International Solidarity Movement - Page 369 - Nonviolence. Justice. Freedom.

Qusra demolition orders: “If they destroy this house, where will we go?”

7th July 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Qusra, Occupied Palestine

On Wednesday July 3rd the Israeli army entered the village of Qusra, south east of Nablus, issuing eleven demolition orders on houses and buildings. At 9am two army jeeps arrived at the home of Seqer Musbah and presented him with demolition orders for the house he had built for his brother and family five years ago. When he tried to speak with the army commander he was told, “Don’t talk to me, talk to the court.”

Home of newly married couple Yusef and Sundis Rizek, now under demolition order (Photo by ISM)

All the houses and buildings were built at least five years prior, some as long as ten years ago and are spread across different parts of the 5000 population village. The village is classed as Area B and thus under Palestinian civil control. The orders though state that the houses are in Area C and therefore under full Israeli civil and security control despite a number of owners getting permission from the Palestinian Authority (PA) to build there, on the understanding their properties were in Area B.

A 2012 report from the Israeli Committee against House Demolitions, Demolishing Homes, Demolishing Peace states, “Israeli officials explain this type of demolition by stating that Palestinians are violating the zoning and planning laws and that the demolitions are merely law enforcement.” In fact, home demolition is used as a tactic by the Israeli authorities control the expansion of Palestinian villages, with the wider aim of ethnic cleansing of the West Bank.

Musbah’s family have lived on the land in question since 1965 and in 1995 had demolition orders on a neighbouring house also belonging to the family. The family took the case to court and ended up paying 10,000 shekels to the Israeli government to stop the demolition orders. When looking for the paperwork from 1995 in a briefcase full of documents, Musbah referred to it as the “bag of troubles”.

Yusef and Sundis Rizek, a newly married husband and wife also have demolition orders on the house they share with Yusef’s sister, her husband and four children. The family have lived in the house for ten years and had planned to build further on the land to house more family members. They had permission from the PA to build the house and stated in disbelief, “Why did they not come to talk to us when we started to build the house? Why now? Where will we go if the house is destroyed? We spent all our money on the house and land. We have no other place and no more money. If they destroy this house, where will we go?”.

PA planning permission for Qusra home now under demolition order (Photo by ISM)

A month prior, in June, twenty agricultural buildings in Qusra donated by a foreign European government also had demolition orders issued against them. The village not only faces constant harassment from the Israeli government but also from settlers and the Israeli army who protect them. Settlers from the nearby illegal outpost of Esh Kadesh regularly attack the village injuring locals, damaging land and property.

One local stated, “The Israeli army, government and Shin Bet. All of them work together. Now all the time they attack. Why now? We are strong. They see this, so they want to.” The villagers have collectively hired a lawyer in Jerusalem to work on the case in court, though none will be able to attend the proceedings there as permission is routinely denied to the majority of Palestinians to travel to the city. Even though Musbah’s family have documents proving their house was built in Area B, he has chosen not to play solo with this potential advantage but to fight collectively because, as he said : “We are one people, and this land is the collective property of the Palestinian people, we will speak with one tongue.”

Prominent activist Nariman Tamimi under partial house arrest during weekly Nabi Saleh’s protest

7th July 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah Team | Nabi Saleh, Occupied Palestine

The weekly protest in the village of Nabi Saleh was, as usual, met with extreme violence by Israeli forces. Tear gas canisters, rubbers coated steel bullets and skunk water were shot at unarmed protesters.

After midday prayers, over fifty Palestinians together with international and Israeli activists met in the centre of the village to march down the main road. As demonstrators walked passed the gas station, several Border police officers approached them from the hill located to the right of the road and shot several rounds of rubber coated steel bullets. When the march dispersed, the skunk water truck drove forward spraying people and homes.

The protest continued for an hour and a half during which Israeli border police were shooting demonstrators with tear gas canisters, rubber coated steel bullets and skunk water at close range.

Unlike every other Friday, Nariman Tamimi, a prominent activist from Nabi Saleh, was not able to attend the demonstration as she was in a partial house arrest. Nariman and Rana Nazzal were arrested at last week’s protest and spent three days in jail. They are accused of entering a closed military zone and had to pay 2750NIS each on bail in order to be released. The prosecution is asking for one week under house arrest. They are currently awaiting the judge’s decision.

Palestinian fisherman injured in an accident while escaping Israeli gunship attack

6th July 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Rosa Schiano | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

In the early hours of the morning of Sunday June 30th 2013, Sharif Arafat, a 30-year-old Palestinian fisherman, was injured on a fishing boat off the coast of Soudania, North of the Gaza Strip.

