The International Solidarity Movement podcast episode two: Surviving settler violence in Masafer Yatta

In episode two of our podcast we speak to Gassim Hamad Tahan from the village of Mufagara, in Masafer Yatta, in the South Hebron Hills.

Gassim told us how the experience he had growing up is different to those of his children and grandchildren, and about his dedication to steadfastly staying on the land, despite violent attacks by settlers, and a colonial army intent on evicting Palestinians from the area.

Links

Scenes from a Jewish pogrom -972 Magazine report on the settler attack on Mufagara

International Solidarity Movement call to action – Masafer Yatta

Save Masafer Yatta website

Masafer Yatta – communities Israel is trying to drive out – by Btselem

If you would like an explanation of the terms used in this podcast, you can find a useful glossary on pages 140-154 of Shoal Collective’s Ebook

Supported by Shoal Collective

Transcript

(you can also see this by clicking transcript in the player above)

Length: 26:29

Introduction 00:01

Hey, welcome to International Solidarity Movement podcast [followed by Arabic translation]

Hazel 00:18

Hello and welcome to the second episode of the International Solidarity Movement podcast. My name’s Hazel and I’m happy to be joining you today. So this interview is with Gassim Hamad Tahan, who is fellahin – which is basically translatable to being a land worker, a peasant, or a traditional farmer – in the village of Mufagara, in Masafer Yatta, in the South Hebron Hills. We spent some time in Mufaqara as part of ISM’s work to be a presence in case of demolitions or attack by the occupying forces. We got to join in with some of the traditional work Gassim and his family do day to day, which involves looking after a herd of goats, donkeys, chickens, and other animals, building, as well as being shown how to bake sweets by the younger people in the family. We recorded this episode sat in Gassim’s family home. Some of the children can be heard in the background at different points whispering and bringing tea, and we also left Gassim’s full answers to our questions in Arabic in the podcast, so that English and Arabic speakers can listen. The valleys and hills of Massafer Yatta were ruled a closed military zone called ‘Firing Zone 918’ in the 1980s. This is an Israeli state ruling that claimed the area was supposedly ‘uninhabited’, and therefore can be used for the occupying force’s military practice, despite the fact Palestinians have been living and working in the region for many, many generations with traditional ways of life, like living in caves, shepherding, and subsistence farming, sometimes semi-nomadically. The occupying state has violently tried to force families out of the area for decades. This has been done through legal rulings in the courts, supporting settler violence and settlement expansion, and by carrying out demolitions of Palestinian homes and property. Now the residents of the firing zone are under a renewed, imminent threat of eviction. Gassim told us how the experience he had growing up is different to those of his children and grandchildren, and about his dedication to steadfastly staying on the land. Today we’re in the village Mufagara which is in Masafer Yatta in the Firing Zone 918 and we’re interviewing Gassim Hamad Tahan about his experiences living under the occupation and the resistance. So yeah, thank you very much for joining us. I’m just gonna pass over and ask you to just introduce yourself and your family and maybe the history of the village? And just say a bit day to day like what it’s like living here?

Gassim 02:44

[translation of question then answer from Gassim in Arabic]

Translation 02:51

His name is Gassim Hamad Tahan from Mufagara village. What his daily life [is] here, it’s really about fearing and like scary day, like in any moment he is feeling that he could be killed or arrested. So fears and his worries are everyday in his heart and about his small children his sons and about his house. So like from all of the sides that his life is like surrounded of fear and worries. Like before the eighties, before even the occupation came to the Massafer Yatta area, it was like a good life, a safe life, like really having a good life with like the family, there was no threats on them so like he says that all his life is surrounded by worries and fear from [being] expelled evicted, killed or arrested even.

Gassim 04:42

And is it possible for you to say a bit more about what it’s like day to day? He’s felaheen, so he’s like a farmer who’s living with the land. Is it possible to talk a bit about that connection with the land and maybe how it has been in the past and also how it is now. But what does the land like mean for him? [translation of question then answer from Gassim in Arabic]

Translation 07:12

His life as a farmer born before the occupation arrived and the settlers and everything else that happened. They were having a very good life, like, going with their sheep everywhere no one can prevent them to reach their land. They plough the land, farm it and harvest it, so they were like really having a simple life, living in caves and some tents and some like – what was in the past, there was nothing like services that like came to them. So after the occupation arrived, the confiscating of the land, stopping the people to reach their land, and even the settler harassment on the farmers and also the shepherds – they were killing the sheep, they were like shepherding with the sheep when settlers came and killed some of the sheep, and you know threatening them. So they started like, it was really something that scared them and prevent them to go, because they will risk their life for that.

So like he was asking like for all of the countries to stand with them, because they are simple farmers and they want to have their simple life. They want to live as the settler living in the illegal outpost that was established in the Palestinian land, that have all of the human services – they want to live like them. Not like if you want to go – if you want to build a simple tent to live in, like to go out from the cave, and to live in a simple house, or a tent, they will immediately demolish it and confiscated it. So he ask just for like a simple life, safe with no threats. I want to ask him also about what is his connection with the land.

Gassim 09:01

[translation of question then answer from Gassim in Arabic]

Translation 09:25

So his land, like he used to think that cannot like lost it. So he just take it from his grandfather and his grandfather took it from his parents also. This like the land has come to him now, from his father, so now he’s like, he has the connection between him and the land, that he cannot like leave it. And he can pay any price in order to not to like leave his land. And even if he would go back to live in the caves, and if there is any threats on him, he will just stay on his land because there is no other way to go.

Hazel 10:03

So we also mentioned that this is a firing zone, and I was wondering if you could explain a bit about what that means. Because the people who are listening will be coming internationally they won’t necessarily know what are the conditions, what legally does it mean, and what does it really mean for the people living here? So if you can explain a bit about that it would be amazing

Translation 10:42

Since the ‘67, when the Israeli occupation first occupied the West Bank, and until it reached Masafer Yatta in the 80s, they announced Masafer Yatta as a closed military zone. And from this, like they used this excuse to, to steal more land and expand more settlements. And settlers are in, in order to – as one of the tools that the occupation uses to harass the Palestinians and make them feel, like, scared and fear to lose their lands.

