Palestinians establish a new village, Bab Alshams, in area E1

11 January 2013 | PSCC, Bab Alshams, Occupied Palestine

250 men and women from across Palestine establish this morning a new Palestinian village named “Bab Alshams” (Gate of the Sun). Tents were built in what Israel refers to as area E1 and equipment for long-term living was brought.

Bab AlShams

 

The group released the following statement:

We, the sons and daughters of Palestine from all throughout the land, announce the establishment of Bab Alshams Village (Gate of the Sun). We the people, without permits from the occupation, without permission from anyone, sit here today because this is our land and it is our right to inhabit it.

A few months ago the Israeli government announced its intention to build about 4000 settlement housing units in the area Israel refers to as E1. E1 block is an area of about 13 prayer in Bab AlShamssquare km that falls on confiscated Palestinian land East of Jerusalem between Ma’ale Adumim settlement, which lies on occupied West Bank Palestinian land, and Jerusalem. We will not remain silent as settlement expansion and confiscation of our land continues. Therefore we hereby establish the village of Bab Alshams to proclaim our faith in direct action and popular resistance. We declare that the village will stand steadfast until the owners of this land will get their right to build on their land.

 

The village’s name is taken from the novel, “Bab Alshams,” by Lebanese writer Elias Khoury. The book depicts the history of Palestine through a love story between a Palestinian man, Younis, and his wife Nahila. Younis leaves his wife to join the Palestinian resistance in Lebanon while Nahila remains steadfast in what remains of their village in the Galilee. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Younis smuggles through Lebanon and back to the Galilee to meet his wife in the “Bab Alshams” cave, where she gives birth to their children. Younis returns to the resistance in Lebanon as his wife remains in Bab Al Shams.

Bab Alshams is the gate to our freedom and steadfastness. Bab Alshams is our gate to Jerusalem. Bab Alshams is the gate to our to our return.

For decades, Israel has established facts on the ground as the International community remained silent in response to these violations. The time has come now to change the rules of the game, for us to establish facts on the ground – our own land. This action involving women and men from the north to the south is a form of popular resistance. In the coming days we will hold various discussion groups, educational and artistic presentations, as well as film screenings on the lands of this village. The residents of Bab Al Shams invite all the sons and daughters of our people to participate and join the village in supporting our resilience.

Settlers attack Urif and Qusra with guns, knives and stones

January 10th, 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Urif and Qusra, Occupied Palestine

As the villages around Nablus woke up to the rare scene of a snow-covered landscape, Israeli settlers violently attacked groups of youngsters playing with snow in the villages of Urif and Qusra. Two people were both hit in the leg by live bullets fired from settlers’ guns and six people were hospitalized because of rubber-coated steel bullets shot by the Israeli army.

In Urif, a group of thirty-five settlers came down the hills from the nearby Yizhar illegal settlement and attacked youth engaged in a snow-battle. One settler, who was carrying a sword, went to slash one of them but was stopped in time by the villagers. Other settlers started shooting live bullets and attacked two houses, smashing their windows. Shortly after the attack started the Israeli army also came down the hills, openly protecting the settlers from people that were gathering to defend their village. International human-rights activists that arrived in Urif saw settlers throwing stones and filmed them uprooting olive trees while the Israeli army shot tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets, preventing the activists and villagers from approaching the settlers. As the attack went on, settlers again opened fire on people from Urif and hit one young person in the leg. Five other persons were taken to hospital because of injuries sustained from rubber-coated steel bullets shot by the Israeli military.

A similar scenario occurred in the village of Qusra, with settlers from the Esh Kodesh and Qida illegal settlements attacking at the same time the attack in Urif was underway, thus raising the possibility that these were coordinated attacks. Fifteen settlers gathered on the hill overlooking Qusra and five of them, three of whom were armed with guns, went down to the village. The five settlers first headed to one of the homes on the edge of the village, previously targeted in a number of other assaults. As youth who were playing with snow went running to defend the home, settlers started shooting at them with their M-16 guns. 21-year-old Ammar was hit in the leg after the bullet passed through the mobile phone in his pocket. Settlers continued shooting at friends of Ammar who were trying to carry him away from the scene. He is currently in hospital and will have to undergo surgery because of the wound caused by the bullet.

