Tag: Call to Action

Call to action: Save Wadi Tiran, Occupied West Bank.

13 November, 2023, Wadi Tiran in the occupied West Bank, Palestine

The village of Wadi Tiran was given a 24 hour warning, “leave or we kill everyone”.

Residents, along with a handful of international and Israeli human rights defenders, are gathered in a large tent awaiting their fate. The Israeli police were called but they refused to attend.

The village of Wadi Tiran is a small herding community located next to what was the larger village of Zanuta, whose 150 residents were forced to leave their homes on 31 October under similar, persistent and violent Israeli settler attacks.

Seven colonial settlers from the Havat Yehuda illegal outpost that lies above the village arrived in Wadi Tiran two nights ago: “You have 24 hours to leave or we will kill everyone”. This threat has become the standard threat issued to herding communities across the Occupied West Bank. Fifteen of these communities have already been wiped off the map. After 24 hours passed, settlers entered the community and destroyed cars, a solar panel, a tractor, and anything they could get their hands on.

Now that night has fallen, the entire village has gathered in one tent waiting for the settlers to complete their threats.

We ask people around the world to pressure their governments to take immediate action to stop the displacement of Wadi Tiran.

If you are a US citizen, please contact your local representatives and embassies:

Embassy in Jerusalem:

Ambassador: Thomas R Nides

Phone: (02) 630 400

Email: Americancenterjerusalem@state.gov

Website: https://il.USEmbassy.gov

Tel Aviv Branch Office:

Phone: (03) 519 7575

US Palestinian Affairs in Jerusalem:

Phone: (02) 6227230

Email: USPalestinianAffairs@state.gov

Script for communication to Embassies and Representatives:

I am writing to demand rapid action be taken by this body to defend human rights in the West Bank. As violations of International Humanitarian Law continue to be committed against occupied Palestinians, world leaders who do not take every action to defend human life and dignity are complicit in the denial of them.

Daily incidents of violence committed by Israeli settlers against isolated and vulnerable Palestinian families in the South Hebron Hills are being documented and transmitted to the world. Daily transgressions of the rights of Palestinians to live their lives without being harassed, searched, arbitrarily arrested and held without charge, raided, shot at and humiliated by the army and settlers -who are being emboldened by the silence of the international community. These violations are being reported by human rights organizations across the globe. With the whole world watching, what side of history will you be on?

Resources:

Ethnic cleansing in Masafer Yatta reaches unbearable level: Call to Action

Masafer Yatta | International Solidarity Movement

Colonial violence and ethnic cleansing is quickly escalating in Masafer Yatta, a rural region south of Hebron, in the West Bank.

Settler militias are terrorizing Palestinians by invading their villages during pogroms, armed with assault rifles, often wearing Israeli army uniforms and accompanied by Israeli soldiers. Palestinians and ISM activists have reported and documented cases of settlers beating up Palestinian residents, including women, children and the elderly; settlers and soldiers shooting towards Palestinian houses and houses, destroying water pumps and electric grids, uprooting trees and taking up Palestinian fields, planting Israeli flags on Palestinian land and houses, and even forcing Palestinians to sing pro-Israel chants and to wave an Israeli flag while holding them at gun-point and filming them.

Last night, settlers and soldiers invaded the village of Susyia and threatened residents that if they don’t leave within 24 hours, they will be back and start killing Palestinians in the village. A similar threat to residents of the village of Khirbet Zanuta has already resulted in the community leaving the land in order to save their families.

CALL TO ACTION: Residents call on people around the world to “check in” to Masafer Yatta on FB and Instagram in solidarity with the villagers facing imminent violence. This will throw off Israeli security forces tracking the online activities of both Palestinians and local solidarity activists speaking out against settler violence. It will also show settlers and soldiers that the world is watching and that the residents of Masafer Yatta are not alone.

Check out the hashtag #savemasaferyatta and share content on Masafer Yatta from pages like:

Youth of Sumud

Masafer Yatta (Instagram)

ISM Instagram, ISM Facebook , ISM Twitter

What follows is just a summary of some outstanding cases of settler violence

On October 25th Israeli settlers and soldiers invaded the land belonging to a Palestinian family in Tuwani and used a bulldozer to uproot trees and destroy the family’s garden.

