February 22, 2019 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Al-Khalil, occupied Palestine
ISM and members of the press targeted and attacked with teargas and concussion grenades at peaceful protest in Al-Khalil. Peaceful demonstrators gathered at the checkpoint to the closed historical Shuhada street, asking for an increased international presence and for re-entry into Shuhada street. Shortly after, the Israeli Defense Forces escalated the demonstration with brute force, illegally entering the Palestinian H1 side of Hebron, attacking children with rubber coated steel bullets and grenades, and eventually kidnapping one youth. This is one incident of many in the recent history of Khalil, in which internationals and observers are currently being targeted, intimidated, attacked and deliberately removed from the area
Saturday 31 March 2018, International Solidarity Movement al-Khalil/Hebron, Occupied West Bank, Palestine.
Palestinian youth protested the killings in Gaza at Checkpoint 56. The Israeli soldiers fired teargas, stun grenades and live ammunition. Beginning at 8AM Palestinian youth took to the streets of al-Khalil/Hebron to protest the killings and injuries inflicted by the Israeli military on the non-violent demonstrators in Gaza during the Great Return March. They protested outside Checkpoint 56. The Israeli soldiers took to the rooftops overlooking the area and threw more than fifty stun grenades and more than thirty teargas canisters at the youth during the day.
Toward the end of the afternoon a contingent of soldiers, as always in full battle dress: helmets, bulletproof vests, automatic rifles and ammunition, attempted to cut off the youth at the rear. Failing that, the soldiers illegally went far up in H1, the Palestinian controlled part of town. There they fired stun grenades, teargas and live ammunition in the heavily traveled commercial area of town before returning to their base having accomplished nothing. The confrontation between the protesting youth and the Israeli soldiers continued with more stun grenades and teargas.
Later in the evening, the youth were warned that the soldiers were once again attempting to cut them off in the rear. When the soldiers arrived on the scene, the youth had scattered. The returning soldiers stopped and roughly searched a youth in the nearby market letting him go when it became apparent that he was an innocent bystander. Retreating further, the soldiers grabbed, searched and showed two additional youth who were sat calmly on stairs to the watching rooftop soldiers, they claimed to identify the older of the two. The soldiers released the younger of the two boys. Four soldiers then violently wrestled the nineteen-year-old boy to the ground, handcuffed him behind his back and two soldiers hauled him off and through Checkpoint 56 surrounded by the rest of the Israeli soldiers. International Solidarity Movement volunteers who had been on the scene during the day testified that this boy had not been part of the demonstration but was an innocent bystander grabbed by the frustrated soldiers.
The actions of the soldiers throughout the day with the use of lots of stun grenades, teargas and even live ammunition is an example of the continuing use of excessive force by Israeli occupation forces.
International Solidarity Movement Al Khalil/Hebron Team 16/02/2018
Today a demonstration was organized by Human Rights Defenders and Hebron Defense Committee under the umbrella name Dismantle the Ghetto. Around 300 Palestinians prayed inside and outside the mosque and shortly after prayers they marched from the mosque to Bab Al Baladia which was once a Palestinian gold market before the settlers and occupation forces shut it down and forced Palestinians out. Israeli forces immediately came through the gates of the illegal settlement at Bab Al Baladia and proceeded to throw many stun grenades and fired tear gas down the street at those who were demonstrating peacefully for their basic human rights.
Video of the march to Bab Al Baladia:
Palestinian vehicles were stopped at gunpoint by the Israeli army and car keys were taken as drivers were forbidden from continuing down Shalala street. Palestinians on foot were made to stop in the middle of the road at gunpoint lifting the top parts of their clothing, their ID’s were also checked before being allowed to walk past.
A Palestinian pedestrian made to lift Tshirt by the Israeli army
Clashes then followed immediately after at Bab Azawiyeh. Israeli forces entered H1 area from checkpoint 56 under Palestinian control pointing their guns at Palestinians on foot and at vehicles before firing even more tear gas. Clashes went on between Palestinian youth and armed Israeli forces for around three hours, Israeli snipers were positioned on adjacent rooftops.
