International Solidarity Movement - Page 288 - Nonviolence. Justice. Freedom.

Israeli forces killed member of Palestinian armed group and wounded 3 Palestinian civilians, including a child

12th June 2014 | Palestinian Center for Human Rights | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

On Wednesday evening, 11 June 2014, 3 Palestinian civilians, including a child whose condition was described as very serious, were wounded when Israeli forces targeted a member of an armed group who was killed by two missiles launched by a drone in the northern Gaza Strip. Following the crime, Israeli forces admitted to committing the crime as their spokesperson, in cooperation with the “Shin Bet” security services, said that “ they targeted the aforementioned who was involved recently in launching dozens of rockets at the Israeli towns”, according to the Israeli claims.

According to investigations conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), at approximately 22:20on the aforementioned day, Israeli drones launched two missiles at a motorbike travelling near the Palestinian Naval apparatus headquarters on the coastal road, southwest of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip. The bike was ridden by Mohammed Ahmed ‘Abdel Latif al-‘Aawour (33), a member of an armed group from Beit Lahia Housing Project, who was immediately killed after the upper part of his body turned into pieces. His nephew, ‘Ali Abdel Latif Ahmed al-‘Awour (10), suffered shrapnel wounds throughout his body causing him bleeding in the brain and he entered into a coma.

Hamadah Hussein Mohammed Naser (32) from Jabalia was wounded by shrapnel in parts of his body as he was travelling in his Black Mercedes car holding registration plate No. 3-00-9206 near the targeted place. Moreover, Monther Hasan al-Masar’ie from Shati’ refugee camp was wounded by shrapnel in different parts of his body also passing by the targeted area. The body of the armed member and the three injured persons were taken to Kamal ‘Edwan Hospital in Beit Lahia. The injury of the child and Naser was described as serious, and they were both transferred to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Meanwhile, the injury of al-Masar’ie was described as moderate. The missiles caused two big holes in the road around 50 centimetres deep.

According to field investigations and examination of the targeted place, large numbers of Palestinian civilians, especially women and children, were on the beach of Beit Lahia and Jablia. They were terrified as a result.

It should be mentioned that when the killed was targeted, he was in al-Basmah Cafeteria owned by his nephew ‘Abdulatif on the coastal road and he took his nephew with him when he left the place.

PCHR condemns this crime, which further proves the use of extra-judicial execution and excessive force by Israeli forces against the Palestinian civilians in disregard for the civilians’ lives. Therefore, PCHR calls upon the international community to take immediate and effective actions to put an end to such crimes and reiterates its call for the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 to fulfil their obligations under Article 1; i.e., to respect and to ensure respect for the Convention in all circumstances, and their obligations under Article 146 to prosecute persons alleged to have committed the grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention. These grave breaches constitute war crimes under Article 147 of the same Convention and Protocol (I) Additional to the Geneva Conventions.

Assaults and home invasions in Qeitun

11th June 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

This evening, at approximately 19:00, Israeli soldiers broke into several Palestinian family’s homes in the Qeitun region of al-Khalil, following clashes with local youth, which began an hour earlier.

The soldiers’ broke into the first home, only speaking in Hebrew, they then beat the father of the family, who is currently suffering from an illness. The soldiers claimed he warned the stone throwing youth of the Israeli soldiers’ invasion into Qeitun.

Afterwards, yet another house was raided following Israeli military confrontations with stone throwing Palestinian youth.The soldiers searched through the house without permission, this time beating the home owner’s brother, before leaving yet another family in distress.

Houses in Qeitun are regularly subjected to night raids, and harassment from the Israeli military.

Israeli soldiers entering a home in Qeitun (photo by ISM).

Israeli police raids the village of Iqrit

9th June 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil team | Iqrit, Occupied Palestine

Yesterday morning on the 8th June, Israeli police forces raided the village of Iqrit (located on the northern tip of Israel, within eyesight of Lebanon). The police uprooted trees, destroyed and confiscated all the personal belongings of Palestinian activists present in the village. Furthermore they beat and violently arrested 3 Palestinian men who were present in the village at the time. The 3 arrested are: Walla Sbait, Nidal Khoury and Jeries Khiatt. They were taken to the police station in Nahariyya, where they were kept in detention over night.

Confiscated belongings loaded into an Israeli truck. (Photo by witness) — Confiscated belongings loaded into an Israeli truck. (Photo by Iqrit activists)

Today at 8:30 AM the three detainees were brought before the Kiryat Gat Magistrates’ Court, following a police request for an extension of their detention. The police have charged the detainees with trespassing the land owned by the ILA, obstructing the work of public officials, assaulting a public employee and endangering public order.

