Tag: Closed military zone

Ethnical cleansing in the Jordan Valley

26th November 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, Team Nablus  | Jordan Valley Solidarity | Jordan Valley, Occupied Palestine
Israeli forces have sent out demolition orders to two villages in the northern Jordan Valley, where they plan to demolish the homes of around 300 Palestinians. This is part of the Israeli military’s ongoing efforts ethnically cleanse the Jordan Valley and annex it to Israel.
The Jordan Valley Solidarity group has already reported residents overhearing drones gliding over the area and Israeli soldiers frequently halting residents for ID checks.
The village Al Maleh is situated close to a Israeli military base.
The Ein El Hilwe and Al Maleh families’ stories are a perfect example of what life in Jordan Valley can mean. None of the two families have been directly informed by the Israeli military forces about the plans to demolition of their homes. On the 1st of November, the demolition orders were left in the form of a note under a rock close to their homes. The notes weren’t noticed until the 9th, which meant that they had an even shorter period of time to find a solution. Despite the frustration and the difficulties of the last weeks, the residents of both the villages are determined to stay on their land and to face the harassment of the Israeli occupation forces. “My grandfather and my father both lived here before me and before the Israeli occupation. My family has owned this land for so long”, says Qadri Daram from Ein El Hill village, descrbing the constant harassment his family has had to face for decades. “They have been using the same strategy for years to get the Palestinians out of here. But before the Oslo agreement there were more military bases here and soldiers. Then the soldiers went away and the Israeli settlers arrived.”
Qadri and his family have lived on this land for generations. Now he and his wife and children have to face many difficulties. They are not allowed to build anything on their own land and are forced to live without water and electricity, while the illegal Israeli settlement nearby is equipped with all the comfortabilities they need. The water for the settlement is taken from a local spring standing near to Ein El Hilwe, while Qadri and his family have to buy water.
The area has been declared a closed military zone.
Qadri used to get the water for his community from there, but when the settlers came they started using it as a swimming pool, claiming it was a holy spring, which made the water dirty and undrinkable.
The water source is an ongoing issue, and has been used as a weapon by Israel since 1967, when it took control of Palestinians’ water supply.
The ways Israel tries to hinder the Palestinian access to water are many. The state often prohibits any kind of maintenance or improvement of the hydric system, draining the groundwater sources from deeper sites. It enables the damaging and drying up of the more superficial Palestinian water sources.
The ways Israel tries to hinder the Palestinian access to water are many. The state often prohibits any kind of maintenance or improvement of the hydric system, draining the groundwater sources from deeper sites. It enables the damaging and drying up of the more superficial Palestinian water sources. It allows untreated sewage to flow from settlements onto Palestinian land. It drains the sources throughout the settlement water system. It targets the water infrastructure during military attacks. It confiscates or destroys tanks for rain collection. Finally, it tolerates and sometimes encourages direct sabotage by the settlers, such as the chemical poisoning of Palestinians’ water and the damaging of their personal tanks and structures.
The Palestinians in the area have to buy water for both themselfs and their animals. The local water spring leads up to the nearby settlement and army bases.
In addition to the weaponization of water, Israel has used military firing zones as a way to annex Palestinian land. Those who drive along the road from Tubas can see warning signs every few meters, declaring the adjacent land a firing zone. This is how the Israeli army declares that particular areas are for live weapons military training, despite the fact that Palestinian villages exist on them, many of which are forced to evacuate with no redress or compensation. Because of these continuously increasing restrictions on their movement, shepherds have been experiencing more difficulty finding places to herd their goats, forcing them to buy feed for them, a far more expensive and less healthy alternative.
Qadri’s story is just one of many stories Jordan Valley residents can tell, as the situation has been getting steadily worse since the occupation began in 1967. Before 1967, over 320,000 Palestinians were living in the Jordan Valley. Now, the number is around 60,000.
“Our children don’t even have the right to enjoy life,” Qadri says. “They cry during the night. They are scared. I think every child in the area needs a psychologist.”
In the village Al Maleh, the situation is similar. The future is uncertain, but everybody is determined to resist on their rightful land. The families listen desperately to the news everyday, waiting for answers. And now, they’re asking the international community for help and solidarity in their search for a peaceful and safe existence.

