The picture might look beautiful, but the water badly smells of sewage water.
November 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus team | Nablus, Occupied Palestine
The farmers in South Bruqin have had to face the difficulties living next to, and having land stolen by, the illegal settlement of Bruchin since 2000. The last eastern expansion of the settlement led not only to a new settler road cutting through the Palestinians olive grove, but also a river of sewage water running through the hills. The Abu Skandar Samara family has been farming the soil in Bruqin for generations. ISM activists met a few of the family members sharing the field, and were shown a story of sabotage, land theft, and violence.
A small stream of sewage water – one that, needless to say, carries an awful smell with it – begins at the fence for the settlement and runs down the hill, flooding multiple terraces beneath it. From the flattened grass on either side of the stream, it’s clear that the flow of the toxic water is sometimes higher, creating a wider stream. Obviously, it pollutes the soil for all of the surrounding trees, not just those in the stream’s immediate vicinity.
Abu Skandar and his son are digging canals to divert the water.
Since the illegal construction of the settlement houses, the road to Bruchin settlement has also been expanded. Abu Skandar told ISM activists how he went to sit in the path of the tractor when workers started uprooting his trees in order to make space for the new road. Soldiers escorted him away. “I will keep resisting, even if it means I die in the fields,” he said, pointing to one of the trees surrounded by sewage water. “I planted that with my parents in 1966. Even when Israel occupied the West Bank after the Six-Day War, we kept using our soil.”
Abu Skandar and his son are digging canals to divert the water.
Some of the flooded trees are just a few months old. When Mekorot water company built a pipe for the settlement, destroying Abu Skandar’s trees, a French organization called POI donated money specifically for new olive trees to plant. “These trees will die now,” Skandar sighed.
Abu Skandar, his sons, and his nephews have all raised the case of the sewage water to the District Coordination Office (DCO). Skandar also tried to raise a case about the road. However, the manager for Mekorot’s project told Skandar, “This will continue no matter what you think or do.” Skandar said that, of course, he doesn’t have the necessary resources to win such a case against a large corporation.
One of the young trees about to die.
When Israel began construction of the road in the beginning of January, the family and the DCO managed to delay construction for a month. As a result, Mekorot promised to clear the garbage and the big rocks left on the family’s land after the construction, but no action was ever taken. The road was built and the family had to move the rubble and the rocks themselves.
Trees are damaged where the new illegal settlement road is being built.
The Salfit industrial zone was illegally built in 2000, when a military camp was created where the illegal settlement Bruchin is located today. The industrial waste and pollution has since spread across much of the surrounding area. The pollution has attracted boars to the land, which has prevented the farmers from growing beans, grapes, or figs, leaving the olive trees as their only source of income. The village of Bruqin also has a disproportionately high rate of hospitalization in Palestine. Just a month ago, a 15 year old girl died of cancer.
The new, eastern section of the illegal Bruchin settlement.
The Samara families ISM activists met in South Bruqin hope they will get their land back. They will keep resisting and continue to say that nothing will keep them from tending their land. Every week, Abu Skandar transports clean water 4 km to his trees.
3rd December 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | al-Khalil, Occupied Palestine
On Friday the 1st of December, occupation forces at the Qeitun checkpoint blocked the way to the mosque for an extra long time, thereby delaying Palestinian families on their way to prayer in the Ibrahimi mosque.
To reach the Ibrahimi mosque, Palestinians who live in the nearby Qeitun neighborhood have to pass through 3 to 4 checkpoints. This is the only possible way for them to reach the mosque.
The occupation forces installed 12 military checkpoints within 250 meters from the mosque.
At 11:35 we observed around 50 men, women, and children waiting at the 1st checkpoint that it is necessary for Palestinians to pass through before continuing on their way to the 2nd, 3rd and 4th checkpoint that separate the Qeitun area from the Ibrahimi mosque.
1st checkpoint where around 50 men, women and children were waiting to pass trough.
At the 1st military checkpoint, the people from the Qeitun area had to pass through a steel turning gate, then through a concrete bunker one by one. In this bunker, they were detained for a long time and forced to follow instructions from the Israeli border police sitting behind the bulletproof glass in the checkpoint. Finally, they had to pass through a second steel turning-gate.