In the meantime, dozens of Israeli soldiers started gathering on the hills, while settlers went around fields breaking olive trees. Only this morning a total of 188 olive trees were destroyed, with some of the trees having up to 20 years-worth of toil invested in them. When villagers from Qusra went to confront the settlers in the act they were met by tear-gas and rubber-coated steel bullets fired by the Israeli army positioned on top of the hills; resulting in one person being hospitalized, after a hit by a rubber-coated steel bullet in the leg.

Settlers and soldiers’ attacks are nothing new for both Urif and Qusra. Urif has been struck almost daily in the past month and a half, as settlers attacked the school and homes at the outer part of the village. This is often followed by soldiers’ incursions into the village, routinely shooting huge amounts of tear-gas in the streets and houses of Urif. Twenty women suffered miscarriages because of tear-gas inhalation in the last six weeks. Furthermore, soldiers frequently arrive at night, shouting through megaphones, throwing stun grenades and turning on their sirens, simply to deprive people of their sleep. Qusra has also been attacked four times in the past few weeks, when settlers uprooted thousands of olive trees, attacked a Red Crescent ambulance and beat up villagers. Recent offensive graffiti in Hebrew was still to be seen on the walls of the mosque there today, a year and a half after being subjected to arson.

 

 

Israeli soldiers violently break into five homes in the Al Ayn Camp

January 9th, 2013 | Al Ayn Refugee Camp, Occupied Palestine.

Hundreds of Israeli soldiers in 27 military jeeps Ransacking in Al Ayn 1violently broke in and ransacked five homes in the Al Ayn refugee camp, Nablus. They caused widespread destruction in the houses involved in the raid. No arrests were made.

Weam Reda Khaled, a woman whose house was ransacked, recounted how forty soldiers with dogs broke open the door of her home at three this morning. They came into the living-room and bedroom, shouting and intimidating her and her children. The family was forced to stay in the doorway while soldiers searched the house and broke everything that came to their hands. One of her sons was blindfolded, handcuffed and interrogated for two hours under the staircase. In the meantime, the army smashed furniture and electronic appliances in the kitchen, living-room and bedroom. They threw the television and some furniture on the roof, under the rain. Weam described how her four year old son was terrorised by the scene of the military violently breaking in and searching their house. Initially, soldiers even refused to let him go to the bathroom.  This is the second time in the last eight months that Weam received such a visit. In May, soldiers broke into her home and arrested her husband, who is still being held in administrative detention without any charge brought against him.

Four other families in the Al Ayn camp suffered the same fate of Weam. In one case, a family of eight was forced to stay outside in shivering cold and heavy rain for four hours. Here, soldiers raided the store of the family and ruined the food kept there by throwing bread and flour on the ground and spilling oil all over the floor. Most of the furniture and appliances of the home were damaged or completely broken. In another case a man and his son were tied and locked in one room while soldiers ransacked the house, damaged the sofa, broke the TV and washing machine. A 70-year old man with a heart condition had to be hospitalised because of the shock suffered from the army’s invasion of his house.

The Al Ayn Camp, home to 5,000 refugees from the 1948 Zionist massacres, is known for its fierce resistance to Israeli occupation and for its resilience during the second intifada. During this raid the Israeli army told the families that they were searching for weapons. However, none were found in Al Ayn Camp during yesterday night’s ransacking.

