International Solidarity Movement - Page 177 - Nonviolence. Justice. Freedom.

Palestinian families deeply concerned about the safety of their children

The three boys – Awne Abu Shamsiyye (16 years of age), Moataz Irfaiie (17 years of age) and Nizzar Salhab (16 years of age)- who were shot on their way home on the evening of the 1^st of December have since then been harassed by Israeli forces and their families have been left in the dark about what kind of unlawful punishment will await their children.

Nizzar was shot in the upper thigh, lower torso and hip and a piece of the metal from the bullet penetrated his testicle. He was hospitalized in the Ahli hospital in Al-Khalil (Hebron) for five days and had to undergo two surgeries. The other two boys were hospitalized in Al-Khalil Alia hospital. Sixteen-year old Awne was shot by live ammunition in the sole of his foot, where the bullet exploded. He had to undergo two surgeries and stayed in the hospital for eights days. Moataz was shot in his calf and had to undergo one surgery.

12404149_1054864131242785_1199754815_n — Paper from the Israeli Civil Administration Photo credit: Human Rights Defenders Group

After being discharged from the hospitals, all three boys returned to their homes in Tel Rumeida, where they continue to undergo medical treatment. Shortly after all boys had been discharged, Israeli forces came to the homes of all three boys looking for them. The Israeli forces thoroughly searched Awne Abu Shamsiyye’s house and even the homes of his neighbors; Awne was luckily not around at that time. The Israeli forces returned following day at 2:00 am to search the house for Awne again and when they couldn’t find him they came back at noon to give the family a paper. The paper ordered the family to deliver Awne to the Israeli Civil Administration, the Israeli governing body that operates in the West Bank. The other two families also received a paper giving them a deadline to deliver their sons to the Israeli DCO (District Coordination Office) by Sunday the 20^th of December 2015 at 2:00 pm.

On the 20^th of December the three boys went to the Israeli DCO in Al-Khalil accompanied by their families and a lawyer provided by the Human Rights Defenders Group. After waiting around at the DCO the boys were told to go to the police station located in the illegal settlement Kiryat Arba in Al-Khalil (Hebron) instead. Upon arrival at the police station they were sent back to the Israeli DCO on the claim that it was the responsibility of the DCO to deal with the boys. The families refused to go back to the DCO the same day and the police took the phone numbers of the fathers of the three boys. The families were told that the commander would get in touch with the families the next day to inform them about the unknown fate that awaits the three boys. However, until now the commander hasn’t got in touch with any of the families.

12436041_1054864514576080_1902095659_n — Waiting in front of the police station in Kiryat Arba Photo Credit: Human Rights Defenders Group

The families are deeply concerned about the safety of the boys and feel highly uncomfortable because the boys could be arrested, attacked or shot at any time. The boys are still under threat and need to be extremely careful when moving in their neighbourhood, which has been a ‘closed military zone’ since November 1^st 2015. Earlier today, the 3^rd of January 2015 the commander stopped the father of one of the boys, Imed Abu Shamsiyye and told him that if he saw Awne again he would shoot him. Not only is this a direct threat to the life of Awne, it also confirms the concerns voiced by the families about the safety of their children and their concerns that the Israeli forces would attack the boys “when nobody is watching”. Although Imed told the commander that the families had followed all of their orders and have proof thereof, it is only a matter of time until the Israeli forces will resort to yet another crime.

14 Palestinians finally laid to rest in occupied al-Khalil

2nd January, 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | al-Khalil, occupied Palestine

On the 2^nd of January 2016, thousands attended the funeral of 14 martyrs in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron). A demonstration following the funeral, against the continued killing of Palestinians with impunity by the Israeli military and Zionist settlers, was attacked by Israeli forces.

Part of the massive funeral procession walking up the road toward the Martyrs’ cemetery

The new year in the occupied West Bank began with the handover of 23 bodies that the Israeli government had been withholding from their families, some for over two months. These 23 young Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces or settlers claiming that they had been carrying out attacks; in many cases, eyewitnesses reported that Israeli forces planted evidence on the bodies or killed the alleged attackers when they posed no imminent threat. Israeli forces then took the bodies of the Palestinians killed and the Israeli government refused to return them to their families, denying them funerals and proper burial.

