Tag: Collective punishment - Page 7 - International Solidarity Movement

Call to action: join ISM in Palestine

27th June 2014 | International Solidarity Movement | Occupied Palestine

In the last two weeks, the Israeli military has arrested over 566 Palestinians in the West Bank, they have stormed homes, invaded cities, and murdered seven Palestinians.

ISM is sending an urgent call for volunteers to join us in Palestine. Check the join us section of our website or email ISM at palreports@gmail.com for more information.

Ahmad Arafat Sabareen, 20-years-old, was shot in the chest by live ammunition bullets in Jalazoun refugee camp, near Ramallah, during a raid by the Israeli army.

Ahmad Arafat Sabareen's father speaks of his son at the funeral (photo by Middle East Monitor). — Ahmad Arafat Sabareen’s father speaks of his son at the funeral (photo by Middle East Monitor).

15-year-old Mohammad Dudeen, was killed by a single live bullet during a night raid in his home village of Dura, near Hebron on June 20th.

Mohammad Dudeen (photo from Defence for Children International Palestine).

Hajj Jamil Ali Jaber Souf suffered a heart attack during a raid on his village of Hares, and died soon after.

Ahmad Sa’id Fahmawi (Abu Shanno) was shot and killed on June 22nd in the city of Nablus. The Israeli military fired several bullets at him from a close range when he was on his way to a mosque near his house for dawn prayers, because he “did not obey their orders to stop”.

Mahmoud Ismael Atallah was shot and killed as the Israeli military invaded the de-facto capital of the West Bank, Ramallah, in the early hours of June 22nd.

Mahmoud's wife and son (photo by Fadi Arouri). — Mahmoud’s wife and son (photo by Fadi Arouri).

Mustafa Husni Aslan, 24 years old, was shot last Friday during clashes that erupted in Qalandya refugee camp, north of Ramallah, he died from his injury yesterday afternoon.

Early yesterday morning, June 26th, Israeli soldiers raided el-Arrub refugee camp north of Hebron. During this raid, a 78-year-old Palestinian woman, Fatima Ismail Issa Rushdi, died of a heart attack.

The situation in the last weeks is escalating; Palestinians are facing increasing military violence and the largest campaign of collective punishment seen since the Second Intifada.

Now more than ever, internationals are needed to travel to Palestine and stand in solidarity against occupation and apartheid.

Document and report on the crimes committed by both the Israeli military and the colonial settlers living on Palestinian land throughout the West Bank. Take part in protests and demonstrations against the occupation, use your privilege as an international to stand alongside Palestinian communities, and join ISM.

ISM is also sending an urgent call for volunteers to join the 2014 olive harvest campaign.

ISM volunteers join Palestinian farming communities each year to harvest olives in areas where Palestinians face settler and military violence while working their land. 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.

The olive tree is a Palestinian national symbol, and the Israeli military systematically prevents agricultural fruition, in order to make life for Palestinians more difficult. The Israeli occupation provides a platform for Palestinian rights to be violated in an array of ways; the attack on agriculture is at the forefront.

Already documented this year, and to list a few cases; the trees have suffered settler sewage runoff, sabotaging fires, and being cut down. Olive trees comprise of an essential 14% of the Palestinian agricultural economy.

In January 2014 alone approximately 2020 olive trees were reportedly destroyed.

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 and practical support, which enables many families to pick their olives.

The campaign will begin mid October and will last around 5-7 weeks. We request a minimum one week commitment from volunteers, but stress that longtermers are needed as well. We ask that volunteers start arriving in the first week of October, so that we will be prepared when the harvest begins.

Training

We request a minimum two week commitment from volunteers, but stress that longtermers are needed as well. The ISM will be holding mandatory two day training sessions which will run weekly on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Please see the join ISM page or contact palreports@gmail.com for further information.

In solidarity,

ISM Palestine

Collective punishment in Palestine

22nd June 2014 | International Solidarity Movement| Occupied Palestine

On Thursday 12th of this month, three settler youth disappeared while hitchhiking in the Hebron area of the West Bank. No Palestinian group or organisation has taken responsibility for the disappearance.

15-year-old Mohammad Dudeen was murdered in the early hours of Friday morning (20th) after he was shot with live ammunition by the Israeli military. This was during a raid on his home village of Dura, near the city of Hebron.

Mohammed was not the only youth killed on Friday. The Israeli military raided Qalandiya refugee camp (south of Ramallah) and shot three youths with live ammunition. Mustafa Hosni Aslan, 22-years-old, was shot in the head and died of his wounds later the same day.

Mustafa Aslan at the hospital before he died from his injuries (photo from Maan News).

A Palestinian man in his sixties died of a heart attack on Saturday, 21st, after the Israeli military invaded his home. Hajj Jamil Ali Jaber Souf was at his home in Hares village, near Salfit, when the Israeli military violently broke in and attacked him. One of his nephews stated that the soldiers prevented the family from moving Jabber to a local clinic to receive medial treatment.

The Israeli army invaded the city of Nablus last night at approximately 2AM. The youth took to the streets and clashes ensued as they attempted to drive the soldiers out of the city. Many stun grenades were used throughout the night and a final barrage of tear gas was fired on the youths as the were leaving the city centre at approximately 5AM.

An ISMer in al-Khalil (Hebron): “For the past week in Hebron, there has been a heavy military presence. Solders from the Israeli military have been taking over Palestinian homes for their own use and harassing people in the streets with body searches. Many people have been detained, beaten, and arrested.

Settlers from the illegal settlements walk around armed and have been attacking Palestinians on the streets. Today the Israeli army attacked the residents of the Qeitun neighbourhood in Hebron. They entered several times during the day, but this evening the solders attacked an 11-year-old boy by hitting him on the mouth. They arrested two Palestinians and searched the locals for no reason. The solders continued the violence with property damage, ripping apart a local car under the guise of a ‘search’.”

Last night Israel’s army invaded Ramallah district from three directions – Qalandia, Beituniya and Beit El, reaching as deep as Arafat Square inside the city. Pal Media offices in Baloa’ were raided. In Burj al-Sheikh, the army raided the office of a prisoner that was released in the Shalit exchange deal, and used it as a firing post against youths attempting to repel them from the area. The youths sustained multiple injuries from rubber coated steel bullets. In Batn al-Hawa the army raided a charity building and confiscated computers.

Nablus Street, al bireh, Ramallah (photo by Samer Nazzal).

These are just some examples of life in Palestine over the last nine days. According to Maan News, approximately 370 Palestinians have been arrested since last Thursday. The Israeli military have been brutal in their tactics of collectively punishing the citizens of Palestine for the disappearance of three Israeli youths. All over the West Bank, in villages, towns, and cities, Palestinian homes and offices have been raided, cities have been held under siege, people have been injured, arrested, and executed.

In Gaza, Israeli warplanes have targeted several locations and caused extensive property damage and injuries, spreading panic among Palestinian civilians.

The Fourth Geneva Convention, Article 33, states that: “No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited. Pillage is prohibited. Reprisals against protected persons and their property are prohibited.”

Israel’s attacks on Palestinian fishermen in Gaza flout international conventions

7th January 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Charlie Andreasson | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

On Saturday, 4th January, the Israeli navby shot at five fishermen and their boat, a hasaka, three nautical miles from the shore of Gaza, well within the highly-restricted part of Palestine waters in which the occupation forces officially allow them to fish. Despite damage to the boat, and water that flooded it, Majed Baker, age 55, and his four relatives managed to return to port and get the boat onto shore. A total of nine bullet holes were counted, some below the waterline.

Previously, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Information in Gaza, the Israeli military had restricted waters in the north. It thereby expanded the nautical “buffer zone” by Israeli waters through military force, and without declaring its intentions in advance. Nor has it made any statement in retrospect. The restriction of the fishing waters in the north is confirmed by the affected fishermen. The same pattern can be discerned in the rest of the increasingly narrowed zone. According to Zakaria Baker, coordinator of the Union of Agricultural Workers Committees (UAWC)’s fishermen’s committee, all boats that tried to sail further than four miles from the coast have been attacked since the beginning of the year, and the “buffer zone” in the south, by Egyptian waters, has been curtailed drastically. This means boats in Rafah must sail north along the coast for some distance before they can venture into fishing grounds.

These restrictions affect the fishing industry severely, especially now, during the peak season. As a result of Israeli aggression, the total catch has fallen by 42% since 2000, and the number of registered fishermen has declined from about 5,000 in the 1980s to less than 3,000 today, according to the United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Attacks and shootings against Palestinian fishermen, sometimes resulting in fatal and other injuries, arrests and seizures of boats, and destruction of fishing gear, are common and documented by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. Since neither the Palestinian fishing industry nor fishermen themselves endanger the State of Israel, these abuses cannot be understood as anything other than collective punishment, which violates the fourth Geneva Convention, Article 33.

Behind all the numbers and statistics lurk people. When an occupying power, in this case Israel, is allowed to continue to violate international conventions by the world community, it allows other nations to do the same. This erosion of established conventions is a threat to the people they are meant to protect, and can eventually affect relations between states. The attack on the five fishermen is therefore a concern for the entire international community, and not an internal matter between Israel and those living under its occupation.

Martyr’s son arrested in Nablus early Monday morning

23rd June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus team | Nablus, Occupied Palestine

This Saturday, June 29 marks the 9th anniversary of the Israeli assassination of Naif Abu-Sharah, former resident of Nablus and leader of the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade until his death. But even though his death has long passed, Israeli authorities haven’t ceased collectively punishing the family he left behind.

During the early morning of Monday, June 23, the Israeli military surrounded the Hosh al-Hitan neighborhood of the Old City of Nablus and arrested Fadi Abu-Sharah, the 25-year-old son of Naif, in the same building in which they assassinated his father nine years ago. He is currently believed to be held at Huwwara Interrogation Center, south of Nablus.

This is not the first instance of punishment by the Israeli military against the Abu-Sharah family. Fadi has been arrested and imprisoned for extended periods in a number of previous instances, and his older brother, Fathi, was kept in an Israeli prison for nine years before being released a year ago. According to his family, Fathi was also given an order from Israeli authorities to appear at Huwwara Interrogation Center for questioning this week. About five years ago, Naif’s brother Ghassan was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers in his home. Neither Fathi, Fadi, nor Ghassan have ever been involved in military activities. The Abu-Sharah family hopes to hear news of their son within a week.

Collective punishment is a tactic long used by the Israeli authorities against the families and communities of those who have been active in resisting the Israeli occupation. Under the Fourth Geneva Convention, collective punishment is deemed a war crime. Further to this, under the Oslo accords Nablus city is Area A and is thus under full Palestinian civil and security control, meaning that the Israeli authorities have once again demonstrated their complete disregard for treaties that they have signed.

"Collective punishment is a war crime" — “Collective punishment is a war crime” posters

Collective punishment of Kufr Qaddum by the Israeli military for political activity

29th May 2013 | International Women’s Peace Service | Kafr Qaddum, Occupied Palestine

Early on Monday 27 May at 1:30AM three Israeli border police jeeps entered the village of Kufr Qaddum. The border police made their presence known to the villagers by driving slowly through the town center. Additionally, the following night, Tuesday 28 May, at 02:00 AM around 60 soldiers on foot and four jeeps stormed the village. The Israeli military forcefully entered 10 homes, demanding the names and employment details of all the members in each household. The soldiers and jeeps left the village at about 04:00 AM, having collectively punished an entire community through nightly harassment but making no arrests.

Israeli border police officers and armored bulldozer invading the village during a demonstration, April 2013 (Photo by ISM)

Just a few days before that, residents reported that on the night of Thursday 23 May, the day before the weekly demonstration, the Israeli army entered the village and stole some 200 tyres that residents light up during the demonstrations to prevent Israeli military vehicles from entering the village. Moreover, on Saturday 18 May, one day after that week’s demonstration, Israeli soldiers in jeeps came to the house of one of the organizers at night and left some burning tires in his yard.
Kufr Qaddum is a 3,000-year-old agricultural village that sits on 24,000 dunams of land. The village was occupied by the Israeli army in 1967; in 1978, the illegal settler-colony of Qedumim was established nearby on the remains of a former Jordanian army camp, occupying 4,000 dunams of land stolen from Kufr Qaddum.
The villagers are currently unable to access an additional 11,000 dunams of land due to the closure by the Israeli army of the village’s main and only road leading to Nablus in 2003. The road was closed in three stages, ultimately restricting access for farmers to the 11,000 dunams of land that lie along either side to one or two times a year. Since the road closure, the people of Kufr Qaddum have been forced to rely on an animal trail to access this area; the road is narrow and, according to the locals, intended only for animals. In 2004 and 2006, three villagers died when they were unable to reach the hospital in time. The ambulances carrying them were prohibited from using the main road and were forced to take a 13 km detour. These deaths provoked even greater resentment in Kufr Qaddum and, on 1 July 2011, the villagers decided to unite in protest in order to re-open the road and protect the land in danger of settlement expansion along it.
Kufr Qaddum is home to 4,000 people; some 500 residents attend the weekly demonstrations. The villagers’ resilience, determination and organization have been met with extreme repression. More than 120 village residents have been arrested; most spend 3-8 months in prison; collectively they have paid over NIS 100,000 to the Israeli courts. Around 2,000 residents have suffocated from tear-gas inhalation, many in their own homes. Over 100 residents have been shot directly with tear-gas canisters. On 27 April 2012, one man was shot in the head by a tear-gas canister that fractured his skull in three places; the injury cost him his ability to speak. In another incident, on 16 March 2012 an Israeli soldier released his dog into the crowded demonstration, where it attacked a young man, biting him for nearly 15 minutes whilst the army watched. When other residents tried to assist him, some were pushed away while others were pepper-sprayed directly in the face.
The events of the past week are part of a continuous campaign by the Israeli military to harass and intimidate the people of Kufr Qaddum into passively accepting the human rights violations the Israeli occupation, military and the illegal settlers inflict upon them.