Tel Rumeida resident walks home along street…twice

by ISM Hebron, January 17th

Yesterday Hani Abu Haikel walked up Tel-Rumeida st. to his home for the first time in over a year, accompanied by Israeli media. His family’s access to Tel-Rumeida st., which is the main route to his home, has been severely restricted for over three years. During the course of the past six years, settlers from the Jewish-only colony directly across from his home have attacked him and his family using a variety of methods, including violent guard dogs, aggressive physical attacks (punching and kicking) and stone throwing. In June last year the IOF declared the street leading to his home a Closed Military Zone for Palestinians but not for the settler-colonists. This meant Hani and his family had to use a dirt path leading to the back of their home.

The continued media pressure caused by Palestinians, the ISM, other international human rights organizations, and Israeli activists has finally forced the IOF to allow Hani to start using Tel-Rumeida st. once again. His ability to continue to use this road in the future is tentative at best, though a second trip up the street accompanied only by a single Israeli activist was successful.

A trip to the post office…

by Lucretia Reflection,

Yesterday I had to take some things to be mailed at the post office in Jerusalem and had conservatively estimated 4 hours for the trip. Oops, silly me !

When I first came to Palestine a year ago, the trip from Ramallah to Jerusalem took about 20 minutes. Fast forward one year of additional checkpoints and Israeli paranoia and you have a trip that most people expect to take an hour.

Being somewhat uninformed about my status as new Israeli citizen living in the West Bank and confusion about what nationality I should present myself as at which checkpoint, (it’s illegal for me to be in certain places in the West Bank including Ramallah) I showed the soldiers at Qalandia checkpoint my Israeli ID instead of my American passport. Instead of giving it back and waving me through, they took off with it and told me to get out of the car. I followed a soldier around asking for my ID back. She spoke to me in Hebrew despite my telling her I don’t speak Hebrew. Another soldier asked me what I was doing in Ramallah.

“Just visiting friends,” I replied.

“You live in Jerusalem ?” the soldier asked.

“Yes,” I lied.

Thinking I was probably about to be arrested, for being Israeli and being in a prohibited area, I started making phone calls.

“Turn your phone off and give me the battery !” the soldier barked at me.

“Um, no,” I replied.

“ARE YOU SAYING NO TO ME ?” The soldier screamed.

(silly soldier, I may be a new Israeli citizen but I’ve had enough dealings with your people to know what your intimidation tactics are.)

“Yes, I am telling you no. If you want my phone or battery, you’ll have to call the police.” I replied.

“Ok we will call the police and they will arrest you.”

(now it’s time for my all time favorite line)

“Ok, arrest me, I like being arrested !”

“How long have you been in Israel ?” the soldier asked

(well I haven’t really been in Israel, I’ve been in Palestine but we’ll save that debate for some other day)

“It’s none of your business,” I told the soldier.

After being detained for about 10 minutes, a soldier gave me my ID back and sent me on my way.

(my favorite line works every time !)

After passing through Qalandia checkpoint, there were an additional two flying checkpoints we had to go through. A flying checkpoint is a temporary checkpoint, arbitrarily set up by the IOF in random places.

At the first flying checkpoint, the soldier came into the bus and visually checked everyone’s ID. At the second one, the soldier collected everyone’s ID and manually checked them by calling the ID numbers into the DCO (the District Coordination Office – the Civil Administration wing of the Israeli military in the West Bank). This is to check and see if anyone is ‘wanted’. This took about 20 minutes.

I was dozing in and out of sleep when the soldier came back onto the bus to return the IDs. A Palestinian woman sitting next to me asked me “Where are you from, Canada ?”

“No, the US.” I replied.

“Well now you get to see a small example of the suffering we face in Palestine.” She told me with a sad smile.

(if you only knew, heh..)

As a result of the flying checkpoints, I arrived in Jerusalem 10 minutes after the post office closed and an hour and a half after I’d gotten on the bus in Ramallah. Rather than go back and face the same thing the next day, I decided to stay the night in Jerusalem and go to the post office the following morning.

I visited my friend Yuval and his girlfriend Yael in west Jerusalem where he gave me a quick refresher course on what my rights are as an Israeli in terms of dealing with soldiers. Then I went to the Ethiopean restaurtant on Jaffa road near the Old City where an Israeli guy began chatting me up.

“Where do you live ?” he asked.

“In Ramallah. ” I answered.

(look of shock) “Aren’t you scared ?” he said, laughing.

(Compared to Hebron, the last place I lived, Ramallah ain’t no thang ! There are no soldiers in Ramallah except for when they invade, there are no settlers either. I walk around late at night
alone and have never had a problem. Somehow I always manage to be in Hebron every time there is a clash between Hamas and Fateh or when the IOF has invaded Ramallah. But this answer is far too long for this situation.)

“No, what’s there to be scared of ?” I asked.

He shrugged and then told his friend I live in Ramallah and they both had a chuckle.

The restaurant owner said “She comes all the way from Ramallah just to eat here !”