17 of the 23 bodies that were finally returned to their families were from the al-Khalil district. Of these 14 were from al-Khalil city itself, and were thus buried on Saturday in the Martyrs’ cemetery of al-Khalil. Thousands of people marched in the funeral procession from the Hussein mosque to the cemetery, with the fourteen bodies carried on the shoulders of their families. The families of the young men killed finally had the chance to bury their loved ones in an appropriate manner and grieve their loss.

One of the 14 bodies of Palestinian youths being carried down the road in al-Khalil

As the procession was passing by a road that leads down toward Shuhada checkpoint, Israeli forces threw stun grenades into the street even though no one was approaching or even near checkpoint.

The fourteen people buried this Saturday in occupied al-Khalil are:

Basil Bassam Ragheb Sidr, 20, shot dead on 14^th October 2015
Fadil Abdullah Qawasmi, 18, shot dead by Israeli settlers on 17^th October 2015
Farouq Abd al-Qadir Sider, 19, shot dead on 19^th October 2015
Saad Muhammad Youssef al-Atrash, 19, shot dead on 26^th October 2015
Shadi Nabil al-Qudsi, 22, shot dead on 27^th October 2015
Izz al-Din Nadi Abu Shkheidem, 19, shot dead on 27^th October 2015
Humaaam Adnan al-Saeed, 23, shot dead on 27^th October 2015
Islam Rafiq Hammad Ibeido, 23, shot dead on 28^th October 2015
Mahdi Muhammad al-Muhtaseb, 23, shot dead on 29^th October 2015
Malik Talal al-Shareef, 25, shot dead on 5^th November 2015
Mustafa Fadhil Fanoon, 15, shot dead on 4^th December 2015
Taher Faysal Fannoun, 19, shot dead on 4^th December 2015
Ibah Fathi Miswadeh, 21, shot on 7^th December 2015
Abd al-Rahman Miswadeh, shot dead on 7^th December 2015

The three Palestinians buried in the al-Khalil area are:
Hamzeh Moussa al-Imla, 25, shot dead on 20^th October 2015. Buried in Beit Ula
Fadi Hassan al-Froukh, shot dead on 1^st November 2015. Buried in Sair village
Omar Arafat Issa al-Zaaqiq, 19, shot dead on 27^th November 2015. Buried in Beit Ummar

After the funeral procession for Omar al-Zaaqiq, Israeli forces injured 12 protesters with rubber-coated steel bullets, including two that were shot in the head.

After the funeral in al-Khalil dozens of young Palestinian men braved wet, cold weather to gather in the streets of Bab al-Zawwiya neighborhood around Shuhada checkpoint to protest the murder of these martyrs. Israeli forces advanced from Shuhada checkpoint and threw stun grenades into the streets. They also pursued a Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance that was driving up the road with its lights and sirens on in the H1 area of al-Khalil, the part supposedly under full Palestinian control. Israeli forces stopped the ambulance and threw a stun grenade at it, forcing medics to drive back in the direction they had come.

Israeli forces occupied a building and roof in Bab al-Zawwiya, using their vantage to aim down at protesters, mock the demonstrators and throw stones at them.

Palestinians and internationals documenting the Israeli forces’ violent attackon the demonstration were directly targeted by Israeli forces. Local activist Imad Abu Shamsiya was shot in the foot with a rubber-coated metal bulle by Israeli forces. One international was hit in the hand with a rubber-coated metal bullet when clearly holding a camera filming the event. “We were standing in the street taking photos of the soldiers aiming their rifles at demonstrators and realized that they were aiming right at us when a rubber-coated metal bullet hit right above my head,” another ISM activist recalled.

soldier further away — Photo taken just before Israeli border police aimed a rubber-coated metal bullet just above an ISMer’s head

Israeli forces indiscriminately fired rounds of plastic-coated metal bullets that, in contrast to the rubber-coated metal bullets, were not aimed and targeted at individuals but would instead hit anyone in the vicinity. The clashes ended after over two hours of confrontation with Israeli forces, with no severe injuries.

