27th November 2018 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah team | Al Mughayyir, Ramallah, Occupied Palestine
The village of Al Mughayyir sits 27 miles north of Jerusalem. Sitting above is the settlement of Shiloh, more than a quarter of which is constructed on Palestinian land, the locals say. An elder from the village reports that the settlers now come into the village almost daily. “In the last three days they have cut the olive trees, which are very important for Palestinian people.” He also reported the destruction of their property, car tires slashed, graffiti on the walls, much of it reading in Hebrew ‘Price Tag’ and ‘Revenge’.
The settler violence is becoming more regular and extreme, and there is no authority- Israeli or Palestinian- that responds to the multiple assaults. “Only citizens, Palestinians,” the elder reports.
It is unclear where the attackers are coming from, but it is worth noting that a military encampment was just turned into an outpost- deemed illegal by international law- for settlers, known as “Jbaayt.”
A new outpost known as “Jbaayt” sits east of the village.
Al Mughayyir is a beautiful village, situated among hundreds of olive trees, with bougainvillea that is spread across the landscape. Children in Al Mughayyir walk home from school.
Palestinians across the spectrum met in the legendary, and endangered, Kahn Al Ahmar last night in solidarity with Adnan Ghaith; recently arrested for “breaking Oslo law” by “cooperating with the PA’s security services,” according to the zionist-friendly newspaper Haaretz. The mendacity of using “Oslo law” to charge a Palestinian leader for the “rarely enforced” section 7 is blatant, as the Israeli government breaks both Oslo and international law frequently. Their intention to destroy Khan Al-Ahmar is but one example of this hypocrisy. Adnan Ghaith’s arrest is seen by many as connected to his own solidarity with Palestinians, including by Abdullah Rahman, a Palestinian leader. “We started a campaign six months ago to support the beduin people in Khan Al-Ahmar… They arrested (Adnan) because he started with us in this campaign of six months, and we succeeded in our campaign.” Khan Al-Ahmar has been the center symbol for holding what remanence is left of the chances of a Palestinian state. In May, the top Israeli court approved the village’s demolition, which is home to a tribe that has been displaced multiple times since 1950, beginning in The Negev Desert. “This is a small village- 187 people- but the school here (has) 185 students studying. Not only from Khan Ahmar community, but from 5 other communities. This is what it means… There are 45 other communities in the area from East Jerusalem to the Dead Sea… If we succeed to stop demolishing here, that means we succeed in other places.” Adnan Ghaith’s solidarity with the bedouins of Khan Al Ahmar was celebrated as they called for his release.
Abu Khameesh is the leader of the village, and was born in Khan Al Ahmar, but remembers being moved around many times since 1953. “When we’re talking about Al-Khan Al-Ahmar, we’re not speaking of a piece of land that is some kilometer square, but a huge region that covers 1200 kilometers square, about 20% of the area of the West Bank.” To him, and many other Palestinians, saving Khan Al-Ahmar is more than just about the village, or even the greater area; it’s about the refusal to be displaced again.
Adnan Ghaith’s solidarity with the likes of Abu Khameesh is seen by the Palestinians as the true reason for his multiple arrests, including the latest; not some arbitrary bit of “Oslo law.” They’re seen as intimidation tactics by Israel, however these tactics bear a great deal of liability for the Palestinian leadership. If Israel can arrest Adnan Ghaith, they can arrest others, effectively crippling the leadership evermore. Indeed, other leaders, such as Abdullah Rahman have been arrested as well. “I must be in the jail after two weeks. I had a trial in a military court, and the decision to arrest me for four months, to pay 2000 shekels, was the 14th of November.” While Rahman’s lawyers are making an appeal, he admits that his own prospects of avoiding imprisonment are slim. “Maybe after two weeks, I must be in jail to stay four months. It’s the same tactic (by Israel).”
Arresting Adnan Ghaith, Abdullah Rahman, and others, are parallel to demolishing Khan Al-Ahmar. They are functions of the greater occupation. The word “occupation” sometimes gets lost in political and idealistic discourse, forgetting that it’s, simply, the systematic and aggressive ethnic cleansing of people who have lived in this land for thousands of years. For the native people of Palestine, people like Abu Khameesh, this is never forgotten. The refusal to be displaced again is the refusal to be erased.
“Our parents suffered from the first forced immigration, and we refuse to suffer again… Forced immigration is one of the many definitions of genocide, and why does the international community do nothing to prevent it? It is clear that strength is the absolute law, and not the laws agreed in the international community. There are over 800 international decisions about the Palestinians, not one came to realization. The world is looking at this region with one eye. It only sees the economic and the military power.”
Israel has been breaking international law since its founding, and has consistently broken Oslo law since the accords.
26th November2018 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah team | Jerusalem, occupied Palestine
Over the past two months Occupied East Jerusalem’s’ Governor Adnan Ghaith has been arrested three times. Each time he’s been released without charge. Once again, Yesterday morning, the Israeli border police arrested him.
At the same time his offices in the Jerusalem Government Municipality of A-Ram were also raided
Doors and windows were smashed, offices ransacked, computers and hard drives stolen.
Presently, no charge has been made against Mr Ghaith and he is still being held in a detention center [VIDEO] in Israel. He is expected to attend military court on Thursday in the hope that bail will be granted.
Also in the early hours of this morning, 32 colleagues have been taken into detention. The Israelis said they are currently investigating… investigating what, we don’t know.
