Detained and arrested for no reason, Palestinian told it’s his “last chance”

15th March 2018 | International Solidarity Movement, al Khalil team | Occupied Palestine
Yesterday, Ayman al Fakhori, age 25, was detained for an hour outside the Ibrahimi Mosque checkpoint before being arrested for no reason and escorted down Shuhada Street into a military base. He was shortly after released and escorted by Israeli forces out of checkpoint 56.
Internationals interviewed him after his release about his time in the military base. He relayed to us that the commander said, “This is the last chance you’ll get,” and threatened his life if he gets arrested again. Fakhori, however, doesn’t know what caused his arrest in the first place.
The only logical explanation, according to Fakhori, is that he is active in informing the public about the Israeli occupation via giving tours throughout al Khalil / Hebron to pro-Palestinian NGO’s and individuals.
 
The normalcy of his case showed as Fakhori nonchalantly explained the events of the day, affirming that he will not leave his home to make room for the settlers as the soldiers recommended he do. He was happy, though, to see Shuhada Street for the first time; as it is now an apartheid road closed to all Palestinians for the majority of 24 years.

ISM Tours USA : Bring the Palestinian resistance to speak to your community

Are you ready to take your activism for Palestine to the next level?

In 2002, the International Solidarity Movement grabbed world attention by bringing volunteers from around the world to defend Palestine through nonviolent resistance.  They stayed with resistance fighters in the Nativity Church in Bethlehem. They brought medical supplies to the besieged Palestinians in the ancient Nablus Casbah.  They documented and filmed the destruction and mass killing of Palestinians in the Jenin refugee camp.  In 2002 and 2003, thousands participated at their own expense.

One was Rachel Corrie, who was killed trying to prevent demolition of a home in Gaza. Another was Tom Hurndall, killed by a shot to the head. ISM has operated continuously since then, serving at the request of the Palestinian community through participation in Palestinian nonviolent resistance. In 2009, 2012 and 2014, ISM volunteers were with the Palestinian people in Gaza, reporting the Israeli invasion and helping in the hospitals, clinics and schools that were attacked even as they served the refugees.

But ISM is today unable to fill the demand from the Palestinian popular movement.  We need to recruit more volunteers, so we have brought the ISM to North America to talk to interested groups. The speaking team consists of one of our Palestinian coordinators and an experienced international volunteer.

The presentation includes a screening of an abridged version of Radiance of Resistance, a film produced by three ISM volunteers serving in Nabi Salih and featuring Ahed Tamimi and her cousin, Janna Jihad.
The first of two Palestinian ISM coordinators to join the tour, Rana Nazzal has trained and provided orientation to ISM volunteers in Palestine. In 2013, she and the Nariman Tamimi, the mother of Ahed were arrested in Nabi Saleh. We have chosen to withhold the identity of the second Palestinian ISM coordinator until later, so as not to prejudice that person’s ability to come. Both are heroes with compelling stories that they would like to share with you.

The ISM volunteer for part of the tour will be Katie Miranda , who served as an ISM activist, coordinator and trainer in the West Bank. Katie Miranda is a jewelry and apparel designer, calligrapher, and contributing cartoonist to Mondoweiss and Middle East Eye. She is the founder of Palbox, a quarterly subscription box featuring products from Palestine and Arabic calligraphy.

As an ISM volunteer, Joe Catron reported from Gaza during several major Israeli attacks, especially from al-Shifa Hospital, as the Israelis threatened to bombard it. He is now an independent reporter on Palestine and the Middle East, and an organizer of many public actions in New York, as well as a widely followed commentator on social media.
The total length of the presentation, including the film and the two speakers, is 50-60 minutes not including Q&A. In order to make the  tour affordable to student groups, we are asking only for $250 per event plus local meals, lodging and transportation. Homestays with local families in the community are an inexpensive and welcome way to meet the lodging and meal requirements.  The actual cost to ISM is around $1000 per event, including international and domestic airfares as well as speaker compensation for otherwise lost income.  A small group of donors has already pledged to match your donations in order to raise the estimated $25,000 to cover the rest of the costs.  Please be as generous as you can.

Schedule of events (subject to change):

  • Mar 1-4     Attending conference & Al-Awda rally & march in DC
  • March 5    Alabama U, Birmingham, AL
  • March 6    Emory University, Atlanta, GA
  • March 7    Decatur, GA
  • March 8    U of Georgia, Athens, GA
  • March 12  Chattanooga, TN
  • March 16 New Orleans, LA
  • March 19  Brooklyn, NY
  • March 20  Albany, NY
  • March 21  Syracuse, NY
  • Mar 22-24 Available
  • March 25  Boston, MA
  • Mar 26-30 Available esp. Canada
  • Mar 26-Apr 6 2 teams available for US & Canada
  • April 3      OPIRG Carleston, Ottawa, Canada
  • April 4      Montreal
  • April 5      Available for Toronto area
  • April 6-7   Available US only
  • April 8-10 Madison, WI
  • April 12    Northfield, MN
  • Apr 13-15 Available US only
  • April 16    Poughkeepsie, NY
  • Apr 17-25 Available US only

To reserve a date for your event:

Reply to this email or call 510-236-4250.