While the families of the 23 young Palestinians returned on New Year’s Day were finally able to bury their loved ones, other families are still waiting and demanding the return of the bodies of their family members killed by Israeli forces or settlers. This inhumane tactic of keeping the bodies from the families, thus denying them the possibility of holding a funeral according to their beliefs, clearly violates article 17 of the 1949 Geneva Convention: I “[Parties to the conflict] shall further ensure that the dead are honourably interred, if possible according to the rites of the religion to which they belonged, that their graves are respected, grouped if possible according to the nationality of the deceased, properly maintained and marked so that they may always be found.”

A frightening walk to school in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron)

2nd January, 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al Khalil team | Al Khalil, occupied Palestine

On 30^th December 2015, an aggressive Israeli settler and Israeli forces yet again intimidated and harassed Palestinian schoolboys in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron).

As Palestinian schoolchildren were walking to school for their end of the year exam, infamous settler Ofer drove past the Ziad Jaber elementary boys school on the route to the illegal Israeli settlement Kiryat Arba. Even though he is not a trained medical professional, but instead works as ‘settlement security’, he is often seen driving around occupied al-Khalil in an ambulance. He stopped the ambulance right at the military gate that children and teachers have to pass on their way to school.

Israeli forces and settler right opposite the school gate — Israeli forces and settler directly opposite the school gate

Ofer stepped out of the ambulance, ordered the Israeli soldiers at the checkpoint to go with him and walked towards the school. He immediately started threatening international human rights defenders and teachers, walking all the way to the school gate. He accused children of throwing stones and aggressively filmed, holding by his phone directly in the faces of teachers and human rights defenders and spitting at them. When Ofer tried entering the schoolyard, Israeli forces refused to intervene even though human rights defenders were asking them to stop this armed man from entering the school property. The teachers from the school were able to stop him from entering the yard.

Watch a video:

As more and more soldiers and eventually the police arrived, school children were too scared to cross the military gate that was half-blocked by several military and police jeeps as well as the ambulance. With this large group of heavily armed soldiers, police and well-known, infamous settler Ofer immediately outside the school gate, the children were effectively prevented from accessing their school – a clear infringement on their basic human right to education.

Students forced to pass Israeli army and settlers on their way to school

While Israeli forces and Ofer stayed outside the school-gate for over half an hour, another group of soldiers aggressively body-searched every person walking up the hill towards the school from the other direction. Around the corner from there, groups of school-children were gathering, too scared to pass the soldiers on their way to school. The children had to be picked up by a group of teachers and walked to the school, some of them in tears.

Teacher walking crying student to school

The soldiers, as well as the Israeli police, were acting purely on the settler’s every wish and order. This illustrates the power settlers in occupied al-Khalil hold over the occupying army. In the end, the teachers had to ‘negotiate’ and reason with Ofer himself, as soldiers were standing idly by refusing to stop the armed settler from entering the school. Teachers and students alike instead had to fear that, on Ofer’s orders, the soldiers and police themselves were going to enter the school and raid it, as they have done in the past. When the settler, and then gradually the police and soldiers, left, Ofer threatened to come back at the end of the school day. As school finished early after the exam, children quickly left the school in big groups without any incidents.

Student body-searched by Israeli forces outside the school

The school children at Ziad Jaber elementary school on their everyday walk to and from school must pass Israeli forces at the checkpoint right outside the military gate and are often witness to humiliating and aggressive body-searches of their teachers and anyone else passing by. At times, the students themselves have to wait for their school bags to be searched by heavily armed soldiers or are even body-searched on their way home from school. This atmosphere of fear and intimidation – an infringement on so many of these children’s most basic human rights – impacts their everyday life. The impact on their academic achievement can’t be estimated, especially when asked to concentrate on the year end exam after safely navigating soldiers and settlers on their way to school. This is but a small glimpse into how growing up under military occupation in occupied Palestine looks like.

URGENT Update: Help Hamzeh start 2016 with his family!

