On February 25th Palestinian men and women, elders and children, together with Israeli and international activists gathered for two demonstrations organized by the South Hebron Hills Popular Committee.
The first demonstration, attended by approximately ninety people, was planned in response to twenty-nine trees being cut down during the last four months on private Palestinian property near the illegal outpost of Havat Ma’on. During the action the participants planted about thirty small olive trees on a hill near the village of At-Tuwani. The demonstration was guarded by the Army, the border police, the police and the DCO (District Coordination Office), nearly forty officers overall.
Later the demonstrators headed towards Saadet Tha’lah, where on the 15th of February 2012 the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) bulldozers demolished five structures (http://www.operationdove.org/?p=698 ), to express their solidarity and closeness to the inhabitants.
At the meantime, two fifteen year old boys from the village of Tuba were grazing their flocks in the Palestinian Um Zeitouna valley near the Ma’on settlement despite the several prohibitions imposed by the Army and the settlement security chief. As reported by two internationals witnesses of the event, the latter was present during the incident. The two teenagers were arrested and detained in Kiryat Arba police station and released in the evening with a denial of access for the following two weeks to the area where they were taken by the soldiers.
The policy of restrictions, closures and demolitions carried out by the Israeli army, combined with the continuous harassment made by the settlers of the area, denies Palestinians’ human rights, hindering them to live in their villages, to cultivate their lands and to graze their flocks and preventing the development of local communities.
Nevertheless, the Palestinian communities in the South Hebron Hills are strongly involved in affirming their rights and resist to the Israeli occupation choosing the nonviolent way.
Operation Dove has maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and South Hebron Hills since 2004.
In the past few days five Gazan fishermen have been arrested by the Israeli Navy off the north coast of Gaza.
Adham Mahmoud Abu Ryada, 22, and his brother Mohammed Mahmoud Abu Ryala, 13, were both arrested on Sunday evening. Jamal Ramadan Al Sultan, 58 and his son Fadel Jamal Al-Sultan, 21, were arrested on Monday morning. Ahmed Mohammed Zayed, 27, was arrested on Tuesday morning.
Adham Mahmoud Abo Ryada, 22 years old, and Mohammed Mahmoud Abo Ryada, 13 years old | Photo courtesy of Rosa Schiano, 2012
Last night we visited the family of Adham and Mohammed Abu Ryada in Beach Camp, Gaza City. Gaza is without power, they welcomed us in a room lit only by candlelight. Their father started telling us their story.
It was 7 PM on Sunday evening when the two boys were gathering their nets from the sea to sail home. A strong wind had pushed the boat over three nautical miles from the coast.
The Israeli Navy came close to their boat and started shooting.
They tried to escape but they couldn’t.
The Israeli soldiers, as they usually do, asked them to undress, to dive into the water and come on board the navy ship.
Once they were on the ship, the soldiers blindfolded them and tied their hands. They could not see anything until they reached the port of Ashdod in Israel, at around 10 or 11 PM.
The soldiers led them into a room where they remained for 30 minutes. Then the soldiers checked their bodies with an electronic device and questioned them.
During interrogation, they asked them questions about the police in the port of Gaza and to “collaborate” with Israel. They also asked if their neighbors were involved in activities against Israel. Adham said he did not know anything.
After the interrogation, the soldiers took them on a bus to a crossing point unknown to them. After an hour and a half they were put on another bus and the soldiers left them at Erez to walk home.
The two brothers slept outside the gate.
Their clothes were thin, they were cold, Adham tried to cover his little brother.
The soldiers on the ship had given them only a couple of t-shirts of very thin cloth.
They did not know which way to go. So they slept till 6.00 AM, and then, in the daylight, they walked to the Palestinian security office. Finally, Adham could contact one of his brothers who came to pick them up.
His young brother, Mohammed, sits with his eyes wide open. He’s telling us that Israeli soldiers asked him, trying to make him afraid, saying, “What will your father tell you when you return without the boat?”
Mohammed says he doesn’t want to work as a fisherman anymore.
“After my experience, I do not want to be a fisherman, I’m afraid. It’s the first time I saw something like that; I will not be a fisherman.”
He has been fishing with his brothers since he was six years old. Mohammed shows a small wound on his left leg, he was injured while climbing onto the Israeli naval vessel.