So since the you know, these like, policy that, you know, they’ve announced Masafer Yatta as a closed military zone, and there are people who’s living in this area, and they [the Israeli occupation] didn’t have the right even to announce [the military zone as uninhabited] because there are the people who are living here. And this is a threat on the people to be killed. Because this is a very dangerous thing on the people. So this like, what they announced as a closed military zone, is an excuse in order to evacuate the Palestinians from their lands, from their villages – from their own villages. He’s like, even imagine that he’s saying that, that the village is now in 2022. And until now, there is the fighting and the eviction, you know. This is like we want to imagine the future could be a good future, not a bad future. So he just wants to have days that are like those in the past, there is no occupation, no harassment, no threats, nothing.

So he’s like, just hoping for all of these violations to stop, and for the Israeli occupation forces to go out, and take the settlers and the settlements – to take them out. And this what he means, you know, I just – he mentioned something and I just mentioned from me just to give them the real idea.

Hazel 15:09

So is it possible to say a bit more about like, if you remember before the Firing Zone, what it was like growing up here, and could you expand a bit more on what the conditions were like how it felt in those times?

Gassim 15:21

[translation of question then answer from Gassim in Arabic

Translation 16:03

So he was born in Mufagara village and his beautiful moment in his life was when he was a child because there was no fear. Nothing to care about. Life is like funny. You go to study in Yatta walking like one hour and back. And this shows how in the past everything was – you can go wherever you want. wherever you can go, and your parents will not be worried about you, because there is nothing or any threats on you. So, he said like, these are the best days that I have lived in. Now, today like, after he has grown up and all of these threats came and all of the occupation started to harass the Palestinians.

Even you know, now that his children now they are studying in At-Tuwani village, and even though the distance between here and At-Tuwani is just one kilometer. And they send their children in the morning and you know, they feel the fears and worries about them. You know, they just count to ten to take them to the school and to come back, because there is no safety, there is settlers – they can attack them or they have threats. And with your children you cannot like put them anywhere. So like he said like there’s a very big distance between the past and today.

Hazel 18:18

Is it possible to just say like how many children live in the village and you know what it’s like for them growing up here? We’ve met a lot of the kids and they’re really amazing, and very funny, and very friendly, they’ve really welcomed us as guests very very well, and I really thank them for that. I was wondering if you could talk a bit about and what it might be like for them.

Gassim 18:54

[translation of question then answer from Gassim in Arabic

Translation 19:27

So he said like these children [are] born under the risk and under the occupation. And even they said when we want to walk them to school sometimes, they send the police sometimes, because maybe the settler will meet them in the road and they will attack them. So they used to go with them to take them to school and back. So their like routine – these children like while they’re playing up there, when they see an army or settler, he just run[s] to his father and he says ‘there’s army or settlers, maybe they will do [something to] us, they will attack us’. He says ‘no, just don’t worry’.

So the last thing that I want to add to what is happening. And really, as you can say a massacre here, that very big huge number of settlers from the illegal outposts of Havat Ma’on and Avigail, they gathered and they attacked this village, brutally. And the army were with them, even they were like saving them, you know, and protecting them. They were having guns, they were throwing stones on the houses and there was one child that was injured on his head. He was sleeping and there was one big stone it was it was like [thrown on] his head. So he was hospitalised.

And even then, there was no justice that day. The cars were burned , and the house were destroyed. And after that every child here was having a very, very big problems with his psychological things. So, he was even after that, when he wanted to go, when he saw settler or army, he would just ask his father ‘will they do the same thing with what they have done the last year?’, or something like that.

So these like, also the families, they are just taking care of the children to like – to get this fear out of them and you know, to resist as they resist, during their lives. And you know, he just wants his children and the children in the community to have their rights as other children in the world. That they’re having the safety. All of the rights of education to go to school safe, not to face the checkpoints, to not have the injustice, the attacks. So he just hopes to his children to have all their rights as other children in the world.

Hazel 22:27

I’m really sorry to hear about the attack. It’s absolutely horrible, and especially a child being injured is completely unforgivable and really disgusting. I was wondering if there was anything else that you wanted to share and also, if you wanted to say anything about – about or for – international people coming here about why they should come? And if there’s any other message to give to the people who might be listening?

Gassim 23:11

[translation of question then answer from Gassim in Arabic] [translation of question then answer from Gassim in Arabic]

Translation 23:57

So he’s very grateful for the presence here and he is very thankful for all the efforts that they do that they came to be in solidarity with the people. And for example like including he is going to shepherding at least he feels some people that are standing with them, that there’s still some people who really care about that case, the Palestinian case, about all the violations that happens against them. And even now like just to show how the international presence is important is, for example, it happened with them when one time is one settler he was going to attack them, but there was international people with them. And they said for them ‘come tomorrow without these people’ you know as he just want to attack them.

Gassim 24:37

So we know that Khallet Al-Daba’ is facing eviction at the moment imminently and we’re just wondering. if they’re evicted does that mean that this village also will be next? Is it that this will then be evicted as well? [translation of question then answer from Gassim in Arabic] [translation of question then answer from Gassim in Arabic]

Translation 25:40

So he say, he hope not, to the [eviction of] Khallet al-Daba’ village, but he said if they will evict the people and demolish everything there they will – they will not just on[ly] this village, they will go around all the Palestinian villages in Masafer Yatta. So this will be a threat on all the people around, in the community, and he hope not to happen this thing, and to have a big solidarity from everywhere from outside Palestine or inside, to stop all of this eviction and ethnic cleansing that the Israeli occupation is doing.

Hazel 26:15

Shukran, shukran. Hurriya Filistin!

The International Solidarity Movement podcast episode three: Steadfastness – Youth Resistance in Palestine

In this third episode of the ISM podcast our guest is Sami Hurreini, who is a really inspiring youth organiser from At-Tuwani in the South Hebron Hills. He’s part of a group called Youth of Sumud. 

Sumud is an Arabic word meaning steadfastness, and its a central concept in the Palestinian popular resistance to the occupation. 

We spoke to Sami in December 2022 about what people are doing to survive in the face of the occupation’s policies, and about what drew him to organising paricularly with youth. 

