Weekly demo in front of the International Red Cross, Ramallah, to demand the release of prisoners from the Occupation’s jails
24 October 2023 | International Solidarity Movement | Ramallah
The ISM attended the weekly demonstration held in front of the International Red Cross, in Ramallah, to demand the release of prisoners from the Occupation’s jails. When we arrived at the demonstration, a lady called out to me in French – “You’re French? Macron shouldn’t come here, he should go home. It’s a disgrace!”
Macron is currently visiting Ramallah after he held talks with Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.
This Palestinian lady was brought up by the nuns in Bethlehem, went to their school and speaks excellent French. She still takes great pleasure in reading in French. Like everyone else here, she is scandalised and horrified by the images we see over and over again on all the screens. She took me as a witness to express her revulsion and incomprehension. How can France approve of these massacres of women and children?
She demonstrated in front of the International Red Cross to support the families of the prisoners. Her own son spent 15 years in prison, and many of his friends were caught up in the round-ups that have been taking place every night since 7 October.
The number of prisoners in Israeli jails has doubled in the last 15 days. Many of these captives are being held in administrative detention. Their families no longer have the right to visit them.
On average, one Palestinian in five will spend time behind bars in Israel.
22 October 2023 | International Solidarity Movement | Zawata
by Diana Khwaelid
Zawata town-Nablus.
On the evening of Sunday, 22-10-2023, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) stormed the town of Zawata, northwest of the city of Nablus. The residents of the town initially spotted Israeli special forces near the town’s cemetery.
The Israeli occupation forces carried out a campaign of arrests against Palestinian youths in the village. Young palestinians of the town came out to confront the occupation forces. Jihad Mazen Sobhi Saleh (29 years old) and Muhammad Qasim Abu Zar (17 years old), were martyred after being exposed to direct fire by the IOF. The two young men were transferred to the nearest hospital. One of them was admitted to the operating room but did not survive. The two martyrs were killed in cold blood.
Ahmad Zawatiah, an eyewitness to the Israeli occupation’s crime against the Palestinian youths, said that the Israeli soldiers stormed the town and started shooting directly at the youths without there being an armed clash between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians.
The raid also resulted in the arrest of two Palestinian youths, Dia Abu Amsha and Amir Abu Amsha, both from the town of Zawata.
Hundreds of Palestinians in the town participated in the funeral of the bodies of the two martyrs, who were given one last farewell by their families and friends.
The crowd chanted phrases expressing Palestinian patriotism, in a state of anger and sadness, at the continuation of Israeli crimes in the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza.
As Gaza suffers from the criminal bombing campaign of the IOF, Palestinians in the West Bank are facing continuous Israeli colonial crimes, with IOF raids and settler pogroms intensifying in frequency and severity. Since the start of the war on Gaza, more than 90 Palestinians have been martyred, and more than 1,200 have been arrested in the West Bank.
19 October 2023 | International Solidarity Movement | Tulkarm
By Diana Khwaelid
The Israeli occupation forces launched a major military assault on the city of Tulkarm, especially on the Nur Shams refugee camp. A curfew was imposed throughout the city for at least 30 continuous hours, and Israeli snipers were deployed in more locations within the city, as well as in villages adjacent to the city and camps, especially the Nur Shams camp.
On 19-10-2023, at 3:00 in the morning, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) stormed the Nur Shams refugee camp in huge numbers, with dozens of military jeeps, bulldozers and a D9 caterpillar. The camp’s sirens were activated, as camp residents woke up to the sound of gunfire and exploding bombs. Residents of the camp, especially children, were woken up by huge explosions that shook the camp.
There were strong clashes between Palestinian fighters who tried to defend the camp and the occupation soldiers, which lasted for around 30 hours, after which the Israeli occupation forces withdrew from the camp completely, on Friday morning at about 7:00 AM.
