Tag: Beit Ummar - Page 2 - International Solidarity Movement

Video- Fifth Canaan protest village built on annexed Palestinian land in the middle of the illegal Gush Etzion Colonial block

27th July 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Canaan village, Occupied Palestine

The Canaan protest village was built for the fifth time today, the 27th July 2013, annexed Palestinian land in the middle of the illegal Gush Etzion Colonial block next to the illegal colony of Migdal Oz. The nonviolent protesters stayed in the tent on their land for around an hour and a half, before the Israeli occupation soldiers tore it down, violently repressing the demonstration.

At 11.30am, around thirty Palestinian, international and Israeli activists entered Palestinian land which has been annexed by the illegal Israeli colony, Migdal Oz. They immediately erected a simple but symbolic tent, representing the Palestinian right to the land. Within five minutes, several soldiers had arrived on the scene, heavily armed with assault rifles. They were followed shortly afterwards by several jeeps, and the number of soldiers and police increased to over fifty within half an hour.

Fifth Canaan protest village (Photo by ISM)

During this time, some colonists left the colony and questioned the demonstrators on their reasons for the protest. The speeches, that had started right after the erection of the symbolic tent continued until around 12.50, when the protesters were given a written demolition order stating that the tent would be demolished in 10 minutes.

At that point demonstrators assembled inside the tent structure and began singing and chanting, whilst the army started forming around the tent. The demonstrators refused to leave their symbolic village.

The soldiers started tearing down the tent with the demonstrators inside it, violently pushing people away with riot shields and eventually breaking the tent pole that the protesters were holding onto. Numerous demonstrators were pushed to the ground. After the tent was demolished around fourty soldiers stayed in formation continuing to drive the protesters away from the colony onto the main road.

The soldiers then stopped the demonstrators and blocked off the road for some minutes whilst shoving the protesters to one side against the hard shoulder. When the protesters after that tried to leave from the car park, the army again blocked the road hindering them from leaving for several minutes without communicating an order.

View from inside the tent, protester holding "Our land is our right" poster — View from inside the tent, protester holding “Our land is our right” sign (Photo by ISM)

The tent village was built to remember the right of Palestinians to their land and to express solidarity with hunger strikers imprisoned for fighting for the Palestinian struggle. In statements, Palestinians taking part in the tent village have expressed their general support for negotiations to end the occupation, but condemned the current round of false negotiations, that have been going on for years while Israel continues to build colonies and colonise Palestinian land.

There have been four previous incarnations of the Canaan village, all of which have been reclaiming Palestinian land and protesting the illegal colonial annexation. The previous tent villages have been built by the South West Bank Popular Committee in the south of the West Bank and have all been violently dismantled by the Israeli occupation military, with arrests of nonviolent demonstrators.

The simple tent structure chosen as a symbol of resistance and the disproportionate military action following its erection; this demonstrates the level of violence that is needed to sustain the illegal occupation of Palestinian land.

Saturdays under the settlements

25th June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

Saturday is supposed to be a holy day for the Jewish settlers of the illegal colonies in the West Bank; many don’t work, they don’t turn on electrical appliances, they don’t drive cars. But some of the violent and Zionist among them still allow themselves one activity – attacking and harassing Palestinians.

Farmer showing damaged grapevines (Photo by: ISM)

This Saturday, four international volunteers accompanied a farmer and his family from the town of Beit Ummar to their land, which is in the valley directly underneath the settlement of Bet Ayin, notorious for violent attacks against Palestinians, especially on Saturdays. The family had asked for an international presence to act as a deterrent for the settlers and also to speed the farming, as the quicker we could bring in the harvest, the less time the family would be at risk on their land. This day, thankfully, there were no settlers running down the hills throwing rocks at the farmers, and there were no helicopters bringing Israeli military to “protect” the attackers, as has happened in the past (needless to say, they don’t come to protect the Palestinians who are being attacked). We picked enough plums to fill all of the boxes that the farmer had brought and these were loaded onto a donkey to be taken to market.

It was after we were finished – and after we had been given one (or two, or three) of the delicious plums by the farmer – that we were taken on a tour of the valley and the family’s land. Although it is still lush, well tended and green, there was also destruction visible everywhere. Fruit and olive trees had been hacked down leaving just stumps, branches of figs had been half torn off, grapevines were ripped from their supports. In addition several newly planted young olive trees had been uprooted.

The farmer walked us through, pointing out each and every plant which had been killed over the last couple of years. Each had been sown with love, hope and resistance – and each had been torn down by the settlers. At every plant and tree the farmer paused and told us to “see, see what they did! It is so bad”. It was clear that every new piece of destruction was a blow to him.

Bet Ayin settlement visible on the hill (Photo by: ISM)

He also showed us the river running through the valley and how it was polluted, poisoning some of the trees and causing weeds to grow wild, blocking access across the river to the land on the other side. The pollution comes from the looming settlement of Bet Ayin. When his English was limited, the farmer acted out the attacks to which he had been subjected – showing us marks on his head where the settlers had beaten him.

