The family of Maher Al-Akhras, who is on hunger strike in Israeli prison. Credit: Diana Khwaelid
“I will go on a hunger strike until I get freedom or martyrdom.”
This is what the prisoner Maher Al-Akhras (52), from the village of Hajjah, Jenin district, said after the Israeli occupation forces raided his house and arrested him without charges last Thursday night, August 24.
The prisoner Maher works as a farmer. He owns a farm with cows and takes care of his family of 6 children, the youngest of whom is his daughter Toqa, who is 9 years old. He is a man who loves his family, supports the families of prisoners and martyrs and is always present for help and solidarity.
He is considered one of the most famous prisoners who went on an open hunger strike in order to get freedom. He is a former prisoner, and the Israeli occupying forces have not brought clear charges against him.
Credit: Diana Khwaelid
Maher suffers from a difficult health situation, and his wife said that she feels afraid for her husband, since he suffers from high blood pressure and diabetes, and recently underwent surgery. The lawyer also said that he is in pain and does not feel well. Maher refuses to take any medication from the Israeli prison administration and to get treatment, because he was arrested without charge and wrongfully. He is one of dozens of prisoners who were arrested without a clear charge, and are held under administrative detention in Israeli jail. This is one of the ways through which the occupation imposes its control on the Palestinian people.
His daughter Toqa added that she worries for her father, and she stressed that the occupation is unjust and brutal and that she misses him very much. Like any child in the world, she has the right to live with her father in peace.
Her mum assured her that Maher is a strong person and believes in his just cause, that his will will not be broken, that the Lord is taking care of him, and she hopes that he will be released.
Maher’s mother, who is 74 years old, said that she misses her son, and she is worried for him because of his health, and prays for him day and night, until he comes out safely. She believes that the occupation’s racist practices will not continue, and that the occupation will disappear.
Maher, who has been on hunger strike for 6 days, is sacrificing his life and health in order to demand his freedom, to tell the occupation that the Palestinian people have the right to live in freedom and peace.
This is a diary kept by two UK-based volunteers with the ISM, Willow and Kevin, during some of their recent trip to Palestine.
Day 1 – Colonial violence
In the few days since arriving in Palestine we have already been repeatedly reminded of the extent of the violence which is perpetrated on a daily basis by Israeli colonial power. On the day we arrived, three Palestinians were killed by the occupation forces, following closely after the murder of a teenage protester two days before. Just last night, Farus Abu Samra, a 14-year-old Palestinian child, was killed in the West Bank city of Qalqilya. Occupation forces stormed a neighbourhood overnight amid heavy firing of rubber coated steel bullets and live rounds. Such raids by the Israeli military into the West Bank are now occurring regularly.
It is an honour to be here and meet so many Palestinians who have given so much for the struggle. We spent yesterday doing the ISM training in the ISM flat in Ramallah. One point that particularly resonated with us were the discussions amongst internationalists about our motivations for the trip. While many of us may do this work to make us feel good about ourselves, we always need to be aware of the risk of white saviourism, and adjust our behaviour accordingly. It is important to be honest with ourselves and others that we don’t have any solutions to this decades’ long struggle. Rather, it is a struggle fought by generations of Palestinians and we internationalists just do what little we can to support them, following what they ask of us. This is one of the great strengths of the ISM, it being Palestinian-led.
Drawing water from the well to water trees – At-Tuwani
Day 2 – Protective Presence
A large part of the ISM’s role in Palestine is providing a “protective presence”, with both the Israeli state forces and Zionist settlers being less likely to attack or harass Palestinians when internationalists are present.
In much of the West Bank this mainly involves attending demos, which typically receive enormous levels of violent repression. But where we currently are in Massafer Yata, in the south Hebron Hills, this more often involves helping farmers with their work, as settlers will otherwise regularly attack them. Indeed, it was only due to an ISM volunteer recording a brutal assault with crowbars on Hafez, a farmer and human rights activist who we were helping this morning, that he was spared a decades long prison sentence after the settlers accused him of attacking them. This podcast explains the story in full – https://palsolidarity.org/2023/02/the-international-solidarity-movement-podcast-episode-four-peoples-resistance-in-the-south-hebron-hills/
Last night we accompanied Hafez’s young son while he was shepherding goats in a field just a few hundred meters from an illegal settlement. We then stayed in a guest house next to their family home in At-Tuwani. We heard that their herd of ten goats once had 150 animals, but theft of their land has made it impossible to keep such a large herd now. Some young men from a neighbouring village came to visit the family for dinner. The atmosphere was quite heavy as one explained that settlers and the army had just turned up at his village, raided his home and attacked family members. We have been told we’ll go to this village tonight to try to discourage such attacks.
