Tag: Closed military zone - Page 6 - International Solidarity Movement

100 days of collective punishment for Hebron residents

7th February 2016 | International Solidarity Movement | Hebron, occupied Palestine

February 8^th marks one hundred days since Israeli forces declared the Tel Rumeida neighborhood and the adjacent portion of Shuhada Street a “closed military zone,” requiring residents to register with the Israeli military and be assigned numbers in order to be allowed to access their homes while all other Palestinians and international human rights defenders are barred from entering the area. On February 5^th the Israeli military issued an order officially extending the closed military zone until the 1^st of March, with the possibility for further renewal.

Throughout this period Palestinian residents have faced increased, arbitrary restrictions of movement and harassment which have no basis in Israel’s purported security concerns. While residents contend with continual threats at the hands of Israeli forces and settlers from the illegal Israeli settlements situated directly adjacent to their neighborhood, Palestinian and international human rights defenders face targeted exclusion from the area. Israeli human rights organization B’tselem reported that Palestinian resident are clearly being subjected to collective punishment. They “are suspected of no wrongdoing and are forced to suffer serious disruptions in their daily lives simply because they had the misfortune of living or working in neighborhoods the military has decided to close.” International and Palestinian organizations have called on the international community to pressure Israel to lift the closed military zone in Hebron, as it constitutes an unlawful violation of the right of Palestinian residents to freedom from collective punishment under the Geneva Conventions.

Hebron press release 4 — Palestinian boys wait at Shuhada checkpoint to see if Israeli soldiers will allow them to walk into their neighborhood

Israeli authorities declared the closed military zone on November 1^st. The announcement came in the wake of the extrajudicial killings of Palestinian 23-year-olds Homam Adnan Sa’id on October 27^th and Islam Rafiq ‘Ebeido on the 28^th. Witnesses at both incidents reported the youths posed no threat to the soldiers when they were shot “in cold blood” and subsequently denied medical treatment. Amnesty International’s director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme had stated in late October that “Israeli forces appear to have ripped up the rulebook and resorted to extreme and unlawful measures.”

today1-600x450-1 — 23-year-old Islam Rafiq Obeido. An eyewitness reported that he was “100% sure he was unarmed.”

Since the beginning of October, over 170 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces; the city of Hebron suffered more deaths than anywhere other than occupied East Jerusalem. 551 Palestinians were arrested in January alone, 120 of them in Hebron, and more than 7000 Palestinians are currently being held in Israeli prisons.

On October 30^th, Palestinian residents of Tel Rumeida and Shuhada Street (the short portion where some Palestinians are still permitted to live) were required to line up to register their ID numbers and names with Israeli military forces. Families were then given numbers, which Israeli forces would force them to present in order to enter their heavily militarized neighborhood. Palestinian women, children and men can be barred from entering their homes merely for lack of an ID or identifying number Israeli soldiers find acceptable.

Hebron press release 1 — Palestinian residents line up with their IDs as the Israeli military commander notes them down in preparation for the harsh restrictions

Inside the closed military zone, as in all neighborhoods in the completely Israeli-military-controlled H2 area of Hebron, Israeli settlers from the illegal settlements inside the city are allowed to walk unimpeded, carry rifles and handguns and are not subject to any checkpoints or restrictions. Israeli forces do not permit Palestinians who are not registered in the closed military zone to visit their friends and family living inside. Journalists cannot enter to report on incidents. Not even emergency medical personnel would be allowed inside, nor can repair workers enter the area to fix Palestinian homes.

Tel Rumeida resident Abed Salaymeh was quoted in the Action Alert issued by the International Solidarity Movement and signed by over forty Palestinian and international organizations calling for an end to the closed military zone and for Israel to abide by international law in Hebron. “Soldiers and settlers are making life for the Palestinians intolerable to force them to leave their houses voluntarily,” he explained. “This is a crime under international law. They are targeting activists to silence the truth and stop the truth from reaching the whole world.”