Ransacking in Al Ayn 2

Photo Story: Hajazi family – Jabalia Refugee Camp, Gaza

January 9th, 2013 | Gaza Strip, Occupied Palestine
Amna Hajazi (43) sitting on her bed in a rented room in Jabalia refugee camp, after her home was destroyed by a bomb. On November 19th 2012, a missile hit her home, killing two of her sons – Mohammad (4) and Suheen (2) – and her husband Fu´ad (45). As a result of the explosion, her collar bone was broken (as seen on the X-ray) and got shrapnel embedded into her head, damaging her central nervous system and rendering her unable to walk.
After being in Egypt for treatment, she was told by the doctors that the shrapnel is damaging her brain tissues, and if not removed promptly, it will cause severe damages that could cause her death. She is now waiting for a surgical operation that for the moment, is uncertain where or if it will be performed.
Noor Hajazi (19) lying in bed sustaining a severe spinal injury caused by the explosion that destroyed her home. She was thrown by the blast around 20 meters, hitting the stairs of a neighbour´s home. The impact damaged six vertebrae, leaving her bed-ridden for the next six months. Prior to the attack, she was a university student, and as a result of her injuries she will not be able to continue her studies.
Amna Hajazi sitting in bed with her surviving children. Masab (2 – playing with a cellphone), lost his twin brother Suheen (also aged 2) in the explosion that destoyed their home.
Mustafa Hajazi (17) holding a poster with the photographs of his father Fu´ad and his brothers Mohammad (right) and Suheen (left), murdered by Israeli forces during the “Pillar of Defense” operation in Gaza.
On the bottom-left corner of the poster there is a photograph of Mohammed, murdered in 2009 during the “Cast Lead” operation. His mother Amna was pregnant at the time he was killed, and after giving birth to her new child she decided to call him Mohammad, in honor of her deceased son. The younger Mohammad, aged four, was killed on November 19th by a missile explosion while he was in his home in Jabalia refugee camp.

Israeli forces arrest man in Palestinian-controlled area of H1, Hebron [includes video]

by Team Khalil

8 January 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Hebron arrest 7 January 2013A Palestinian man was arrested in Tel Rumeida, Hebron. Soldiers invaded homes without permission, indiscriminately beating men and children and forcing the residents out onto the streets.

At around 22:30 pm on Monday 7 January Israeli occupation forces entered the Palestinian-controlled H1 area of the city for the second time in a week. The soldiers forcibly entered homes; in one house five soldiers kicked the front door and forced their way past a young boy. On hearing the disturbance Sabri Dwaik aged 29 got out of bed and went downstairs. The soldiers attacked Sabri, pinning him to the floor and hit him with a rifle butt on his head. Sabri was handcuffed and still in his pyjamas was dragged out onto the street. The soldiers then threw a sound bomb towards the front door to deter anyone from following them.

One of Sabri’s cousins, who had gone onto the street to see what was happening, tried to intervene. The cousin attempted to free Sabri but was beaten, thrown on the floor, and dragged away by the neck. The Israeli occupation forces detained both men against a fence, pushing them and pointed their guns at them. After talking amongst themselves the soldiers decided to release Sabri’s cousin but Sabri was dragged passed the road gate into the Israeli-controlled H2 area of Tel Rumeida. Thirty soldiers brought people out of their houses and lined them up against a wall just inside H2 making them stand in the cold, wet night. Sabri was arrested, marched to a police vehicle and taken to Kyriat Arba police station.

Sabri Dwaik was charged with trying to steal a soldier’s gun as the soldiers were beating him inside his house. He informed the police officers that he wanted to make a complaint about the soldiers’ treatment of him. Sabri was told by the police officer that if he wanted to make a complaint he would have to stay in custody at Kyriat Arba police station for three days before he could make a complaint. Sabri was told by the police that he must apologise to the soldier who accused him of trying to steal his gun. “I do not have to apologise to the soldier because I have not done anything wrong,” Sabri said. After one and a half hours Sabri was released from the police station and returned home.

Sabri’s mother who is in ill health was very distressed by the events of the evening. The peace and quiet of another Tel Rumeida night was destroyed by the violence of the Israeli occupation forces. Local residents conjectured that the increased levels of violence and aggression of the Israeli occupation forces in the area is a response to the two well publicised incidents recently in Qufr Kadoum and Bab al Zawia, Hebron, where the Israeli occupation forces were seen to be weak in the face of Palestinian youth and their unarmed resistance. If the Israeli military are trying to send a message of intimidation to peaceful Palestinian residents of Tel Rumeida, then the message is clear: the Israeli military has no interest in peace, breaking into houses and forcing people out of their home in the middle of the night. Also the Israeli military has no interest in the due process of law, attacking people for no reason and when they complain, threatening that they will have to stay in custody for three days to do so. These increased levels of aggression and violence will not bring peace or stability to the troubled community of Tel Rumeida.

 

Video: Israeli forces arrest man in H1 Palestinian-controlled area of Hebron, 7 January 2013

 

 

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