This morning we got up early to help in the garden, drawing water from a well and tending plants. By 9am it was already extremely hot and we’re told everyone rests in the midday sun – we’re both very relieved as we’re not used to this much manual labour 😂
Day 3 – Tuba
Today we’re staying in a small village called Tuba which, like most of the villages in Masafer Yatta, is within the borders of a military firing zone. All Palestinian inhabitants here are now criminals for staying on their farms in this area which the Israeli army have “claimed” for training purposes – just one more excuse for the mass expulsion of Palestinians from their land. The Zionist settlers, of course, are welcome to stay, despite the firing zone regulations. Under constant fear of attack, local Palestinians patrol the village all night using bright torches to monitor the hillsides. There is always an imminent and deeply disturbing risk of invasion and in recent days settlers have been very active in terrorising the community.
The journey for Palestinians between here and neighbouring At-Tuwani has been extended from 2km to 15km. Palestinians are now forbidden to drive the direct road due to the building of an illegal settlement between the villages and instead must take a very rough dirt track through the desert mountains. Children from Tuba have to be escorted by the army through the Zionist settlement to attend school in At-Tuwani. This is due to the fact that settlers also attack defenceless children. Since the army cannot be trusted in the least, internationalists must monitor them too and help with the school run, looking out for the children’s safety.
Day 4 – Israeli “justice”
The attention currently being paid in the international media to Netanyahu’s admittedly disgraceful judicial reform plan all too often ignores the fact that the Israeli judiciary has, of course, long since been intimately complicit in the colonisation of Palestine, including in the Masafer Yatta area. As this excellent article about the situation here explains “The Israeli military wants the homes of Masafer Yatta for target practice. And the country’s Supreme Court says that’s totally kosher.
[. . .]
So’ed stopped attending class after Israeli bulldozers crushed the village school. That day, So’ed told us, she helped young children, the students of lower grades, to escape through the windows. “We were in English class,” she said. “I saw a Jeep approaching through the window. The teacher stopped the class. Soldiers arrived with two bulldozers. They closed the doors on us. We were stuck in the classrooms. Then we escaped through the windows. And they destroyed the school. The destruction of the elementary school took place in November 2022 and was documented on video. Children in the first, second, and third grades can be seen in one of the classrooms, screaming and sobbing. Israeli soldiers surrounded the school, where 23 students were enrolled, and threw stun grenades at villagers who were attempting to block the path of the bulldozers.”
The filming of the school demolition that is mentioned was done by a volunteer who was at the scene providing protective presence.
It is also of note that one of those Supreme Justices being presented as arbitrators of all that is right in international media coverage about the judicial reforms formerly defended Israel successfully in the case taken against it by the family of Rachel Corrie, an ISM activist killed by a bulldozer while resisting home demolitions in 2003.
Day 5 – Khallet Aldabba
Today we are helping with work in Khallet Aldabaa. There are families here that have had their homes demolished by the state four or five times, but they always rebuild and refuse to move. This is yet another example of the Palestinian commitment to “somoud”, an Arabic word meaning “steadfastness”.
We also helped a little today with the work of a group called Comet-ME who were in the village as well. This amazing organisation works with communities across the West Bank to provide ecologically and socially sustainable infrastructure. They were installing a water tank, replacing infrastructure that is often sabotaged by settlers and the army. This is all the more important considering Israeli water company Mekorot, at the behest of the state, are currently limiting water flow to this area in the height of summer – a political punishment that is in complete contravention of international law. You can read more about Comet-ME here: https://comet-me.org/about/who-we-are/
As with other villages we have been in, many of the buildings here have very striking murals of black and white text declaring messages of defiance. These were painted by an ISM volunteer last year in collaboration with the locals. There’s even one in Irish, which I was delighted to see! (“tiocfaidh ár lá” – our day will come, a republican slogan). It’s worth having a look at them here: https://instagram.com/palestinian.brigade?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Mural in Khallet Aldabba
Day 6 – Helicopter harassment
Today we have been listening to booming Israeli fighter jets continually flying back and forth overhead, and yesterday an army helicopter spent about twenty minutes circling the village while flying very low, kicking up huge clouds of dust. Locals said they were probably either taking surveillance photographs or just doing it to intimidate them.
