Another Child- Update from Balata

I’m tired. Not just from sleep deprivation — the Israeli occupation forces have entered several nights this week — although that is some part of it, or the anaemia I’ve now succumbed to. I’m tired by the frustration and heartbreak of being 50 metres away again when the Israeli army shot another Palestinian child, 16 years old Khalid Mohammed Msyme, the brother of a friend of ours.

A friend once described our role here as babysitting, watching the eighteen year old Israeli boys with guns so they don’t think they can shoot Palestinian children in the homes with impunity. I fear the truth is they do act with impunity. I’ve lost count of the outraged reports I’ve read of children being killed by an invading Israeli army in Palestinian towns. I’ve lost count of the number of times we’ve reported invasions, arrests and killings in breach of the Sharm Al Sheikh agreement and I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve hoped this breach will be the one the world notices at last.

Before the army came tonight a Palestinian friend was telling me about all the killings and atrocities he’s witnessed. Occasionally he thinks of the smell of charred flesh or of the feeling of what he called “meat from their bodies” in his hands but mostly these graphic memories don’t trouble him. He says it was shocking at first but it’s normal for him now. I hope I never get to that point. Seeing the army murder should never be normal. When I called to tell him what happened tonight he sensed my frustration and guilt. I didn’t say anything, I knew it wasn’t right to but somehow I wanted to apologize for not stopping them shooting the boy. When I told him wearily they killed another boy, he said gently “It’s alright.” In that moment I was overwhelmed with resentment for everything he’s been through and utterly humbled that he wants to protect and reassure me. Why should he have to live through all that and then take care of a stupid foreigner too?

It’s light now, I haven’t slept; my emotions are still too high. Angry, frustrated, resentful, disappointed. The Israeli Army was in streets of Balata Camp again. In the heart of the West Bank of Palestine. The residents are refugees, people already displaced by Israel once. The children are continually under attack in this refugee camp, their home. I was never optimistic about Sharm but I’m still desperately disappointed. I’m frustrated, sad and weary that another child died. We were a few metres too far away. I wish this would never happen again but part of me wishes everyone there would have this experience. If everyone felt this sadness and frustration you would all pressure our governments and corporations to stop funding Israel’s occupation of Palestine.

The mosque was broadcasting noise all night. I don’t know if it was a coincidental malfunction or a tactic of the army. At the call for the pre-dawn prayer I could still hear jeeps and a woman crying. Then ethereal echoes of more distant mosques, the unified broadcast muezzin rebounding off the hills. Finally the Balata mosque joined in after 4am. It was comforting.

At 7:25 the mosque announced the death of another boy, 16 year old fighter Khalid Mohammed Msyme. He died in a clash with the army during the night. The first boy, Noor Njam,14, although shot with a live bullet in the head, is not yet dead but not expected to live. A third boy, also 16, from Sanegre family, is critically injured too, having been shot in the stomach.

At the morgue boys not as high as my elbow jostled to see Khalid’s body. Khalid’s teenage friends sat outside in silence, dazed and shocked. An older friend tried to offer comfort but he was shaking with emotion himself. Khalid was a fighter and a martyr at just sixteen years old. Men lead the funeral procession back to the camp, praising the child as a hero. Meanwhile the women waited near his mother’s home. One of her sons died before the intifada, another has been imprisoned by Israeli for the last three years. In that time a second brother died and today Kahlid. His mother has lost three sons now.

During the funeral service we sat in silence, exhausted. New visitors were exhausted and shocked. Palestinian friends were silent in their grief. For myself I am just very weary. The futility of all this death is heartbreaking. The deaths of yet more children in a so-called ceasefire is devastating. I’m not hopeful the killing will stop anytime soon.

Israeli army demolishes home and threatens families in As Sawiya

By: Wendy and Cathy
IWPS

On July 5th at approximately 7:00 a.m. on Tuesday, July 7, an estimated 20 army jeeps, 3 police jeeps, 1 large personnel carrier, 75 soldiers, and 2 bulldozers showed up at the home of 82 year old Ibrahim Ahmed Tabil in the village of As Sawiya, Salfit district of the West Bank. They started to demolish the room in which he was sleeping. When he awoke and started to argue with them, they pushed him and his bed out of the room, forced the family to stay in another part of the house and finished the demolition. They did not allow the family to recover any of the possessions in the room. The operation took approximately 10 minutes; the army was there for approximately one hour. The number of people living in the house is 9.

