Land Day: From Gaza to Sakhnin we are all united with Bil’in

by Nathan Stuckey

27 March 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza

Photo courtesy Hussein Amody, 2012

Thirty six years ago on March 30th 1976 demonstrations against the confiscation of Palestinian land by the Israeli government spread throughout Palestine.  Six Palestinians were killed, over a hundred wounded, and hundreds more arrested.  Land day was one of the first large mobilizations of Palestinians with 1948 Palestine.  This year, on Land Day, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from all over the world will march towards Jerusalem.  Today, in Beit Hanoun, Land Day came early.  The weekly Tuesday demonstration against the occupation and the no go zone was in honor of Land Day and the six martyrs who gave their lives defending their land thirty six years ago.

We gathered on the road in front of the Beit Hanoun Agricultural College in preparation for the march into the no go zone.  There were about 50 of us, the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative, the International Solidarity Movement, other foreign activists, and Gazan activists from all over Gaza.  Palestinian flags flew high, music played over the megaphone, and we unfurled banners in memory of the martyrs of 1976.  Young men carried olive trees, hoes, shovels and water.  We would plant the trees in the no go zone today.  We marched slowly toward the no go zone.

The no go zone has been overgrown with thistles, for some reason the Israeli’s have stopped bulldozing the ground so often.  Perhaps they are satisfied that they grounded most signs that people used to live here, that the no go zone used to be a place of thriving orchards, completely to dust under the treads of their tanks of their bulldozers.  We made our way through the thistles using paths cut by our previous demonstrations in the no go zone.  We made our way to the trench the Israeli’s dug to bisect the no go zone.  The trench is lined with flags from our past demonstrations. Today it is also lined with pictures of Rachel Corrie and Hana Shalabi from last week’s demonstration.

Young men set to work with their hoes. They cleared two areas of thistles, dug holes, and planted young olive saplings.  While the trees were being planted the crowd chanted, “From Gaza to Sakhnin we are all united with Bil’in.” Usually, the chant is from “from Gaza to Jenin we are all united with Bil’in”, but this week Sakhnin was honored for its role in the first Land Day.

After the trees were planted we set about our second task for the day, erasing the trench which scars the no go zone.  Young men set to work with hoes and shovels filling it in with dirt.  Israeli soldiers appeared on top the concrete tower from which they usually shoot at us.  This time, they did not shoot, they merely watched.

The young men continued to work at filling in the ditch.  Perhaps the soldiers were afraid of shooting, afraid of inspiring even demonstrations on the 30th. Perhaps they realized that to these demonstrators, freedom is more important than life.  The young men worked steadily. Soon a good part of the trench was filled in.  They shouldered their shovels and hoes and we began to walk back towards Beit Hanoun.  We paused at the edge of the no go zone by some giant concrete blocks painted with Palestinian flags, we ate cookies and drank orange juice.  Today, we went to the no go zone and planted olive trees, God willing, on Land Day we will plant olive trees in Al Quds.

Nathan Stuckey is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement

Beit Hanoun: Celebrating the land and culture of Palestine

by Nathan Stuckey

29 March 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza

Celebrating the land and life in Beit Hanoun - Click here for more photos

Today, Beit Hanoun celebrated Land Day.  It is true that Land Day isn’t really until tomorrow, but tomorrow is the Global March to Jerusalem, tomorrow, God willing, Land Day can be celebrated on the land from which the refugees were expelled 64 years ago.  Today, Land Day was celebrated on the land that Palestinians have managed to hold onto in Palestine.  Land Day commemorates the protests against the expropriation of Palestinian land which rocked Palestine in 1976.  Six people were killed, over a hundred injured and hundreds more arrested.  In Beit Hanoun we marched under the slogan, “A united land and a united people.”

About 50 people gathered in Beit Hanoun to commemorate Land Day with us.  People from the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative, the International Solidarity Movement, other foreign activists and people from all over Gaza marched with us.  We marched north out of Beit Hanoun toward the no go zone.  We were going to plant olive trees, bake bread, and dance debka.  The women wore traditional Palestinian dresses; some of the men wore traditional clothing as well.  We carried flags, posters, hoes, water and olive trees, these were our weapons today.  We didn’t actually enter the no go zone, we were working on land near the Palestinian police post near Erez crossing.  When we arrived people immediately set to work, planting olive trees, setting up a tent, preparing ovens to bake bread on.  The mood was festive, people sang in circles, children threw rocks into the water of a nearby ditch; bread was eaten the moment it was taken off of the oven.  While all of this was going on others worked the land, they planted olive trees and cleared weeds away from olive trees already growing on the land.  When we finished planting the trees young men gathered to dance debka and sing.