All physical work here must be done by hand, which is tough going, especially in the 35-degree heat, but even the youngest villager (4 years old!) was helping fill buckets today. Machines can’t be hired to lighten the farmers’ workload as the army confiscates them, although it can take us several days to do what a machine could do in minutes.
Luckily, however, we have 4 more ISM volunteers joining us here later today, three of whom are also members of the same platformist reading group as Willow and I! (A)✊🏴🚩
Day 7 – Settler violence
In yet another shocking example of the way Palestinians are treated here, 9 illegal settlers attacked the village of Tuba yesterday at 9am. They targeted the villagers’ well, setting up a tent over it and releasing a flock of sheep onto locals’ land. The Palestinians were prevented from using the well to provide water for their animals in the summer heat. The extent of settler/state collusion was evident from the fact that the settlers were escorted by two jeeps full of police and military personnel who stated they were there to protect the settlers. An anti-Zionist Israeli activist who was one of those providing protective presence for the villagers was arrested during the altercation. The settlers remained here until around 5pm. Last night, 4 of us from ISM stayed up with a group of men from the village to keep a lookout for further attacks. Thankfully, nothing happened but the atmosphere is unsurprisingly tense in the wake of the villagers being terrorised once again, less than a week after the last instance here.
This morning, Kevin and I spoke to a Palestinian from Bethlehem who came to support the villagers and who organises with “Faz3a”, a campaign working to defend the October olive harvest from disruption by Israeli settlers and the military, who burn and chop down trees. For the duration of the harvest season, international volunteers accompany harvesters and respond when incidents involving military or settler violence arise, as they frequently do. He told us that last year many violent incidents occurred, including the destruction of ten Palestinian vehicles by settlers (two were burned, the rest thrashed) and the stabbing of a 75-year-old Israeli woman who was volunteering with Faz3a.
He said that if Palestinians were allowed free access to even half the resources of Palestine that life here would be very good for them, but of course colonial occupation prevents anything even close to this from happening. He also felt that for those outside Palestine the “boycott, divestment and sanctions” campaign is a key way to leverage power against Israel with the goal of making it a pariah state in economic, political and cultural terms.
Demo in Kafr Qaddum
Day 8 – Demos
Yesterday Willow and I, along with several other ISM-ers, attended two of the regular Friday demos –one in Kafr Qaddum near Nablus and one in Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem.
The demo in Kafr Qaddum takes place weekly in opposition to the illegal settlement which is encroaching on the town. It invariably involves quite a high level of confrontation with the army and seven Palestinians have been murdered during the protests there over the years. Very shortly after we assembled, rubber coated steel bullets and stun grenades were being fired at us, followed by clouds of tear gas as the situation escalated. Burning barricades were built to slow the advance of the army towards us and obscure their view with black smoke which, conveniently, also tends to be carried by the prevailing wind straight into the hated settlement. Everyone we spoke to said that the presence of us internationals shouting at the soldiers in European accents notably reduced the level of violence the army employed, which is a key reason ISM tries to attend as many of these demos as our numbers allow.
One particularly interesting tactic we witnessed was the use of a car which has been modified with metal plates over the windows. A local drives it to the frontline of the demo where it serves as a mobile barricade. It is filled with tyres which both help prevent bullets passing through it and can be used on the barricades. It also delivers other supplies to those near the front. Apparently, the army has been trying to confiscate the vehicle for years but no one asides from the driver knows where it is hidden between demos!
