29th July 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine
On Sunday, July 28, Israeli settlers severely burned land belonging to Hani Abu Haikel and his family in Hebron. Occupation soldiers, though at first trying to help stop the fire, ended up blocking the road so that Palestinian firefighters were delayed in reaching the scene. Several very old olive trees were destroyed in the fire which swept over immense swathes of land very quickly. In the video below, Hani Abu Haikel speaks about the incident and how Israeli settlers, soldiers and police work together to pressure Palestinian families to leave the Israeli-controlled H2 district of occupied Hebron.
Flames tear through one of Abu Haikel’s oldest olive trees (Photo by Christian Peacemaker Teams)
The previous evening, July 27th, Israeli police came to Hani Abu Haikel’s house and questioned him about a variety of subjects including whether he has any plans of leaving the area, to whicb he answered in the negative. Apparently this questioning is a regular occurrence. Israeli soldiers have also arrested Abu Haikel and his children on spurious charges, later releasing them without charge. The soldiers continue to regularly detain and interrogate members of the family.
Yesterday afternoon Abu Haikel saw settlers present in the area of the Israeli military base. As this is a common thing for them to do, he thought nothing of it at first. However, after this Abu Haikel saw the settlers spray water all over the small plot they have illegally cultivated on his land, right beneath the military base. He then saw them spray another, apparently flammable chemical over his land – soon after this, his land was on fire. Observers noted that Israeli soldiers were obstructing people from reaching the scene to help. Palestinian fire engines were prevented from reaching the scene for at least half an hour, allowing the fire to spread rapidly and scorch the land, despite volunteers passing buckets of water between them to try to quell the flames.
Israeli settler children stand laughing on the partially scorched wall just above their untouched plot of illegally cultivated land (Photo by Christian Peacemaker Teams)
The only part of the Abu Haikel land that wasn’t completely scorched was the small plot cultivated by Israeli settlers. Hani Abu Haikel explained that this is the eighth time settlers have burned his property, including an incident ten years ago when they burned all of his trees, meaning that many of the trees that were burnt this time were very young. It has taken him these ten years to effectively replant his land again and now, again it will be years before his land is as it was before this crime.
28th July 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine
Update 28th July:Abu Shamsiya was last night transferred to Ofer prison, to another prison near Jerusalem and then once more to another police station. He was released at 16.30 today after the 1000NIS bail was paid. He has been given a court date to face the false charges of spitting on a soldier on the 30th November. The family have video evidence showing that the attacks were instigated by settlers and there was no violence from Abu Shamsiya.
Update 28th July:Israeli authorities are demanding 1000NIS on bail to release Abu Shamsiya. He is accused of spitting a soldier and will have a court hearing soon (exact day still unknown).
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Stone and egg-throwing, beating and kicking, headscarves torn off and an arrest based on two soldiers lying. This sunny Saturday in Hebron (Al-Khalil) was all about settler youth attacking innocent Palestinians and internationals while soldiers looked the other way.
Today, 27th of July, the Shabbat started as usual in Hebron with the settler tour through the Old City. A group of settlers surrounded by soldiers entered the Old City through the Peace Garden and went through the streets, preventing Palestinians from passing. The soldiers invaded several Palestinian houses in order to access the roofs. After an hour, the “tour” left the Old City through the entrance to Beit Romano settlement.
Settlers surrounded by soldiers in the Palestinian market during their ‘tour’ (Photo by ISM)
Later, at around 4pm, whilst walking down Shuhada Street international activists had stones thrown at them by two settler teenage boys. When they returned an hour later, they were attacked again by settler youths who jumped at them and violently pulled off their headscarves outside Beit Hadassah settlement. When the internationals complained to the soldier stationed at the nearby checkpoint, he showed no sympathy and said his job was only to protect the Jews living in Hebron.
About half an hour later, three international activists were passing by the Qurtoba School when a masked settler ran up the hill towards them, throwing eggs. One activist was hit in the face with two eggs whilst soldiers looked on from the watchtower above the school – they took no action against the settlers saying only “What do you want us to do?”
At around 6pm some settlers – who had previously been bathing in the Abraham spring close to the Islamic cemetery next to Shuhada Street whilst being guarded by a group of soldiers – tried to steal a home-made kite off two Palestinian kids. A Palestinian teenager managed to prevent them from taking it.