The next day I went to the post office and returned to Ramallah at about noon. So that was a long trip to the post office..

I’m eligible for free Hebrew classes in Jerusalem, but living in Ramallah I know I will frequently be late if I don’t budget an hour and a half for the car ride. This doesn’t even include the time it
takes to walk from my house to the cars or the walk to the school in Jerusalem. So I guess I’ll just focus on getting better at Arabic for now.

Foreign Nationals still denied entry to West Bank by Israel

by Mohammed Mar’i, January 16th

Although Lana K. is an American national, and a mother of 2 children, she was denied entry on January 3rd and again on January 9th by the Israeli Occupation Forces ([IOF). Lana is married to a Palestinian and has been living with her family in Nablus for 10 years and used to renew her visa periodically. When Lana was first forced to return to Jordan, her children, carrying their Israeli-issued Palestinian residency IDs, were refused re-entry into Jordan. The children were permitted transit via the Israeli-controlled Allenby Bridge and their father arrived from Nablus to take them back to Nablus. Despite the new Israeli entry procedures announced nearly 2 weeks ago, Lana’s attempts to join her family in the West Bank failed.

In a letter delivered to chief Palestinian negotiator, Dr. Saeb Erakat on December 28, 2006, the Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (CoGAT), Major General Yossef Mishlav states changes in Israel’s policy of denying entry to foreign nationals traveling to the West Bank. The letter states that foreign nationals from countries that have “visa agreements with Israel” may enter the West Bank but “they are required to keep the military commander’s consent form with his or her passport.” The letter further explains that a restricted number of foreign nationals will be ‘eligible’ to apply for temporary entry into the West Bank as well as periodic visa renewals.

Fadah Ihlal Thum is another case of suffering due to the Israeli policy. She came to live in the West Bank in 2001. She is married to a local Palestinian and has a five-month-old baby. Fadah is studying at Bir Zeit University and is one of Bir Zeit’s best students. She is in her final year and has twice received Bir Zeit’s rare and prestigious ‘honor’ award. She has a bright future ahead of her if she is able to complete her degree in French and English, particularly as she already fluently speaks Arabic and Portuguese.

Fadah had been renewing her visa internally as is permitted to some residents until her last renewal in September 2006 when, along with hundreds of others, she was suddenly given a ‘last permit’ stamp on her visa and was forced to leave her home, husband and baby in December. She went to Jordan for four days with her husband and baby. When she returned, the (IOF) allowed her husband and baby to enter while she was ordered to return to Jordan. “When my husband took the baby who was sick at the moment, and put my luggage in the returning bus I burst into tears” Fadah said. “They allowed me to enter just for seven days, and know I have to leave in order to renew my visa” she added. Fadah fears that once she leaves, Israel won’t allow her re-entry.

The West Bank’s Bir Zeit University also suffered from the Israeli policy. The Bir Zeit University Right to Education Campaign in a press release on 6 January 2007 said that the Israeli ” policy has brought tremendous insecurity to Bir Zeit University and its financial and academic well being.”

In addition to two of Bir Zeit’s faculty staff, Somida Abbas and Bahgat Taiam who are already outside and have ‘denied entry’ stamped in their passports, the University fears the risk of being unable to continue teaching in some fields by losing irreplaceable lecturers or about 383 students who fear deportation or prison sentences if they are caught at checkpoints.

The Arabic language and culture program is particularly at risk as it is entirely self-sufficient and dependent on their foreign students’ access to the University. In the last term alone, four students were not allowed to complete their studies as they were not allowed to enter or re-enter the OPT. The program is also a major source of emergency funds for the university, which has recently come into use to cover staff salaries since the economic blockade after the 2006 elections. Since Israel’s restrictions on access to Palestinian education, applications for the next term’s course fell by 50 percent – taking with it 50 percent of the program’s income.

The Campaign for Right to Entry/Re-entry, based in Ramallah, regarded the new Israeli policy in a press conference in Ramallah “as a rare moment where the Israeli Authorities acknowledge in writing the severe humanitarian crisis brought on by Israeli policies of denying foreign nationals the right to family reunification and entry to the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt)”. But it considered that Mishlav’s letter “leaves many questions unanswered and the crisis unresolved.

The Campaign said that “several foreign nationals with family in the oPt have been denied entry under circumstances that indicate,the implementation of the newly announced procedures remains arbitrary, abusive and internationally unlawful”, and that the “procedures for granting residency to foreign nationals whose life and livelihood is in the oPt remain unanswered” it added.

The Campaign also considered that the “CoGAT’s” letter to Erekat “does not offer a solution to the thousands of individuals who have remained in the oPt after the expiry of their permits, fearing they would be denied re-entry. The notice also fails to indicate if foreign nationals seeking entry into occupied East Jerusalem or the Gaza Strip will be eligible to apply for temporary admission or visa extensions”.

Israel is refusing to consider over 120,000 applications for family unification, forcing many families to relocate abroad. Together with many foreign nationals who have established their primary business or professional activities in the West Bank, or otherwise aspire to build their lives in the West Bank, these new procedures place them in a state of continuous uncertainty under constant threat of expulsion and exclusion.