During the operation the army surrounded the neighboring house and forced the family outside. The neighboring house was also damaged by the demolition.

The family of Ibrahim Ahmed Tabil has been living in As Sawiya since the time of his great grandfather, approximately 100 years. His house was built on land owned by the family in 1963. The addition that was demolished was built in 1996. It was built without a permit because it was just a small addition that abutted to his neighbor’s house and was between the two houses. Approximately one month previous to the demolition, the army came to the home and looked around. They told the family that they were not planning to do any damage. They never gave the family any written documents or warning of the impending demolition.

On Tuesday, July 7, the army informed the family of Adnad Ahmed Abu Kafina that his home will be demolished by the end of the month. There are 11 family members, including 8 children that will become homeless if this happens.

The family of Adnad Ahmed Abu Kafina has been living in Sawiya approximately 150 years. Their house was built in 1953 on land owned by the family. Two front rooms were added in 1996. The army is claiming that the whole house was built in 1996, and therefore is planning to demolish the entire house. The family was told to remove their possessions by the end of the month. They have hired a lawyer who has obtained a temporary injunction against the demolition until the matter can be heard by the Israeli Supreme Court. The lawyer is costing 15,000 NIS and the family is seeking to raise the funds.

IWPS members photographed damaged property at the house of Ibrahim Ahmed Tabil.

Update on Children Arrested at Peacefull Wall Demonstration

Beit Suriq

On June 5th, Issa Kandil and Bassem Sheik are still in custody! They where kidnapped by hooded undercover police, who arrested them at gunpoint 1.5 kilometers from the separation wall, where a silent demonstration was taking place. The people of the village of Beit Suriq were demonstrating by sitting silently on the ground in front of the wall.

Issa, 15, and Bassem, 16, have never before been arrested.

They allegedly threw stones towards soliders that were protecting the work on the Wall. The evidence against them is the testimony of the undercover agents, who say they saw them throwing stones, and the testimony of Tlaat Radad, who was arrested with them and released the same day since he suffers from a mental disease. We appealed twice for the release of the boys in the military court of Judea and the military court of appeals for the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

The first judge ruled to hold Issa and released Bassem on bail of 20,000 NIS. On the mutual appeal, Issa was released and Bassem was held. At the last appeal Issa was held while the chief judge of the Court of Appeals wrote that he found enough evidence to show that the 15 year old boys posed a threat to the security of the territories, and that “although they are young and have never been arrested, their parents should watch over their children as long as the wall is being built” – 21/6/05, Court of Appeals, Lieutenant Colonel Netael Benishu, second to the chief justice of the court of appeals.

All witnesses, Israeli activists and Palestinian villagers, testify there was no stone throwing that day.

One woman saw the arrest from her window. 8 undercover agents dressed like Palestinians came from the other side of the village, near Biddu. Issa and Bassem both said they were approached by the undercover agents and asked if they wanted to throw stones at the soldiers. They answered that they did not, and that it was too far. When I went to see the place of their arrest and the point in the village where they were, it became obvious that they could not have thrown a stone near any of the security forces. However, since the kidnapping and their arrest, there has been a complete silence in the village – the demonstrations have been stopped for fear of future kidnappings.

The military prosecution offered a plea bargain – 5 months in jail for Bassem (because he “threw two rocks”) and 7 months for Issa (because he “threw three rocks” according to the undercover agents). They are children who suffer every day in a military jail based on illegitimate evidence. This arrest and procedure is part of a policy to scare villages that are loosing their land to stop protesting, the kidnappings and provocation by undercover agents have happened several times. It is a ruthless form of action, and illegitimate use of the law.

This goes on because the public eye and the international ears are turned away. Issa and Bassem begin their trial on 13/7/05. They need your help to have their life back, so they can go to school and to their families. There is no reason for them to be in a military jail. Please protest against their unjust detention.

