2 pm human rights workers (HRWs) witnessed a young Palestinian man, Jihad Salfi Arab, beingd arrested by soldiers near checkpoint 56 in Tel Rumeida. He was violently pushed through the checkpoint where soldiers handcuffed and blindfolded him.

The IOF soldiers carried copies of pictures taken from the clashes last week in the Bab al-Zawiya area. They said he was visible in one the pictures, but wouldn’t show this to the HRWs. The Palestinian young man was then taken to the police station.

Throughout the afternoon IOF soldiers invaded the Bab al-Zawiya neighbourhood in Palestinian controlled H1. At around 2:30 pm 30 soldiers went through checkpoint 56. Six soldiers occupied the roof of a high building overlooking the busy market area and pointed their guns at the crowds below. Another group of six soldiers walked in the direction of the Old City. Four other soldiers entered a woman’s clothes shop and a pharmacy on al-Adel street and investigated the area. HRWs who were present assumed that they were looking for Palestinians who had been throwing stones during last week’s clashes.

The HRWs witnessed how for the past two days, soldiers at checkpoint 56 had been comparing young Palestinians with pictures taken from the clashes. These pictures were given to them by an Argentinian “photographer” who had become a good friend of the soldiers since the beginning of the clashes, last week on Wednesday. Federico the “photographer” has become a helpful partner for the IOF in recognising and arresting wanted Palestinians. Soldiers asked him to take pictures which he generously did.


Federico the “photographer”, hanging out with soldiers at the Tel Rumeida checkpoint

For the second day in a row, settlers invaded a temporarily vacant Palestinian house in the Tel Rumeida neighbourhood, on top of a hill overlooking the olive grove. About 15 settlers, women and children, arrived at 4 pm and stayed for one hour, until the arrival of the police, who were called by the nextdoor Palestinian neighbours. When HRWs heard about the occupation, they went to the house, but both the police and the IOF soldiers did not allow them to stay, claimimg it’s an “army zone”. The HRWs saw that Hebrew letters had been painted on the walls. The Palestinian neighbour said that yesterday the settlers managed to stay for a few hours in the house, but were finally sent away by the police. Yesterday the area surrounding the house had been sealed off by the IOF, making it impossible for HRWs to get near to the house.

CPT: Israeli military demolishes seven Palestinian homes in south Hebron district

by Christian Peacemaker Teams, February 14th


Hajj Mahmoud in front of his demolished house

Israeli soldiers demolished homes in three Palestinian villages near bypass road 317 on February 14, 2007. Starting in Imneizil at around 9am about forty Israeli soldiers with two bulldozers demolished one home, an animal pen and a stone bake-oven. At noon the soldiers moved to Qawawis where they demolished the homes of five families and one bake-oven, then on to Um Al-Kher where they demolished one home and damaged a wall of another home.

At Imneizil several young children were in their home eating when the Israeli military arrived; the soldiers gave the family time to get out, but did not give them time to remove their personal belongings. The animal pen was demolished with a few animals inside; two lambs were injured. The Palestinian family began immediately to build a makeshift pen for the animals as the majority of the sheep were just returning from grazing in the fields.

In the village of Qawawis one of the demolished homes was over sixty-five years old, and sheltered two families. Photos of the families amid the rubble are on the CPT photo gallery: http://www.cpt.org/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=album93

The Israeli military, in concert with Israeli settlers, has been trying to force the Palestinian residents of the south Hebron hills to leave their homes for years. Due to harassment from the nearby Israeli outposts several of the young families of Qawawis moved to a nearby town; when the Israeli army then forcibly evacuated the remaining families, a court ordered that the families could return to their homes. According to a lawyer representing the families, the Israeli army now claims that this court ruling allows only the last inhabitants of Qawawis to return, not their children who earlier fled the assaults of the Israeli settlers.

“Our children need homes,” said one villager. “What do they want us to do?”

The Israeli army said, “Twenty illegal structures were destroyed after demolition orders were issued, and offers were made to the owners to pursue the available options before the planning organizations. The supervisory unit of the civil administration will continue to operate against illegal building activity in the area, and to implement the steps mandated by law against this illegal activity.” The Israeli military made no provisions for shelter for the families whose homes they demolished. The families asked the International Committee of the Red Cross to provide them with tents.