Links

Youth of Samud’s twitter

Save Masafer Yatta website

International Solidarity Movement call to action – Masafer Yatta

Masafer Yatta – communities Israel is trying to drive out – by Btselem

f you would like an explanation of the terms used in this podcast, you can find a useful glossary on pages 140-154 of Shoal Collective’s Ebook

Supported by Shoal Collective

Transcript

(you can also see this by clicking transcript in the player above)

Introduction 00:01
Hey, welcome to international solidarity movement podcast [followed by Arabic translation]

Tom 00:18
Hey and welcome to the third episode of the ISM podcast.  Our guest this episode is Sami Hurreini, who is a really inspiring youth organiser from At-Tuwani in the South Hebron Hills. He’s part of a group called Youth of Sumud.

Sumud is an Arabic word meaning steadfastness, and its a really central concept in the Palestinian popular resistance to the occupation.

The South Hebron Hills is a rural,sparsely populated area in the South of the West Bank. Its incredibly beautiful, but subject to intense violence from the Israeli army and colonists.

I first met Sami in 2018, when Youth of Sumud were first becoming active. Youth organisers decided that they had had enough of watching the occupation taking more an more of their land, they decided to try to take some of it back. They did this by starting to renovate caves in the village of Surura, and establishing a community centre there, in order to restablish a Palestinian presence in the area.  Youth of Sumud had a lot of success in Surura, but they were also met with repression. Sami has been imprisoned for his organising, and hospitalised by the violence of the settlers. But Youth of Sumud refuses to be intimdated. Right now in the South Hebron Hills, the Israeli occupation is preparing to evict the residents of the villages of Masafer Yatta, something that has been being planned for decades. Residents have been resisting the evictions in the courts for more than twenty years, But in July last 2022, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the evictions could go ahead.

Local people are standing their ground, in the face of massively increased pressure from the Israeli state – which includes demolitions of houses and schools.  The International Solidarity Movement is supporting the resistance of the people in Masafer Yatta – and is calling for international volunteers to join the struggle there. We spoke to Sami last December [2022] about what people are doing to survive in the face of the occupation’s policies, and about what drew him to organising paricularly with youth. Okay, so we’re here with Sami from Youth of Sumud. And that’s an organization based in Masafer Yatta in the South Hebron Hills. But right now we’re waiting outside of Ofer Military Prison close to Ramallah, for a comrade from At-Tuwani to be released from prison. And we thought we’d take the opportunity to do an interview about Youth of Sumud. So Sami, could you introduce yourself? And well, first of all, could you explain the pressure that people face from the occupation in the South Hebron Hills, and particularly the current situation? And in Masafer Yatta? If that would be okay.

Sami 03:01
Yeah, and thank you for being here with us today, and for this interview. Okay, so I’m Sami Hurreini, I am an activist from Masafer Yatta. I’m 25 years old. I was raised up and born in Masafer Yatta, in a family – in like a very struggling family against occupation. Starting from my grandmother [who was a] refugee in 1948, and then to my father. And my grandmother, when she was evicted from her land in ’48, coming to Masafer Yatta, growing up her family and raising up her family in, very awareness, to raise awareness of the situation and to continue to be involved in this struggle against occupation.

So my father and my uncles were all in the same path she did, resisting and struggling [against] the occupation. She was supportive of my dad’s choice in Masafer Yatta, in beginning of 2000, to support him in the choice of non-violent resistance against the occupation. Moving forward to election, she was also joining the protest he was organizing, and all those efforts he was doing, and continuing to encourage him. So as well as my dad was the leader, I grew up in this family. And me personally, so I am going on in the same path to continue this resistance and this struggle in the – against occupation. And despite all this aggression, and daily harassment and violent aggression, we live [in] and we face from this occupation, we need to continue to resist and struggle.

Tom 04:51
You were involved in establishing a group called Youth of Sumud. Could you tell us about that group and why you decided specifically to organize as youth in Masafer Yatta?

Sami 05:05
Yeah, I am the coordinator of small local youth group from Masafer Yatta, called Youth of Sumud. Our group was established in 2017. Our group was established after an activity called Sumud Freedom Camp where we all as activists started to go back and to live in [an] evicted Palestinian village in Masafer Yatta called Sarura. But we as youth, we saw like, yani, step by step, like we start to see a few people start to be present. So we start[ed] to have internal discussion that we would like to continue to live [in] this village and to go on with activity of Sumud Freedom Camp: Rehabilitating the caves and rehabilitating the life in the village, encouraging families who are evicted from the village due to settler violence and Israeli military harassment. So to encourage the people who were evicted to come back to their land to their villages.

And since then, we, as we expected, everyone went after some months, so we remained there, we continue with the idea and step by step we called ourselves you know, Youth of Sumud. And also we wanted to practice our activism and our role in our community, led by our decision, by our determination. So we started to say that we are here to, yani, to move on from a new generation perspective. Not to continue following the lead of the – yani – being haunted by the old generation. So we can be independent in our work and in our struggle and really to occupy this youth energy against occupation from you know, yes, youth perspective. Then we started moving on from Sarura to other activities, like with the children and their shepherd accompaniment with international activists, then we started to move on, step by step by step to get involved in more and more with organizing protests and activism.

Tom 07:08
Just about Youth of Sumud – I wanted to ask you about that name, Youth of Sumud, because that, that word is really important in Palestine, but people listening, they probably won’t understand what it means. So why did you choose this name? And what does it mean? What was the concept of Sumud, steadfastness in Palestine?

Sami 07:28
Yeah, good question. Yani – sumud means in Palestine, exactly; sumud means steadfastness, means resilience, means resistance. We have like, it’s a very known word in Palestine, which is – yeah – sumud. And we are also, yani, in Youth of Sumud with strong youth, with very powerful youth. Because yani, especially with what we lived, and we have, what we faced in Sarura, due to occupation, harassment – it wasn’t something easy. We were beaten, were attacked, we were arrested, we were imprisoned in order [for them] to evict us from the place and from the land. And this didn’t succeed. And that is what’s the meaning of Sumud. Despite all this violence, despite all this craziness, you are continu[ing] to resist and never giving up. This is [the] meaning of Sumud.

Tom 08:22
So this is this is a term, which existed before the group, right. It’s a term which is really important for Palestinian resistance.

