International Solidarity Movement - Page 188 - Nonviolence. Justice. Freedom.

Israeli soldiers occupy Palestinian house to set up military base

December 10th, 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, al Khalil team | al Khalil, occupied Palestine

For the last 15 days the family of Abu Shykri Al-Atrarshi have had no access to the top two floors of their house, which was illegally taken over by the Israeli occupation forces and where they set up a military base.

Ten Israeli soldiers suddenly showed up at the house in the neighbourhood of Abu Sheineh, Al Khalil; they broke in by smashing a window in the door, took the key and demanded that the family vacate the third floor. The soldiers did not have any documentation to explain or justify the incursion nor did they give an explanation to the family why their house was being taken over. Any questions are ignored and the third floor as well as the roof top are now off limits.

Since the soldiers arrived they have broken the windows, and shot holes in the water tank which supplies clean water to the household. They then took all the blankets on the premises and used them to dry the water leaking from the tanks. The family also reported that once the water supply was fixed the soldiers contaminated the water and used the apartment and roof as a toilet.

The soldiers never leave the apartment empty, but a few times per day there is a shift change. This happens at different times every day so there is no knowing when, and the soldiers move in and out as they please anyway. This means there can be soldiers moving throughout the building at any time, terrifying the family- especially the young children who no longer dare to leave the house on their own. The soldiers use the roof as a lookout and also frequently fire weapons such as teargas, from there into the surrounding neighbourhood.

The three story house is home to 13 people, now crowded into two small floors- including a young disabled child. They have no idea how long the soldiers will stay, or if the family will get their house back at all. They contacted the local DCO (District coordination office) who advised them to get a lawyer, which they did. The lawyer has now started the process to take the case to an Israeli court in Haifa, Israel. However Abu Shykri Al-Atrarsh has had no information on when the case will be heard or when a judgement can be expected. This, as in many cases, can take months if not years and in the meanwhile the family is trapped. Abu Shakri believes the army is trying to make the family leave the building altogether, but they are resolutely staying put.

This family now has to try to live their life underneath the very people who have broken into, stolen and disrespected their home. The daily struggle of living under the occupation is hardship enough but having your own home taken from under your eyes, and not being able to do anything about it is absolutely heartbreaking.

ISM today took pictures of the soldiers in the building to help the family evidence their presence there, which is needed for the court case. Every time the family has tried to take pictures themselves the soldiers have taken their phones and deleted the pictures.

More humiliating body-searches in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron)

9th December 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Al-Khalil, occupied Palestine

On Tuesday and Wednesday, 8^th and 9^th December 2015, Israeli forces bag- and body-searched virtually every male and female adult walking through or past a checkpoint in the Jaber mountain neighbourhood in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron).

In the afternoon on Tuesday, Israeli forces stopped every teacher on their way home from school, forcing them to lift up their shirts and trouser-pants before being allowed to slowly approach the checkpoint where they had to endure a body-search by the soldiers. The school-children from the elementary boys school nearby were watching this humiliating process, as no-one was allowed to pass the checkpoint until all the teachers’ were patted down by the soldiers.

Not only the teachers and the director of the school, but also any other male adult going past the military gate or even past anywhere on the road in the view of the soldiers, were body-searched. As this systematic humiliation of any male adult, and some male youth, kept going on for hours, several people decided to not go past the gate in order to spare themselves this humiliation. Several people, simply going to a shop in order to buy something, passed the soldiers twice within ten minutes and were thus forced to be body-searched twice. Israeli forces forced various adults to even take off their shoes before being allowed to approach them to be body-searched.

Israeli forces body-searching Palestinian man

Female adults were stopped and had to throw their IDs on the street, put their bags down, and step back a few meters, before soldiers would check their IDs and go through the bags.

Israeli forces bag-searching a Palestinian woman

Thousands join the funeral of Malik Shahin, killed on tuesday in Bethlehem

9th of December 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied

On Tuesday, thousands of Palestinians joined the funeral of 20-year-old Malik Akram Shahin in the streets of Bethlehem. Malik was shot dead by Israeli forces on Monday night, during a detention raid in the Dheisheh refugee camp where he lived with his family. He was the fifth martyr in his city alone.