The Israeli occupation forces completely destroyed the main entrance to the camp and the infrastructure of the camp using one of its military vehicles, the armoured bulldozertype D9. The IOF also destroyed dozens of civilian cars belonging to the camp’s residents, 7 Palestinian houses were bombed using drones, some of which were destroyed and part of them were partially damaged.
The IOF also destroyed water networks and sewage pipes, and electricity and communication lines were completely cut off on the camp since the first hours of the invasion. There was no good communication between the camp residents and the outside, which exacerbated the problem of calling ambulances to enter the camp and transfer the wounded.
According to medical sources , 13 Palestinians were killed. 2 of them were not residents of the camp. 7 of them under the age of 18 and 2 of them were 10 years old. According to the Red Crescent, at least 40 people were injured, including by live bullets and shrapnels produced during the firing of missiles by Israeli drones, which targeted homes belonging to Palestinian civilians.
The Israeli occupation forces also obstructed the movement of medical personnel and ambulances, and hindered them from moving and entering the camp to transport the wounded to the hospital. The IOF identified members of the medical staff and obstructed the movement of journalists attempting to report on the raid. At least one injured Palestinian who was inside the ambulance was arrested on his way to the hospital.
7 Palestinians were killed while they were near a house targeted by a drone. 5 of them were children. The Israeli occupation claims that it was targeting Palestinian militants, but all those reported killed were unarmed civilians.
Hundreds of Palestinians from the camp and from nearby towns participated in the funerals of the Palestinian martyrs who were killed in cold blood during this assault launched by the Israeli occupation forces on the camp. Funeral attendees raised the Palestinian flag, and chanted patriotic words expressing national unity, anger and condemnation of the IOF’s continuing bloody crimes against the Palestinian people, whether in Gaza, the West Bank or Nur Shams camp.
After the assault, the number of martyrs of the city of Tulkarm rises to 22 since the start of the war on Gaza on 7-10-2023. 81 Palestinians were martyred in the West Bank during this period.
This is the fifth invasion on the camp in recent months, but the inhabitants of Nur Shams are still ready to sacrifice their lives to defend their homes.
21 October, 2023 | International Solidarity Movement | Jordan Valley
The ISM visited the land of Ahmed, a resident of the Jordan Valley. Ahmed’s land falls in both Area A (under the Palestinian Authority control) and Area C (under civil and military Israeli occupation). He has a house and palm plantations on the “A side”, while on the “C side” he had built an irrigation system and started to plant bananas. The Israeli army destroyed everything there, as Palestinians face huge challenges to build and farm in area C.
A bit further away from Ahmed’s land there is a green patch: it is a mango plantation (photo) belonging to illegal Israeli settlers who stole Palestinian land under the protection of the Israeli occupation forces. The Israeli settlers are digging a trench (photo): they broke all the water pipes and water is now wasted filling the trench. It almost looks like they are trying to demarcate and separate Area A and C.
Palm plantations in the area A side of Ahmed’s land.
As settlers’ attacks increase in the area, farmers have put out an urgent call to international and local institutions and institutions of the Palestinian National Authority:
“We are farmers of the Jannat El Balqa region, in the area between Nuweimah and Al-Auja/North Jericho.
In these critical moments, we are exposed to attacks by settlers under the protection of the occupation army and their bulldozers, digging tunnels and trenches, sabotaging and destroying water lines, fences and roads on the Islamic Endowments land leased to us, which is accompanied by the occupation’s aggression against our people in Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem.
Therefore, we invite you on Sunday, October 22, 11 am to be with us in that area and the land of the Awsaj village.
Your participation protects us, our land, and our farms.
Published by: Balqa Paradise Committee and Ikhelia Jordan Valley Association.
For further information, you can call the coordinator on this number: 0599845312.
Thank you.”
Green mango plantation from illegal Israeli settlers.
