International Solidarity Movement - Page 374 - Nonviolence. Justice. Freedom.

Witness to a child arrest in occupied Hebron

24th June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

Two detained children, soldier looking on (Photo by: ISM)

Since coming to the West Bank I had heard a lot about the Israeli army detaining and arresting children. Despite this, the first time I saw it myself, I was amazed. Amazed that people – young soldiers – could intimidate, harass and arrest kids. And all done with smiles on their faces.

We were called to the army base on Shuhada Street with a report of two children being detained. We walked down the street, passing checkpoints, getting held up while the soldiers ‘checked’ our passports and hassled us. When we got close to one of the illegal settlements in Hebron, we saw a mob of about ten soldiers down a side road – when we approached they disbanded. As they moved apart we saw that they had been crowded around two young children, around ten years old, who were backed up against a wall.

On our arrival a group of soldiers came over to us, laughing and joking with each other, trying to talk to us in broken English. According to them the children had been caught throwing stones in the old souq. It seems laughable to think they’d be so concerned, being covered head to toe in military gear and holding guns. The children were forced to stand apart, in the dark, in an alley full of soldiers for over an hour. We asked the soldiers if they knew where their parents were, if we could talk to them, if we could walk them back into the Palestinian controlled area of Khalil. All of our questions were met with the same answer; “No”.

We sat and waited, waving at the children, making sure they knew we were there to try and help. Attempting to talk to the soldiers was futile; “we’re waiting for further instruction from higher up”, “I love kids, we’re not doing anything wrong”, “I’m just doing my job”. All I could think was: “Imagine if your kids, or your brothers, were missing at night and you didn’t know where they were?!” – the whole thing felt disgusting and underhand. Even the way they moved away from the kids when they saw us coming – they must have known that what they were doing was wrong. That it would seem wrong to the international community if they knew about it.

The two children seemed fairly calm after a while, eventually exchanging jokes and swapping positions when the soldiers weren’t looking. We decided, amongst the five of us that were there, that two should walk back up to the main checkpoint between the Israeli and Palestinian controlled areas. This would be where the children would get taken when/if they were released. My comrade and I walked back up Shuhada Street, the soldiers laughing at us as we left. We of course got stopped for a long time at another checkpoint in between – in fact, long enough to see the soldiers escorting the two children up the road towards us. We could not follow to make sure they were okay as the soldier who had detained us was holding our passports and ‘radioing in’ to ‘confirm our identities’.

Soldiers smiling - children arrested behind them — Soldiers smiling – children arrested behind them (Photo by: ISM)

After about 15 minutes we got our passports back and got to the checkpoint to see the children being ‘posted’ back into the Palestinian controlled area and handed to the Palestinian Authority. The whole thing left me feeling sick. The smiles on the faces of the soldiers, the way they thought it was acceptable – or even normal – to hold children against their will at night, their use of intimidation and blatant abuse of power.

It may not seem like it, but these children were lucky – they were not blindfolded or handcuffed, nor were they were beaten or imprisoned. But others are. The children of the West Bank are learning first hand every day about the brutality of the Occupation. But they are also learning how to resist. I hope that their resistance will create a Palestine where children can play in the streets freely and without fear.

Struggle against apartheid wall continues in Bil’in

21st June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah Team | Bil’in, Occupied Palestine

Following the Friday prayers on June 21, residents of Bil’in accompanied by a contingent of international supporters gathered for the village’s weekly demonstration against the apartheid wall. The wall has cut the village off from Palestinian land that is now being used to expand an illegal Israeli settlement. A European TV-crew followed the protest in order to cover the disproportional use of force carried out by the occupying soldiers. Two protesters from Bil’in have died from wounds received at the weekly protest that has been taking place for the last eight years.

Protest against the wall in Bil'in. — Protest against the wall in Bil’in (Photo by ISM)

At Friday’s demonstration before the protesters could even reach the wall they were stopped by fencing and barbed wire. They attempted to remove the gate so that they could continue their march. After the removal of the outer gate, soldiers manning the apartheid wall threw volleys of tear gas and stun grenades at the protesters who had gathered around twenty meters from the wall. Observers noted that one sound grenade went off before it had been thrown over the wall, to the confusion of the soldiers. However, another grenade managed to set the dried-out fields in front of the wall on fire. The resulting smoke led some of the protesters to retreat out of firing distance of the soldiers.