The severe delay at the checkpoint meant that many of the Palestinians living in the Qeitun area missed most of the prayer.
The 2nd checkpoint, in A-Sahla near the Palestinian court, was unmanned that day [archive video, 2016]
From this checkpoint leading into H2 from the Qeitun area, we went on to the checkpoint on Al-Haram Al-Ibrahimi street. Here we passed by two of the young men who had previously gone through the Qeitun checkpoint. They were now being detained at the 3rd checkpoint on their way to the mosque for about 10 minutes.
3rd checkpoint located at beginning of Al-Haram Al-Ibrahimi street.
When the young men were finally let through by the border police, the prayer had ended and there was no need for them to move on to the 4th checkpoint, which has recently been built in front of the mosque, severely damaging this Palestinian World Heritage site.
4th checkpoint located in front of the Ibrahimi mosque.
Since begin 2016, the Israeli state has been very active in creating new constructions and apartheid regulations in the old city of Hebron. These include the replacement of existing Arabic street signs for ones created exclusively for settlers and tourists, the creation of numerous walls, fences, gates, razor wire fences and new checkpoints, as well as the exclusion of unlisted Palestinians from the Tel Rumeida neighborhood. On top of this comes the creation of the steel and concrete checkpoint in front of the Ibrahimi mosque.
Moving around in H2 has become dehumanizing and deeply frustrating. As a result, the streets are empty much of the time.
It is no longer crowded on Al-Haram Al-Ibrahimi street between the two Israeli checkpoints.
11th of November 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, Team Nablus | Jordan Valley Solidarity | Jordan Valley, Occupied Palestine
On the 7th of November the state of Israel demolished four houses in the Jordan Valley making four families homeless. At 6.30 the Israeli army came photographing the house, and short after three bulldozers guarded by around 30 soldiers from the special forces Yasam entered the Jiftlik village. The main roads were closed off by checkpoints, preventing any movement in the village. The Israeli military encircles the house on the surrounding fields. The family of Abu Khalil Moussa could do nothing but watch their home being wrecked to pieces.
Abu Khalil Moussa’s house being demolished.
The two brothers have been staying in the house that was built in 1986 with their families. Together with their father they worked for six years in order to afford building and maintaining their home. One of the brothers’ named Khalil says: “I worked for this since I was 18. In one hour they destroyed it.” Now the families are living in one room at a relatives’ place. Khalil also tell the activists from ISM and JVS how his son came to get his football before the demolition. He was shoed away, but came back to the rubble later that day to search for it without luck.
Moussa’s brother in front of their demolished house.
The neighbouring family of Merai Abu Ahmad also lost their house. A family of 10 have stayed in the home since it was built three years ago. The lively son of the family shows the ISMers where his room used to be. His father Ahmad is asking for support from anyone to be able to get a new home. “Life here is difficult.” He shows the rolled up tent they got from the Red Cross after the demolition. “We went from this house to this tent.” The family was forced out of their home directly from their beds that morning. This is something they have experienced for generations.
The rubble of Abu Khalil Moussas family home.
In 1967 most families in the area fled their houses. Merai family, who had been forced to Jiftlik after being expelled by Israeli forces from the refugee camp Abu Badjad, decided to stay. The area is therefore now called Da Beit Merai and Merai himself tells the ISM and JVS how he in 1967 asked the military coming “Where should I go now? You kicked me out everywhere.” He stayed put in his house, witnessing how all the neighbouring houses were being demolished. “And now history is being repeated.” He explains how the Israeli armed forces stole around 400 sheep from the village in the seventies and used them for a tourist crocodile zoo. If the shepherds wanted their sheep back they had to pay almost the same price as a new one would cost.
Merai has been resisting colonialism all his life
The refugee camp Abu Badjad where Merai lived before Jiftlik is now the illegal colony Masu’a. Both of these families doesn’t have refugee status and ID’s in spite of their expulsions.
The rubble of Abu Khalil Moussas family home.
In a nearby part of Jiftlik ISM and JVS meets another family, the family of Abu Ahram, who lost their house the same day. The homeless family have not been given a tent, like the other families, and are now staying in one room. Surrounded by the kids the nephew of the man who lost his house, tells about how they were also met by the big group of military, forcing them out of their home and away from their land. The house was one of the few concrete buildings in this beduin community.