The Sheikh Jarrah demo was attended by a mixture of Palestinians, Israelis and internationals and was much, much less militant. It nonetheless involved some confrontations with settlers who turned up to counter-protest us, as well as scuffles with heavily armed police and border patrol guards who tried to clear us off the street and managed to cut our march short. One teenage settler threw a rock at me when I tried to stop him attacking a Palestinian child about half his size – luckily I was unharmed though. The whole day provided yet another reminder of the degree to which Palestinians suffer at the hands of the occupation, as well as the importance of the protective presence that ISM can provide.
Following the killing of an Israeli settler in Hebron on Monday 14 August, there has been an increase in the threat and use of violence by Israeli settlers in Masafer Yatta.
On Tuesday, three settlers from the illegal Israeli outpost of Avat Ma’on arrived in the village of Tuba with their flock, and got provocatively close to the house of a Palestinian family while they were also out with their own flock. Two brothers from the family confronted them and told them to leave their land. In response, one settler pepper-sprayed one of the two brothers, as well as his elderly mother and father. ISMers arrived at the scene minutes after the attack had ended and the settlers had left.
A Palestinian man receiving treatment after a settler attack in TubaTreating a man for pepper spray
On the same night, settlers gathered near the Palestinian village of Susya, where two ISMers were providing protective presence. One settler arrived to the village on a horse and terrorized the villagers by firing a single shot with his gun, while shouting to the Palestinians that they must leave the area.
In the meanwhile, masked settlers from the illegal outpost of Avat Ma’on tried to sneak in the Palestinian village of At-Tuwani. The attack was deterred by a large presence of Palestinian and international activists with torches, who identified one of the assailants as he was descending a hill.
On Tuesday morning, a settler drove his car into a Palestinian car, where a man and two children were travelling. Five ISMers arrived at the scene shortly after, as the settler had fled the scene, to provide protective presence to the victims, as the army and an ambulance arrived.
In the meanwhile, Palestinians in Masafar Yatta are fighting a legal battle to prevent the school in the village of Fakhit from getting demolished by the army.
According to local activists, the demolition is likely to occur some time in the next few weeks.
Mahmoud, an English teacher at the school, explained why the army is targeting it: “This is the only secondary school in the firing zone. They know that if they demolish it, dozens of families will be forced to move to [the nearby city of] Yatta if they want their children to continue studying”
“But we the teachers will not stop working” – he continued. “If they demolish the school, we will put up tents and teach in the tents. And if they confiscate the tents, we will teach under the sun, if necessary”.
Mohammed Zendiq at the hostpital. Credit: Mohammed’s family
On Monday July 24, 16 year old Mohammed Zendiq lost his leg during the invasion of Nur Shams refugee camp, near Tulkarem, by the Israeli Occupation Forces.
In the 4 hour long invasion, the IOF accompanied by a military bulldozer caused serious material damage to the camp’s main streets and infrastructures as well as private property like citizen’s cars, homes and shops.
Mohammed normally lives in 48 [Mandatory Palestine] with his mother as they both have an Israeli ID, but he visits his father weekly in the Nur Shams camp, in the West Bank. He told us that at the time of the invasion, he was standing in the street when he suddenly felt an explosion. He was then rushed to an Israeli hospital where his right leg was amputated just above the knee. He was treated at the hospital for one month and was released on Monday August 21. During that time, his father was unable to visit him as he has no Israeli ID.
Mohammed is the youngest of five siblings and a high school student, although the injury means that his studies are currently on hold and he might not be able to continue with his studies, considering that he will soon have to return to the hospital for further examinations for six months. Regardless, he stressed that he felt like his future would still be bright, he hopes to be able to get a prosthesis, find a job and marry.
Destruction after the invasion of Nur Shams camp. Credit: Diana Khwaelid
Both his parents were deeply shaken by their son’s injury, although they expressed extreme relief that he was at least still alive. His father described how hard it had been for him not being able to see his son at the hospital, and his mother told us that she had felt like she was loosing her mind for ten days after the attack. She added that the most difficult moment for her was when the hospital handed her Mohammed’s amputated leg. She concluded by saying that she felt “like any Palestinian mother”.
Similarly, his father highlighted that Mohammed was one example amongst many other tragedies. He says that while the IOF claims to only target resistance fighters, and Israeli as well as international news view Palestinians as terrorists, many victims are simply civilians trying to lead a normal life in the camps. Mohammed’s mother expressed her anger over the fact that even in the camp, supposedly under Palestinian control, Palestinians are not “left alone to live in peace”.
