28th November 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Azzoun, Occupied Palestine
Yesterday afternoon in Azzoun village, there was a demonstration attended by more than 250 people. This protest was against the Israeli forces’ continuing night invasions, arrests, and their treatment of Palestinian prisoners.
The demonstration began in the center of Azzoun at noon, hundreds of people marched to the outskirts of the village, several speeches were given and a reception was held after the protest ended. The population of Azzoun has been subject to an increase in night raids; there have been 32 arrests so far this month. The average number of people arrested in the village since 2007 is 170 Palestinians per year.
In 2007 a young Palestinian, Jihad Abu Haniya, was arrested and sentenced to 16 years in prison for being a suspected member of al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade. His parents are allowed to visit him once a year, and at their most recent visit they were extremely concerned for his physical wellbeing. After the demonstration, arranged by Azzoun Municipality and Prisoner’s Club, villagers visited Jihad’s family to show their solidarity and support.
The village of Azzoun has suffered considerably due to the occupation, after 1948 the villagers lost 24,000 dunums of land and today they have access to less than half of their land due to settlements established in the ‘70s and ‘80s. The illegal settlements of Qarne Shomron and Malalae Shomron now occupy approximately half of the land with infrastructure separating Azzoun into smaller areas. Agriculture constitutes the majority of the villagers’ income, and the loss of land is a huge burden to many families. Furthermore, due to road blockades surrounding Azzoun, trading is complicated with rest of the West Bank, and 47% of the inhabitants are unemployed. Many citizens have been forced to find jobs in Israel, but every time a member of a family is arrested, all family members lose their work permits.
13th October 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine
Palestinians view the fence around the Azzeh home
One international was arrested after settlers fenced off the Asseh family home for a second day in a row in Hebron’sTel Rumeida area.
Yesterday, early Saturday morning, settlers tied a fence across the exit of the Asseh family home with a wire gate to prevent them from leaving for a second day. After the family and internationals removed the gate, settler children threw rocks, water and water mixed with faeces at them. Two Israeli soldiers stood close and did nothing. The police arrived but also took no action despite being informed of what had happened.
Within an hour of the Asseh family and the internationals dispersing, the gate had been reassembled and reinforced. One adult male settler stood over the gate and prevented anyone from passing through or disassembling it. After 20 minutes the Asseh family and internationals finally managed to remove the gate despite repeated physical attacks by the settler. A number of internationals sustained minor injuries. During this, soldiers continued to stand by and do nothing.
The police arrived and first questioned the settler and then two soldiers who were present. After being shown video footage by an international, police demanded that four internationals accompany them to the police station to file a complaint. When the internationals requested to file the complaint later, police became violent and arrested one international. Other internationals were thrown to the ground by police and soldiers who assisted the arrest. The arrested international was eventually released after being questioned in the police station at the illegal settlement of Givat Ha’avot.
23rd September 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine
On Sunday 22nd September, heavy clashes took place across Hebron, leading to the injury and arrest of numerous Palestinians as well as the death of an Israeli soldier. Hebron is currently declared a military zone with a curfew imposed and all entrances to the city sealed off. Throughout Sunday evening and night, the Israeli army has been raiding houses, searching all males and arresting hundreds in several neighbourhoods near the scene of the attack.
On Sunday, as part of celebrations of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, the street outside checkpoint 56 leading to Yatta was closed by Israeli military and border police. Last Friday the army announced by military order that all shops on the street would have be closed and cars would have to be moved between 11am and 3pm, to ensure safe passage for settlers and Jewish visitors for a pilgrimage to what the settlers consider the cave of Otniel ben Knaz, located on said road.
The clashes in Bab Al-Zawiyeh began around 11.30 am when Palestinian youths began to throw stones at the invading Israeli army and border police. The occupation forces shot tear gas canisters, stun grenades and plastic-coated steel bullets at the protesters. Within the first few hours, internationals witnessed border police violently grab two young men from the crowds and drag them into checkpoint 56; it is unknown if they were detained or arrested. Internationals also witnessed several injuries in these clashes, including a Palestinian youth shot with a rubber-coated steel bullet in the back of his head. When his friends proceeded to carry him towards medical treatment, Israeli border police responded by firing more plastic-coated steel bullets at the wounded youth and his friends as they were crossing the street. The clashes in Bab Al-Zawiyeh continued well into the evening and became progressively more violent and volatile. Live ammunition was used against resisting protesters and there are reports of several Palestinian men being treated for gunshot wounds.
Meanwhile, clashes also took place outside checkpoints 209 and 29 in the Quatoum and Salaymeh neighbourhoods. As part of the preparations for the Sukkot celebrations and in order to accommodate the large flux of Jewish tourists, the Israeli military had moved the roadblocks outside these two checkpoints approximately 200 metres further down the road and re-directed Israeli tour buses down this route. This move effectively enlarged area H2 under Israeli military control and disrupted life for Palestinians, as well as constituting provocation and humiliation. During the riots, stone-throwing youths and children were confronted with large amounts of teargas, sound grenades, rubber-coated steel bullets and several rounds of live ammunition shot by the Israeli military, who also invaded several roofs of Palestinian houses to fire from there. During the clashes, one man was beaten by border police, and two youths were arrested and released after about an hour.
At around 6pm, international activists saw soldiers who had been shooting at the protestors suddenly run back up the road towards checkpoint 209 (Abu Rish/Quatoum). When they followed them, they saw a soldier lying on the ground unconscious and bleeding from his neck. After attempts to resuscitate him failed, the soldier, identified later as Gabriel Kobi, was rushed to a Jerusalem hospital in a helicopter, where he died of his wounds sustained. The Israeli army claims he was hit by a bullet shot by a suspected Palestinian sniper, however none of the international activists present at the scene heard any gunshots.
