January 17th 2016 | InternationalSolidarity Movement | Bethlehem, occupied Palestine
This Friday, on the 15th of January, hundreds of Palestinians gathered on the main street of Bethlehem to protest against the recent killing of Srour Ahmad Abu Srour, who was killed by Israeli forces in nearby Beit Jala last Wednesday. Israeli forces fired tear gas, rubber-coated metal bullets and live ammunition at the protesters.
On Wednesday afternoon, 21-year-old Srour Ahmad Abu Srour, origanally from Aida refugee camp, was killed during protests against the Israeli military invasion of the western part of Bethlehem, Beit Jala. Palestine news network reported that 4 Israeli army jeeps entered Beit Jala and set up a flying checkpoint and started raiding homes and shops on the busy Al-Sahl street in Beit Jala. Srour Ahmad Abu Srour was hit in his chest by a live bullet, and later succumbed at Beit Jala public hospital. The director of the Red Crescent ambulance and emergency crew in Bethlehem, Mohamed Awad, said that many young men were injured by rubber-coated metal bullets or by suffocation due to the large amount of tear gas fired during the protest.
Every day since the killing of Srour Ahmad Abu Srour, Palestinians from Bethlehem have marched the streets in protests of Israel’s ongoing violence. On this Friday demonstration Israeli forces entered the streets of Bethlehem and fired hundreds of tear gas canisters towards the protesters. Protesters, passersby and residents of the neighborhood were severely affected by the amount of tear gas that was fired. One passerby was taken away from the scene in an ambulance due to the excessive inhalation of tear gas.
Tear gas on the streets of BethlehemA private car is passing through the tear gas,fired by the Israeli soldiers.
2 injuries by rubber-coated metal bullets were reported, one of which was a journalist. One protester was shot in his lower leg with live ammunition, and was taken to hospital.
Blood from the protester who was injured in his lower leg by live ammunition
According to medics, 5 people were injured with rubber-coated metal bullets and 5 people with live ammunition during protests in Bethlehem with its surrounding villages. One medic was injured when a rubber-coated metal bullet was fired at the windshield of his Ambulance during protests in near by Em Rokbaa.
Medics standing in front of the ambulance with a broken windshield
Injured medic with the broken windshield in the background.
Sunday morning around 300 Palestinians and Internationals demonstrated side by side to block the uprooting of olive yards related to the construction of the apartheid-wall. The protesters where all non-violent and all stood up for the Palestinians rights and for a free Palestine.
Demonstrators carrying away the gate
Protesters successfully removed the illegal metal fence, which was put up by the Israeli occupation forces to prevent local Palestinians from reaching their land and harvesting their olives. The fence was carried away by internationals and Palestinians. This was a huge success for the the local Palestinians, whose land have had their land taken away.
Border Police showering demonstrators with teargas
After the fence was taken down, Israeli forces brutally attacked the non-violent protesters, shooting rubber-coated steel bullets, sound-grenades and dozens of teargas canisters. Three persons had to go to the hospital for suffering of excessive tear gas inhalation.
The demonstrators trying to escape the clouds of teargas
The Israeli state confiscating land of Beit Jala people using the expansion of apartheid wall as an excuse to clear the way of land-grab and expanding illegal settlements near the village. This is a huge problem for the local Palestinians who can’t harvest their fields and live their live freely.
The Friday protest in An Nabi Salih was passionate and vibrant as ever. Israeli Army jeeps pre-emptively invaded the village, setting up a roadblock at the main crossroads. Dozens of villagers, joined by a handful of international and Israeli activists, marched down the main street to meet them. The number of protestors soon grew as most of the people in the village came out into the streets to demonstrate against the soldiers.
The An Nabi Salih demonstration is specifically against the expansion of the nearby Halamish settlement, annexing An Nabi Salih’s land. But there is also a strong message against the Occupation in general.
Crowds of women and children in particular assailed the soldiers, singing and clapping. Chanting went on for almost two hours, with the soldiers still refusing to leave the village, until some local youths began throwing a few stones down the main street. The Israeli soldiers responded with disproportionate violence, firing volleys of tear gas canisters up the street at head-height, making a mockery of this supposed crowd-dispersal technique.
