22th May 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Team Nablus | Sabastiya, Occupied Palestine
In community remembrance of the Nakba, Sabastiya villagers observed 15 minutes of a full lights-out.
![Villagers sang Palestinian songs together in a show of community and collective continued remembrance of the devastation and displacement caused by the Nakba and the after effects of the Nakbah, 65 years later. [Photo by Ahmad Kayed]](https://palsolidarity.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/DSC_0909-600x337.jpg)
![Villagers gathered in the village center, a municipal park area, to remember Palestinian displacement from 1948 Palestinian villages. Candles were lit as people gathered to remember the Nakba together. [Photo by Ahmad Kayed]](https://palsolidarity.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/DSC_0906-600x337.jpg)
21st May 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Team Nablus | Aqraba, Occupied Palestine
Seven hundred olive trees were uprooted first thing in the morning of 16th May while a bulldozer got to work destroying the farmer’s concrete water storage facility and surrounding dry stone walls and fences in Aqraba. The Israeli army, who did some of the damage along with specially contracted workers, has since returned to check that the ground has not been replanted.
Arriving at 6am, the military came in jeeps and with a bulldozer and, along with the other workers, began to trash the wire fence enclosing the area and pull up the trees on it by hand. They came without any prior notification. When the mayor made a complaint on the scene at about 8am, saying that demolitions cannot happen without the land owner being warned and signing a confirmation as such; even citing several simple ways in which the owner or, at least, the municipality could be informed. He was told that an order had been delivered and placed “on a rock” there some “two years ago”. Just getting there had been arduous for him and other council workers, as troops had been placed to block access to the site, where in total there were approximately twenty of them plus two officers. The water tank, now little more than a pile of rubble exposed in a hole in the ground, could hold three hundred cubic metres of water before. Around it, huge boulders that formally made up short walls, were dumped in such a way on the vandalised land as to prevent easy replanting or rebuilding there.
The young olive trees had been planted in 2011 by the owner following a move from Dubai, with the fence once going around them meant to indicate that it is privately-owned land. The site straddles the boundary between Areas B and C; arbitrarily divided up into zones where Palestinian civil control is either nominal (B) or otherwise replaced by administration by the Israeli military (C). While huge swathes of Area C are under the threat of home and property demolition where they have Palestinian and Bedouin population, much of the rest is given over to military training. Area C is notorious for Palestinians being near-incapable of gaining any form of building permit, while work without one is liable to removed soon after discovery by the occupiers. “All land of Aqraba that can be used economically is to the east reaching to the Jordan River”, the mayor said. “If we could use these lands, Aqraba would be rich, but this is not allowed in Area C. Farmers are prohibited from the land and the Israelis bring soldiers and settlers and use the land in an economic way, which means that the military order is only a trick to use the land in an economic way”. Adding as well that, “court freezes demolitions, it does not allow for rehabilitation [of the land]”.
The land lies in the southwest of Aqraba. Further in the same direction is the hamlet of al-Taweel. There thirty families get electricity from power lines constructed by Belgian foreign aid, along with a school and a mosque. These lines, in service since 2004, are slated for demolition and a final decision on this is pending in court. A small house and shed for a farmer’s sheep there was demolished and then the animal shelter was rebuilt in protest,with the owner taken to court in February. Families there are frequently evicted temporarily to make use of their land for military exercises.
19th May 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Team Nablus | Qaryut, Occupied Palestine
UPDATED: The 13-year-old Qaryut boy attacked by settlers on 16 May completed an operation on his lower leg and foot on Friday and has since been released to recover at home. He also provided a full account of his attack and the time he spent in an Israeli jeep untreated and tortured for information he neither had nor could speak of due to the pain from his untreated injury.
The boy said he was alone on his land near the illegal settlement of Eli when he was attacked. His friend was coming to join him when settlers began shooting at the boy. He ran, but fell from a big drop in the land, being on the mountainside. Settlers pursued him but he dragged himself on his stomach by some bushes. He was in great pain but kept quiet, afraid of settlers or soldiers finding him and continuing to attack him. After some time, his phone rang when his sister and friend called him. The soldiers then found and descended on him, threatening him with their guns while he lay, unable to move, on the ground.
