Violent clashes continue in Kafr Qaddum

15th July 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil Team | Kafr Qaddum, Occupied Palestine

A demonstration by locals in Kafr Qaddum once again turned violent on Friday as Israeli soldiers and border police showed up to block the march’s path. Around 150 Palestinians were attempting to march towards an illegal Israeli roadblock which cuts off the town from Nablus.

Israeli forces block path of peaceful demonstration in Kafr Qaddum

Palestinian children and teenagers responded by throwing rocks at the soldiers, who responded in turn with a volley of rubber-coated steel bullets.

Many local children were present at the clash, which saw extensive use of rubber-coated steel bullets

Locals attempted to block the soldiers’ line of fire by burning tires next to the road, and building a stone barricade. Shortly after, a skunk truck – a foul smelling chemically treated water used to spray on Palestinians- arrived but was not used. Soldiers used a commercially-available drone throughout the clash, surveying the situation and possibly taking photos of participants.

Local teenager hurls stone towards Israeli jeeps

Israeli border police, who had been waiting on a hill overlooking the demonstration, began to move downwards to confront the youths. When stones were thrown at them, they responded with more rubber-coated steel bullets, which narrowly avoided hitting the young children who were present.

Palestinian youths confront border police

Soldiers then attempted to disperse the march by firing a volley of teargas, but the wind blew it back towards them and away from the demonstrators. Realizing that teargas would be ineffective, soldiers and border police began firing their guns even more indiscriminately, from behind a protective barrier. Border police reinforced soldiers who had been observing from the hilltop, and began to fire at teenagers and children who were taunting them from the foot of the hill.

Border police fire at children and teenagers from behind a concrete barrier and wire fence
Border police fire on demonstrators from the top of a nearby hill

The town, located between Nablus and Qalqilya in the northern West Bank, has seen weekly clashes since 2003, when Israeli forces permanently blocked off the main road to Nablus. The introduction of this road block made a 1.5 kilometer journey to the neighboring village into a 15 kilometer journey, and a trip to Nablus 40 minutes instead of 15. Despite an Israeli court ruling in 2010 that the road block was illegal, it has still not been removed.

Israel raids Palestinian news agency, confiscates hard-drives

Early this morning, Israeli forces raided the al-Khalil headquarters of Al Quds media, kicking down doors to gain entry before confiscating computer hard-drives.

The soldiers searched two press offices in the building, belonging to Ramsat and Pal Media news agencies. After scattering documents across the floor, they confiscated the hard-drives from all computers in the Pal Media office. The soldiers were seen by a neighbour at between two and three o’clock in the morning, having apparently walked from Bab al-Baladiya military base in Hebron’s Old City.

Soldiers searched through Al Quds’ documents during the raid

Israeli authorities had given no prior warning of the raid to Al Quds, and journalists working there said that there had been no recent increase in tensions with the military. The reason for the raid is unclear, as the military have not responded to Al Quds’ requests for a comment. The only explanation offered by Israeli forces was a note posted on the door, which charged that the agency had been working with unnamed ‘illegal organisations.’

Soldiers confiscated all computer hard-drives in Al Quds’ al-Khalil headquarters

While Al Quds are not concerned that any sensitive information was contained on the hard-drives, some believe that the purpose of the raid was to scare journalists into conducting self-censorship. Akran Natsheh, a reporter for Al Quds, believes that this raid is simply part of an ongoing pattern of harassment.

“Two years ago they began shooting at reporters when they were covering clashes, and it made them much more afraid to cover what was happening”, Natseh explained. “When Israel starts attacking journalists, you know they are about to make a large violation that they don’t want the world to see.

“Our mission is the same as all journalists – to deliver the truth about what is happening. If they have something against our organisation, why don’t they take us to court? If they had solid reasons they would do that, but they don’t. You say something they don’t like and they shut you down. This is the occupation – when the army is control, this is how they deal with disagreement.”

The raid comes at a time when media laws are tightening under the Palestinian Authority, with a new law on ‘digital crimes’ set to restrict freedom of speech online.

While this is the first time that Al Quds’ Hebron office had been raided, such intimidation of journalists has been a common occurrence in occupied Palestine, where 383 such incidents were recorded in 2016 alone. Notable incidents include the storming of Trance Media offices across the West Bank in 2014, the forced closure of three local radio stations in al-Khalil in 2015 and the arrest of four journalists at a radio station in Dura last year.

Call to action: Olive Harvest 2017

10th July 2017 | International Solidarity Movement | Ramallah, occupied Palestine

At a time of regular settler violence in the West Bank, the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) is issuing an urgent call for volunteers to join us for the 2017 Olive Harvest Campaign at the invitation of Palestinian communities.

The olive tree is a national symbol for Palestinians. As thousands of olive trees have been bulldozed, uprooted and burned by Israeli settlers and the military – (over half a million olive and fruit trees have been destroyed since September 2000) – harvesting has become more than a source of livelihood; it has become a form of resistance.

Despite efforts by Israeli settlers and soldiers to prevent them from accessing their land, Palestinian communities have remained steadfast in refusing to give up their olive harvest.

Palestinian woman protests the destruction of the olive trees

ISM volunteers join Palestinian farming communities each year to harvest olives, in areas where Palestinians face settler and military violence when working their land. Your presence can make a big difference, with Palestinian communities stating that the presence of international volunteers reduces the risk of extreme violence from Israeli settlers and the Israeli army.

We support Palestinians’ assertion of their right to earn their livelihoods and be present on their lands. International solidarity activists engage in non-violent intervention and documentation, practical support which enables many families to pick their olives.

The harvest will begin in start-October and run until  mid-November.  We request a minimum 2 week commitment from volunteers but stress that long-termers are needed as well.  We kindly ask volunteers to start arriving in the first week of October, so we are prepared when the harvest begins.
Israeli soldier stands next to Palestinian farmers harvesting their olives

Training

The ISM will be holding mandatory two day training sessions which will run weekly on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Please contact palreports@gmail.com for further information.

Ongoing campaigns

In addition to the olive harvest, there will be opportunities to participate in grass-roots, non-violent resistance in Palestine.

ISM maintains a constant presence in Hebron, where settler harassment and violence is a regular occurrence. Lately, Israeli army violence has escalated for Palestinians living close to the illegal inner-city settlement. Israeli forces have used the Palestinian neighborhoods for military training, and heavily repress any form of resistance, responding with collective punishment as they lob dozens of teargas canisters and stun grenades onto Khalil’s population and even schoolchildren. As harassment, humiliation and violence became a daily occurrence, ISM is present to document these extremely violent responses, and to serve as a protective presence.

In addition to these activities, we participate in the weekly demonstrations in Kafr Qaddum, Nabi Saleh, Ni’lin and others where our presence is requested and protesters face excessive force by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF).

Come! Bear witness to the suffering, courage and generosity of the Palestinian people under Israeli occupation.

Experiencing the situation for yourself is vital to adequately convey the reality of life in Palestine to your home communities and to re-frame the debate in a way that will expose Israel’s apartheid policies; creeping ethnic cleansing in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem as well as collective punishment and genocidal practices in Gaza.

In Solidarity,

ISM Palestine

Israeli forces shoot teargas and rubber coated steel bullets at the 6th anniversary demonstration of Kafr Qaddum

9th July 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

On Friday 7th of July the residents of Kafr Qaddum gathered for their weekly demonstration marking its 6th anniversary, which was repressed by the Israeli forces shooting teargas, stun grenades and rubber-coated steel bullets at demonstrators. Israeli forces approached the demonstrators in a jeep and were seen on a hill next to the road connecting Kafr Qaddum and the Israeli settlement. Towards the end of the demonstration Israeli forces also forced their way into a Palestinian house to use it as a vantage point to aim at the demonstrators.

Kafr Qaddum peaceful demonstration

After the afternoon prayers at 1 pm, the people of Kafr Qaddum started their non-violent demonstration marching towards the illegal Israeli settlement of Kedumim. Soon after, the Israeli forces welcomed the demonstrators by shooting rubber-coated steel bullets and teargas. Halfway through the demonstration, an elderly Palestinian man was shot in the head with a rubber-coated steel bullet while taking cover from the shooting. Towards the end of the demonstration, an additional five Palestinians and a Korean activist were injured by the Israeli forces. Those who were injured were taken to receive treatment.

