Tag: Beit Hanoun - Page 14 - International Solidarity Movement

Kite flying in Beit Hanoun

29 June 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza

Every Tuesday morning there is a demonstration against the Occupation in Beit Hanoun, when people march into the buffer zone, demand an end to the occupation, and are met with more bullets from the occupation. Today was different and yet the same; today we didn’t go into the buffer zone, but none the less we were still met with the bullets of the occupation.

School is out for the summer, summer camps for the children are in full swing. In Beit Hanoun the Vittorio Arrigoni, Stay Human summer camp has been up and running for the last two weeks. Instead of going into the buffer zone like we do most Tuesdays, today we took the children from the summer camp to fly kites. The children had prepared beautiful kites, simple colorful geometric designs fringed with strips of paper cut from their old homework. Kites that remind you how beautiful the simplest things in life can be.

We drove east out of Beit Hanoun, toward the wall that imprisons the people of Gaza. As we left Beit Hanoun we entered a lunar landscape of destruction, no crops, no trees, the occasional destroyed and damaged buildings surrounded by the thistle plants that seem to grow everywhere. This is where farmers had once grown their crops. The landscape here wasn’t always like this, the fields lining the road used to be full of trees, oranges, and olives mostly. The area used to be green, it used to support life, it used to be beautiful. Then the Israelis destroyed all of this, with tanks and bulldozers and bombs. Now, only the thistles remain, that and the green fields of one brave farmer who has not given up, whose fields are an oasis of green among the destruction. The woman sitting behind me points out the aluminum propellers that the farmer has attached to his fence to scare away birds, they spin quickly in the wind, a reminder that this is someone’s land, that he is still here.

We arrive with the children on a hill about 700 meters from the wall. There is a restored well nearby, and a shepherd resta under the shade of the only tree on the hill with his sheep. In the distance you can see Sderot, built on what used to be lands of Beit Hanoun. The children stood poised, ready with their kites. As they prepared to launch their kites the Israeli guns start firing. The wall is lined with giant Israeli gun towers operated by remote control. One of them had started to shoot. Shooting into the ground a couple of hundred meters from us, the shells kicked up giant clouds of dust.

What are they shooting at? Nobody knows, perhaps an unlucky shepherd, perhaps they are shooting to remind the children who the real boss is here, that the skies are not free, that they can shoot at them whenever and wherever they want.

The children launched the kites, with the strong wind kicking them up to sail high. The kites were amazing, red and green with white streamers fluttering in the wind. The children had written messages on the kites: “The children of Gaza want to be free,” “No to the occupation,” “No to the siege.”

These were messages for the occupiers, for these kites are not meant merely to be seen in the distance by the soldiers who are firing guns in the distance, they are meant to infiltrate Israel, to breach the wall that imprisons Gaza, the wall that helps hide what Israel does here. The kites soar higher and higher, the children cut the strings on the kites, the wind takes them, some crash, but some survive, some make it over the wall.

Inshallah they will find themselves caught in the branches of the children’s grandfather’s olive tree, of the orange trees which their grandmothers used to eat from. They will be found, and their messages will be read with the freedom and the will like the universal wind that carried such messages of hope

Demonstration in Beit Hanoun

21 June 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

At 11 A.M. this morning we gathered for the weekly demonstration against the occupation in Beit Hanoun. This demonstration was different from the other demonstrations though. Today, a troupe of young girls were joining us. The girls were part of the Vittorio Arrigoni summer camp that had been organized by the Forsan Al Ghad center in Beit Hanoun. Earlier in the morning the children had learned to sing Bella Ciao and had a 1K race. The five fastest children were awarded t shirts as prizes. The summer camp aims not only to provide a happy refuge for the children, but also to impress upon them the importance of being active, of giving back to their communities. The camp hopes to inspire the campers through the life of Vittorio, with his devotion to standing in solidarity with the oppressed. When Vittorio was alive he was a regular at the demonstrations in Beit Hanoun, every Tuesday he would march into the buffer zone to protest the injustice of the occupation.

Today, we gathered, maybe 50 people, the girls holding a giant Palestinian flag over their heads, the rest of us carrying our own Palestinian flags. Bella Ciao played over a loudspeaker, the girls sang along. After Bella Ciao we chanted, against the occupation, for justice, in memory of Vittorio. As always, the closer we got to the buffer zone the more tense everyone became, a jackhammer started work in the distance, everyone flinched, looked around. Everyone was worried that for some unknown reason that the Israeli’s had decided to start shoting even earlier than usual. Two weeks ago one of the young men in the march was injured by shrapnel from an Israeli shell, since then, everyone is tenser, more worried as we approach the buffer zone. After realizing that it was just a jackhammer, people relaxed a bit, we continued on, to the edge of the buffer zone.

Usually, we go into the buffer zone, not today. We stopped at the edge of the buffer zone; the children looked into the distance, into the land from which their grandfathers had been expelled in 1948, at the horrible ugly wall which Israel has erected to keep them from returning to their homes. We sang, we chanted, Sabur gave a short speech, but we did not press on into the buffer zone, it is too dangerous to take the children there. It is enough that the Israeli soldiers saw us, that they saw the children of the men their grandfathers had expelled from their homes, and that we raised our voices against injustice.

Walking to the Buffer Zone: Inside the Jail of Gaza

10 June 2011 | CounterPunch, Johnny Barber

We marched to the buffer zone with about 20 others including members of the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative who have been organizing non-violent demonstrations for the past three years, as well as several members of GYBO (Gaza Youth Break Out). Carrying flags and alternately chanting, singing and walking in silence we approached the Israeli border. This is a no go zone for Palestinians. Israel has deemed that 300 meters from the wall is a buffer zone, so Palestinian farmland is taken away.

