Israeli Military and Police Raid International Home in Qusra

At about 20:00 Friday night, the Israeli army and police raided the international volunteers’ home in the village of Qusra, south of Nablus. This raid was conducted at gunpoint by a heavily armed force.

Leading the raid was the same military officer who had commanded a squadron that forced Palestinian harvesters out of their land in the village of Duma earlier in the day. During the raid, he pointed out specific volunteers to the police, saying he recognized them from earlier in the day.

The police broke into the house by destroying the door using a pneumatic hammer, and proceeded to search the premises without a search warrant, as well as the car of a Palestinian resident of Qusra who was there at the time. They demanded all the international activists present to show their passports, and photographed them.

Israeli law and police regulations only allow for police to require identification on the basis of suspicion of having broken the law, or for several specific reasons, which must be stated to those identified. The police had refused to state their grounds for either the search or identification, even declaring before they left, “You have done nothing wrong; we were only here to see who you are.”

The raid on the international volunteer quarters directly followed the forced removal of harvesters from their lands in the village of Duma earlier in the day, under the claim that it is forbidden for Palestinians to access their lands anywhere in Area C – which comprises around 60% of the West Bank – without prior coordination.

Photos taken during and in the aftermath of the raid depict the destruction and mess visited upon international volunteers in Qusra

ISM Grandmother Recounts Israeli Military Raid on Qusra Home

They could have just asked for the key!!! As the door flung open we all saw the face of Ayşenur looking back at us. … Ayşenur Eygi is a fellow volunteer who was shot and killed by an IOF sniper as she stood beside me just four weeks ago. 

October 11, 2024 | Helena Sully | Qusra

Tonight the Israeli Occupation Force (IOF) including police and soldiers raided the home in Qusra in the occupied West Bank, where myself and 16 fellow international peace activists were staying. We were resting after a day at the olive harvest after providing protective presence to the Palestinian farmers. 

Four police and army vehicles were parked on the road outside our building.  Ten plus armed soldiers and police marched through the backyard and ordered the activists to line up outside. We were surrounded by these masked men carrying rifles and I would be lying if I said it was not frightening. I was thinking how grateful I was that I had just gone to the toilet! 

We recognised two soldiers who were at the olive harvest earlier in the day when the IOF ordered Palestinians to stop harvesting and to leave their olive grove. 

I was standing apart from the rest of the activists and a soldier asked me why. I pointed out that their rifles were in the way, with the barrel of the gun almost touching me. 

The commander demanded we be ready to show our passports.

The soldiers warned us not to use our cameras. They photographed all our passports. 

They could have asked for the key but they chose to smash open the steel door to the dormitory. It did take sometime. Really? They could have just asked us for the key!!!  

As the door flung open we all saw the face of Ayşenur looking back at us. A poster of Ayşenur was hanging on the inside of the door. Ayşenur Eygi is a fellow volunteer who was shot and killed by an IOF sniper as she stood beside me just four weeks ago. 

I chose to sit and pour myself a coffee (it was the best I could do to try and demonstrate I was not afraid). At one point two soldiers lifted their rifles with very bright lights and aimed it directly at me. I wasn’t sure if sitting down and poring myself a coffee was pushing it too far. All I could do was to raise my hands questioning their behaviour. I only found out later that a fellow activist standing right behind me had tried to use his camera and they basically were threatening to shoot him for this transgression. 

At the end of this ordeal the commander said that they had received a report that we were doing something illegal but found no evidence of this and thanked us for our cooperation. 

Welcome to the occupied West Bank. And yes, I got some photos.

Helena Sully is a grandmother of seven from Australia who works as a Social Work Field Educator.

For Immediate Release: Israel targets internationals to facilitate ongoing crimes against Palestinians​​​​​​​

Photo: Portrait of Michael Jacobsen provided to the ISM.

October 10, 2024 – Masafer Yatta | Israeli forces arbitrarily arrested 78 year old US citizen.

Veteran Michael Jacobsen was accompanying a Palestinian farmer this morning in the village At-Tuwani in Masafer Yatta (South Hebron Hills), in occupied Palestine, as part of the international delegation Meta Peace Team, which joined the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).