Sami 08:29
That is very true, yani Palestinian[s] have been doing a lot of great stories of sumud and steadfastness in front of this occupation since more than since ’48. You know, we are continuing until today to [be] steadfast, to struggle, and never giving up.

Tom 08:47
And what were the difficulties that you faced in organizing the youth? Was it easy for people to be involved and what were the obstacles that you encountered?

Sami 08:56
It’s not easy work. Because we are facing so many challenges and threats by the Israeli occupation that since the beginning of creating our group, we were fighting hardly, we had army coming in raiding us in the middle of night. Taking us to interrogations to – in the end of these interrogations – threatening us to stop us from what we are doing. And we [were] still in the beginning of the idea. So in the end of the interrogation, a lot of guys were interrogated, uh even minors because… Okay, [they said] “in the end, why, what you’re doing here is causing to troubles, if you continue to be there, you will be imprisoned, go home, don’t try to stay there, blah, blah, blah.” And so that means there, there was like really, so many challenges and even yani, this is the occupation side, which wanted – don’t want any movement from going on.

And additionally to that we have the also internally which is very difficult sometimes because it is also [that] people have commitments, you need people to be committed 24 hours. But we try and we had some challenges of university and schools to make this continue to happen, because our goal in Sarura [was] to maintain 24 hour presence. So we started really hardly in the beginning, gathering all the guys together, but in the end, we managed to succeed to go out with a proper plan, when someone had lectures in school and others can cover. People stay for nights and some people stay for day[time]. And so in this way we could manage to continue this presence and to continue to the idea to move on with… you know, even sometimes families [are] scared for their children because as I told you, like I was personally ran over by settlers [with a] car. This is also mak[ing] them scared for their kids, but also this is [happening] there to prevent us from really having the group existing. And having the group continuing on working and reaching to where we are now a more and more involved in, in the political situation.

Tom 11:06
When you were run over by the settlers and was that Sarura or the village that you were trying to bring people back to?

Sami 11:13
Yeah it happened in Sarura during our working program, we were organizing, we were building a toilet for a cave which belonged to a family. [That is] like one of the things we are doing is to build and to plant the land and to really recreate a total life in evicted places in order to get, encourage, people to get back [to the villages]. So during this activity: Yeah, I was run over by settlers from Havat Ma’on with the car. It says like targeting also me personally as my role was appearing in the group – so they really wanted to target me, and hit me, so… that’s what they did. I was not able to work for months [because of] that.

Tom 12:04
And you think they targeted you because you were an organiser in the group?

Sami 12:08
Yeah, yeah. For my role and for my you know, I was appearing a lot in my role, and my work there.

Tom 12:16
And have people faced prison also for their organising?

Sami 12:20
For sure, yani, this is something if you’re [an] activist in Palestine, something you will have to experience here, which is prison. Also me personally, during Sarura I was in prison, based on pressure from settlers and the military. There was also my colleagues in the group – most of them also were in prison and [experienced] interrogation because of being and working in Sarura and resisting there. Because the main goal was there to maintain presence in order to stop settlement expansion because Sarura is very close to Havat Ma’on [an illegal settlement], and presence of people there – it is the best way for stopping the settlement from expanding. And so they were trying to all the time do all the ways – prison and whatever – to pull us out of there. And besides, you know, all this, the main goal, we went in that place because there was also settler strange movement around that land and in that area in that period, where we moved us to go there [to Sarura].

Tom 13:23
And the settlers in the area – can you say a little bit about them – that they’re a particularly violent group of settlers, right?

Sami 13:29
Yeah. We have like really very violent settlers in the South Hebron Hills and especially where Sarura and At-Tuwani is, where I come from, that is my village. Sarura and At-Tuwani are next to Havat Ma’on outpost, which is known in the area as one of the most violent [places where] settlers [are] in the area. Which is, they are organizing a lot of activity: violent and criminal activity against us in there. We [can] talk about attacking shepherds with sticks and with stones, or by slingshot, yes slingshots. We’ll talk about burning fields, destroying olive trees, attacking kids who are going to school. We’re talking about stabbing people. A cousin of a colleague in our group was stabbed by settlers from Havat Ma’on from his way, from Tuba to At-Tuwani. We have poisoning of water wells that [is] where we gather water for Masafer Yatta. And these wells in the ground – settlers came and poisoned them, poisoning the fields of the grazing area where our shepherds go. We are well known in Masafer Yatta for grazing and with planting the lands. So the settlers – for grazing, they throw poison wheat seeds and barley seeds, so sheep will eat them and die. And also, we talk about yani, we talked about burning fields where people after a long time harvesting and gathering their fields or crops, they come and burn them or burn the caves, like what happened in Sarura, destroying cars [that belong to] us. I mean, attacking kids – like I said it was last September in 2021. Settlers made a big violent attack in Mufaqara – attacking people, kids. [A] small child, his skull was fractured. We talk about something you can’t really imagine, all these acts done by settlers.

And who help[s] the settlers to continue moving on with these criminal programs? It is the Israeli soldiers and police because they give them the full protection and immunity to do all these criminal attacks. When they don’t face any consequences or judgment for [what they] actually do they just continue to be more and more professional in this, in this violent and criminal attack[s]. This is continu[ing] to confirm to everyone that what’s happening here: cooperation between Israeli settler and military and police in order to kick Palestinians out from their land, ethnically cleanse Palestinians from their land and to, yani, confiscate Palestinian land. What we see in Masafer Yatta, there are settlements, even inside what the military has, what the so called Firing Zone 918, and the settlement and the settlers face no consequences. But the one – the only ones to face consequences is Palestinians. We have a new [Israeli] settlement expanding in the firing zone, they face no consequences, they face no threat of demolition.

So this is confirmed that the main goal of evicting villages in Masafer Yatta under the title of firing zone is to kick us out and then give the land to the settlers. So, big settler colonization, colonial project, of Palestinian land here [is] happening, full cooperation between military and between settlers to kick out Palestinians, to put settlers [here], to delete our identity from this land after evicting us.

Tom 17:02
So you talked about the evictions going on from, and then the demolitions going on inside the firing zone. And just yesterday, there were confiscations of tents and demolitions which happened. And just this year, the court ruled that there was no legal barrier to the eviction of villages inside the firing zone. Is that right?

