18th January 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil Team | al-Khalil, occupied Palestine
Today marks day 12 of an ongoing sit-in protest at check point 56 at the entrance to Shuhada Street and the Israeli occupied part of the city. The peaceful protest began on 7th January when a local woman, Wafa’ Sharabati, 38, was arrested at the checkpoint due to a discrepancy with her ID while trying to pass. During the arrest she was harassed by Israeli forces who claimed that she was a ‘troublemaker’ and threatened to put a knife in her bag.
Israeli forces detaining Wafa’ Sharabati
The family, joined by other locals and activists, staged a sit in afterwards protesting the arbitrary arrest and harassment as well as the increased difficulty passing the newly renovated checkpoint and the closed military zone. The checkpoint leads into the Tel Rumeida neighbourhood which Israeli authorities declared a closed military zone on November 1, 2015. The closure forced all residents to register and be assigned numbers in order to pass to their homes, and to add to the restrictions, no visitors of any kind, family, friends, media or human rights defenders have been able to enter. ISM and many other organizations are now calling on the international community to act and put an end to the closed military zone.
Families peacefully protesting after the arrest
Since the initial sit in, an ongoing protest tent open to all has been established to show solidarity and support until the closed military zone comes to an end. The tent is set up and visited daily, despite the cold weather, from morning until night by local residents, youth, activists, and even tourists. Members of international organizations such as Interfaith Peace Builders from the U.S. and the UK Political Council, as well as local ones such as, Hebron Rehabilitation Committee, have also visited to learn about the situation. Any individuals or groups who wish to attend to show support or learn more are welcome to join.
Local youth set up the protest tent in the morningDay 5 at the tent (photo by Youth Against Settlements)Gathering around the fire at night
January 18th 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah Team | East Jerusalem, occupied Palestine
A few days ago, the ISM went to the Shuafat Refugee Camp to learn about the situation and living conditions for its Palestinian residents.
Residential buildings at the entrance of the Camp
Built in 1965 with the aim of relocating the Palestinians who were living in the Moroccan Quarter of the Old City in Jerusalem (today’s Wailing Wall area), Shuafat Refugee Camp has a population that is estimated between 60.000 to 80.000 Palestinians. These numbers are only an estimation since the Israeli Municipality, which is responsible for the Camp’s administration, has not carried out any census of its residents.
But the Municipality’s negligence of the Camp is further seen in the everyday life lack of basic services such as picking up the garbage in the streets, and insufficient water and power supply, giving way to frequent water shortages and power cuts. All this happens regardless of the fact that Palestinians living in the Camp pay all their taxes, which are equal to the tax amounts that Israeli citizens pay. In contrast, all Israeli resident areas and illegal settlements in Jerusalem receive these services without interruption; having no water shortages or power cuts, and enjoying perfectly clean streets.
The Municipality neglects collecting the garbage from the streets
The situation inside the Shuafat Refugee Camp only worsened when in 2004 the Israeli authority built an Apartheid Wall that completely surrounded the Camp. Only two entrances connect the Camp to the outer world: the Shuafat checkpoint, which connects to Jerusalem, and the Anaata entrance, which connects to the West Bank.
The way towards the Shuafat checkpoint
On many occasions, when there are confrontations between the Palestinian youth of the Camp and the Israeli forces, the army closes both entrances, locking up the entire population of the Camp, only adding more pressure to the already existing everyday life difficulties.
View to the surveillance towerr and checkpoint, once you enter the Camp
The schooling system is poorly covered for the Camp’s children. UNWRA established two schools inside the Camp, one for boys and another for girls. But these schools only have classes between 1st and 6th grades, and cannot provide education for all the Camp’s children. Every morning, many children need to exit through the Shuafat checkpoint to go to other schools in East Jerusalem. A school bus service runs every morning, but again it does not have the capacity to serve all the children, and many of them have to take a ride with a car, a taxi or walk between 30 minutes and one hour, depending on how far their school is located.
The entrance to the Shuafat Boys School
This situation for the children is very difficult since the checkpoint in the morning is very congested, as other people need to cross to get to work. There are even times when waiting to cross the checkpoint can take more than an hour.
Another aggravating problem is the refusal of ambulances to enter the Camp when there are accidents or people injured from clashes. Residents usually call the Israeli ambulance service, as the Palestinian Red Crescent has only 5 ambulances for all Jerusalem and is too busy to arrive fast enough. But the Israeli ambulances say they do not enter the Camp without Israeli police officers. Instead, they wait outside the Shuafat checkpoint for the injured person to be delivered by members from the community or family in any way they can, cross the checkpoint and place him or her inside the ambulance. Carrying injured people in an unprepared and inappropriate way has resulted in many people dying under these circumstances.
In addition to these difficulties, the Israeli army and police sometimes enter the Camp to raid homes and arrest people who have any political leadership within their community. Just like in the rest of the West Bank, these arrest operations happen in the middle of the night with hundreds of soldiers, terrifying whole families and neighbors.
A view of the Apartheid Wall that surrounds the entire Camp
It is important to note that the State of Israel does not provide citizenship to Palestinians living in Jerusalem, but instead gives them a permanent residence status, which Israel takes the right to revoke at any time by different means. One example would be if a Palestinian moves to live outside of Jerusalem for a certain period of time, he or she will lose the residency status and will not be allowed to live in Jerusalem anymore. Therefore, in fear of losing their residency right and at the same time not being able to afford living in other parts of an increasingly expensive Jerusalem, more and more Palestinians continue to move into the already overcrowded Shuafat Refugee Camp.