Following the soldier’s injury and later death, hundreds of soldiers invaded the neighbourhoods surrounding checkpoints 29 and 209, conducting searches throughout the evening and into the night, apparently in an attempt to find the sniper they claim killed the soldier, and in retaliation for his death. International activists witnessed the army combing through house after house, forcing out all males above the age of 16, and frisking them one by one. They also saw a group of about 50 detained men with their hands behind their heads being marched down towards checkpoint 29. International activists also accompanied an ambulance which took a woman in labour to the hospital after it had initially been blocked by the army. Meanwhile, clashes continued in the area, and the army heavily used rubber-coated steel bullets and live ammunition against stone-throwing youth.
Hebron has been completely sealed off, with all entrances to the city being controlled by the army, and a curfew imposed within Hebron. Tomorrow, 50,000 Jewish settler visitors were expected to descend upon Hebron for Sukkot celebrations and a music festival, according to the settler community’s spokesperson; however the events of today will most likely lower this number. In any case, it is clear that Monday 23rd September will be yet another intense day for Palestinians, as they face high levels of army violence and settler attacks in retaliation for the soldier’s death.
Israeli soldiers and border police before the clashes began
10th September 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah Team | Qaryut, Occupied West Bank
Protesters marching towards the road (Photo by ISM)
Update 11th September: Abdallah Abu Rahmah was released at around 10pm last night. Bashar Qaryouti and Salah al-Khawaja have also been released. Bashar has needed medical attention after being beaten during his arrest.
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Three Palestinian activists have been arrested today related to a demonstration against a road block in the northern West Bank village of Qaryut.
More than 150 Palestinians participated in the protest marching from the village towards Road 60, connecting Ramallah to Nablus. As a group of protesters were approaching the road, two military jeeps blocked them, throwing stun grenades and shooting tear gas canisters. Israeli soldiers arrested two activists, Bashar Qaryouti and Salah al-Khawaja and beat others as they attempted to arrest more. Soldiers pursued activists from the road from many different directions and came through the olive trees trying to trap activists, shooting many teargas canisters.
More soldiers arrived in twelve military jeeps and fired teargas at demonstrators who had moved back to the hill. The soldiers occasionally moved forward but mainly stayed positioned by the road. Many demonstrators suffered from tear gas inhalation and three were treated by medical personnel in the field. The demonstrators withdrew at 7pm.
Israeli soldiers taking Bashar (Photo by Issam Rimawi)
A flying checkpoint was set up on the road from Ramallah to Qaryout and Abdallah Abu Rahmah, a prominent Palestinian activist was arrested. Soldiers approached the car with a list containing the names and ID numbers of three local activists. Abu Rahmah was handcuffed and detained for forty-five minutes until the Israeli police arrested him.
10th June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine
Yesterday in Khalil, a number of Palestinians were transporting building material to a house in Tel Rumeida. By doing so, they were challenging the army by transporting the material using a tractor on the only remaining road to the house, one which the tractor is not allowed to access. The army halted the transportation of materials and Mufit Al Sharabati (50) was arrested and then severely beaten in a military base. Imad Al-Atrash (19), a young man from Youth Against Settlements (YAS) was also beaten and injured during his arrest. Both men required hospital treatment for their injuries. Mufit requires serious medical attention and was taken to the operation room soon after he arrived at the hospital.
Building work in Tel Rumeida is extremely difficult work even with the correct permits, which Mufit (the property owner) has legally obtained. The realities imposed by the occupation on the ground make it practically impossible to physically carry out the work required. The house in question yesterday required materials to be transported using a tractor, however the only road which leads to the olive groves in Tel Rumeida where Mufit’s house is located cannot be legally accessed by this tractor. Therefore the only option left to the Palestinians attempting to carry out building work, is to challenge this law, risking detention, arrest or injury to do so. With today’s incident this was the situation.
The locals in Tel Rumeida are very aware of the consequences of attempting to challenge occupation law, yet they consistently try to overcome this ban, refusing to give in to this injustice. Yesterday’s episode is only the most recent of a series of previous attempts by these same individuals to bring the building material using the tractor on the banned road. Only two days ago this was attempted and halted by the Israeli army with the tractor being held and the driver detained. Several weeks ago this process was once again attempted resulting in two arrests and the confiscation of the tractor for several hours.
The incident yesterday began in similar circumstances, with the soldiers halting the tractors progress early on its journey. However, the soldiers then decided to arrest Mufit who was later beaten in an army base, requiring hospital treatment where he currently remains. There was also an attempt to arrest Imad, 8 soldiers physically picked him up to carry him to their vehicle, beating him whilst they did so. Imad tried to struggle against the soldiers and was dropped to the pavement where he hit his head on the concrete. When activists arrived on the scene, Imad was semi-conscious, shaking and unable to speak. He was transported by ambulance to the local hospital and has since been released. The fate of Mufit’s house remains to be seen, however the overall picture in Tel Rumeida and other parts of Khalil and the occupied West Bank, is one of continuous attempts at evicting Palestinians indirectly by making their lives and the possibilities for improving their circumstances, more difficult every day.
The Israeli army dropping Imad Al-Atrash on the ground (Photo by Youth Against Settlements)Imad Al-Atrash receiving medical treatment for his injuries (Photo by Youth Against Settlements)