B’tselem: Means of Expulsion

Violence, Harassment and Lawlessness Toward Palestinians in the Southern Hebron Hills
Written by B’tselem.
July 2005, Summary
www.btselem.org/English/Publications/Summaries/
200507_South_Hebron.asp

In the southernmost West Bank , some one thousand Palestinians have maintained the way of life of their ancestors: living in caves and earning a living from farming and livestock. In the 1970s, the Israeli military commander declared the area a “closed military area,” and for the past five years, Israel has been trying to expel them from the area.

In November 1999, soldiers and Civil Administration officials expelled the cave residents and confiscated their meager belongings. The army sealed caves, destroyed wells and outhouses, and prohibited the residents from returning to the area. The cave residents petitioned the High Court of Justice, and in March 2000, the Court issued a temporary injunction, returning the residents to the area and preventing the state from expelling them until the court reaches a final decision in the matter. Since then, the residents live with the threat of expulsion hovering over their heads.

Israel contends that expulsion of the cave residents is justified because they are not permanent residents of the area, and that the expulsion is an “imperative military need.” B’Tselem’s report demonstrates that these contentions are baseless, and shows that Israel has continually sought to annex the area and expand the nearby settlements.

In addition to the threat of expulsion, the cave residents are victims of violence and property damage from the residents of nearby settlements. Due the intensity of this violence, the residents of two villages to abandon their villages in 2000. In a survey conducted by B’Tselem, some 88% of the Palestinians in the closed military area were victims of settler violence or witnessed such violence against a member of their immediate family. The abuse reported in the survey can be divided into four patterns: blocking of roads and preventing access to fields (51 percent of the cases), property damage, including destruction of crops and theft of sheep and goats in particular (21 percent), intimidation (17 percent), and physical violence (11 percent).

The police do little to enforce the law against the settlers, and the army does even less. In some cases, soldiers have even assisted settlers in carrying out their violent acts. On a few occasions, the army at its own initiative destroyed the residents’ farmland by driving tanks and other armored vehicles onto the fields. In addition, the Civil Administration prohibits the residents from building in their villages, contending that the area is designated for agricultural use. The prohibition also covers construction to ensure proper water supply and to meet other basic needs.

The report documents Israel ‘s attempts over the past five years to expel the cave residents through legal proceedings, and describes the lives of the residents under the intimidation of settlers, the military, and the Civil Administration.

The bleak picture of Israel ‘s treatment of the cave residents, as described in the report, raises the concern that Israel is attempting to gradually wear down the residents to get them to leave the area , an achievement they have not yet been able to attain in court. B’Tselem protests the attempted expulsion and Israel ‘s current policy toward the residents, which severely infringe their human rights and flagrantly breach international law. For these reasons, B’Tselem urges the government of Israel to:

  • revoke the order declaring the caves area in South Mt. Hebron a closed military area and cancel the eviction orders currently pending against the cave residents;
  • instruct the army and police to protect the cave residents and to seriously enforce the law against violent settlers;
  • recognize the right of the cave residents to live in their villages and to build and develop them to meet their needs;
  • compensate Palestinians whose land and personal property were damaged by settlers, the army, or the Civil Administration.

Another child shot in Balata

ISM Nablus
2am, 7th July 2005

Israeli armed vehicles arrived at the camp late in the evening. Despite the presence of two large groups of civilians, including two internationals, the soldiers began firing live rounds directly into the camp. We had not heard any Palestinian gunfire. When medics arrived on the scene minutes later we learned that a child in the other group, 50 meters away, had been shot in the head. We don’t know if he is dead or in critical condition. The jeeps continued to fire and entered the camp smashing market stalls and preventing us from reaching the scene of killing to take the number of the jeep responsible.

Residents called for assistance after their home was occupied by the Israeli army. The soldiers have prevented medical teams from returning to the area, declaring it a closed military zone. At two am there are several jeeps in the camp. We have been forced to take cover inside a house. We hear army dogs and announcements from nearby jeeps. The shooting continues and there have been several explosions. Nablus has suffered nightly incursions for the last week.