20 arrested as activists raise Palestinian flag in settlement

Over a hundred Palestinian and international activists entered an illegal Israeli settlement and raised the Palestinian flag on Saturday, October 26. Settlers and Israeli Occupation Forces responded violently to the peaceful protest, firing tear gas and flash grenades and arresting at least 20 people, including nine internationals and seven journalists. One activist from the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) had his passport and Israeli visa seized by soldiers.

The illegal settlement outpost at the focus of the activists’ protest is located near Khirbet Tell El-Himma, at the north of the Jordan Valley and is considered illegal by Israeli law since it was built after the Oslo Agreements in 1993. However, the illegal outpost, built on privately owned Palestinian land, is supported by the Israeli state, which provides it with utilities and military protection. The illegal outpost covers around five hectares, equivalent to five football pitches, for just 10 settlers. Nearby Palestinians have faced intimidation tactics including violence, weapons and even guard dogs at the hands of the settlers who have also tried to disrupt their agricultural harvests. Recently, the settlers began construction work to expand the outpost.

Activists raise the Palestinian flag at the illegal settlement outpost. Photo: Activestills.org

Saturday’s protest was aimed at denouncing the illegal Israeli settler’s seizure of land and resources and claiming Palestinians’ right to their land. Shortly after the activists entered the outpost, singing songs and raising the Palestinian flag, they were bombarded with tear gas and flash grenades by Israeli forces. When that failed to disperse them, the soldiers began assaulting and arresting protesters. 20 people, including nine internationals, were arrested while others had their passports and Israeli visas seized and confiscated. One ISM activist had his passport and Israeli visa confiscated and it has not yet been returned, over 48 hours later. According to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, seven reporters were arrested, including journalists from the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation (PBC), which denounced the Israeli army for attacking its colleagues while covering a peaceful march.

Illegal Israeli settlers assault non violent protesters at the action on Saturday, October 26th. Photo: Activestills.org

Activists from ISM and other organizations succeeded in preventing the arrest of two injured Palestinians by Israeli forces, who then confiscated the ambulance’s ignition key, refusing to let it leave. Activists were forced to leave the area to ensure the return of the ambulance ignition key and medical treatment for the injured Palestinians.

All activists have now been released and their legal documents returned. A number of international activists were banned from the Occupied West Bank and will be forcibly deported.

The direct action took place on the 3rd and final day of the ‘United in Struggle’ national conference which aims to unite the Palestinian struggle around a national strategy to resist Israeli settler colonialism and strengthen the role of BDS.

Israeli Forces detain Palestinian activist while another attempts to prevent the arrest.

Grandson of Holocaust survivors deported from Israel for volunteering

Saturday October 26

  • An Austrian citizen of Jewish origin and grandson of Holocaust survivors was banned yesterday from entering Israel on suspicion of volunteering in Palestine. After being interrogated, searched, and held for 6 hours at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport,  Edmond Sichrovsky, 23, was forcibly deported to Amman, Jordan.
  • It is not prohibited by Israeli law to volunteer in Palestine.
  • ISM calls on the governments of deported international volunteers to condemn the actions of the Israeli Occupation and apartheid regime.
Austrian citizen of Jewish origin Edmond Sichrovsky, who was banned and deported from Israel on suspicion of volunteering in Palestine on Friday, October 25.

The Austrian national Edmond Sichrovsky arrived at Ben Gurion Airport on October 24, Thursday, 7:45AM from Amman, Jordan. At immigrations and passport control, he was detained by Israeli authorities and questioned by two separate officers. His luggage was searched and he was forced to hand over his mobile phone to Israeli intelligence officers, who searched his private messages, chats, social media, phone contacts, photo gallery, and browsing history, as well as subjecting him to a body search. He was accused of volunteering in Palestine, which is not prohibited under Israeli law. Their claim was based on the finding of several missed calls on his phone from unsaved numbers registered in Palestine. Sichrovsky’s interrogator then informed him that he was banned from entering Israel and would be forcibly deported. Authorities demanded he admit to volunteering in Palestine and sign a document accepting his deportation due to “illegal immigration considerations”, which he refused to sign. After 6 hours in detention, he was released to the airport departure zone. After being forced to wait in the airport for almost 17 hours, he was deported to Amman, Jordan at 00:30 on October 25. Israeli authorities initially told him the deportation flight would be paid for by the Israeli government. After boarding, Sichrovsky was informed that he had to pay $500 USD for his own deportation flight, which he was forced against his will to board, or face legal action from the airline for unpaid fees.