Below is video of the boy’s harassment when the Israeli soldiers found him; the video is taken in the village area down the mountain from the nearest illegal Eli settlement houses, in view of the land where the boy was attacked. He said that the soldiers and settlement security official (DCI) threatened to kill him.
No one from the village could come to the boy’s aid for risk of being shot at by the soldiers. Local Red Crescent representatives said that a man from the municipality was with the soldiers and was told that the boy would be treated in an Israeli ambulance and possibly taken to an Israeli hospital. However, as the Red Crescent, the boy’s family, solidarity activists and nearby villagers waited, watching the soldiers on top of the mountain for two to three hours, the boy was untreated and tortured by Israeli army officials for information.
“They said I was trying to set fire to the land by the settlement; they said I was with three others and had a lighter and a firebomb,” the boy said. “They would twist my leg every ten minutes or so when I would not give them names [of those with whom he was accused of conspiring].” The boy said he was also beat for information.
The boy’s interrogators also told him they had pictures him, evidence against him, and that a soldier had seen him. “Why don’t you ask the soldier, then?” the boy said. Reportedly the response to this question was, “No, I want to ask you.”
Finally, the local Red Crescent brought an ambulance to the entrance of the illegal settlement where they were given the boy, untreated. The boy’s grandfather said that his grandson’s flesh near his ankle was open, his leg wobbly, and black flesh showed from the boy’s yet untreated injury. The Red Crescent immediately took the boy to the nearest hospital in Nablus: Rafedia hospital 30-45 minutes away.
The area of the boy’s attack has seen several settler attacks on the nearby houses. Most notably, settlers from Eli have several times in the past year set fire to Palestinian olive trees near the house Im Fayyiz, a woman known in the village for her long-time struggle with attacks by the nearby settlers.
Qaryut also suffers from a key road-closure of a road leading to both Nablus and Ramallah. Previous peaceful demonstrations to open the road, however, have ceased due to fear of more arrests, as 15 innocent Qaryut villagers, mostly young men, were arrested in the past 5 months for peaceful activism in taking part in the demonstrations.
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At about 2pm on 16 May, a 13 year-old boy was shot at and beaten by settlers and soldiers; he broke bones in his leg running from the shots at him and from being beaten. After falling, the boy was threatened with his life by settlers, but soldiers arrived and stopped the settlers from killing him before threatening the young boy with three guns while he lay injured and immobile on the ground.
Initial medical attention was not allowed during the time Israeli soldiers had taken the boy into their custody, implying that he would be treated in an Israeli ambulance. However, three hours later, the boy had to be picked up, untreated, by the Red Crescent and taken to Rafidia hospital in Nablus.
When solidarity activists saw the boy, his entire right leg was wrapped in a cast. Later he described that he was sitting on his land which is close to an illegal Israeli settlement bordering Qaryut and famous for attacks such as olive tree torching. Settlers shot at him and he ran from the shots. When he fell, the settlers beat him and were going to kill him, but soldiers arrived and told the settlers could not. Afterwards, the soldiers also shouted at the boy with guns pointed at him.
The boy may undergo surgery for his broken bones.
Just two days before this attack, Qaryut faced an olive tree torching attack from another nearby illegal Israeli settlement and the village has a history of well-documented settler attacks on its land. In addition, Israeli military have closed a Qaryut road to Nablus and Ramallah for Palestinian use as the road is not far from illegal Israeli settlements on Qaryut land. Currently, 15 mostly young Qaryut men have been arrested for activism in peaceful demonstrations against the key road’s closure.
19th May 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Team Khalil | Hebron, Occupied Palestine
UPDATE: Zleikha was released from custody at around midnight, on the condition that she reports back to the police station today.
During Zleikha’s interrogation, an Israeli settler was brought by the Police and asked, ‘is this the woman who threw stones at you?’ to which she replied ‘yes’. This fundamentally flawed method of identification further illustrates how far removed the Israeli military is from any credible system of justice.