Mohammed’s father said that he supports peace without violence, but that he entirely blames the Israeli government for any violence that arises. He insisted on noting that many Israelis side with Palestinians, that many Jews across Europe oppose the Israeli occupation, to make clear that, to him, the Israeli government and its repressive system were the only ones at fault.
Before we left, Mohammed told us: “Right now, Israeli children can swim and run. But what about me?”
Israeli Army invasion of Nur Shams camp. Credit: Diana Khwaelid
In Episode Ten of our podcast we speak to Jaber from the village of Khallet al-Daba’, in Masafer Yatta, in the South Hebron Hills.
The Israeli supreme court has ordered the destruction of several villages in Masafer Yatta, and the occupation wants to destroy Khallet al-Daba’ first. The residents of Khallet al-Daba’ remain steadfast in the face of the demolitions, and are calling for international volunteers to come to the village and support them.
If you would like an explanation of the terms used in this podcast, you can find a useful glossary on pages 140-154 of Shoal Collective’s Ebook
Transcript
Introduction 0:00
Hey, welcome to international solidarity movement podcast [translation in Arabic]
Tom 0:18
Hey, and welcome to Episode ten of the International Solidarity Movement podcast. My name is Tom and in this episode we talk to Jabba from the village of Khallet al-Daba’ in Masafer Yatta in the south Hebron hills, the village of Khallet al-Daba’ is under threat of complete destruction by the Israeli military. And residents have asked the International Solidarity Movement and other supporters to maintain a presence in the village and support the villagers steadfastness in the face of the occupier. Now, I hand over to Jabba to tell us why it’s urgent that the people of Khallet al-Daba’ receive our support and solidarity. You can find out more by visiting the Save Masafer website. You can find links to this website and to other useful websites about Masafer Yatta in the show notes for this show.
Tom 1:10
Okay, so we’re here with with Jabba from the village of Khallet al-Daba’. and it’s a village where [the] International Solidarity Movement has been staying in the recent months because of the threat of demolition and eviction of the village by Israeli forces. And, yeah, so I just want to – we just wanted to hear, first of all, like, what it was like, well. Listeners [who are] listening to the podcast outside of Palestine won’t know what it’s like in Khallet al-Daba’. So maybe you could describe the village – describe growing up here in the village – you know, give people an idea of what Khallet al-Daba’ is like.
Jaber 1:50
Arabic & fades out
Translation 1:56
So as we know, like most of Palestine, people in Palestine know the situation in Khallet al-Daba’ and Masafer Yatta that’s facing the forced eviction from the Israeli occupation. And Khallet al-Daba’, like other villages in Masafer Yatta is under the threat of being evicted and demolished. They have faced many demolitions since 2018. And even [with] all these threats around them, they will not stop – they will not ever give up against these violations. And even like, before two days [ago], there was a confiscation of their tents, the solidarity tents of the international presence, and the attacks on [Jabba] and his brother – that he was like having a broken leg in a demolition, before that – and for today also they also attacked him with the same injury so they were facing like the pain together. And but at the end they will not stop all of this – like they will not give up, [their] steadfastness against this occupation.
Tom 3:02
Can you tell us about what it’s like day to day in Khallet al-Daba’ not knowing whether the the army will come or the settlers will come… the pressures that the occupation and the settlements put on the daily life here?
Jaber 3:20
Arabic & fades out
Translation 3:26
So this is the reality – that all of this pressure [is] on them every day and as you said, like, no one can stop the Israeli occupation of like his harassment of the human rights. Even like the people outside – like the countries that are against the violation of the human rights – like even they cannot stop the occupation from doing all of these violations. And also the new government that came and that pushed also a lot on the Palestinians in order you know, to let them suffer and to you know, to leave their lands. As I said, okay, all of these things they do around us for the pressure – but that will never make us weak and we will continue and he’s asking for an international presence in here in the village, in order even to make for the demolition …or like if there is a demolition in a day, and there’s like a presence international and Palestinian, so he’d like it to be a kind of hard thing for the Israeli forces in order to demolition or to confiscate something. So these things can help – as like a good example, two days ago when the Israeli forces came and confiscated the tents there was no numbers [of volunteers] and like in the easy way they just take everything and they go. And he was even not expecting that much easy that they will take everything where no one can stop them.
