Israel’s definition of a ceasefire

14 January 2013 | Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip, Occupied Palestine

Just three days after the fatal shooting of Anwar Al-Malouk near Jabalia, the Israeli military has murdered another Palestinian civilian despite a supposed ceasefire being in place. Mustafa Abu Jarad, 20, was one of a group of bird hunters working on a plot of land in an area north of Beit Lahiya in the very north of the Gaza Strip, over a kilometre away from the border fence.

From the border, the Israeli army began firing heavily in their direction and immediately targeted Mustafa directly in the forehead. The group had thrown themselves onto the ground and when the situation calmed enough for them to move they realised that Mustafa had been hit.

Mustafa Abu Jarad

The bullet went straight through Mustafa’s head leaving a massive exit wound. He was rushed to Kamal Adwan Hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip but was quickly transferred to Al Shifa, Gaza’s main hospital, due to the severity of his injuries. He arrived in a critical condition and underwent emergency surgery to remove bone fragments from the remaining part of his brain and to relieve internal bleeding. Unfortunately, he had sustained a massive brain trauma and his prognonis was bleak. He died in the ICU a few hours after the operation as his family anxiously waited for news.

Mustafa’s older brother, Loay, was killed two and a half months ago whilst active with the Palestinian resistance. Mustafa had no involvement with the resistance himself. He was trying to earn a little extra income for his family whilst he completed his studies. The latest attacks increase the number of Palestinian casualties since the ceasefire announcement to more than 80, according to officials in Gaza.

To further flout the ceasefire agreement, several Israeli military vehicles were reported to have breached the border with Gaza this morning in an agricultural area east of Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip, according to Ma’an News Agency. After continual violations of the November ceasefire, committed by the Israeli military against Palestinian civilians, the question remains:

When will the international community take notice – and furthermore take action – to prevent an escalation of bloodshed?

 

Note: This is extended information on a related article published recently.

Israeli military bulldozers rampage across the South Hebron Hills

by Team Khalil

14 January 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Hebron, Occupied Palestine

Israeli military bulldozers destroyed four homes in a morning of mayhem in the South Hebron Hills. The demolitions were carried out by plain clothed officers accompanied by 15 Border Police and two bulldozers.

4At 8 am Monday 14th January the house of Shoib Hathaleen in the village of Um Al Kheir was demolished by the Israeli occupation forces bulldozers. Eight people lived in the house, four adults and four children. Shoib has had a stroke and is unable to speak. The family were able to remove their possessions and pile them up next to the rubble of their home. The house had a demolition order put on it three years ago and on this morning the Israeli military turned up unexpectedly to wreak havoc on this refugee family. Their status as refugees means that the Red Cross who visited the family shortly afterwards has to check with the United Nations Works and Relief Agency (UNWRA) before supplying them with basic aid such as a tent for shelter from the cold.

5From Um Al Kheir two Israeli army bulldozers drove to an area called Shakia, near to the village of Hawara, between Um Al Kheir and Al Dereit. This is a rural area and the houses are spread far apart across the hills. The two bulldozers, acccompanied by Israeli army jeeps and plain clothed officers possibly from the District Coordination Office (DCO) driving in white pick up trucks drove around the area leaving a trail of destruction in their wake.

1At 9:45 am the next house to be demolished belonged to Ziad Makhamri.Ziad lives in this house for four to five months a year in the spring. Ziad owns a hundred sheep and lives in the house when his flock grazes on the lands around the house which he owns, the rest of the year Ziad lives in the village of Birl Ed. The family recieved a phone call to say the Israeli army were demolishing their house. They turned up to see the house lying in ruins. “The family were given no notice and no reason as to the destruction of their house, there was no demolition order on the building,” a family member Jamille Makhamri, a vetenary doctor said. “This is area C, we did not have a permit to build the house but the Israelis don’t ever give permission to build,” he added. Area C is under full Israeli civil and military control and permissions for Palestinians to build on the lands they own is very rarely granted.

At 10:45 am the home of Waleed Saljbor’s family was destroyed. And at 11:10 am the family of Mohammed Ali Issa Atayet, comprising of fifteen people including children, found themselves homeless as the Israeli occupation forces bulldozed their home.

