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Updated: Family home ransacked and young teenager detained during Eid

16th October 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

The young teenager and his father with the Israeli soldiers

Yesterday, 15th October, a young teenager visiting his family was detained from inside a Palestinian home after it was forcibly entered and searched by armed Israeli soldiers on the evening of Eid.

A Palestinian family’s home was entered on the evening of the 1st day of the Muslim festival of Eid by at least 8 Israeli soldiers. According to other family members the soldiers were searching for a toy gun. The family of 6 were locked into one room whilst the Israeli soldiers ransacked their home breaking beds, upturning furniture, and throwing clothes and jewelry around the house. International activists asked to enter the house but were forcibly prevented by several armed soldiers.

The Israeli soldiers eventually left the house, detaining the young teenage boy and his father. When the international activists tried to question the soldiers about the detention, they were aggressively and forcibly pushed away and prevented from communicating with the father and son.

The father and his son were marched to a military base where the father was released soon after, leaving the teenager detained alone for several hours.

He was then taken from the military base in a police vehicle and released to his family. He was ordered to report to the police station at 9am this morning. This is the third time in three weeks that the Israeli army has entered this Palestinian home with little or no reason given for these intrusions

Photos: Gaza supporters rally for Alaa Hammad, keep weekly vigil for Palestinian detainees

16th October 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza Team | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

Palestinians rallied outside Gaza’s International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) office Monday morning to support Alaa Hammad, a Palestinian-Jordanian on hunger struck since May 2 against the conditions of his detention by Israel, and other Palestinian detainees.

Families and supporters also continued a weekly sit-in inside the ICRC courtyard in support of Palestinians held by Israel.

Hammad, a Palestinian with Jordanian citizenship, is one of 26 Jordanian nationals held by Israel. The occupation has imposed a near-complete blackout on news of his 168-day hunger strike, so most information on his case is over two months old. “On 5 August Hammad fainted and remained unconscious for five hours, without the guards calling a doctor,” the ADDAMEER Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association reported two days later. “After finally receiving treatment Hammad regained consciousness.”

Hammad and four additional Jordanian-Palestinian detainees launched a group hunger strike on 2 May to demand the right to receive visits from their families in Jordan. The other participants, Abdallah Barghouthi, Mohammad Rimawi, Hamza Othman and Munir Mar’ee, ended their strike on 11 August, citing the lack of international attention to their cases.

Video: The olive harvest in the Gaza Strip, 2013

16th October 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Gal·la | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip harvest olives during the month of October. Several years ago, a large amount of land was planted with olive trees. They were completely destroyed by Israeli bulldozers, and Palestinians were prevented from replanting them by the so-called “green line.” Today the olive oil industry is a small part of the local economy. The export of this olive oil is also prevented as a consequence of more than seven years of the Zionist blockade.

Updated: Continued settler harassment and international arrested in Hebron

13th October 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

Palestinians view the fence around the Azzeh home

One international was arrested after settlers fenced off the Asseh family home for a second day in a row in Hebron’s Tel Rumeida area.

Yesterday, early Saturday morning, settlers tied a fence across the exit of the Asseh family home with a wire gate to prevent them from leaving for a second day. After the family and internationals removed the gate, settler children threw rocks, water and water mixed with faeces at them. Two Israeli soldiers stood close and did nothing. The police arrived but also took no action despite being informed of what had happened.

Within an hour of the Asseh family and the internationals dispersing, the gate had been reassembled and reinforced. One adult male settler stood over the gate and prevented anyone from passing through or disassembling it. After 20 minutes the Asseh family and internationals finally managed to remove the gate despite repeated physical attacks by the settler. A number of internationals sustained minor injuries. During this, soldiers continued to stand by and do nothing.

The police arrived and first questioned the settler and then two soldiers who were present. After being shown video footage by an international, police demanded that four internationals accompany them to the police station to file a complaint. When the internationals requested to file the complaint later, police became violent and arrested one international. Other internationals were thrown to the ground by police and soldiers who assisted the arrest. The arrested international was eventually released after being questioned in the police station at the illegal settlement of Givat Ha’avot.

A family in Qaryut was stopped by Israeli soldiers from harvesting their olive trees

14th October 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Qaryut, Occupied Palestine

Yesterday, Sunday 13^th October, Palestinian farmers and international activists were picking olives in Qaryut when it was observed that two members of settler security from the illegal settlements of Eli and Shilo were nearby. The settler security then attempted to intimidate the olive farmers, before soldiers arrived and forced both the Palestinians and internationals from the land with a supposed military order.

Israeli soldiers force Palestinians from their land with a supposed military order

At around 9am yesterday, two armed members of nearby settler security approached the Palestinian land and stood on a hill overlooking the farmers, shortly afterwards a military vehicle arrived. Fifteen minutes later six soldiers approached the property of the farmer and declared the place Area C and a closed military zone. The farmers and international activists were informed they had to leave. The farmer and the internationals were given 30 minutes to remove themselves from the area, and were threatened with force. They also confiscated the ID of a Palestinian man who came to mediate and wouldn’t return it for 90 minutes.

The farmer and internationals then moved to another area as the soldiers had said, the day before, it would be safe for harvesting. Suddenly that area had also become a closed military zone. When the commander was asked for some justification for this order, he showed a map printed on paper without any official stamp or signature and refused to allow any photographs of the map to be taken.

This behaviour from the Israeli army was not unsurprising as on Saturday 12^th October, also in Qaryut, Israeli soldiers forced the same farmer from his land after nearby settlement security arrived.