23rd December 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Charlie Andreasson | Gaza, Occupied Palestine
Hundreds greet freed detainees at midnight rally in northern Gaza Strip (Photo by Charlie Andreasson)
You stand below a dam because you have discovered cracks where water leaks out. You try to seal them with your bare hands, but they are not enough. The pressure is too high, and the cracks too large. And you scream for help, to let people know what is happening, stop the pressure from the inside before the disaster happens. But no one listens to your warning, and no one seems to want to see the water that wells between your fingers. Some even claim you are exaggerating. And you stand there,not daring to move your hands, wondering how long you will be able to hold back the pressure, how long you can keep calling before your voice fails. This is the metaphor that best describes the frustration activists here feel from time to time, a frustration we have to deal with because it cannot pass in dejection.
To be an activist here is not just to go with farmers into the “buffer zone,” or out to sea with fishermen, more or less as human shields: to try to seal the cracks with your hands, if I am allowed to continue using the metaphor as an explanatory model. Far more time is spent interviewing victims, gathering information, going to demonstrations and writing articles, to call for help and draw attention to what is happening. And it is mainly during the search for information that you unwittingly also look for something to show that a change is afoot. One’s eyes skim through title after title, then suddenly it’s there, the article that makes you pause. Standing below the dam, you notice a change among those high above you. Maybe now something’s finally starting to happen. And you feel relief and joy, and share the news with all the activists you meet.
Most recently, on 8th December, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte had planned to inaugurate a container scanner at the Kerem Shalom checkpoint, but called off the whole thing when it became apparent that the scanner would not, contrary to Rutte’s assumptions, facilitate and thereby increase the movement of goods between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Israel is determined to keep these two parts of Palestine separated from each other.
On the same trip, Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans refused to accept an Israeli military escort in the 1967-occupied territories, instead canceling his planned visit to Hebron’s older neighborhoods. Other foreign ministers have recently visited them without military escorts, and Timmermans did not accept the new conditions to avoid creating a precedent.
Netherlands, you are great among activists here now. Upright, a standard-bearer for human rights, the defender of the Geneva Conventions. Only days later, we read that the Dutch water company Viten ended a partnership with Israeli water company Mekorot. Also on Rutte’s trip was Dutch Minister of Trade Lilianne Ploumen, whose visit to Mekorot the Israelis abruptly canceled. Perhaps this was because Dutch media had revealed that the same company was denying Palestinians water, but we may never know.
Netherlands, you are a light in the darkness, and may other nations follow that light. You demonstrate that there is a political space to maneuver to bring about a change. And now Romania denies its citizens work in Israeli settlements in 1967-occupied territory. Salvation is close, you can stop shouting now, and soon you will no longer need to keep your hands over the cracks.
But we are deceiving ourselves, and maybe we need to do it to not be dejected. For while we focus on the good news, we shut our eyes, at least temporarily, to the bad, which is much more plentiful, and more serious in nature. As the UK develops a new type of drone with Israel, and Italy expands its cooperation on several levels with the aforementioned occupying power, that members of the Knesset already have started congratulating each other for the peace talks that do not seem to lead anywhere … the list is grows longer every day. And when we go out on the streets of Palestine, we see that nothing has improved. Do average people here know the Netherlands stands up for them? Do they react the same way we do to the news??
People here are hardened. They believe in a change only when they see it. They’ve had enough empty promises to stop dreaming. And that’s why they pay tribute to every Palestinian who returns from an Israeli prison, no matter what he or she has done – armed resistance, political activity, being in the wrong place at the wrong time – because this person tried, in a concrete way, to change the situation. That’s all that counts after the betrayal of all who walk above, without giving a thought to the cracks you frantically try to seal. They are about to be drowned further downstream from the dam. And we continue to cry out for help.
23rd December 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Rosa Schiano | Gaza, Occupied Palestine
Fisherman and their boats in the Gaza seaport. (Photo by Rosa Schiano)
“Free the Holy Land sea” was a three-day protest by fishermen in Gaza which began on Tuesday, 17th November. The fishermen, supported by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights and al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, set up a tent at the Gaza seaport in which photographs showing Israeli violations were exhibited, along with banners in solidarity with the fishermen.
In the tent were fishermen, international and Palestinian activists for the rights of fishermen and political prisoners, and representatives of human rights centers. Politicians came to give their greetings and express solidarity with the fishermen.