Video of clashes in Bab Azawiyeh:
The heart and economic center of Al Khalil/Hebron, Al shuhada street was once a major part of the Palestinian market which was closed in 1994 after a settler called Baruch Goldstein from a nearby illegal settlement opened fire inside the Ibrahimi Mosque killing 29 Palestinians and injuring over 100. Israeli occupation forces imposed draconian rules and apartheid orders on the Palestinian population as collective punishment instead of punishing the settlers. As a result of this, many shops were forced to close and these unjustified orders still exist today. This is why Al Khalil, Hebron is known as the ghost town. Palestinians are forbidden from walking down or driving down their own street and those Palestinians who refuse to leave cannot even open their front doors onto Shuhada street, as the Israeli army welded their doors shut. There are many areas with such severe measures in Hebron which prevent Palestinians from access and freedom of movement. Twenty checkpoints are in the heart of the city which Palestinians have to pass through daily, whilst Israeli settlers face no measures or restrictions whatsoever.
The commemoration of the Ibrahimi massacre falls on the 25th of February every year Al Khalil, Hebron. We expect to see many actions and demonstrations organized against this immoral ongoing occupation, unjust military orders and the expansion of illegal settlements.
9 December 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | al-Khalil, Occupied Palestine
Clashes continued throughout the weekend in Hebron, after Palestinian civil society groups called for “three days of rage” in response to Donald Trump’s widely unrecognized declaration that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. Across the West Bank and Gaza, Palestinians organized general strikes, as well as non-violent marches and demonstrations, all of which were met with military violence by Israel.
In Hebron, the violence from the Israeli army included the use of numerous rounds of tear gas, sound bombs, rubber coated steel bullets, and live ammunition against the press and civilians, including passing families and the elderly. Soldiers also entered shops and forced businesses to close, causing further disruption to daily civilian life. Some young Palestinians resisted the Israeli army’s invasion using stones, and also by throwing the Israeli army’s own tear gas canisters back towards the soldiers.
On Friday alone, between 15 and 20 Palestinian minors were arrested, including at least five that weren’t involved in the clashes, one of which was taken straight from his home. Of the five boys that ISM activists witnessed being arrested, four of them were brutally beaten by large groups of soldiers after they were subdued and handcuffed and posed no threat to the soldiers. As of 5:00 PM on Saturday, two of the boys remained hospitalized due to their injuries.
In declaring that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, Donald Trump formalized the United States’ position as one in contravention of international law and the opinion of the international community. The international community has expressly stated – through UN Resolution 181 and others – that it doesn’t recognize any claim to sovereignty over Jerusalem by Israel, which is why most states maintain their embassies to Israel in Tel Aviv rather than Jerusalem.
December 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | al-Khalil, Occupied Palestine
In response to Donald Trump’s declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel hundreds of heavily armed Israeli soldiers invaded the Palestinian controlled areas of Hebron to clash with demonstrators. The clashes were likely also fueled by a general strike of work and schools by Palestinians.
An elderly man waits to go home on a street taken over by soldiers. Such disruptions of Palestinians’ daily lives are common in occupied Hebron.
At roughly 10:30 AM, at least two groups of over 50 soldiers each entered H1 (Palestinian controlled Hebron) with rifles, tear gas cannons, sound bombs, and rubber coated steel bullet magazines. They entered through Checkpoint 56, from which they went into the city center, home to shops and restaurants, as well as innocent bystanders.
An elderly man, who was hit by tear gas while walking down the street, is helped to safety by a Palestinian Red Crescent Society medic.
Dozens of Palestinians, including small children, the elderly, those documenting the scene on their phones, and hospital patients at the Alia Hospital – at which soldiers fired multiple rounds of tear gas – were injured by tear gas and sound bombs. The soldiers also fired live ammunition aimlessly at buildings with no regard for civilian safety, a war crime and form of collective punishment. One boy, age 15, was shot with live ammunition when soldiers fired numerous rounds down a populated street. They then surrounded him, confiscated videos of the incident, and arrested him.
The blood of a 15 year old Palestinian boy shot by Israeli soldiers.
As of 3:00 PM, at least 7 young boys were blindfolded, handcuffed, and brought back into Checkpoint 56. At one point, soldiers held and terrorized an eight-year-old boy in a secluded, trash-filled corner of an alleyway, and proceeded to use him as a human shield while they walked up and down the street.
Protests are likely to continue throughout the West Bank and Gaza for at least the next few days, and possibly even longer, after Donald Trump formalized the United States’ position on Jerusalem as one in contravention of international law and the opinion of the international community. The international community has expressly stated – through UN Resolution 181 and others – that it doesn’t recognize any claim to sovereignty over Jerusalem by Israel, which is why most states maintain their embassies to Israel in Tel Aviv rather than Jerusalem.
