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Press Release: Israeli army kills American International Solidarity Movement volunteer during demonstration in Beita, Nablus

Media enquiries: ismtraining [at] riseup.net

During the weekly demonstration in Beita, Palestine, on the morning of September 6th, 2024, the Israeli army intentionally shot and killed an International Solidarity Movement (ISM) human rights activist named Ayşenur Eygi.

The demonstration, which primarily involved men and children praying, was met with force from the Israeli army stationed on a hill. Initially, the army fired a large amount of tear gas and then began using live ammunition. Ayşenur, who we consider a martyr in the struggle, was the 18th demonstrator to be killed in Beita since 2020. She was an American citizen of Turkish descent.

The Israeli forces fired two rounds. One hit a Palestinian man in the leg, injuring him. The other round was fired at international human rights activists who were observing the demonstration, striking a human rights activist in the head. Eygi died shortly after being transported to a local hospital in Nablus.

Fellow ISM volunteer Mariam Dag (a pseudonymn) was on the scene, and witnessed the fatal injury of her comrade. She said:

“We were peacefully demonstrating alongside Palestinians against the colonisation of their land, and the illegal settlement of Evyatar. The situation escalated when the Israeli army began to fire tear gas and live ammunition, forcing us to retreat. We were standing on the road, about 200 meters from the soldiers, with a sniper clearly visible on the roof. Our fellow volunteer was standing a bit further back, near an olive tree with some other activists. Despite this, the army intentionally shot her in the head.

This is just another example of the decades of impunity granted to the Israeli government and army, bolstered by the support of the US and European governments, who are complicit in enabling genocide in Gaza. Palestinians have suffered far too long under the weight of colonization. We will continue to stand in solidarity and honor the martyrs until Palestine is free.”

A friend of the slain human rights activist and fellow volunteer with the ISM who does not wish their name released said:

“I don’t know how to say this. There’s no easy way. I wish I could [say] something eloquent, but I can’t through my sobbing tears…. my friend, comrade and travel partner to Palestine, was just shot in the head and murdered by the Israeli Occupation Forces. May she rest in power. She is now one of many martyrs in this struggle.”

Beita is a village in the West Bank where just weeks ago Amado Sison, another American volunteer, was struck by live ammunition in the back of the leg. Beita has a long history of resistance against Israeli occupation and has been a focal point of violence directed towards Palestinian residents by Israeli forces. Located near several illegal Israeli settlements, the village holds regular demonstrations. Due to escalating aggression by the Israeli forces, residents are currently refraining from marching or chanting, instead gathering together on the land and praying.

In recent years, Beita has seen ongoing demonstrations, particularly against the construction of new illegal Israeli outposts on the lands of the village. For example Evyatar outpost, on Sabih Mountain, has been established on Palestinian land. In June, the Israeli security cabinet approved the ‘legalization’ of Evyatar, causing the people of Beita to strengthen their popular resistance.

Residents of Beita recently restarted weekly Friday demonstrations to resist the further theft of their land. While protests had nearly ceased since October 7th 2023, due to escalating violence from Israeli occupation forces, there was a renewed push on July 5th 2024, when dozens of Palestinians, accompanied by international and Israeli activists, marched from the adjacent mountain, through the valley, and towards the outpost.

In recent months, international activists have experienced a sharp increase in violence from Israeli forces and the occupation must be held accountable for this. The woman martyred today was an activist with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a Palestinian-led organization that provides protective presence and solidarity in the West Bank. The ISM was founded in 2002, and has maintained a steady presence in Palestine ever since, supporting the Palestinian popular struggle against the occupation.

Our comrade is added to the 17 Palestinian protesters already slain in Beita:

**Palestinian demonstrators martyred in Beita**
– Mohammed Hamayyel, 15 (March 11, 2020)
– Islam Dwikat, 22 (April 9, 2020)
– Karam Amin Dwikat, 17 (October 15, 2023)
– Issa Sliman Barham, 40 (May 14, 2021)
– Tareq Ommar Snobar, 27 (May 16, 2021)
– Zakaria Maher Hamayyel, 25 (May 28, 2021)
– Mohammed Said Hamayyel, 15 (June 11, 2021)
– Ahmad Zahi Bani Shamsa, 15 (June 16, 2021)
– Shadi Ommar Sharafa, 41 (July 27, 2021)
– Imad Ali Dwikat, 38 (August 6, 2021)
– Mohammed Ali Khbeissa, 27 (September 24, 2021)
– Jamil Jamal Abu Ayyash, 32 (December 1, 2021)
– Fawaz Ahmad Hamayyel, 47 (April 13, 2022)
– Immad Jareh Bani Shamsa, 16 (October 9, 2023)
– Mohammed Ibrahim Adili, 13 (November 23, 2023)
– Maath Ashraf Bani Shamsa, 17 (February 9, 2024)
– Ameed Ghaleb Said al-Jaroub, 34 (March 22, 2024, died of a bullet wound injury to the head sustained on August 21, 2023)

At this time, the family will not be granting any interviews. Please contact ISM for media requests at ismtraining [at] riseup.net

Notes for journalists:

Some media reports have repeated false claims that ISM activists threw rocks during the peaceful demonstration in Beita. All eye witness accounts refute this claim. Aysenur was more than 200 meters away from where the Israeli soldiers were, and there were no confrontations there at all in the minutes before she was shot. Regardless, from such distance, neither she, nor anyone else could have possibly been perceived as posing any threat. She was killed in cold blood.
Statement issued by Beita municipality regarding the martyrdom of the foreign solidarity activist on Mount Sabih
Statement from Aysenur’s family

What is Happening in the Northern West Bank?