When Israeli reservist soldiers came to demand IDs from the activists and Palestinian landowners, Jacobsen complied with the soldiers’ requests. The soldiers called the Israeli police, who arrested him and took him to the Israeli Central Unit for Investigation, which is near the Ma’ale Adumim colonial settlement in the occupied West Bank. This interrogation center is home to the special task force created by the notorious Israeli Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. The task force was created as a response to some states, including the U.S., sanctioning violent settlers. Since international activists were reporting settler violence that they witnessed to their governments, an Israeli governmental committee was created in March 2024 for the purpose of getting rid of the activists.

Jacobsen’s lawyer was told that he was suspected of “endangering the public due to provocation of disturbances” and of “entering the country illegally”; this absurd suspicion was based on the police’s assertion that Jacobsen supported the Palestinian Boycott Divestment and Sanction movement (BDS). The police could not explain to Mr. Jacobsen’s attorney how this was a criminal offense. Mr. Jacobsen was threatened with imprisonment and deportation if he did not leave the country immediately. Michael opted to leave, and the police transferred him directly from the interrogation center to the border with Jordan.

Israeli forces have intensified their crackdown on international activists and journalists: two German activists were arrested in the same garden in At-Tuwani in similar circumstances and de-facto deported last Sunday October 6th, after being imprisoned since October 2nd. This effort aims to isolate Palestinians from international solidarity, and is part of the ongoing barrage of harassment by Israeli settlers and soldiers of Palestinians and of human rights activists in the area. The effort also includes the murder of American and Turkish ISM volunteer Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi in the village of Beita during a peaceful protest against settlement expansion on the village’s land on September 6th.

It is worth mentioning that the Palestinian farmer whom the activists were accompanying faces daily harassment, attacks, and invasions of his private land by Israeli settlers and occupation forces, which all make it difficult for him to access his land, to cultivate it, and even to remain in his home.

This onslaught of harassment against Palestinian residents of the region of Masafer Yatta extends beyond At-Tuwani. Every village in the area is affected. In the village of Zanuta in this same region, residents have been forcibly displaced multiple times despite a court ruling in their favor. Residents of Um Durit have had their livestock and property stolen and destroyed, and their land abused by settlers. Last July, around 200 settlers launched a coordinated attack in which they destroyed vehicles, burned fruit trees and beat up residents in Khalet Al Daba’a and Um Fagarah. In the past year, at least 19 Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank have been forcefully displaced and wiped off the map by Israeli settlers, with the support of the Israeli occupation forces.

The nonsensical allegations aimed at International Human Rights Defenders would be laughable if they were not lethal. For similar vague and unsubstantiated accusations, Palestinians are frequently arrested and tortured in the West Bank, and in Gaza the accused are murdered along with their families.

Photo: Moments before Michael Jacobsen’s arrest, At-Tuwani, Masafer Yatta, October 10.​​​​​​​

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A new assassination in Nablus

On Wednesday 9th October, around 5:40pm, Israeli special forces entered Nablus by car and carried out a deliberate assassination of four Palestinians who were inside a a black Skoda vehicle, in broad daylight, on Faisal Street, near a popular market. The Israeli special forces’ car was painted in Palestinian colours to pass undercover. They fired directly at the Palestinians’ car which was driving in the center of the city, and in which were five young men, one of which survived and is currently in critical condition.

The attack caused a state of horror and fear amongst the resident of the area and passersby, with people rushing to flee the scene.

A Palestinian woman is crying and being held by a Palestinian man. Around them, a crowd of women and girls are making their way to the funeral march.
One of the martyr’s loved ones in a state of distress at the funeral. @Diana Khwaelid

After shooting at the car from a distance, the Israeli special forces then got out of their car to shoot again at point blank to ensure the Palestinian’s deaths, after which they withdrew from the area. Immediately after, Palestinian medical teams and ambulances rushed to the scene as residents began to gather in front of the assassination site. Due to the intensity of the shooting, onlookers found pieces of flesh and of one of the young men’s brain. All victims were taken to the Rafidia government hospital in Nablus, where they passed away from their injuries.

Shortly thereafter, the Israeli military stormed the city and in particular took over the place where the operation had taken place. Finding that the bodies had been moved to the hospital, they left the scene again.