Sichrovsky had previously volunteered with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), documenting and reporting on human rights abuses by Israeli forces in Occupied Palestine. He was violently assaulted in Wadi al-Hummus by officers from the notorious Israeli riot police unit Yassam while opposing demolitions of Palestinians’ homes. The 22-year-old is the grandson of Harry Sichrovsky, a renowned Austrian Jewish writer and journalist, and nephew of Peter Sichrovsky, two-time European Parliament member and former head of the far right Freedom Party of Austria (FPO).

Edmond Sichrovsky with broken glasses and a cut on the lip after he was repeatedly kicked in the face by Israeli riot police while non-violently resisting the demolition of Palestinian homes in Wadi al-Hummus on July 22.

Sichrovsky said: “Growing up, my grandparents being some of the only ones in their entire family to survive the Holocaust in Austria,’Never again’ is something I heard a lot and resonate strongly with. To me, ‘Never again’ isn’t just for Jews, it means never again should anyone in the world have to suffer because of their religion, race, or what they were born into. That’s why I came to volunteer in Palestine. Israel claims to be ‘a homeland for Jewish people around the world’, yet by banning and deporting me and other Jews with differing political opinions, they have shown that Israel is a home for Jews only if they don’t question or speak up about the government’s apartheid policies. My ban and deportation from Israel only confirms what I have seen again and again in Palestine: that the Israeli government will do anything to keep people from seeing its brutal Occupation, ethnic cleansing, and daily violations of Palestinians basic human rights.”

Sichrovsky also called on Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Schallenberg to make a public statement on Israel’s detention and deportation of an Austrian citizen who had not violated any Israeli law. He called the Austrian embassy in Tel Aviv while being held in Ben Gurion airport, but was told that they “could not provide any assistance.”

An ISM spokesperson gave the following statement: “ISM strongly condemns the Israeli government’s banning and deportation of an international volunteer. By forbidding entry to its those with differing political views Israel is acting like the anti-democratic state it really is. Governments whose citizens have been banned must call out Israel on these blatant attempts to hide its crimes from the world. To not do so is to condone Israel’s abuse of human rights and silencing of those who speak about them.”

 

Note to journalists:

Israel controls all borders and entrance points (land, sea, and air) into Palestine, except a small land border between Gaza and Egypt, meaning virtually anyone intending to enter Palestine must enter through Israeli immigration authorities. Israel routinely bans and deports volunteers, activists, human rights observers, and academics suspected of anti-Occupation views or of activities in anti-Occupation or Palestinian organizations. Prominent Jews banned from Israel due to their political views include CODEPINK co-founder Ariel Gold, and American-Jewish academics Normal Finkelstein and Noam Chomsky.

In 2017, Israel passed a law permitting foreign nationals to be banned from Israel for calling for the boycott of Israel or Israeli illegal settlements. There is, however, no law prohibiting volunteering in Palestine or association with legal organizations active in Palestine.

The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) is a Palestinian-led movement committed to resisting the long-entrenched and systematic oppression and dispossession of the Palestinian population, using non-violent, direct-action methods and principles.

 

Jews banned from Israel for political reasons:

Ariel Gold: https://mondoweiss.net/2018/07/deports-activist-supporting/

Noam Chomsky: https://www.haaretz.com/1.5121279

Norman Finkelstein: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/may/26/israelandthepalestinians.usa

 

Others banned from Israel for political reasons in 2019:

British activist Garry Spedding: https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israel-denying-entry-to-left-wing-british-activist-for-second-time-since-2014-1.6844179

US Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-usa-ban/israel-will-not-let-u-s-congresswomen-visit-deputy-foreign-minister-idUSKCN1V51

 

For more details contact Edmond Sichrovsky at

Phone: +20 0127 983 4929

Email: edmond.sichrovsky@gmail.com

Or contact ISM at:

Phone: +44 7757 616902

Email: palreports@gmail.com

Join ISM: Training in Belfast, Ireland, November 24, 2019

Women marching toward Khan al-Ahmar

ISM Ireland is offering a day of pre-training for prospective volunteers who are interested in joining the International Solidarity Movement on the ground in Palestine. All volunteers are required to participate in training before joining activities in Palestine.