Sami 17:26
No like I think what’s happening in Masafer Yatta, 40 years ago, more than 40 years ago, Israeli authorities designated the area as a firing zone area to train them Israeli military. This is the excuse they found to target our land, where we live exactly. So all the villages in Masafer Yatta, live inside what is designated as a firing zone area, which we are living here in this land, and for decades went peacefully and with a beautiful life. But then when the Israeli military came and these military rules and with the settlement in the beginning of the ‘80s, as well, the life started turning upside down from the, the ongoing demolishing, from the ongoing harassment, preventing any main services of life to access to us. So the main goal really, between these two, like what’s the wider goal is this: because they wanted to make an environment of forcible transfer – for forcible transfer – for our people to leave the land. This didn’t work. So then in ‘99, there was the first crime of eviction and demolition Masafer Yatta, where the Israeli military trucks and forces started to raid the villages, demolishing homes, transporting people with their properties, and throwing them out from the area close to the city of Yatta in the South Hebron Hills.

When this didn’t work, because they were evicting people, people were coming back in the same day in the same night, digging their caves, again – that the military has demolished – to live inside them. So all the area was evicted in that time. But by the beginning of 2000, because of so many activism and struggle and pressure, there was a decision by the Israeli court, that Palestinians are allowed to go back to their land and to their villages.

But it is a temporary decision, [it] will continue to be a temporary decision until a new decision will come and cancel it. So since 2000 until May 2022, we were in courts, in the Israeli courts, facing and judging and having different court sessions and court hearings in order to… against the eviction, but since the same decision in 2000, came out in May 2022, is the eviction again. So this is confirmed that Israeli – because Palestinian[s] bring the ownership of the land in Masafer Yatta, Palestinians brought all the proofs and testimonies, testimony of the ownership of the land and of the history of living in that place. From shop registrations and other examples. This all was brought to the court, but all this was thrown into the garbage because the head of the court also was a settler. So, and then the decision of eviction was again. Now the eviction decision saying now for eight villages. But that is a big lie – because if eviction takes place for eight villages, it will take place all others that are not mentioned in the decision, because [inaudible]. And as I said, settlement is existing and they are not facing anything.

Yesterday in Masafer Yatta there was the the demolition and confiscation of tents in Khallet a-Daba’ for example. Khallet a-Daba’ is one of the eight villages which now have demolition order for all the structure, and everything there. So now they are using the policy of demolishing stuff step by step, which is they don’t want to make the same way they used in the ‘99 which is carrying people in trucks. they now want to use demolishing, homeless-ing people – making people without a home. I’m not allowed to have any shelter: and then people will go away. That’s that’s the Israeli plan. But on the other hand, we as an activist, we started also trying to organize some other, I dunno, small initiative on the ground now. Because investing in the caves, the renovation of the caves – so there will be plan B if demolition is carried out. But this is not a solution because the eviction will continue to run after our people. So we need a really serious solution for this and which is to stop the eviction, stop the occupation, [and] racist policies against Palestinians.

Because if we succeed to have in Masafer Yatta, then it will succeed to happen in other places, because in this century, where we are living, which is all the international law, international law exists. And international law and [the] international community eyes are open to the situation. Israel is brave to do this because of the hypocrisy of the international law. Maybe Israel will also show that the international law will not do anything. So that is also a big problem; we are facing a war crime in our land, which is considered – this is [considered a] crime by the Fourth Geneva Convention, and we don’t see any really serious acts against this by the international community, which is making us all really upset and angry. And this is confirming the hypocrisy of the international law towards [the] Palestinian cause and Palestinian rights.

Tom 22:20
Can you explain the work you’re doing as Youth of Sumud with people in Masafer Yatta to resist at the moment. And also what would you need from people from outside and in terms of support, to support your resistance?

Sami 22:34
Yeah in Masafer Yatta, yani, we really call upon everyone to come down to Masafer Yatta and spend time in Masafer Yatta. We have really so many different spots now. We have the village of Khallet a-Daba’, we have Sfey school that was also recently demolished, we have schools now [that] will be demolished in Fakheit, in Jinba – we are having a big problem that we also need people to be here on the ground with us to support us, to support our work, to join our work, to resist this occupation to bring to help us to transfer our message from the reality of what we are living on the ground. And to really help us to stop this eviction from happening. We ask everyone abroad to visit, to talk, to contact to his elected person in parliament in the government, to put pressure on them to take act[ion] for Masafer Yatta to put more pressure on the Israeli government to stop this from happening. And do it everyone should get involved on the ground. Beside this, to join BDS [Boycott Divestment Sanctions movement] to put more sanctions. And in Israel, because Israel [is] without facing any sanction without any boycott, Israel will just continue to do whatever it wants without taking into consideration of an international law or an international agreement in this settler colonial project of Palestine that Israel is doing. So we need really immediate act[ions] right now from people to do and to have. And we have really a lot of activities, people can come and help us. They can join us with the protests, they can join us with working programs who are organizing to support our people, to document, to be there to help us to defend when bulldozers come… and I have so many things people can join and participate [in] and we call upon everyone to come here to be here to work, and help us here and resisting this war crime that is happening.

Tom 24:30
Okay, and just a final question like, so you’ve been involved in youth organizing now for five years. And I wonder if you could share some successes of the youth organizing that you’ve done in Masafer Yatta in those years?

Sami 24:45
It is important to be organizing [as] youth because we are living in a community which is always preferr[ing] to be led by old[er] generation, which will not give you the space that you will decide what you want to do, and the way you want to resist, or the way you want to act and anything. So, we want to go out from being all the time linked to this old[er] generation – that we will have our own space. We can – through our collective – take our own decision[s] from youth perspective. And the new generation, with a new vision – not to be stuck to the same vision that [the older generation] have, or anything you want to ask them or to be involved with them. So we took this space. So we have our own decision and what we want to do will not wait, [without] anyone to tell us what to do. We started to do this work because we believe now youth have more energy than [the] old generation. We want to occupy this energy on the field itself. We are really able to handle so many things, really youth has so [much] energy – that’s the main thing we have, so from this point we wanted to do all this activity really more fastly – not to be waiting, and maybe, not tomorrow. No, we take our decision we do stuff now. This is as a first motivation point for me, as a personal level, why [I] wanted this to be led by youth – why this should be all the time by youth. So yeah, I will say that. And we were happy to cooperate with them – with [the] old generation. That in fact is the main point for me, we are happy to work with them to cooperate in things – not to fight, not to be against each other. But also we want to have our own body, our own choice, decision, to take to work our work [and] working space. Because also we want to be independent.

