15th March 2018 | International Solidarity Movement, al Khalil team | Occupied Palestine
Yesterday, Ayman al Fakhori, age 25, was detained for an hour outside the Ibrahimi Mosque checkpoint before being arrested for no reason and escorted down Shuhada Street into a military base. He was shortly after released and escorted by Israeli forces out of checkpoint 56.
Internationals interviewed him after his release about his time in the military base. He relayed to us that the commander said, “This is the last chance you’ll get,” and threatened his life if he gets arrested again. Fakhori, however, doesn’t know what caused his arrest in the first place.
The only logical explanation, according to Fakhori, is that he is active in informing the public about the Israeli occupation via giving tours throughout al Khalil / Hebron to pro-Palestinian NGO’s and individuals.
The normalcy of his case showed as Fakhori nonchalantly explained the events of the day, affirming that he will not leave his home to make room for the settlers as the soldiers recommended he do. He was happy, though, to see Shuhada Street for the first time; as it is now an apartheid road closed to all Palestinians for the majority of 24 years.
9th March 2018 | International Solidarity Movement, al Khalil team | Occupied Palestine
Friday at around 16.00, 24-year old Al Khalil resident Mohammad Zain al-Jabari was shot and killed by armed Israeli occupational forces during smaller clashes in Al Khalil, Hebron.
He leaves behind his wife and his 4-year-old child.
Al-Jabari was hit in the neck when Israeli soldiers opened fire with live ammunition against the local youth in the H1 area of Al Khalil, an area legally under full Palestinian control.
He was rushed to the local hospital where he died minutes later.
Fearing Israeli occupational forces would raid the hospital, Palestinians quickly removed Al-Jabari’s body from the hospital, to avoid the Israelis from confiscating the body.
The bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli occupational forces are often confiscated for longer periods of time, making it impossible for the Palestinians to bury the body within 24 hours of death, as is common practice for muslim funerals.
Minutes after the ambulance left the hospital clashes broke out in the streets outside the hospital and Israeli occupational forces quickly answered with extensive use of teargas and stun grenades.
Al-Jabari’s body was prepared for burial that evening, where three to four hundred chanting persons marched the streets to the martyrs’ cemetery where he was laid to rest with all too many others.
“In the first two months of 2018, 10 Palestinians have been killed in attacks carried out by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank,” says a report from The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied Palestinian territory.
This death was one more example of the Israeli military using excessive force to impose their illegal control on the Palestinian people of the occupied territories.
10th September 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine
On Friday, 8th of September, large amounts of Israeli soldiers went into the H1 area of occupied Hebron, supposedly under full Palestinian control. The army used teargas and stun grenades at one of the main junctions in downtown Hebron, effecting the accessibility of the Manara square area for Palestinian citizens.
Soldiers at the al-Manara circle in Hebron
After Friday noon-prayer, the normal small scale protests took place by young Palestinians where ten soldiers came out of the H2 area monitoring the protesters in the street. Following this, the protesters backed away and discontinued their protesting. About 15 minutes later, 40 soldiers invaded the area throwing sound grenades within the Old City and moving up into the main central hub of Hebron, in an area supposedly under full Palestinian control, in two military vehicles. Some rocks were thrown at the soldiers by a few Palestinian youth, which was immediately met with unreasonable force by soldiers throwing stun grenades and several tear gas canisters in an area with uninvolved civilians. Many Palestinians were forced to rapidly drive away in their cars in order to escape the suffocating effects of teargas used by the israeli forces in a civilian neighbourhood. These included young children and families, and additionally many shop owners had to evacuate their shops due to the amount of tear gas clouds.
Isreali forces shooting teargas in civilian Palestinian area
The direction of the wind blew the tear gas back towards the soldiers who were throwing it, indicating that this disruption was not thoroughly planned, and many of the soldiers were not experienced enough to handle tear gas in the first place. Consequently, the soldiers were forced back past Shuhada checkpoint and into the H2-area under full Israeli military control. Tear gas, a so-called ‘non-lethal weapon’, causes effects of suffocation and untreated can lead to death. Many of its long terms effects are still unknown.