30th November 2015 | International Solidarity Movement | Ramallah, occupied Palestine

Hamzeh’s family has managed to raise 1880 shekels! This is over half of the amount needed so that Hamzeh can come home in seven days! We still need 564.5 dollars to pay his fine to release him.

Hamzeh was taken from his home in Amari refugee camp by Israeli forces on February 5th, 2015. He was forced to accept a plea bargain despite denying the charges leveled against him by Israeli military court. Now his family must pay the fine or he will remain in prison for another four months.

‘This fine goes beyond the financial means of my circle of family and friends,’ Hamze explains. ‘My financial situation is very difficult, and has worsened by the fact that I have been unemployed for the past 2 years. I was forced to leave school at grade 9 to begin working and help my family. My family still depends on me for financial support, and my imprisonment has exerted an enormous burden on them. I ask all people who understand me to support me and my family.’

If 50 people give 11.29 $ each, or if 100 people give 5.65 $, or 200 people give 2.83 $, Hamzeh will go free. If you’re broke, you can be creative: Pass your hat around friends and family, make a soup kitchen tonight and invite everyone to donate a little!

Please donate here!: https://palsolidarity.org/donate/

Also, please send us an email to palreports@gmail.com with “Free Hamzeh” in the subject line to let us know your donation is for Hamzeh, or if you want information about other ways to donate.

Any donation is greatly appreciated; If we all put our efforts together we can fulfill Hamzeh’s desire and right to freedom!
Please share his story with your friends and family, in your social media and with all the people who care.

Further land grabbing in Jordan Valley

31st December 2015| International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Jordan Valley, Occupied Palestine
During the past 6 months, the Jordan Valley Solidarity Campaign has registered further land grabbing in Fasayal village in the Jordan Valley. The land, which originally belonged to a Palestinian owner, was invaded 6 months ago by Israeli authorities accompanied by settlers from nearby illegal Israeli settlements and bulldozers. Locals say that they were seen working on the land in order to level the surface of the soil to prepare it for planting trees. Locals reported that on the 19th of December Israeli authorities with Israeli settlers were digging holes for trees; so far, 400-500 date trees have already been illegally planted on the ground. The land is located between two illegal Israeli settlements, Yafit and Masu’a, and furthermore borders with route 90, which has resulted in the denial of access for many Palestinian land owners to their land because of “security reasons.”

Israeli bulldozers seen preparing the Palestinian owned land in Fasayal, Jordan Valley. — Israeli bulldozers seen preparing the Palestinian-owned land in Fasayal, Jordan Valley. (Photo credit: Jordan Valley Solidarity Campaign)

As 87% of the Jordan Valley is declared area C and an additional 7%, which is formally part of area B, is declared a nature reserve, most of the Jordan Valley is off limits for the Palestinian people. Furthermore, 50% of the area is controlled by the illegal Israeli settlements, and 45% is declared military bases, “closed military zones,” “nature reserves,” and “firing zones,” denying access for Palestinians and facilitating the demolitions of Bedouin tents, houses, wells etc. In area C obtaining permits to build schools, hospitals, water networks, roads or other basic service infrastructure is practically impossible, which violates the basic needs and human rights of the residing Palestinian population. Israeli forces destroy infrastructure and buildings built without a permit.

By oppressing the people in the Jordan Valley in this manner, Israeli occupation forces have succeeded in decreasing the Palestinian population from 320,000 in 1967 to approximately 55,000 people. In the same four decades, 37 illegal Israeli settlements have been established and are now housing 10,00 settlers, who enjoy a 75% discount on their water bills and cheap stolen land. In contrast, Palestinians suffer from extreme lack of access to water by having their water tanks confiscated and their wells demolished. Furthermore, the Israeli authorities prohibit Palestinians from digging new wells or reallocating old wells, forcing Palestinians to have wells only 150 meters deep where the water is either salty or nonexistent due to the construction of Jewish-only wells nearby. Israelis are allowed to dig 400-500 meter wells, sometimes hitting salt beds causing the water in the Palestinian wells to be salty.