The court ruled that Nidal Khoury is kept in detention until Wednesday 11th of June. Walaa Sbeit and Jeries Khiatt was sentenced house arrest until Sunday 15th of June and they are not allowed to go back to Iqrit for 60 days.

In 1948, the village was home to 600 Christian Palestinians. (Photo of archive picture by Jonathan Cook/Al Jazeera)

As the season of Advent approached in November 1948, the Israeli military forced residents of Iqrit and the neighboring village of Kufr Bir’im —all citizens of the newly created state of Israel— to leave their homes near the northern border with Lebanon because of military operations in the area. The Israeli forces made a promise to the inhabitants, that they could return to their homes after 15 days. The people of Iqrit are still waiting. In July 1951, the Israeli High Court ruled that the people of Iqrit and Kufr Bir’im had the right to return to their homes. The military refused to comply, and on Christmas Eve 1951 blew up all houses in both villages.

Shortly thereafter, all village lands were confiscated by the state and has been rented out to the nearby Kibbutz for their cows to graze until this day. Since then, decades of demonstrations and legal appeals for the villagers’ right to return have seen a string of favorable decisions by courts and commissions that have resulted only in more broken promises and unenforced rulings.In the 1970s, the government had granted use of the cemetery —allowing only the dead to return to Iqrit after they lived and died in exile at Kufr Yasif, Rameh, Haifa or other places. The original villagers and their descendants —now around 1,500 people scattered across northern Israel— are allowed only to hold services in the church and bury their dead in the cemetery. Every first Saturday of the month there has been a mass held at the village church and every year a summer camp has been organised on the hillside. In August 2012 the third generation reclaimed their village.

Around 20 descendants from Iqrit took the initiative to begin resurrecting the village despite the village’s legal limbo. The activists make sure that the village is constantly inhabited, sleeping in tents, under the stars or in rooms attached to the church. The group consists of university students, factory and restaurant workers, and teachers.

Their attempts to construct or plant anything in the village have been met with immediate demolition by the Israeli authorities. But over time, they’ve been able to add a few amenities, including solar panels on the church roof, determined to bring back life to Iqrit.

Iqrit’s 80 homes are long gone, but the activists goal is to rebuild Iqrit for the villagers-in-exile, refusing only to return to their home in coffins, but alive. The activists have returned to the area and are discussing on how to proceed with their campaign, determined not to be intimidated by Israeli forces and their harassment

The Roman tree

7th June 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

At approximately 1:00 pm on June 4th, a burning olive tree was located in the vicinity of Tel Rumeida, al-Khalil (Hebron). The Palestinian firefighters extinguished the fire with no assistance from the occupying Israeli military.

As an occupying state, Israel is legally responsible for providing adequate services and aid for those living in the occupied territories, however this responsibility is often neglected.

The burnt tree is one of many in the area to be considered part of the “Roman Trees”, said to be thousands of years old.

Near where the fire started, a plastic fuel canister with the word “diesel” written in Hebrew was found.

When the Palestinian farmer who owns the land contacted the Israeli police, they claimed that video footage did not show a vandal starting the fire. When the farmer asked if the Israeli police would consider opening an investigation, he was simply told no.

This is only the latest in an ongoing plot to destroy olive trees and crops in Tel Rumeida in order to construct a military road through the area.

Prisoner solidarity in Hebron

7th June 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

Since the Palestinian prisoners began their hunger strike, there has been a protest each week in al-Khalil (Hebron). The majority of these demonstrations have been in the H1 area (under Palestinian Authority civil and security control), not directly against the Israeli military. However, On Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th this last week, there were two actions against the Israeli forces in al-Khalil.

On Wednesday at the entrance of al-Khalil, near the city of Halhul, an action was organised with the intention of marching down road 60. After approximately 100 meters, Israeli forces began to fire tear gas canisters, stun grenades, and spray the demonstrators with ‘skunk’ (chemical) water. The protest was pushed back, and when they tried to continue they were once again sprayed with skunk water. This happened several times before clashes broke out between the Israeli military and the local Palestinian youths. The military then sprayed the insides of local shops and homes with skunk water, as a form of collection punishment. During the action, many people were treated for tear gas inhalation by paramedics, and one protester was injured after being shot with a tear gas canister.

On Thursday the 5th, the demonstration was held in Bab al Baladia in the H2 area (under Israeli military civil and security control) of al-Khalil. Approximately 40 people gathered to demonstrate, though were stopped by the Israeli army after just 50 meters. Shaheed Fahme, a local activist, was arrested by the army, who thew many stun grenades towards the protesters. A spokesperson from both the demonstrations spoke to ISM activists and stateed that the belief is that direct action is one of the most effective ways for spreading the prisoner solidarity message to the rest of the world.