Ahmad and his kids on what used to be the sons room.
Khalil’s neighbour in front of the bulldozer.
The fourth house destroyed this Tuesday was an agricultural barn built on a water cistern. The cistern has been severely damaged and the 50 farmers using it are not sure if it is repairable. Inside the house there were farming tools and machines, and the farmers were not aloud to rescue them from being crushed in the demolition. The cistern was built 17 years ago and was providing the fields of beans, tomatoes, chili and cucumber with a storage of 170 m3 of water. The pool and the barn was bulit for 50 000 NIS. “This price would be the double today”, the farmer Bassil Ibrahimi tells JVS and ISM. When the demolition was beeing carried out water leaked out and destroyed a one donum big field of beans. Ibrahimi also tells about how around 400 m2 of shelters for animals and machines have been destroyed between 1988 and 2000.
The damaged water cistern leaked 70 cubic meters of water.
Demolitions are often carried out during the autumn and wintertime when it is colder. Israel prohibits Palestinians from constructing any infrastructure or other development projects in the Jordan Valley, such as reclaiming of agricultural land, opening agricultural roads or extending irrigation networks. Moreover, Israel continues to confiscate land, demolish homes and prevent rehabilitation of existing houses and roads of the Palestinians, but maintains plans for settlement expansion and infrastructure development for Israeli settlers in the Jordan Valley.
Abu Khalil Moussa’s house being demolished.The rubble of Abu Khalil Moussas family home.
26th November 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, Team Nablus | Jordan Valley Solidarity | Jordan Valley, Occupied Palestine
Israeli forces have sent out demolition orders to two villages in the northern Jordan Valley, where they plan to demolish the homes of around 300 Palestinians. This is part of the Israeli military’s ongoing efforts ethnically cleanse the Jordan Valley and annex it to Israel.
The Jordan Valley Solidarity group has already reported residents overhearing drones gliding over the area and Israeli soldiers frequently halting residents for ID checks.
The village Al Maleh is situated close to a Israeli military base.
The Ein El Hilwe and Al Maleh families’ stories are a perfect example of what life in Jordan Valley can mean. None of the two families have been directly informed by the Israeli military forces about the plans to demolition of their homes. On the 1st of November, the demolition orders were left in the form of a note under a rock close to their homes. The notes weren’t noticed until the 9th, which meant that they had an even shorter period of time to find a solution. Despite the frustration and the difficulties of the last weeks, the residents of both the villages are determined to stay on their land and to face the harassment of the Israeli occupation forces. “My grandfather and my father both lived here before me and before the Israeli occupation. My family has owned this land for so long”, says Qadri Daram from Ein El Hill village, descrbing the constant harassment his family has had to face for decades. “They have been using the same strategy for years to get the Palestinians out of here. But before the Oslo agreement there were more military bases here and soldiers. Then the soldiers went away and the Israeli settlers arrived.”
Qadri and his family have lived on this land for generations. Now he and his wife and children have to face many difficulties. They are not allowed to build anything on their own land and are forced to live without water and electricity, while the illegal Israeli settlement nearby is equipped with all the comfortabilities they need. The water for the settlement is taken from a local spring standing near to Ein El Hilwe, while Qadri and his family have to buy water.
The area has been declared a closed military zone.
Qadri used to get the water for his community from there, but when the settlers came they started using it as a swimming pool, claiming it was a holy spring, which made the water dirty and undrinkable.
The water source is an ongoing issue, and has been used as a weapon by Israel since 1967, when it took control of Palestinians’ water supply.
The ways Israel tries to hinder the Palestinian access to water are many. The state often prohibits any kind of maintenance or improvement of the hydric system, draining the groundwater sources from deeper sites. It enables the damaging and drying up of the more superficial Palestinian water sources.
The ways Israel tries to hinder the Palestinian access to water are many. The state often prohibits any kind of maintenance or improvement of the hydric system, draining the groundwater sources from deeper sites. It enables the damaging and drying up of the more superficial Palestinian water sources. It allows untreated sewage to flow from settlements onto Palestinian land. It drains the sources throughout the settlement water system. It targets the water infrastructure during military attacks. It confiscates or destroys tanks for rain collection. Finally, it tolerates and sometimes encourages direct sabotage by the settlers, such as the chemical poisoning of Palestinians’ water and the damaging of their personal tanks and structures.