At around 6.30pm, a group of about thirty settler youths entered the property of the Abu Shamsiya family in Tel Rumeida. They threw stones at the family who were outside on the veranda preparing food for the iftaar fast-breaking meal. They also beat the 11-year old son of the family, Muhammad. When his father, Abu Shamsiya, went to the soldier stationed at the checkpoint just outside his house to complain and ask for help, the soldier simply told the settlers to go ahead and continue attacking the family.
Abu Shamsiyah complaining to police about the attacks on his family (Photo by ISM)
A settler youth then ran up to Abu Shamsiya and violently kneed him in the stomach right in front of the soldier. Another soldier grabbed Abu Shamsiya’s wife Fayseh, who was filming the incident, by her hair and pulled her to the ground. The police, who happened to be parked in their car just up the road, finally decided to intervene. Abu Shamsiya complained against the two soldiers who had attacked him and his family and were complicit in the settler violence.
In a rare turn of events, the police believed Abu Shamsiya’s story – although the soldiers denied it – and took these two soldiers to the police station for further questioning. However, they did not arrest any of the settlers, who escaped into the Tel Rumeida settlement and the police chose not to follow them. The group of settler youths returned soon after and although Abu Shamsiya and various other eyewitnesses clearly pointed out the attackers to the police, they took no action.
Abu Shamsiya himself was later taken to the police station in order to file an official complaint and so that the police could examine his video footage of the incident. The Abu Shamsiya family were initially hopeful that this might lead to some positive result, but two hours later they got a phone call that Abu Shamsiya was now being detained in the police station on the charge of spitting at soldiers. Clearly the two soldiers whom he complained against wanted revenge and made up this story to incriminate him. His family is deeply worried and hopes he will be released by tomorrow.
Settlers, soldiers and police gathered around the Abu Shamsiyah home following the attack (Photo by ISM)
During the same incident, which attracted a lot of onlookers outside Abu Shamsiya’s house, Palestinians, settlers and internationals alike, a settler woman who is notorious for being extremely aggressive and has attacked internationals and Palestinians on several occasions, started pushing and shouting at an international activist as well as pulling at her scarf to strangle her. This happened right in front of a group of soldiers who chose to just stand by and watch, and even mocked the international activist when she complained and asked whether they thought it was okay for her to get strangled in the middle of the street.
Although the settler attacks in Hebron are not always as numerous and severe as they were on this particular day, none of what happened today is new or unusual to the residents of Hebron. Hebron is the only West Bank city that has settlers living inside the city itself. It is home to a particularly extreme and aggressive settler community, numbering about 500, that constantly harrasses, intimidates and attacks Palestinians with near impunity and the protection of about 2,500 Israeli occupation soldiers stationed in Hebron.
27th July 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Canaan village, Occupied Palestine
The Canaan protest village was built for the fifth time today, the 27th July 2013, annexed Palestinian land in the middle of the illegal Gush Etzion Colonial block next to the illegal colony of Migdal Oz. The nonviolent protesters stayed in the tent on their land for around an hour and a half, before the Israeli occupation soldiers tore it down, violently repressing the demonstration.
At 11.30am, around thirty Palestinian, international and Israeli activists entered Palestinian land which has been annexed by the illegal Israeli colony, Migdal Oz. They immediately erected a simple but symbolic tent, representing the Palestinian right to the land. Within five minutes, several soldiers had arrived on the scene, heavily armed with assault rifles. They were followed shortly afterwards by several jeeps, and the number of soldiers and police increased to over fifty within half an hour.
Fifth Canaan protest village (Photo by ISM)
During this time, some colonists left the colony and questioned the demonstrators on their reasons for the protest. The speeches, that had started right after the erection of the symbolic tent continued until around 12.50, when the protesters were given a written demolition order stating that the tent would be demolished in 10 minutes.
At that point demonstrators assembled inside the tent structure and began singing and chanting, whilst the army started forming around the tent. The demonstrators refused to leave their symbolic village.
The soldiers started tearing down the tent with the demonstrators inside it, violently pushing people away with riot shields and eventually breaking the tent pole that the protesters were holding onto. Numerous demonstrators were pushed to the ground. After the tent was demolished around fourty soldiers stayed in formation continuing to drive the protesters away from the colony onto the main road.
