Five Palestinian men were arrested by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) in a night raid inside the old city of Nablus on Saturday, July 28. Tear gas and sound bombs were used against families and civilians protesting the arrests. 19 young men suffered asphyxiation and were taken to hospital. Israeli soldiers remained inside the city until 6 a.m. terrorizing residents.
A Palestinian woman walks through the destroyed home of the Kharuf family | Team Palestina & Free Gaza
Military incursions in Nablus, which is located in Area A and therefore under Palestinian military jurisdiction, are breaches of the Oslo Agreement, but nonetheless occur regularly. As always in occupied Palestine, human rights and agreements take the back seat to Israel’s political desires.
Among the families who were particularly afflicted by the night raid was the al-Kharuf family. At 2 a.m. their home was attacked by Israeli soldiers shooting tear gas at the 9 inhabitants, 5 of whom are children under 12 years old. The children were terrified by the attack and have now been sent to stay with relatives outside the city. An elderly woman had to go to the hospital after suffocating from the tear gas.
The IOF entered the house, where they seized Walid Kharuf. He was questioned on the whereabouts of his brother Omar and was severely beaten. When Walid claimed he did not know where his brother was, he was threatened by the commanding officer, “if you are lying and I find you brother here, I will destroy the house.”
The Kharuf home was turned upside down in the search for Omar, who was eventually found. After arresting the 23 year old young man, Israeli soldiers ordered everyone outside while they applied a bomb to one of the walls in the house. The blast that followed tore a hole in the house and devastated the room in which it was placed.
A Palestinian man looks into a wardrobe of the home of the Kharuf family after Israeli forces carried out a raid and bombed a wall of the home | Team Palestina & Free Gaza
All of Saturday the Kharuf family was busy clearing their home of rubble and broken furniture scattered throughout the house.
“So now we are homeless,” Walid solemnly noted, surveying the damage to his home.
Jonas Webber is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
Photos by Jonas Ravn, Markus Fitzgerald, and Selina Khalil
27 July 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
For several days this past week, the Israeli army has assaulted Palestinians and conducted raids in Palestinian residential areas of Hebron. The raids have taken place in both the Israeli-controlled area H2 and the Palestinian-controlled area H1.
A 17 year old boy’s ripped t-shirt after being beaten by Israeli soldiers – click to see more photos
Military training in H1
In the afternoon of July 23, more than 30 Israeli soldiers participated in a half hour training operation in Bab a-Zawiya neighborhood. The neighborhood is located in H1, the supposedly Palestinian-controlled area of Hebron.
Close to a dozen armed Israeli soldiers ran out of Checkpoint 56, advanced 300 meters up the street, and sealed off traffic. There they met with over 20 other soldiers who had taken positions on the rooftops of Palestinian residential homes.
After forcing their way in between the homes, soldiers conducted some closed activities before retreating back into the H2 area. The operation is presumably another military training drill.
Later that evening, 20 Israeli soldiers again entered the H1 area, this time in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood. Bringing with them a dog, weapons, and other military equipment, the soldiers proceeded with an hour long training operation.
Combat-like positions were assumed in different locations of the neighborhood. Some soldiers unfolded a compact ladder and climbed an earth mound, despite a parallel road. Other soldiers stopped a young Palestinian man in his car with loud shouting, forced him out at gunpoint, and searched him. A second young Palestinian man was pushed against a wall and body-searched.
When neighborhood residents left the local mosque after Isha, the evening prayer, Israeli soldiers forced them back into the mosque with aggressive shouting. Several houses were raided by soldiers, for reasons unexplained.
When International Solidarity Movement (ISM) volunteers took photos and filmed the behavior, soldiers at several occasions ran or charged against them.
“If you take pictures your camera is mine,” was one of many similar threats made by soldiers.
Another soldier said, “do not take pictures of my soldiers when we are training – I mean, when we are doing our job.”
Raiding and sound-bombing Palestinian homes
Although house owners offered to open locked doors with a key, Israeli soldiers broke their doors during a military raid- click to see more photos
In the night of July 24, ISM volunteers witnessed a second day of assault and raids in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood of Hebron. Approximately 50 armed soldiers, some wearing balaclavas and other with camouflage-painted faces, broke into and raided the home of Khalid Abu Ainsheh. Khalid’s son, Isaq Khattib, was arrested earlier at 8pm as he was about to break fast for Ramadan.
