24th January 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, Tulkarm Team | Jin Safoot, occupied Palestine
In the early morning, 18th January, hundreds of Israeli soldiers entered the Jin Safoot village to demolish a farmhouse belonging to the Palestinian farmer Faed. The barn was serving as a shelter for his animals and he wasn’t allowed to remove all of them before the Israelis demolished the roof. Faed claims that two of his sheep died after being smashed underneath the falling roof.
The destroyed farm house. Photo credit: ISM
Faed in front of his barn. Photo credit: ISM
Israeli soldiers shot two of the family members while they were trying to stop the ongoing demolition. One of them was hit by a live bullet in his left hand and the family now fears that he won’t regain full strength in one of his fingers. Another family member was peppersprayed and arrested on the scene. He is now being imprisoned in a Israeli military base in Huwwara, West Bank.
Faed and his son who was shot in his hand. They are standing on top of the house the IOF demolished in 2007. Photo credit: ISM
Faed’s farm is located in Area C. Roughly 60% of the West Bank is under complete Israeli control since the Oslo accords in 1990’s. To be allowed to build a house in Area C you have to get a permission from the Israeli authorities. These requests are often denied and at the same time farmers are likely to face demolition if they construct a building without Israeli permission. According to the Israeli NGO Peace Now, the Israeli Civil Administration denied 94% of the applications between 2000 and 2007.
In 2007 Israeli soldiers demolished another building belonging to Faed, also located in Area C. For the six previous years Faed has worked hard to build a new home for him and his family and the destruction came as a shock. The recent destruction of his farm house is yet another setback for him, mentally as well as financially. To be able to rebuild his barn he now has to sell parts of his land. If he does rebuild, it would still be under constant threat of Israeli destruction.
22th January 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah Team | Jerusalem, occupied Palestine
Three days ago, the ISM visited the Old City in Jerusalem to talk with different Palestinian residents who live and work there and see what the situation is like nowadays.
Harassment by the Israeli Police, particularly on the youth, is a constant burden. Every day, police are seen stopping youth in different corners to body check them and look at their ID’s. These actions, normally ignored by passersby and tourists who wander in the streets of the Old City, produces in contrast an enormous feeling of tension and threat on the Palestinian youth, since every movement or action they make is being permanently controlled.
Israeli police checking Palestinian youth
A parent advises his son, “When they check you, remain cool, don’t get nervous or upset. Don’t give them any reason to attack you, because in the meantime, the soldiers are looking for targets.”
Palestinian youth getting checked by the police
There are about 9 intersections in the Alwadi street with three to six soldiers standing in each intersection, stopping people and checking everybody’s movements. Palestinians get checked every time they walk in these corners. You can hardly see any tourists on this street and shop owners comment on how badly their businesses are doing.
Since the beginning of October, after Mohannad al Halabi carried out a stabbing attack and was immediately killed afterward, the Israeli authorities began harassing the shop owners of the area, blaming them for not preventing or aiding the soldier and settlers who were attacked. But this blame is completely unjustified, as one of the shop owners told the ISM. It was the end of the day, most shops were already closed and they were back home with their families in the night. He recalls hearing the news in the television. But even if they would have been present, people are very scared when these things happen.
The shop owners in Alwadi street are very exhausted with the situation. Nobody really wants to continue talking about this, after giving so many interviews to the international media in October, they feel tired and hopeless. Nothing has changed for them, and they don’t really want to remember the incidents.
The shop owner who talked with us, and who prefers not to give his name, gives us an example of the daily harassment they face. “Just today in the morning, a costumer who was sitting in the restaurant across the street, was smoking a cigarette. The Israeli police came inside and gave the owner a fine of 1.000 shekels. Not long ago,” he continues, “They gave a fine to the owner of a close by coffee shop of 6.000 shekels because he did not have a non-smoking sign on the window.”
“But as you can see, he hardly has any costumers and doesn’t have the money to pay this. Then the police came and confiscated the sign with the coffee shop’s name, and demanded he must pay another 500 shekels on top of the fine. They do not apply these policies to Israeli shop owners.”
A 50 year old Palestinian man from the Old City, who struggles with his personal business as a tour guide, told the ISM how the official tour guides boycott the Palestinian economy in the Old City. Part of the official tours include walking through the Palestinian neighborhoods, but the guides tell the tourists not to stop, talk, or buy anything from Palestinian shop owners, and not to go to Palestinian restaurants, hotels or other businesses.
