Tag: Beit Ummar

Two Palestinians injured as settler opens fire on funeral procession in Beit Ommar

21 March 2011 | Center for Freedom and Justice in Beit Ommar

Around 12pm on Monday, March 21st, 2011, two Palestinian residents from the village of Beit Ommar in the southern West Bank were shot with live ammunition by an Israeli settler. The settler stopped his car on Route 60 as a funeral procession was moving towards the village cemetery and started firing indiscriminately into the crowd of mourners.

59-year-old Mohammad Ali Abu Safiyya was hit in the chest and is in critical condition in a Hebron hospital. 32-year-old Eyad Bassem Za’qiq was shot in his right thigh. The settler who shot the two men was not arrested.

Israeli Forces arrived on the scene and used sound bombs and tear gas to disperse the gathered crowd as medical teams evacuated the wounded. Several international human rights activists, as well as members of the Palestine Solidarity Project, a Palestinian group which organizes against the occupation in Beit Ommar, were on hand to witness these events.

The attack came hours after Mahmoud Ibrahim Ali Awad was stabbed in the chest by settlers from Ma’on, south of the city of Hebron. His wounds were considered moderate.

For more information, please contact:

Ahmed Oudeh, Center for Freedom and Justice in Beit Ommar +972 598 519 887 or +972 548 838 369

Beit Ommar youth brain-dead in hospital after being shot by settlers

29 January 2011 | Palestine Solidarity Project

Earlier today, Yousef Fakhri Ikhlayl, a 17-year-old youth from Beit Ommar who has worked very closely with PSP over the years, was shot in the head by settlers and he is currently brain-dead in Hebron hospital. Yousef attended nearly every unarmed Saturday demonstration, was frequently around the PSP house, and anticipated in both the Freedom Flotilla Summer Camp, and the photography class organized by the Center for Freedom and Justice. Our thoughts are with his family and friends. Please consider holding solidarity actions or events in your communities to demand his killers be brought to justice, and for Yousef to be the last victim of an ongoing brutal occupation.

Friday, January 28th 2011, 9am: Around 100 settlers from Bat Ayn settlement descended upon the Palestinian villages of Saffa and nearby Beit Ommar in the southern West Bank, shooting 17-year-old Yousef Fakhri Ikhlayl in his head, leaving him critically injured. Doctors have announced that Yousef is
currently brain-dead in a Hebron hospital.

Settlers also shot 16-year-old Bilal Mohammad Abed Al-Qador with live ammunition in his arm.

The large group of armed settlers began shooting towards Palestinian homes in Saffa at around 9am, leaving Bilal injured. At the same time, a second group of settlers attacked an area of Beit Ommar called Jodor. Yousef was shot in the head in this area while he was standing in grapes vines he had planted on his family´s land.

Dozens of Palestinians from Beit Ommar and the nearby village of Surif began coming to the area to defend their communities. Seven jeeps of Israeli Forces also arrived in the area and escorted the settlers back to Bat Ayn.

This is the second settler attack with live ammunition on Palestinians in as many days. On January 27th, Uday Maher Qadous was shot and killed in Iraq Burin, in the Nablus district, by armed settlers as he was working his land.

Yousef Fahkri Ikhlayl is from the village of Beit Ommar and has worked on initiatives with the Palestine Solidarity Project, an ant-occupation organization in Beit Ommar. In the summer of 2010, Yousef attended the Center for Freedom and Justice´s Freedom Flotilla Summer Camp where he engaged in educational projects, community service, and unarmed demonstrations against the Israeli occupation. In the fall of 2010 Yousef was a participant in a youth photography class also sponsored by the center.

“Yousef was a kid who hoped for a better future for Palestine. His life was ended prematurely by right-wing extremists. People around the world should be outraged by his shooting, and should work to bring his attackers to justice. ”

-Bekah Wolf, American citizen who worked with Yousef in the Center for
Freedom and Justice

Settlers from Bat Ayn routinely attack and harass Palestinians in the Beit Ommar area. In January 27th, 2011 settlers in the area destroyed several hundred olive trees belonging to Palestinian farmers.

Army raids the house of a Popular Committee member in Beit Ummar

23 December 2010 | Popular Struggle Coordination Committee

Soldiers from the Karmei Tzur settlement/military base invaded a civilian house this afternoon in Beit Ummar using live ammunition and sound bombs. During the raid, woman and children were injured as the soldiers harassed one of the Popular Committee leaders of the village.

Wife of Ibrahim Abu Maria

At 3 pm, soldiers came from the Karmei Tzur settlement to the house of Ibrahim Abu Maria in Beit Ummar. Soldiers attacked his wife by hitting her on head and also attacked some of his children in a similar manner. The soldiers rampaged the house, breaking items left and right. The only clear motivate of this attack was to intimate Abu Maria, who is active member of the village’s popular committee which is responsible for weekly non-violent demonstrations against the occupation. Abu Maria’s house is also subject to constant harassment by the army because it sits so close to the Karmei Tzur settlement.

As the attack on the house intensified this afternoon, members of the villages popular committee attempted to help the family. The army responded by firing ten rounds of live ammunition at the villagers and throwing sound bombs directly at woman and children. The woman and children involved in the attack are now receiving treatment for shock and their wounds in a local hospital. To add insult to injury, the army set up a floating checkpoint at the entrance to the village. This resulted in a delay in reaching the hospital.

Beit Ummar and the adjacent Saffa valley have recently witnessed a tide in repression by the Israeli army. On November 18th, thirteen Palestinian, Israeli, and international activists were arrested when accompanying farmers to their land in the Saffa valley, near the illegal settlement of Bat Ayn. In the past month, soldiers have raided the village at nights and made arrests up to three times a week. Thirty five people were arrested in October, and several have been arrested this month.

Karmei Tsur, an illegal settlement according to international law, is one of five built on land belonging to Beit Ummar villagers. The demonstration is held every Saturday and organized by the National Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Beit Ummar, and the Palestine Solidarity Project.

Soldiers occupy house and attack demonstrators

18th December 2010 | Palestine Solidarity Project

On Saturday, December 18th, 2010, a larger than usual number of Israeli and international activists joined Beit Ommar villagers in their demonstration against the continuing encroachment of Karmei Tsur settlers on land belonging to local farmers. Approximately 80 people took part in the high-spirited demonstration, which was accompanied by a group of Israeli drummers. Demonstrators also waved the flags of the various countries that have recognized Palestine’s right to self-determination in the last few weeks.

As the demonstration was starting, a group of ten Israeli soldiers occupied the house of a local family at the southern edge of the village. The terrified family of five was forced into a separate room while the soldiers used their house as a vantage point from which to observe the demonstrators. The soldiers remained in the residence for a total of three hours.

As the protesters approached the fence around the settlement of Karmei Tsur, they were confronted by an additional group of Israeli soldiers and border police. Soldiers repressed the unarmed demonstration with tear gas and stun bomb. One soldier injured themselves while trying to throw a sound bomb. Several high-velocity tear gas canisters, deemed illegal by the Israeli military’s own protocol, were fired at the heads of the demonstrators. One Italian international and one Israeli solidarity activist were arrested by Israeli Forces.

Mousa, Yousef Abu Maria arrested from their homes as harassment continues in Beit Ommar

25 November 2010 | Palestine Solidarity Project

Early Thursday morning, at approximately 2:00am, Israeli forces from the Gush Etzion military base came to the homes of brothers and National Committee members Yousef and Mousa Abu Maria. Both are also co-founders of the Palestine Solidarity Project.

Mousa, whose wife and baby girl–both Israeli citizens–were visiting family, was forced outside while his home was searched. 3 computers belonging to the Palestine Solidarity Project were taken. Yousef, father of 10 year-old Reem, 4 year-old Obay, and 1 month-old Della’, was also taken from his home in the middle of the night.

Both were held outside in freezing temperatures in Gush Etzion military base for over 5 hours; neither were allowed to put on proper shoes or clothing and repeated requests to be put inside were denied.

The soldiers, who have been harassing the committee of Beit Ommar for months now, including a previous late-night home invasion last month, accused both brothers of organizing the demonstrations in Beit Ommar, held every Saturday against the illegal settlements surrounding Beit Ommar, particularly Karmei Tsur. They were also “accused” of “bringing internationals” to Beit Ommar.

The brothers were also threatened if they did not stop the PSP program of reclaiming land in Saffa, this just days after settlers from nearby Bat ‘Ayn settlement set fire to Saffa land. In addition to Mousa and Yousef, two youth from Saffa were also arrested and released the next day.