Tom 26:42
Do you work with other youth organizations around Palestine also?

Sami 26:46
Yeah, we started with the Youth of Sumud to [make] other connections with different youth groups, Hebron and Bethlehem and Ramallah, north west Jerusalem, Nablus. We want to started to build like this, networking, and doing different activities together. Like go and do activities and work in north west Jerusalem, invite them to Masafer Yatta, invite them to do activities with children, with activist[s], with youth. It was like a lot of youth exchange activities we have done and we are doing, and doing really good.

Tom 27:18
And in those years of youth organizing can you can you pick out like, have you had some successes, like, are there moments where you think – where you thought – that you’re being effective and successful?

Sami 27:28
Yani we had a lot of yani efforts and things we did. And we are happy that at least we are doing all these efforts towards [resisting the] occupation to support the sumud of our people. And that is something we are happy to say, that we are proud that we manage. And we succeed to do this. Because all our activities we are doing [are] mainly aiming to really continue to support sumud of our people in all levels. I mean, logistically, also with some intellectual lectures, with lawyers – with so many different things of raising awareness, all this stuff, we were very proud of it as a step in the ground. We were very happy and proud of launching [a] campaign like joining [the] olive harvest farmers in different places, in the whole West Bank, against settler violence. In order to continue to encourage people to go to their land, despite all the violence they see. So the people in connection to their land wont be weak. So we want to continue to support it. Even with the violence of the settlers etc., We have a lot of campaigns we have launched online, and we were very proud that we are doing all this work, to raise awareness to ask people to take actions, to defend Masafer Yatta or defund racism and moving on with so many campaigns. And the other thing we have, like we see that the work we are doing is getting [an] audience. Like we started with also a few people listening and watching to what we do, but we see now a lot of people are following us and our work, especially in social media, we now have, what, 7000 followers on our account and this stuff. This also means that we are kind of having our place, our own seat, and our own work, which is – we are very happy and very proud about, and moving on with other activities. And I see now, the recent project of renovation of caves. I’m so happy about it, because we as Youth of Sumud started in 2017 from the caves and now we are continuing with [it]. It’s a heritage; we need to protect it, and we are now with the political situation. We are starting to [with] people – we need to renovate the caves because they are a heritage thing and also for political reason that now if eviction happened, they will be emergency spot[s] where people will take it as a shelter to live inside again. And people were very excited and happy to go back to this one.

Tom 29:53
Well there’s some amazing organizing that has been going on over the years and how many people want to know more about Youth of Sumud and the campaign, the solidarity with Masafer Yatta. You can look at the Save Masafer Yatta website. We’re here volunteering with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), who supports and works with the people from Youth of Sumud and Masafer Yatta. And you can take a look at our website palsolidarity.org. Is there anything else you wanted to add?

Sami 30:23
Yes, and I’m sorry that I forgot this point, which is thanks for ISM for all the organizing and the work and effort they’re doing, representing the international solidarity, support and solidarity in Palestine. Because something also on a personal level – very, very important – when my dad was attacked and imprisoned in September and jailed, how much the international presence was important as a testimony and as [a] documenter for the attack that happened to my dad, which has saved him from years and years of prison. When the activist from ISM had recorded a video [of] 23 minutes showing the whole incident, when settlers attacked my dad. Even [though] he was [the one] attacked, my dad was in prison. And settlers said my dad attacked them. But the video of the ISM guy saved him from prison for life. And for all the work of defending Masafer Yatta, [that] ISM is doing for all this time – is very important for us and really supporting our work there so much.

We ask everyone to, yeah, to be connected with ISM, to follow and to connect and come here, InshAllah, and to see all of you and to get more involved in resistance here, and in supporting Palestinians.

Tom 31:42
Thank you so much for talking to us.

The olive harvest: Struggle, resistance and oppression

 

December 31 | International Solidarity Movement | Olive Harvest journal 

The olive harvest in Palestine (October – November) represents much more than simply picking olives. While it is an important contributor for the income of thousands of families in the West Bank – with a revenue between $160m and $190m in 2021 according to Aljazeera – it is also a symbol of resistance and defiance towards the occupation. Families come together in the fields and endure and resist systematic harassment by Israeli soldiers and settlers. Settlers notoriously insist on watching olive pickers, throwing stones at them and often attacking them and their vehicles. The IOF regularly allows this behaviour, protecting settlers during these actions, and being an aggressor itself.

Most of the olive trees are situated in Area C of the West Bank, which is under full Israeli control. Some private Palestinian lands are inside the apartheid wall or inside illegal settlements, or they are very close to Israeli military areas or settlements. In these cases, farmers need a permit issued by the Israel administration to access their land and harvest. Farmers are normally given 2- or 3-day access permit which is not enough to finish harvesting all the olive trees. In the rest of the areas, there is a coordination programme through the Israeli-Palestinian district coordination offices (DCO) for farmers to ask for a permit. These permits are sometimes refused even on lands far from settlements.

International activists joined Faz3a, a Palestinian youth-led campaign that supports Palestinian farmers during the olive harvest, other organizations and Palestinian families to show solidarity and support during this season. Their presence is a reminder that the international community is aware and documenting the disgraceful treatment of Palestinians.

ISM activists joined farmers in many locations across the West Bank for the 2022 olive harvest. This is what they witnessed:

Al-Janiya, west Ramallah

More than 30 Palestinians, Israelis and international activists joined the Faza3 campaign on their first day in the fields this year in Al-Janiya village, west of Ramallah.

We were there to support the farmer Abu Mohammed who hasn’t been able to access his land since the first intifada. His land is at the edge of three settlements surrounding his village from east, north and south.

Abu Mohammed told activists that every time he tried to reach his land the settlers would attack him and prevent him from entering. His cousin also said that one day Abu Mohammed’s father was attacked by settlers throwing stones, hitting him in his head. He was seriously injured and died a few months after the settlers’ attack.

