Tag: Area A

Israeli forces threaten Palestinian families with house demolitions

7th April 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah team | al-Bireh, occupied Palestine

The map presented by Israeli forces showing the Qar’an home (top left) running along the boundary of Area B, but within Area C

On 5^th April, 2017, Israeli forces told Abbas Qar’an and his family that their home in al-Bireh was going to be demolished. The homes of two other anti-occupation activists in the area recieved similar threats. ISM activists met with Abbas, the son of the homeowner, to hear his story.

Israeli forces arrived at the family home, located west of the illegal Israeli settlement of Psagot, whilst Abbas was at work and presented the demolition notice to his wife. After his wife refused to take the order, the soldiers left it outside the house, weighed-down with a rock. The notice comes from the district coordination office in the illegal Israeli settlement of Beit El, charging the Qar’an family of building a house without the right permit.

On the local municipality map, Abbas’ home lies well within the boundaries of Area A – under full Palestinian control. However, Israeli authorities claim the boundary line runs straight through the family’s home, with a majority of the rooms lying within Area C – under full Israeli control. Whilst no specific date has been given for the demolition, the order states that he must go to the illegal Israeli settlement of Beit El within three days of the notice to challenge the demolition. The family home was built in 1960 – decades before the Oslo Accords that created the so-called “Areas” (A,B,C) – and the family insists that all of their paperwork is in order. It is also unclear if the demolition order is against a single house or the whole building, meaning that a form collective punishment is looming over all of the residents in the building.

The local municipality map, showing the home (red) within the boundaries of Area A.

Abbas lives in Jabal al-Taweel with his wife and four children: fifteen year old Hamza; twelve year old Murad; five year old Jenna; and his eighteen month old daughter, Judy. Abbas tells us that he and his family have been targeted by Israeli authorities due to his past involvement in activism against the occupation for which he spent seven years in Israeli military prison. Despite both he and his father being American citizens, Abbas was denied all travel beyond the occupied West Bank for twenty years.

Abbas and his family are not alone, as the homes of other activists have been targeted for demolition in the al-Bireh area: Abbas’ cousin, Rami Ishtawi, has also been threatened with demolition orders by Israeli authorities; while the home of Bajes Nahkleh – currently in an Israeli prison – in nearby al-Jalazone refugee camp (Area B – Palestinian civil control, Israeli security control) has also been threatened with the demolition of his home.

The Qar’an family does not know what they will do should the demolitions go ahead and the family home lost, but they claim that the Palestinian community has already offered them places to stay if Israeli forces carry out their threats. At the end of the interview, Abbas wished to thank all the internationals who travel to Palestine to hear the stories of families like his and to support all Palestinian people, who suffer daily under the occupation. The family are currently pursuing a legal case against the demolition.

One Palestinian killed and over 25 injured as Israeli military invade Ramallah

22nd June 2014 | International Solidarity Movement| Ramallah, Occupied Palestine

In the early hours of the morning, the Israeli military invaded the Ramallah district of the West Bank; at least 25 people were injured, mostly from the many rubber-coated steel bullets fired by the soldiers. One youth was shot with live ammunition in the head. Mahmoud Atalla Ismael was found dead one hour ago in a building close to al-Manara, shot with live ammunition.

Ramallah, according to the 1993 Oslo Accord, is classified as area A, supposedly under full Palestinian Authority, civil and security control. This did not stop the military from invading the city, continuing their campaign of collective punishment against the Palestinian people since three settler youth disappeared on Thursday (12th June).

At approximately 01:00 this morning, the Israeli army invaded the city of al-Bireh (near Ramallah); next they moved to the Alginan neighbourhood, raiding a local school. In the Imalsharait neighbourhood, Israeli forces tried to arrest a Palestinian youth, who was fortunately able to run away. Clashes broke out as Palestinian youths threw stones to try and repel the military from the area, the army fired many tear gas canisters and rubber-coated steel bullets.

Large numbers of Israeli forces then took control of Al-Manara Square in the center of Ramallah. From there Israeli soldiers threw stun grenades, fired tear gas canisters, rubber-coated steel bullets, and live ammunition.

At some point during this military violence, Mahmoud Atalla Ismael was killed.

One Palestinian woman was injured after Israeli forces threw a stun grenade that hit her in the head. She received treatment from Red Crescent paramedics, stayed until the military left the area, and then left to Ramallah hospital for further treatment.

Palestinian woman holding bloody gauze she used to stop her wound bleeding (photo by ISM).

Ala, a 21-year-old youth, was standing close to Al-Manara when he was shot in the head with live ammunition. “I touched my head and felt the blood, then I fell down to the ground. I was carried to a taxi and taken to hospital, I thought I was gonna die. Five doctors surrounded me and I was covered in blood”.

Ala was fortunate; the bullet struck his skull, and then glanced away. He required four stitches and was able to leave the hospital several hours later.