Attending the training session in Belfast will give you a chance to get a first impression of ISM and the kind of work we do, receive training, connect with former volunteers and have your questions answered. It is a chance to learn about how Palestinians are working against the occupation and how we as internationals can work in solidarity with them using a variety of tactics.

The training is intended for volunteers who plan to travel to Palestine, although attendance does not mean that you have made a commitment to travel.

The training will take place on November 24, 2019:
Time: 10:30-16:00
Venue: Tar Anall, 5-7 Conway Street, Belfast BT13 2DE

To sign up for the training, please contact ism.dublin@protonmail.com

British forensic researchers challenge Israeli army denial over shooting of child with live fire

Israeli soldiers prepare to fire at protesters in Kafr Qaddum during the town’s weekly protests

22 October | International Solidarity Movement | Kafr Qaddum

Evidence is stacking up against the Israeli Army over the near-fatal shooting of a Palestinian child by a soldier in July, with the release of a damning report from a British research group. 

Nine-year-old Abd el-Rahman Yasir Shatawi, was shot in the head on July 12 while sitting outside his friend’s house during a protest in the West Bank village of Kafr Qaddum. He sustained severe brain damage and remains hospitalized more than three months after the attack. 

Since then Abd’s parents have been left in the dark as to why their son, who was not even participating in the protest, was shot by Israeli soldiers from a hill opposite. 

9-year-old Abd el-Rahman Yasir Shatawi, who was shot by Israeli soldiers

Despite eye-witness accounts, medical reports and investigations all saying that Abd was shot with live ammunition, the Israeli army has continued to insist that soldiers did not use live fire that day. 

Instead the military claims that Abd was shot with a rubber-coated metal bullet [RCMB]. 

This has been challenged most recently by London-based research group Forensic Architecture, which carried out an investigation into the incident at the request of ISM.

The comprehensive report compiles video, photo and eye-witness testimonies to piece together the sequence of events prior to the shooting. Based on this evidence they concluded that, “contrary to the repeated claims of Israeli officials, the available medical and image evidence, as well as witness testimony, strongly suggests that Abd el-Rahman’s injuries were caused by live ammunition.” 

As part of the investigation, US forensic experts were shown CT scans of Abd’s brain (pictured below) which has over 100 bullet fragments still lodged in it. From analysing the scans, the experts said: “Although they [RCMB] can indeed penetrate individuals, and are more likely to do so in juveniles who exhibit less dense bone, they are not known to fragment, especially to the extent visible in the CT scans.”

Instead the experts said the level of fragmentation was “consistent with fragmentation seen in 5.56 mm [live] rounds.”  

The medical scans also showed that there was no exit wound, corroborating eye-witness accounts that the shot was fired from a distance of 100-120m. “The farther away the shot, the less likely the bullet will still be travelling with enough energy to completely pass through the skull,” experts told Forensic Architecture. 

The distance is a crucial element as 100-120m is twice the effective distance of a RCMB round.

 

ISM activists present that day also witnessed soldiers firing live bullets at protesters. 

“We heard gunshots that sounded like loud claps,” they said. “An Israeli activist told us it was live ammunition, saying he’d never seen such disregard for human life. The soldiers on the ridge were spraying bullets everywhere. After the protest we found live bullet casings littering the ground where soldiers had been firing at protesters. This case shows how far Israeli forces will go to avoid admitting their crimes despite the overwhelming evidence against them.”

Abd’s family told ISM that they were not surprised by the army’s refusal to admit to using live fire. “The Israeli army never admitted any crime here,” they said. “Of course they said that because they don’t want to be questioned about it.”

