International Solidarity Movement - Page 298 - Nonviolence. Justice. Freedom.

Nabi Saleh successfully end three day siege of their village with peaceful protest

15th April 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah Team | Nabi Saleh, Occupied Palestine

Yesterday, The Palestinian Popular Resistance Committee of Nabi Saleh called for a demonstration at 3pm against a siege enforced on their village by Israeli forces. The demonstration was an overwhelming success with the re-opening of the checkpoint and a withdrawal of the additional forces deployed in the area by the Israeli military.

Mohammed Tamimi, the media officer for the village’s Popular Resistance declared that this was: “The first truly successful demonstration in Nabi Saleh”. He went on to say that “others villages should think about this and how to act towards closed checkpoints in the future.” Palestinian activists, internationals, and ISM activists responded to the protest call out, and joined the villagers themselves.

Internationals traveling to Nabi Saleh reported the presence of many “flying” checkpoints on route from Ramallah. These were deployed in an attempt to prevent people from outside the village joining the protest. Nonetheless the demonstration did take place and was well attended with approximately 50 people beginning to march from the middle of the village down to the checkpoint.

The Israeli army began to shoot tear gas canisters and throw stun grenades as soon as the demonstrators reached the main road. Despite this, the demonstration arrived at the checkpoint and refused to move until the road was opened, and the siege lifted. While people were peacefully demonstrating in front of the barrier, the Israeli army used a large quantity of stun grenades, however after approximately one hour the army agreed to withdraw and open the checkpoint. In addition to this, the western checkpoint, which had been closed since 2002, was also re-opened adding to the already hugely successful day.

The siege itself began on April the 12th when a large number of Israeli forces closed all entrances to the village of Nabi Saleh with roadblocks, and declared the village a Closed Military Zone. The village was in this state for three days until this afternoon’s action. During the siege, workers and students have been unable to go to work or school. The Israeli army also employed brutal tactics against the villagers themselves over the last few days. One Palestinian man was shot in the face with live ammunition, though after surgery was described as being in a stable condition. Additionally, a Palestinian woman sustained various fractures and heavy bruising after being assaulted by soldiers whilst being detained with her child for three hours. Israeli forces threw stun grenades at cars attempting to approach the checkpoint throughout the siege.

It is believed the military began this illegal action due to the demonstrations at Nabi Saleh that have occurred every Friday since 2009. These demonstrations take place to protest against the theft of a water spring, and village land by the nearby illegal settlement of Halamish.

One Palestinian man was arrested during the demonstration today but after negotiations the village secured his release at 9.30 PM. The Popular Resistance Committee from the village has promised that should the Israeli military close the checkpoint again, they will call another protest immediately. In the meantime demonstrations will continue every Friday.

International volunteer attacked and injured by Israeli army

14th April 2014 | Operation Dove | At-Tuwani, Occupied Palestine

On April 11 an international volunteer was attacked and injured by Israeli army, while coming back from accompanying Palestinian shepherds near Susiya.

The Palestinian village of Susiya is surrounded by the Israeli settlement of Suseya, the outpost of Suseya’s Ancient Synagogue and the military base of Suseya North, where the Palestinian shepherds were nearby grazing. The Palestinian inhabitants of Susiya are struggling through the nonviolent popular resistance in order to gain the right to access their own lands and to live a dignified life.

At 14:10 pm, two international volunteers were leaving the place after having accompanied four Palestinian shepherds to graze on their own lands. They had just got in the stopped car on the street that connects Susiya and Yatta (where two other internationals were waiting for them), when two Israeli soldiers arrived from the military base and intimated them to get out from the car.

While the group was standing near the street, two army vehicles approached. As soon as the second vehicle arrived, the soldiers got immediately out from the jeep. The commander and four more soldiers physically blocked one international and tried to grab his camera, to handcuff him and to put him into the jeep, tugging at him and beating him. In the meanwhile other soldiers blocked the other volunteers, preventing them from taping as best the aggression that lasted for 13 minutes.

Because of the attack, the international volunteer was injured. He had a bleeding wound on his elbow and he received a hard blow on the lower abdomen, whereby the intervention of the ambulance was needed. The soldiers also tried to block the doctors to prevent the injured to get into the ambulance, until the Israeli Police came and gave the permission to leave.

The volunteer attacked was hospitalized in Yatta and the other three were detained in Kiryat Arba Police station and released after five hours. The Police held all the videos of the incident to investigate on it and the three internationals were given expulsion orders from South Hebron Hills area for 14 to 16 days.

Operation Dove has maintained an international presence in At Tuwani and the South Hebron Hills since 2004.

[Note: According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Hague Regulations, the International Court of Justice, and several United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements and outposts in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Most settlement outposts, including Havat Ma’on (Hill 833), are considered illegal also under Israeli law.]

Support the Hares boys this Prisoners’ Day

14th April 2014 | International Solidarity Movement | Occupied Palestine

17th April, Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, is a global day of action.

Join to demand justice for the Hares Boys, as well as all Palestinian children incarcerated by the Israeli military regime.