The soldiers then shot a half a dozen warning shots towards ISM and Israeli activists who were filming the scene.

On October 13th, an Israeli settler invaded Tuwani and shot a Palestinian man in the stomach at point blank range, while being protected by an Israeli soldier. The day before, Israeli settlers dressed in Israeli army uniforms had invaded Palestinian agricultural land, planted Israeli flags and started shooting towards Palestinians and solidarity activists. Israeli soldiers robbed ISM activists of their phones.

On October 26th, a resident of the village of Khallet al-Dabaa was arbitrarily arrested by Israeli soldiers. When he was released two days later, he showed clear signs of abuse and turture on his body.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Youth Of Sumud (@youthofsumud)

On October 26th, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) flew drones over villages in Masafer Yatta transmitting the following message in Arabic: “We can see you everywhere. Wherever you are, we are coming for you”.

On October 27th, Settler militias destroyed over 200 trees, along with irrigation pipes, water pumps, electrical cables, and a water tank belonging to local Palestinian residents in the Al-Ain Al-Bayda village in Masafer Yatta.
They also severed the water supply pipeline for the community in Saddet al-Tha’ala village, while making death threats against local residents.

The same day, a large group of settlers attacked residents in the village of Susiya, who confronted the colonists and forced them to run away after an outbreak of a fistfight. Several people suffered bruises. The settlers threatened that they would come back at night with Israeli soldiers, and they did.

On October 28th, armed settlers forcibly removed a Palestinian man from his car, in the village of Umm Al-Khair, and then destroyed his car by throwing large rocks and by shooting at it.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by محمود جمال مخامرة (@mahmoud.photography97)

On the same day, two armed Israeli settlers dressed in Israeli army uniforms assaulted and detained 6 Palestinians, including a 16 year old girl, who got her hand broken by the settlers during the attack.

On October 29th, armed settlers and soldiers raided the village of Susiya again and threatened Palestinians there that if they did not leave the village within 24 hours, they would come back and start shooting and killing residents.
The same day, armed settlers invaded the village of Khirbet Zanuta and told residents: “If you don’t leave, we’ll do to you what we are doing in Gaza”. The community decided that they had to leave to save their families, knowing that they have nobody to protect them.
The same day, armed settlers raided the village of Tuba and stole 6 sheep from a Palestinian family, as well as a gas cilinder, a phone and a sheep feeder. A few days earlier, settlers had entered Tuba during the night and damaged the water tanks with knifes. Palestinians and ISM activists in Tuba have reported that the settlers appear to be building a new illegal outpost just meters away from the houses of Palestinians in Tuba.

On October 29th, armed settlers invaded the village of Umm Al-Khair and forced some Palestinians to raise the Israeli flag over their houses and to record videos of themselves in which they spoke against Palestinians in Gaza. The settlers then said that they would come back the next day and that if they did not see the Israeli flags on people’s houses, they would displace Palestinian families.

On October 29th, Israeli settlers and soldiers assaulted an elderly man and his children in his home, in the village of Sha’ab al-Butm.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by محمود جمال مخامرة (@mahmoud.photography97)

The International Solidarity Movement maitains its presence on the ground in Masafer Yatta, with ISM activists standing with Palestinians as they face colonial violence in their villages.

Call to action: Olive Harvest 2018 – Join ISM now!

International Solidarity Movement | Ramallah, occupied Palestine

*Like here in Kafr ad-Dik illegal Israeli settlements were built close to the Palestinian farmers land. Settlers are not hesitant to harass and threaten the Palestinian families during the harvest.*

Tthe International Solidarity Movement (ISM) is issuing an urgent call for volunteers to join us for the 2018 Olive Harvest Campaign at the invitation of Palestinian communities.

The olive tree is a national symbol for Palestinians. As thousands of olive trees have been bulldozed, uprooted and burned by Israeli settlers and the military —over half a million olive and fruit trees have been destroyed since September 2000—harvesting has become more than a source of livelihood; it has become a form of resistance.

The olive harvest is an annual affirmation of Palestinians’ historical, spiritual, and economic connection to their land, and a rejection of Israeli efforts to seize it. Despite efforts by Israeli settlers and soldiers to prevent them from accessing their land, Palestinian communities have remained steadfast in refusing to give up their olive harvest.