One of the organizers received a phone call.  Apparently the Israeli’s had called the Palestinian police in the nearby police station, they were threatening to shoot us if we did not leave the land.  They didn’t claim that we were in the no go zone, such a claim isn’t necessary in the eyes of Israel, shooting Palestinians doesn’t really need an excuse.  We had no weapons, there were women and children with us, yet soldiers 500 meters away in concrete towers embedded in a giant concrete wall were threatening to shoot us.  It wouldn’t be either the first time the Israeli’s have shot at us, nor the first time they Palestinians simply for being in the range of their guns.  Many people have been shot on their land in the north of Beit Hanoun.  Israeli threats did not force us to leave the area, as one of the young men said, “This is our land, let them shoot if they want to, this is our land and it is our right to be here.”  We left when we were finished singing and dancing.  On the way back to Beit Hanoun we shared juice and cookies, the rewards of a day of being on the land.

 Nathan Stuckey is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement.

Settlers attack internationals accompanying school children on Shuhada Street

by Paige

28 March 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Today at around 1 PM  extremist settler Anat Cohen attacked a Canadian woman accompanying school children, and a few minutes later sent two teenage settlers to throw rocks at the Canadian woman and a Finnish man.  The attack occurred at the bottom of the stairs connecting the Qordaba Girls School with the section of Shuhada street where Palestinians are allowed to walk.

Cohen passed the internationals in her car and stopped to talk to soldiers at the nearby checkpoint.  She then reversed her car, parked next to the internationals and proceeded to shove, kick and scream at the Canadian women while soldiers looked on.  Eventually a soldier came to force the internationals up the stairs, but did nothing to stop Cohen from harassing them.

In a transcript of the video provided by Uri Horesh, an ISM activist asks the soldier why he refuses to act despite Cohen’s intrusion and attack on the activist. As the soldier mumbles a response as to whether soldiers take orders from Cohen, Cohen declares vigorously, “I live here! Don’t say I should be taken away! I live here!!”

A few minutes later two settler children who Cohen had just spoken with ran up a parallel staircase and threw rocks at the  internationals from less than a foot away, hitting the Finnish man in the ear.  Two soldiers watched the second attack, then turned in the opposite direction and refused to intervene.  Cohen then called the police, who demanded the passports of all the internationals present, who detained them for several minutes, and then told them they were not allowed to stand at the bottom or top of the stairs.  When asked why the police were doing nothing about the attacks, a soldier responded that Anat Cohen is “well known to the police” and there was “nothing to be done.”

The staircase that connects Palestinian schools and houses with Shuhada street has been a site of frequent settler attacks, particularly on girls from the nearby Qordaba school who have been stoned by settlers many times on the stairs and the area leading to it.

Internationals have been accompanying children in this area to try and prevent attacks by settlers and harassment from soldiers.

Paige is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Demolitions: Israel’s path of destruction through the Jordan Valley

by Andreas

27 March 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Families and their livestock are left without shelter as Israeli Occupation Forces soldiers and bulldozers leave a path of destruction El Hemmi, al-Farisiya and Khirbet Homse in the Jordan Valley

On the 26th of March several houses and animal barricades were demolished in the small communities of El Hemmi, Al Farisiya and Khirbet Homse in the Jordan Valley.  The convoy of military vehicles started out in El Hemmi in the morning and  continued to Al Farisiya and ended in Homse close to Hamra Checkpoint by the afternoon.    

El Hemmi

Early in the morning Mahmoud Awad from the small community of Khirbet Tel El Hemmi, north of the Jordan Valley, went to graze his sheep in the mountains surrounding his home.  He did not make it far before hearing his wife screaming as four military jeeps, two civil administration cars, 15 soldiers, and two bulldozers arrived and surrounded their house.

The IOF had come to destroy Mahmoud Awards’ property for the second time.  Within a few minutes the house that was home for six members of Mahmoud’s family was destroyed.  The family was given no time to pack up their possessions, which now are spread all over the ground, beneath and inbetween the demolished bricks.  When asked where the family will go and how life can continue, Hani Mahmoud, the father of Mahmoud Awad, replied that they “must ask for mercy from Allah and hope for better times.”

So far the family has been offered shelter in the neighboring house.  If the family chooses to rebuild their home – they will have to live with the constant threat of yet another demolition.

Around 9’clock the military jeeps and bulldozers continued up the small road of el Hemmi to reach the houses of Abed Rabu and his family. Two houses and four animal shelters were demolished – leaving no shelter for the eleven members of his family including a baby aged two months. Under the bricks that used to make up their home shoes and clothes were seen, as the family was given no time to collect valuable possessions before the bulldozers started their destruction.

Abed Rabu received a demolition order in November demanding him to destroy his own house and the shelters for his animals. He hired a lawyer, and he was at the moment trying to take his case through the court system. When we left Abed Rabu’s neighbors and friends had arrived and were building a new tent for the family to seek rest for the night.

El Hammi is located very close the settlement Rotem.