Waving flags and chanting we reached the edge of the buffer zone and continued walking. Almost immediately, dust kicked up just ahead of us, a warning shot rang out. We stopped, daring to go no further. Climbing a small embankment we waved our Palestinian flags and chanted to the soldiers hidden in the guard towers. Not five minutes passed and 2 shots rang out, one kicking up dust at our feet. 19 year old Mohammed Kafarna grabbed his neck, turned, and ran back in the direction we had come. He had been hit with shrapnel.

That effectively ended the demonstration; we turned and headed back toward the village. I was stunned that two dozen people could pose such a threat to Israel that the army would resort to using live rounds of ammunition against us. Of course, we were not a physical threat, I imagine the Israeli soldiers laughed at us as we turned and headed back. But non-violent demonstrations do cause a threat, especially when people walk to the wall and demand access to their land, their olive trees, their resources, and their homes. Israel has only one method to disperse non-violent demonstrators and that is through violent repression.

We often hear of Israel’s need for security, yet the people of Gaza are under occupation by the state of Israel and no one utters a word about their security. For years Palestinians have been killed with impunity, always with the words “Israel has a right to security.” Over the weekend after dozens of unarmed protesters were killed by Israeli forces in the Golan, Netanyahu declared, ‘Unfortunately, extremist forces around us are trying today to breach our borders and threaten our communities and our citizens. We will not let them do that’. The Israeli military said troops fired warning shots into the air after people started approaching the border fence, then issued verbal warnings to protesters to stay away. After some of the protesters reached the fence, soldiers opened fire, ‘with precision’, at their legs. Amongst the dead was a 24 year old woman Enis Shriteh, a fourth year English student. There was no explanation on how she got confused with ‘extremist elements’. There was no explanation of how shots to demonstrator’s legs killed her. There was no questioning of Israeli statements at all. Enis Shriteh’s death did not warrant mention in the mainstream press.

Certainly no one in our group was an extremist, nor were we a threat, merely Palestinian youth and international supporters trying to reach Palestinian land. There is no denying this: Gaza is a jail and Israeli soldiers are the jailers. Imprisoned without charges, the people of Gaza are trapped. Israel would have the world believe they are beneficent and kindly jailers, desperately seeking peace. This is a lie. Gaza is under siege.

You don’t believe me? Come, we’ll walk with the people of Beit Hanoun down to the buffer zone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6U_mgrNgQA">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6U_mgrNgQA</a>

Johnny Barber has traveled to Iraq, Israel, Palestine and Lebanon to bear witness and document the suffering of people who are affected by war. He has just returned from Jordan & Syria where he worked to document the issues facing Iraqi refugees. He can be contacted through his blog at www.oneBrightpearl-jb.blogspot.com

Palestinian teenager injured near Gaza border

7 June 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

19-year-old Mohammed Kafarna was hit in the neck by bullet shrapnel during a weekly non-violent demonstration in Beit Hanoun, Gaza Strip.

According to the doctor treating him, there were three pieces of metal lodged in his neck, thigh and abdomen. Mohammed is in a stable condition, which will be monitored over the next 24 hours while doctors decide whether or not to operate.

Mohammed was attending a weekly demonstration that has been going for three years. Tamer Zaleen, a member of the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative which organises the event, was also at the demonstration. “We were about 150 metres from the border, standing on a mound. A warning shot was fired and then another shot, which was much closer. Shrapnel from the second shot hit Mohammed in the neck.”

Eba’a Razeq, a blogger from Gaza, also attended the protest. She explained, “Mohammed shouted, ‘I’ve been injured!’ but we didn’t really get what was happening. Then he started running towards the car. When he arrived, he fainted.”

The demonstration protests against the Israeli-imposed “buffer zone” which prevents any person from accessing Palestinian land within 300 metres of the border with Israel. Those who enter this zone, even if they hold deeds to the land, are likely to face gunfire.

Zaleen explained, “This is the first time anyone has been injured in this peaceful demonstration since it began in 2008, but it will not stop us. This is just farming land! It is our land and we are not afraid.”

Palestinians in Gaza march for return on Naksa Day

5 June 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

Hundreds of Palestinian refugees rallied outside the Erez Crossing in Beit Hanoun today to demand the right to return to the homes from which they and their families were ethnically cleansed by Zionist militias and Israeli military forces beginning in 1947. They were joined by other Palestinians and foreign supporters, including the International Solidarity Movement – Gaza Strip.

The demonstration, organized by the Preparatory Commission for the Right to Return, marked the 44th anniversary of the Naksa, or “setback,” Israel’s 1967 occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and its accompanying expulsion of 300,000 refugees from their homeland. Many of them had already been forced from their original homes during the Nakba, or “catastrophe,” the displacement of 711,000 Palestinians by Zionist militias in 1947-1948.

The rally was addressed by representatives of a broad range of political parties and civil society organizations.

Another nearby gathering, organized by the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative, celebrated Palestinian culture with an exhibition of traditional food, clothing, and lifestyles.

Simultaneous demonstrations by Palestinians elsewhere faced violent repression, including lethal force, from the Israeli military. The Syrian Arab News Agency reported that live gunfire by Israeli forces had killed 23 protesters, including a child, a woman, and a journalist, and injured over 350, outside the occupied Golan Heights. At the Qalandia checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem, Israeli troops targeted hundreds of demonstrators with tear gas, concussion grenades, and rubber-coated bullets, injuring dozens.

The mobilization drew support from allies of the Palestinian struggle across the world, including Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign organizers.