ISM volunteers join Palestinian farming communities “on the ground” each year to harvest olives, in areas where Palestinians face settler and military violence when working their land. Frequently, the Israeli administration sets farmers a very limited access and time to harvest their olives. In some areas, Palestinians face settler and military violence when working their land and harvesting their olives. Your presence can make a big difference, with Palestinian communities stating that the presence of international volunteers reduces the risk of extreme violence from Israeli settlers and the Israeli army.

We support Palestinians’ assertion of their right to earn their livelihoods and be present on their lands. International solidarity activists engage in non-violent intervention and documentation:practical support which enables many families to pick their olives.

The harvest will begin in early-October and run until mid-November. We request a minimum two-week commitment from volunteers but stress that long-termers are needed as well. We kindly ask volunteers to start arriving in the first week of October, so team are trained and well prepared when the harvest begins.

Training

ISM will host mandatory two-day training sessions for prospective volunteers before they do any work on the ground.

Please send an email to ismtraining@riseup.net to register as a volunteer.

Other ways to help: Donate

For those who can’t make it on this period and want to help they can donate or help in fundraising money.

Donating will help provide funds for farmers to hire unemployed Palestinians during olive harvest; especially women with little or no other income, university students wanting to earn money to cover school fees and living expenses, graduates waiting to get a paying job or others in need.
The main benefits of hiring Palestinians for olive harvest include: (1) supporting unemployed workers; (2) encouraging more Palestinians to work the land, to join their neighbours, to support the farmers; (3) getting more people “on the ground” supporting olive harvest, and ensuring a higher proportion of Palestinians to internationals; (4) enabling internationals to focus more on their special role as needed (recording, documentation, protection) versus just harvesting olives.
Your donation would enable ISM to contribute 50% of each wage a farmer pays to otherwise unemployed Palestinians, which will ensure a fair wage to the workers and still be affordable for the farmers. Your donation of US$30-40 or EUR25-35 (both about NIS100-150) can pay the wages of a harvester for one or two days with the contribution of a farmer.

Click here to make a donation

Ongoing campaigns

In addition to the olive harvest, there will be opportunities to participate in others kinds of grass-roots, non-violent resistance in Palestine.

ISM maintains a constant presence in Hebron (Al-Khalil), where settler harassment and violence is a regular occurrence. Lately, Israeli army violence has escalated for Palestinians living close to the illegal inner-city settlement. Israeli forces use Palestinian neighborhoods for military training, and heavily repress any form of resistance, responding with collective punishment as they lob dozens of teargas canisters and stun grenades onto Hebron’s population: even schoolchildren. With harassment, humiliation and violence a daily occurrence, ISM is present to document these extremely violent responses, and to serve as a protective presence by joining children and teachers going to school and make sure they return safely (school runs).

Amongst other places, ISM practices documentation and presence in the Jordan Valley, Umm Al-Kheir (South Hebron Hills) and Khan Al-Ahmar to stand up against cleansing.

In addition to these activities, we participate in the weekly demonstrations in different regions in the West Bank, for example in Bel’in and Kafr Qadum where our presence is requested, protesters face excessive force by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) and are threatened with house demolition orders, all adding up to ethnic cleansing.
Other regions where ISM is asked to participate against the Occupying power’s violations of Human Rights and other International Laws is in Occupied East-Jerusalem and areas in 48.

Experiencing the situation for yourself is vital to adequately convey the reality of life in Palestine to your home communities and to re-frame the debate in a way that will expose Israel’s apartheid policies; creeping ethnic cleansing in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem as well as collective punishment and genocidal practices in Gaza.

In Solidarity,

ISM Palestine

Summer of Return 2018

This is a call for all those who believe in justice, equality and freedom to come to Palestine and support the Palestinian struggle for liberation.

Palestinian women flying kites at The Great March of Return in Gaza (Mohammed Asad, via Mondoweiss)

The International Solidarity Movement is looking for volunteers from now until the end of August to join the Summer of Return campaign. Volunteers will assist actions across Palestine that raise global awareness of the Great March of Return, large-scale popular protests in Gaza, consisting of thousands of demonstrators each Friday demanding to implement their right to return to their land and homes. While the brutal siege of Gaza has transformed the strip into an open air prison camp, it is almost impossible to enter the isolated strip. However solidarity actions with the Great March of Return are taking place across Palestine. Volunteers will support nonviolent actions of popular resistance against Israeli occupation and apartheid. Human rights defenders will also offer accompaniment to Palestinians and their communities who face daily harassment, risk of physical violence and arrest by occupation forces and settlers.

Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip attempted to cross the highly fortified fence separating the enclave (Al-Jazeera)

Since the start of the Marches, at least 135 unarmed protesters have been shot dead and more than 14,000 wounded by Israeli forces (UNOCHA), including children, medical staff, journalists, and the disabled. Gaza’s health system has been pushed to the brink of collapse, as hospitals struggle to handle an influx of serious and life-threatening injuries. Palestinians under siege in Gaza are marching home to the villages and cities from which they were expelled. They are marching out of the concentration camp that Israel has transformed Gaza into. They are marching to claim the international human right of refugees to return. Because of this, the Israeli occupying forces are murdering them in cold blood. The courage and sacrifice of this March demands all to stand up and end Israeli impunity and apartheid..

Palestinian youth play during the mass rally on April 11, 2018 (Xinhua/Stringer)

The ISM is a Palestinian-led movement which is committed to non-violent action. We will provide further information on our principles and other necessary information in a two day training course in our Ramallah office from the 2nd to the 4th July and from the 2nd to the 4th August.

More information on training here.

Palestinian medics attend to an injured woman during the march (MEE/Mohammed al-Hajjar)

For background on the Great March of Return see here.

CALL TO ACTION: Salfit under brutal settlement expansion

ISM/Charlie Donnelly — Bil’in weekly demonstration, 17th Feb. 2017

11th April 2017 | International Solidarity Movement | Occupied Palestine

Since the beginning of the year, the Salfit municipality in the occupied West Bank (Palestine) has become a target not only for illegal settlement expansion and growth but also for the imposition of serious restrictions to the daily lives of Palestinians.

For a long time the Salfit area has been subjected to land theft, the uprooting of olive trees and the pollution of the area’s water supplies, as a result of Israeli-led excavations and the dumping of untreated wastewater coming from illegal settlements. These actions produce severe damage to Palestinian crops and to water sources essential for the livestock, and restrict Palestinians’ access to their lands and means of livelihood, by constraining agricultural activity or transforming agricultural land into natural reserves.

Since 2017 started, the Salfit area has received 30 orders to stop construction work and 3 notifications for land evacuation. On March 23, in Wadi Qana, a village west of Deir Istiya and surrounded by illegal settlements, Palestinian farmers were prohibited to access their lands by the Israeli forces, who justified it with the need to create a “comfortable atmosphere” for the settlers. Two weeks later, on the same area, with no prior notice, 135 olive trees were uprooted, after being described as “damaging to the view and values” of the nature reserve. In total, 165 trees have been uprooted in the Salfit area since the beginning of the year.

Furthermore, in two cases (both in Salfit municipality and Bruqin), municipality crews’ work that would allow Palestinians access to their agricultural lands was stopped by Israeli forces, and 100 dunums of Palestinian land were confiscated in order to expand an industrial zone around illegal Israeli settlements or to build new roads connecting these illegal settlements to Jerusalem and Israel.

As the lives of the Palestinians living in this area continue to be deeply affected by the intensifying attacks against their mobility and access to their lands, they still challenge them by organizing popular demonstrations, solidarity vigils and working with human rights organisations.

Support by the international community, both abroad and in occupied Palestine is still necessary. ISM urges you to denounce the situation by:

Exposing the practices of the occupation in international forums;
Contacting your state authorities and pressuring them to halt relations and cooperation with the occupying state as per BDS guidelines;
To share the stories of Palestinians affected by the reality of the occupation and the violation of their basic human rights;
To visit Palestine in a demonstration of solidarity;
To support the right of the Palestinian people to nonviolently resist occupation, as a right enshrined in international law.

If you wish to join the International Solidarity Movement please contact your nearest support group for a briefing (see our website, bottom-right corner). If you are currently in the UK, please note that a training session will be held in Manchester on the 22nd and 23rd of April.