6 soldiers had come to a different home and pulled Isaq Khattib out. Isaq was searched against a wall, handcuffed, blindfolded, then taken to a military base located next to a Tel Rumeida settlement. Isaq was shortly brought back to the checkpoint located outside his parents’ home, and a knife was placed next to him.
Isaq’s mother emerged from her home, demanding Israeli soldiers allow her son who had yet to break fast, to be released.
Meanwhile, children who were playing near the scene had sound bombs thrown at them by Israeli soldiers.
Claiming that Isaq’s parents were hiding someone in their house, soldiers proceeded with raiding the home of Khalib Abu Ainsheh. Sound bombs were thrown inside the house, and men and women inside were detained separately in two rooms. Doors were broken down by soldiers, the household owners offering to open them with keys but being prevented from doing so. The outcome was 4 detained Palestinians, all of whom were later released.
Beatings and aggression
In the evening of July 25, a 17 year old Palestinian boy was dropped off by an Israeli police jeep directly in front of the Israeli military-manned Checkpoint 56. The boy was shaken and visibly injured. He said he had been taken by Israeli soldiers and beaten.
The 17 year old had a swollen nose and eye after having received a beating and head-butts from soldiers, and his shirt was torn. Videos clearly capture soldiers mistreating the boy. In the videos, his face is already bleeding before he is taken away.
Palestinian neighborhoods are used as test areas for future combat situations, but also to demonstrate to the indigenous residents that Israel is in control of their lives. This escalation of harassments has arrived with the first week of Ramadan, when people are keen on spending time with their families, free from disturbance.
As Palestinians in the area and activists at the local organization Youth Against Settlements see the latest events as part of a deliberate escalation by the Israeli army, there are many reasons to keep an eye on the occupied and apartheid-stricken city of Hebron in the near future.
Selina Khalil, Hakim Maghribi, Jonas Ravn, and Markus Fitzgerald are volunteers with the International Solidarity Movement (names have been changed).
27 July 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
On the evening of July 18, over 30 Palestinians were detained in Tel Rumeida of Hebron after being accused of attacking an Israeli settler from the illegal settlement in the city. The attack allegedly took place after the settler went to swim in Abraham’s spring, which is on Palestinian land, but has a history of being used by settlers from the local colony.
A number of houses nearby to the spring were raided, along with the headquarters of Youth Against Settlements (YAS).
One of the Palestinians detained lives with his family in a house overlooking the spring. Their house was raided by soldiers and a young man was taken.
About 70 Israeli soldiers and 35 settlers gathered at the spring. The settlers insisted that the soldiers arrest the Palestinians, and internationals were barred from approaching the site by soldiers and border police.
Several Palestinians were detained near the spring, while three others were detained separately near the YAS headquarters. They were not accused of the attack, but nevertheless had their ID’s confiscated. The reason behind their detention is still unknown.
After several hours of being detained near the spring, a few Palestinians were released and others were taken to the police station for questioning. The remaining were released shortly after midnight, none of them being charged with the attack.
Earlier that day, Israeli settlers tried for the third time to build a wall of rocks around the spring which lies on Palestinian-owned land. Around 10 Israeli settlers were building, while 15 soldiers guarded them.
According to soldiers, the settlers had a permit but it was not possible to see it. The Palestinian owners of the land thus had no choice but to watch as settlers continued building, and teenagers from the illegal settlements swam in the water.
This incident is symptomatic of the settler mentality as they steadily try to build into Palestinian-owned land and increase the size of their colonies in the West Bank.
Palestinian residents of Tel Rumeida say that the settlers are hoping to encroach upon the spring and the surrounding land, and thus connect two settlements located in the area.
Aziza Frost is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
16 July 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
The weekly demonstration in Nabi Saleh faced brutal repression from the Israeli military on Friday, July 13.
Beginning at 1:30 p.m., Palestinian and solidarity activists walked down the village road to find it closed off by Israeli border police and a ‘skunk’ tank, which pumps out a foul-smelling liquid. The crowd headed to Nabi Saleh’s stolen water spring which was annexed by the nearby illegal Israeli settlement of Halamish. The protesters were met at the foot of the southern hill by Israeli soldiers resulting in 4 arrests: 3 Israeli activists and one Palestinian.
Young Palestinian boy is treated after being shot by a rubber-coated steel bullet
The demonstration continued to the entrance to the village, where Israeli border police shot a number of rubber-coated steel bullets into the crowd. One protester was shot in the arm and a young Palestinian boy also injured his leg in the process and needed medical care from the Palestinian Red Crescent.