“Since last year, massive attacks against Palestinian fishermen have become a practice of the Israeli naval forces,” said Khalil Shaheen, director of the economics and social rights unit at the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights. “The attack on the fundamental rights of the fishermen, their livelihoods, makes the lives of thousands of fishermen impossible. From September 2009 until the current day, two Palestinian fishermen have been killed, 24 injured, at least 150 arrested, 49 boats seized by the Israeli forces, and at least 120 boats destroyed partially or totally, including during the last military operation, Pillar of Defense, in which harbors were also bombed.”
“Palestinian fishermen are losing 85% of their annual income due to the restrictions in the maritime area and the naval blockade,” Shaheen added. “I think it’s very important to send a clear message in support of the fishermen. For Christmas and the New Year, Palestinian fishermen ask their friends and brothers in the rest of the world to convince the Israeli occupation to end the illegal blockade in Gaza, and to free the Holy Land sea, to grant them their rights.”
Salim al-Faseh. (Photo by Rosa Schiano)
Among the fishermen present at the event, Salim al-Faseh, age 57, was wounded by Israeli military fire in September while fishing on a trawler about six miles offshore. The bullets severed the little finger of his right hand and destroyed part of the internal tissue. Salim will have to wait for his surgery in February, when an internal fixator will be removed, to know if he can use his fingers again. “God willing, this event will help the fishermen,” al-Faseh said.
“The fishing sector is the sector that suffers the most in Gaza,” he added. “We suffer from lack of fuel, the limits imposed on the fishing area, the unsuitable materials. Everything is making the profession of fishing die.”
The port was calm under a blue sky. After the raging storm and incessant rain that flooded roads and houses in the Gaza Strip, the sun was shining again. Some fishermen were harvesting small fish from their nets. Others sat under the sun and spoke of their daily problems, especially the economic difficulties faced by Gaza fishermen.
The Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip affects Palestinians’ economic and social conditions. More than 75,000 people depend on the fishing industry as the main source of their livelihood.
Israel has progressively restricted Palestinian fishermen’s access to the sea. The 20 nautical miles established under the Gaza-Jericho Agreement between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1994 were reduced to 12 miles in the Bertini Agreement of 2002. In 2006, the area Israel allowed for fishing was reduced to six nautical miles from the coast. After its “Operation Cast Lead” military offensive (December 2008 – January 2009) Israel imposed a limit of three nautical miles from the coast, preventing Palestinians from accessing 85% of the water to which they are entitled under the Gaza-Jericho Agreement.
Under the ceasefire agreement by Israel and the Palestinian resistance after the Israeli “Operation Pillar of Defense” military offensive (November 2012), Israel agreed that Palestinian fishermen could again sail six nautical miles from the coast. Despite these agreements, the Israeli navy has not stopped its attacks on fishermen, even within this limit. In March 2013, Israel once again imposed a limit of three nautical miles from the coast. On 22 May, Israeli military authorities announced a decision to restore the limit to six nautical miles.
In the month of November alone, PCHR reports 12 attacks. During one, gunfire injured a fisherman. Overall six fishermen were arrested and six boats confiscated. These attacks constitute a violation of the international humanitarian law.
At the end of the event, fishermen, along with human rights organizations, submitted a letter to the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process office in Gaza City.
As the holidays fast approach, The International Solidarity Movement comes close to the end of its 13th year standing in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Every year brings new challenges under a ruthless occupation of the West Bank and an unrelenting siege of the Gaza strip, but volunteers with The ISM continue to rise to the challenge with the brave farmers, fishermen, and organizers that struggle for dignity and a free Palestine. All of our work would not be possible without the support of individuals like you!
This year ISM has seen many changes. We expanded our work in Gaza, recently launched a new website and began publishing a weekly digest that makes our work more accessible to our supporters. No matter what the changes, we remain dedicated to supporting the Palestinian popular resistance and bearing witness to the crimes against humanity carried out by Israel.
Throughout 2012 we stood with Palestinians in the West Bank against unremitting settlement expansion, attacks and Israeli army violence. We acted as a presence in high-risk areas, such as the H2 (Israeli Army controlled) section of Hebron, and in firing zone 918 in the South Hebron Hills, where eight villages are in eminent danger of demolition. We worked closely with many villages in the Nablus region, taking part in the olive harvest for the 12th year by assisting farmers in areas where they are often attacked or refused the right to enter their fields. We also continued the tradition of joining Palestinian communities each Friday in popular demonstrations against the theft of their lands and water resources in the villages of Bil’in, Kafr Qaddum, Nabi Saleh, Nil’in and Al Masara.