The Israeli military targeting civilian housing in the middle of winter, leaving people to fend of the bitterly cold weather with little more than the clothes they are wearing, can only be described as acts wonton destruction carried out against farmers who work the land, and refugees.

 

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Team Khalil is a group of volunteers of International Solidarity Movement based in Hebron (al Khalil)

Protestors return to Bab-Alshams

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Update:  16 January

All the detainees from Bab Al Shams have been released!

15 January 2013 |  Bab-Alshams, Occupied Palestine

Following the violent eviction of Bab-Alshams (gateway of the sun) on Sunday around a hundred Protestors returned to the land which the Israeli Occupation Forces call E1. After the acceptance of Palestine as a non-member state to the UN, Israel announced the approval of a plan to expand by building some 4,000 residential units in this area. Such construction would effectively bisect the West Bank, effectively cutting it off from Jerusalem.

The protestors arrived before 15:00 to the surprise of Israeli Police stationed in the area; two groups approached Bab-Alshams from different directions. As protestors moved up the hill Israeli Occupation Forces began to attack the demonstration initially with stun grenades.

Activist’s remained steadfast and refused to leave the land which is privately owned by Palestinians. Israeli police began to outnumber protestors and then began detaining Palestinians violently. Slowly Israeli forces managed to push activists down the hill.

Activists regrouped at the bottom of the hill, sat down and began to sing. The violence of the Israeli authorities then again increased, one women was beaten and suffered a head wound which required medical attention. At least two others were injured one male was bleeding heavily from the wrist, while others were being treated for shock.

At-least 10 people were arrested most of which have now been released. Some remain in detention including an ISM cofounder Neta Golan.

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Israeli soldiers violently brake into two houses in Nablus, Kidnapping one person

12 January 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Occupied Palestine

Last night more than forty Israeli soldiers invaded the city of Nablus and raided two homes looking for two young men. One of them was arrested Emad's Motherduring the raid and the other one avoided arrest as he was working at the time of the raid.

At 2.30 am, dozens of Israeli soldiers with several dogs broke into Mead Nijad’s house breaking the door with a hammer and violently interrupting the family’s sleep. As the soldiers entered the house, they ordered everyone to have their hands up; they asked for Emad, blindfolded, handcuffed and arrested him. Immediately after, they took the ID’s of all family members and locked them outside the house on a cold winters night. In the meantime, the soldiers ransacked the whole house causing widespread destruction. They also took with them the young boy’s working tools. As Emad’s mother explains, “if they come with dogs, why do they have to destroy everything? If there is something in the house, the dogs would find it”. Furthermore, no reasons for why they arrested Emad were given; the commander just said “your son has caused problems to the Israelis, if you want to know where your son is, come to Huwwara”. The family still does not know the fate of their son.

In the case of Moaz Darduk (19), dozens of only Hebrew speaking soldiers arrived in his house at 3 am while he was at work and woke his parents up. As they asked for him and his father told the soldiers he was not at home but working, they locked his mother in a room and took his father to his other son’s house just in the next building. The commander, who was the only one speaking Arabic, kept saying to his father “do you know who I am? I am Haroun and I came here to kill your son”. When the commander went back to Moaz’s house he told to his parents “I want you to remember who I am, I am Haroun and I am here to kill your son. If you do not bring your son to Huwwara tomorrow morning at 9.30, we will kill him and return him to you in a coffin”.

Night raids and home searching are common tools used by the Israeli Occupation Forces to arrest Palestinian youth for no reason and as a collective punishment to scare Palestinian families.

 

Mustafa Abu Jarad, murdered in Gaza by the Israeli Army

January 15th 2013 | Gaza Strip
On January 14th 2013, Mustafa Abu Jarad (20) was working with a group of farmers on a plot of land around one kilometer away from the border fence at the north of Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip; when the Israeli army started shooting at them from a watch tower. Due to the heavy gunfire, the group ran away from the site, but came back after a while to resume the farming. On that moment a sniper directly targeted Mustafa, shooting him on the forehead. The bullet went through his head, causing him severe brain injuries. He was taken to Kamal Adwan Hospital, and then transferred to Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City due to the severity of his wounds, where he underwent urgent surgery to remove pieces of his skull embedded on the brain and drain excess blood. He remained stable but unresponsive in the I.C.U. after the surgery. Mustafa died several minutes after this photo was taken.