Skirmishes between soldiers and local youth went on almost until sundown, with the soldiers making forays deeper into the village but failing to capture any of the stone-throwers. Two Israeli activists were detained, however, for no other reason but criticising the soldier’s illegal invasion of the village. Both were later released without charge.
After some five hours of confrontation, the soldiers left An Nabi Salih, to the joy and relief of the villagers.
Ni’lin
This Friday, as every Friday for over two years, the villagers in Ni’lin together with international activists gathered to protest against the illegal annexation wall.
The demonstrators gathered in the olive groves outside the village after noon-day prayers, then marched towards the wall. When the march neared the wall the Palestinians chanted and waved their flags. Some shabaab (Palestinian youths) threw stones against and over the wall. Surprisingly there was no reaction from the soldiers on the other side, besides taking pictures of the shabaab. After about half an hour the protest ended and the protesters walked back to the village.
Bil’in
At the Bil’in weekly demonstration about 150 protestors carried a message to the Palestinian leadership, expressing the need for unification. A large banner showed a picture of Arafat and Yaseen together. The Israeli army was waiting on the other side of the Wall, responding with tear gas and stun grenades which set fire to several olive trees. Soldiers then charged through a gate in the Wall, chasing protestors back towards the village. Soldiers continued to fire on the retreating crowd, though luckily there were no injuries.
Heat from tear gas canisters and sound grenades set fire to the dry ground in several places, with smoke and gas forcing the people of Bil’in further back. Ammunition starting fires is a serious problem this time of the year, when the ground is dry. Many olive trees have been severely damaged, resulting in fewer olives for harvest this year.
Wadi Rahal
A few dozen Palestinians, Israelis and Internationals walked Friday at noon from Wadi Rahal to the site where Israel plans to build the illegal Apartheid Wall. There was plenty of energy, chanting and drumming (local and Israeli drummers). The army did not allow passage, and tried to push the demonstrators backwards. After a long non-violent struggle (i.e. the demonstrators acting non-violently) the soldiers started shooting tear gas and sound bombs, the first landing on a little boy’s leg. Two Israeli activists were arrested, illegally, for participating in the non-violent protest. The demonstration went on in a schoolyard nearby, still with great spirit and energy.
Iraq Burin
tear gas attack
Some 50 villagers from Iraq Burin gathered for the regular Saturday afternoon protest this week, supported by five ISM activists. The Israeli Army attempts to completely close off the village each week, clearly hoping that the disproportionate violence of their behaviour will be invisible outside Iraq Burin. Activists are forced to take extraordinary measures to reach the village and document military violence.
On arrival in the village, ISM activists met with a local man, 22, who was detained and beaten after last week’s protest. He confirmed that he was punched and kicked repeatedly in police custody; he now walks with a pronounced limp and has constant pain in his back. He will not be able to continue his regular work for at least three months, and will have no income for that period.
After noon-day prayers, the protest group marched up a hill, across village land that is threatened by settler violence. As usual the group was met by a unit of dozen soldiers waiting at the top of the hill. There was some chanting against the Occupation, and a tense stand-off for a few minutes, the two groups standing about 50 metres apart. One of the Palestinian youths threw a single, small stone at the soldiers, falling well short of their group. Soldiers responded by firing tear gas at the Palestinians and internationals, aiming their canisters directly at the demonstrators, at head height. Some canisters narrowly missed hitting both Palestinians and internationals, and there were a few minutes of panic as the protestors retreated across the rocky, open ground, desperately hoping not to be hit.
Lighter skirmishes followed, until the soldiers left the village land after about an hour, bringing the demonstration to an end.
Hebron
On Saturday around two hundred Palestinian and International protesters gathered in the Old City of Hebron to protest against the illegal settlements and the closure of Shuhada street. Speeches were held by politicians from different parties, including Mustafa Barghouti. A massive amount of soldiers attempted to intimidate the participants and block their way into the Old City. But the demonstrators resisted non-violently and despite persistent violence from soldiers successfully paraded the Old City.