In Gaza, we aided farmers and fishermen as they tried to make a living under the constant threat of Israeli gunfire. Our volunteers documented the ever-worsening sewage and water crisis, ongoing struggles by the families of prisoners, and the continuing violence of the Israeli army. We actively supported Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), public information, and direct action campaigns, among other efforts to challenge Israeli apartheid, colonization and occupation, including the crippling siege, now in its seventh year.
In 2014, we hope to improve our work even more, dedicated to the vision of a Palestine without occupation, displacement, and siege. We will face new challenges, as the occupation is ever-evolving, but your donation makes sure our work continues. Since we began, ISM has depended on donations from individuals like you to be able to stand alongside Palestinians as part of their resistance. Now, more than ever, we can use your help to make sure that we can stand with and document courage in the face of Israeli Apartheid.
We are a dedicated non-violent movement, and you can be sure that your money is going directly to help us continue our work. Please go to our webpage and make a donation. If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation in the U.S., please donate through ISM-USA’s fiscal sponsor: A.J. Muste Memorial Institute online via JustGive or Network for Good (designate your donation for “ISM-USA”). Donations made through the Muste Institute’s sponsorship go to support ISM’s educational and organizing work in accordance with 501(c)(3) rules.
Israeli Naval Forces stationed off Beit Lahi shore in the northern Gaza Strip opened fire at Palestinian fishing boats in 4 separate incidents while sailing between 600 meters and 3 nautical miles. Israeli naval forces also confiscated 24 fishing nets. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) expresses concern over the continued targeting of fishermen and their livelihoods. Economic and social rights of fishermen have been violated by the illegal naval blockade imposed by Israeli authorities on the Gaza waters since June 2007.
According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 10:40 on Wednesday, 18 December 2013, Israeli gunboats opened fire at a Palestinian fishing boat that was sailing about 600 meters off al-Wahah shore in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip. Two gunboats surrounded the fishing boat that was boarded by 3 fishermen: Mahmoud ‘Ali ‘Arouq (16); his brother Mohammed (22); and Jom’aah Amin ‘Arouq (24). Israeli naval forces ordered them to stop fishing and give themselves up, but they refused and fled away. The naval forces confiscated 14 fishing nets whose total lengths are 840 meters. Mahmoud ‘Ali ‘Arouq (28) said that they left the waters to the shore and watched the gunboats hoping that they would regain the fishing nets. However, the gunboats confiscated the fishing nets and left the place.
In another incident, at approximately 12:30 yesterday, 18 December 2013, Israeli gunboats opened fire at a fishing boat belonging to Khalid ‘Awad al-Kafranah, from Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, while sailing at approximately 1.5 nautical miles off al-Wahah shore in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip. Israeli naval forces then confiscated 10 fishing nets.
In a third incident, at approximately 06:00 on Tuesday, 17 December 2013, Israeli gunboats stationed off al-Wahah shore in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip opened fire in the vicinity of Palestinian fishing boats that were sailing approximately 3 nautical miles offshore. The shooting continued for about 10 minutes, so fishermen were forced to flee for fear of being attacked.
In a fourth incident, at approximately 14:10 on Monday, 16 December 2013, Israeli gunboats stationed off al-Wahah shore in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip opened fire in the vicinity of the Palestinian fishing boats that were sailing at approximately 3 nautical miles offshore. The shooting continued for about 15 minutes, so fishermen were forced to flee for fear of being attacked.
PCHR condemns the continued Israeli attacks against Palestinian fishermen in the Gaza Strip, and:
1. Calls for immediately stopping the policy of chasing and arresting Palestinian fishermen, and allowing them to sail and fish freely;
2. Demands compensation for the fishermen for the physical and material damage caused to them and their property as a result of these violations;
3. Calls upon the international community, including the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, to immediately intervene to stop the Israeli violations against the Palestinian fishermen and to allow them to sail and fish freely in the Gaza Sea.
18h December 2013 | International Solidarity Movement | Occupied Palestine
Hashem Younes Azzeh is a 50-year-old resident of Tel Rumeida, he is married with 4 children and is a graduate of Hebron and Jordan Universities.
Hashem Azzeh
Can you tell us about the situation in Hebron in general and why it is unique in the West Bank?
The city of Hebron is divided into two parts. One part is called H1, it is under the Palestinian Authority control and H2, which is under the Israeli military control. And here in my house we are in Tel Rumeida. Tel Rumeida and Shuhada Street are under Israeli control. This was agreed on in the Hebron agreement 1997. The other unique thing about Hebron are the settlements [Hebron is the only place in the West Bank where settlements have been created within the city]. There are four settlements around the area where we are here. One of them is right next to my house (Tel Rumeida). There are only two or three meters between me and the settlers. The second settlement is called Beit Hadessa. The building used to be a boys school before it was confiscated and turned into a settlement. The other one is Beit Romano. Like in the case of Beit Hadessa they took a school building which was controlled by the Palestinian Authority before.
The next settlement is called Avraham Avinu; it is in the middle of the city. The Palestinians used that space as the main vegetable market in Hebron, the old market. It was confiscated in the year 1994, after the Ibrahimi mosque massacre [In 1994 a settler named Baruch Goldstein, entered the mosque and started shooting. He killed 29 and injured over a hundred Palestinians before he was shot. Today in the settlement of Kyriat Aba, there is a memory stone for him, saying that he died fighting the enemy. He is celebrated as a hero.]
Can you tell us a bit about the development in Hebron, especially in H2 over the last years?
I will talk about Shuhada Street first. Shuhada Street was the main street in Hebron. It connected the northern and the eastern part of the city. When the army closed the street, 1800 shops were blocked. 500 shops were closed through military resolutions. The army blocked the shops with metal, to prevent the owners from reopening them. Though not only shops, also houses were blocked by the army, so people could not get back into their homes.
In 2000 they imposed a curfew on the city, which lasted until the end of 2003. The official statements state that the curfew lasted for 167 days. That is correct but only for the old city. It is not the case for Shuhada Street and Tel Rumeida. There the curfew lasted for three years in total. No one could get out of his house. The army gave us one hour a month to let us do our shopping. After the end of 2003 they started to soften the curfew. We now had one hour every two weeks. In the whole year of 2004, we lived under a night curfew. That lasted until the middle of 2005. When I say night curfew I mean from 6 o’ clock in the evening to 6 o’clock in the morning. After 6 o’clock in the evening you could see no one on the streets, it was completely empty. No one could go out of his house, no one could go to the hospital, no one could do anything. They finally abolished all the curfews in the middle of 2005.
At that time the International Committee of the Red Cross decided to help the Palestinians who are living here, by distributing a box of food for each family once a month. They stopped it in the late 2012. They thought the situation was much calmer and the assistance was not needed any more. That led to many Palestinians moving from here. They moved for two reasons: The first one is an economical one. They couldn’t survive because everybody had lost their jobs. The other was for security reasons. The army and the settlers, particularly the army came all the time and attacked the houses and their inhabitants. The Palestinians wanted to save their lives. That is why they moved. 350 families lived on Shuhada Street and Tel Rumeida. Last year, there where only 48 families left. Also the school in H1 has changed. It used to be a school for just girls. There used to be over four hundred students, who attended this school, but over time the number dropped to seventy. We, as the popular committee of parents, decided to talk to the Ministry of Education to turn it into a mixed school, to increase the number of students and therefore save the school. That is what happened. It is now a mixed school, with 171 students.
How is the daily life of Palestinians who live in H2?
The situation in Hebron is extremely tense, especially in Tel Rumeida. There are no shops open and no public transportation. We don’t have any clinics here and no ambulances can reach us. If someone needs to go to the hospital, we have to carry the patients by hand through the checkpoint and the ambulance will wait for us behind it. There is no way for them to come to the patients directly in H2.
The Palestinians who live here, have to go to H1 to buy their goods. In order to get there, they have to pass the checkpoint at Shuhada Street, which is called checkpoint 56. The soldiers check every bag that we carry.
In general the daily life is really horrible. Our children get harassed on their way to and back from school. We get controlled and searched at the checkpoint every day. The army drew red lines in front of some of the checkpoints. We have to wait behind this line until we get called by the soldiers one by one to pass. Some streets in Hebron are now separated by a fence. The Palestinians are only allowed to walk on one side of the fence. The soldiers have the power to arrest any Palestinian who walks on the other side of the street.
What experiences have you had living door-to-door with the Israeli settlers?
Well, about the settlers. When they came in 1976, they started confiscating land and houses. Since then the amount of settlers increased constantly and still is. The settlers harass us by throwing stones, garbage and sometimes human shit.
The settlers are the commanders in charge here. They even have power over the soldiers, they will do whatever the settlers will tell them to do. They abuse our children on their way to school. That is why we invited internationals to come here. EAPPI [Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel] has been here since 2003. We also started contact with ISM and CPT [Christian Peacemakers Team] after that. We wanted them to observe what is going on here. We used to have daily harassments from the settlers towards our children. A lot of them suffer from psychological diseases. The children here, including my own, can’t sleep well at night. The light has to be on all the time. If we turn it off they get scared. They can’t fall asleep if we don’t stay with them until they fall asleep. They always expect soldiers or settlers to come and attack. Many children still wet their pants at the age of fourteen and fifteen. We treated these problems with the doctors from Doctors Without Borders. But that is not enough; we want to treat these troubles more in the association that we created in Tel Rumeida.
