Settlers from Mitzpe Yair continue to attack Palestinian shepherds grazing on Palestinian owned land, even during Purim

16th March 2014 | Operation Dove | At-Tuwani, Occupied Palestine

At-Tuwani – On Sunday March 16, during the Jewish holiday of Purim, Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians and Internationals on Palestinian fields near Mitzpe Yair illegal outpost.

In the morning, four Palestinian shepherds from the village of Qawawis were grazing their flocks south of the Israeli outpost of Mitzpe Yair, when a settler arrived armed with an iron pipe to threaten them shouting. At 9:18 am two Internationals arrived together with two further Palestinian shepherds. The armed Israeli settler then left when he saw that they were filming the scene.

At 9:28 am eight settlers arrived from the illegal outpost – one was still armed with the iron pipe – and four of them violently chased away the flocks, pushing them toward the valley underlying the outpost. Palestinian shepherds followed the settlers in order not to lose their flocks accompanied by Internationals. The Palestinians immediately called the Israeli police.

At 9:48 am the settlers came back to the outpost. In the meantime, an additional Internationals and two Palestinian members of the South Hebron Hills Popular Committee arrived at the scene. At 10:00 am one of the settlers tried to chase away one of the newly-arrived Palestinians, a member of the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem. As this happened, an Israeli policeman and three Israeli soldiers arrived by foot. At 10:20 am, as the policeman began interrogating the attendants, a further three settlers arrived. Those interrogated were the Palestinian shepherd Nail Abuaram (who filmed everything with a B’Tselem camera) and one International.

At 10:45 am, the policeman lead Abuaram and one of the Internationals to Kiryat Arba police station to give testimony of the harassments. They arrived at the station at noon.

The International was asked for the camera footage of the incident, interrogated and finally released at around 2:50 pm. Abuaram was interrogated alone for a couple of hours and was threaten of arrest until he accepted to sign a paper stating that he will not get closer than 450 meters to the area where the harassment took place for a period of 15 days. He was later released around 6:00 pm after signing the paper. The Israeli police forced the settler who attacked the Palestinians with an iron pipe to stay 200 meters far from the spot where the harassment took place for a period of 15 days.

Palestinian communities of the South Hebron Hills area are strongly involved in using nonviolence as a way to resist the Israeli occupation.

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.]

Injustice in Al Maleh

17th March 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Jordan Valley, Occupied Palestine

The Israeli occupation in Palestine can be seen in many different ways.

In the Al Maleh area of the Jordan Valley (area C, which is under full Israeli military control) 450 Palestinian families, including 100 Bedouin families are spread through 13 villages. All of them live in tents and have no running water or electricity.

Within the Al Maleh area there are six illegal settlements and seven Israeli military bases daily harassing and intimidating Palestinian villagers. Five days ago, Israeli forces “confiscated” 300 dunums of Palestinian land, ignoring the Palestinian owners who hold legal ownership.

When international activists visited the stolen land yesterday, the site was already under construction, possibly to build a new illegal settlement or an extension of a military base.

The Israeli military bases in the Al Maleh area are responsible for many crimes against the Palestinian villagers. Two years ago, two young people, aged 18 and 20-years-old respectively, were assassinated during a “training” session.

The “training” is regularly used to justify demolitions of homes, destroying livelihoods and families in the process. Currently, there are 275 active demolition orders and 750 Palestinian structures that have been destroyed and forced to rebuild in the last year.

It is clear that living in Al Maleh is a daily struggle. In this part of the Jordan valley, agricultural working is the main source of income. However the lack of water, caused by Israeli government polices, continually hinders this way of life. For instance, 33-years-ago in Hamamat al Maleh village, the Israeli government poured concrete into the ground in order to cut off access to a natural spring access. This injustice continues to affect the village every day.

In many villages cultivating livestock is the main income, however the Israeli military can and does claim “security reasons” and confiscates some of these vital animals. Confiscated animals are then held in a structure in Jericho. 3000 shekels is the normal fine Palestinian farmers must to pay in order to have their cow returned.

It seems evident that in Al Maleh, the Israeli military seeks to make life as difficult as possible for the Palestinian villagers living in the area. Israeli forces have not been held accountable for the crimes they have committed and it is clear that these offences will continue while the international community stays silent about the daily injustices being carried out in the Jordan Valley

The confiscated land where construction has already begun (photo by ISM).
The confiscated land where construction has already begun (photo by ISM).

 

Remember Rachel

16th March 2014 | International Solidarity Movement | Occupied Palestine

On this date 11 years ago, ISM volunteer Rachel Corrie was brutally murdered by the Israeli army in Gaza. Rachel was 23-years-old.