Recently Abd was moved from a Tel Aviv hospital to Beit Jala, after Israeli doctors said there was nothing else they could do. “He can’t speak and no changes [to his condition] occurred since he was shot,” his family said. “The doctors say that his condition is still in danger and that a huge damage occurred in his brain because of the bullet.” 

Images from Forensic Architecture report show difference in soldiers firing live ammunition to rubber-coated metal bullets
Bullets found in a water tank shot during the protest on July 12

Kafr Qaddum residents said the feeling in the town since the shooting has been “indescribable.”

A resident who preferred not to be named told ISM: “A child who is supposed to live peacefully just like any child in the world is being shot brutally. Instead of offering a safe environment for children here, they are being shot and exposed to violent acts.”

Forensic Architecture’s report is the latest piece of evidence stacking up against the Israeli army over the shooting. It joins a previous report by Israeli human rights group B’tselem which blamed the incident on Israel’s “reckless open-fire policy that allows soldiers to use live fire even when neither they nor anyone else is in any danger.” 

In the past three months alone, 100 Palestinian children have been shot with live ammunition. Despite these gross human rights violations, government’s around the world have remained silent on the Israeli army’s callous use of live fire against children. 

Instead Abd’s family has turned to the media in the hope that justice can be delivered through them. “If the world knows what is really happening to the children here, this may bring justice one day.”

Abd being carried into the ambulance after he was shot in the head by soldiers 

Bedouin kids join global climate strike in Palestine’s first Extinction Rebellion protest

Children of Umm al-Khair village call for environmental and Palestinian rights during global climate strike

19th October | International Solidarity Movement | Umm al-Khair, South Hebron Hill

Bedouin children in the West Bank joined global climate protests yesterday, calling out the Israeli occupation’s role in exacerbating the effects of climate change on Palestinians. 

Over a dozen protesters from the Bedouin village of Umm al-Khair in the South Hebron Hills, waved placards reading “live with the land, live like Bedouins,” in Palestine’s first Extinction Rebellion action. 

Although Israel and Palestine both face rising temperatures and less rainfall as a result of climate change, Palestinians are likely to suffer the effects more severely. This is largely because Israel restricts their water access, with less than 15% of water from the region’s three main aquifers allocated to Palestinians. The rest supplies Israel and illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. 

Palestinians protest climate change in village of Umm al-Khair, in front of illegal Israeli settlement Carmel which steals their water supply

In Umm al-Khair, the Palestinian Water Authority is not allowed to build water networks to provide the village with running water. And the people cannot build cisterns either. In contrast, Israel provides the neighbouring illegal Israeli settlement of Carmel with running water from pipes built over Umm al-Khair land. Instead, the Bedouins must transport their water by trucks – a costly process – giving them just 15 litres of water on average per day. This is far below the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) minimum recommendation of 100 litres per day and massively less than that enjoyed by Israeli settlers at 300 litres per day. With rainfall expected to decrease by 30% over the next 50 years, how will Palestinians, especially those in Umm al-Khair who rely almost entirely on their livestock, cope unless Israel ends its brutal occupation?  

“The Israeli government control the water network, and they only allow the people of Umm al-Khair to get a little water,” Umm al-Khair resident Awdah Hathaleen says. “More than 5,000 plants of thyme died this year because of the water problems. Also they confiscated the land and build factories which pollute everything around and cause diseases.”

An olive tree uprooted by Israeli occupation forces in a natural reserve near Umm al-Khair village

Hathaleen (pictured below) also pointed out that aside from restricting water access, the Israeli army also routinely destroys olive trees in the area and demolishes water networks and homes. “And what happened lately that the Israeli occupation uprooted more than 400 hundred trees close to Umm al-Khair. They don’t have mercy for the human, how they will be merciful with the environment?” 

Yesterday’s protest was intended to highlight the role the occupation plays in Palestine’s climate change vulnerability and was co-organised with anti-settlement group the Good Shepherd Collective. It was one of hundreds of protests across the globe calling for climate justice by the environmental group Extinction Rebellion.