4 September 2024 | International Solidarity Movement | Northern West Bank

By Diana Khwaelid

The radical Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has renewed his incitement to impose collective punishment on citizens in the occupied West Bank, including the killing of detainees in occupation prisons.

In the early hours of August 28, 2024, Israel announced the start of a large-scale military operation in the northern West Bank, specifically targeting three cities and their refugee camps: Jenin, Tulkarm, and Tubas. Israel has named this operation “The Summer Camps,” while the resistance factions in the West Bank, particularly the Jerusalem Brigades, have called it “The Terror of the Camps”. This Israeli operation is the largest since the “Protective Fence” operation in 2002. According to the *Yedioth Ahronoth* newspaper, a full military squad was mobilized after several weeks of preparation. Hebrew Channel 14 confirmed that the army had deployed thousands of soldiers from various special units, including the use of military helicopters and heavy weapons.

The operation began with a simultaneous Israeli incursion into the three cities, using huge bulldozers and air cover. The Israeli occupation forces closed all roads leading to the cities of Tulkarm and Jenin, but encountered armed resistance from fighters who attempted to prevent further advancement. In response to the armed clashes on the ground, Israel resorted to airstrikes, bombing three different locations: the Far’a refugee camp (Tubas), the Nour Shams refugee camp (Tulkarm), and a site near the Jenin refugee camp. These bombings killed several resistance fighters and wounded others. The first day ended with the assassination of nine resistance fighters, most of them from the Al-Quds Brigades and the Al-Qassam Brigades, and the wounding of an Israeli soldier amid massive destruction to the infrastructure of several targeted cities.

A week ago, the occupation forces began a large-scale operation in the northern West Bank under the pretext of dismantling resistance cells. Since then, resistance fighters have been confronting them with explosive devices and gunfire, resulting in the deaths and injuries of several Israeli soldiers.

The operation has so far resulted in the martyrdom of 33 Palestinians and the injury of 130 others, causing significant destruction to the infrastructure in the cities and camps of Jenin, Tulkarm, Nablus, and Tubas. The Israeli occupation forces have not only liquidated several resisters in the Nur Shams refugee camp, northeast of Tulkarm, Jenin Camp, Tubas, and Nablus but also renewed their incursion into the city of Tulkarm on the evening of Monday, September 2. This time, they stationed themselves in the Tulkarm refugee camp, where the military operation is still ongoing.

The residents of the camps in the northern West Bank, particularly in the Tulkarm and Jenin camps, are experiencing a state of fear and terror. On Monday evening, Israeli occupation snipers targeted a civilian and his 15-year-old son. The father was transferred to the hospital, but the child died while attempting to leave the camp.

Israeli special forces also surrounded a Palestinian house in the village of Dhnaba, east of Tulkarm, and demanded the surrender of two Palestinian youths. According to eyewitnesses, they used a Palestinian child, no older than 16, as a human shield. The forces subsequently killed the two Palestinians, seized their bodies, and confiscated their private vehicle.

The Israeli occupation forces are also obstructing the movement of medical crews in the northern West Bank cities, particularly Tulkarm and Jenin, preventing them from entering the camps, transporting the injured, and assisting Palestinian patients in humanitarian cases.

The house that was surrounded and two Palestinians were executed in the village of Dhnabu

Another Crime of the Israeli Occupation: Five Killed in Nur Shams Camp

28 August 2024 | International Solidarity Movement | Tulkarm Camp

*Nur Shams Camp – Tulkarm – West Bank*
*27-Aug-2024*
*By Diana Khwaelid*

On the evening of Monday 26, Israeli occupying forces carried out an aerial bombardment through an Israeli drone strike on one of the houses in the Nur Shams refugee camp, northeast of the city. After the residents of the camp gathered to assess what had happened, the drone fired another shell at the area. Palestinian Civil Defense crews rushed to the scene, along with medical teams.

More than five injured Palestinians were transferred from the camp to the Thabit Thabit Government Hospital in the city. According to the Palestinian Health Organization, five Palestinians were killed, two of them minors, including one from the city of Qalqilya, who was with other young men in the camp.

The martyrs are Adnan Al-Jaber, Mohammed Sheikh Yusuf, Mohammed Aliyan, and Muhannad Qarawi, all from Nur Shams refugee camp, and Jibril Jibril from Qalqilya.

It is reported that martyr Muhannad Qarawi is the brother of Moamen Qarawi, who was killed near the village of Bala by an Israeli airstrike while he was inside a car with other young men on the 3rd of this month.

