Villagers in Yasouf plough land near Za’tara checkpoint despite settler harassment

31 December 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, Yasouf, Occupied Palestine

For the last 11 years the villagers of Yasouf were denied entry to their land next to the road by Za’tara checkpoint. This land used to provide the village with much of what was needed in terms of vegetables. Over the last week they have successfully worked some of this land, but not without harassment.

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On Wednesday, when the villagers first attempted to plant corn in their fields, inhabitants of the nearby Israeli settlement, Tappuah, disrupted this attempt and drove the residents of Yasouf away. Later, in the  night, settlers also uprooted 12 trees on the other side of the village, belonging to a farmer who has been targeted violently three times in recent years. The villagers returned on Sunday more determined to work their land and, again, were confronted with a crowd of approximately 50 settlers. The village elders managed to negotiate the right to remain on this land with the Israeli military. The group of Israeli settlers, not content with disrupting much of a day’s work, went on to burn a tree and destroy wheat fields on the opposite side of the village.

The villagers of Yasouf expressed cautious optimism about being able to plough their land near Za’tara checkpoint, despite having to deal with crop destruction and confrontations. The work is by no means complete; only a small part of their farmland was actually ploughed and only time will tell if the harvest makes it back to the village successfully.

Za’tara checkpoint is a crossroads for two extremely segregated people, divided by an apartheid system. We were told by members of the village council that Palestinians are often insulted and randomly beaten whilst they go about their lives here.

 

Further incursions into Urif

30 December 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, Urif, Occupied Palestine

International Solidarity Movement, Urif, Occupied Palestine – Israeli soldiers invaded the village of Urif for the fourth time in six days on Saturday 29th December.

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Urif has been attacked by settlers from the nearby illegal settlement of Yizhar on every Saturday in the past few months. Armed settlers protected by soldiers go down the hills overlooking Urif and start throwing stones at the local school as well as homes situated on the outskirts of the village.

Yesterday, instead, a group of settlers stayed on a hilltop near the village watching Israeli soldiers chasing away people that had gathered near the school to defend the village in case of the usual settlers’ attack. Israeli soldiers and Border Police went into the centre of the village at 2:30pm and stayed until 6:30pm shooting tear-gas, rubber-coated steel bullets and stun grenades at people, vehicles and houses in Urif.

2In one particular incident, a group of soldiers that had positioned themselves on a balcony started shooting tear-gas and rubber-coated steel bullets directly at international human rights observers standing on a roof in front of them.

In the past five weeks daily settlers’ attacks, followed by Israeli army aggression at those who go to confront the settlers, have completely disrupted life in Urif. On the nights of Monday and Wednesday soldiers, without provocation, entered the village at 1:00am and shot tear-gas and stun grenades until the early hours of the morning. On Thursday, Israeli soldiers attacked a school with tear-gas and stun grenades, sending scores of three to six year old children running down the hills of Urif, and then imposed a curfew on the village. The massive amount of tear-gas shot in the village has also led to seventeen women having a miscarriage in the past month.

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Palestinian facing charges after settler violence in Madama

28 December 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, Urif and Madama, Occupied Palestine

This week the settlers and soldiers based at the Yizhar settlement have 1been attacking the village of Urif on a daily basis, firing tear gas on school children, attacking farmers working their land, and imposing unannounced curfews on the village. The villagers of Urif said that a security guard named Jacob from Yizhar was one of those who provoked these events. Jacob is the tall thin security guard pictured here on the right. Jacob has also shot and killed an Urif villager some years ago and was involved in another violent assault in May this year, when he tied and shot  a person in the back.  Last week in the village of Madama, a farmer by the name of Ma’mun was tending to his sheep when he was attacked; witnesses again blame a Yizhar security guard they know by the name of Jacob.

Ma’mun was severely beaten and strangled by this security guard. Ma’mun’s face was swollen and full of blood and he was last seen in Madama foaming from the mouth. The harrowing account of the attack, which included injuries to Ma’mun’s family when they tried to assist him, can be read here:

https://palsolidarity.org/2012/12/madama-attack-harrowing-account-from-the-nassar-family/

During the attack two other people were injured when soldiers and settlers attacked the villagers that arrived at the scene of the aggression. One was hospitalized with gunshot wounds in his leg, while the other was hit on the side of the head with a tear gas canister. Ma’mun was taken by the settlers then handed over to the Israeli Police who arrested him.