The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions said, “A building permit is unavailable there [in the south Hebron hills].” The preceding day three Israeli peace activists and two internationals, including CPTer Sally Hunsberger, joined approximately fifty Palestinians in working on their land near Imneizil. The Palestinian men, women and children planted 600 olive trees in fields that they had afraid to walk on for the past four years due to threats of settler violence. During the action, soldiers and settlers watched from a distance, but did not interfere with the tree planting.

House Demolitions in Qawawis

by ISM Hebron, February 15th

A month ago the villagers of Qawawis were informed by Occupation authorities that most of their houses would be demolished within a week. Qawawis, located in the South Hebron Hills, is home to several families totalling around 30 members who live in one concrete building and several other stone and canvas structures. Another stone structure housed international volunteers who used to live there as a protective presence for villagers against settler violence and harrassment.

Villagers employed a lawyer to challenge the IOF’s plans in Israeli courts but, as is often the case with house demolitions, Occupation authorities refused to abide by even their own court’s procedures.

Yesterday at 10am 22 Occupation vehicles invaded the small village and began demolition work. These vehicles comprised IOF, Border Police and DCO* jeeps, Civil Police and two bulldozers, one with a digger.

Most of the village’s permanent residents are elderly whilst most younger members live, work and study in nearby towns. Despite the resistance of these elderly villagers Occupation forces demolished the following:

Three stone and canvas structures belonging to the family of Hajj Mahmoud.
Three stone and canvas structures belonging to the sons of his brother Mohammed, Ibrahim, Abed and Yousef.
One stone and canvas structure belonging to Hajj Khalil used by international volunteers.
One stove house used for baking.

Relatives provided the villagers with tents to sleep in overnight. Despite the frequent settler violence and harrassment faced by villagers and this latest Occupation attempt to drive them from their ancestral lands, villagers vow to rebuild their homes and resist this ethnic cleansing. Groups such as Ta’ayush, Rabbis for Human Rights and ISM have promised to help rebuilding the homes and support the villagers of Qawawis and neighbouring villages in their struggle to retain their land.

Qawawis and other villages in the South Hebron Hills are surrounded by ‘illegal outposts’ – colonies which are illegal even according to Israeli law, but which receive infrastructure such as roads, water and electricity as well as IOF assistance, and which remain in place despite Israeli leaders’ pledges to remove them.

*District Coordination Office – the civilian administration wing of the Israeli military in the West Bank.

JPost: “Israeli flower exporters claim victory”

by Jonny Paul, February 14th

Israeli flower exporters claimed Valentines Day victory Wednesday following a two-day demonstration by anti-Israel activists attempting to disrupt Israeli produce from leaving the UK headquarters of Carmel-Agrexco.

Last weekend activists gathered, some chaining themselves to the gates of the factory, to try and stop the distribution of fresh Israeli flowers in the UK for Valentines Day.

Tom Hayes, spokesman for the Boycott Israeli Goods campaign (BIG), said: “Before taking part in this action many of the defendants had witnessed first hand the suffering of Palestinian communities under the brutal Israeli occupation.

They do not accept the UK’s complicity in the illegal occupation of Palestine and see the presence of this company as a violation of human rights.”

The BIG was set up by the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, a pro-Palestinian, often anti-Israel lobby group, and calls for a blanket boycott, divestment and sanctions of Israel.

Amos Orr, general manager of Carmel-Agrexco UK, told The Jerusalem Post that there were no disruptions and all consignments reached their destinations safely.

On Saturday protesters came at 1pm and left at 4pm.

He said: “Firstly they came on the quietest day of the week, secondly we knew in advance that they were coming, they had advertised it over two months ago on various websites, so we simply arranged for deliveries to be sent out in the morning.”

“Trucks that came later were able to make it though as the police simply moved the protesters aside,” he added.

“On Sunday around 15 activists came, there was no activity, the police came and arrested a few and it was all over within an hour and a half.”

Hayes told the Post: “The purpose of the protest was to get a large number of people to come to the depot to spread the word and show companies that profit from the occupation. He maintained that they were able to disrupt deliveries on Sunday for “several hours”.