The teargas clouds in Hebron
Friday is a holy day in Islam, and many Palestinian citizens were enjoying their day off of work in the city-center. Most did not expect to have the city center disrupted by the Israeli forces, and others who work even on holidays, lost some of their daily income. The area which was invaded, is part of the H1-area, which according to the Hebron Protocol, is supposedly under full Palestinian control. This disruption was an extremely exaggerated response, in view of the fact that the small amount of protesters were not posing any kind of imminent threat.
Israeli forces in their jeeps driving towards Hebron city center
8th September 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, Huwwara-team | Kafr Qaddum, occupied Palestine
During the demonstration in Kfar Qaddum today, Friday the 8th of September, a 20-year old Palestinian protester was shot with a rubber coated steel bullet in his chest, and treated at the scene, while camera drones were buzzing above the heads of the participants. The ISM-ers present also noticed how the Israeli military forces were photographing and filming the protesters. This material is usually used in order to arrest participants, often underage and denied access to lawyers.
Israeli military forces taking photos and filming the protesters.
The Israeli army is blocking the road leading from the village of Kfar Qaddum to the city of Nablus since 2003. The closure of the road has doubled the commute to Nablus for the villagers, increasing both travel time and cost. Since 2011 the villagers have protested weekly against this road closure.
The settlement of Quedummim, bulit in 1975, has expanded over the last years, and during just the past weeks new illegal mobile homes have been placed in the outskirts of the settlement annexing more Palestinian land. The caravans are placed strategically in order to connect the two parts of Quedummim, which would cause the Kfar Qaddum villagers losing several dunams (hectar) of land nourishing hundreds of olive trees.
The illegal caravans placed strategically between the illegal Israeli settlement of Quedummim and the land with olive trees belonging to the village of Kfar Qaddum.
The expansion of settlements, blocking of roads and land thefts are witnessed daily in the illegally occupied Palestinian territories.
5th September 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Umm al-Kheir, south Hebron, occupied Palestine
Spent the last two days at Umm Al Khair, a Bedouin village in the South Hebron Hills enjoying the wonderful hospitality, generosity, and loving kindness. This was not my first trip there. And as much as I hate to say it, as with most things in Palestine, things are so much worse than my last visit. The illegal colonial settlement of Carmel belonging to the entity called israel surrounds the village on almost every side. Some of the tents and housing units are less than 20 feet from the “security” fence. Housing units in the illegal settlement have increased and more are being built with plans to take more of the land owned by the village to continue expansion.
Some of the newest settler homes in Carmel
The villagers sit day after day waiting for the illegal occupation soldiers to come with their bulldozers to demolish more of their housing. People speak openly about their discouragement for their future but still stand steadfast that they will not be moved or defeated. Our tent was one of those closest to the Fence and for two nights we sat up most of the night while zionists threw stones and rocks over the fence at the tent at anything that appeared to move. The village leader says the violence is increasing all of the time and fears that one of these night something much worse than rocks will be thrown. Fortunately no one was hurt (physically) the past two nights but there was little to no sleep for us or any of the men of the village who sat up keeping and open eye and ear to try to spot the thugs doing this. The commotion would wake up many of the villagers and you could hear the crying of many frightened small children throughout the night.
The “security” fence less than 20 feet from the tent
This is an every night occurrence and everyone is exhausted, all of the time, and can only catch a few hours of sleep after sunrise. Phone calls to the police of the entity called israel Police as well as the Palestinian Authority Police are a waste of time. No one will respond to the calls for help to make the settler violence stop. Many internationals, such as ourselves go for a few nights (when we have the people to do so) to help with a protective presence but it doesn’t stop the ever increasing settler violence. The Bedouins are very peaceful people and are committed to nonviolence but they are called the terrorists by the zionists, and most of the zionist supporting governments of the world (such as the United States). More International presence is needed and more of the world needs to know the truth.