His father says, “We can’t do anything. We can no longer work. Our life has stopped.”
Eighteen people relied on that boat. The soldiers took everything, nets and fish.
The soldiers told them, “We will call you to return your boat.” But they know that it will never happen.
“We want our nets back, we want to go on fishing and we would like them to let us live,” adds their father.
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Yesterday we went to Beit Lahia to visit the family of the two other fishermen, arrested on Monday morning, while fishing in the waters north of Gaza.
Ramadan Al Sultan, 58 and Ahmed Mohammed Zayed, 27 | Photos courtesy Rosa Schiano, 2012
Jamal Ramadan Al Sultan is a 58 year old man. His eyes are intensely expressive. With him is also another fisherman arrested on Tuesday morning, Ahmed Mohammed Zayed, 27 years.
In spite of the veil of sadness covering their eyes, they tell us their story with a sense of humor, their strength.
Ahmed starts sharing with us his experience. He was alone on his rowing boat.
He was arrested on Tuesday morning at 6.00 AM. He was collecting his nets on his boat before coming home. An Israeli naval ship approached the vessel and asked him to stop. He tried to escape but the Israeli soldiers started shooting. They hit two floats for his net on his boat. Ahmed stopped.
They asked him to undress and jump into the water. Ahmed refused to jump in the water because he cannot swim well. The soldiers started firing again. He was forced to jump in the water and they threw him a life preserver. Once on the ship, the soldiers tied his hands and blindfolded him. They started moving slowly toward Ashdod. He felt pain in his wrists because they had been handcuffed very tightly. He asked the soldiers to loosen the handcuffs and take the blindfold off. They reached the port of Ashdod and took him into a room where he remained for 30 minutes. Then, they checked his hands with an electronic device and checked his blood pressure. Ahmed was then questioned.
The first question was about his family, the number and names of his brothers. Ahmed forgot to tell the name of the last brother, who was born recently. The soldiers then started accusing him to be a liar, “You’re a liar, what about Youssef? He’s a month old!”
Ahmed replied: “No, he’s two months old.” Then they asked information about his district and the harbor police. One of the people who was questioning him asked, “Do you want me to tell you things?” Implying they already knew everything to intimidate him, those who questioned him already knew all about his family.
Then Ahmed replied: “Why are you asking me if you already know everything?”
“Because I want to know if you are a liar or not,” the interrogator answered.
Then they showed him a large map and started questioning about some areas in Gaza.
They also asked questions about a water treatment plant. Ahmed told them, “That’s a waterworks.”
“No, it’s a waste facility,” they replied.
They continued asking information about the port police in Soudania and about the port office in Gaza. Then, they pointed on the map to the area where he lives. One of the people questioning him pointed to his brother’s shop.
They told him, “Where do you want to go?” and they showed him the spot where his car was parked. Then they asked him if he wanted to go to an area called Birlnaaja, Ahmed replied “I do not know that area.”
Then, they asked for his phone number. Ahmed replied he had lost his phone, but he could tell them his number. Then they asked for his family’s phone numbers. Ahmed said he could not remember the phone numbers of his family members. The person who questioned him told him he was a liar and said, “I want to have your phone number to return the boat back to you.”
Ahmed gave him the number of the phone he had lost. Then, the person who was questioning him called a soldier to take him away and put a blindfold on him. Ahmed said he could not keep the blindfold on because he suffers from an eye problem. The soldier answered, “These are the orders, but I will not tie it too tightly,” then he added “Take care of your wife and your children” and asked Ahmed to become “friends.”
To become “friends” means to provide them with information, to become “collaborators” with Israel. Ahmed said “No, I do not want that”.
He asked him if he was happy.
Ahmed replied, “If you release me now and I lose the boat, I will still be happy without your friendship.”
The person who was questioning then asked him to take a taunting message to the Internal Security of Hamas: “You cannot work with computers now, because you have no electricity”.