Hebron press release 2 — Routine invasive body search of young Palestinian man by Israeli forces in Tel Rumeida

Israeli forces targeted human rights defenders from the inception of the closed military zone, with both the International Solidarity Movement apartment and the center for Palestinian activist group Youth Against Settlements included in the designated zone. Palestinian and international activists face exclusion from the neighborhood where their presence has long been vital in responding to and documenting Israeli human rights abuses. “It is obvious that by violently forcing human rights observers out of the area, the Israeli forces are disappearing eyewitnesses to their countless human rights violations”, explains Jenny, an international human rights defender in al-Khalil, “while Palestinian residents are collectively put under these draconian measures, settlers from the adjacent illegal settlements freely walk the streets with complete impunity for whatever they do.”

Following a United Nations delegation in December to areas in Hebron including Tel Rumeida, UN Coordinator for Humanitarian Aid and Development Activities Robert Piper stated that “Human rights defenders play a vital role in promoting human rights. Protective presence organizations are on the front line of this work in the occupied Palestinian territory.” Palestinian and international human rights defenders have been subject to a succession of violent threats and arbitrary arrests after the closed military zone was declared.

On November 7^th Israeli forces made life even more difficult for Palestinian Residents of Tel Rumeida by completely closing down Shuhada checkpoint (Checkpoint 56), the main travel point between the heavily restricted neighborhood and the nominally Palestinian Authority-controlled H1 area where residents must travel to work, shop and study. Even those officially permitted to enter the neighborhood were forced to take obstacle-ridden dirt paths through people’s yards or travel a long circuitous route involving paying a taxi to drop them off at a distance behind the neighborhood (Israeli forces barred Palestinians fro driving in Tel Rumeida even before imposing the closed military zone). The ability to circumvent the checkpoint, albeit via arduous and treacherous routes, underlines the disparity between the claim that the checkpoints and restrictions are put in place for Israeli security and the reality of punitive measures that disproportionately affect schoolchildren, elderly residents and those struggling nonviolently for their fundamental rights.

In late December Israeli forces reopened a newly renovated Shuhada checkpoint to registered residents. The recently expanded checkpoint often causes long waiting times for Palestinian residents as Israeli forces interrogate, check and search people inside a closed room between the turnstiles and metal detectors. Locals report the checkpoint is even worse than its predecessors, and many Palestinians have experienced harassment and intimidation by Israeli forces acting with impunity out of the view of any media or human rights observers.

Hebron press release 3 — Palestinians prepare to attempt to cross into Tel Rumeida via the recently expanded checkpoint

Since the closed military zone was declared, Palestinians and international human rights defenders have been resisting its unjust imposition. The International Solidarity Movement in conjunction with multiple Palestinian organizations first released the Action Alert demanding an end to the closed military zone on December 13^th, which over 40 organizations have now signed. Initially as a response to the arbitrary arrest and detention of Tel Rumeida resident Wafa Sharabati, Palestinian activists and families staged a sit-in on the H1 side of Shuhada checkpoint calling for an end to the closed military zone. Activists erected the protest tent daily, in a nonviolent demonstration against the unlawful restrictions on their freedom of movement. “We refuse to be registered as numbers and have our human rights violated just because we are Palestinian,” declared Issa Amro, coordinator of Youth Against Settlements.

The struggle against the closed military zone also comes as Palestinian organizations escalate the yearly campaign to Open Shuhada Street. Actions are planned in Hebron and around the world against Israel’s apartheid policy of completely closing the rest of Shuhada street, which extends past the closed military zone and was once the main thoroughfare through Hebron’s H2 area, to all Palestinians.

12509525_10153150054141829_4853906403626766869_n-1 — Activists and families gather outside Shuhada checkpoint in protest against the closed military zone – photo by Youth Against Settlements

So far demands have gone unheeded as Israeli authorities once again renewed the closed military zone order on Friday, February 5^th. The International Solidarity Movement calls on international governing bodies, nations, and people around the world to pressure Israeli authorities to end the closed military zone in Hebron and to respect Palestinians’ fundamental rights to live their lives with freedom and dignity.