The funeral ceremony for the martyrs began on Thursday at 10:30 am. It started in front of the Rafidia hospital and proceeded to the martyrs roundabout in the city, where a funeral prayer was held. They then headed to the martyrs’ hometowns of Balata camp and Askar, where they grew up. Hundreds of Palestinians participated in the funeral, chanting for the liberation of Palestine.

A crowd of young Palestinian men hold their hand up high in an act of protest during the funeral march. One man is on another's shoulders. The scene takes place in a city street.
During the funeral march, Palestinians protest against the occupation (1) @Diana Khwaelid
A crowd of young Palestinian men in the act of chanting or clapping while at the funeral march. One man is on another's shoulders and chanting. In the background, there is a large Fatah flag, as well as a stretcher with the corpse of one of the victims.
During the funeral march, Palestinians protest against the occupation (2) @Diana Khwaelid

Amongst the four Palestinians killed was Issam Al-Salaj, commander of the Balata camp battalion, who the citizens of the camp honoured as a martyr that had evaded the Israeli army for years.

For Immediate Release: The State of Israel vs. Activists

Israeli colonial settlers and Knesset Members celebrated on social media the de facto deportation of two German citizens, who were imprisoned by the Israeli authorities, from the occupied Palestinian territories to Jordan on Sunday October 6th. Itamar Ben Gvir and Tzvi Sukot posted about the expulsion of German activists as an  achievement for their special task force and governmental committee, which was created to deal with what they call “dangerous anarchists” in the West Bank. Israel’s criminal right wing government  uses the term “anarchists” to refer to all Israeli and international human rights defenders who are supporting Palestinians living under illegal occupation in the West Bank.

According to eyewitnesses, on the morning of October 2, the two activists were arbitrarily arrested by Israeli forces in Masafer Yatta (South Hebron Hills) as they accompanied a Palestinian farmer to his garden in the village of Tuwani. The Palestinian farmer they were accompanying faces daily harassment, attacks, and invasions of his private land by Israeli settlers and occupation forces, which all make it difficult for him to access his land, to cultivate it, and even to remain in his home. Police claimed in court that the activists had entered a settlement, confronted a soldier and disturbed him in fulfilling his duty. These claims contradict video footage of the arrest.

The onslaught of harassment against Palestinian residents of the region of Masafer Yatta extends beyond Tuwani. Every village in the area is affected. In the village of Zanuta in this same region, residents have been forcibly displaced multiple times despite a court ruling in their favor. Residents of Um Durit have had their livestock and property stolen and destroyed, and their land abused by settlers. Last July, around 200 settlers launched a coordinated attack in which they destroyed vehicles, burned fruit trees and beat up residents in Khalet Al Daba’a and Um Fagarah. In the past year, at least 19 Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank have been forcefully displaced by Israel settlers with the support of the Israeli occupation forces.

The activists were transferred to the central unit in the occupied West Bank near the Malleh Adumim colonial settlement. The police illegally broke into the phone of one of the activists and questioned them about photos on their phones of signs and stickers condemning the genocide in Gaza and supporting Palestinian rights. The police alleged that this proved that they supported terror and were terrorists. They were also questioned on whether they knew about the International Solidarity movement (ISM), and were shown a presentation on the organization with pictures of Israelis and internationals and asked if they knew them.

The activists were taken to court and accused of three offenses: disturbing a police officer/soldier performing his responsibilities, membership in an illegal association, and “sympathizing and identifying with a terror organization”. According to the police, the illegal association they are members of is ISM, which they claimed has been designated as forbidden to work in Israel and the West Bank.

It is important to note that while many respectable human rights organizations have been designated as terror organizations by Israel, the ISM has not yet been designated as forbidden, nor has any international ISM activist ever been indicted and charged with a crime in Israeli courts.

The German citizens were imprisoned in harsh conditions from Wednesday to Sunday and then given the option of leaving through the King Hussein bridge, and they are now in Jordan. For similar vague and unsubstantiated accusations, Palestinians are frequently arrested and tortured in the West Bank, and in Gaza the accused are murdered along with their families.

This most recent set of arrests is part of the ongoing barrage of harassment by Israeli settlers and soldiers of Palestinians and of human rights activists in area, and comes in the wake of the murder of ISM volunteer Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi in the village of Beita during a protest against settlement expansion on the village’s land.