International Solidarity Movement - Page 389 - Nonviolence. Justice. Freedom.

Right of Return still key – Nakba Day demonstrations violently suppressed by Israeli forces

15th May 2013 | International Solidarity Movement | Ramallah, Occupied Palestine

By Team Ramallah

The 15^th May marks the 65^thanniversary of the expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians from their homes and the destruction – and massacre in some cases – of more than 500 Palestinian villages by Zionist forces in 1948. 65 years on, the same Zionist project of expelling the indigenous population of Palestine continues. House demolitions, land confiscation, settlement expansion, military occupation, restriction of movement and systematic bombing of the Gaza Strip are aimed at ethnically cleansing Palestine for the sake of the Zionist dream: Greater Israel.

Palestinians from different villages and cities across the West Bank, Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and refugee camps in neighbouring Arab countries have commemorated the 65^th anniversary of the Nakba, claiming once again their right of return to their land, their homes and their history.

Protesters standing away from the tar gas (Photo by ISM) — Protesters standing away from the tar gas at Ofer demonstration(Photo by ISM)

In Ramallah, at 11am, more than four hundred people marched from Muqata compound to Yasser Arafat Square waving Palestinian and ‘right of return’ flags. School children chanted slogans against the Israeli occupation and for the right of return of the five million Palestinian refugees around the world.

At around 12.30 am, protesters went to Ofer military prison where clashes erupted between Palestinian activists and Israeli forces. Numerous tear gas canisters and rubber coated steel bullets were shot at demonstrators by Israeli Border Police officers and soldiers. Many people suffered from suffocation as a result of tear gas inhalation and more than twenty people were shot with rubber coated steel bullets and tear gas canisters, at least four of them being taken to hospital by ambulance. Two demonstrators were shot in the head with rubber coated steel bullets and one was shot in the leg with live ammunition. The confrontations finished at around 4pm when protesters gradually retreated from the scene.

In Beit Ummar Palestinian and international activists briefly blocked Highway 60, the main north – south artery for Israeli settlements. The Israeli army responded by throwing stun grenades at the demonstrators. Soon afterwards Palestinian youth clashed with Israeli soldiers in olive groves surrounding the village as the army continued to invade the area. Excessive amounts of rubber coated steel bullets and tear gas were fired at the demonstrators. One was shot in the head and another in the leg and were treated by Palestinian medics on the scene.

65 years after the Nakba, or ‘catastrophe’, the Palestinian people continue to fight for their right to return, whether they are now in the West Bank, Gaza, displaced within Israel or in the refugee Diaspora. The Right of Return for Palestinian refugees is absolutely key in the struggle for Palestinian rights and freedom.

Protesters running away from tear gas (Photo by ISM) — Protesters running away from tear gas at Ofer (Photo by ISM)

Sawiya night attack by settlers sees property damaged and graves vandalized

15th May 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, As Sawiya, Occupied Palestine

By ISM Nablus

In the early hours of Monday morning, a group of Zionist settlers from the Eli and Rechalim colonies attacked the Palestinian village of As Sawiah, east of Salfit.

The two graves spraypainted, including a Star of David, a Jewish symbol co-opted by the Zionist movement (Photo by ISM)

At about 3am, As Sawiah’s residents were sleeping as settlers attacked, first targeting a garden shop that had trees snapped and pots and plants thrown. The settlers continued to damage property letting down tires of two tractors and a car with spikes. The vehicles are essential to Palestinian farmers for their work and livelihood. Settlers continued in their attack by vandalising two graves near a family home, where they graffitied ‘Revenge for Arabs’ in Hebrew.

These attacks show the constant threat that settlers pose to the indigenous inhabitants to Palestine, where the attacks are often violent and deadly. When faced with attacks on property with varying degrees, the Palestinian people have no legal recourse or protection from the occupying forces. Eli, founded in 1984 and now spread over nine hilltops, has even contravened Israeli planning guidelines in its quest for growth; as well as stealing even more privately-owned Palestinian land this year from neighbouring Qaryut and all in direct – and defiant – contravention of the Fourth Geneva Convention and several UN Security Council resolutions specifically on Israeli settler-colonial activity. Rechalim, meanwhile, has in recent years stolen land from the villages of Yatma and As Sawiya.

Plant pots were smashed too along with the trees that were snapped (Photo by ISM)

What land remains for As Sawiya's villagers cannot even be worked on without gross hindrance (Photo by ISM) — What land remains for As Sawiya’s villagers cannot even be worked on without gross hindrance (Photo by ISM)

The settlers handiwork leaves not just a need for repairs, but also a sense of insecurity (Photo by ISM)

Puncture marks left by the spikes, time lost for this farmer not depicted (Photo by ISM)

A Steadfast Prelude to the Nakba: Duheisha resists

15th May 2013 | International Solidarity Movement | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

By Team Khalil

On the 14th May 2013 , a day before the Nakba, on the edge of Bethlehem, a demonstration to remember the day of the catastrophe in 1948 marched from Duheisha refugee camp to the entrance of the village of Al-Khader. Demonstrators then clashed with the Israeli military between 11am and 1pm.