Al  Farisiya

At around 11’clock the military cheeps and bulldozer reached Al Farisiya close to El Hammi. For Ali Zhurida Abdallah and his family this was the third time this year that Israeli military has entered his land and demolished his animal shelters.  Ali is a shepherd and he has been living on the land for more than 50 years. Several times the Israeli soldiers have told him to pack up his things and move to Tubas. When refusing to leave his land, soldiers have threatened him that they will come back in the night to kill him.

Ali’s brother Hussein lives 50 meters away and also had animal shelters destroyed this morning, leaving 175 sheep without shelter and protection for the night. Hussein will have to stay up all night and look after the animals making sure that no wild animals will attack the sheep. Looking at the destruction carried out today Hussein’s wife says, “They want to be the masters of everything. Look, they destroy even animal shelters. The Ottomans, the British and the Jordanian have all occupied this land- but not one of them treated us in this way.”

A path of Zionist destruction – Click here for more images

Khirbet Homse

At around 12:30 PM the convoy of destruction arrived in Khirbet Homse close to Hamra Checkpoint.  Suleiman Abdallah Mahmoud Bsharat watched as the bulldozers destroyed his two animal barracks that until  a few days ago gave shelter for his 300 sheep.  According to Suleiman the military was trying to demolish the barracks whilst the animals were still inside.

Suleiman and his family had to move fast in order to rescue the sheep from the moving bulldozers.  Three months ago on the 14th of January Suleiman had his animal shelters demolished for the first time. He chose to rebuild.  He had not received any demolition order on his newly built barracks before the demolition.

—

Monday’s events are the latest in a series of home demolitions in the Jordan Valley.  The Valley is 94 % area C which makes almost every community and village very vulnerable to the process of ethnic cleansing. The house demolitions are well documented by the Jordan Valley Solidarity Group and  the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions.

Andreas is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Khamis, injured by the Israeli navy while fishing in the waters of Gaza

by Rosa Schiano

27 March 2012 | il Blog di Oliva

A Palestinian fisherman, Khamis Baker, was injured on Sunday morning when the Israeli navy opened fire on a group of Palestinian fishing boats in the waters of Gaza.

The Khamis family’s home, in Al-Shati camp (“Beach” camp), is poorly lit , the ceiling falls into pieces, and there is no glass on the windows.

Khamis Baker, Gazan fisherman - Photo courtesy of Rosa Schiano, 2012

Khamis has a bandage on his forehead. The doctors sewed his wound with three stitches. A group of children crowded the room during our visit.

“Every day we face difficulties” Khamis began to tell us. ” Every day we face the fire of the Israeli navy which wants to prevent us from fishing. ”

Khamis was on the boat with his 16 year old son and three cousins.

“The previous day I sent my son to the gasoline station, we decided to go fishing on Sunday morning. While we were at sea, the Israeli Navy started to shoot using water cannons. Suddenly my son told me that there was blood on my face, I was wounded.”

“It was a waste of time and gasoline, -Khamis continues, – hours and hours spent at the gasoline station in order to get the fuel.

The Israeli navy ship fired continuously  since the morning and it turned quickly around our boats in order to create waves.”

Khamis and the other fishermen were in the “permitted” area, designated by Israel within three nautical miles from the coast. Nonetheless, the soldiers were shouting to them, “Go to the south, go away.”

There were more than twenty fishing boats at sea. But because they could not fish anymore, they all went back to the port.

Khamis has worked for thirty years as a fisherman and has nine children. In the same home live also the families of his relatives, totaling about one hundred people. They all depend on fishing.

I ask Khamis how much they can gain from fishing. “150 shekels,” he answers me which is the equivalent of $40, “but half of it goes to pay the gasoline only. The rest is divided by five, so we gain a maximum of 20 shekels each.”

Khamis tells us that there is no way to fish beyond three miles. The Israeli navy ships arrive quickly. Once their boat overturned and they felt in the sea.

I finally ask Khamis if he feels like sending a message to the international community.

“We demand at least a guarantee for our future, we need to live in safety, we ask at least a guarantee for the security of our children.We do not ask anything,  just to end the siege, because the Palestinian people suffer and die because of it. Every fisherman suffers from this situation.”

Khamis is just one of the many fishermen injured by the Israeli navy in the waters of Gaza.Israel regularly attacks the Palestinian fishermen within the limit of three nautical miles and prevents them from fishing by using firearms and water cannons.The restrictions on the fishing area have a significant impact on the subsistence of the fishermen of Gaza. This area should extend for 20 nautical miles according to the Jericho Agreements of 1994 (under the Oslo agreements), but was then reduced to 12 miles, then 6 and finally at 3 miles in January 2009. The “buffer zone” of water imposed by Israel prevents the Gaza fishermen from accessing the 85% of the marine area  that the Oslo agreement entitles them to use.

Rosa Schiano is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement.