International Solidarity Movement - Page 495 - Nonviolence. Justice. Freedom.

Burying Nayif Qarmout

13 March 2012 | Nathan Stuckey, International Solidarity Movement, Gaza

Nayif Qarmout was killed by an Israeli missile today at 9:30 A.M. He was 14 years old. Five other teenagers with him were injured, Tamer Azzam, 16, Mu’ayyad al-Qanou’, 18, Hani al-Qanou’, 16, Salih Qarmout, 14; and Sa’eed al-Attar, 14. The boys were reportedly playing football in a playground when the missile struck. Nayif was buried today in Jabalia.

The same mosque that yesterday hosted the funeral of twelve year old Ayoub Useila today was the site of the funeral of Nayif. Hundreds of people gathered for noon prayers before the funeral. The street outside of the mosque was full of people. After prayers Nayif’s body was brought out, born on the shoulders of his friends and relatives. His face was the only thing visible, it was bloody and swollen. His body was wrapped in white cloth. Around him rose the green flags of Hamas.

This time, we did not set out toward the cemetery near the border. We went through the heart of Jabalia. The streets were narrow and crowded. Cries of “God is great” and “there is no God but God” rang out. The men raised one arm in the air, one finger extended, there is one God it said. From the windows of second and third stories people looked down onto the procession, onto the shattered body of Nayif Qarmout. Nayif Qarmout, who this morning had been playing football with his friends, who had still been alive, was now, a bloody body on a stretcher.

The procession moved quickly, with the energy that the processions of martyrs seem to have. Until we passed by Nayif’s house, the procession slowed, and stopped, women crowded the alley crying. This would be the last time they would see the body of their son, their cousin, their nephew, Nayif. Then, the procession moved onward to the cemetery.

The cemetery was Nayif was buried is an old cemetery. It is already crowded with graves. The procession slowed as the men picked their way among the grave, until they found the place where Nayif was to be buried. The grave was dug. Nayif was lowered into it and men began to shovel earth over him. When they were finished there was a human shaped mound of earth. Even if you did not know what had happened, you would know what this was, the grave of a child. A young red haired man sat by the grave, he did not cry but the grief was obvious. Nayif was someone that meant a lot to him. Nayif was stolen from him by an Israeli missile.

Nathan Stuckey and Rosa Schiano are volunteers with International Solidarity Movement.

In Photos: Ni’lin chisels through Zionism

13 March 2012 | by Rune, International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Like every Friday, on March 9th residents of Ni’lin village, west of Ramallah, went to protest the Apartheid wall, which encloses their lands and denies them of basic human rights. A part of the protest was an attempt to break a hole in the wall. Activists were met with rubber coated steel bullets, skunk water and tear gas, sometimes fired directly at the demonstrators.

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

Idhna: A family without windows

by Peige

12 March 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

After three years of marriage Amani and Hussein Batran wanted a house of their own, somewhere to raise their two children, 4 year old Khalil and 3 year old Layali. They took out two loans from the bank and construction began. Now, three years later, the house is still unfinished and no new work has been done for over a year. One year ago, shortly after the Batran family moved into their nearly finished house, they received an order from the Israeli military forbidding further construction, followed seven months later by a demolition order. The reason given is that their house blocks the view of a camera mounted on the illegal segregation wall Israel has constructed inside of the West Bank.

The sight of glass-less windows and wires protruding from half-sanded walls speaks of dreams put on hold, a family living in limbo. The Batrani family has endured the bitter cold of this Palestinian winter with only plastic sheets covering their windows. The Israeli government considers installing glass a violation of the order to halt construction. Violating the order means risking imminent demolition of their home, so the family must make do with the inadequate plastic sheets.

They know their fate will likely be the same as Ahmed Jeyowi and his family, whether or not they obey the order to halt construction. Jeyowi’s home was demolished last month when around 50 Israeli soldiers stormed the house at 6 AM whilst Ahmed was drinking tea and preparing to work his land. The soldiers forced Ahmed’s wife and six children from their beds and gave the family no time to salvage their possessions before they demolished their home.