Resources – reports, press releases and news coverage on the closed military zone

Arranged in a timeline in chronological order since before the declaration of the zone in Tel Rumeida and Shuhada street

Amnesty International report on unlawful killings perpetrated by Israeli forces in Palestine, including multiple incidents in Hebron (27 October)

Report on 27 October unlawful killing of Hoummam Said by Israeli forces in Tel Rumeida

Report on 28 October extrajudicial execution of Islam Rafiq Obeido by Israeli forces in Tel Rumeida

Palestinians in Tel Rumeida required to register with Israeli forces in preparation for severe new restrictions under the closed military zone (October 30)

Schoolchildren and international activists were among first victims of the Israeli strategy of using closed military zone to harass and intimidate (Reports on 1^st and 2^nd November)

Report – As Israeli forces increased restrictions on Palestinians, they also forced international human rights defenders to leave their apartment in Tel Rumeida and arrested one German and one US national on November 3

B’tselem report on how the closed military zone disrupts lives, constitutes collective punishment of Palestinian residents

Report on violent home raids and takeovers in the wake of closed military zone declaration, attack on Youth Against Settlements center, activists targeted as Israeli settlers celebrate violence (November 7)

Report on the November 7 closure of Checkpoint 56 for ‘renovations.

November 8 ISM issues first urgent call for international action on the closed military zone in Hebron

Article detailing harassment and evictions faced by international human rights defenders in Hebron (November 11)

Report on the second violent eviction of international human rights defenders from the ISM apartment in Hebron on November 11

Report on Israeli forces’ continual renewal of closed military zone orders and the third eviction of International Solidarity Movement volunteers from Tel Rumeida on November 21

Report on the November 22 arrests of two international human rights defenders by Israeli forces for entering closed military zone

Significant UN resolution calling for protection of human rights defenders across the world (November 25)

Reports on threats and harassment against Youth Against Settlements including arrest of 16-year-old nonviolent activist (November 28)

On 8 December a United Nations delegation visited the H2 area of Hebron, including Tel Rumeida

UN statement notes importance of work undertaken by human rights defenders in Hebron and states their targeting in “alarming” (10 December, International Human Rights Day)

Article recounting the experiences of families on Shuhada street living under closed military zone (December 16)

Press release by the UN calling for an end to unacceptable harassment of human rights defenders in Palestine, notes the targeting of the Youth Against Settlements center under the closed military zone (December 18)

Report and photo story on Shuhada checkpoint (Checkpoint 56), reopened at the end of December, rebuilt to be an even greater obstacle to Palestinian residents attempting travel to and from their homes in Tel Rumeida

Article on the extension of the closed military zone for the third month (January 3)

Press release by Youth Against Settlements on the extension of the closed military zone until January 31 (January 5)

Press release on January 7th by Youth Against Settlements on the sit-in protest against the closed military zone staged in front of Shuhada checkpoint (Checkpoint 56)

Article on the situation in the closed military zone as it was extended until January 31 (January 9)

Article on the sit-in protest for the opening of the closed military zone in Tel Rumeida and Shuhada Street (January 9)

Report after the 12^th day of the nonviolent sit-in protest against the closed military zone, which was visited by multiple international delegations (18 January)

Report and audio interview on continuing sit-in protest against closed military zone (22 January)

Videos documenting life under the Tel Rumeida closed military zone and the arduous journey required to circumvent Shuhada checkpoint (January 27)

Article on the difficulties Palestinian residents face navigating the restrictions imposed by the closed military zone (February 3)

News article on most recent renewal of the closed military zone in Tel Rumeida and Shuhada street (February 6)

CALL TO ACTION! Join Twitterstorm to #EndHebronMilitaryZone

Three months ago, in the wake of two extrajudicial executions committed by Israeli forces in Tel Rumeida, Israeli military authorities forced Palestinians living in the neighborhood to register and receive numbers in order to be allowed to reach their homes. Everyone else, including family members, media and Palestinian and international human rights defenders are barred from the area even as Zionist settlers from the adjacent illegal settlements continue to travel unrestricted.