Ma’mun has now been indicted with three “offences”: assaulting a soldier, assaulting a settler, and an indictment from two months ago which was the same assault of both a soldier and a settler. All together, the prosecution has 13 witnesses against Ma’mun. Ma’mun’s lawyer has therefore asked for some time to study the case. The next hearing is scheduled for January 17, but this is still subject to change.

Ma’mun’s physical state is much better. Doctors have been preparing a medical record as he was assaulted so seriously.

Ma’mun has also recently been allowed to take medication that he needed for an existing condition. The defence is relying on police complaints made my Ma’mun for assaults against him in the past, and they also have some hope in discrediting the witnesses who are all from the settlement, or Israeli Military.

Now that Ma’mun is recovering physically from the attack, concerns have now shifted to the heavy indictments he faces and the clearly biased witnesses who will give evidence against him.

The video below shows settlers burning trees in the village of Urif.

A call from Palestine to the EU four years after Israel’s 2008 war on Gaza

27 December 2012 | Occupied Palestine

To take action click: https://palsolidarity.org/timeforjustice/

On the fourth anniversary of Israel’s 2008-2009 war on Gaza in which it killed Call1400 Palestinians including 300 children, a call urging EU citizens to ask their representatives to suspend the EU’s trade agreements with Israel, until it complies with international law has been issued by grassroots networks and organizations across Palestine.

Titled Time For Justice – A call from Palestine to EU citizens, the call has gone out in the 24 EU languages. It states that while recent “statements of concern regarding Israeli war crimes and international law violations are welcome in practice Israel’s military occupation and apartheid policies receive direct and concrete support from Europe.”

The groups urge EU citizens “to act for justice now” by telling their representatives to “suspend Europe’s trade agreements with Israel as well as end trade with companies operating in settlements on occupied territories until Israel fulfils its obligations under international law; ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall; recognizing the fundamental rights of the Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194.”

To take action click: https://palsolidarity.org/timeforjustice/

For the full text in all EU languages click https://palsolidarity.org/timeforjustice-text/

Attacks on Urif continue, soldiers invade the village

27 December 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, Urif, Occupied Palestine

Following three days of incessant attacks from Israeli soldiers and settlers on Soldiers checking people in the streets of Urifthe village of Urif, south of Nablus,  around  seventy soldiers on ten military jeeps soldiers invaded the village at 9:30 this morning. They started firing tear gas on children aged three to six years that were leaving their school after having finished an exam. The whole village was put under curfew for a few hours.

International solidarity activists arrived in Urif to find scores of terrorized children running away from a school that had just been attacked with tear-gas by the Israeli military. The soldiers ordered everyone to stay off the streets and shot tear-gas directly at old women who were next to a home in the village centre. Dozens of soldiers went around the village with military jeeps, broke into homes and fired tear-gas into buildings and streets, while others positioned themselves on roof tops. One international activist was briefly handcuffed and detained by the military. In another incident an international activist was punched in the chest and in the face after having been asked for his documents by the Israeli Border Police. Soldiers started leaving the village at 1:30pm. No arrests were made.

Life in the village of Urif has been completely disrupted in the past month as settlers from the illegal Israeli settlement of Yizhar have been attacking the village almost daily. This is usually followed by attacks from the Israeli army against the people who go to defend their village from the settlers.  The military also carried out various incursions into the village. In past four days soldiers entered the village twice in the middle of the night and shot tear-gas and sound bombs until the early hours of the morning. The villagers of Urif also talked about a particularly toxic tear-gas that is being used. Only in the past month, 17 women from Urif have had  miscarriages from tear-gas inhalation. Although attacks from settlers were not uncommon in all of the past two decades, people in Urif told us that after the successful bid by Palestine to become UN observer member, attacks by Israeli settlers and soldiers became incessant, effectively denying any semblance of normality to life in the village.