In what way does the constant presence of the Israeli army affect your daily life?
There used to be monthly searching in our houses. The army came at night with big dogs. They stormed the houses, woke up everyone- even the children are not spared. We have to leave our house, even when it was cold outside. These searches can take up to three hours or more, all the while insulting us and our children. Sometimes they write graphite on our doors for example “gas the Arabs”. The Israelis offered us money once to leave our houses, a huge amount of money. When we refused they closed all the entrances to our house. I used to climb a six meter wall to access my home. When my wife was pregnant I had to carry her all the way, when she was about to give birth. It took us three hours to get to the hospital. At the checkpoint the army would not let us pass without checking our ID and searching us, even though they recognized that my wife was in a labour.
Another issue is that we have to get a permit to harvest our olives from the Israeli army. [Without having to give a reason, the army can refuse these permits; many farmers are unable to access their land throughout the West Bank]. Settlers regularly destroy our trees and steal the olives. I personally have not been able to get any of my olives. I have fifty trees and could not harvest any of them. The olive trees are an important part of our culture. If you grow an olive tree you will have to wait fifteen years before you can harvest the olives. So when you have to watch the settlers stealing your olives or uprooting the trees, you become crazy because there is nothing you can do. The army also built a watchtower on my brothers’ house; they are everywhere all the time.
What is your personal experience with the illegal settlers and the Israeli army?
The settlers who live next to me cut the water pipes that lead to my house. I lived without water for three years. I therefore got in contact with international and human rights organizations. At least we were able to replace some of the pipes. Then the settlers came and uprooted all of my fruit trees. They attacked my wife when she was pregnant with our first child; she lost it in her third month. She was pregnant again but the settlers beat her when she was four months pregnant and she lost that baby as well. Later they stormed my house shooting bullets in the wall and destroying all my furniture. These are just examples from an endless pool of incidents.
I am next to the settlement. All of the settlers here are extremists. They closed all of my accesses to my house. My neighbour is the leader of the Jewish National Front. He has two stickers posted to his wall. One of them says “God gave us the right to kill Arabs and we love it”.
Once the army came to my house arrested my son, who was five years old at that time. They accused him of throwing stones. When the soldiers came to take him, my son was playing on his computer. The soldiers just laughed while arresting him. When I asked him, if there were sure that they actually saw my son throwing the stones they said no, the settlers told them it was him.
The army and the settlers have done a lot to me here. They want me to move but I will never give up, we are still fighting until we get our freedom.
What kind of hopes and expectations do you have for the future? Or what solutions do you see?
Actually as Palestinians, we accept many solutions. The PLO accepted the two state solution. And after that the Palestinian Authority also came to agreement with Israel to approach a two state solution. But even after 20 years of negotiations nothing has happened. On the contrary, the Israelis started confiscating more land and more houses to spread the settlements, they want to control everything. The Israelis were rather open with their demands; they want to keep the wall in Jerusalem and the natural resources. They also won’t give up the settlements, the army and the borders that they created. Another issue is that they still refuse to accept the right of return for the Palestinian refugees. So how is a two state solution going to work, if all these demands have to be met? For me there is a logical and acceptable answer, for us Palestinians, if Israel removes their troops and the borders from 1967 and they remove the wall and leave East Jerusalem as a capital for us, if they give us our borders, the airports the two state solution is a possibility. But that is not what Israel wants. They are talking about a pure Jewish state. A pure Jewish state will have a huge impact on us, it means that they want to cleanse this land from all the Palestinians, Christian or Muslim. I believe they wanted to cleanse the Christian Palestinians first to show that this is a conflict between Judaism and Islam, but that is not true. We are not against Judaism; we are only against the occupation. Every Palestinian has close Jewish friends. We are simply against the occupation not the religion. But the Israeli plan is to dismiss everybody from here. At times we had lots of discussions with Israelis. I said to someone before if you want to keep all of these things, let us think about one democratic state. Let us live together in harmony. I think that will be the best for everybody. You will see how peace will come.
What about your plan for the future?
For me personally it is clear, I will never move until I die or we get our freedom. I will keep my house with my family and my resistance. We encourage the other Palestinians who moved from here to return back to their houses. This is what our associations does here in Tel Rumeida, we offer Palestinians support in case they move back here. We help them find a job, we have free health services and we support and protect each other.