Sharif Arafat (Photo: Rosa Schiano) — Sharif Arafat (Photo by Rosa Schiano)

The captain of the boat, Nafiz At Habeel, reported that during the night the strong wind had pushed the vessel about 6 miles from the coast of Soudania. Around midnight an Israeli military navy ship approached and then retreated. In the early hours of the morning, at around 3:30am to 4:00am, the fishermen threw their nets into the sea. Once again, an Israeli navy ship approached the fishing boat and this time started shooting. Nafiz told us that the fishermen tried to hide in order to avoid the bullets, while Sharif Arafat ran to the side where the fishing nets were. Sharif, an inexperienced fisherman, did not know how to escape in the event of gunshots by the army. One of the nets became caught up around his leg.

“Sharif was terrified, his ankle was trapped”, Nafiz said. As he couldn’t swim, Sharif clung to the boat as not to fall into the water, while the nets pulled him down. His ankle was severely fractured and broken and he fell into the water. Nafiz told us that he had tried to pull in the nets with the engine. “These nets float – I cried at Sharif to cling to a ball of the fishing net”, said Nafiz. Sharif was then pulled on board and taken to the port of Gaza City on a ‘hasaka’, a small boat that usually accompanies the vessels.

During the incident the fishermen had relit the lights of the boats, which usually go off when they cast their nets. The Israeli navy has since moved away, probably because the soldiers had realized that something serious had happened.

We met Sharif Arafat at Shifa hospital in Gaza City, where he was hospitalized following the accident. The hospital report states that Sharif had a partially amputated right ankle due to trauma.

(Photo: Rosa Schiano) — (Photo by Rosa Schiano)

Sharif Arafat is not a professional fisherman. “I went fishing only because of the economic situation, I cannot even swim”, said Sharif, who had begun to fish only 5 months earlier. Sharif is married, has one child and his wife is pregnant with a second child.

Sharif was frightened by the idea that his foot could be amputated. His brother Alaa, next to him in the hospital, was in tears. The same evening Sharif was transferred urgently to a hospital in Israel to be operated on, thanks to the intervention of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights who called for an acceleration of the procedures such was the emergency. In the Gaza Strip such surgery was not available.

We are still waiting for news on the conditions of Sharif Arafat.

Background

Israel has progressively imposed restrictions on Palestinian fishermen’s access to the sea. The 20 nautical miles established under the agreements of Jericho in 1994 between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), have been reduced to 12 miles under the Bertini Agreement in 2002. In 2006, the area allowed for fishing was reduced to 6 nautical miles from the coast. Following the Israeli military offensive “Cast Lead” (2008-2009) Israel has imposed a limit of 3 nautical miles from the coast, preventing Palestinians from access to 85% of the water to which they are entitled according to the Jericho agreements of 1994.

Under the agreements reached between Israel and the Palestinian resistance after the Israeli military offensive in November 2012, “Pillar of Defense,” they consented that Gazan fishermen can again fish up to 6 nautical miles from the coast. Despite these agreements, the Israeli navy has not stopped attacks on Gaza fishermen, even within this limit. In March 2013, Israel imposed once again a limit of 3 nautical miles from the coast, saying that the decision had been taken following the sending of some Palestinian rockets towards Israel. On Wednesday 22nd May, the Israeli military authorities announced through some media outlets the decision to extend the limit again to 6 nautical miles from the coast.

We join the call of the fishermen and ask our governments to press Israel to stop attacking and arresting Palestinian fishermen and to allow them to fish freely.

Two years of demonstrations in Kafr Qaddum: “Our struggle will continue until we fulfill our rights”

5th July 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Kafr Qaddum, Occupied Palestine

On the 4th of July 2013, the village of Kafr Qaddum defiantly celebrated two years of Friday demonstrations, which began in July 2011. The celebration, which included speeches and performances by village youth, was followed the next day by a further demonstration, the first of their third year, in which the Israeli military invaded the village before the demonstrators even gathered, attempting to make arrests.

The celebration on Thursday succeeded in showing the steadfastness and spirit of the people of Kafr Qaddum as they listened to speakers denouncing the occupation, danced to Palestinian music played by a live band and watched a theatrical dubke (Palestinian dance) performance showing the Palestinian shabab (youth) of the village vanquishing the invading Israeli army.

Kafr Qaddum celebrating two years of resistance (Photo by ISM)

The demonstration which followed the next day was yet more evidence of this spirit of resistance, with hundreds of demonstrators from Kafr Qaddum and further afield marching towards the roadblock hindering their access to the nearest city of Nablus, chanting, dancing and clapping. The Israeli army had invaded the village before the demonstration even began, chasing and attempting to arrest people who were walking to and from Friday prayers. During the demonstration this campaign of attempted arrests continued, with the army surrounding the village from all sides and invading down side streets in attempts to grab peaceful demonstrators. Tear gas and sound grenades were fired regularly by the Israeli military, who tried unsuccessfully to quash the protest.

The village of Kafr Qaddum has been directly affected by the occupation, both through settlement land annexation and the closure of the main access road to Nablus. However, the protesters maintain that their focus is not just local, they are looking at the wider issues of occupation. Protester Murad Shtiawi said on Thursday; “The popular resistance is not related to achieving only a very simple aim or target. It is not only the road – we know the road will open one day. We feel that the real resistance is related to the occupation, so if the occupation is still on our lands, our struggle will continue until we fulfil our rights.” They also insist that the resistance cannot be limited to Friday demonstrations – “Our struggle will extend to other days in the week, because the occupation is still occupation on Thursday and Saturday. We will continue our struggle every day.”