Just like in Alwadi street, the shops around the Church of the Holy Sepulcher find themselves at risk of being bankrupt. The situation is the same for all Palestinian shops: now, they close earlier than usual, and more and more shop owners are finding themselves forced to close permanently and get low-wage jobs inside of Israel.
The harassment provoked from young illegal Israeli settlers is also notorious. They walk on the streets making provocative comments to Palestinians who, on the contrary, try as much as possible to stay calm. They know that if they answer back and a fight starts, the Israeli police will immediately go after them. Everyone is aware that the Israeli settlers are completely backed by the police and, as the shop owner who talked with us said, “Its very easy to just shoot you and place a knife next to your body, claiming you intended to stab someone.”
All this harassment and the boycott of their businesses are intended to produce pressure on Palestinians and make their life difficult enough so that they feel forced to leave Jerusalem.
22nd January 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza Team | Beit Hanoun, Gaza strip, occupied Palestine
During the latest massacre in Gaza 60-year-old Fatma was one of the many Gazans who lost her home.
She was sheltering in an UNRWA school along with her husband and 4 daughters when the Israeli occupation forces bombed their home. Once the aggression was over a relative allowed them to settle in the house he was building. Two weeks after moving there, Fatma’s husband died due to the overwhelming pain and sadness of watching his wife and daughters living in such despicable conditions.
When the Zionist army entered Beit Hanoun a year and a half ago, this family was forced to leave their home along with all its belongings, just as their grandparents had been forced to leave in 1948, and travel by foot the almost 10 km between Beit Hanoun and Gaza City.
Now they have spent all the money they had in refurbishing as much as they could two of the rooms of the house they are surviving in. Because of this they almost do not have money buy food.
Raida, Fatma’s eldest daughter, told the ISM team that “during the last war I wasn’t scared because I was with my father, but if there’s another war I don’t know how I’ll react, because he won’t be with me anymore. I don’t know if then I’ll be brave as I’ve been in all the wars until now … But I’m sure about one thing, if there’s another war I won’t leave my home, after all, the zionists follow us wherever we go. If they want to bomb my home they can do it with me inside.”
Raida, behind the UN school where one baby died after being burned alive in a fire due to the bad conditions of the electrical installation
29-year-old Nagy Kamal Hamdan also lives in Beit Hanoun with his 3 children. His home was also bombed; he now survives along with his wife and children in a room at his parents’ home. That home was also attacked, but most of it is still stands.
Nagy and Jamil’s mother points to the shots Israeli snipers fired into the door when she opened it during the 2014 assaultNagy’s children in the rooms where they now live with their parents
Nagy’s 17-year-old brother Jamil, also lives in the house. “We saw the Israelis arrive from our street,” he recalled, “they were shooting gas and live fire against us. We saw how they bombed the mosque in front of our home.”
Jamil at his parents’ home
Shortly after the end of the 2014 attack Jamil started to suffer epileptic seizures and became unable to see with his left eye. His memory has also been affected. “Many times he doesn’t recognize the people, even his own father,” his mother told the ISM team. “He also forgets things that has just done. Recently came back to school, but has a lot of problems paying attention.”
21st January 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine
On 21st January 2016 Israeli settlers from the illegal settlements in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron) gathered in Shuhada Street. From here the settlers went into the Old City of Al-Khalil, where they broke into two houses on al-Sahla Street near the Ibrahimi mosque at around 2.30 pm today. Backed by more than 50 soldiers and policemen, the settlers could freely break down the doors and enter the houses, that they claim they bought legally, but the houses have not yet been signed over to them. During the occupation of the two houses the settlers started throwing stones at the Palestinians in the area around the two houses, and broke multiple doors and windows of surrounding houses.
The two occupied houses with Israeli flags on the roof
Shop owners in the whole area were forced by the Israeli Forces to close down their shops, and the whole area was closed off for everyone else than settlers and Israeli Forces, leaving many Palestinians unable to go to their houses. After the settlers had entered the two houses that have been uninhabited for an unspecific amount of time, they put up several Israeli flags on the roofs and harassed the Palestinian families in the area by yelling and throwing stones at them. The Israeli forces entered multiple houses and stormed through Palestinian families living rooms and bedrooms before taking over their rooftops and using these as an easy way to shoot teargas and sound grenades into the Palestinian market in the Old City of Hebron. Just in the half hour between 3.45 and 4.15, 14 tear gas canisters were shot at residents in the Old City, but Israeli forces were continuously showering the Old City most of the afternoon. At least one person suffered from excessive teargas inhalation and had to be taken to hospital for treatment.
Al-Sahla street 21st of January. Settlers partying in the other end surrounded by soldiers and police.