It should be noted that both Muhannad Qarawi and Jibril Jibril had recently been freed from captivity as part of the freedom deal between Hamas and Israel.

The 20-year-old martyr Jibril Jibril, from Qalqilya in the northern West Bank, had been pursued by Israeli occupation forces attempting to arrest him again. He decided to go to the Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarm to resist the occupation. However, fate led him to be martyred there alongside his comrades, both in captivity and in the field.

A state of sadness and anger swept through the city of Tulkarm, especially in the Nur Shams camp, as the Israeli occupation forces continued to carry out assassinations of Palestinian youth through drone strikes in Tulkarm, Nur Shams camp, Jenin, Qalqilya, and Tubas, all in the northern West Bank.

On Tuesday morning, the city of Tulkarem announced a general commercial strike and a state of mourning in honor of the five martyrs who were killed in the Israeli airstrike on Monday evening, the 26.

Hundreds of Palestinians participated in the funeral of the five martyrs. Jibril Jibril’s body was transferred to his hometown of Qalqilya, where his family and friends bade a final farewell. They prayed for him in the Return Garden in the camp before he was buried in the cemetery.

According to the Palestinian Health Organization, there have been more than 600 martyrs in the West Bank as of October 7.

Olive Harvest 2024: Call for Volunteers

27 August 2024 | International Solidarity Movement | West Bank

At the invitation of Palestinian communities, the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) is issuing an urgent call for volunteers to join us for the 2024 Olive Harvest Campaign, in collaboration with Faz3a and other groups, starting beginning of October throughout November.

While this is a period when Palestinian families get together in the field and celebrate their connection to the land, it is also a time of increased violence and harassment by Israeli settlers, protected and aided by the army. Harvesting therefore represents a symbol of resistance and defiance towards the occupation and colonisation of Palestine.

In many areas of the West Bank, Palestinian farmers are forced to coordinate with the Israeli army to obtain permission to access their own land. Last year, as Israel perpetrated a genocide against the people of Gaza, the army cancelled almost all permits, preventing farmers to access their land. According to OCHA, during last season more than 96.000 dunums of olive-cultivated lands in the West Bank remained unharvested and over 2,000 trees were vandalized during harvest-related incidents. Palestinians also experienced increased violence from settlers and the army.

As settlers’ and soldiers’ violence is spiraling across the West Bank, speeding up the ethnic cleansing in the area, and the genocide in Gaza approaches one year, Palestinians are expecting a particularly hard harvest and are requesting the presence of international activists now more than ever.

!! To register your interest in joining the Olive Harvest contact ismtraining@riseup.net !!

Here you can read more about the 2022 olive harvest season: https://palsolidarity.org/2022/12/the-olive-harvest-struggle-resistance-and-oppression/

During this time, the ISM will continue supporting other communities that are facing violence and forcible displacement, as in Masafer Yatta and the Jordan Valley.

Zanuta: A Story of Return

26 August 2024 | International Solidarity Movement | Zanuta

On Wednesday, August 21, following a long overdue court order, the families of Zanuta, in the South of the West Bank, returned to their village for the first time in 10 months after being forcibly displaced, determined to rebuild their home from the rubble of their village that remained.

At the end of October 2023, the residents of Zanuta were told by settlers that if they didn’t leave in 24 hours, they would kill every last one of them. All of the residents of Zanuta – who had already been enduring unending violence from these settlers, from making it impossible to shepherd, to property damage, to physical attacks, to home invasions and assault – were forcibly displaced from their land and homes.

On Wednesday, the families and flocks returned to their land. Palestinians triumphantly drove their flocks over their land and camped out in the ruins of their homes and propped up the destroyed roof of the school using pieces of scrap metal.

After families left Zanuta in October, settlers came into the village and removed the rooves of the buildings. It was winter, so this meant it was impossible for the families to return. In November, they briefly went back to try to work their land. When they tried to rebuild the rooves, they were stopped by army who said that it was unauthorised building.

Later on settlers returned to destroy everything. The homes and school had their walls and contents destroyed. Trees were cut down and solar panels destroyed. While they would not allow Palestinians to return and tend to their lands, the settlers ploughed the land themselves. Plowing Palestinian land while making it impossible to return to is a legal tactic used by settlers to increase their “claim” to the land under Israeli law.

A supreme court order issued a few weeks ago says that villagers can return to Zanuta (and the smaller village opposite Zanuta). The order also defines Zanuta as a firing zone, meaning that no new building is authorized. With this court order, the Israeli army are required to support the safe return of the villagers, however army and police only made perfunctory visits.

Zanuta is close to Havant Meitarim (“Strings farm”) outpost, whose settlers Yinon Levi and Ilay Federman (son of renowned right wing Kahanist terrorist Noam Federman) were amongst those sanctioned by the US.

If you know anything about 48, you know that supposed court orders hold little to no meaning in ensuring the safety of the Zanuta residents as they come home. They are still legally unable to transform Zanuta into home again due to “unauthorized building” restrictions.

If you know anything about the people of Palestine, you know that sumud will carry on regardless.