Whereas the new Israeli policy regarding entry to foreign nationals traveling into the West Bank, applies to nationals from countries ‘friendly’ to Israel, the Israeli policy towards nationals from enemy-classified countries or those that do not have ” visa agreements with Israel”, which includes tens of thousands of foreigners, including 60,000 Jordanian-born women, as well as women from other Arab countries, Russia and the Ukraine, is vague. Israel used to grant them six -months permits. However, Israel stopped granting them family unification approvals after the outbreak of the second intifada.

Faruoq, from the Salfeet area, has been engaged to a Palestinian relative residing in Jordan and bears its nationality. Since his fiancée doesn’t have a Palestinian ID, and wasn’t granted a visiting permit, Farhat postponed his wedding several times. He filed an application for unification with his fiancée but was denied by Israel several times.” I have been engaged for a long time”, he said. “If the situation doesn’t change and my fiancée doesn’t get a permit perhaps we will have to get divorced”, he added.

* (Mohammed Mar’i is a freelance Palestinian journalist based in Ramallah, Occupied Palestine. He can be reached at mmaree63@gmail.com.)

Kufr Ein residents terrorized by IOF raids

from reports by IWPS,

At about 2.30am in the morning of December 30th, villagers of Kufr ‘Ein , who live near to the mosque, were awakened by sound bombs and the sound of live shots being fired into the air. At this moment there was no electricity in the village. Israeli Occupation Force (IOF) soldiers were walking through the village, which lies south-west of Salfit. The army then shouted instructions in Arabic, through a loudspeaker, “Stop or you will be shot”.

According to one eyewitness, they heard hard knocks on a front door at 3.30 in the morning. Before the owner could even respond, the Israeli army said they would give him and his family two minutes to come out of the house, and if he did not they would demolish his home. They asked him for ‘wanted’ persons and threatened to damage his house if he did not tell them where they are. The man told the soldiers that they can do whatever they want because there is no ‘wanted’ person in his house, only his family. The Israeli commander hit him hard with his hand and the man fell to the ground. This man is about 50-years old with a heart condition. After the soldiers asked the same question and received the same answer, he was hit again and fell to the ground again. At this stage his wife intervened and asked the soldiers why they hit her husband as the person they wanted is in their jails. The soldier told her to shut up and that they would hit her like her husband if she did not go and sit down far from the house. The soldiers continued to search their house for another two hours while the whole family stood outside. There were about 100 soldiers at the time in the village and they searched 7 to 8 houses in the same manner.

The villagers who were awakened and forced outside, saw the soldiers surround an unused house. They had found a young man of 21 who had apparently been a ‘wanted’ person by the Israeli army for more than three years. He was forced out and was instructed to take off his clothes on this very cold morning, was hit with guns and kicked until about 14 to 15 jeeps arrived. He was then put in a jeep and taken away. Later on when the army had left, some of his bloodstained clothes were found on the spot where he was assaulted. With reinforcements the army proceeded to invade more houses on the pretext of searching for more people till 6.30am, when a woman shouted at them that this was the morning of the Eid-al-Adha. The commander shouted back that they would leave when the Eid started. The army left the village just after 6:30am

Up to now no-one knows where the arrested young man has been taken. The Red Crescent and The Prisoner’s Club has been contacted to look for him.

At about 10.15 am on Friday 12th January the IOF invaded the village of Kufr ‘Ein again, with dogs and jeeps.

According to one eyewitness, soldiers entered the village in about twelve jeeps, forced their way into one home and destroyed a lot of furniture and belongings of the family. They arrested a farmer whose brother was also arrested during an army raid in June 2006, and is still in prison. The arrested man’s family has had no contact with him as yet.

This village reported several prior incursions.

Bethlehem Villagers Resist Occupation Bulldozers

by ISM Hebron, January 15th

Around 9 this morning IOF bulldozers and dozens of soldiers invaded the land of Umm Salumuna and Wadi Annis villages south of Bethlehem to raze land for the Apartheid Wall. The wall is being constructed east of the illegal Efrat colony and will annex 700 acres of village land containing olive and almond trees, and grape vines.

As happened several weeks ago when the IOF arrived, villages decided to resist the bulldozers from the outset and tried to blockade them with their bodies. This time the IOF arrived with a warrant from an Israeli court authorising the theft of the land. The confiscated land belongs to the family of Ali Khader Issa Taqatqa.

Some of the 75 villagers resisting the destruction of the land were badly mistreated by the IOF who beat them with rifle butts and fired tear gas at them. Ali Mosa Wahre (28) was violently thrown to the ground by IOF soldiers and suffered a broken hand. Mostafa Yosaf Taqata (25) was badly hurt by a rifle butt blow to his chest by IOF forces and was taken away by an ambulance for treatment.

After the bulldozers had managed to flatten village land, creating a lenghty visible footprint for the Wall from the horizon, villagers prayed on the land. The IOF left soon after.

*************************

Click here for PNN coverage