The soldiers then stopped the demonstrators and blocked off the road for some minutes whilst shoving the protesters to one side against the hard shoulder. When the protesters after that tried to leave from the car park, the army again blocked the road hindering them from leaving for several minutes without communicating an order.
View from inside the tent, protester holding “Our land is our right” sign (Photo by ISM)
The tent village was built to remember the right of Palestinians to their land and to express solidarity with hunger strikers imprisoned for fighting for the Palestinian struggle. In statements, Palestinians taking part in the tent village have expressed their general support for negotiations to end the occupation, but condemned the current round of false negotiations, that have been going on for years while Israel continues to build colonies and colonise Palestinian land.
There have been four previous incarnations of the Canaan village, all of which have been reclaiming Palestinian land and protesting the illegal colonial annexation. The previous tent villages have been built by the South West Bank Popular Committee in the south of the West Bank and have all been violently dismantled by the Israeli occupation military, with arrests of nonviolent demonstrators.
The simple tent structure chosen as a symbol of resistance and the disproportionate military action following its erection; this demonstrates the level of violence that is needed to sustain the illegal occupation of Palestinian land.
We call on international solidarity activists to organize demonstrations on 1 August in their own cities, and to spread awareness of the biggest impending ethnic cleansing campaign against Palestinians by Israel since 1948 through writing petitions, sharing information on the Naqab and Prawer Plan, or by any other show of activism.
On Monday, July 15, thousands of Palestinians protested in their cities, towns and at busy street junctions against the Prawer Plan, in a day that was designated as the national day of rage, or Anger Strike.
From Bir Sabe to Jerusalem, West Bank to the Galilee, Haifa to Gaza, Palestinians demonstrated against the Prawer Plan which passed its first reading in the Knesset last month. The Plan aims to
* confiscate 800,000 dunums of land in the Naqab desert
* expel over 50,000 Palestinian Bedouins
* demolish 35 unrecognized villages
* confine 30% of Palestinian Bedouins in the Naqab to 1% of the land
Dozens of Palestinians were either injured or arrested since July 15 by the Israeli occupation forces, yet the Anger Strike is far from over. Throughout the past week protests have been constant within Palestine, with Beirut in Lebanon and Cairo in Egypt also joining in.
We are determined to continue protesting daily and to raise international awareness for the plight of our Palestinian Bedouin brothers and sisters, and the next day of rage will be on Thursday, August 1.
We call on international solidarity activists to organize demonstrations on the same day in their own cities, and to spread awareness of the biggest impending ethnic cleansing campaign against Palestinians by Israel since 1948 through writing petitions, sharing information on the Naqab and Prawer Plan, or by any other show of activism. Your voice against ethnic cleansing and racism, matters. (Email the campaign at StopPrawerPlan@gmail.com).
This afternoon the journalist Haitham al-Khatib 37 years old was hit by a tear gas canister in the back after being targeted by the Israeli soldiers, a 18 years old Mahmoud Samara also got injured by a rubber bullet in the leg, their conditions were described as a minor, in addition to cases of suffocation after inhaling tear gas in Bil’in weekly march.
Protesters marching towards the wall in Bil’in (Photo by Hamza Burnat)
The march which called by the Popular Committee against the Wall and settlements in Bil’in began after Friday prayers from the center of the village toward the apartheid wall. Participated along with the people of Bil’in, an Italy’s parliamentary delegation led by Luisa Morgantini (former vice president of the European parliament), Israeli and foreigner peace activists.
The participants raised Palestinian flags and chanted slogans calling for the departure of the occupation, the demolition of the apartheid wall and the liberalization of the Palestinian political prisoners. Upon the arrival of the participants to the area of the wall the Israeli soldiers who were situated behind the wall fired rubber bullets, tear gas and sound grenades at the demonstrators which led to some injuries that were treated on the field.
For their part, members of the popular Committee gave a detailed explanation to the Italian parliamentary delegation and the foreign peace activists about the Israeli violations and attacks of the occupation in Bilin since the eight years so far, and they also talked about the strategy of the popular resistance in Palestine.
Israeli soldier throwing a tear gas canister at protesters (Photo by Hamza Burnat)Journalist Haitham al-Khatib after being hit by a tear gas canister (Photo by Hamza Burnat)