‘Skunk’ water was sprayed at the protest as well as directly into Palestinian homes as a form of collective punishment. Deafening sound bombs were thrown in various directions. 7 more internationals were arrested, either for participating in the protest or just for being in the village of Nabi Saleh on a Friday.
Protesters are met by the Israeli military while trying to reach Nabi Saleh's stolen water spring
After a final tour with 2 military jeeps and the skunk tank, Israeli forces left Nabi Saleh at 5 p.m. Of the 11 arrested, the Palestinian was released within the hour, the Israeli activists some hours later, and the International activists stayed in prison overnight. They faced accusations in court and were not released until 1:00 a.m. on Sunday night. They are forbidden to join any further demonstrations and must leave the country by July 19.
The village of Nabi Saleh was declared a closed military zone (CMZ) every Friday and any solidarity activist, or Palestinian not from the area can be arrested on the charges of entering a CMZ. The increased targeting and subsequent deportations is a further attack by Israel on international solidarity activism and the ability to spread the free word.
Hakim M. is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
2 July 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
On Friday, June 29th, dozens of residents of the Palestinian village, Ni’lin demonstrated in opposition to the ongoing apartheid carried out by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF). The village of Ni’lin is located near the 1967 Green Line and has been a center of popular resistance throughout the history of the Israel occupation of Palestine.
Following the Friday prayers, Palestinians, along with approximately a dozen internationals, marched to the recently completed apartheid wall. There they were met with a heavy dousing of a foul-smelling liquid fired out of a truck mounted water canon commonly referred to as the ‘skunk truck’.
In true Ni’lin spirit, the protestors were not deterred and continued expressing their steadfast opposition. Following the skunk truck, the IOF shot close to 100 tear gas canisters into the hills and fired upon protestors with rubber-coated steel bullets from the safety of their perch on a ridge and from the security of their armored jeeps.
Despite the use of such weapons, no protestors needed to be taken to the hospital although many were treated, sometimes multiple times, for tear gas inhalation.
After the demonstration had come to an end, the international visitors were treated to an educational presentation in the newly reopened Center for the Ni’lin Popular Resistance.
Ni’lin resident Saeed Amireh explained the history of both the apartheid and the popular resistance in Ni’lin. More information can be found here.
Saeed himself has grown up with the aggressions of an apartheid state on a daily basis. Life has been difficult during the 22 years of his existence. In the last 10 years alone, the village has experienced a reign of terror and oppression. As the nearby illegal settlements grew in size, they began occupying the agricultural lands upon which the residents of Ni’lin depend for their livelihood. Since 1967, the village’s lands have decreased from the 58,000 dunums to only 7,000 remaining dunums. Five Israeli colonies have been built around Ni’lin. With the settlers came increased oppression and violence from the IOF.
When the order came to build the apartheid wall in between the illegal Israeli settlements and the long standing village of Ni’lin, the resistance from the Palestinians took on a new life. Through unending protests and refusals to cooperate, they were able to force the Israelis to change the location of the wall, saving 1500 dunums from confiscation.
Despite the adjustment, the route of the wall still annexes a great deal of Ni’lin’s agricultural land. The residents continue to demonstrate against this apartheid structure. Saeed captured the sentiment of
the village saying that, “everybody deserves freedom and peace.”
The struggle for peace, however, has been faced with a violent response from the IOF. As Saeed stated, “there is no freedom without a price.”
Since beginning the popular protests in 2007, Ni’lin has suffered over 350 arrests, 5 deaths, multiple injuries from the use of live ammunition, and at least 15 people with bones broken from the firing of tear gas.
Saeed embodies the resistance spirit of Ni’lin. He has no memories of life without occupation. He dreams of being able to visit the sea, which he can glimpse from his rooftop on a clear day, but like other Palestinians in the West Bank, is unable to access without a difficult to receive permission.
“Daily life is a resistance,” Saeed says. The fact that Ni’lin continues to exist despite the efforts to make life unbearable, is a resistance to the ongoing apartheid. Israel has not only cut the village from much of its agricultural lands but also from their water resources. Thus, Ni’lin has been cut from its main sources of income.
“The occupation is not only shooting the people…the occupation in our lives is like a cancer in the body. [It affects] everything in our life,” says Saeed.
Saeed wants visibility and international attention for his village. “I want people to see our existence… people have no work, no jobs, no land. By coming here people can stand [by us] and see [what is happening].”
As for the the Palestinians of Ni’lin, their struggle is far from over. They are fighting for survival. As Saeed puts it, “we will not stop the fight, even though we are tired, we will not stop the fight.”
Steve Plaank is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