Protesters trying to remove part of the fence (Photo by: ISM) — Protesters trying to remove part of the fence (Photo by ISM)

In spite of tear gas, stun grenades and the nearby fire, many protesters remained in front of the wall, chanting. At one point, a plastic-coated steel bullet was fired at the protesters, but no one was hit. After around an hour of protesting, the demonstrators decided to return to the village. As the protesters were leaving the area near the annexation wall, soldiers started volleying yet more tear gas at the crowd. This led to the dispersion of the protesters and caused general panic. Two years ago local woman, Jawaher Abu Rahma, was killed from severe asphyxiation caused by the excessive use of tear gas against protesters. Despite the brutality of the Israeli military, the people of Bil’in continue their struggle against the occupation.

Tear gas thrown by Israeli soldiers in the middle of the crowd (Photo by: ISM) — Tear gas thrown by Israeli soldiers into the middle of the crowd (Photo by ISM)

Settlers demolished solar energy building in Ad Dawa

23rd June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Ad Dawa, Occupied Palestine

On the 19^th of June, a group of settlers from the Illegal settlement of Itamar attacked a building that was being constructed for solar energy to provide electricity in the village of Ad Dawa, near Aqraba.

Residents of Ad Dawa around the demolished building (Photo by Ad Dawa municipality)

The building was being constructed without a roof to house the solar system, including the solar panels and the water pump to provide Ad Dawa with electricity and water. This is part of a project financed by a Spanish cooperation and the Energy Research Center at An Najah University.

The building, located in a valley with a small pond and over 100 trees on the land including figs, lemons, pomegranates and oranges, was completely smashed and demolished.

Settlers from Itamar settlement frequently attack the residents of Ad Dawa. They usually disguise themselves as soldiers and tell people to leave their own land, attacking farmers and trying to work Palestinian land. Thus, the five families living on the outskirts of the village, in this area, are subjected to continuous settler harassment, violence and land theft.

Ad Dawa's valley (Photo by Ad Dawa municipality) — Ad Dawa’s valley (Photo by Ad Dawa municipality)

“Next time we will pray in Jerusalem” – activists demonstrate at apartheid checkpoint blocking access to occupied Jerusalem

22nd June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Bethlehem, Occupied Palestine

In the morning of June 22nd, Palestinian, international and Israeli activists marched to the Israeli occupation military checkpoint blocking the West Bank from Jerusalem. Upon reaching the Israeli occupation roadblock, they were stopped by soldiers who violently prevented them from passing through the checkpoint. In reaction, the Palestinian activists prayed at the checkpoint, demonstrating their right to both freedom of movement within their own land, and freedom to worship in Jerusalem.

Protester being harassed by Israeli military in front of checkpoint (Photo by: ISM)

The activists arrived on the Bethlehem road, driving towards the military checkpoint separating south West Bank from Jerusalem. Around fifty meters from the checkpoint, they exited vehicles and marched towards the occupied land on the other side of the checkpoint manned by Israeli occupation military. The activists wore kuffiyehs and carried Palestinian flags, carrying a sign reading “Our land is our right”, “Free”, “Justice.”

Demonstrators were immediately confronted by Israeli occupation military personnel, who refused them passage through the checkpoint and tried to push them back. Palestinian activists were grabbed violently by soldiers, who pulled at their clothes and shoved them out of the road and away from the area.

However, activists refused to back down and instead chanted slogans and spoke about their right to freely enter occupied Jerusalem. An Israeli occupation police car and several military jeeps arrived to further repress the nonviolent demonstration. The violence from the soldiers continued and escalated when activists were threatened with pepper spray. In reaction to this, the Palestinian protesters began praying on the Bethlehem side of the checkpoint.

Following the prayer, the activists stated that they were leaving, but that they would return soon and that the next time they prayed it would be in Jerusalem.

This demonstration aimed to highlight the human rights abuses that the Palestinian people are subjected to every day because of the occupation. Restriction of movement is widespread across the West Bank, with permission from the Israeli occupation authorities being demanded for Palestinians to be allowed to travel their own land. This permission is granted very rarely, and usually excludes people aged 18-45.