Al-Khader was the chosen site of the demonstration as the villagers there have recently had one of their agricultural roads closed by the Israeli military.

Hundreds of Palestinians of all ages (7 to 18+) from Duheisha and surrounding areas came out carrying right of return flags and chanting for freedom and an end to the occupation. Israeli troops fired numerous tear gas canisters and rubber coated steel bullets at the unarmed demonstrators. Some of the young Palestinian children spoke of their martyred fathers as they were resisting the soldiers of occupation.

During the demonstration, female school children were passing through the area to get home were also indiscriminately fired upon with tear gas canisters causing one student to collapse who had to be evacuated in an ambulance.

Israeli tear gas canisters set fire to Palestinian land and when the fire brigade showed up to tackle the blaze, they too were pelted with tear gas canisters .

Duheisha refugee camp was originally set up as a temporary humantarian solution to the Nakba, where 750,000 Palestinians were forcefully expelled as their villages were ethnically cleansed and destroyed. Duheisha houses Palestinians from over 45 different villages that are west of Jerusalem and Hebron.

“Nothing forbidden for them, but nothing allowed for us”

14th May 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Qaryut, Occupied Palestine

By Team Nablus

Settlers from the illegal colony of Shilo set fire to land belonging to the nearby village of Qaryut. Around 25 families own land in this area. The land contained wheat crops and olive trees and is next to land previously stolen by settlers, which they had been cultivating for themselves only two days before.

Illegal Shilo settler Moshka takes pictures of his handiwork, torching Palestinian land. (Photo by ISM) — Illegal Shilo settler Moshka takes pictures of his handiwork, torching Palestinian land (Photo by Qaryut villagers)

Red Crescent paramedics went to the scene of the fires at around 6pm, where many villagers had already arrived hoping to put out the fires. However they were prevented from doing so by four settlers and half a dozen soldiers who had turned up to protect the settlers. Villagers were made to stand and watch their future harvest go up in flames. With the fires building up they had nothing to do but argue in vain with the soldiers about the gross immorality of the situation.

The settlers present also prevented the fire from spreading on to the annexed land they have been cultivating. It was clear to see the fires had been deliberately lit as there were many separate fires in a close range, rather than one large fire spreading on the overcast and wet day. Villagers witnessed Moshka, one of the settlers – (who is a regular problem causer; his son is a patrolman for the settlement too) – use a lighter to set fire to their land. The fire was only put out by the arrival of heavy and atypical rain from a thunderstorm an hour later.

Two days prior to this attack the settlers had started ploughing stolen land and cut down four trees. They have been expanding the settlement on the Palestinian side of the highway to Ramallah and Jerusalem. Fifteen dunams of land was torched. Meanwhile two dunums of wheatfields had been burnt in the South Hebron Hills earlier that day.

A familiar sight, soldiers and settlers working together (Photo by Qaryut villagers)

Five men imprisoned after night raids in Beit Furik

14th May 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Beit Furik, Occupied Palestine

By Team Nablus

On Tuesday 7th of May the Israeli army invaded Nablus and the nearby village of Beit Furik and arrested 9 men. The men, between the ages of 18 and 22, are all members of the PLFP. One man from Beit Furik was released a few hours following his detention, the others remain held at the Huwwara military base without charge.

Faris' grandmother in the home where Faris was seized (Photo by ISM) — Faris’ grandmother in the home where Faris was seized (Photo by ISM)

In Beit Furik, families describe how Israeli soldiers surrounded their homes at approximately 2am before entering and seizing the men. A neighbor reports he saw the soldiers enter the village in a large group. The soldiers then split off into smaller units so that they could arrest the men simultaneously from their family homes.

The mother of Sadaam Salame Mohammed Hoanni, 19 years-old, says the family had been asleep and did not have time to properly dress when the soldiers began hammering at her door. 14 of the soldiers entered the home and herded her family into the living room so that they could search the house while the others remained outside, surrounding the home.

She describes the soldiers as extremely loud and aggressive as they shouted at her family. They took Sadaam with them to inspect the family home and seized documents and information from the family computer.

When Sadaam’s mother asked the captain why he was arresting her son, the captain assured her that Sadaam was only needed for questioning and that he would be returned to her soon. Sadaam, however, remains in detention four days on and the family has been unable to communicate with him. They still have no idea why he was detained or how he is being treated. They say there was no particular event or action precipitating his arrest.

The family is despairing and they want Sadaam back, but say there is nothing they can do until the Israeli army decides to release him or provide more information on the reasons for his arrest. This is the first time the Israeli army has invaded their home and arrested a member of their family.

A few minutes down the road from Sadaam’s house, Faris Reem Hamad, 22 years-old, was also taken from his family home (at 2am). Faris’ grandmother reports that nearly 50 soldiers surrounded her home in what she describes as a siege. 20 of the soldiers entered and forced the family to gather in their living room as they searched the home.

The soldiers seized a photograph of Faris’ grandfather, who was martyred by the Israeli army in the 1970s when Faris’ grandmother was only 22 and mother to three children, the youngest only 6 months old at the time. They also took Faris and denied his family the chance to say goodbye. Faris remains held at the Huwwara military base. His family still does not know why he was arrested and have not been able to speak with him since his detention.