The mourners, wearing the symbolic red and white keffiyeh of Popular Front for Liberation of Palestine – Malik’s political party – held the funeral procession from the Beit Jala hospital to the martyr’s home. Malik is the second person from Dheisheh refugee camp to be killed by Israeli forces since the murder of Motaz Ibrahim Zawara on October 14th during a demonstration in Bethlehem.

According to medical personnel from Beit Jala Governmental Hospital, Malik was killed with an explosive bullet fired at his head, which smashed his skull and exploded into “hundreds of pieces.” Also called ‘dum-dum’ bullets, the use of this kind of explosive ammunition is forbidden by international law and considered as a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, of which Palestine is a member as of last April. Medical sources added that considering where Malik was shot in the head with this type of bullet, there was no doubt that the intention was to kill him.

Following Malik’s funeral, clashes took place at the northern entrance of Bethlehem near the Rachel’s Tomb checkpoint; two Palestinians were injured and evacuated to the hospital, while many people suffered from tear gas. As demonstrated by Malik’s death by illegal ammunition, Israeli forces are guilty of serious violations of international law and human rights; such violations have been in constant and troubling increase across the occupied Palestinian territory since the beginning of October.

ACT NOW ! Ask the UN to drop G4S

December 9th, 2015 | Codepink, BDS Movement | Occupied Palestine

G4S, the largest private security company in the world, is involved in brutal human rights violationsat detention centers worldwide, including in Israeli prisons where Palestinian political prisoners and children are tortured and held without trial. The U.N. officially opposes these violent and illegal practices, yet it purchases more than $22 million in G4S contracts each year, ignoring G4S’s transgressions and the U.N.’s own guidelines. Join Palestinian prisoners’ rights group Addameer and organizations across the globe in calling on the UN to drop its contracts with G4S!

In April 2015, a group of Palestinian human rights organizations wrote a letter to the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon urging the UN to terminate its contracts with international security company G4S due to its complicity in the Israeli occupation’s prison system and human rights violations as well as a record of grave human rights violations around the world.

Today, on November 29, the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, Palestinian human rights organizations joined by over 220 solidarity groups, trade unions, human rights organizations and migrant solidarity groups from around the world renew the call and urge the UN to cancel its contract with G4S because of the role the company plays in human rights abuses in Palestine and other parts of the world.

ACT Now:

Thank you for taking action on behalf of justice and equality.

Nancy, Ariel, and the CODEPINK team

Israeli forces uproot trees and destroy greenhouses in Kafa district

8th of December 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Tulkarm Team | Kafa district, occupied Palestine

Settlers from the nearby settlements and soldiers watched the scene

On Tuesday, Israeli forces entered the village of Kafa in the outskirts of occupied Tulkarm. Within a few hours, they uprooted over 150 olive trees, 30 lemon trees and demolished four greenhouses from the land of the Esmail family. Even though this land has been owned by the family for multiple generations, Israel has declared it state property. “They didn’t just cause a loss of income, they also attacked my culture and my heritage”, says Munir Fathi Esmail, owner of the land.

The farmers were harvesting tomatoes inside one of the greenhouses when the Israeli forces entered the farm with bulldozers. The army didn’t give any notice for their intervention. The operation was covered by 12 soldiers from the israeli army and 4 men from the Isreali border police. Palestinians witnessing the demolition suspected that some of the armed Israeli civilians that assisted during the destruction were from the nearby illegal Israeli settlement of Avnei Hefetz, located just a few kilometers away. One of the armed settlers was instructing the bulldozer where to go, and telling the international human rights activists that where present to back off.

Israeli forces uprooted trees with a bulldozer

Munir explained that even though he will be able to buy new greenhouses, the economic loss resulting to the uprooting would be severe. “I will be dead before the new trees will be old and strong enough to give the same amount of harvest”, he stated.
The destruction of farmland, wich is illegal under international law, is just one form of oppression that the Palestinian farmers are facing. This farm, like most other agricultural areas in the West Bank is located in Area C, as 60% of the West Bank, fully controlled by the Israeli authorities. For Palestinian farmers in area C, this means harsh restrictions of movement, sometimes not being allowed access to their lands as well as not being allowed to build new constructions. Israel uses these methods as a way to get Palestinian farmers to leave their land, in order to give more room for expanding settlements. But Munir Fathi Esmail is determined to stay : “I will plant new trees, and I will never leave my land.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXfo5ExK6a4&app=desktop