Around 4,000 dunums of Kafr Qaddum land has been appropriated by the illegal settlement of Qedumim and the demonstrations started as it was threatened that this amount would increase as the settlement expanded. Kafr Qaddum’s main road was closed in 2002, making access to their neighbouring villages of Jit, Sarra and the city of Nablus impossible without a 14 kilometre detour on badly paved roads through olive groves. This roadblock sparked the use in Kafr Qaddum of the Arabic chant, translated in English as “out, out the occupation, the open road is the solution.”

Tyre fires on the main blocked road to Nablus, with Qedumim illegal settlement visible in the background (Photo by ISM) — Demonstrators set fire to tyres on the main blocked road to Nablus, Qedumim illegal settlement visible in the background (Photo by ISM)

More than 120 Kafr Qaddum villagers have been arrested since the demonstrations began, spending from around four to ten months in prison. This in turn has led to payments of over 120,000 shekels to the Israeli courts for their release. Around 200 people have been shot with teargas canisters, six of whom were shot directly in the head. One of these injuries resulted in a fractured skull, bleeding on the brain and a loss of speech for the injured demonstrator.

The children of Kafr Qaddum have been targeted, most recently with threats of arrest by the Israeli military, who stuck up pictures of four children around the village, accompanied with the message “we will arrest you if we see you, or we will come to your homes.” Children as young as six months have suffered from the serious effects of teargas inhalation as teargas has been fired into homes in the village.

But despite this suffering, the village’s commitment to resisting the occupation continues, as Murad once again reinforced on Thursday, with a message to the world:

“The real resistance is related to the occupation, so if the occupation is still on our lands, our struggle will continue – until we fulfil our rights. This includes letting the people of Kafr Qaddum and all of Palestine live free in an independent state on the 1967 borders, without settlements; releasing all of the prisoners from prison; and letting all the refugees from all over the world come back to their homeland in Palestine. Our message to the world is that we will continue to struggle until we fulfil our rights.”

Settlers lead the Israeli army into a night attack in Jinba: beating children aged 4 to 16

5th July 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Jinba, Occupied Palestine

Stun grenade thrown into a home (Photo by ISM)

On Wednesday night, the Israeli army carried out a lengthy and violent invasion of the village of Jinba, in Masafer Yatta, south of the West Bank. The army was reported to have been led by two Israeli settlers from the illegal outpost of Mizpe Yair.

The army raided and ransacked twenty houses in Jinba, beating several young men in the process. People were woken up by stun grenades, which in one case the occupation forces threw directly into a house. Another stun grenade was thrown directly at a person, who was sleeping outdoors.

The Israeli army proceeded to break doors and raid Palestinian homes. During these raids, five people were beaten by soldiers, including a 4 year-old, named Ibrahim Jabarin. Ibrahim was hit by the soldiers in the face as he walked in front of them when they entered his home. The others were Thaar Khaled Jabarin, 16, Ahseen Nabil Jabarin, 12, Odi Jabarin, 21 and Sophian Raba’e, 15. Odi Jabarin was woken up by the soldiers beating him with their guns. He suffered several blows across his body, and severe injuries on his left leg.

Three men were then arbitrarily arrested during this raid and released hours later. Mahmoud Isha Ibrahim Raba’e was woken up by the army breaking into his house at 1 a.m., as they smashed his belongings, and he was then arrested and handcuffed. He was released at 9 a.m.

Home ransacked by the Israeli forces (Photo by ISM)

The raid was carried out over settler claim for a sheep

The two settlers accompanying the soldiers in Jinba yesterday claimed that the Palestinians had stolen one of their sheep. In fact they tried, with the cover of the army, to steal away one of the rams belonging to a Palestinian farmer; however they were stopped by the villagers. The ram in question purportedly worth 1600 dollars and is used for breeding purposes. This would have been a significant loss of property for the farmer, given that people in Jinba depend on animal husbandry for survival.

Mahmoud Raba'e posing with his ram, that settlers tried to steal (Photo by ISM) — Mahmoud Raba’e posing with his ram, that settlers tried to steal (Photo by ISM)

Jinba is one of the villages in Masafer Yatta that lies in the area that Israel has designated as “firing zone 918”. This area is the land of 12 Palestinian villages that are threatened with mass demolitions, which is illegal under international law[1]. This would mean the forced displacement of all of their residents. Recently, violence by the Israeli army has escalated over the region in the time leading up to a major court decision concerning the fate of the South Hebron Hills.

[1] See Hague Convention (IV) Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land, U.S.T.S. 539 (entered into force January 26, 1910) and Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, 75 U.N.T.S. 287 (entered into force Oct. 21, 1950).