Beit Jala
On Sunday in Beit Jala some 30 protesters marched through a street that leads to the Apartheid Wall’s construction site. To the sound of the working bulldozers nearby, the march was stopped by a group of soldiers and a barbed wire they had installed earlier. The protesters demanded to go through to the Palestinian land being annexed and destroyed by the wall construction, and some touched the barb wire to show their contempt to the occupying army.
The soldiers soon launched an assault with sound bombs and then tear gas canisters, which were shot at the populated street far beyond the protesters. One person was treated for heavy tear gas inhalation. At a different spot the army incursion was met with stone throwers. The army then began terrorizing a main street in Beit Jala, traumatizing passers-by and the entire population of the area.
The people of Al-Ma’asara’s again demonstrated peacefully last Friday, protesting against land seizures and settler harassment. Twenty villagers were joined by a handful of Israelis and internationals, marching from the village out towards the confiscated fields.
Member of Al-Ma'asara Popular Committee confronts soldiers
For the second week running, the group was allowed to reach the fields; Israeli army jeeps appeared as always, but this week the soldiers escorted the protest group to the fields, rather than attempting to stop them. Protestors were pushed and shouted at if they tried to move away from the main group, but otherwise there was no incident.
Perhaps the Israeli Army has finally recognised that the Al-Ma’asara protest is 100% peaceful, and the soldiers have no reason to break it up. Or this may turn out to be a temporary respite from roadblocks and harsher treatment. In any case the people of Al-Ma’asara are still not able to cultivate their land in peace, as the farmer’s have no protection from settler violence.
An Nabi Saleh
Residents of An Nabi Saleh gathered on Friday to honour the men of their village who remain as political prisoners inside Israeli jails. As one man enters his 33rd year in captivity, the village congregated for speeches, songs, and presentations to the families of those imprisoned.
After this event, villagers, joined by Israeli and international supporters, marched towards village land which has been illegally taken from them by the nearby Israeli settlement of Halamish. Soldiers blocked their route, allowing them to stand and chant for only a short period before starting to shoot tear gas. Many of the tear gas canisters shot were fired at body height, seemingly deliberately aimed at demonstrators. Several participants were injured, by canisters or by rubber-coated steel bullets, which were also fired in large numbers.
Military jeeps then came into the village, and soldiers occupied the main square. After approximately an hour, they retreated again, pursued by a large group of young children, one of whom had successfully planted a Palestinian flag on the back of a jeep. Soldiers halted the jeeps, and got out to throw sound grenades and fire tear gas at the children. Fortunately, none were hurt.
The demonstration went on until after sunset, when soldiers finally moved out of the village.
Iraq Burin
At the weekly demonstration against the illegal Israeli occupation in Iraq Burin, stone throwing protesters and international observers were teargassed by the Israeli army while trying to access their own land.
Leaving the village after the protest, two villagers and six internationals were stopped by an army jeep, had their passports confiscated and were then detained, with the soldiers claiming that it was “illegal” to be in the village. The internationals and Palestinians were taken to separate Israeli checkpoints, before being brought together again at Huwarra checkpoint 40 minutes later, where the Palestinians had been kneeling in the hot sun with their hands behind their heads.
All prisoners were then taken to a police station, where one of the Palestinians was severely beaten, first in the jeep, then in a closed room in the police station. All prisoners were later released without charge, 4 1/2 hours after their detention. The beaten Palestinian was taken to hospital in Nablus, where the doctor noted heavy bruising on his chest, back and stomach.
Bil’in
Dozens suffered from tear gas inhalation in Bil’ins weekly demonstration this Friday.
This week’s protest focused particularly on the boycott of Israeli blood diamonds. Every year, consumers the world over unwittingly spend billions of dollars on diamonds extracted by violent militias in West Africa and later processed and sold on from Tel Aviv. Protestors also carried a message of solidarity with the Palestinians of East Jerusalem, who are currently subject to a particularly violent wave of evictions, demolitions and harassment.
About 100 Palestinians, Israelis and internationals marched together this week to the gate of the Annexation Wall, facing large amounts of tear gas before the soldiers charged through the gate and chased the protesters towards the village. The solders continued firing teargas on the fleeing crowd, leaving dozens of protestors affected by gas inhalation. Hot teargas cannitsters set fire to fields on either side of the road, with Palestinian youths struggling to put out the flames while avoiding the Isralie assault. The demonstration ended after about 45 minutes.