21-year-old Ala after being released from hospital, his shirt still bloody (photo by ISM).

13 youths were shot with rubber-coated steel bullets and taken to hospital for treatment, an additional two had to be treated for tear gas inhalation. However it is impossible to state exactly how many people were injured by the Israeli military, as many youths shot with rubber-coated steel bullets did not require hospital treatment, some continuing to stay in Al-Manara until the military left the area.

Israeli military jeep leaving Ramallah (photo by ISM). — Israeli military jeep leaving Ramallah at approximately 05:00 (photo by ISM).

Video- Israeli forces raid Nablus during Ramadan

23rd July 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Nablus, Occupied Palestine

Tonight 23rd July 2013, the Israeli army invaded Nablus and shot large amounts of tear gas canisters and sound bombs at Palestinian youth trying to push back the invading forces.

At around 2:45am, Israeli army invaded Faisal Street, the main artery that crosses the city from East to West. Some Palestinian youth were already in the city centre, enjoying the nights of Ramadan, and others joined them after the army invaded. Together, they responded to the invasion by throwing stones at the soldiers who rapidly shot tear gas canisters and sound bombs at them.

Stationed in groups of three or four along the street, Israeli soldiers continued shooting at people during an hour and a half. A group of international activists living in Nablus went to the area where the shooting was happening and when they made clear that they were internationals and there were unarmed civilians in the area, Israeli soldiers pointed at them, threw a couple of sound bombs and shot several tear gas canisters directly at them.

During the time of the invasion, Israeli forces shot numerous tear gas canisters low and directly at people. Two Palestinians and an international activist were hit by the canisters. The soldiers reportedly arrested one man from a car in the city centre.

Every week the Israeli army comes and often raids different parts of the city of Nablus, ransacking houses, arresting people, firing sound bombs and gas canisters.

According to the Oslo agreements, Nablus is in Area A, which means that both security and civil administration should be the role of the Palestinian Authority. Once again last night, the Israeli army ignored these agreements.

Student apartments burnt during Israeli military invasion of Nablus

12th July 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Nablus, Occupied Palestine

In the early hours of Wednesday the 10th of July, the Israeli army, arriving from the military camp near the settlement of Qedumim (8km west of Nablus) raided the Nablus neighbourhood of Al Junied, near the new Al Najjar university campus.

Remains of bed in student room, burnt by teargas canisters (Photo by ISM)

The neighbourhood, which includes many student dormitories, was invaded by seven jeeps, who arrived between the hours of 1am and 3.30am, remaining until 5am. Seven jeeps full of soldiers entered the neighbourhood. Multiple tear gas canisters and sound bombs were fired directly inside three student apartments, setting fires which broke windows and burnt the walls, furniture, shoes, prayer mats and beds. Soldiers climbed the stairs of an empty building opposite the apartments and from there fired at close range into the student’s windows, severely burning two bedrooms and a balcony. Luckily nobody was still asleep when the shooting happened because it is clear from what is left of the beds after they were burnt that anybody there would have been seriously injured. However, as the soldiers were shooting blindly into the apartments, they could not have known if someone was still in the rooms where they were firing.

Although there were clashes between the army and youth outside the dormitory, students stated that no stones were thrown from the two rooms that were particularly targeted by the soldiers. The tear gas didn’t just burn the dormitories, but also spread its suffocating effects throughout the area. Many students suffered from the effects of severe gas inhalation, but the army prevented ambulances coming to the area throughout their attack on the students. At 8 pm, 16 hours after the time of the raid, it was still possible to smell teargas in the student apartments. One student was arrested during the clashes – his current whereabouts are unknown.

This situation is not unusual in this neighbourhood; according to residents, the occupation forces generally raid the area at least twice a week. A man who works in the grocery shop near the student apartments explained that the commander of the Israeli army unit which invades the area regularly at the moment is quite new and must be ʺlooking for adventuresʺ.

According to one of the students, the invasions all take the same formː gas, sound bombs, injuries and destruction. The Al Junied neighbourhood is nevertheless a part of the city of Nablus, which according to the Oslo agreements, is in Area A, which means that both security and civil administration should be the role of the Palestinian Authority. As usual the Israeli army ignore these agreements, accompanied by the silence of the Palestinian Authority and the passivity of the Palestinian police.

Al Junied is not an exceptional situation in Nablus. Indeed, every week the Israeli army comes and often raids different parts of the city, ransacking houses, arresting people, firing sound bombs and gas canisters.

Tear gas canister on one of the destroyed beds (Photo by ISM)

Three people arrested and several homes ransacked by Israeli occupation forces in Nablus

28th June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Nablus, Occupied Palestine

In the early hours of the morning on the 27^th June hundreds of Israeli army and police of the occupation forces invaded Nablus where they arrested people, destroyed homes and shot teargas and sound bombs all through the night.