One of the Palestinians injured by Israeli forces gun-shots is brought to receive treatment

According to information provided by the Israeli military spokesperson to Ma’an news, no Israeli army forces were present at the demonstration, but instead it was the Israeli police that repressed the non-violent demonstration. This however is not true, as later during the demonstration Israeli army soldiers were seen at a nearby hill, and soon replaced the police on the road with more jeeps and an armored personnel carrier. The soldiers then proceeded to fire rubber-coated steel bullets at protesters and activists, and threw several stun grenades in an attempt to disperse the demonstration. Israeli soldiers also forced their way into a house and took up positions on the balcony overlooking the road.

Israeli forces inside a civilian Palestinian home aiming at protestors

Apartheid illustrated: Israeli soldier shoots another soldier in Hebron

6th July 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

On Tuesday, 4th July 2017, Israeli forces were conducting a ‘military training’ in a civilian Palestinian neighborhood near Gilbert checkpoint in Tel Rumeida in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron). The result of this ‘military training’ was a fatal shot by one Israeli soldier to the other. The injured commander was immediately evacuated to hospital by an Israeli ambulance,  and was later confirmed dead. The Israeli forces immediately closed the whole area to Palestinians by closing all the checkpoints, collectively punishing the civilian Palestinian population. The army, after the incident, announced that these ‘military trainings’ will be suspended in al-Khalil.

The whole incident, though, needs to be contextualized: an occupying army conducted a ‘military training’ near a checkpoint installed for the control and humiliation of the occupied population, in a civilian residential neighborhood. Immediate medical assistance to the injured occupying soldier, with an ambulance that, without any problems, was granted immediate access to the injured.

Military trainings, under international humanitarian law, are prohibited in civilian areas. The Israeli occupying army in al-Khalil, and all over the occupied territories, though, conducts trainings in civilian areas. This serves two functions: for one, it is more ‘real’, a training in the area where the perceived ‘enemy population’ is living, and second, the intimidation of the population. Israeli forces in al-Khalil are sometimes seen ‘practicing’ the ‘neutralization’, as it is called in Israeli rhetoric, of Palestinians at checkpoints. In those cases, a Palestinian that allegedly carries a knife is seen as a threat to the life of the heavily armed and armored occupation forces – and thus has to be shot and, as documented in so many cases, left to bleed to death on the ground without any medical assistance. The idea is always to shoot to kill.

Whereas an Israeli soldier or settler from the illegal settlements would immediately receive medical assistance, as Israeli ambulance are free to pass, Palestinian ambulances, and actually any Palestinian vehicles (often including donkeys and bicycles) are not allowed to drive on one of the roads in al-Khalil – which conveniently connects the settlements in down-town al-Khalil with the Kiryat Arba settlement on the outskirts of the city. Palestinian ambulances, as they are not allowed on this street, instead, are often detained by Israeli forces at the checkpoints, denied to pass and thus denied access to give first aid.

Immediately after the incident, the Israeli forces closed all the checkpoints in the area, effectively putting the area under curfew – for Palestinian residents. Any Palestinian civilian inside the area, thus, was prevented from leaving, and anyone outside trying to reach their homes, was prevented from coming back home. This is clearly collective punishment of the Palestinian civilians, who are not involved in the incident at all – other than living in an area that the Israeli forces are trying hard to rid of any Palestinian presence. Whereas Palestinian movement was completely restricted and Palestinians trying to film the incident and it’s aftermath were stopped and harassed by soldiers. Settlers, however, from the illegal settlements, were allowed to move around freely. In a separate incident, a settler beat up a Palestinian young man, causing his face to be unrecognizable as it was covered in blood. The settler though, can be sure that he’ll enjoy full impunity under the protection of the Israeli forces.

These kind of military trainings in the aftermath were declared ‘suspended’ in the city of al-Khalil. However, only because a soldier was killed, not because of their illegal nature in civilian areas or a possible threat to the occupied population.

This incident illustrates the apartheid system installed by the Israeli occupying forces in al-Khalil, and all over the occupied Palestinian territories. An apartheid-strategy that aims to displace the Palestinian population from their homeland in favor of illegal settlements.