Then the soldiers led Ahmed in the same room where he was before. Ahmed told them he was not feeling well. A soldier gave him some mint to drink, then the soldier left Ahmed alone for an hour. Suddenly two men entered the room and asked him to get up. They grabbed him violently and tied his legs with manacles. They asked him to walk with them to the bus. Ahmed could not get on the bus, because his legs were manacled. “I cannot get on” he said. The soldiers replied, “You must get on.” Ahmed was forced to get on the buy by crawling on his knees. On the bus, the soldiers told him to fasten his seatbelt. “I cannot,” replied Ahmed, “my hands are tied.” A soldier fastened his seat belt. Once arrived at Erez, the soldiers delivered Ahmed to a person in a civilian uniform who started making fun of him. “How was the fish today?”, Ahmed replied “You took my boat, now I will go home to sleep with my family.”
The soldiers gave him the papers stating the limit of three miles in the waters of Gaza and the limit at the northern border with Ashdod, telling him to deliver those papers to the other fishermen. At the exit gate they told him to walk looking straight ahead “If you look away we’ll shoot you.”
Then Ahmed began to run. He met some Palestinians and walked with them up to the Palestinian security office. Then he went to the internal security for questioning. After questioning he returned home.
We ask him if he wants to send a message to the international community.
“I ask you to support us to get the boats back. Our life has stopped because it depends on that boat. And I ask for support for the Palestinians every day.”
Ahmed has two sons, 2 and 3 years old.
It is the fourth time he was stopped by Israeli soldiers, “I cannot count how much pain I have received from Israel.” He has worked as a fisherman since he was 13 years old. “This is my work. I will continue to work in the sea,” concludes Ahmed.
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Finally, Jamal, who was arrested on Monday morning, told us his experience.
Jamal was on a rowing boat with his son, they had the same experience as other fishermen, Israeli soldiers stopped them, asked them to jump into the water and took them to Ashdod. They showed them a map, this time not on paper, but on a computer screen and asked for information. Jamal told us that they offered him drinks and medicines, but he refused, he would not swallow anything he was offered.
Jamal and his son stood 30 minutes in a room, then, they were interrogated.
Then the soldiers took them to Erez where they were subjected to another interrogation. The interrogator asked him about their family and how many sons he had.
Jamal answered that he has 8 sons. The interrogator said him “No, you have 9 sons”. Jamal replied: “No, you killed my son during Cast Lead in a school”.
They started to tell him that his son was a fighter.
Jamal’s son was 27 years old when he was killed with 3 others young men in UNRWA school targeted by a missile, three years ago during Cast Lead.
During Cast Lead a lot of people took refuge in the schools to be safe, but Israel bombed the schools indiscriminately.
The interrogators asked him for information about the Palestinian resistance and the training camps.
Jamal answered he didn’t know. “We know”, they answered him and they asked him about the places from which the resistance fires missiles. “I don’t know”, answered Jamal.
They asked him if he wanted to eat, but he refused. They offered him their “friendship”: “If you have any information you will be happy”. They took him to the gate, he went to the Palestinian security office and he came back home. His son was still at the Hamas Internal Security office to be interrogated.
We asked Jamal if he felt like to send a message to the outside world. He stated
All the fishermen suffer from this situation, we face all these troubles in the sea, we try to feed our families, we try to survive. The international community must support the Palestinian case to stop this siege, because we are under siege in the sea, in the air, and on our land.
Rosa Schiano is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement.
15 February 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
On February 14, 2012, in the small village of Twael of the Aqraba district, southeast of Nablus in the Jordan Valley, the home of the Bunni Jaber family was destroyed by an Israeli backhoe protected by 20 soldiers in four military vehicles. Two men from the family were arrested – Ayman Bunni Jaber, aged 36, and Rafie Bunni Jaber, aged 30. The family’s tractor was also confiscated by the Israeli authorities.
The Bunni Jaber house was located along the green, rocky hills that dominate the landscape here, built from cloth, plastic sheeting, wire mesh, stones, and dirt. There are four children in the Bunni Jaber family, ranging from toddlers to adolescents. The family are herders, with flocks of sheep and goat, and the arbitrary confiscation of their tractor presents a serious challenge for the family’s livelihood.
Click here for more photos - Photos courtesy of Rana Hamadan, 2012
The reason given for the demolition was the house’s construction without a permit in Area C, the part of the West Bank under full Israeli civil and military control. The land belongs to the municipality of Aqraba, and is used for agriculture and herding. Obtaining a construction permit in Area C is a near impossibility for Palestinians. According to the UN agency OCHA, 96 percent of request for building permits in the Jordan Valley between 2000 and 2006 were denied. Nineteen of the 22 houses in the area have received demolition orders, as has the local mosque. Many of these have been demolished, some multiple times after reconstruction by their owners.