Instead of demanding the implementation of international law, many Western governments are fuelling the flames
Photo of Gaza October 2023: Naaman Omar apaimages
Last Friday, with over a thousand other Jewish Israelis, I sent letters to diplomats in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, pleading with them to intervene – to demand Israel stop bombing Gaza; to prevent the Israeli ground invasion; and to support the call of thousands of Israelis for an immediate prisoner/hostage exchange. We received no response.
At the time that our group, Israelis against Apartheid, was calling to stop the slaughter, hundreds of Israelis, including the families of those taken prisoner by Hamas, began demonstrating in Israeli cities. They were demanding immediate efforts be made to release the hostages in a prisoner swap for Palestinian political prisoners, including women and children, held in Israeli jails.
In our letters, we wrote: “We fear that in the coming hours Gaza’s hospitals will turn into graveyards. With fuel reserves for electricity generators all used up, there will be no more power for operation rooms, vital monitors, ventilators, ICU drips, newborn incubators, or even lights. Communication networks are failing and people can no longer call for ambulances. Medical care can never be a subject for negotiation.
We could not have imagined that reality would surpass our fears
“Please help us stop this catastrophe, which is costing the lives of thousands and destroying the vision of a just and safe future for the region.”
In our worst nightmares, we could not have imagined that reality would surpass our fears. Doctors in Gaza are now operating without painkillers, and the only cancer hospital has been bombed, reportedly killing more than 500 people.
Our voices calling for an immediate ceasefire and prisoner exchange were drowned out by a tsunami of incitement.
For example, Knesset member Ariel Kallner tweeted: “Nakba for the enemy now! This day is our Pearl Harbor. We will learn the lessons later. Right now, one goal: Nakba! A Nakba that will overshadow the Nakba of ’48. Nakba in Gaza and Nakba to anyone who dares to join because like then in 1948, the alternative is clear.”
This kind of sentiment is not new but it is now amplified and emboldened.
There is a risk of genocide against the Palestinian people
On Thursday, the UN office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said: “There is a risk of genocide against the Palestinian people”. Instead of the international community demanding the implementation of international law, many Western governments are fueling the flames.
On Wednesday, the UK Government refused to endorse cross-party calls for a ceasefire and, only one day earlier, had rejected – along with France, the US and Japan – the UN resolution for a Gaza ceasefire. The US continues to veto UN resolutions for “humanitarian pauses”.
On 11 October, the leader of the Labour Party, Keir Starmerdeclared his backing for what he described as Israel’s “right” to totally cut power and water supplies to Palestinians in Gaza, an act of collective punishment which constitutes a war crime under international humanitarian law.
In the past 12 days, Israel has dropped more than 6,000 bombs and laid waste to many Gaza communities. NGO Defence for Children Palestine has reported that one Palestinian child is killed every 15 minutes in Gaza. Hundreds of fatalities remain trapped under the rubble. Hundreds of thousands of displaced people are sheltering in schools and hospitals, without mainline electricity, and with dwindling stocks of food and water.
Whole communities are being wiped off the map in the West Bank
While all eyes are on what’s happening in Gaza, whole communities are being wiped off the map in the West Bank, which is now under military siege. The UN has documented at least 56 killings of Palestinians in the West Bank by Israeli forces in the past 12 days, as well as 82 settler attacks. A total of eight entire communities have been forcibly evicted by settler violence since the beginning of the attack on Gaza.
The West Bank and Gaza demonstrate thelack ofoptions that are open to Palestinians. If they co-ordinate with Israel for its security, such as the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, illegal settlements will continue to expand, putting people at risk of being killed by settlers and soldiers.
Starmer, Sunak and other politicians in Britain and around the world are doing us – Israelis – no favours by encouraging Netanyahu’s government to commit war crimes against Palestinians. And, by doing so, they are complicit in the crimes themselves.
Neta Golan is an Israeli activist with Israelis against Apartheid and a co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement. She currently lives in Ramallah in the Occupied West Bank