We are calling on everyone to participate in the Twitterstorm on February 1st, 3 pm Palestine time to demand an end to the closed military zone; three months is far too long under an illegal, unjust program of collective punishment!

Starting at 3:00 pm Palestinian time (8:00 am EST, 2:00pm for most of Europe) on February 1st, tweet with the hashtag #EndHebronMilitaryZone using our sample tweets. Please spread the word (whether or not you have a personal twitter account), and call on friends, family, and anyone you know who believes in Palestinian rights to participate. You can share this Facebook post, and also follow @ISMPalestine for any further updates leading up to the Twitterstorm. Remember to NOT use the hashtag before the date and time of the Twitterstorm.

The document contains sample tweets to use along with some accounts to target, and this folder contains visuals that you can use in your tweets We encourage you to address some of your tweets to your representatives, politicians, ambassadors/embassies to Israel and UN members; though we may continue to update the list on the google doc also feel free to tag accounts not including if you think they are relevant. Also link to the Action Alert – the call by Palestinian and international organizations to open Tel Rumeida and respect Palestinian human rights, out thunderclap campaign page, and our Call for Action listing more concrete steps people can take.

Please participate and bring awareness to the situation in Tel Rumeida, to help build public pressure on Israeli authorities to end the closed military zone. As Palestinian resident of Tel Rumeida Abed Salaymeh explains,“soldiers and settlers are making life for the Palestinians intolerable to force them to leave their houses voluntarily. This is a crime under international law. They are targeting activists to silence the truth and stop the truth from reaching the whole world.” We are reaching out to you to ask that you please help spread the truth of what is happening to the world.

Thank you for you support!

International politicians demand investigation of the assassinations of Palestinians. Please support!

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

More than four month ago, 24th September 2015, at the very start of the current escalation of violence, human rights group Amnesty International demanded a proper investigation in the execution of Hadeel al-Hashlamon at Shuhada checkpoint in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron) on 22nd September 2015. Amnesty consideres it proven, that the 18 year old female student posed no threat to the soldiers who executed her and then let her bleed to death without medical help for more than half an hour.

More executions followed and they all seem to have the same pattern: Soldiers at the checkpoints gun down Palestinian men and women who just wanted to pass the checkpoints and gave them no medical care until they were dead. They put a knife next to the body and made a photograph of the body and the knife, for the ‘stabbing attack story’ in the official Israeli news.

A month later, Amnesty again demanded very clearly that: “Israeli forces in Occupied Palestinian Territories must end pattern of unlawful killings” (press release 27 October 2015)

Other human rights organizations have serious concerns too, and demanded proper investigations, such as B’tselem:

investigation: No justification for multiple bullets that killed Hadil al-Hashlamun in Hebron (24 september 2015)
Press release (13 Oct 2015), Press release (14 Oct 2015), Press release (15 Oct 2015)

and Breaking the Silence:

The only way to end the violence in Hebron (2 November 2015)

While the international press blindly copied the official Israeli version of the events saying “Israel has the right to defend themselves against terrorists.” The Israeli government furthermore tries to criminalize any human rights organisation that actually did proper report on the incidents.

From then on, the Israeli Army killed Palestinian civilians every day. The number counts 167 killed Palestinians suspected of knife attacks, car attacks or trowing stones. Most of them in Hebron in the southern part of the West Bank

In the last week of October 2015, there were almost daily executions by the Israeli army in the city of Hebron:

On 22 October, Israeli forces in the Tel Rumeida neighbourhood killed Islam Ebeido (23), from the same neighborhood, while passing by Gilbert checkpoint .

On 24 October, at approximately 14:50, Israeli forces killed Sa’d al-Atrash (20), from the south of Hebron, in the vicinity of the Ibrahimi Mosque. They shot him from a range of less than 2 meters. Israeli forces claimed that al-Atrash attempted to stab an Israeli soldier. It should be noted that the area were al-Atrash was killed can’t be entered without passing through a metal detector in a checkpoint.