What you can do:

1. Organise an Event – a sit-in, a demo, a protest, a silent dance, anything – in your home city at the Israeli embassy or buildings of significance to the occupation (e.g. G4S, which is complicit in torture of children) with a poster of an image of the Hares Boys (some examples below) or your own message of support. Then, please email your photo/video to the International Solidarity Movement (palreports@gmail.com) or post it on the Hares Boys facebook page. All pictures/videos will then be collated to demonstrate to Israel and the world the international backing that the boys have.

2. Twitter Action- On 16 April, the day before the Prisoners’ Day in Palestine, we are planning to coordinate a twitter action. We ask that you join us on at 8pm Palestinian time (your local time may be posted below). The Twitter hashtag will be tweeted from the ISM Twitter account as the action starts so please stay tuned!

We would like to thank you and hope you can support this campaign in some way.

Image credit: Leïla la Très Sage

Time zones for Twitter action on the 16th of April:

03:00 (3am) Tokyo, Japan
04:00 (4am) Melbourne+Sydney, Australia
11:00 (11am) San Francisco, California, US
14:00 (2pm) New York, US + Toronto, Canada
15:00 (3pm) Argentina, Chile, Brazil
18:00 (6pm) London
19:00 (7pm) Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Norway
20:00 (8pm) Palestine + Cape Town, South Africa

Settlers move into the Rajabi building in Hebron

13th April 2014 | Hebron Rehabilitation Committee | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

On Sunday 13 April 2014 in the early afternoon, Israeli settlers with assistance from the Israeli occupation forces started moving into the so-called Rajabi building in Hebron. After seven years of litigation, on 11 March 2014, the Israeli Supreme Court handed over the building to the settlers despite previous court rulings that said that the relevant purchase documents and power of attorneys had been forged.

Early this morning, the Israeli Minister of Defence Moshe Ya’alon approved the settlers to move into the building. As a result, three families entered the building later the day and started preparing the building for occupation. The settlers were observed cleaning the house, bringing in pieces of furniture and fixing the windows. The occupation forces provided the settlers with power generators and water tanks to help them in their efforts as the building is not connected to the electricity or water grid. According to Israeli sources, the settlers are to hold a Passover Seder dinner on the site during the upcoming holiday and ten more families are to move into the building after the end of the Passover.

Local Palestinians voiced their fears that the creation of a new settlement will cause further violations of their rights and violence against them. During 2007 and 2008, when settlers were dwelling in the building, the community witnessed multiple attacks by the settlers as well as routine house searches and arbitrary detentions by the occupation forces. Following their eviction by the Israeli police and army in December 2008, the settlers went on a rampage torching Palestinian property and assaulting Palestinians.

HRC staff contributed to this report.

Harassment campaign continues in the Jordan Valley

13th April 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Al Maleh, Occupied Palestine

The Israeli military oppression of Palestinians living in the Jordan Valley can take many forms, including the systematic confiscation of essential tools and materials, to physical punishment and arrest.

The latest act of harassment by the Israeli army in the Jordan Valley took place five days ago in the Al Maleh area, where 26 water tanks were confiscated, depriving the local population access to their water supply. To reclaim the stolen water tanks, the Local Council has been forced to pay 5,000 shekels (over 1,000 euros) to the DCO (District Coordination Office). However the tanks will not be returned for a further 10 days, even after the payment has been completed.

Arif Daraghmeh, local councillor of the area, reports that in the early 1990s, the Israeli army built infrastructures diverting the natural course of the water, and that these actions might be the direct cause of several springs drying up in the region. This is just another case of deliberate harassment that ISM has previously reported.

Other acts of harassment include physical punishment, demolition of tents and constant intimidation by the Israeli army. Arif Daraghmeh reports that he was recently forced to stand for nearly two hours under the sun in a nearby checkpoint.

The Al Maleh area is only populated with nylon tents and minor buildings, generally for cattle. The council has been trying to build a school in the area in recent years, but has not succeeded yet. According to Arif Daraghmeh, there are approximately 300 children that go to school in nearby towns by bus, however this bus has only been available in the last two years. Previously the children had to walk long distances to school.

The presence of the Israeli army and settlers from nearby illegal settlers are very common in the Al Maleh area. The Jordan Valley is considered to be Area C (under full Israeli civil and security control), as well as a military buffer zone with neighbouring Jordan. Military training, therefore, takes place in Al Maleh on a regular basis and trainings in an area with a civil population often have a high price. Since 2011, two people have died and 11 have been injured due to explosives left behind from military training. The most recent injury was five months ago; a Palestinian famer lost three fingers on one of his hands.

The Local Council has contacted other authorities, including a member of the Knesset (Israeli Parliament), to discuss the situation. Other contacts have been made with OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations) as well as the Red Cross; the latter in relation to the explosives frequently left in the area. It is noteworthy that such behaviour by the Israeli army goes against the Protocol (II) on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Mines, Booby-Traps and Other Devices (Geneva, 10 October 1980). Article 3 clearly states that the use of conventional weapons, such as mines, can only be directed against military targets. No incidental loss of civilian life, or damage, is allowed. The Israeli state ratified this Protocol in 1995.

None of the above organisations have managed to improve the situation, and the water issue continues to be an urgent problem today.