Ni’lin
Around 20 international activists and journalists joined a group of 80-90 local villagers for the weekly protest against the Annexation Wall, continuing a tradition that has been going for over 4 years now. Starting from the olive fields, the protesters marched down the hill towards the wall, chanting slogans and waving flags. Having arrived at the wall, which annexes farmland and property from the locals and gives it to illegal settlers, there was an interlude of around 5 minutes, after which time the Israeli Army, from the other side of the wall, launched volleys of tear gas canisters at the peaceful protesters, continuing another integral part of the demonstration since its inception- unprovoked violence against peaceful demonstrators.
Following the volleys, most of the activists positioned themselves out of the direction of the wind, in order to minimize the poisonous effects of the gas. Some of the canisters were conventional rubber canisters, and others were higher velocity metal canisters, and thus the protesters had to be careful to avoid the projectiles, which have in the past caused serious and even fatal injuries to several activists. Some of the Palestinians then started throwing rocks over the wall at their aggressors, as well as using slingshots to hurl the empty gas canisters back at the soldiers.
After around 45 minutes events petered out. The protesters moved to the edge of the wall, and some of the journalists conducted interviews, while some Palestinians continued using slingshots to hurl the empty rubber gas canisters back over the wall. Suddenly, the Army burst through the gate in the wall in their jeeps, and started pursuing the peace protestors, who fled on foot over the hills, out of the reach of the jeeps. After a roughly 10 minute chase, the activists had managed to distance themselves safely from the army, who had given up the pursuit; they returned to the village in peace.
Hebron
Demonstrators gathered in Hebron on Saturday to demand an end to the illegal theft of water from the region for use in Israel and in Israeli settlements.
Protesters carried a large banner which read ‘Stop Stealing Our Water’, a reference to the theft of Palestinian water supplies by Israel. According to the Middle East Monitor, ‘The rate of water consumption of Israel citizens is 344 million cubic metres per year, while the consumption of Palestinians stands at 93 million cubic metres per year’. Israel’s disproportionately high usage and wastage of water is in large part fed by water stolen from the occupied West Bank. The Middle East Monitor goes on to write of ‘3 reserves within the West Bank area producing about 679 million cubic metres of water. According to international law, this water belongs to the Palestinians but they only get 118 million cubic metres. In other words, Palestinians get just 15% of their own water while the rest is consumed by Israelis’ [1]. Much of this stolen water comes from the Hebron region.
Local residents were joined for the protest by a large group of Israeli and international activists. After chanting and making speeches in front of one of Hebron’s many military watch-towers, the protest then moved up a nearby street, which was blocked by Israeli soldiers who violently pushed demonstrators back down the road. Protesters refused to give up, and went instead into the Old City’s covered market. Above this market is one of the illegal settlements that exist within Hebron itself, and settlers from here threw glass bottles, eggs and water down onto the protesters below.
The settlements in Hebron are, like all settlements within the West Bank and East Jerusalem, illegal under international law. Palestinian residents of the Old City and the district of Tel Rumeida suffer severe restriction of movement, frequent harassment and occasional violence at the hands of both soldiers and settlers.
Midday Sunday, a group of Palestinians and internationals gathered in the village of Beit Jala outside Bethlehem to protest against the construction of the wall cutting off the village from its land. The protesters divided into two groups, one facing a roadblock set up by the soldiers and while another smaller group went down trough the olive groves to reach the construction site.
Israeli soldiers responded violently towards the larger group, using sound bombs and tear gas. When the smaller group reached the road leading to the construction site, soldiers quickly formed a line to stop them. After some time border police arrived and arrested three of the protesters: one Palestinian, one Israeli and one international. As a result of the ferocious violence from the soldiers, the demonstration dissipated.
Bir el-Eid
Activists working with local farmer to dredge the well
Early Saturday morning, 10 volunteers from Taayush and ISM travelled to Bir el-Eid in the South Hebron Hills, where we met with the local farmers, and were joined also by renouned activist Ezra Nawi. Activists gathered here to help the locals dredge out their well. The people Bir el-Eid only just have enough water to drink, but nothing for crops or animals. Water must be expensively brought in tanks from outside, negotiating whatever the current military conditions may be.
The more permanent and sustainable water supply here comes from two wells that capture a good part of the yearly rain, which soaks down through the chalk rocks. The people of Bir el-Eid were evicted from their land for a number of years, and when they recently returned, they found their wells in disrepair. Without anyone here to maintain the wells they filled with silt, and the problem may have been compounded by settler vandalism.
Restoring the well to usefulness is a crucial part of re-establishing a sustainable community here. Activists spent about five hours working with the farmers; one Palestinian and three Israelis went down into the cistern at the bottom of the well, and five of us at the top hauled up the bucket-loads of muck with a pulley. This was filthy, heavy work, but seeing Palestinians and Israelis working together against the Apartheid provided powerful inspiration.
Tangled razorwire and unpreparedness caused soldiers to permit Al Ma'asara's demonstration to reach the village's landAl Ma’asara
After three years of being blocked from accessing their land on Fridays, Al Ma’asara villagers were granted permission on Friday to walk to the fields which will be confiscated by planned wall construction. Soldiers initially tried to block the route with razor wire but, as it was tangled and out of commission, relented to the requests of organizers to let the group pass. The group then walked peacefully to the land and rested under olive trees. One organizer, reluctant to be overly celebratory, said, “I think this is a compensation. Last week they took away one of our boys, so this week they let us march to the land. Next week we will see.”
An Nabi Saleh
Around two hundred demonstrators marched on Friday to protest against the illegal expansion of the Halamish settlement and the theft of the natural spring in the village of An Nabi Saleh.
The nonviolent demonstration started from the main square and continued down to the road where Palestinians and international and Israeli activists intended to reach the stolen land and the natural spring. However, Israeli forces blocked the road and stopped the nonviolent demonstration. Soon after that, one of the villagers was taken from his house and detained for several minutes for being falsely accused of letting shabab (young Palestinian boys) throw stones from his house.
After that incident, men, women and children persisted in their attempt to demonstrate when soldiers started to launch tear gas canisters at the people. Then, the crowd was dispersed but the tear gas canisters were still flying through An Nabi Saleh’s sky.
Around four o’clock in the afternoon, when the demonstration was still going on, the army raid the village and chased demonstrators, who had to run and hide in order to avoid arrest. The raid lasted for thirty minutes. When demonstrators tried to continue the demonstration, soldiers once again invaded the village and chased demonstrators in a clear attempt to arrest them. As a form of collective punishment, the army remained in the village for one hour. Soon after they left the demonstration was called off.
Bil’in
Around fifty villagers, Israelis and international activists gathered for the weekly demonstration and walked from the village towards the illegal annexation barrier built to separate them from around 60% of their land, and from an illegal settlement built on a neighbouring hill. Israeli military fired several tear gas from the other side of the fence to the right of the road, to deter the demonstrators from proceeding. Most of the group reached the fence and razor wire where it cut off the road, and Israeli forces in masks and riot gear stood beside a small camouflaged hut about 10m beyond the fence on the opposite side. Some of the local boys threw stones in their direction and twice attempted to pull away the razor wire. The soldiers responded by firing multiple tear gas and then charged towards the protesters with shields and full riot gear, causing the group to run back towards the village. The military continued firing tear gas and chased the demonstrators who fled and took cover in houses and olive groves. One British ISM activist, overcome by the effects of the highly concentrated tear gas, was caught and arrested, along with two Israeli demonstrators. They were detained at the nearest police station and released after several hours
Demonstrators in Hebron protested the illegal closure of Shuhada Street, which has decimated the city's economyHebron
About one hundred Palestinians, Israelis and internationals took part in the weekly demonstration Saturday which aims to open the closed Shuhada Street. It was a joyful demonstration with the world cup theme, although two Israeli activists were arrested.
One hundred persons or so gathered in Hebron old town to protest against the occupation and the Israeli settlements in Hebron. The demonstration started in the old municipality square near Shuhada Street which the Israeli military has closed for all Palestinians. People from all ages chanted and called for the occupation to end. Inspired by the ongoing world cup, the demonstrators simultaneously gave the settlers and the army the red card. After a while the protesters started to march through the old city. The army, however, wanted differently and formed a line to stop the peaceful march. After a bit of pushing the march changed route and went in the opposite direction. During the confrontation, Hebrew speaking activists overheard the police getting orders from the radio to randomly select two people and arrest them. Surprisingly, just a few minutes later two Israeli activists were arrested and held for a few hours. As the march continued through the ancient streets of the old city, songs echoed and the spirit rose. Even the water-throwing settlers couldn’t bring down the good mood and the people reassembled in the old municipality square.
Ni’lin
Roughly fifty Palestinian, Israeli and international demonstrators gathered Friday for a demonstration against Israel’s illegal apartheid wall, which claims roughly 30% of the village’s remaining land. The demonstrators marched through olive groves singing and chanting, before approaching the wall where a large number of soldiers stood watching from behind the gate. Demonstrators fanned out along the wall as barrages of tear gas were fired at the nonviolent crowd.
After walking to a point at which the wall becomes fence, soldiers continued to fire gas at demonstrators despite having caused a large fire on their side of the wall. Half-hearted attempts were made by the soldiers to extinguish the blaze, but it ultimately was permitted to burn through the olive grove now separated from the village. Villagers were forced to watch as flames licked the trunks of the village’s ancient trees. Frustration was expressed with their lack of access to the land, which prevents farmers from clearing the brush to prevent fires.
Soldiers then entered the village through a gate in the wall and began running towards the demonstrators to make arrests. Five medics and one reporter from Nil’in were roughly grabbed and arrested. A medic’s radio was smashed on a rock and the arrestees were marched back through the gate into army jeeps. Four were released and two are being charged with assault, an entirely unfounded claim.
Sheikh Jarrah
Friday, several hundred Israeli activists, joined by internationals and Palestinian residents of Sheikh Jarrah, gathered in the park on the opposite side of Nablus Road from the neighborhood where four families have been evicted from their homes. After trying to access the neighborhood, permission which is never granted despite giving settlers unlimited access to the street for demonstrations, the crowd then turned in the other direction to access homes which have recently been given eviction orders west of Nablus Road. Police initially blocked the crowd, but demonstrators were successful in finding a second route and reaching the homes.
Tear gas canisters sparked a fire, ultimately claiming village farmlandIraq Burin
For the second week in a row, Israeli soldiers formed road blocks outside the village of Iraq Burin on Saturday, in an attempt to stop people gathering for the village’s weekly demonstration. Non-residents of the village were denied entry, though several walked across the hills, successfully avoiding the roadblock. Residents of the village returning from Nablus were threatened and hurt by soldiers. Several reported being slapped in the face and beaten in the legs when they were stopped outside the village.
Despite this intimidation, villagers and supporters nonetheless assembled at the edge of Iraq Burin, and crossed the valley to reach their land, which they have been repeatedly prevented from accessing due to Israeli settler violence. When the Israeli military has intervened, it has always been to prevent Palestinian access to the land, rather than being to prevent the violence from the settlers.
Upon reaching the top of the hill opposite the village, demonstrators were met with a line of soldiers, who fired tear gas at them, forcing them back down into the valley. The heat of the gas canisters caused a large fire on the dry farm land. Soldiers continued to aim at the Palestinian youth as they attempted to put out the flames.
Beit Jala
On Sunday, a small group of Palestinian. Israeli and international demonstrators gathered in Beit Jala with the intention of protesting on land where the illegal apartheid wall is being built, but were prevented by soldiers who had obstructed both access roads with razor wire. The demonstrators chose to cut through an olive grove in an attempt to reach the land, but were quickly met by soldiers. A standoff between soldiers and demonstrators ensued, during which several speeches were delivered. After several minutes, soldiers began to forcibly push the crowd back with batons. As the soldiers fired several tear gas canisters and began to push the nonviolent demonstrators more quickly, an atmosphere oif “muted panic” ensued as demonstrators tried to avoid being injured. At this point, a young Palestinian was seized by soldiers and badly beaten.
Tear gas canisters started a small fire in the olive grove, which was quickly extinguished.