Life imprisoned in a ‘closed military zone’: “Daily Life”?

26th June 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

Israeli forces at Shuhada checkpoint in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron) have put up yet another sign ‘instructing’ the Palestinian residents on their behavior at the checkpoint. The bright-red sign clearly with pictures prohibits any kind of supposedly ‘dangerous’ materials like guns, knives and scissors. Just like when you attempt to cross security in any airport. Whereas those objects have long been prohibited and most Palestinians wouldn’t dare bring any of those to any checkpoint, as they’d have to fear for their lives, the signs also illustrate something else: live for the Palestinians living in this area is immensely restricted.

At an airport, most people can at least attempt to grasp why those objects aren’t allowed. But now consider this checkpoint is on your daily way to your house. Your own home. Not an airport, you have to cross this checkpoint all the time. That’s what it is like for Palestinians living in the Israeli forces declared ‘closed military zone’ in Tel Rumeida and on Shuhada Street. Those restrictions, newly illustrated with little images, restrict daily tasks such as cooking and studying, doing arts, and even such mundane things as cutting your nails. No Palestinian is allowed to bring any kind of knife, so unless you have a big stack of sharp knifes – you won’t be cutting neither your fruit, nor meat, nor vegetables. If you break a pair of scissors, your children will not be doing arts anymore, and no matter how often they ask for new one’s, the parents are prohibited to bring scissors, even non-sharp childrens-scissors, into this area.

Newly installed sign illustrating the daily restrictions enforced solely for Palestinians

Doing so against the warning, you’d most likely pay with your life. A sentence on the sign says that a ‘permit’ can be applied for to bring any of the mentioned items. But even if that would be successful – assuming a Palestinian wouldn’t just be arrested for just applying for such a permit – or refused like so many Palestinians applying for building permits, it would cost a lot of bravery to actually show up at the checkpoint with any of those items. Bringing ‘banned items’ to the checkpoint, and then telling the heavily-armed soldier: “I’m bringing a knife”. It’s debatable whether that conversation would ever go beyond that point, or rather be cut short by gunshots from a heavily-armed occupation force.

In stark contrast to airports, where the measures are for security, in this context they are merely and deliberately solely for humiliation. In international law, a praxis like this is called ‘creating a coercive environment’ in order to facilitate ‘forced displacement’. And that’s what it is about: in an area that so conveniently connects all the illegal settlements within the city center of al-Khalil and on its outskirts, Palestinians are merely considered a nuisance. The attempts to drive them out are thus ever more enforced by the occupying army.

Four Palestinians arrested during Land Day action in al-Khalil

31st March 2017  |  International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team  |  Hebron, occupied Palestine

A Palestinian demonstrator is arrested dragged down the hill by an Israeli soldier.

On Thursday the 30th March, four prominent Palestinian activists were violently arrested by Israeli forces following an olive tree planting action marking the 41st Land Day demonstrations in al-Khalil.

ISM activists joined demonstrators who had gathered near the Palestinian house now occupied by the army in the Jabari area of al-Khalil.  The demonstrators were already surrounded by dozens of Israeli soldiers, border police, and civilian Israeli police. Over fifty Palestinian demonstrators then made their way down the steep hill into the olive groves where, accompanied by international activists, as well as the international press, they planted a number of olive trees in defiance of the continuing dispossession and destruction of their olive groves by Israeli settlers.

A young boy plants an olive tree as part of the Land Day action.

Once the trees were planted, demonstrators made their way back up to the road where they were met by an increased number of Israeli forces claiming that the area had been declared a closed military zone. The demonstration continued on an embankment beside the road. However, it wasn’t long before Israeli forces began pursuing and violently arresting Palestinian demonstrators, whilst colonial settlers – including the notorious Ofer Yohana (עופר אוחנה) – harrassed and filmed them.

Israeli forces push demonstrators to the ground before arresting them
A Palestinian man is pulled away by border police, who are believed to have broken one of his hands.

