Over a hundred local residents attended today’s peaceful demonstration at the Tel Rumeida checkpoint against colonist violence and road closures in Hebron. Members of the local Tel Rumeida community spoke about their struggles dealing with continued colonist aggression, the closure of roads to Palestinians and the inability to drive their vehicles.
Dr. Saher Qawasmeh (Fateh, above) spoke in support of those in the community working to stop the colonists’ continued campaign of aggression against the Palestinian people and human rights worker Mary Baxter spoke to the crowd about her hopes for the future of Tel Rumeida, focusing on an end to road closures and colonist violence.
The crowd assembled peacefully, cheered on the speeches, chanted together against the Occupation and dispersed quietly and without incident. Following this second successful protest in a row in Hebron the local community intends to make them a regular event.
Recently, I was able to accompany three Palestinians on a drive through the Jordan Valley. The more scenic aspects aside, a trip through the area revealed the slow, destructive siege of the Valley.
Movement restrictions have effectively sealed off the Jordan Valley from the rest of the West Bank. For example, the north of the Jordan Valley in the Tubas region (a two hour drive at minimum from Ramallah) should be 15 minutes from Nablus. However, the Occupation has restricted Palestinian access to this area to those registered in the villages of the Valley; to reach the northern West Bank from the north of the Valley without Jordan Valley ID one must travel down to Ramallah before heading north. This effectively makes what should be a short trip into a day of driving, 8 hours being a conservative estimate, accompanied by an equivalent rise in the cost of petrol. To put things in a more concrete perspective, our own trip from Ramallah to the north of the Valley and back cost around NIS 150 in petrol.
Additionally, harassment of Palestinians at the hands of soldiers and police occurs on a regular basis. “Heightened surveillance” signs mark much of the highway running from Jericho to the the north. Palestinians will be pulled over for driving too quickly (or too slowly) and detained under a number of pretexts. Not only does this further restrict movement, but also it often proves to be very expensive. On our drive, we were pulled over by Occupation police. After being detained for a half hour, we were issued a fine of NIS 250 for not “driving quietly” and failing to wear seatbelts. The driver of our vehicle informed the police that we were in fact all wearing our seatbelts (“driving quietly” is a bit harder to contest, as it makes little logical sense), but this complaint was ignored. Instead, the police informed us that they were in fact exercising restraint; in their benevolence they had only fined us NIS 250 as opposed to a more drastic fine of NIS 1000.
Thus, a day drive into the Jordan Valley cost NIS 400. Compare this with the average income of a family in the valley (NIS 1000 per month), and it should become quite clear that movement is financially impossible for most of the Palestinians trapped in the valley.
On Tuesday 23rd January IOF bulldozers carried out the latest round of home demolitions in the Jordan Valley as part of the ongoing attempt to ethnically cleanse the valley of its indigenous inhabitants.
Six Palestinian homes were destroyed in Al Jiftlik Village, and one home and a reservoir were demolished in the neighbouring village of Furush Beit Dajan. Both villages are located in the middle of the valley near Hamra checkpoint. Around 50 people were made homeless by these demolitions. The homes demolished were shacks constructed out of pieces of wood and metal. Palestinians in the valley as elsewhere in Zone C are never given permission to build houses so erect makeshift homes, knowing they will be demolished at some point. The owners of the demolished homes are:
Bashar Mubarak Yusif Basharat
Basem Mohammed Saleh Musaid
Ali Salim Ahmed Jahalin
Mohammed Hasan Eid Ghaneym
Mohammed Aleyan
Ali Qaibni Ghaneym
Yusif Ibrahim Abu Awad
Yusif Sadiq Shaheen
demolished shacks in Al Jiftlik:
the demolished shack and reservoir in Furush Beit Dajan:
life in the valley:
water tanks for Palestinians with reservoir for the illegal Israeli colony in the background
Today in Tel Rumeida, at around 1:45, two human rights workers (HRWs) were detained for supposedly attacking a soldier at the main Tel Rumeida checkpoint after the soldier became aggravated over a third HRW refusing to show her passport. The activists were all gathering to celebrate one of their birthdays.
Once put in the police vehicle, the supposed “victim” soldier was actually seated directly across from their “attackers” – clearly the IOF has no concern for the young soldier’s personal well-being. While seated across from the soldier he threatened to strike one activist with his helmet before reaching the police station. After being interrogated the activists learned that they were being accused not only of physically attacking a soldier but also insulting him and demeaning him. While being detained one activist interacted with the “victim” soldier as he hovered around. The soldier smiled and said, “this is fun”, in reference to the detention. The activist then asked, “you prefer being here rather than at your post?” and the soldier smiled and agreed, “yes.”
After being detained for four and a half hours the activists were released without charge. Under Israeli law after three hours the detainee has to be formally arrested or released. A month ago two HRWs were also illegally detained for over three hours at the police station in Hebron.
A. made some fried squash tonight at the office. He looked a little more serious than he usually looks. As we were eating, he told me a story.
“Today I was at Qalandia,” he started, “Some army jeeps started going down the road towards Ramallah. And there were some kids.”
(pause)(nod) Ok, I think I know where this is heading..
He continued, “And they started throwing rocks.”
(pause) Yeah I know how this is going to end up and I’m starting to get that sick feeling in my stomach.
“And the soldiers fired one shot.”
(pause)
“It hit them?” I asked.
“Yeah, it was really close, from 5 meters, and live ammo. And then the jeep drove away. I wish I knew who to call to find out if he’s ok, if he’s still alive.”
“Dude that sucks.” was all I could think of to say.
long pause… all kinds of stuff running through my head.. was this the first person he saw get shot ? Of course not. He’s been shot himself, at least three times I think. He’s Palestinian. He’s from
Jenin for christ sakes. Ok, I’ll try not ask any dumb questions.
“How many people have you seen get shot ?” Wait, that’s a dumb question, I bet he’s lost count.
“Well the worst was this time in Jenin. Some kids were let out of school, and some soldiers invaded and occupied a house near the school. I was in Tulkarem at the time and my friend called and said there was a problem so I hurried back.”
“There were some kids throwing rocks. A soldier shot my brother’s friend twice in the stomach. Then he tried to escape, and the soldier got out of the jeep and finished him off. Right there in front of me. He was 15.”
“In the newspaper they said he was carrying a bomb and that’s why they shot him.”
(long pause) Don’t ask him for details.
“Can’t anyone say anything to argue with the army about that ?” I ask. Shit that was a dumb question.
“They’re the army,” he said “They’re always right. You can’t argue with them. They do whatever they want. If they go into Nablus and kill a couple fighters and some kids too, they’ll say they only killed fighters.”
I’ve been here a year now and I still naively think there there is some semblance of justice here. I am so wrong.