Ahmed has since been forced to send his wife and children to live with other family members whilst he lives on the ruined site which once was his home, now replaced by a tent provided by the Red Cross. Ahmed is left with no heating or lighting, no gas, no toilet, and insufficient bedding.

Idna has suffered considerably since the Israeli occupation, particularly due to the construction of the segregation wall and the theft of some 3,000 dunums of land since the second Intifada. Idhna is surrounded by the Israeli settlements of Adora and Telem to the northeast, a bypass road that runs through the northern parts of the town, and the segregation wall that borders Idna to the north and the west. There are currently 40 homes in Idna with demolition orders.

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

New military gate limits access to Beit Iksa land

12 March 2012 | WAFA News Agency

A new military-controlled road gate the Israeli army had set up on Monday in the village of Beit Iksa, northwest of Jerusalem, raised concern of possible takeover of almost 2000 dunums of land as it limits access to agricultural land, according to residents.

The soldiers also took over a house in the area and turned it into a military outpost, said residents.

They said soldiers manning the new gate prevented village residents from reaching their homes for hours under the pretext of security reasons.

Villagers said they expect that the army will not allow them to reach their homes and land behind the new gate without an army-issued permit.

They expressed concern that this Israeli measure aims to eventually seize their land for the benefit of expanding the nearby settlement of Ramot, built illegally on village land.

T.R./M.S.

Caught on Tape: Drunk settlers in Al Khalil assault two international women; Israeli military admits special relationship with violent settlers

11 March 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

On March 9 2012, 6 volunteers of International Solidarity Movement were walking down Shuhada Street near Checkpoint 55 at approximately 11 AM, when drunk settlers attacked the group and injured one international volunteer.

About 5 drunk male settlers began to scream at and surround the internationals, yelling “keffiyah,” the traditional Palestinian scarf, that two internationals were wearing. Settlers were visibly carrying bottles of alcohol.

The drunk settlers shoved one woman from the back and then threw wine on her.

At the point the group began filming the settlers continued to hit, shove and try to grab the cameras of all 6 people. A police car drove by and did not stop the attack. One settler, wearing a dinosaur tail costume on his back put a towel on his face before trying to grab the camera of a Canadian ISM volunteer and then punched a British ISM woman in the face. They then fled shouting.

The British woman fell to the ground and dropped her camera, and another settler picked it up. The ISM volunteers walked up to 5 or 6 Israeli soldiers sitting about 50 yards ahead and told them what happened.

They laughed and said the internationals had brought it upon themselves by wearing keffiyehs. The internationals then walked to a police car parked at the next junction. While they were explaining what happened, settler Anat Cohen came up to the internationals and police screaming in Hebrew, and then slapped a Canadian ISM woman on the arm, in front of the police. The police then sent this woman to retrieve the camera.

They told the internationals that this woman was the “head of the settlers” and that they had a “special relationship with her.” “We do her favours and she does us favours,” they said.

The camera was not returned so the internationals attempted to file a complaint at the Israeli police station near the mosque, but were told to go to the Kiryat Arba police station. When the British woman asked for a police escort they said to take the bus (motioning to the settler bus station).

A police report was filed at Kiryat Arba but was only in Hebrew so the Candian ISM woman and the British woman refused to sign these statements. The police have instructed them to bring in the film footage after Shabbat.

The attack comes following weeks of warning and aggression towards photojournalists and activists with cameras by Israeli military and police, which have stated to internationals that Israeli law forbids the photography of their operations, or rather, their breach of international law and human rights.

Activists have received these warnings for weeks now, and today’s attack comes parallel to the deliberate targeting by Israeli military of journalists and activists with cameras, by shooting tear gas canisters and bullets directly at them at most West Bank demonstrations.

About a month ago, Reporters without Borders published this statement regarding these warnings and threats.

While this attack is an escalation against internationals in the region, and while it is evident that the Israeli military and illegal settlers are collaborating in attacking Palestinians and internationals, International Solidarity Movement will not desist from bringing proof of Israeli aggression through pictures, videos, and its continued reporting.