Border police officer using force against nonviolent protesters (Photo by: ISM)

In Islam and Christianity, Jerusalem is one of the primary religious sites. According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion…to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.” This human right is blatantly denied through acts committed by the Israeli occupation authorities and military every day.

The presence of international and Israeli activists also highlighted the apartheid policies of Israel, as they would have been permitted to pass through the checkpoint and enter Jerusalem, had they not stood in solidarity with their Palestinian friends, who were not allowed passage. During the demonstration, many Israeli colonists’ cars were granted access easily to the stolen Palestinian land.

Protesters praying in front of the checkpoint to occupied Jerusalem (Photo by: ISM)

Settlers at stolen spring watch violent repression of Nabi Salih demonstration

21st June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Nabi Salih, Occupied Palestine

On Friday 21st June 2013, around sixty protesters from the village of Nabi Salih and abroad gathered for the weekly protest. First, passing through the Olive grove, they descended the mountain towards the stolen village spring, but were met with a violent reaction from the Israeli military, who shot large amounts of tear gas and some rubber coated steel bullets directly at unarmed demonstrators. The soldiers then invaded the village on foot and in jeeps, shooting into civilian residential areas and injuring one medic. Fires ignited by Israeli tear gas canisters spread throughout the village.

The 'tempest' of tear gas — The ‘tempest’ of tear gas (Photo by ISM)

The demonstration started at around 13.30pm, with people gathering after the afternoon prayer. The group of protestors marched to the top of the mountain and started heading down towards their spring, where the settlers who stole it were visible. Two Israeli army jeeps, around twenty soldiers on foot and a private settler security vehicle were present, blocking access to the Palestinian spring. After about five minutes of the villagers walking peacefully towards the spring, the soldiers at the bottom of the hill began firing multiple tear gas canisters towards them. Soldiers who had invaded the village then began firing multiple rounds of the jeep loaded ‘tempest’ onto the protesters from above – using this method around sixty tear gas canisters were fired in the space of two minutes. Fires spread rapidly across the agricultural land of Nabi Salih, started by the heat of the tar gas canisters.

A soldier with a live ammunition rifle appeared to be directly targeting one Palestinian man who started walking closer to the spring, but he escaped safely before the soldiers had shot at him. This was darkly reminiscent of the death of Rushdi Tamimi, who was killed by an Israeli soldier on the same hill with live ammunition in 2012.

Twenty soldiers guarding the spring stolen by illegal settlers of Halamish — Twenty soldiers guarding the spring (visible on the right) stolen by illegal settlers of Halamish (Photo by ISM)

On the edge of the village, several jeeps and soldiers on foot invaded. They began firing rubber coated steel bullets directly at children and journalists as they moved between houses. One journalist was hit with a steel bullet on his midriff. The soldiers then advanced to the centre of the village, firing directly at protesters in the olive groves; these two instances were breaking the Israeli military’s own rules of engagement, which state that tear gas canisters must be fired at an arc into the air and not straight ahead and that steel bullets should be shot below the waist. One medic was present and was targeted directly by an Israeli soldier who threw a heavy metal sound grenade at his head. A tear gas canister was then shot at his foot, causing injury and burning his trousers. Nabi Salih medics have recently spoken out against the Israeli military targeting them during demonstrations – see report here. Several tear gas canisters were also fired at short range into the petrol station of Nabi Salih, risking igniting the fuel sources there.

The village of Nabi Salih has been demonstrating against the theft of the natural spring and the occupation since December 2009. Israeli forces violently suppress the weekly Friday protests by shooting tear gas canisters, skunk water, sound bombs, rubber coated steel bullets and even live ammunition at protesters. Two people have been killed, Mustafa and Rushdi Tamimi, and many others severely injured. Resident Bassem Tamimi, has spent 17 months in Israeli jails, merely for being a prominent activist at the protests. After more than three years and despite the repression, Nabi Salih continues to fight against the injustices of a brutal military Israeli occupation.

Palestinian medic just after he was hit in the head with a sound grenade (Photo by ISM)