This interview was filmed two days before Rachel was killed and her words are still unfortunately relevant when describing the situation in Gaza. To this day the Gaza strip is still besieged. Regular air strikes carried out by Israeli forces continue to destroy homes and lives. Violations of international law are largely ignored by the international community. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsens daily as the Israeli government continues to disregard human rights.

 

Kafr Qaddum’s protest honors Palestinian martyrs

14th March 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Kafr Qaddum, Occupied Palestine

Today’s demonstration in Kafr Qaddum was held as a tribute to the seven martyrs who were killed by the Israeli army the past month in the West

Protesters surrounded by tear gas (Photo by ISM)
Protesters surrounded by tear gas (Photo by ISM)

Bank. The participants carried posters of one of the martyrs, Moataz Washaha, who was assassinated by Israeli forces on February 27th, in his family home in Bir Zeit.

Before the weekly demonstration started the army and border police were already stationed on the closed road going through the illegal settlement of Kedumim and on the hilltop overlooking Kafr Qaddum. When the demonstration was marching along the road, the army threw sound grenades and shot large amounts of teargas canisters at people. Several persons suffered from teargas inhalation and other four were hit by teargas canisters fired directly at them. During the protest, Israeli soldiers tried to get to the demonstrators by hiding between the houses, but were successfully pushed back by the villagers.

Since July 2011, the village of Kafr Qaddom holds weekly demonstrations against the occupation of Palestine and the closure of the road connecting Kafr Qaddum to Nablus. The road was closed in 2003 as a result of the construction of the illegal settlement of Kedumim. Now, residents of Kafr Qaddum have to make a 15 minutes detour to get to Nablus. The settlement of Kedumim together with four other surrounding settlements, have taken 4000 dunums of the village’s land. Farmers seeking to reach their lands face threats, attacks and arrests from settlers and the army.

Armed settlers occupy village land in Hebron

14th March 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Team Khalil | Arab ar Rashyaida, Occupied Palestine

On Tuesday 11th March 2014 villagers from Arab ar Rashyaida, 15 kilometers (10 miles) west of Hebron, noticed that a large tent and industrial digger had moved onto a hill top on a villagers land. ISM Hebron was called and accompanied local people and Palestinian activists to confront the settlers.DSC00677

On arriving at the village, the demonstrators parked on the opposite hill and made their way through the valley to the settlers’ encampment. The settlers were armed with automatic hand guns, assault rifles, and dogs to protect the illegal camp. Resistors confronted the settlers in a non-violent way while settlers took photographs on the phones of all the protestors. After a short time a settler armed with a machine gun and dressed in black with his face covered climbed a wall and started to insult a Palestinian activist, stating that he would kill other Palestinians.  The activist responded with in a raised voice matching his righteous indignation at the Zionist’s hateful comments. The army soon arrived and attempted to move the protestors from the construction area. On many occasions the leader of the settlers took the soldiers to one side to make suggestions. A proposal was made that, if the settlers camp is dismantled, the protestors can leave and take the matter up in court, but this was dismissed.

Masked settlers and soldiers on Palestinian occupied hill (Photo by ISM)
Masked settler and soldiers on the Palestinian occupied hill (Photo by ISM)

Soon a high ranking military officer arrived and was presented with ownership papers from a villager which date back 130 years. The officer told him that the settlers had ownership papers too (presumably not quite so old!).  Meanwhile the settler, with his face concealed, had made his way across to the Palestinians’ cars with his aggressive dog following. A small group made their way across to stop him damaging the vehicles. On seeing the Palestinians approach, the settler made his way down to a taxi driver,  that was waiting to drive the ISM team back to Hebron. The Palestinians feared that the settler would attack the taxi driver, so the group drove down the hill to support him. The armed settler then made his way back to the constructions site. Sometime later the Israeli police arrived and arrested the activist who had argued with the Zionist armed settler, who had complained that he was physically attacked. The Palestinian went with the Police peacefully and was later arrested and charged with the assault. Activists exchanged video evidence and the prisoner was released on bail with a payment of 2000NIS. We await a trial date.

Arab ar Rashyaida is extremely vulnerable to occupation by settlers. The land surrounding the village is designated as “Intended Nature Reserve” under the Oslo Interim Agreement, and as such is under full Israeli control. The strategy of building outposts on Palestinian land as a seed to develop illegal settlements is well established and supported by the Israeli authorities, despite the fact that it breaks International Law and the 4th Geneva Convention.