23rd February 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza team | Gaza, occupied Palestine
The Boycott campaign-Palestine PCB organized an awareness campaign for some Schools in Gaza City in order to raise awareness of the importance of Boycotting the occupation and supporting local products.
A number of the boycott-campaign-Palestine activists took part in the campaign by entering classes and delivering a short speech in which they urged the students to the importance of the boycott and the seriousness of normalization.
Additionally, the campaign included a distribution of sample of local products. In their speech with the students, the activists pointed out the benefits of boycotting the occupation: reducing unemployment, supporting Palestinian economy, and raising public awareness of belonging to the homeland and resisting the Israeli occupation.
This activity is one of several others that the Boycott campaign-Palestine intends to organize during the upcoming period, targeting the Palestinian public to boycott the occupation and resist the normalization.
17th February 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine
On February the 3rd 2017, a new permanent stone checkpoint in front of the Ibrahimi mosque in occupied Hebron, was brought into use.
The checkpoint, which has been under construction since July 2016, was thus inaugurated just one month before the 23rd anniversary of the Ibrahimi mosque massacre, where 29 praying Palestinian Muslims lost their lives in a terrorist attack by Jewish settler Baruch Goldstein. It was this attack which caused the mosque to fall under the tight control of Israeli military and surveillance in the first place.
Before the opening of the new checkpoint on 3rd February Israeli forces had already installed checkpoints at all the main roads leading into the mosque. The presence of military and police at the entrance to the mosque therefore, has been a continuous fact since 1994. What is new however is the permanent nature of this new construction. For this new stone and steel construction is directly built into the mosque wall clearly signaling that Israel has no intentions of retreating from the scene.
The new checkpoint at the al-Ibrahimi mosque
And the expansion at the Ibrahimi mosque checkpoint is just one among many expansions recently. As noted in an earlier ISM report [https://palsolidarity.org/2016/12/%C2%ADnew-checkpoints-access-control-buildings-and-street-signs-in-the-historical-center-of-hebron/], the Israeli forces in Hebron have been remarkably active in replacing temporary checkpoints by more extended permanent ones, along with “installing military streetlights, security cameras on all streets, raising more gates, concrete walls, barbed-wire and other barriers, and putting new Hebrew-English street signs in the ethnically cleaned streets and in Palestinian neighborhoods, as if they are in fact Israeli neighborhoods with some remaining Palestinian residents.”
One might have thought that the new checkpoint at the mosque was simply a replacement for previous ones. But since its opening, Palestinians are in fact forced to pass through two checkpoints only few metres apart, with further delays for Palestinians seeking to practice their religion, which you can see in the photo below, taken at Friday prayers.
Palestinians are waiting to pass through the new checkpoint at al-Ibrahimi mosque
And while you might think that two security checks would suffice to determine whether an individual is a security threat or not, Israeli forces continued the practice of detaining men and confiscating IDs for the duration of Friday prayer.
But this did not hinder the male population from praying, so this Friday, a long line of men prayed outside in the sunshine, while military personnel chattered in the background.
Palestinian men and boys, praying outside al-Ibrahimi mosque
31st January 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine
In the old city of occupied al-Khalil (Hebron), Palestinians’ freedom of movement is impeded by a large number of Israeli checkpoints. In the Tel Rumeida neighborhood, many school-children and teachers are forced to pass at least one, often more, checkpoint daily on their way to school. The Israeli occupation seriously disrupts the right to education for Palestinians in al-Khalil.
One of the checkpoints that Palestinians have to pass in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood is the ‘Gilbert’ checkpoint in the heart of the Tel Rumeida neighborhood. This checkpoint divides the neighborhood, enforcing the Israeli forces’ checkpoint regime on Palestinian residents only. Israeli settlers enjoy full freedom of movement and rights in and around the illegal settlements. This photo-story of the Gilbert checkpoint illustrates what this limitation of movement means to Palestinian civilians in every day life.
Palestinian journalists were denied entry through the checkpoint. They were on their way to Shuhada Street to document Palestinian school children walking through checkpoints on their way to school.
Palestinian school-boy has to pass his school-bag for a bag-search, before being allowed to continue on his way to school.
Israeli soldier searching the bag of a Palestinian woman. Officially, these bag-searches are for ‘security purposes’, but Israeli forces often arbitrarily search only some bags. At this checkpoint they mainly search women’s bags, while allowing men to pass without being searched. Palestinians are robbed of even the tiniest bit of privacy at the Israeli forces’ checkpoints.
Group of Palestinian school children passing through Israeli military checkpoint. Children are not exempt from the Israeli forces policies and are forced to pass metal detectors daily. On their way to school. Israeli forces sometimes search their bags or force them to wait while checking another Palestinian.