At 7.30 pm the settlers and soldier were still in al-Sahla Street playing music and celebrating their newest house-takeover in Hebron. Two danish human rights defenders entered the area and were verbally attacked by a settler who came at them aggressively and yelled: “You killed my father and my grandfather. You are Nazis. This is my land.” Soldiers intervened and stopped the man from physically attacking the two young women.
Palestinians and internationals are still not allowed to be in the area even though there is no official order claiming this. All checkpoints leading into the area around the Ibrahimi mosque and al-Sahla Street are closed by Israeli Forces. At one point they detained more than 15 Palestinian men on their way home from work, because they lived in the ‘closed area’. This kind of restriction of movement is a clear violation of Palestinians freedom of movement.
Many families in the Old City of Hebron are now living in houses that have roofs still occupied by Israeli forces, leaving the families completely in the dark about what is going to happen next. A human rights activist explained: “The family which we are staying with have had up to ten soldiers on their roof for more than four hours. They stormed in and ran through the house, while the kids were playing and ran up to the roof to monitor the neighbourhood. The mother of the family is pregnant and lives in the house with her husband and four young kids and they do not know what to expect from the soldiers.”
Ambulances, policemed, soldiers and settlers in the closed area around Ibrahimi mosque
This is just a small example of the impunity of Israeli settlers violently taking over Palestinian homes and how Israeli forces’ actions are determined by settlers and their every wish. Settlers are now celebrating their illegal deeds in al-Sahla Street playing loud music and harassing the families in the whole area.
16th January 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, Tulkarem team | Kafr Qaddum, occupied Palestine
On the 16th of January, Israeli forces shot a young protester with live ammunition while the villagers of Kafr Qaddum were protesting the theft of their land. The Israeli military also rebuilt a roadblock, restricting the movement of the villagers even further.
Israeli military buldozer enters the village. Kedumim settlement in the background. Photo credit: ISM
Kafr Qaddum neighbours the illegal Israeli settlement of Kedumin that was established in 1976. The illegal settlement now occupies five hilltops next to Kafr Qaddum, and houses more than 3000 illegal Israeli settlers.
More than half of the village’s land is located in Area C, which makes it a part of the approximately 60% of the West Bank that is under full Israeli control. This means that many villagers need to get a special permission from the Israeli authorities to access their own land. Getting this permission is almost impossible, and a lot of villagers that do receive a permission complain that Israel only allows them to enter their land for a few days per year, thus not giving them enough time to cultivate their land.
In 2003 the Israeli military closed the entrance of the village by constructing a permanent roadblock. The residents are now forced to drive a 13km long detour in order to reach the main road into the village. In 2010, after waiting five years for a court decision, an Israeli court ruled that the closure of the road is illegal, but also stated, inaccurately, that the road is too dangerous to travel, and the Israeli army has used that as an excuse to keep the road closed ever since.
In addition to the permanent roadblock placed next to the entrance of the Kedumim settlement, Israeli forces have periodically put an extra dirt mound as a roadblock on the same road approximately 1 kilometer before the permament roadblock. One Ppalestinian family-home is closed of and isolated from the rest of the village by this dirt mound, and both cars and ambulances are prevented from driving to this particular home. This roadblock also limits the residents’ acces to their farmlands even further. To reach their land in this part of the village, they now have to go by foot, and are forced to carry their harvest and all the tools that are necessary for the work by hand.
The reconstructed roadblock, in the village of Kafr Qaddum. Photo credit: ISM
Every Friday and Saturday the residents of Kafr Quddum protest the road-closure and the theft of their lands. During last weeks Friday demonstration, Israeli soldiers together with an Israeli military bulldozer entered the village. One Israeli sniper hid on the bulldozer and shot a young protester in his leg as soon as the Israeli military entered the village. When protesters drew back to seek cover the bulldozer and the Israeli Forces started rebuilding the roadblock, that was removed only a few weeks ago.
Since July 2014, the Israeli Occupation Forces have been using live ammunition more frequently. To this day, more than 70 protesters have been injured with live ammunition. Protesters have also sustained serious injuries after being hit by ‘less-lethal ammunition’. One protester is blind on one eye after being hit by a rubber coated metal bullet, and protesters have sustained serious brain damage after being hit by this kind of bullet or tear gas canisters in their head.
During the Saturday protest on the 9th of January, a 60-year old villager was hit in his leg with live ammunition when he was walking back home from a visit at his neighbours house. An Israeli sniper hid behind a parked car, and international observers state that live ammunition was frequently used during the non-violent protest, even though the demonstrators posed no threat to the soldiers at all.