By longstanding local custom and law, houses without concrete or foundations like that of the Bunni Jaber family, do not require a building permit. Eighty percent of the land in Aqraba has been confiscated by the Israeli Army under the auspices of its use as “training grounds,” even though land seized is in fact stolen by illegal Israeli settlements. The villagers have resisted through various means, including a one-day hunger strike.
Satu and John are volunteers with International Solidarity Movement (names have been changed).
13 February 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
Villagers of Bruqin and supporters went out today to plant trees in the field by the factory. While trees were planted alongside pictures of Khader Adnan, two young men sneaked over to the fence of the factory and put up Palestinian flags.
In the outskirts of Bruqin, a small village in the Salfit area, there is a field where old Roman ruins slumber amongst the olive trees. The field would be a peaceful place if it was not for the huge Israeli factories built on stolen land right next door. The Israeli factories have caused pollution in the area, contaminating crops and pastures. The rapid settler expansion in the Salfit area is stirring up distress among the residents in Bruqin who worry that even more of their land will be stolen.
Being attacked for harvesting resistance - Click here for more photos
In the Salfit area, 19 Palestinian villages are surrounded by 22 illegal settlements. It is a cluster of stolen land that is threatening to cut the West Bank in two if expansion is allowed to continue. Israel plans to build train tracks from Tel Aviv to the illegal settlement of Ariel, which would speed up this divide.
As the land repairing villagers came closer to the factory, they drew on the attention of the illegal settler security, and a man with a rifle demanding for volunteers to leave. Since the tree planting was taking place on Palestinian soil these calls where not heard by the villagers. A few minutes later the first Israeli soldiers started showing up asking the tree planters to move back from the factory. As some men decided to plant yet another tree at the edge of the factory area, they were surrounded by soldiers and one man was pulled away from the group.
ISM activists tried to get a straight answer as to the reason of the man’s arrest, but it was of no avail. Instead the soldiers surrounded yet another group of men and started tugging at them.
When questioned why they were attempting to arrest Palestinians, the only answer offered by the soldiers was that the area had been declared a closed military zone and that the man had been bothering the soldiers. However the soldiers could not produce any document proving the declaration of the area beeing a military zone.
ISM activists demanded to see relevant paperwork in support of the military’s claims, else they must release the man since there were no substantial suspicions against him. After apoximately 20 minutes of avoiding the stares of upset activists and villagers, the soldiers retreated, and after some further negotiations back and forth the Palestinian man was successfully de-arrested and released.
Though this particular case ended with nothing worse than a pair of sore wrists, it is a clear example of the lawlessness suffered by Palestinians under Israeli military law.
Jonas Weber is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
22 January 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
In an action that appears to have been carried out purely for the entertainment and satisfaction of Israeli settlers, the center of the activist group, Youth Against Settlements, in Tel Rumeida, Al Khalil (also known as Hebron) was stormed by Israeli soldiers at 3pm on the afternoon of Saturday 21st January. Organisation leader Issa Amro was briefly arrested and taken away without reason.
Settlers surrounded the Centre of Steadfastness and Challenge, as soldiers broke in and seized Amro while simultaneously seeming to attempt a search of the building.
Amro was forcefully handcuffed behind his back, despite his having a medical condition which means that this should be prohibited; a fact of which Israeli authorities are well aware having detained him on fifteen different occasions last year. He was then blindfolded and taken away to a military base, where he was beaten. Soldiers also threatened to kill him.
Soldiers then proceeded to assault several other activists who were attempting to document the incident, including Badia Dwaik, Tamer Atrash, Hamad Israir and Sundos Assilay, an eighteen-year old girl.
As Amro was taken away, settlers who had gathered for the show cheered triumphantly, spat at him and chanted slogans such as “each Arab dog will have his day.” No reason was given for the arrest and no provocation was made. He was subsequently released without any kind of charge less than half-an-hour later. Many more Jews were visiting the city for Shabbat and the Settler Tour of the old city, and it seems that the army wanted to put on a show for the settlers.
The Youth Against Settlements centre was previously occupied by the Israeli military before being reclaimed for Palestinians in a major victory for the organisation.
Tom is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