Palestinian child passing through checkpoint and past a large group of Israeli forces on his way home. An ‘innocent’ childhood is denied to Palestinian children living under Israeli military occupation. Sadly, they have to pass large groups of heavily-armed soldiers on the way to school. The practice of soldiers conducting exercises of how to shoot Palestinians to death at checkpoints in civilian Palestinian neighborhoods are the norm rather than the exception.
Palestinian school children passing Israeli military checkpoint on their way to school. These checkpoints often are the reason for Palestinian school-children to reach school late, as they might be delayed, denied to pass or searched.
Palestinian man is forced to wait at the checkpoint, but forced to move several meters back, as Israeli forces check his ID, violating his freedom of movement.
Israeli forces are detaining a Palestinian woman at the checkpoint, unaware that a member of a UN delegation is present. According to international law and the recent UN resolution, Israeli settlements in the Israeli occupied West Bank are illegal.
Israeli forces ‘checking’ Palestinian shop located near the checkpoint. All commodities and general necessities have to be bought on the other side of the checkpoint, as the area locked up within the checkpoints has no shops. So, whenever a Palestinian needs to buy groceries, he or she must pass the checkpoint.
Palestinian school-children turn around as Israeli forces call them back. Having passed the metal detector doesn’t always mean that soldiers will allow you to pass: even after passing through the checkpoint, soldiers from time to time will stop and inspect Palestinians again.
27th December 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza team | Gaza, occupied Palestine
On 26th December, Israel occupation kills the patient, Abd al-Kareem Nahid Abu Halloub, a 32 year old, from Gaza after preventing him to get his treatment in a hospital in the West Bank.
The paitent Abd al-Kareem in the Indonesian Hospital in Gaza
The patient, Abd al-Kareem, had been suffering for about 90 days without having the right to get his treatment in the West Bank. He had a heart attack on 6/10/2016 and was in a coma for more than 60 days and his doctors stated and he had to get his treatment in the West Bank. Abd al-Kareem’s family tried to contact several organizations after being denied access through Erez crossing twice by the Israeli occupation authority.
The family took their son to different hospitals in Gaza, but the hospitals have limited medical equipment that the medical device needed for treating the paitent Abu Halloub, is not found in Gaza. The paitent needs to get his treatme
The paitent Abd al-Kareem Abu Halloub while in the Indonesian Hospital in Gaza After 90 days sufferingnt
It’s worth mentioning that the Israeli seige of the Gaza Strip that began in mid 2007 has serious repercussion on the Palestinian health sector, resulting in an aggravation of the humanitarian situation facing Gaza’s 2 million people.
According to the International Hummaitarian Law and International Human Rights Law, Israel is obliged to protect civilian people, the wounded and sick in times of armed conflicts. It must prevent the deterioration of the humanitarian situation and allow the free passage of all consignment of medical stores with a decent medical care. However, the Israeli occupation continues to violate these rights. Consequently, the request for permits to recieve treatment outside the Gaza Strip increased.
5th December 2016 | International Solidarity Movement | Huwwara team, occupied Palestine
Members of the Circus School in Palestine, representatives of the embassies
of Italy, Spain and Switzerland, Amnesty International and ISM were in the
Israeli Supreme Court today to witness the hearing of the appeal for the release
of the Palestinian circus trainer Mohammad Abu Sakha. Abu Sakha has been on administrative detention for almost a year. Administrative detention means that Israeli military can detain him for an indefinite period, without indictment and the right to a trial.
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Mohammad Abu Sakha lost his freedom on 14 December 2015, when he was first arrested and detained at Zaatara military checkpoint, south of Nablus, as he was going to work at the Circus School in BirZeit. On 25 December of that year, he received a 6-month administrative detention, which was renewed on 13th of June 2016.
The hearing session at the Supreme Court went fast. First, Mohammad’s lawyer read the appeal and once he finished few men from the Shabak, (Israeli Security Agency also known as Shin Bet) stood up and passed a file to the judges in the room. After taking few minutes to read the file, the judges promptly decided to dismiss Abu Sakha’ appeal and ended the court session.
Besides Shabak and the three judges, no one knows what is the content of this file, including the prosecutor, Mohammad’s lawyer and Mohammad himself. After one year in Israeli prison Abu Sakha still doesn’t know what he is accused of. The Shabak file, which is classified, might be the only thing that keeps him in prison.
The Ketziot prison located in the Negev/Naqab region, outside the West Bank, is a violation of the Geneva Convention which states that Detainees from the population of an occupied territory must be detained within that territory. During his time in prison he has only been allowed to three visits, all from his mother. On 12 December this year his detention should have ended. His lawyers and supporters believed that he would finally be free but on the same day he was given, again, another 6-month administrative detention period, exactly as it had happen in the past.
Today, no one knows what will happen to Mohammad. Palestinians live under a contempt military occupation. With his work as a circus trainer, Mohammad Abu Sakha fills a much-needed role to bring happiness and light to those around him.
End Administrative Detention.
Free Mohammad Abu Sakha !