January 17th 2016 | InternationalSolidarity Movement | Bethlehem, occupied Palestine
This Friday, on the 15th of January, hundreds of Palestinians gathered on the main street of Bethlehem to protest against the recent killing of Srour Ahmad Abu Srour, who was killed by Israeli forces in nearby Beit Jala last Wednesday. Israeli forces fired tear gas, rubber-coated metal bullets and live ammunition at the protesters.
On Wednesday afternoon, 21-year-old Srour Ahmad Abu Srour, origanally from Aida refugee camp, was killed during protests against the Israeli military invasion of the western part of Bethlehem, Beit Jala. Palestine news network reported that 4 Israeli army jeeps entered Beit Jala and set up a flying checkpoint and started raiding homes and shops on the busy Al-Sahl street in Beit Jala. Srour Ahmad Abu Srour was hit in his chest by a live bullet, and later succumbed at Beit Jala public hospital. The director of the Red Crescent ambulance and emergency crew in Bethlehem, Mohamed Awad, said that many young men were injured by rubber-coated metal bullets or by suffocation due to the large amount of tear gas fired during the protest.
Every day since the killing of Srour Ahmad Abu Srour, Palestinians from Bethlehem have marched the streets in protests of Israel’s ongoing violence. On this Friday demonstration Israeli forces entered the streets of Bethlehem and fired hundreds of tear gas canisters towards the protesters. Protesters, passersby and residents of the neighborhood were severely affected by the amount of tear gas that was fired. One passerby was taken away from the scene in an ambulance due to the excessive inhalation of tear gas.
Tear gas on the streets of BethlehemA private car is passing through the tear gas,fired by the Israeli soldiers.
2 injuries by rubber-coated metal bullets were reported, one of which was a journalist. One protester was shot in his lower leg with live ammunition, and was taken to hospital.
Blood from the protester who was injured in his lower leg by live ammunition
According to medics, 5 people were injured with rubber-coated metal bullets and 5 people with live ammunition during protests in Bethlehem with its surrounding villages. One medic was injured when a rubber-coated metal bullet was fired at the windshield of his Ambulance during protests in near by Em Rokbaa.
Medics standing in front of the ambulance with a broken windshield
Injured medic with the broken windshield in the background.
17th January 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil Team | Hebron, occupied Palestine
Yesterday, 16th of January 2016, the area of Queitun in Al-Khalil (Hebron) in the occupied West Bank was invaded by more than 50 Israeli Forces and more than six military jeeps and two police cars. The Israeli Forces raided multiple houses in the area from 4 pm until 7 pm and arrested at least seven Palestinians from the area before finally leaving the families alone.
Israeli Forces entering house in Queitun
According to witnesses, the Israeli forces entered the area explaining that they heard shooting coming from an unidentified Palestinian home close to the Queitun Checkpoint that leads into the area. However, Palestinians in the neighborhood did not hear any such noises throughout the day.
After the Israeli Forces entered the checkpoint, they raided multiple family homes nearby. In some homes, the soldiers damaged the residents’ belongings and left the homes wrecked. They also beat some residents without any reason. A young man from one of these homes needed medical treatment in the hospital after soldiers violently attacked him.
Young man beaten by soldiers with there guns.
During the three hours that the Israeli Forces spend terrorizing the area and harassing the residents, they arrested at least 7 Palestinians. Three of the arrestees were taken around 4 pm and were all from the Karaki family. They were released after less than three hours.
Arrest in Queitun. Photo Credit: CPT Palestine
At the same time 40 soldiers entered the Abu Ramooz family home in Queitun to search before going to the neighbor’s house to arrest Hammad Said, 19. During that time, the 8-year-old sister of Hamad was struck in the head by a soldier after asking the Israeli Forces why they were attacking her brother and taking him away. The soldiers then went back to the Abu Ramooz family and arrested Wasam Abu Ramooz, 20, local shop owner Yunis Serbel, 32, and Shaudi Abu Hadid, 48, who was taken from his house where he was alone at the time. These four men had not been released at 8 pm and the families were still not being informed about where they were or what was happening to them.
More than 50 Israeli Forces took part in the mission in Queitun leaving many families in fear.
House raids and arrests like these are not uncommon in the area of Queitun that has been suffering from ongoing harassment and military presence. The Israeli Forces took over a whole floor of a Palestinian house more than a month ago and have been using it as a military outpost. The increasing amount of harassment in the area has left many families afraid of letting their children play in streets and opening their shops. This is a clear example of how the military occupation affects the everyday lives of Palestinian families.
At 6 am on 14th January 2016 the Israeli occupation army entered Tubas area, with twelve jeeps and two bulldozers, destroying four shelters and a water tank.
In December 2015 the army gave the order for demolition of the shelters, obliging the owners to restore the land to the condition it was in before the construction, within the following 45 days. While the court process was ongoing and the deadline has not expired yet, the army raided the area and destroyed the shelters. Two of the four shelters were owned by Ali ‘Amabusi and Mahmoud Alidib Mashamani, both of them living in Tubas.
Military forces claimed the area as closed military area, but by law they are not permitted to enter Tubas and give demolition orders as it is Area A under the Oslo accords, and therefore under full control of Palestinian Authority.
In the morning a water tank was also destroyed. It was supplying water to the village of Yarza. The demolition left 100 people without water and with them farms and plantations, which are the main economy of the families.
The water tank was built with the fund of the Italian Christian Solidarity and the volunteers of Jordan Valley Solidarity in 2013-2014. Its purpose was a development project for the area, allowing people to return and help the ones who don’t have access to the water to grow plants and animals.
The water was provided from the city of Tubas and the village of Alibkea, but the pipe going from the tank to the village of Yarza was previously confiscated by the occupation army 8 months ago.
Israeli forces raid area with bulldozers to demolish shelters and destroy water tank.
