Israeli forces violently dispersed demonstration in Kafr Qaddum

13th August 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, Huwwara team | Kafr Qaddum, occupied Palestine

Friday 11th of August, the Israeli forces violently dispersed the weekly Friday demonstration in Kafr Qaddum. The villagers have been protesting since 2011 against the closure of their main road that leads to Nablus. The closure of the road complicates the everyday life of the Palestinians living in Kafr Qaddum, it restricts their right to free movement and furthermore adds economical pressure to the villagers who are forced to spend more time and money on public transportation. The closed road leads to the agricultural areas surrounding Kafr Qaddum, prohibiting the farmers from accessing their land freely.

Friday 11th at 1 PM the villagers of Kafr Qaddum began the demonstration. A group of Palestinians and international activists marched towards the road that leads to Nablus, passing the illegal settlement of Kedumim. The demonstration was immediately interrupted by the Israeli occupation forces. They blocked the road at the entrance to the village, and started shooting rubber coated steel bullets, live ammunition and throwing stun grenades. The demonstration was dispersed, and people sought shelter nearby. The Palestinians and the international activists tried to continue the demonstration, but were continuously pushed back by the violence used by the Israeli occupation forces. The soldiers were strategically placed around the village, ensuring that the demonstration could not move elsewhere, and firing at the demonstration from different angles.

The following day, Saturday 12th, the villagers held another demonstration. Three international activist were denied from joining the protest and were detained for three hours by the Israeli occupation forces.

During the past 6 years of the weekly Friday protest, the Israeli occupation forces has continuously used violence to repress the villagers.

 

Settler violence continues in occupied al-Khalil

 7th August 2017 | International Solidarity Movement | Al-Khalil team, Occupied Hebron

On the evening of Saturday 5th August, a group of 30 to 50 settlers aged between 15 and 30 years old from the illegal settlement of Kiryat Arba entered the Palestinian neighbourhood Wadi al-Hussein from the illegal settlement of Kiryat Arba and verbally and physically attacked Palestinians and vandalised the neighbourhood. A member of the Jabari family, a man aged 24 using a mobility scooter, was assaulted and injured by a group of settlers.

Groups of settlers on the main road near Palestinian families
Photo credit: Jabari family

The incident began around 9:30 pm on Saturday 5th August when a group of 30 to 50 settlers arrived on the streets of Wadi al-Hussein and started harassing locals. The settlers attacked a 24-year old disabled Palestinian man living near the Kiryat Arba settlement, pushing him off of his mobility scooter and beating him. The man suffered injuries to his leg from the attack. Even though the situation should have required intervention from the Israeli occupation forces, only the Israeli civil administration arrived at the scene.

According to the family of the Palestinian man, they had heard noises near their home and had run down to the street to see what was going on and to find their family member. The family was not able to locate the 24-year old, because the civil administration had transferred him after he was beaten by the settlers. In the street, the family was both verbally and physically assaulted by the settlers. The aggression continued until 2 AM and no Israeli soldiers were at any time present in the neighbourhood to protect the Palestinians living there.

Cars gather during settler attack in al-Khalil
Photo credit: Jabari family

As a result, the settlers had free access to the lands of the Jabari family and the rest of the Palestinian neighbourhood. During the hostilities, the settlers not only assaulted people physically and verbally, but also threw stones at Palestinian houses and cars. Thus, many Palestinian families were forced to stay inside their houses during this settler attack. No settlers were arrested after the hostilities and they were allowed to walk back freely to the settlement. It is likely that the attack was a response to the violence the day before on 4th August, in the same neighbourhood, in which four Palestinians and a settler girl were injured after a large group of Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians with rocks.

The Wadi Al-Hussain neighbourhood lies next to the illegal Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba and suffers from frequent settler violence, daily harassment as well as restrictions imposed on the community by Israel. The Jabari family won a court case last month against the claims from the municipality of Kiryat Arba to pay “Arnona” taxes of 160,000 NIS on the basis that they live within the borders of Israel. Kiryat Arba municipality sent the bill to the family based on the claim that they lived within the administrative borders of the settlement. The Israeli court ruled on 27th of July that the “Arnona” claims were illegal and ought to be canceled. However, the family still struggles to protect their land against settlers, including against the illegally constructed outdoor synagogue named “Hazoun David” that was built on the Jabari family’s land. The settlers walk up to this synagogue twice a day and occupy the area, especially on Saturdays when they celebrate the Sabbath. The Jabari family is only one out of many Palestinian families living under these circumstances in occupied Palestine.