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Israeli forces tonight,18th May, abducted 51 year old Zleikha Muhtaseb from her home on Shuhada Street, in the old city of Hebron. Zleikha was helping her son complete his homework when a squad of Israeli soldiers invaded her house and took her. She was subsequently taken to be interrogated at the police station in the illegal Israeli settlement of Givat Ha’avot.
Israeli forces claim she was taken on suspicion of stone-throwing, although she was abducted from her home. Such unfounded allegations are regularly used in Hebron to justify arbitrary arrests and detention, of young and old alike – for example, 27 children arrested at random on their way to school in March of this year were accused of throwing stones. It is more likely that Zleikha was arrested for her defence of human rights and resistance to Israeli Occupation.
Zleikha Muhtaseb’s home is on Hebron’s Shuhada Street – an area closed to Palestinian access by the israeli military. Because of these closures, she and her family can only access their home from a back entrance, experiencing the extreme restriction of movement imposed by the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian city of Hebron. Zleikha speaks out strongly about the injustices suffered by Palestinians in Hebron – a more likely reason that she was arrested than throwing stones.
18th May 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Team Nablus | ‘Anabta, Occupied Palestine
UPDATED: Two brothers of the arrested Deiyaa’ Nassar, cousins of the murdered Amer Nassar, were arrested last week Monday, May 13 past 2 am at night. Deiyaa’ Nassar, 19, and Fadi Abu-‘Asr continue to be held in Mejiddo Israeli prison as their trials continue to be rescheduled on each previous trial date.
Deiyaa’s brothers, Bahaa, 20, and Baraa, 21, were arrested randomly; Bahaa is studying at university and Baraa is an artist in calligraphy who makes wooden plaques and ornaments with calligraphic Arabic text or Palestinian images.
Deiyaa, Bahaa, and Baraa are of a household of seven boys. A local Red Crescent representative met with the family and said that the boys’ mother is only comforted that the brothers are said to be together in Mejiddo prison.
See below for the full report on the murder of two teenagers from ‘Anabta, Amer Nassar and Naji al-Balbisi, and subsequent arrests.
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UPDATED: The fourth of the four Anabta village boys who were present at the murder of Amer Nassar, 17 and Naji al-Balbisi, 18 and the arrest of Deiyaa’ Nassar, 19 was taken by Israeli soldiers at about 4 AM on Tuesday April 9.
Fadi Abu-‘Asr, 17 was brought to the hospital in Tulkarm the night of his friends’ deaths to treat his right forearm, injured by a plastic-coated steel bullet. He was discharged from the hospital shortly after to recover at home, but is now in the custody of the Israeli soldiers. His family have no information about his location, condition, or expected trial or release.
Anabta villagers said they still do not know the whereabouts of Deiyaa’, but have been told his trial will be held on April 18.
Israeli security law allows for holding Palestinians without trial or accusation for four days (for Israelis, 24 hours) before an official must tell family about the incarceration and provide a trial at which a charge is given.
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At 22:30 on 3 April Israeli soldiers opened fire with live ammunition and killed a 17 year-old boy, from the village of ‘Anabta near Enav checkpoint and east of Tulkarm. Amer Nassar was murdered with a bullet to his chest.
On hearing the shooting 3 boys from the village went to investigate and saw Amer lying on the floor with soldiers standing over him. The boys tried to reach Amer, but the soldiers would not let them approach and opened fire, injuring Fadi Abu-A’sr with a bullet to his lower arm.
The Army prevented ambulance crews access to Amer for 30 minutes, threatening to shoot anyone that attempted to help. Deiyaa’ Nasser, who attempted to get to Amer was arrested by the Israeli Army and taken to an unknown location.
The body of a Amer’s cousin, Naji Abdul-Karim Balbisi, 18, was found at first light Thursday morning near a house in the vicinity of the checkpoint. He had been hoped, last night, to be missing, still hiding in a factory. He was discovered, shot from behind in the torso, laying in a field.
The Israeli Army regularly open fire with live ammunition against unarmed protestors and the general population. Amer’s death is the latest in a string of recent murders committed by the Israeli Army, and came a day after the death of Maisara Abu Hamdiyeh as a result of neglect in Israeli prisons.