But despite all of this, the farmers will continue working their land, each tree a symbol for their resistance and each harvest a step towards the day when they will be able to farm their land on Saturdays – and every other day – without international accompaniment and without having to watch the hills for settlers.

Right of Return still key – Nakba Day demonstrations violently suppressed by Israeli forces

15th May 2013 | International Solidarity Movement | Ramallah, Occupied Palestine

By Team Ramallah

The 15^th May marks the 65^thanniversary of the expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians from their homes and the destruction – and massacre in some cases – of more than 500 Palestinian villages by Zionist forces in 1948. 65 years on, the same Zionist project of expelling the indigenous population of Palestine continues. House demolitions, land confiscation, settlement expansion, military occupation, restriction of movement and systematic bombing of the Gaza Strip are aimed at ethnically cleansing Palestine for the sake of the Zionist dream: Greater Israel.

Palestinians from different villages and cities across the West Bank, Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and refugee camps in neighbouring Arab countries have commemorated the 65^th anniversary of the Nakba, claiming once again their right of return to their land, their homes and their history.

Protesters standing away from the tar gas (Photo by ISM) — Protesters standing away from the tar gas at Ofer demonstration(Photo by ISM)

In Ramallah, at 11am, more than four hundred people marched from Muqata compound to Yasser Arafat Square waving Palestinian and ‘right of return’ flags. School children chanted slogans against the Israeli occupation and for the right of return of the five million Palestinian refugees around the world.

At around 12.30 am, protesters went to Ofer military prison where clashes erupted between Palestinian activists and Israeli forces. Numerous tear gas canisters and rubber coated steel bullets were shot at demonstrators by Israeli Border Police officers and soldiers. Many people suffered from suffocation as a result of tear gas inhalation and more than twenty people were shot with rubber coated steel bullets and tear gas canisters, at least four of them being taken to hospital by ambulance. Two demonstrators were shot in the head with rubber coated steel bullets and one was shot in the leg with live ammunition. The confrontations finished at around 4pm when protesters gradually retreated from the scene.

In Beit Ummar Palestinian and international activists briefly blocked Highway 60, the main north – south artery for Israeli settlements. The Israeli army responded by throwing stun grenades at the demonstrators. Soon afterwards Palestinian youth clashed with Israeli soldiers in olive groves surrounding the village as the army continued to invade the area. Excessive amounts of rubber coated steel bullets and tear gas were fired at the demonstrators. One was shot in the head and another in the leg and were treated by Palestinian medics on the scene.

65 years after the Nakba, or ‘catastrophe’, the Palestinian people continue to fight for their right to return, whether they are now in the West Bank, Gaza, displaced within Israel or in the refugee Diaspora. The Right of Return for Palestinian refugees is absolutely key in the struggle for Palestinian rights and freedom.

Protesters running away from tear gas (Photo by ISM) — Protesters running away from tear gas at Ofer (Photo by ISM)

Beit Ommar: steadfastness and non-stop resistance against Israeli occupation

12th May 2013 | Beit Ommar Popular Movement, Beit Ommar, Occupied Palestine

On Friday 10th of April, tens of heavily armed Israeli occupation troops clashed with Beit Ommar’s defenseless youth, armed only with eagerness for freedom. Israeli forces shot countless tear gas canisters towards the young people, other civilians’ homes and shot numerous rubber-coated steel bullets, in addition to targeting citizens’ property. More than 50 people were injured, including 12 from rubber-coated metal bullets injuries and the rest due to tear gas suffocation. Two of the injured were hit in the head and urgently taken to al-Alia hospital in Hebron. Many cars, house windows and water tanks were damaged by the soldiers.

Israeli border police officer loads canisters into a tear gas launcher (Photo by Beit Ommar Popular Movement)

Tear gas canisters shot at the fields (Photo by Beit Ommar Popular Movement)

Protester injured from rubber coated steel bullets (Photo by Beit Ommar Popular Movement)

Injured protester being taken away (Photo by Beit Ommar Popular Movement)

Israeli military attacks funeral in Beit Ummar

by Team Khalil

16 January 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Beit Ummar, Occupied Palestine

At around 2:30 pm the Israeli occupation forces violently attacked a funeral in Beit Ummar using tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets.

The funeral of Masouza Alja’ar, an elderly woman who died of natural causes, was attacked by the Israeli army with large amounts of tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets. For over three hours the town was rocked by the unprovoked actions of the soldiers. The youth of Beit Ummar defended their town as clashes broke out. Not until dusk, around 5 pm did the town return to normal. Tear gas canisters were fired at the residents forcing them to take refuge in their homes and inside shops.

Most funerals in the town of Beit Ummar are attacked by the Israeli army. The last funeral to be violently disrupted in the town was on 25th December, Christmas day. Again there was nothing out of the ordinary about this funeral so it remains unexplained why it was being attacked by the Israeli army. The violence spread to an area where there were also clashes between the Israeli occupation forces and people from the town, near the illegal Israeli settlement of Kharmei Tzur.

Team Khalil is a group of volunteers of International Solidarity Movement based in Hebron (al Khalil)