Tom 4:49
And yeah, just for context, so right now [as of December 2022] the number of international volunteers for example is quite small. But does he think that – that we could do more if there were larger numbers of people? Would he like to see more people coming?
Jabba 5:11
Arabic & fades out
Translation 5:15
So for sure the international presence would help and with the more international volunteers would be more important as you said like he understands the situation that now in the end of the year and there is Christmas and most of the people cannot be here, everyone you need to go for some time home. And this is like the time for occupation to do his crimes. Because no social media can go out with the [volunteers] to know, and to like spread awareness. So this is like the time for them to push on the Palestinians here. And even though they have talked with many organisations to have more volunteers, but like unfortunately, like, there is no presence yet from the other organisation[s].
Tom 5:57
And we’re hoping that the listeners to this podcast will share the information about what’s happening here with their comrades and, and maybe hearing the voices of people here will inspire people to come. I wanted to ask about – you talked about steadfastness on the land, and this form of resistance, which is being connected to the land and remaining on the land, despite all of the pressures. Could you talk about that? And also, you know, whether you feel a particular connection to this area – to the natural landscape?
Jaber 6:31
Arabic & fades out
Translation 6:37
So Khallet al-Daba’ – the Israeli DCO [District Coordinating Office – part of the infrastructure of the occupation created by the Oslo agreement] knows and we have all of the [legal] proofs that it [belongs to] the Palestinians. And they are, you know, creating policies in order to evacuate the people and steal the lands and even transfer the settlers to stay here. So they have many plans. And he said, like, their plans will lose because it’s our land. And like, even they can demolish, but they will not steal our hope and we’ll not go out from the land. They will demolish our homes, but we will not go out of the land. And okay, they are like pushing the people and how they can do, but at the end, [the Palestinians] can stay and steadfast against the occupation. And because you know, the view of the people, how they will respond against all of these violations that happen around them and all these pressures, because the people also, you know, they just have these lands, where afterwards can they go? Because afterwards if they will be evicted, they will be refugees after this. So they didn’t have just like this piece of land to stay and they own this land. So no other choices to go out or [anything but] just to resist this occupation… So they defend the land that belongs to them, and they want to stay on it, there is no other choices, as you say.
Tom 8:02
And the Israeli state strategy in the area is not only about Khallet al-Daba’, it’s also about the whole area of Masafer Yatta. So do you think that if the Israeli state is successful here in Khallet al-Daba’ and – of course we hear that the people here will resist and will not allow that to happen – but the state will also attempt to evict other communities here in Masafer Yatta?
Jaber 8:29
Arabic & fades out
Translation 8:39
So they have decisions to evict other villages in Masafer Yatta. But like, as you said, like they have the power to evict, and to break, and to demolish and to destroy, but they didn’t have the power to take the people out of their lands.
Tom 8:54
Thank you very much. And yeah, if people want to learn about how to get involved, people can have a look at the Save Masafer Yatta website, and also palsolidarity.org, the website of the International Solidarity Movement – and check out the International Solidarity Movement on social media too. But yeah, thank you very much. Is there anything else that you’d like to say about the situation here?
Jaber 9:21
Translation to Arabic and fade out
Translation 9:36
So what he said like okay, Khallet al-Daba’ is the first village that’s going to be evicted from the decision that the court gave on the 28th of December. So he spoke about the international presence about like how it was the example – [the last time where] they confiscated the tent. That was like even a simple thing, but when they will demolish a house it will be [much] worse, for them it will be a disaster, because it’s like – a house is really hard to rebuild again. So like given the plans – how to be an international presence here – to be in the village. Because if you would be out of the place that will be evicted, it will to be hard for you to come in. For example, like the last demolition that was here when they confiscated, the first thing is they didn’t see the international presence and [therefore] that no one is taping, [so] they just started to attack. When like we came in and arrived to the place, they start you know with a with a simple thing to you know, divide the people to not reach their machines or to not reach the people who are confiscating. So this [volunteer presence is] how to effect them to not use violence against the Palestinians.