To help with your donation:

Send your donation by check or on line to the Northern California ISM chapter by following the instructions here:

http://www.ism-norcal.org/donate/

Thank you for helping to defend Palestine.

Israeli armed forces fire live ammunition at protesters in Kafr Qaddum

9th March 2018 | International Solidarity Movement, al Khalil team | Occupied Palestine

Today local Palestinian citizens gathered in their village of Kafr Qaddum, protesting against the illegal Israeli settlement of Kadumim and the road blockage that inhibits access to their village. Israeli armed forces fired copious rounds of tear gas, stun grenades, rubber coated steel bullets and live ammunition. During the protest an 18-year old Palestinian man was hit in the shoulder by a rubber coated steel bullet.

Shortly after Friday prayer, Palestinian demonstrators marched towards the main road in Kafr Qaddum. Israeli armed forces were positioned on hills surrounding the village, immediately firing rubber coated steel bullets and live ammunition at protesters. During the demonstration an 18-year old Palestinian man was hit by a rubber coated steel bullet in his shoulder, but was luckily not in need of hospitalization. The protests went on for about 3 hours where Israeli soldiers kept firing live ammunition as well as tear gas and stun grenades whilst advancing toward the village. An Israeli drone accompanied the soldiers on top of the hills surveying the area.

The villagers of Kafr Qaddum have had weekly protests since 2011 due to the closing of the main road in 2003 that now leads to the illegal settlement of Kadumim. This has had severe effects on the citizens of Kafr Qaddum and is a form of collective punishment, what was once a 15-minute drive to Nablus is now 40-minute drive.

Resistance & Death in al Khalil/Hebron

9th March 2018 | International Solidarity Movement, al Khalil team | Occupied Palestine

Friday at around 16.00, 24-year old Al Khalil resident Mohammad Zain al-Jabari was shot and killed by armed Israeli occupational forces during smaller clashes in Al Khalil, Hebron.

He leaves behind his wife and his 4-year-old child.

Al-Jabari was hit in the neck when Israeli soldiers opened fire with live ammunition against the local youth in the H1 area of Al Khalil, an area legally under full Palestinian control.

He was rushed to the local hospital where he died minutes later.

Fearing Israeli occupational forces would raid the hospital, Palestinians quickly removed Al-Jabari’s body from the hospital, to avoid the Israelis from confiscating the body.

The bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli occupational forces are often confiscated for longer periods of time, making it impossible for the Palestinians to bury the body within 24 hours of death, as is common practice for muslim funerals.

Minutes after the ambulance left the hospital clashes broke out in the streets outside the hospital and Israeli occupational forces quickly answered with extensive use of teargas and stun grenades.

Al-Jabari’s body was prepared for burial that evening, where three to four hundred chanting persons marched the streets to the martyrs’ cemetery where he was laid to rest with all too many others.

“In the first two months of 2018, 10 Palestinians have been killed in attacks carried out by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank,” says a report from The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied Palestinian territory.

This death was one more example of the Israeli military using excessive force to impose their illegal control on the Palestinian people of the occupied territories.

May Mohammed Zain al-Jabari rest in peace.

International Women’s Day march met with tear gas and stun grenades by Israeli occupation forces

7th March 2018 | International Solidarity Movement, al Khalil team | Occupied Palestine

International Women’s Day kicked off today outside Youth Qalandia Club with Palestinian women, men and Internationals marching together to the gates of infamous Qalandia checkpoint in protest of the ceaseless Israeli military occupation and basic human rights.

Half way through the march, tear gas was fired into the crowd of peaceful protesters causing many to suffer from tear gas asphyxiation and seek refuge in nearby ambulances administering treatment.

The protesters continued marching to the checkpoint gates where they were met with several soldiers and border police who began throwing stun grenades and tear gas indiscriminately into the crowd. At one point, a tear gas canister was fired and broke the windshield of a nearby truck sitting in traffic causing the driver to flee the vehicle as it filled with tear gas and eventually caught fire. Palestinians rushed to the vehicle with fire extinguishers and doused the flames as the protest came to a dramatic end. Luckily no one was seriously hurt or arrested.

Today’s event was organized by the General Union of Palestinian Women, an organization with the end goal of raising the status of women in Palestine through increasing female participation in social, economic, and political life.

International Women’s Day is peacefully celebrated in many countries and surely not met with the same violent military response as here in the occupied West Bank. Strong women showed up today in solidarity against an oppressive Israeli regime where men are usually the face of the Palestinian nonviolent resistance. We honor the women that came out today and the women resisting from their homes.