The army remained in Nablus terrorising the population from 1.30am till 6.00am, when they eventually withdrew, forcibly taking three people whose families were left to repair their homes after they had been sacked by the army.

Father of three, Alam Hafif Qarim (40 years old) lives in a block of flats with his family in the North Mountain area of Nablus. Around 150 occupation soldiers and police in more than 20 military vehicles surrounded the building at 1.30am. The people in the building attempted to phone each other and outside for help and to find out what was happening, but the landlines had been cut and the mobile phone signal blocked. The army fired teargas canisters and sound bombs around the building, in the middle of the night. Fearing for the health of their children, residents closed their windows.

Israeli soldiers broke the children's bed (Photo by ISM) — Israeli soldiers broke the children’s bed (Photo by ISM)

At 2.30am around 25 soldiers with attack dogs entered the building, and attempted to force the door; when that did not work, they hammered noisily on the door shouting in Arabic that they were the army. Alam quickly unlocked the door and the 25 soldiers moved into the house. They had a bag of tools – hammers and the like – with them. Alam’s wife was told to wake the children, two girls (7 years old and 3 months old) and their 10-year-old son, where they were forced with Alam, who was handcuffed, to sit in one room as the army began to use the tools to make holes in the walls, smash windows and overturn and tear up furniture in the recently redecorated house. “They came ready,” Alam’s family member later told ISM. The family repeatedly asked the soldiers what they were looking for and what they wanted, to which the army did not reply. “They came to destroy our house and our lives, under the pretext of looking for something.”

All belongings including food and clothes were thrown into the bathroom as the destruction continued. One soldier who was careless in the destruction of the bathroom, injured himself with the tool he brought, and so the army called an ambulance to help him while Alam’s wife had to later clean up his blood in her bathroom he smashed.

A female soldier then initiated a body search of Alam’s wife and 7-year-old daughter. Alam’s 3-month-old other daughter was also not immune from suspicion when a soldier began to attack her pushchair. Alam’s wife intervened and patted it down to show that it could have nothing hidden in it and shouted at him that he “had no heart.” Later it was found that the children’s mattresses had been ripped apart in their room decorated with Mickey Mouse.

The army eventually left after 4am, taking Alam with them. Alam works in a shop that sells parts of BMWs and had been granted a visa to visit Germany to pick up parts. He was due to pick up his visa in 2-3 days.

Not far from Alam’s shop, which showed his pride in his work and in providing for his family, to live a normal life in spite of the difficulties unleashed by the occupation, is the home of 34-year-old Mazin and his parents. At 2am more than 50 soldiers burst into Mazin’s home and started to methodically destroy his family’s belongings as they interrogated him for four hours. Mazin and his parents suffer from ill health, his mother suffering from cancer and Mazin from a heart condition since he was 20, when the army shot him with 10 bullets for which he spent 6 months in hospital before being placed in prison, the same number of years as bullets, before he even had the chance to fully recover.

Mazen's bedroon, ransacked by Israeli soldiers (Photo by ISM) — Mazen’s bedroon, ransacked by Israeli soldiers (Photo by ISM)

Mazin asked the soldiers for water for himself and his mother during the interrogation. The army refused. The soldiers demanded that Mazin hand over automatic weapons, of which he said he had none.

The army then sadistically smashed the home; destroyed all furnishing; threw food from the fridge over the floor; overturned the washing machine, the oven, and even hauled out water pipes. “They’re animals,” Mazin’s father said. Soldiers threw eggs at walls and broke them on chairs. They smashed the toilet bowl and attacked the walls of every room with their tools. See video here.

At one point a soldier approached Mazin; he put his hand on Mazin’s shoulder and told him: “I don’t want to arrest you. I want to kill you. I promise you, I will kill you.” Mazin’s parents were standing beside him when their son was being threatened with murder. The family noticed three stars on the soldier’s uniform, which meant he’s a battalion commander, a high rank in the occupation army.

The army left the home in ruin; they took his laptop but found no illegal weapons. Later, Mazin, a FIFA-certified football coach in Nablus, found that his football had been skewered with a knife. In spite of condemnation from human rights supporters, Israel was recently chosen to host the 2013 UEFA under-21 championship.

Mazin and his parents chose to leave the house the way it was after the destruction; they hope that ‘“The world will see what life is like for Palestinians under Israeli occupation.”

Alam’s distraught family could not do this, when the army left they immediately started to clean and repair. “We didn’t sleep,” Alam’s sister said. She joined the family to help, as did many neighbours who came to support the family, as Alam is a popular man, but also through sense of duty and community.

The day after this attack on Nablus (Israel’s fourth in this last week alone), residents wondered what else the occupation army would do to their city the following night.Nablus is in Area A (according to the Oslo Accords), which means, in theory, that Israel does not have any military or civilian control over it.