In the past three months, Israel has stepped up its aggression in East Jerusalem. Along with the continued arrests of not just civilians but now Palestine Government officials, over 700 Palestinians have been displaced in Silwan due to the expansion of the illegal settlements and 17 businesses in Shu’fat Refugee Camp were demolished last week. There has been no definitive resolution in regards to Khan Al-Ahmar. The residents are fighting for their survival against the Zionist government. This is part of a bigger plan to annex East Jerusalem and push out Palestinians from their historical capital.
Since Trump moved the US Embassy to Jerusalem it has given Netanyahu’s government the green light to push as many Palestinians as possible out of East Jerusalem. Trump stopped the $25 million dollars a year in financial aid to East Jerusalem’s hospitals. Although the Palestinian Authority has stepped up and bridged the gap with $12.5 million a year from the national budget to keep the hospitals running.
It seems this all aids Netanyahu’s government in their aim to weaken the two state solution.
Recently, over 20 demolitions were carried out in the Shu’fat Refugee Camp by the Israeli Occupation Forces to make way for a wider road and inevitable future relocation of the residents of Jerusalem’s only refugee camp.
Urif is a small Palestinian village perched on the top of a hill, not far from Nablus. The view is beautiful and clear, overlooked by another scenic hill. A longtime resident tells us that before the 1980s, the locals used to go for walks and picnics in the area, but since the illegal settlers seized it, it has not been possible or safe to walk in this area. No one would dare go too close to the area because the settlers are very dangerous. “The most dangerous of all the West Bank, with those of Kyriat Arbat, in Khalil [Hebron]” says the guardian of the school we met. He adds that settlers from Kyriat Arbat come to join those of Yitzar to attack the surrounding villages on a regular basis.
In the horizon, Yitzar Settlement haunts the school playground
Established in 1983, Yitzar is home to a religious extremist community that has expanded in recent years. The arrival of young settlers has increased the attacks over the past five years. “And it gets worse from year to year,” he explains. The Israeli authorities’ dismantling of the Baladim forward post in June 2017, considered too violent and extremist even by the Israeli authorities, led to an influx of young settlers in Yitzar. However, they do nothing to prevent recurring criminal attacks against Palestinians. In Urif, the last building of the village before the colony, is the boys’ college. So here you never know if students will be able to study until 1:30 pm, the end time of their school day. Ayed Al Qot, the director of the college explains that since September, the staff has been forced to evacuate the establishment seven times. The situation is worse than last year. Behind his desk are tear gas bombs, sound bombs and rubber coated steel bullets collected from the school courtyard. He keeps them there as evidence of their painful, absurd daily life.
Sound bombs, rubber coated steel bullets and tear gas canisters.
Every day, there is always an overwhelming anxiety at the thought that the settlers may arrive and throw stones at the college. In these cases, the guardian of the establishment warns the teachers, the Palestinian Ministry of Education and contacts the inhabitants of the village and the Palestinian Police (who never comes, he adds). The students return the stones at the settlers and the inhabitants come to join them to defend the school and the village. Soldiers who watch the settlers attacks from afar come to suppress the Palestinians’ response. Tear gas, sound bombs, rubber coated bullets and even live ammunition. Less than two weeks ago, fifty settlers attacked the school. Several students were shot and wounded and taken to the hospital. It’s hard to know if the shootings came from settlers or the army, says Ayed Al Qot. One thing is certain, killing people does not seem to be a problem for these settlers, and it has happened several times.
Ayed Al Qot, the director of the college in his office.
Last Monday, it was at dawn that they attacked, which resulted in the school not even be able to open. The clashes lasted more than five hours. So in the face of these constant attacks, school drop-out is high, much higher than in other villages, explains the director. And the program is hard to keep. When the school is attacked, classes are cancelled and students are sent home. During class, young boys find it hard to concentrate, paying more attention to movements from outside than from their teacher. The teaching team is therefore considering alternatives to ensure that they can follow all the lessons; give lessons in the afternoon and on weekends in the center of the village for example. She would also like support to build a security fence and install a roof over part of the playground. So many solutions being put forward, but in the face of a situation where nobody is there to protect the students and put an end to the terror policy of the young settlers, it is hard to know what can really be done to stop the attacks. Some parents surrender and decide to change the school their child attends, but this is not an option for many of the parents.
Everyday, the guard makes a tour of the college before the students arrive to be sure that no colonist has entered. When the classes begin, he places himself on the roof of the school or on the road in front of the building. Teachers regularly ask him if the settlers are on the way, constantly worried. This makes is difficult for the students to study but also for the teachers to teach affectively in such an environment.
A settler scouts a Palestinian school in Urif, to prepare an eventual attack.
That day, we see settlers at the top of the hill. The guard warns residents and the information circulates quickly. Cars go back and forth to see the evolution of the situation. A parent tells us that he leaves his job almost daily to come, as soon as he learns that settlers are in the area. Difficult to imagine the daily life of these people, immersed in endless waiting. Several hours pass, a man from the security service of the colony observes us from the hill, armed. There are silhouettes of settlers, sticks in hand, then they disappear. The wait continues. At 13:30, the school bell rings, luckily they have not been attacked today, leaving a little respite to the students, teachers and parents.
In Palestine, time seems sometimes suspended. People are constantly waiting.
They are waiting for settler attacks, without knowing when they will take place. They are waiting for the Israeli police to demolish their houses when they are built in zone C “illegally”, because of the lack of permits issued by the Israeli authorities. They wait at checkpoints, subject to the goodwill of Israeli soldiers to let them pass through. They are also waiting for the release of loved ones, sometimes without knowing when they will be released. Then of course there is always the expectation and hope that of one day their land with be liberated and free of the occupation.