On 25 October, Israeli Border Police stationed at the entrance of the Ibrahimi Mosque, south of Hebron’s Old City, killed Dania Jehad Ersheid (17), from al-Hawooz area. They opened fire at her when she stopped to have her school bag searched.

On 27 October, at approximately 22:30, Israeli special troops, temporarily replacing the soldiers at the Gilbert Checkpoint in Tel Rumeida neighbourhood of Hebron killed Homam Adnan Sa’id, 23, claiming ‘he had a knife’, but eyewitnesses report seeing soldiers throwing a knife next to his dead body.

On 28 October, Islam Rafiq Obeid, 23, was shot by Israeli troops in Tel Rumeida in Hebron. Witnesses say that soldiers arrived at around 14:30, cleared the spot, then waited for the first to come, which was Islam, and killed him with over 11 bullets. Soldiers also detained Palestinian medics and stopped them from providing Obeid medical help. According to witnesses, he was left to bleed to death by Israeli forces that surrounded the area and closed it.

On 29 October, soldiers at Qurtuba checkpoint, in Shuhada Street, killed Farouq Seder (19), from Izone neighbourhood east of Hebron, by opening fire at him from behind. Israeli forces claimed that he attempted to stab a soldier. However, photos posted by Israeli soldiers on social media clearly show that there was no knife in the crime scene.

On 29 October, Soldiers at the ibrahim Mosque Checkpoint killed Mahdi Muhammad al-Muhtaseb, 23. An eyewitness told Ma’an News that he saw an Israeli soldier shoot at the Palestinian, hitting him in the shoulder. “Then the Israeli soldier approached him and shot him in the head and dropped a knife near his body,” the eyewitness added.

military-buldozer-and-registration-of-residents-640px — Militairy bulldozer enters Tel Rumeida for building the new armybase, while residents get registration numbers

Since these assassinations, which in the Israeli press were dubbed ‘terror attacks’ perpetrated by Palestinians, families in Shuhada Street and the Tel Rumeida neighbourhood in Hebron were punished with severe restrictions. They had to register with the army, who build a new military camp in the old Jewish cemetery in Tel Rumeida, fortified the checkpoints and closed down all paths on the hill, forcing everyone to walk through the checkpoint, where other Palestinians had been killed.

Then the Israeli army declared the Tel Rumeida neighbourhood and Shuhada street a ‘closed military zone’, evicted all human right observers and closed the offices of ISM and YAS, two human rights defenders groups. Only registered residents have since then been able to enter the region but are subjected to daily harassment and threats. Illegal Israeli settlers can move freely in the area.

Reports on this:

B’tselem: report, 5 Nov 2015 and report with testimonies of residents, 21 Jan 2016
ISM: press-releases on 12 Dec 2015 (updated 11 Jan 2016) and 19 Jan 2016
Aljazeera: In Hebron ‘even the kids have numbers’ (16 Dec 2015)

It’s collective punishment which is an abuse of international law. This closed military zone has now lasted for more than 3 months.

To the world, Israel is pretending to defend itself, but the assassinated men were not attacking the soldiers at all. There’s clear evidence that most of the killings were random executions.

Many residents and internationals saw the special troops arriving and checking the environment before waiting for the first Palestinian to come and kill him. They put knives next to the body to pretend they neutralized terrorists, made pictures of it, stole the dead bodies, cleaned the blood from the street and left the scene.

Families are afraid to complain or give testimony because they will surely be punished for it by the occupation forces. They know they can be killed for no reason, or have their children traumatized, injured or even killed, if they stay where they live in their neighborhood. Some families already temporarily left.

This is ethnic cleansing, a war crime, and brutal abuse of Human Rights and International Law.

end-the-closure_we-love-sweden-435px — Sit-in tent against the closed military zone in Tel Rumeida and Shuhada Street.

That’s why the international politicians are slowly demanding a proper investigation into all those killings. Swedish foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom was brave enough to start demanding this, and is publicly supported by other foreign ministers.

The Israeli reaction is furious and devastating. As long as we’re waiting for more brave politicians to join this justified demand, it is necessary to support Margot Wallstrom, because she will be attacked inside and outside of Sweden.

A good start is to send a supportive message to the Swedish embassy in your country <http://www.swedenabroad.com/en-GB/Embassies/>, using the underneath text or writing your own. You may also consider writing a message to your own national and local politicians asking them to support Palestine and Walström and demand investigations of the assassinations.
To the attention of Mrs. Margot Wallström,
Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Sweden

Dear Mrs. Wallström,

I have taken notice of your stance on the necessity to investigate
Israel’s extrajudicial killings of Palestinians. I have also noted the
shameful reactions of Israeli leaders and others. It’s the ferocity and
disgrace of these reactions that urge me to speak out in support of your
remarks and integrity.

I support your position that Israel should be held accountable for what
are in fact proven extrajudicial killings. Amnesty International and other
organisations have provided plenty of evidence, as in the case of Hadeel
al-Hashlamoun, the young Palestinian woman who was executed point blank by
the Israeli army. Much of this evidence is available online, ranging
from reports to video’s and testimonies. They make clear that these
killings are no exception, but part and parcel of the structural Israeli
mistreatment of Palestinians.

Its not that we don’t know about the Israeli atrocities. The problem is
that we refuse to act on them. As a result the Palestinians pay the price
and Israel goes unpunished – giving the country carte blanche to proceed,
which is exactly what we are witnessing. This is why I applaud your
principled stance. If no one acts, the remains of the Palestinian society
will be destroyed before our eyes.

[If the FM of your country doesn’t support the demand:]
I regret that the Foreign Minister of my own country has not acted, and has
not expressed his support for Sweden. Please be informed that I will
urge him to correct these failures.

Sincerely,
[name, place, country]

TAKE ACTION to end the closed military zone in Hebron

19th January 2016 | Action Alert

12470005_10208237102503766_898742008_o — Updated map of the closed military zone – photo by Youth Against Settlements

ISM is currently working to expand the campaign to put pressure on Israeli authorities to heed the demands set forth in the Action Alert, which over 35 organizations have now signed calling for an end to the closed military zone in Tel Rumeida, Hebron and for Israeli authorities to abide by international law and the dictates of human rights in the city. Palestinian residents in Tel Rumeida have now been living under a closed military zone for over two months. Palestinians have been forced to register in order to be allowed into their homes; all others, including Palestinian family members, human rights defenders and members of the media are barred from the area by Israeli forces, even as settlers from the adjacent illegal Israeli settlement can walk the neighborhood unimpeded. Since January 17th local Palestinian activists and residents of Tel Rumeida have been nonviolently protesting outside Shuhada checkpoint, calling for an end to the closed military zone.

protest tent wm — Palestinians and international supporters gather every day outside Shuhada checkpoint

We call on all those who believe in human rights, justice and freedom for the Palestinian people to please help in whatever ways you can. Together, we are stronger! We will continue to post updates on the campaign, any new developments in the situation and more actions you can take. Please also let us know if you have any other ideas for actions to help raise awareness and put pressure on the Israeli government to end the closed military zone.

gathered, waiting (w boys) wm — Palestinians gather outside the recently renovated Shuhada checkpoint, waiting for Israeli forces to determine whether they are permitted to enter Tel Rumeida

There are many ways you can take action now:

Join our Thunderclap campaign and share it with your contacts via Facebook, Twitter, blogs and other social media platforms
Call on organizations you work with or are affiliated with to add their names to the Action Alert, and to issue brief statements detailing why the organization is supporting this campaign and why you find it important. Please send all requests to sign and statements to palreports@gmail.com for publication. Please also contact us for versions of the Action Alert in languages other than English and Arabic – we currently have translations available in German, French, and Dutch, and will update this page as more become available.
Organize an event, such as a demonstration, presentation or other campaign to raise awareness on the situation in Hebron and mobilize support in your area
Contact media outlets in your country and call on them to report on the situation of the closed military zone, in Hebron and Palestine in general
Join our second Twitterstorm and social media action day on the 1st of March. and tweet with the hashtag #EndHebronMilitaryZone. This google document includes a list of sample tweets to use during the Twitterstorm, which we will continue to update. Please DO NOT use these tweets or tweet with the hashtag #EndHebronMilitaryZone before the time of the Twitterstorm!
Write a message to your elected representatives (MEPs, members of congress or whichever position is the equivalent in your country) using the sample text included below, and encourage your friends and contacts to the same
If you are based in Europe, call on your EU representatives to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement until Israel complies with international law
Organize a delegation to visit Hebron, see the situation for yourselves and talk to Palestinians about the restrictions imposed by the Israeli occupation. Seeing the conditions in Hebron with your own eyes offers an understanding of the occupation that one cannot get from reading about it. If you want to organize a delegation you can contact the ISM in Hebron at palreportskhalil2012@gmail.com and we will help you and answer any questions you might have.

Thank you for all your support!

tel rumeida wm — Young Palestinian man body searched by Israeli forces in Tel Rumeida

Sample text for message to representatives:

Since the 1st of November 2015, the Tel Rumeida neighborhood of Hebron, Palestine, has been declared a “closed military zone.” The zone was specifically designed to include Palestinian neighborhoods while excluding adjacent illegal Israeli settlements. Palestinian residents were forced to register with the Israeli military or else risk being barred from their own homes, while Israeli settlers are free to roam the streets without being stopped. Any Palestinians not registered as residents, international human rights defenders and media are all barred from the area. These restrictions of movement constitute collective punishment, considered illegal under international law.

In the city of Hebron, Palestinian and international human rights defenders are constantly targeted by Israeli forces and settlers from the illegal settlements inside the city for their efforts to document the situation. Meanwhile since the beginning of October over 160 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers, many in incidents Amnesty International has said may amount to unlawful, extrajudicial executions.

As Abed Salaymeh, a Tel Rumeida resident directly impacted by the closed military zone explained, “soldiers and settlers are making life for the Palestinians intolerable to force them to leave their houses voluntarily. This is a crime under international law. They are targeting activists to silence the truth and stop the truth from reaching the whole world.”

We [or I] call on you to act now for the immediate ending of the closed military zone and the restriction of movements imposed on Palestinians in Hebron. It is time for the international community to take action and call on the Israeli government to comply with international law and especially with the Geneva Conventions in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel.

Ongoing sit-in protest at Shuhada Street checkpoint in Occupied Hebron

18th January 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil Team | al-Khalil, occupied Palestine

Today marks day 12 of an ongoing sit-in protest at check point 56 at the entrance to Shuhada Street and the Israeli occupied part of the city. The peaceful protest began on 7th January when a local woman, Wafa’ Sharabati, 38, was arrested at the checkpoint due to a discrepancy with her ID while trying to pass. During the arrest she was harassed by Israeli forces who claimed that she was a ‘troublemaker’ and threatened to put a knife in her bag.

12509841_10153541510569145_6326203974295153941_n — Israeli forces detaining Wafa’ Sharabati

The family, joined by other locals and activists, staged a sit in afterwards protesting the arbitrary arrest and harassment as well as the increased difficulty passing the newly renovated checkpoint and the closed military zone. The checkpoint leads into the Tel Rumeida neighbourhood which Israeli authorities declared a closed military zone on November 1, 2015. The closure forced all residents to register and be assigned numbers in order to pass to their homes, and to add to the restrictions, no visitors of any kind, family, friends, media or human rights defenders have been able to enter. ISM and many other organizations are now calling on the international community to act and put an end to the closed military zone.

10644905_10153541508779145_4310940689251540379_n — Families peacefully protesting after the arrest

Since the initial sit in, an ongoing protest tent open to all has been established to show solidarity and support until the closed military zone comes to an end. The tent is set up and visited daily, despite the cold weather, from morning until night by local residents, youth, activists, and even tourists. Members of international organizations such as Interfaith Peace Builders from the U.S. and the UK Political Council, as well as local ones such as, Hebron Rehabilitation Committee, have also visited to learn about the situation. Any individuals or groups who wish to attend to show support or learn more are welcome to join.