All day ISM activists on the ground were followed by a drone from a nearby settlement filming their work and movements. Despite this, activists managed to harvest a good part of Abu Mohammed’s land without settlers interfering or attacking, which proves how important international solidarity and campaigns like Faza3 are.

Burin, near Nablus

ISM activists joined Faz3a, with Palestinian and Israeli activists, in the village of Burin, near Nablus, to help the farmer Abu Jamal, a young owner of a olive field attacked several times by Ytzar settlers who also burned his house. We had a successful harvest day and enjoyed the food Abu Jamal’s wife prepared for us. We also met his child, a two-year-old boy who was recently terrorized by settlers. Abu was able to rescue his child, but the settlers attacked and set fire to his car.

Hares, near Salfit

In Hares, near the West Bank town of Salfit, activists joined Faz3a to harvest. The farm was near the illegal settlement of Rivava. The farmer asked for help as he had not received his permit yet, but he believed it is still his right to go and harvest his land.

IOF arrived soon after we started and tried to chase people away. They inspected documents, took pictures, told the farmer where we could and could not go, giving us “only 5 minutes” to finish harvesting olives from this tree or that tree. We worked hard trying to ignore them and we had a very successful harvest under the constant watch of the army.

Husan, near Bethlem

ISM activists joined Palestinian farmer Shireen for the olive harvest in Husan, 19 km from Bethlehem, up on a hill several times besieged by the army. The field has already been burned 6 times (Shireen has lost more than 100 trees) by the illegal settlers of Beitar Illit, who also stole many donums of land. This year, settlers protected by the army stole more land and dumped earth and boulders over olive trees in order to build an Israeli security control station. While the land already taken is becoming a large road to connect Better Eleet with another illegal settlement.

On the second day, we found a big tree had been cut down and big stones thrown at her property. This time there were no physical assaults, but nonetheless, settlers caused deep suffering and frustration. Shireen will file a complaint, but to whom if the prime offender is the Israeli government?

At-Tuwani, Massafer Yatta

IOF threw tear gas and violently disrupted the olive harvest in at-Tuwani, a small village in the Massafer Yatta region in the south of the West Bank. More than 50 Palestinians, internationals and Israeli volunteers took part in an olive harvest event organised by Faz3a and the Ministry against the Wall and Settlements in the valley of Humra, near at-Tuwani.

Farmers from the village are exposed to settler violence and harassment neighbouring the 1981 illegal settlement Ma’on and its early 2000’s expansion, the illegal outpost Havat Ma’on.

Not long after arriving at Humra and starting to pick olives, the first settlers showed up, quickly followed by Israeli army and police. Five army jeeps with around 20 soldiers and around 15 settlers were there. Palestinian activists went to the edge of the field facing the army and settlers, raising Palestinian flags and chanting their right to be on their land and in Palestine.

The army reacted violently by throwing tear gas at the crowd, making it impossible for people to stay. Most people were forced to stop and only a small group remained to harvest.

Jibya, north Ramallah

A Palestinian activist was injured and over 12 cars were smashed by settlers in Jibya, north of Ramallah.

ISM and Faz3a activists, joined by international journalists, went harvesting near an outpost of the Israeli settlement of Halamish. The farmer appealed for help because he faces systematic attack from Israeli settlers. He tried to harvest his land a couple of days earlier but was harassed by settlers.

Soon after we started, a group of settlers with M16 arrived, taking pictures of everyone to provoke us. Army and more settlers also joined. Settlers were asking where everyone was from and why we were there, and army tried to remove us saying the area was a closed military zone. People then heard women crying and shouting: settlers had gone down the hill and threw stones and smashed the parked cars’ windows. One of the activists who was on the scene filming and telling the settlers to stop attacking, was injured as he fell on a piece of metal that cut his leg while trying to reach security and he needed 15 stitches.

Khalet, a Faz3a activist, said: “This happened under the watch of the Israeli army. The settlers were armed. We were peacefully activists and volunteers who came there just to help the farmers picking olives.”

Bidu, south-west of Ramallah

Around 40 volunteers, Palestinians and internationals, joined a harvest organised by Right to Movement in the village of Bidu, near Ramallah. We had a successful day with plenty of olives harvested.

The farmer is suffering as two of his sons are unjustly imprisoned by the Israeli occupation and the family in general face difficulties due to the occupation.

Kafr Qalil, south of Nablus

ISM activists joined the Suleiman al-Quni family in Kafr Qalil, south of Nablus, to assist in harvesting their land. The Israeli government granted them permits to harvest on 2 days.

The land is on a hill and valley overlooking the main road into Nablus, near the settlement of Bracha. During the harvest the pickers were watched constantly by a small number of settlers and 6 IOF soldiers, but the day went well without incidents, in an area that is often on the receiving end of harassment.

Kafr al-Dik, west of Salfit

We joined Ali Nassar, a Palestinian farmer from the town of Kafr al-Dik, west of Salfit, who has an olive field near the settlement of Alie Zahav. Kafr al-Dik’s land was confiscated for building Alei Zahav. Ali has around 120 olive trees. We harvested close to the settlement without any issues.

Burin, near Nablus

ISM activists joined Faz3a in the village of Burin, near the Yitsahar settlement. The elderly farmers we were there to help had been attacked and chased off their land the previous day by settlers, and the elderly woman was limping as a result. In the end, the couple were too afraid to take us harvesting because they were threatened by settlers not to return, especially with international support, unless they’d coordinated with the military.

Atara, north of Ramallah

We harvested in Atara Spring, very close to the illegal Israeli settlement of Ateret, which is currently being expanded.

ISM members were helping to harvest on behalf of the land owners who were attacked on multiple occasions last year whilst harvesting, so were afraid to harvest this year.

On multiple occasions, the settlement security stopped to ask what we were doing, if it was our land, and told the Palestinian farmer not to make a mess and to keep the road clear. At one point two settlers stopped their car to get out and watch us.

Attacks and disruption in Al-Khalil as settlers celebrate Sarah’s Day

December 29 | International Solidarity Movement | Al-Khalil

Around 30,000 settlers gathered in Al- Khalil (Hebron) on Saturday, November 19, to celebrate Sarah’s Sabbath and wreaked havoc in the Old City market, attacking Palestinians and their shops, houses and destroying cars. This happened under the watch of the Israeli army who cordoned the area so that settlers could go around “safely” and arrested and injured Palestinians as they tried to defend themselves.

Settlers arrived from all over the West Bank the previous night and slept in tents around the Ibrahimi Mosque and in Shuhada Street, which has been under Israeli control since the mosque massacre in 1994. During the night, settlers went around some Palestinian neighbourhoods, chanting racists slurs and threatening people, under the protection of the Israeli occupation forces (IOF). Ben-Gvir, leader of the far-right Otzmar Yehidit party and now set to be Israel’s national security minister, was also seen in Shuhada St and attended the march the day after.

Early on the Saturday, the army went out of the Shuhada St checkpoint and started putting up fences for the safe passage of settlers in the Old Town. They removed people from the streets and ordered Palestinian shops to close, therefore disrupting one of the busiest days for business. Badee Dweik, from Human Rights Defenders, told the ISM: “Saturday is one of the most important days for shopping and business for Palestinians, because people from ’48 come to shop in here.”

ISM activists in Shuhada St witnessed hundreds of settlers, lots of them armed, allowed out of the checkpoint at the end of the road. On the street, settlers were threatening to break into the few Palestinian homes left in Shuhada St, shouted and threw stones from nearby roofs.

This year, for the first time, settlers marched in the Old Shalala street. Passing through Khalil’s Old Market, they destroyed stalls, threw stones and hurled abuse at Palestinians. Around 20 Palestinians were injured and 9 were arrested. 11 cars were destroyed and many houses were attacked. Around 100 settlers gathered around the house of Imad, a well-known activist, and threw stones at it.

“This time was more violent than other years,” Badee continued. “Settler attacked Palestinian families, broke houses, broke inside the houses, attacked cars, threw stones. Soldiers, instead of controlling them, also invaded some Palestinian houses and arrested people since last night.”

“It is a cooperation between army and settlers. Settlers are just army without uniform, this is the only difference.”

ISM activists also witnessed attacks and abuses in the Jaber neighbourhood, a Palestinian neighbourhood located between the Kiryat Arba Israeli settlement and the Ibrahimi Mosque. Settlers went around shouting racist slurs and threatening local Palestinians or throwing stones, saying that the city and country is theirs and they have the right to move around. IOF also threw sound grenades, scaring the residents.

Alaa Jaber, a resident of the neighbourhood, told the ISM: “Today few settlers stormed this neighbourhood, and we went after them to tell them they were not allowed to come here, it is a Palestinian neighbourhood. They neglected us. They were heading towards my family’s house. Even the soldiers told them they had to leave, but they did not respond.

“Two settlers showed me pepper spray to threaten me. The soldier saw that the settler had the pepper spray, but they didn’t say anything. They only asked me to go inside my house.

“Every time settlers have a ceremony, the Palestinians are forced to stay at home. They steal our moments. They make us stuck at home. If we go out, we are afraid the settlers will attack our home.

We feel like we’re living in a ghetto, isolated from any support.”

The situation has been exacerbated by the newly-elected government in Israel, which saw Ben Gvir leading the third party in government.

“They have a very extremist ideology that Palestinians should not exist here and now the settlers will be more violent because they think they have more protection since they have the third political party who can defend them,” Badee added.

Sarah’s Day or Sabbath is one of the most important holidays held by the Chabad/Hasidim Jews, and it has been used by Israeli settlers to intimidate and antagonise Palestinians living in Al-Khalil.

IOF destroys Isfey al Fauqa school for second time in one month

On 6th December Israeli occupation forces (IOF) confiscated two tents, which were being used as a school in Isfey al Fauqa, a village situated within the region of Masafer Yatta in the South Hebron Hills. Israeli forces – with tear gas canisters at the ready – also destroyed a toilet which had been donated to the community by international NGOs. They used sound bombs to disperse the local residents – including schoolchildren – in the process.

 

A bulldozer manufactured by British company JCB, and a crane manufactured by Italian company Fassi were used in the demolition. There have been calls for action by the Palestinian movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against the international companies complicit in these demolitions.

Demolition in Isfey Al Fauqa

 

This is the second time in two weeks that the IOF has demolished the newly opened school at Isfey Al Fauqa. On 23rd November the IOF destroyed the previous school buildings. On that occasion soldiers also used sound bombs against local residents.

 

Solidarity visit

We visited Isfey al Fauqa school the day before the second demolition took place. Local residents told us that the school had been established to provide education for 22 students – from the villages of Isfey al Fauqa, Isfey al Tahte, Tuba and Musa Zain – who would otherwise have to walk at least 4km over the mountains to get to school.

The day before the demolition happened we played games with the kids inside the tents and helped to paint a mural on the rubble. One young boy told us “I love my school”, and a little girl sang a popular song to us over and over again. Some of the words she sang translate like this:
“You will find me on my land
I belong to my people, I sacrifice my soul for them
My blood is Palestinian”
Local residents told us that they would build their school again.

 

What’s the context: 

 

The communities of Masafer Yatta have been under more and more intense pressure since May 2022, when the Israeli High Court ruled that there was nothing to prevent Israeli forces from expelling Palestinian residents from the area. This has resulted in increasing violence and harrassment from the Israeli Occupation Forces.

 

All twelve communities in Masafer Yatta – which are home to 2,800 people – are under threat of expulsion.

 

Local people have been fighting to remain in Masafer Yatta since the Israeli army established a firing zone there in the 1980s, in contravention of international law.

 

Now, the residents of the nearby village of Khallat al Dabbaa – just a few kilometres from Isfey al Fauqa – are preparing to resist against expulsion they are calling for international support. Please do not forget these communities, contact us if you can come to join their struggle here in Palestine, and check out the Save Masaffer Yatta website.

 

“This will be a school again”

 

Soon after the confiscation, new tents were brought to Isfey al Fauqa, so that the residents could continue in their struggle for their children’s education. One local resident told us that “no matter how many times they demolish our school, we will rebuild it again and again”.

Demolition in Isfey Al Fauqa