BDS conference in Australia: end complicity with Israeli apartheid

7th August 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, support group Australia | Australia

Multi-award winning poet and playwright Samah Sabawi began Australia’s second and biggest national conference on Israeli Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions last week in Sydney, with words from the diaspora: “In 2005, after decades of failed negotiations, Palestinian civil society lit a candle in the darkness. They started a non-violent, grassroots movement, based on international law and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They called on people of good conscience around the world to apply boycotts, divestments and sanctions on Israel…And we are here at this conference to discuss ways in which to respond to this call. Palestinian civil society is not asking us to get involved. They are asking us to end our involvement with Israeli apartheid. Because we are already knee-deep in complicity.”

Watch a live video of the conference here.

Israeli forces repress Friday demonstration in Kafr Qaddum

6th August 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, Huwwara team | Kafr Qaddum, occupied Palestine

On Friday 4th of August residents of Kafr Quaddum held their weekly demonstration against the closure of a road, once the main transport route from the community to Nablus. The weekly Friday demonstrations began on 1st July 2011.

Palestinians march in Kafr Qaddum during last Friday’s protest

The closing of the road was justified as a security measure for the nearby illegal settlement of Kedumim, and has led to residents of Kafr Quaddum having to use a significantly longer route to Nablus, and the surrounding area.

 Last friday’s demonstration started around 1 PM, with local residents, joined by Israeli and International activists, marching through the village.They were met by Israeli soldiers who used tear gas, sound bombs and rubber-coated steel bullets to suppress the crowd. The demonstration was pushed back from several directions, with Israeli forces raiding the house of local resident Jamal Jumaa, and using it as a strategic point from which to disperse the protesters.

Kafr Qaddum residents have been protesting the closure of a main road since 2011

Despite the use of excessive violence by Israeli forces, no one was injured during the three hour demonstration.

Drones were also deployed in order to surveil residents participating in the protest, so as to identify targets for arrest.

Israeli forces repressed the demonstration and raided the house of Jamal Jumaa, a local resident

In the six years since the weekly demonstrations began, locals report that 85 Palestinians have been shot with live ammunition, with a further 170 people arrested.

 

Palestinian schoolchildren celebrate graduation in al-Khalil

5th August 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

Palestinian children celebrated graduation yesterday in the occupied city of al-Khalil (Hebron). The occasion was marked by a cultural festival, organised by the Palestinian National Initiative. The event was lively, with singing, dancing and comedy, as well as a rousing speech by Mustafa Barghouti.

Mustafa Barghouti gives a speech to graduating students

The theme of the event, other than the students’ achievements, was the recent tensions over Israel’s access restrictions in al-Aqsa mosque. A group of male students, called ‘Liberate al-Aqsa’, presented an impressive dance routine wearing keffiyehs.  Shortly after, the leader of the political party organising the event, Mustafa Barghouti, gave a rousing speech in which he spoke of the importance of free access to education and praised the youth of al-Khalil for their central role in resisting the occupation.

After Barghouti’s speech, the students put on a play based on the recent Israeli attack on the al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem. Four children, portraying Israeli border police, stormed the stage and attacked Palestinian demonstrators. However, by the end of the play, the defiance of Palestinian protestors forced the soldiers out of al-Aqsa, to the celebration of worshippers.

The play was followed by a beautiful song, sung by one of the girls from the school, and a comedy act, which drew laughter from the hundreds of parents and children in attendance. Afterwards, the actual graduation ceremony commenced, with students receiving their diplomas from school officials, local notables and Mr. Barghouti.

One student, who is looking forward to studying law at al-Khalil university, said that the ceremony was ‘fantastic’, that ‘it was just such a great atmosphere’. The only regret she expressed was that the students were not able to wear gowns, as the school could not afford them for everyone. Nonetheless, the evening served as a beautiful way to mark a great occasion in the difficult lives of the children of al-Khalil.