15 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
This morning, on Tuesday 15th November, national day of Palestine, three houses in Al Qasab near Jericho were destroyed by the Israeli military.
During the early morning, between two and three hundred Israeli soldiers entered Al Qasab with bulldozers and destroyed the houses. The village is in Area C; under full Israeli administrative and military control.
The Fakhori family had some time to move some furniture and belongings outside before their house was destroyed as they were present when the Israeli military arrived. The two other families were absent and didn’t have the chance to salvage any possessions. They returned to find their homes reduced to rubble, with all their belongings inside.
No one in the village was informed of the reason for the demolition and no prior warning or legal order was delivered. One of houses was built just two years ago and the family had a permit to build from the Israeli administration.
The three families must now find a roof to cover their heads tonight. One family is able to move in to his father’s house, but it is not known what the others will do. Naturally, the victims are distraught. They asked us ‘Who will pay for this?’ but they are under no illusions; they know that neither the Israelis or the Palestinian authorities will provide them with any help.
Guillaume and William are volunteers with International Solidarity Movement (names have been changed).
by Alistair George 13 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
Three Palestinians were arrested and others were detained, beaten and pepper sprayed by the Israeli military in Al-Walajeh yesterday, as villagers attempted to prevent the detonation of explosives used to widen the route for the separation wall on the village’s land.
Previously, large explosions on 3 November2011 in the village had sent large rocks several metres into the air, damaging nearby houses and trees and endangering life. The explosions have damaged the foundations of nearby properties. Yesterday, protesters attempted to peacefully prevent a similar explosion from taking place.
Explosions, violence, and arrests in Al Walajeh – Click here for more images
At around 8am yesterday morning, villagers from Al-Walajeh, near Jerusalem, were working on an UN project to enlarge the village’s graveyard at the Western side end of the village. They discovered that the Israeli military and contractors were laying charges to explode rock and widen the path for the construction of the separation barrier on the village’s land. The barrier will completely encircle Al-Walajeh if completed. Access will be gained via a tunnel and checkpoint, manned by the Israeli military and open for a limited time each day.
A man from Al-Walajeh, who gave his name as ‘Abu Sultan’, explained that he “was the first to arrive at the scene– 10 days ago the officer of the DCO [District Coordination Offices] told us that they were not allowed to make any more explosions, and that if they tried we should stay on the land and prevent it – so the DCO should stand with us.”
Abu Sultan tried to take the dynamite from the ground but was pepper sprayed and detained for over 3 hours before being released. Another villager, Mustafa Odeh, was beaten and arrested by soldiers.
Another man, who did not want to give his name, was also pepper sprayed when he attempted to peacefully prevent the soldiers laying the charges.
“The soldiers told us to leave and they pushed us as if we were sheep. Without warning, they grabbed pepper spray and sprayed my eyes and mouth. I was taken to hospital where they washed my eyes and gave me oxygen. The soldiers prevented the ambulance reaching me, two men had to carry me…It still burns [five hours later] on my face and around my mouth, and it is difficult to breath. I am very upset and angry. I’m an old man and the soldiers are young boys, it is very disrespectful behaviour.”
After the men discovered the military laying charges, villagers gathered to demand that they cease their agenda. By 11:00 AM a crowd of around 30 Palestinians and several international observers and journalists had gathered at the site of the charges. At 11:20 AM approximately 20 Israeli soldiers and contractor security guards began to roughly push and barge the crowd up the hill, away from the site.
Protesters voiced their disapproval but offered no physical resistance; however, the Israeli military became increasingly violent. After attempting to grab and arrest some Palestinian protesters, several people tumbled down a steep verge; one Palestinian, his face streaked orange with pepper spray, was arrested, while another fled the scene. The military deployed pepper spray and began to strike the peaceful demonstrators.
Sheerin Alaraj, a popular resistance activist from Al-Walajeh was pepper sprayed and blood ran from a cut on her face. A 38 year old woman, ‘Nadia’, was pepper sprayed in the face and was also taken to the hospital after losing consciousness.
The Palestinian academic Mazin Qumsiyeh was also on scene filming the protest. He was arrested and dragged to a nearby military vehicle by the Israeli border police. A witness, who did not want to be named, stated that “Mazin was filming with his video camera and the soldiers wanted us to retreat. They could have asked us to retreat but they just singled him out. It was intentional. I was next to him, doing the same thing, and they didn’t want to arrest me.”
An Al-Walajeh resident, who gave her name as “Fadwa,” said that the Israeli soldiers “have to be more human and understand our feelings, they can’t just cause explosions. They said that the explosion today would be small, but you can’t trust them.”
After soldiers had cleared the area, they fired two tear gas canisters across the valley where only some women and small children were visible. At around 12:30 PM they detonated a single charge, sending a cloud of rock and debris high into the air. Bulldozers then began work to clear the shattered rock for the path of the wall.
Residents of Al-Walajeh said that although the explosion today was relatively small, it was still carried out within a few metres of the village’s graveyard and several olive trees. Previous explosions have damaged foundations of nearby houses.
A resident, who lives near to the proposed route of the wall, said that the explosion on 3 November 2011 endangered life in the village as the blast sent large rocks a distance of several hundred metres. Some rocks were around30 cm long, weighing several kilograms;
“Stones fell right beside my uncle’s house. When they make explosions it’s like an earthquake, the house shakes.”
Four explosions had taken part in this area of Al-Walajeh in recent weeks, and there have been explosions to clear debris for the wall in other parts of the village.
A woman from Al-Walaja, who did not wish to be named, said that the explosion on 3 November threw large rocks several metres into the sky.
“Stones fell onto my house; the children were in the house and were very scared. Plants and olive trees were damaged on my land.”
The DCO (the Israeli body responsible for coordinating administrative activities in the occupied territories, including construction) was unwilling to provide a reaction to yesterday’s incident.
Following the Six Day War in 1967, much of Al-Walaja’s land was given to the nearby Israeli settlements of Gilo and Har Gilo, which are considered illegal under international law. A 2011 report by the UNRWA (United Nations Relief Works Agency) revealed that private investors announced plans in 2004 to build an additional settlement called Givat Yael, consisting of 14,000 housing units. This settlement would expropriate around 60% of the territory of the West Bank part of Al Walajeh.
Israel claims that the separation wall is necessary to prevent attacks on its territory. However, in its detailed analysis of the Israeli legal justification of the wall, the International Court of Justice found that the conditions necessary to justify the movement restrictions imposed by the Barrier were not met. Work began on the wall in Al-Walajeh in April 2010 and has progressed at a furious pace, with significant sections of concrete, several metres high, now in place. Residents estimate that, at the current rate of construction, the wall will be completed in 2012. Rather than following the Green Line demarcating the West Bank, the proposed route of the wall in Al-Walajeh cuts deep into the village’s land. According to the UNOCHA (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), between 4-5000 dunums (1 dunum =1000 square metres) of Al-Walajeh’s land lies outside the route of the wall.
If the wall is completed, and the village is entirely encircled in concrete walls and metal fences, the restricted access to the village will drastically curtail normal life in Al-Walajeh as over 2000 inhabitants will be prevented from travelling freely to work or to access essential health and education services.
Alistair George is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
14 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
In 2004 Amal Jamal was sentenced to 12 years in Israeli prison. A year later the Palestinian woman from Nablus was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Today from a hospital in Nablus she awaits a decision from Israel authorities that will determine whether she will be permitted to travel outside of Israeli controlled territory to receive medical treatment.
Prisoner rights worker Myassar Atyani and Amal Jamal in a Nablus hospital.
In 2005 Jamal began to suffer from severe pain and bleeding as a result of her illness. Yet she received little treatment from the Israelis. She was given only medication for pain and an unidentified sedative that affected her mental stability. Her diabetes went untreated altogether resulting in later complications.
After suffering more than four years Jamal was transported to Hiafa where she underwent surgery for her cancer. But the surgery was unsuccessful.
Last month Jamal was released by the Israelis as part of a deal between Israel and Hamas where 1,027 Palestinian political prisoners were released in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Jamal has refused further treatment within Israel and is instead awaiting permission from the Israelis to travel to France via Jordan to receive medical attention.
Wahed Rejol is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
In a nice restaurant overlooking Gaza’s beach, beneath a full moon with a beautiful halo surrounding it, I sat with my new friends who recently were released from Israeli prisons. Their freedom was restricted by Israel’s inhumane rules, including indefinitely deportation from the West Bank, away from their families and friends. However, they all shared one thought: “The problem is not here. Both the West Bank and Gaza are our homeland. The problem is that our freedom will not be complete until our land and people are totally free.”
I listened carefully to their prison stories and memories of their families in other parts of Palestine. One of the most interesting things for me to hear was the warm, strong, and caring friendships they remembered from inside the painful cells. These unbreakable friendships were their only distractions from the wounds that used to hurt them deeply inside.
One of my new friends is Chris Al-Bandak, the only Christian of the released detainees, who was freed in the first stage of the swap deal. After I was introduced to him, I congratulated him on regaining his freedom, and he faked his smile and replied, “Only one half of me is free, but the other half is still there, locked up behind Israeli bars.”
I didn’t know much about Chris, except for his religion, but many things about him made me want to get to know him more closely. I was quite certain that this impressive 32-year-old man had many interesting stories to tell and learn from.
Chris said that he was one of the people besieged by the Israeli Occupation Forces at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in 2002. That alone made me impatient to hear the rest of his story. “The siege lasted for 40 days. It got more unbearable as time passed, with the food and first aid equipments dwindling. The injured people were under the threat of death, and the others’ lives were endangered as well as the IOF’s pressure increased.”
As Chris spoke, his eyes evoked anger and sorrow as they wandered to his right. He sounded like he was replaying a tape of his most difficult memories. Then he suddenly began stuttering as he said, “My best friend, Hafith Sharay’a, was one of the injured people.” I reminded him that he didn’t have to speak about it if it made him feel bad.
He pulled himself together and kept telling his story. “On the 28th day of the siege, we were on the top floor of the Church of the Nativity, responsible for the lives of the people downstairs and guarding the church, when he was shot in the right side of his stomach. With every drop of blood he lost, my soul burned inside. I couldn’t watch him die and do nothing.” Impatiently I interrupted, asking, “Was he killed?” He shook his head and continued. “His injury left me only two choices: let him bleed to death, or send him to the Israeli Army for treatment, while I was certain that he would afterwards receive at least a life sentence.”
Each option was worse than the other. Chris thought that if Hafith died, he would never see him again. If he was treated and then imprisoned, he might meet him, even though the chance was very small. Hafith and Chris were like soul mates. They didn’t share many things in common. Hafith is older and a Muslim, while Chris is a Christian. However, they prioritized their deep passion for Palestine above everything else. This overcame all their differences, and they share a magical strong friendship which will last forever.
So Chris chose to put his emotions aside and rescue Hafith from death by delivering him to the Israeli army. “On the 29th day, I somehow managed to sneak out of the church and escape. But ten months later, I was kidnapped by the Israeli Entity’s army.”
Palestinians in Bethlehem are protesting in solidarity with Chris who is deported to Gaza
Chris described in detail the horrible story of his capture. He had gone to visit some of his relatives. Within 20 minutes of his arrival, the Israeli army arrived in great numbers and surrounded the house. He faked a name for himself and answered the police’s questions in a very sarcastic way. He told all his relatives to say his name was Fady if asked, which they did. He refused to admit that he was Chris. After several hours of investigation, pressure, and threats of bombing the house and arresting his mother and brother, one of the children was shedding tears out of fear. Seeing this, a policeman used the child’s innocence and tricked him. After the policeman said that the soldiers would leave if he said the real name of Chris, the child admitted it.
Chris was persistent, and didn’t admit his identity until they were about to bomb the house in front of his eyes. After his confession, he was asked where he had been sleeping at night. He replied, “You bombed my house, so where did you expect me to go? I spent my nights in the cemetery.” The interrogator was very shocked at his reply and asked him, “Weren’t you afraid among all dead bodies in their graves?” He answered, with an angry, challenging look in the Israeli soldiers’ eyes, “One shouldn’t fear the dead. They are dead. But we should be afraid of the living people whose conscience is dead!”
Then they blindfolded him, pushed him inside one of their Gibbs vehicles, and headed to an interrogation center, where he was psychologically and physically tortured for 43 days. Chris constantly thought of his friend Hafith, and hoped that his imprisonment would allow him to meet his best friend again.
This happened in a very narrow cell in Ramla Prison, as he waited to learn in which prison he would be jailed. The detainees were having “foura”, an hour-long break that detainees take daily outside their jails in a hall, and a very small window, closed with a revealing cover, separated him from the hall. Suddenly he glimpsed his friend Hafith and found himself screaming his name loudly to get his attention. “Our re-union was so emotional, especially behind a fenced barrier,” he said with a broken smile.
Their happiness didn’t last long, as they had to separate once the foura was done. Chris was transferred to Asqalan Prison, then to Nafha. “I stayed away from Haifith for over a year, but during that time, I never stopped hoping that God would be kind enough to bring us together again.”
Chris was in Nafha when his friend was transferred there, finally uniting them. Then they went through a series of separations keeping them apart for a total of four years. “A prison offers no sense of stability.” Chris said. “When we were imprisoned, we didn’t stop our struggle, but we started another stage of resistance of a different kind, determination and persistence mixed with hope.”
During the period before Chris was released, he shared a prison cell with Hafith. “Other detainees received the news of their freedom with screams of joy and happiness, but I received it with tears. I didn’t even feel 1% happy, as I realized that only I was included in the swap deal. Even now, I feel like my body is outside but my heart is still inside the prison with Hafith and all the other detainees,” Chris said with sadness on his face.
“I am very grateful for having Hafith as a big brother. But I am broken inside because he didn’t get his freedom back. I am sure that he’s such a steadfast man that nothing can depress his spirit,” he said, attempting to console himself.
Their friendship amazed me. It can’t be described in words. I pray that Haifith, along with all the Palestinian political prisoners, will be freed soon. I hope Hafith maintains his strength which used to inspire and strengthen Chris. Chris said that Hafith made him believe in his principle that “the prison’s door must unlock someday. It’s only an obstacle, and is bound to fade away at some point.” I hope it will be unlocked soon to let all prisoners breathe the sweet fragrance of freedom again.
13 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
On November 12 a young teenage girl was being detained at the main checkpoint in Hebron. When internationals were notified she had been detained for more than an hour without any obvious reason.
The girl was on her way home with a friend when she passed the checkpoint and soldiers refused to hand her back her ID. When activists from the International Solidarity Movement got to the checkpoint, the two soldiers in question refused to give any further information or explanation. As a crowd of people was gathering one of the two soldiers said that he had a bad headache and that the people were driving him “crazy.”
After some minutes several military vehicles and heavily armed soldiers showed up and tried to move the internationals to the side, with the commander taking the leading role in pushing the activists when they asked for an explanation. The girl was handed back her ID after approximately three hours of waiting at the checkpoint. No explanation was given, but it appeared that the refusal to hand back her ID was a retribution for her participation in the demonstration against restrictions being imposed on Palestinian teachers which was staged earlier in October this year.
Roadblocks, closures and checkpoints restrict daily life for Palestinians living in Hebron. These restrictions are the result of the approximately 500 Jewish settlers occupying the city center. There are five settlements inside the city mainly located in the area of the Old City and other settlements on the outskirts of Hebron. This has divided the city into two pieces known as H1 and H2. While H1 remains under Palestinian control, H2 is under Israeli control. Up to 4000 soldiers are present in H2 as a way of “protecting” the approximately 500 settlers that are illegally occupying the city center where currently half a million Palestinians live. Many international organizations have argued that these roadblocks and checkpoints could be removed without compromise security.
Consequences of these restrictions have badly affected many Palestinians who have been forced to move and close their business. Beside economic consequences, Palestinians have also lost many parts of the Old City which holds great cultural value since large parts have been closed down by the military or been destroyed by Israeli settlers. Families living in the area as well as school children on their way to schools regularly suffer from harassment from both settlers and military. Peacekeeping organizations beside ISM have maintained a presence in the area as a way of observing and de-escalating violence committed by the Israeli soldiers as well as Zionist settlers with little or no success.
It is part of a broader Israeli agenda which aim at forcing people to leave in order to expand Israeli illegal settlements inside the city.
Emma Evertsson is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement.
During the early morning, between two and three hundred Israeli soldiers entered Al Qasab with bulldozers and destroyed the houses. The village is in Area C; under full Israeli administrative and military control.