The Palestinians in the area have to buy water for both themselfs and their animals. The local water spring leads up to the nearby settlement and army bases.
In addition to the weaponization of water, Israel has used military firing zones as a way to annex Palestinian land. Those who drive along the road from Tubas can see warning signs every few meters, declaring the adjacent land a firing zone. This is how the Israeli army declares that particular areas are for live weapons military training, despite the fact that Palestinian villages exist on them, many of which are forced to evacuate with no redress or compensation. Because of these continuously increasing restrictions on their movement, shepherds have been experiencing more difficulty finding places to herd their goats, forcing them to buy feed for them, a far more expensive and less healthy alternative.
Qadri’s story is just one of many stories Jordan Valley residents can tell, as the situation has been getting steadily worse since the occupation began in 1967. Before 1967, over 320,000 Palestinians were living in the Jordan Valley. Now, the number is around 60,000.
“Our children don’t even have the right to enjoy life,” Qadri says. “They cry during the night. They are scared. I think every child in the area needs a psychologist.”
In the village Al Maleh, the situation is similar. The future is uncertain, but everybody is determined to resist on their rightful land. The families listen desperately to the news everyday, waiting for answers. And now, they’re asking the international community for help and solidarity in their search for a peaceful and safe existence.
24st November 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus team | Nablus, Occupied Palestine
Six residential buildings in the Kufr Aqab neighbourhood in Jerusalem are currently facing demolition orders by Israeli authorities. The neighbourhood is the northernmost part of Jerusalem but is separated from the rest of Jerusalem by the Apartheid Wall. Most of the residents have Jerusalem IDs allowing them to enter the city, which sets them apart from most of the Palestinians living in the West Bank.
Six residental buildings are currently facing demolision orders by the Israeli authorities.
Both the houses and the demolition order are under the Jerusalem Municipality. The houses were built in the last two years and, according to one of the owners, around 200 families have bought or rented apartments in them, spending large sums of their life savings on what they believed would be their future homes. The Jerusalem Municipality claims that the reason for the demolition is its plan to make a street next to the houses that will make the road to Qalandia checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah easier. However, instead of moving the Apartheid Wall and using the existing road on the other side, Israeli Authorities are planning to demolish six residential buildings and leave many families in debt and without a home.
The entire neighbourhood will be affected by the demolitions.
An ISM report from last July reads:
The decision to demolish the houses is justified by Israeli authorities with the need to both expand the apartheid wall, part of the Qalandia checkpoint and to build a “security road“ alongside the wall. The apartheid wall already separates Palestinians living in Qalandia from several dunks of their land, which were confiscated and turned into a military airbase, no longer in use, or for other military purposes.
Dreams turned to terror
Ghana Ranya and her husband Ayman worked hard and spent their life savings on the dream apartment for their family, which includes their four children, aged 6 to 14 years old. The first year in their new home has been coloured by threats and terror from Israeli soldiers entering their home. The family is determined to stay in their home and is calling out for international solidarity. “We don’t want money, we don’t want anything except solidarity and support. We are staying here in our house and we will not leave,” says Ghana who used to work as an assistant nurse in a nearby hospital. Two months ago, she took the difficult decision to quit her job and stay in her home to protect it from the demolition order it’s facing. Ghana also describes how two of her neighbours, including her brother, have taken the same decision. “We don’t have anywhere to go. We want people to come and stand in support with us in stopping this. This house is our dream and the dream of our children. We just want to be heard.”
Both Ghana and Um Jamil describe how their sons could not go to school for days after soldiers from the Israeli military raided their homes in the middle of the night.
Not possible to make deals
Samen Shhade is the owner of one of the six buildings. Like the other owners, he has faced countless problems in the past months and years building the houses on his own land, which is cut by the apartheid wall. Shhade told ISM activists that they have been battling the Israeli legal system for months. “We went to the Israeli court, but we lost our case. They didn’t even explain it properly. We really tried to make an agreement but they just wouldn’t listen to us.“ He then continued to explain how they tried to make amendments with cutting down balconies on one side of the residential buildings, making space for the road. “We had a meeting with Noam,“ Shaade says, referring to their contact in the Jerusalem municipality. “We even recorded the meeting. He told us that they needed 7 meters for the road so we made space for seven meters.“
The owners went into costly operations, cutting off balconies from one side of the houses in attemt to co-operate with the Israeli municipality
But when the owners took it to court no one wanted to recognise the deal regarding the seven meters. “Then they said they needed 14 meters. We tried to deal with them but it’s not possible. We even proposed moving the wall and offered to pay for it but the city hall refused.“ Shhade, like the other owners, owns the land the houses are built on, but lost parts of it after the construction of the Apartheid Wall, which prevents him from accessing the other side. Shhade’s story is representative of many Palestinians in the West Bank whose land has been annexed by Israel.
“We have tried to cooperate”
All the families that ISM activists spoke to described how Israeli soldiers enter their homes at night, waking children in their beds and scaring the families. Even though the families have pictures proving it, the lawyers from the Jerusalem Municipality argued that no one lives in the apartments. “After midnight the soldiers come and raid many apartments, but then they say that no one lives there. Maybe two weeks ago they were coming every day, they also entered the basement to test out explosives.“
Soldiers from the Israeli occupation forces have repeatedly raided the homes in the past months, counting residents and demanding ID’s
In the building owned by Samen Shhade, there is a mosque with two prayer rooms. “It’s the only one in the neighbourhood and it’s used by many,“ Shhade said proudly. But the lawyers from the Jerusalem Municipality still use the same tactic in court, denying the existence of the mosque. Shhade still hopes to keep his building, since he has made financial promises to the families that have spent their life savings on the houses. “I think and I hope I can win this case. I hope the city hall in Jerusalem will believe us and sit us down face to face. There are other options. If you want to help us by making a road to Qalandya, why take away the homes of 200 families?“
No solutions for Palestinians in the Israeli system
Qusi Shhade, Samen’s son, also spoke to ISM activists about the situation. His brother recently moved into one of the apartments with his wife of only few months. Qusi described the constant problems the families face and how they have tried to cooperate with the Jerusalem municipality in order to keep their homes safe. “They came on the 14th of May and said that six houses will be demolished, since they want to make a street and some parks. Instead of pushing the wall back they want to demolish the houses. All the families from the house we visited went to the city hall in Jerusalem and were willing to cooperate. They told us they needed 7 meters so we gave them 7 meters. We did that,“ Qusi says firmly. Then Qusi continues to describe how the soldiers have been raiding homes for the past weeks and months, waking children in their beds.
A soldier from the Israeli military detaining a Palestinian boy during one of the night raids of the houses.
“We will not leave”
Um Jamil is one of the residents in Kufr Aqab. She and her husband have lived with their four children in their apartment for around 11 months. The youngest one – only three years old – biked around the apartment, unaware of the situation he and his family are in, while his mom described the past months for the ISM activists. “I am always tense about any car that drives by in the evening. One evening three weeks ago, soldiers came at 2:00 in the morning and took information about all the buildings here, except this one. Our neighbour who lives here went down and they told him this is the last time they will come, next time they will demolish our home.“
Um Jamil described to ISM’ers how she is tense about every car that drives by the families home, terrified that the Israeli army is just around the corner.
Um Jamil says her mental health is bad even though the children don’t really know what is happening. The family has already left the house once with only 48 hours notice. After the 48 hours had passed and nothing had happened, the family returned. Now Um Jamil is sure that they will not leave the home again. However, the constant military presence in the area has had an effect on many of the children. Both Ghada and Um Jamil describe how their young sons were scared to go to school in the days after soldiers from the Israeli Military woke them up in the middle of the night.
In the building owned by Samen Shhade, there is a mosque with two prayer rooms. “It’s the only one in the neighbourhood and it’s used by many,“ Shhade said proudly. But the lawyers from the Jerusalem Municipality still use the same tactic in court, denying the existence of the mosque.
According to the ICAHD (The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions), 351 Palestinian structures have been demolished in 2017 alone, displacing 528 Palestinians. Demolishing the six residential buildings in Kufr Aqab would be devastating to many Palestinian families, and would come as a part of Israel’s ongoing, illegal effort to annex East Jerusalem and push Palestinians further into the West Bank.