As the demonstrators made their way up the hill they continued to be harassed by Ofer Yohana and other colonial settlers and Israeli forces, who took photos and videos of them using their mobile phones. One Israeli settler attempted to block ISM activists from filming by holding up an Israeli flag, and telling the activists to ‘Go [back] to Europe!’. Despite one Palestinian man telling Israeli forces that one of his cuffed hands had been broken in the arrest, the detainees were pushed into military vehicles and taken away.

The Israeli colonial settler who demanded international activists ‘Go to Europe!’

The four Palestinian activists are currently still detained, and will be charged on Sunday at the military court in Ofer. They are charged with participating in an illegal demonstration and being present in a closed military zone.

All four Palestinians who were arrested had long commitmented to non-violent public protest in their home city of Khalil.  Shortly before being arrested one of them had heard soldiers tell him that it was ‘his turn’ soon.  These arrests are part of ongoing Israeli efforts to close down all public protest in the city. Despite the many injustices faced by non-violent activists across Palestine, the resistance continues.

 

Demonstrators gather along the roadside, chanting and waving banners.

 

 

Israeli Military Exercise on Palestinian farmers fields

19th December 2016 | International Solidarity Movement & Jordan Valley Solidarity| occupied Palestine

At around 12:30pm December 19th, 2016, the Israeli Occupation Forces blocked  the road leading to Tubas and the north of the Jordan Valley for around two hours.  Dozens of Palestinians farmers and civilians had to wait for an Israeli military exercise to conclude before being able to continue their way.

                         An Israeli soldier blocks and guards the road while Palestinians are waiting for it to open.

From the roadblock, the location of the military training could not be seen, but Jordan Valley Solidarity (JVS) received a call from a resident of the community of Khirbet Yarza saying that the exercise was actually happening in the fields of their community, 20 meters in front of their houses.   The military were also on the land of two other communities, Hamamat Al-maleh and Ras Al-Akhmar , only a few kilometers away.

                     Israeli Military exercise occurring in front of the residents’ houses of the community of Yarza

Around 20 tanks, 2 bulldozers, 5 military trucks, and 10 jeeps carrying soldiers took part in this illegal military exercise.  The tanks and bulldozers seriously damaged the farmers land including breaking the irrigation pipes that were put in the ground.

           A calf stranded between Israeli Military tanks and farmers houses of the community of Ras Al-Akhmar 

                                                        Palestinian land damaged by Israeli tanks and bulldozers

The residents also told us that the Israeli Military didn’t give them any advance notice regarding the time and the location for their operation. Therefore the Palestinians were stranded inside their houses for the whole military exercise period, as they never had the time to evacuate.  No one has been injured but the residents were extremely scared of what could have happen to them and their livestock.  At the same time, Palestinians stopped at the roadblock could only see tanks being carried away by huge lorry to an unclear area.  While waiting, they could hear large explosions coming from the other side of the hills, making them jumpy, nervous and anxious.
                                    A lorry carries two Israeli tanks to the illegal military training exercise area

This part of the Jordan Valley is in Area C  (under Israeli control) and was declared by Israeli Forces a “closed military zone”, meaning that it is forbidden for Palestinian to walk around those lands.  Cars riding on the adjacent road cannot stop and if they do, the drivers risk being arrested and their car confiscated. There are military observation tours all around the Jordan Valley, consequently the arrest and confiscation are a real threat.  The only reason for Palestinians to stop their cars is a military roadblock.

On that day, not only farmers and drivers had their daily activity seriously affected but also the children attending school. The children from villages in this part of Area C must go to Tubas to attend school as there are none in their village due to restrictions imposed by Israel. The students are therefore bussed everyday to Tubas. But today, at the end of their class, they had to walk their way back home as the bus was stopped at the roadblock and could not get through to pick them up.  Most of the children had to walk in that frightening environment for seven to eight kilometers in order to reach their home.

                                                           Palestinians children walking back home from Tubas.

The Israeli Occupation Forces have conducted illegal military exercises around the Jordan Valley for many years. Not only blocking roads at any other moment but also forcing villagers to evacuate their homes for days while proceeding with their military exercises around and inside the villages.  A few months ago, in Yirza, Israeli bulldozers arrived in the village, destroying the connection of the irrigation pipes. The residents repaired the damaged connection but, once again, Israeli military tanks drove around their fields, passing on top of the pipes and destroying them, again.

Over the last few years, citizens all around the Jordan Valley have seen an increase in the confiscation of their land by Israeli Forces. These large patches of land are now used by the Israeli Forces as bases and for training exercises. All along the road at the edge of these lands, we can now see concrete blocks indicating the closed-military-zone, which forbids anyone to trespass on these areas. Therefore, shepherds and farmers have been deprived of their only means to provide for their families.  Other lots were given to Israeli settlers for agricultural development, which only benefit Israeli economy.

                                                               Israeli Military base in the Jordan Valley

Despite the continuous demonstration of control and power by Israel over Palestine, the resilience of the population from the Jordan Valley remains intact.

                                                      Palestinian kids playing football on an open land near Fasayel

Imprisoned life: the feeling of a ‘closed military zone’

30th October 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

‘Closed military zone’ – a sterile term for an act of deliberate apartheid policies and dehumanisation with the clear and deliberate target of forcibly displacing Palestinian civilians: women, children, elderly, anyone that is Palestinian, from the Tel Rumeida and Shuhada Street neighborhood with the deliberate aim of connecting the illegal Israeli settlements in the heart of the city of occupied al-Khalil. A connection of illegal settlements: ‘sterile’, ethnically cleansed of any Palestinian presence.

‘Closed military zone’ – such an objective term for obliterating human rights and even a sense of security and justice for Palestinians – in ambitions to in the end, finally, obliterate the people as well.

‘Closed military zone’, a sterile and objective term, that is hard, if not impossible to grapple. A term, just like ethnic cleansing and genocide that seems very far away, and hard to get the gist of, the feeling, what it means to struggle with it every day. Day in and day out, no escape.

‘Closed military zone’ (cmz) means degradation, dehumanization. Every Palestinian is made a number, stripped of their humanity, at the endless checkpoints, only numbers will pass.

‘Closed military zone’ is the denial of friends and families to visit relatives and friends, as humans aren’t allowed in the cmz by the Israeli forces, only the few ‘registered’ and listed- yet still human – Palestinians will pass – if a soldier, emboldened with impunity and the privilege to act on their own whim, allows them to.

‘Closed military zone’ is the all-to-familiar humiliation at the checkpoint, the yelling, having to empty your handbag, all your grocery-shopping. To put it in plain sight, on a table, for the soldiers behind the bullet proof glass to stare and gaze, to crack jokes and laugh. It’s being forced to lift up your shirt, undershirt, trouser-legs and take off your shoes, after passing a metal detector twice. The soldier enyojing the spectacle laughing with his comrade.

‘Closed military zone’ is the wait, the endless wait, when soldiers at the checkpoint turn up the music, so they can’t hear you asking to open the gate at the checkpoint for you. The endless wait, when you ask them to open, the soldier looks at you, and with impunity just goes back to playing on his phone, pretending not to have noticed your presence, with a smirk on his face. The endless wait, when a ‘busy’ soldier is reading, talking to someone on the phone, watching a movie, playing an ego-shooter, or simply decides to not allow you to pass.

‘Closed military zone’ is the obvious and deliberate instrument for the humiliation and dehumanization of a whole people. The Palestinian people. Humans. Humans denied basic human rights, treated like prisoners in their own homes, simply because they’re Palestinian. Because they don’t move out of the way for a racist, zionist, apartheid venture of an ethnically cleansed strip of illegal settlements.

Last but not least, the ‘closed military zone’ can only succeed, if the world turns a blind eye, if the injustice perpetrated by the Israeli forces is allowed to prevail, if the dehumanization of a people with the aim of their obliteration is silently accepted by the international community, by a country, and by an individual.

‘Closed military zone’ means ethnic cleansing of humans not spoken against, dehumanization not spoken against, the forcible transfer of humans not spoken against; even the idea of a human being behind the term of ‘Palestinian’ being denied, the existence of Palestinian human beings denied, their existence destroyed.