“Our actions were a success,” he said. “The protest caused disruption during the busiest weekend. Many more people are aware of Carmel-Agrexco and we showed that we’re not going to sit by while companies profit from apartheid.”

On the groups website, they are alerting people to “ask your local florist where their flowers come from” and to “check their flowers don’t have a barcode ending 7290” [which shows it is an Israeli product]. The alert continues: “If your local florist sells Israeli flowers arrange a local picket and send reports to boycott@palestinecampaign.org”.

Meanwhile a new Jewish group has emerged to support BIG. Deborah Fink a member of Jews for Justice for Palestinians (JfJfP) has set up Jews for Boycott of Israel Goods (J-BIG).

Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, Fink said: “I wanted to do more on the boycott and wanted JfJfP to do it but couldn’t push them into doing it so in the end I started my own group and agreed last month to join up with BIG.”

“I have about 30 signatories which I know sounds small but we have only just started. Most are from but there are some also from Jews against Zionism and some Israelis such as Moshe Machover [a socialist anti-Zionist Israeli based in London], who is a founding member and we have support from Jeff Halper [Israel Committee against House Demolitions]

In the group’s mission statement sent to the Post, it says: “We are a group of British and Israeli Jews resident in the UK who have come together in this 40th year of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land to support the BIG campaign.

“In 1967, the Israeli army took military control of the Golan, Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Since that time the government of Israel has built settlements, roads and other infrastructure for its Jewish citizens, using land and resources stolen from the Palestinian people. This situation continues, unchallenged by Western governments, despite Israel’s being in violation of international humanitarian law and over 60 UN resolutions.

“Israel daily destroys Palestinian lives, livelihoods and homes; it continues to build its illegal colonies and separation wall on stolen land; it continues to control Gaza while slicing the West Bank into Bantustans, separating Palestinian families from their schools, places of work and agricultural land; it denies Palestinian refugees their right to return and operates a form of racism in many respects worse than the South African apartheid system. Its policies of intimidation and humiliation aim to destroy Palestinian hopes of statehood. Israeli businesses export freely from Palestinian land while the Palestinian economy is on its knees as a result of the occupation.

“We believe that this constitutes a betrayal of the best trends in Jewish ethical tradition. It inflames hatreds in our unstable world and renders impossible the achievement of a just peace for Israelis and Palestinians. We therefore support the existing campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions to enforce Israeli compliance with international law.

“We call on those of our fellow Jews who are inclined to support the State of Israel unconditionally to think critically about what Israel does in our names. We call on every ethical consumer, of any faith or none, to refuse to support the Israeli economy for as long as the illegal occupation and exploitation of Palestine persists.”

Asked why a blanket boycott, Fink said: “I can see the point of a settlement boycott, it makes a strong political point but hard to know what was made in settlements and this is a grass roots action it way the ordinary person can put pressure on Israel, as the governments aren’t. Can’t tell people to ask in a store if a product is made in Ma’ale Adumim. The occupation doesn’t happen by itself, Israel is occupying Palestine and also they invaded Lebanon.”

When asked if this was collective punishment which would hurt the peace camp in Israel, she said: “I don’t think it will affect them much anyway. I don’t think you can affect the Israeli economy anyway as America supports it. Really it’s symbolic [their campaign], I don’t think it will stop people buying Israeli goods.”

She continued: “What we hope to do is do for the boycott movement what JfJfP did for the solidarity movement. It’s also to tell Jews that what Israel is doing is wrong. What Israel is doing is going against Jewish ethics, uprooting olive trees is against Jewish law.”

Last November JfJfP dissociated the group from comments Fink made on an anti-Zionist blog in which she said: “Israel does not deserve to be called ‘the Jewish state’. It should be called ‘the Satanic state’. I really don’t see the point of doing anything else other than boycott it in every possible way.”

Dan Judelson, chair of JfJfP, said her comments were “incompatible” with her responsibilities within the group.

He told the Jewish Chronicle: “Deborah Fink is not a member of the newly elected executive committee of JfJfP,” he stated. “As such, she speaks only for herself.”

Last July JfJfP sparked furor in the community after they organized an advertisement in The Times signed by more than 300 British Jews condemning Israeli actions in Gaza following the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit.