Tag: Checkpoint - Page 10 - International Solidarity Movement

“Next time we will pray in Jerusalem” – activists demonstrate at apartheid checkpoint blocking access to occupied Jerusalem

22nd June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Bethlehem, Occupied Palestine

In the morning of June 22nd, Palestinian, international and Israeli activists marched to the Israeli occupation military checkpoint blocking the West Bank from Jerusalem. Upon reaching the Israeli occupation roadblock, they were stopped by soldiers who violently prevented them from passing through the checkpoint. In reaction, the Palestinian activists prayed at the checkpoint, demonstrating their right to both freedom of movement within their own land, and freedom to worship in Jerusalem.

Protester being harassed by Israeli military in front of checkpoint (Photo by: ISM)

The activists arrived on the Bethlehem road, driving towards the military checkpoint separating south West Bank from Jerusalem. Around fifty meters from the checkpoint, they exited vehicles and marched towards the occupied land on the other side of the checkpoint manned by Israeli occupation military. The activists wore kuffiyehs and carried Palestinian flags, carrying a sign reading “Our land is our right”, “Free”, “Justice.”

Demonstrators were immediately confronted by Israeli occupation military personnel, who refused them passage through the checkpoint and tried to push them back. Palestinian activists were grabbed violently by soldiers, who pulled at their clothes and shoved them out of the road and away from the area.

However, activists refused to back down and instead chanted slogans and spoke about their right to freely enter occupied Jerusalem. An Israeli occupation police car and several military jeeps arrived to further repress the nonviolent demonstration. The violence from the soldiers continued and escalated when activists were threatened with pepper spray. In reaction to this, the Palestinian protesters began praying on the Bethlehem side of the checkpoint.

Following the prayer, the activists stated that they were leaving, but that they would return soon and that the next time they prayed it would be in Jerusalem.

This demonstration aimed to highlight the human rights abuses that the Palestinian people are subjected to every day because of the occupation. Restriction of movement is widespread across the West Bank, with permission from the Israeli occupation authorities being demanded for Palestinians to be allowed to travel their own land. This permission is granted very rarely, and usually excludes people aged 18-45.

Border police officer using force against nonviolent protesters (Photo by: ISM)

In Islam and Christianity, Jerusalem is one of the primary religious sites. According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion…to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.” This human right is blatantly denied through acts committed by the Israeli occupation authorities and military every day.

The presence of international and Israeli activists also highlighted the apartheid policies of Israel, as they would have been permitted to pass through the checkpoint and enter Jerusalem, had they not stood in solidarity with their Palestinian friends, who were not allowed passage. During the demonstration, many Israeli colonists’ cars were granted access easily to the stolen Palestinian land.

Protesters praying in front of the checkpoint to occupied Jerusalem (Photo by: ISM)

UPDATED: New wall construction to surround Azzun Atma

20th June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Azzun Atma, Occupied Palestine

Demonstators in the construction zone for the new wall in Azzun Atma (Photo by ISM)

UPDATE 21th June: This morning, the 21st of June villagers from Azzun Atma gathered at the school where construction for the new wall started three days earlier. The villagers performed midday prayers together before marching around the school on to the land that bulldozers had worked on. They then hung Palestinian flags on the mesh barbed fence standing between the school land and the settlement of Sha’are Tiqva to signal their definance to the latest of a continuing policy of land theft, encroachment, isolation and deprivation of their lives by the Israeli occupation forces.

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On the 18^th of June, two bulldozers arrived with Israeli forces in the village of Azzun Atma, southeast of Qalqilya, and began to work on the land behind the village’s school, to what is believed to be the construction of the new wall.

Accompanying the bulldozers to the village was the Israeli army and border police, including the local Israeli army commander who said the action was based on a High Court decision by the Israeli government. He said it was in order to protect their citizens, and if anybody tried to stop the construction, they would then close the gate to the village, the only way in and out.

A digger works on land behind the school as soldiers watch nearby (Photo by ISM)

Two weeks prior to this, the Israeli army put up signs stating that this is where the construction of the new wall would begin. The villagers fear that this new construction is being done in order to replace the current two metre barbed mesh fence that surrounds the village from all sides and separates it from the settlements nearby, with the concrete wall. The wall’s existence and constant deviation from the Green Line is justified by the Israeli authorities by citing security concerns for its citizens, in this case the illegal settler colonisers in the area.

Azzun Atma is located two kilometres east of the Green Line and encompassed on three sides by the current wall, constructed in 2002, which leaves the village within a settlement block and separates it from the rest of the West Bank. The only way in and out of the village is through a military checkpoint with a small gate. The village is thus stranded in the “seam zone” between the Green Line and the wall, surrounded by settlements, placing it under full Israeli military control. There is another checkpoint into the other side of the Green Line that people with work permits may cross, though there is a constant threat of the gate being closed and work permits being denied. Access to and from the village, therefore, is dictated by the Israeli military.

Palestinians living in the “seam zone” require permanent resident permits from the Israeli authorities to live in their own homes and work on their land. There are often few health and education services available in the “seam zone”, and those living inside it have to rely on checkpoints being open to reach workplaces and essential services.

The school where the construction is taking place has provided education for 300 children in Azzun Atma and a neighbouring village since 1966. Every day, the current wall and checkpoint restricts the freedom of movement of teachers and students. The school has so far lost one dunum of land to the wall and the septic system faces demolition orders.

When the second wall is constructed, Azzun Atma will be isolated from the rest of the West Bank by the already existing wall (see the red line on the map) and the new wall which will further close off the village from the settlement block and the rest of the West Bank (see the black line on the map).

In 1982, the Israeli authorities established two illegal settlements: Oranit to the northwest and Sha’are Tiqva to the northeast of Azzun Atma. The settlements have expanded over the years, and more than 2500 dunums of the village’s land have been stolen by them. Sha’are Tiqva now comes within metres of Azzun Atma, and since 2005, villagers have been subject to verbal harassment from settlers. The wall, though purported to be a security measure, is essentially another way for the Israeli government to steal land from their Palestinian owners and isolate villages and cities from each other, turning them into easily controllable cantons.

Isolating people and making daily life as hard as possible under occupation is a tactic used by the Israeli authorities to force villagers to leave their land and homes. However, residents of Azzun Atma remain steadfast in their land and will continue to resist the land theft, isolation and deprivation of their lives by organising protests.

School’s out; harassment continues in Hebron

11th June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

The Hebron street where the Israeli army and Police have recently been regularly intimidating schoolchildren and teachers was today the scene of harassment of a different nature.

Israeli military stopping cars in Hebron (Photo by ISM)

Tareq Bin Ziyad Street in Hebron was the scene of a mass arrest of schoolchildren earlier this year and intimidation continued until the end of the school year. Now that school’s out for summer, soldiers have found another way to harass the local Palestinian population – using a large military presence to check for cars that, as one soldier said, ‘might have been stolen from Israel.’

Today, four jeeps and a dozen soldiers stopped cars, demanded to see IDs, and chased one driver down the street menacing him with their guns. Children playing in the street were ordered to clear the area around where soldiers were harassing drivers. After a couple of hours, the Israeli army and police removed one vehicle from the street ‘for further investigation’.

Stopping people going about their daily business by car is one of many ways that the vast military presence in Hebron harasses the local population. Others include arbitrary arrests, ID checks and detentions at the multiple checkpoints that hinder movement by Palestinians through their own city.

Israeli soldiers and Police running at one car with guns ready (Photo by ISM)

Israeli military remove one car ‘for further investigation’ (Photo by ISM)

Palestinian collapses while detained at checkpoint during Eid holiday in Hebron

October 26^th 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

A Palestinian man, his initials being IS, was harassed along with his family at a checkpoint in Hebron during the Eid celebration. He and his son were reportedly beaten by Israeli soldiers. In the aftermath IS was held by the military for about an hour and finally collapsed. IS suffers from a disability which makes it difficult for him to walk. The family has been harassed by the army several times in the past, living in the Israeli-controlled H2 area of the city.

As it was Eid, the highest Muslim holiday, the family was on their way to visit relatives. They had to go through a checkpoint, where soldiers there provoked them. Soldiers were also heard calling his wife a “bitch.”

As the situation grew more tense, IS and his teenage son were hit by the soldiers. The father was detained by the soldiers at checkpoint 56 as NGOs, ISM and locals rushed to the scene.

Internationals questioned eyewitnesses for details and documented what was happening. The soldiers tried to prevent documentation. Friends of the detained witnessed his distress while sitting in the cold. The soldiers had been ignoring his deteriorating state of health and despite locals demanding treatment, he eventually collapsed.

The Israeli paramedic finally examined him. While doing so, the army claimed he was acting. One of the soldiers was heard saying, ”Put his arm up, if his hand falls on his face he passed out, if it falls to the side he’s faking.” He was given several shots of medication before he regained consciousness. His peers attempted to monitor his health and were asking the soldiers to call an ambulance. Police and an armored vehicle with more soldiers arrived at the scene and tried to separate the crowd in order to evacuate him.

Finally a Red Crescent ambulance parked on the other side of the checkpoint in H1 (the Palestinian controlled part of the city). The paramedics crossed the checkpoint, put the man on a stretcher and examined him. They then took him through the checkpoint and into the ambulance. We later learned that he recovered after treatment in the ambulance.

Earlier this week another son of IS was reportedly attacked by a soldier at Gilbert checkpoint only a hundred meters away from checkpoint 56. IS’s wife works for the Israeli human rights organization B’tselem which helps Palestinians document abuses pertaining to the occupation. It appears the family is being targeted, as if the daily struggle with checkpoints and violence under occupation isn’t enough.

– ISM Khalil team

Al Khalil: School children reflect on changes in Israeli military following presence of ISM volunteers

by Edna

25 March 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

The safe, comfortable, winsome childhood I had growing up in suburban America is a completely theoretical concept for the Palestinian children in the West Bank.

I’ve realized this while volunteering as a human rights observer in Hebron. One activity that entails is sitting and watching kids, ages six to thirteen, walk to the all-male Mutanabi school. It sounds like a silly endeavor; but in reality, it’s a deplorable necessity.

This was illustrated when, on a tour introducing the volunteers to the students, a teacher asked his third graders to stand up if they had ever been beaten up by soldiers on their way to school. Eight of the thirty did. He then asked them to stand if they had been bothered by soldiers since we had been there. They all sat down. One boy thanked us, saying “I feel safe now,” as his eyes brimmed with tearful sincerity.

From February 27^th to March 2^nd of 2012, there were thirty-one cases of the school’s 268 students being verbally and/or physically assaulted by Israeli soldiers. In addition, teachers were detained daily, preventing them from being able to teach their classes. In the weeks since the ISM was asked to come, there have been zero cases of harassment and detainment. The soldiers have also moved from standing at the edge of the school’s driveway to an adjacent house’s rooftop.

We go in pairs of internationals armed only with a camera. Our presence should not change a sophisticated army’s procedure as significantly as it did. To me, this influence clearly shows that they know that what they’re doing is wrong, and would be unable to be justified to an international audience. This is especially true as the checkpoint separates Palestinians from Palestinians, making the excuse of security for the illegal Israeli settlers irrelevant. There is no reason for their presence other than harassment.

It’s effective. Not only do the kids hate school because they associate it with soldiers and their threat of abuse, but their motivation and ability to focus is hindered because they feel constantly unsafe, anxious, and scared. Nervous habits like nail biting and pant wetting (after misinterpreting a noise, for example) is common. Also common is aggressive behavior, which the school’s psychologist says is the biggest problem. He holds the soldiers responsible, saying that their behavior exposes the kids to violence from a young age, teaching them to act in violent ways and normalizing its usage.

People have said that it’s a shame Palestinian children are taught hatred and violence. I agree, I suggest that the Israeli Occupation Forces change their inhumane and unnecessary treatment of minors . Israel’s accountability to international and humanitarian law should not be a temporary change of plans induced by international presence. It’s not optional. It’s not conditional. A permanent change of policy is imperative.

Edna is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed)