18 August | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
On Friday, August 17, 5 were injured and 8 arrested during the weekly protest in Kufr Qaddoum. Israeli soldiers fired tear-gas canisters, rubber-coated steel bullets, and beat protesters with wooden sticks. The village experienced an unprecedented amount of violence during the peaceful demonstration as the village was surounded and invaded by over 100 Israeli occupation forces, leading to several broken arms, the arrests of participants, including 6 journalists, and the asphyxiation of a 60 year-old bystander.
Journalist beaten and arrested by Israeli soldier
Those arriving from outside Kufr Qaddoum were forced to travel around flying checkpoints, posted along the main roads used to reach the village, which would prevent them from their right to participate in the democratic protest.
“Something felt strange about this morning,” Morad Shtayi, Popular Struggle Coordination Committee representative for Kufr Qaddoum said.
Before the demonstration at 11:30 a.m., Shtayi and several other men heard that 14 soldiers had entered houses under construction from the east, where the protest was due to take place.
“We began shouting at the soldiers until they left,” he says.
The demonstration began per usual at 1:15 p.m., with protesters marching down the road leading to Nablus. An Israeli bulldozer was present on the road, with over 30 border police, police, and soldiers standing on the hill to the North. After 15 minutes, Israeli forces descended on the village from the North, firing tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets. Soldiers also began climbing up the valley from the south, followed by several military jeeps and the bulldozer.
“Protesters fled into the village to seek safety, as they faced tear gas canisters and rubber-coated steel bullets shot from distances of less than 10 meters,” solidarity activist Alma Reventos recounts.
Shtayi said witnesses reported soldiers firing live ammunition in the air as they entered the village in search of protesters.
The bulldozer pushed into the village, causing protestors to run head over heels.
Two Palestinians were arrested by border police, Qassam Aahi, 17, and Abdallah Awni. Israeli forces also arrested 6 Palestinian journalists for reporting on the demonstration; Jaafar Shtayi (Associated Free Press), Nidal Shtayi (Chinese Press), Faris Faris (Palestine Today), Bakir Abd al-Haq (TV Nablus), Odai Qudoomi (B’tselem), and Noah Qudoomi (Alfajir Tulkarem). Among the 6 journalists arrested, 2 were beaten, with Jaafar Shtayi suffering a broken arm. The journalists were released several hours later under the condition that they face imprisonment if they attempt to document the demonstrations in Kufr Qaddoum again.
In addition to the arrests, 2 Palestinians were beaten and a 60-year-old woman fell unconscious after border police repeatedly fired tear-gas inside the village. Rani Suliman Ali, 30, had his arm broken and was kept for a period from seeking medical treatment by Israeli checkpoints outside of the village. Mohannad Shtaiw, was beaten on the back with wooden sticks, and taken to Qalqiliya hospital. Israeli forces finally left the village at 3:30 p.m. with those arrested.
The purpose of the weekly demonstration in Kufr Qaddoum focuses on the closure of the main road that connects the village with Nablus. The road, which passes alongside the nearby illegal Israeli settlement of Kedumim, was closed to Palestinian access. As a result, the journey to Nablus has increased from 15 minutes to 40 minutes. This has resulted in hardships because many residents travel daily to Nablus for work, studies, or health care. Kufr Qaddoum has also lost 4000 dunums of land to the 5 illegal Israeli settlements that surround the village. Farmers seeking to reach their lands face threats, attacks, and arrests. Some of the Palestinian-owned agricultural lands have been declared ‘closed military zones’, and Israeli settlers regularly burn them. This demonstration follows 2 weeks in which several young men were arrested from Kufr Qaddoum during night raids by Israeli forces.
Marshall Pinkerton and Alma Reventos are volunteers with the International Solidarity Movement (names have been changed). Video and pictures taken from www.facebook.com/AlMasira.KufurKaddom
15 August 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
On the evening of July 26, social media lit up with messages from residents of the village Nabi Saleh.
“Four army jeeps and around 20 soldiers standing at the entrance” tweeted Manal Tamimi, and later, “for the third day (in a [row]) the army invading the village before eftar.”
Nabi Saleh resident Manal Tamimi – click to see more photos
Since late 2010, Nabi Saleh has been raided regularly by Israeli forces, and the religious month of Ramadan is no exception. The long awaited eftar meal brings relief to the fasting people. In the little village, only a 15 minute drive northwest of Ramallah, eftar often arrives with uninvited guests.
The reasons for these punitive raids must be found in late 2009 when people from Nabi Saleh and nearby villages organized to protest the occupation and the illegal settlements.
In July 2008, Inhabitants of the illegal Israeli settlement of Halamish, some 700 metres from Nabi Saleh, began using Al-qaws spring for recreational purposes. For Palestinians in the area, the spring was a vital factor in farming the dry land, as well as for cultural and recreational purposes. When settlers began renovating the site of the spring, damaging trees and property, the Palestinian owner filed several complaints to the police but was ignored.
In January 2010, Israeli authorities deemed the spring an archaeological site. Subsequently, Palestinians were prohibited access while the illegal settlers were given free access. They continued to illegally renovate the site against a civil administration order to halt construction. Two attempts by Palestinian villages in the area to go to the Israeli High Court of Justice proved to be in vain. The only outcome was letting Palestinians return to the spring. This is hardly regarded as a victory when they are still unable to use the water that their village has relied on for so long. As well, Palestinians are still often prevented from accessing the spring, especially in groups, while settlers enjoy free access.
With health, freedom, and even life on the line, the Nabi Saleh popular protests show the Israeli authorities’ disregard for international law and human rights.
Every Friday since December 2009, a procession has been making its way from Nabi Saleh’s center square towards the stolen spring. The protest is notorious for its persistence. Confronting a powerful Israeli military force, and enduring the consequential raids and arrests is a sacrifice that many in the village are willing to take.
Bilal Tamimi, a descendent and lifelong inhabitant of Nabi Saleh and father of 4, has been participating and documenting the popular protests from the beginning.
Nabi Saleh resident Bilal Tamimi – click to see more photos
According to Bilal Tamimi, Nabi Saleh is not only protesting to return the annexed water spring, but against Israeli occupation as a whole. Since Halamish was illegally established in 1977, it has not stopped growing and encroaching onto Palestinian lands. The land theft is either approved or ignored by Israeli authorities, denying the Palestinian population the right to their land, and contravening international law. The nonviolent resistance is one of the most dangerous tendencies from an occupiers point of view. It is persistent and disturbs the normalized occupation, but it cannot be stopped without damaging Israel’s democratic smokescreen.
The united participation of all demographics of Palestinian society (i.e. men, women, children) as well as international and Israeli activists is an important factor in the popular protest.
Bilal’s wife, Manal Tamimi, who is herself an active protester, says there is a particular impact on Israeli soldiers when they are faced by women and children. Women make up half of the protests in Nabi Saleh, and many take leadership roles, contradicting the prejudices still haunting mainstream discourse.
Bilal points out the importance of post-demonstration media work from international and Israeli activists who join the weekly protest. Activists from various countries across the world sharing reports, pictures, and stories from Nabi Saleh has a huge impact on the fate of the village.
The Israeli army has changed its tactics in Nabi Saleh throughout the past 2 years. The brutal invasions of the village during the Friday protest drew negative attention from international media present at the demonstration. While the 10-hour Friday raids were made less brutal, there has been a considerable increase in raids on other days as well as during nights. Thus there has been an increased pressure on the residents’ lives, although most of it occurs behind the scenes and away from media.
Manal and Bilal Tamimi have experienced Israeli military violence since their childhood. Arbitrary arrests, including that of children, night raids, military violence, and systematic discrimination are only a part of what they have experienced. The last weeks are no exception.
Rather than showing the heavy military response to civilian demonstrations, most photos emerging into mainstream news from the West Bank focus on masked youths throwing stones.
Bilal Tamimi knows that stones will not change the course of history in a direct way.
“But what would you do if someone had been stealing from you the last 60 years, with absolutely no consequences except generous western support,” asks Bilal rhetorically.
At 3 a.m. on January 23 of 2011, 14-year old Islam Tamimi was seized from his bed by Israeli soldiers. The next 12 hours, he was interrogated and kept awake. Without being informed about his rights to remain silent or to demand the presence of a parent, the terrified boy may have began making up stories to satisfy the police. His unlawfully gained testimony is later used to convict members of the Nabi Saleh popular committee, Bassem and Naji Tamimi. Both face charges made by a 14-year old boy under torture-like conditions.
This incident is one of many concerning minors from Nabi Saleh. Currently, 4 boys are serving time for throwing stones.
Manal Tamimi herself was arrested in December 2009. Her son Samer Tamimi, who was 3 years old at the time, saw her beaten and dragged away by Israeli soldiers.
Bilal and Manal Tamimi’s youngest son, Samer – click to see more photos
Many of the village residents would send their kids away each Friday during protest hours, but as it became apparent that the situation would not change, Bilal and Manal amongst others, began to bring their children to the protests.
While this decision is difficult, Manal explains how psychologists and specialists were called to the village to treat the tormented kids. Fear of the Israeli army was the primary problem.
“We had to break this wall of fear in our kids to be able to continue the struggle in the future,” she states.
“The resistance,” Bilal says, “is for our kids’ future, so they can grow up and follow their dreams, and their kids will be able to as well”
His son Osama, 16, was accepted into a school in Jerusalem, but denied entry to the city by Israeli authorities on reasons of security. An education in Ramallah was found but Bilal clearly sees the disappointment and the extinguished enthusiasm in his son’s eyes.
“This is the way to defeat a population. Stealing their dreams is far worse than breaking their bones and this we have to fight and teach our children how to fight,” says Manal.
Her youngest son Samer, 6, is also known as ‘Spider Man’ for the costume he wears to the popular protests. Samer has managed to overcome a great amount of his fears. During a night raid on the Tamimi home about 1 month ago, Samer woke up, recognized the angry men in green, and casually returned to sleep as they ransacked his house. A clear indication that the next generation will not give in to the pressure.
Nabi Saleh is a village of only 600 people. This means a great sense of unity.
“We cry together, smile together, celebrate together, suffer together, and die together,” says Manal.
When Mustafa Tamimi was shot dead by the Israeli military last December, the funeral turned into a massive outcry for justice. The 2000 some members of the funeral were tear-gassed by the same grenades which killed Mustafa just two days earlier. Several Palestinian women were beaten by soldiers and arrests were made.
The Israeli occupation is omnipresent across Palestine, entering the private lives of all Palestinians. The last person to be killed has not yet been killed. The last illegal settlement has not yet been built. Nabi Saleh’s fresh water spring has become a memory and a dream.
Yet facing armies, still ‘Spider Man’ smiles at one of his toughest quests.
Markus Fitzgerald is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
The Israeli authorities’ attempts to ethnically displace Palestinians from East Jerusalem have intensified greatly in recent years; in some areas, such as Sheikh Jarrah, eviction notices have been handed out to nearly every Palestinian family. My Neighbourhood, a recent short documentary film produced by Just Vision, examines the struggles against mass Palestinian eviction and asks important questions of how to resist.
The film focuses on Sheikh Jarrah, an area less than 5 minutes’ walk from the opulent American Colony Hotel (favourite haunt of foreign journalists, NGO workers and politicians). The main protagonist is Mohammed El Kurd, an ebullient and thoughtful Palestinian teenager who experiences the trauma of partial eviction, as half of his house taken over by Israeli settlers.
In August 2009, Mohammed’s neighbours were evicted by Israeli settlers, supported by the Israeli authorities, who broke down the doors and smashed windows to force out the distraught Palestinian family living there. Mohammed remembers “a lot of policemen, a lot of angry faces.” The house is now garlanded in Israeli flags and rigged with Closed Circuit Television cameras.
In My Neighbourhood, a spokesperson for the Sheik Jarrah Settlers Group declares that evictions are justified because the Bible decrees that the area belongs to Jews. Angry settlers are shown descending on the area after Shabbat prayers, some brandishing automatic weapons and chanting, “in blood, in fire, we will kick out the Arabs.”
In November 2009, a group of settlers forcibly claimed half of Mohammed’s house – an extension built by the family without permission (it is almost impossible for Palestinians to acquire building permits in Jerusalem under Israeli law). Three young settlers, rotating in three month shifts, have since occupied the front half of the house, whilst the 13 members of the El Kurd family live in the back. Inevitably, this bizarre situation causes huge tension and resentment. The El Kurd family are subject to regular provocation and harassment, whilst their attempts to reclaim the rest of their house have failed.
Like many others in the neighbourhood, Mohammed’s family arrived as refugees. The El Kurds moved into the house in 1956 after being forced out of Haifa during the 1948 Nakba. The attempt to evict them from their current house would be a second ethnic displacement. Palestinians in Jerusalem endure a precarious existence under Israeli law; they are not recognized as Israeli citizens and can be stripped of their residency at any moment, with little recourse to the law. If the family is evicted they will likely be forced to move to the West Bank and prevented from returning.
A protest movement against the Israeli settlements in Sheikh Jarrah quickly grew, partly organized by Israeli peace activists. My Neighbourhood features Zvi and Sara Benninga, young leftist Israeli activists, who are at the forefront of organizing solidarity protests in Sheikh Jarrah. The protests against the evictions initially attract 20 to 30 people and eventually culminate in a rally of around 3000 protesters. Over the course of two years, Mohammed overcomes his initial scepticism and forges strong relationships with the Israeli activists.
By 2011, an uneasy stalemate has been reached. Settlers still occupy half of the El Kurd’s house but the protests have helped prevent any further evictions from taking place in the neighbourhood. Zvi Benninga argues that “Sheikh Jarrah elicits hope.”
However, in a talk after a screening of the film at Amnesty International, co-director Julia Bacha said that the achievement should be seen in context, “It’s a pause” she said, “nowhere near a victory. Literally, Mohammed could be evicted tomorrow from his house.”
Mohammed states his ambition to become a human rights lawyer to “use the law to evict them.” However, whilst international law condemns the occupation and the attempts to forcibly create settlements in occupied territory, Israeli law is systematically designed to facilitate occupation.
Settlers have found or forged deeds from the Ottoman era, purporting to show that the area used to be occupied by Jewish inhabitants; under Israeli law, this can facilitate the eviction of Palestinian properties. It seems a wider challenge to the law and the structure of occupation itself is required.
How to resist in the battle for Sheikh Jarrah?
My Neighbourhood is only 25 minutes long and therefore inevitably lacks detail and some wider context. There is little mention of the wider struggle across Jerusalem against Zionist colonization, such as the eviction of Palestinians in Silwan, the Old City, and Beit Hanina.
However, it is an assured film and offers a lucid critique of Israeli occupation. It is a useful and direct resource that can be shown in schools, colleges and workplaces to educate and inspire. The violence, injustice, and cruelty shown in the film generate a raw, visceral sense of outrage, whilst the relationships formed between Palestinians and liberal Israelis are encouraging. However, My Neighbourhood is also useful as it provokes fundamental questions about how to resist.
The Brazilian co-director Julia Bacha is perhaps best known for the 2009 documentary Budrus, which followed the successful attempts of a West Bank village to resist the building of Israel’s separation wall on their land. Budrus showed how disciplined, strategic, and forceful non-violent resistance can succeed and the film serves as a model for challenging the terms of the Israeli occupation.
In contrast, My Neighbourhood is a snapshot of popular protest, which stops short of non-violent direct action. The protests at Sheikh Jarrah offer a limited methodology for challenging the underlying effects of the occupation and suggest that more is needed to resist occupation of East Jerusalem and to actively re-gain the rest of the El Kurd’s house.
When I was in Sheikh Jarrah in late 2011, a sense of drift and aimlessness had descended on the neighbourhood. There was much talk of needing to re-vitalise the protest movement to actively force concessions from the settlers and the Israeli authorities, rather than just holding the authorities back enough to maintain the unhappy status quo. In My Neighbourhood, Mohammed laments that the family now says, “if we regain the house, rather than when”. Not only is the status quo undesirable, it is also fragile; the Netanyahu government and the right-wing local authorities are fiercely committed to extending the settlements and millions of dollars are flooding in to the area to finance settlement construction.
Bacha argues that the first Palestinian intifada, which was overwhelmingly characterized by non-violent direct action, was successful as it forced the Israelis to negotiate. The uprising ended when the negotiations began and it was these actual agreements made during the Oslo Accords in 1993 that were unsuccessful and led to the strengthening of the Israeli occupation.
In the current struggle of attrition in neighbourhoods like Sheikh Jarrah, Israel is gradually eroding the Palestinian presence in East Jerusalem and thus ending any hope for justice and reconciliation. Bacha suggests that mass, direct non-violent resistance on an intifada scale is what is needed to destabilise the structures of law and occupation that facilitate ethnic displacement in East Jerusalem. And that it should not stop until it achieves its aims.
31 July 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
Three days before the start of Ramadan, the small mountainside town of Iraq Burin was attacked by Israeli settlers from the illegal colony of Bracha. The attackers descended from the settlement at 12:30 a.m. and were soon followed by the Israeli military, shooting tear-gas and sound grenades.
“Since Ramadan started, things have been relatively calm here,” says Yousef, a resident of Iraq Burin, “earlier we used to have trouble all the time.”
Ironically, the settler attacks are most common on Saturdays, the Jewish Sabbath, which traditionally is revered as a day of rest.
“But there have also been plenty of attacks on Wednesdays and Thursdays,” says Yousef.
The settlers target farmers closest to the settlement, making it impossible for them to work their land due to risk of being attacked or shot. The farmers’ lack of activity is then used against them as settlers claim the land to be abandoned and subsequently annex it. By these means, the illegal settlements across the West Bank continue to steal the lands of neighboring Palestinian villages.
Bracha is one of over 250 Israeli settlements and outposts erected in the Palestinian West Bank and violating Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. “Seizure of land for settlement building and future expansion has resulted in the shrinking of space available for Palestinians to sustain their livelihoods and develop adequate housing, basic infrastructure and services,” wrote the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
From Yousef’s rooftop one can see clearly where the irrigated fields of Bracha have stretched down into the valley since its construction in the early 1980’s.
Of the 2000 dunums that originally was Iraq Burin, 300 have been annexed by the settlement of Bracha and many hundreds have become inaccessible to Palestinians due to the risk of violent attacks. To protest this, the village has been holding demonstrations every Saturday for the past year. Similar to numerous protests across the West Bank, Iraq Burin’s regular demonstrations are met with brute force by the Israeli army.
“The failure to respect international law, along with the lack of adequate law enforcement vis-àvis settler violence and takeover of land has led to a state of impunity, which encourages further violence and undermines the physical security and livelihoods of Palestinians. Those protesting settlement expansion or access restrictions imposed for the benefit of settlements (including the Barrier) are regularly exposed to injury and arrest by Israeli forces,” noted OCHA.
For a short while, the demonstrations ceased after 2 young men, Muhammad and Usaid Qadus, were shot dead at close range by an Israeli soldier.
“But our peaceful struggle will continue among both the young and the old,” promises Yousef.
Jonas Webber is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
16 July 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
The weekly demonstration in Nabi Saleh faced brutal repression from the Israeli military on Friday, July 13.
Beginning at 1:30 p.m., Palestinian and solidarity activists walked down the village road to find it closed off by Israeli border police and a ‘skunk’ tank, which pumps out a foul-smelling liquid. The crowd headed to Nabi Saleh’s stolen water spring which was annexed by the nearby illegal Israeli settlement of Halamish. The protesters were met at the foot of the southern hill by Israeli soldiers resulting in 4 arrests: 3 Israeli activists and one Palestinian.
Young Palestinian boy is treated after being shot by a rubber-coated steel bullet
The demonstration continued to the entrance to the village, where Israeli border police shot a number of rubber-coated steel bullets into the crowd. One protester was shot in the arm and a young Palestinian boy also injured his leg in the process and needed medical care from the Palestinian Red Crescent.
‘Skunk’ water was sprayed at the protest as well as directly into Palestinian homes as a form of collective punishment. Deafening sound bombs were thrown in various directions. 7 more internationals were arrested, either for participating in the protest or just for being in the village of Nabi Saleh on a Friday.
Protesters are met by the Israeli military while trying to reach Nabi Saleh's stolen water spring
After a final tour with 2 military jeeps and the skunk tank, Israeli forces left Nabi Saleh at 5 p.m. Of the 11 arrested, the Palestinian was released within the hour, the Israeli activists some hours later, and the International activists stayed in prison overnight. They faced accusations in court and were not released until 1:00 a.m. on Sunday night. They are forbidden to join any further demonstrations and must leave the country by July 19.
The village of Nabi Saleh was declared a closed military zone (CMZ) every Friday and any solidarity activist, or Palestinian not from the area can be arrested on the charges of entering a CMZ. The increased targeting and subsequent deportations is a further attack by Israel on international solidarity activism and the ability to spread the free word.
Hakim M. is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
