7th August 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, support group Australia | Australia
Multi-award winning poet and playwright Samah Sabawi began Australia’s second and biggest national conference on Israeli Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions last week in Sydney, with words from the diaspora: “In 2005, after decades of failed negotiations, Palestinian civil society lit a candle in the darkness. They started a non-violent, grassroots movement, based on international law and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They called on people of good conscience around the world to apply boycotts, divestments and sanctions on Israel…And we are here at this conference to discuss ways in which to respond to this call. Palestinian civil society is not asking us to get involved. They are asking us to end our involvement with Israeli apartheid. Because we are already knee-deep in complicity.”
6th August 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine
On Tuesday 25th of July some 50 Israeli settlers illegally occupied a Palestinian house in illegal occupied Al-Khalil (Hebron) in H2 in an attempt to take control of the house. The settlers have stayed in the Palestinian building for six days, protected by the Israeli police, who should have instead evicted the settlers due to the unclear legal status of the building. Due to the settler presence, the Palestinian families living in the building complex are limited in their movement both by the settlers and Israeli forces and are disturbed by the settlers chanting and dancing on the courtyard.
Settlers illegally occupy parts of a Palestinian house in occupied Al-Khalil.
The settlers and their children raided the house around 4:30 pm on Tuesday afternoon and opened the door by force. The Israeli army claims that they arrived at the scene after the settlers raided the house, but one Palestinian family living in the building confirmed that the Israeli army was already present when the settlers raided the house. The family opened the door in the hope that the Israeli forces would protect them, but instead they allowed the settlers passage. After breaking in the settlers were celebrating loudly in front of the building until midnight.
Israeli settlers gathering and chanting loudly in front of the house they illegally occupied.
The following morning the situation was still going on and there were more Israeli police and army present. Also different media came to the site, but were not allowed to enter the house. A journalist tried to enter the house after getting invited by the family of Abu Rajab, to document the situation and interview the family but the police prohibited him violently from entering, intimidating the host and his family. On the same Wednesday morning, a Palestinian man living in the house was assaulted by the settlers as he was trying to enter his house. In the evening the scene was dominated by a huge group of young settlers chanting, dancing and shouting at passers-by guarded by heavily armed border police. Also a settler, known for his violence, was seen talking familiarly to the army forces and harassing Palestinian media representatives.
Israeli settlers showing aggression towards residents of the house as well as journalists.Palestinian man living in the house was assaulted by the Israeli settlers as he was trying to enter his house.
This was not the first time that something like this has happened in the same building. In 2012 the settlers tried to take over the same house, but the civil administration decided that the settlers did not have enough evidence for their claim of ownership over the property. The families were removed from the house then and have been trying to dispute the case in court ever since. The Palestinian owners deny ever selling the property and accuse the settlers of forging documents to steal the house from them.
Israeli police present at site, but not evicting the settlers illegally occupying the house.
It may be no coincidence that the illegal occupation of the house comes during the tensions surrounding the restrictive Israeli measures at Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. It seems the settlers are using the momentum now to disregard the law and take the house when everyone is looking at Jerusalem. It has already been 12 days that the Israeli police has allowed the continuation of the illegal occupation.
Israeli settlers on the courtyard of the house – a view from the window of a Palestinian family living in the house.
30th July 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine
An Al-Aqsa solidarity march organized this Friday in occupied Hebron was heavily repressed by Israeli Forces. Soldiers and border police fired stun grenades, teargas, putrid-smelling “skunk” water, rubber-coated steel bullets and live ammunition at demonstrators, injuring many. Several young protesters were also beaten and detained.
Palestinians demonstrate in Bab al-Zawiya, central al-Khalil (Hebron)
The Al-Aqsa solidarity march started from the Al-Hussein Mosque and continued on Ain Sarah street towards Bab Al-Zawiya towards Israeli controlled H2. Even before the march reached Bab Al-Zawiya, an Israeli video drone was seen flying above the scene and soldiers were getting ready on the other side of Shuhada checkpoint to face the demonstrators. The march reached Bab Al-Zawiya around 1:30 pm, at which point the Israeli forces came out through Shuhada checkpoint, which separates Palestinians from Shuhada street, and forcing some of the demonstrators ran to Wad al-Tofah Street, while others withdrew to the adjacent Ain Sarah street.
Border police reach stalemate with demonstrators on Wad al-Tofah street
Israeli forces followed the demonstrators down Wad al-Tofah street, firing rubber coated steel bullets indiscriminately at young boys and men. A skunk truck also drove down Ain Sarah and sprayed chemically treated skunk water on houses of uninvolved Palestinian civilians. A standoff ensued in which demonstrators lit tires on fire and a young boy was shot in the leg with live ammunition, before being quickly taken to hospital. Israeli forces eventually withdrew from the scene. These areas are located in the H1 area, supposedly under full Palestinian control.
Palestinian rushed to hospital after being shot by Israeli forces
The demonstrators moved up Ain Sarah, and once the protest seem to calm down the Israeli forces started shooting at demonstrators. At this point two more Palestinians were shot and injured. Israeli police and soldiers drove further along Ain Sarah, got out and started chasing the demonstrators. At 14:46 they detained a minor who, after being pulled down, was beaten down on his head and kicked on his back. Protesters withdrew down Ain Sarah, pursued by police and soldiers firing rubber-coated steel bullets and showers of teargas.
Teenager arrested after having been beaten by Israeli forces
As the soldiers seemed to withdraw towards the Bab al-Zawiya area again, the demonstrators followed them and some started to throw stones and light up tires. The Israeli forces promptly responded with stun grenades, tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets. The Israeli soldiers also broke into a shop in Bab Al-Zawiya, leaving an explicit note. After violently detaining a 15-year-old boy, they took him into the building, blindfolded him and then transferred him through Shuhada checkpoint. After this, the army returned again to attack the demonstrators.
Note left by Israeli soldiers in a shop that they had broken into in Bab al-Zawiya. The Hebrew states ‘Israel lives’.
One of the following attacks forced the group of young men and teenagers up the hill north of the entrance of the vegetable market. Soldiers positioned on the roof of the nearby building threw teargas and stun grenades towards the demonstrators. With around 50 border policemen in the back and support from a sniper lying at the entrance of the street, a troop of 12 soldiers went up the hill, trying unsuccessfully to break into a building. They proceeded to throw teargas and stun grenades at a group of four activists who were taking photos nearby. At the intersection at the end of the road protestors were showered in teargas and the crowd dispersed. Amidst the teagas fog a teenager, thought to be around 14 to 16 years old was shot, presumably by the sniper down the road, and was evacuated in the car of a passerby. After this incident the soldiers went back down and disappeared from Bab Al-Zawiya.
Israeli sniper takes aim at young demonstrators
The clashes lasted altogether around four and a half hours during which the Israeli forces displayed unnecessary and excessive violence not only towards demonstrators, but also towards the media. The army seemed out of control, breaking into Palestinian offices in Bab Al-Zawiya, demonstrating violence and intimidating journalists, targeting children and beating up demonstrators who were already detained, and not resisting arrest.
Soldier attempts to arrest Palestinian child after having violently assaulted him
The demonstration was in solidarity with the demonstrations in Jerusalem against the new access restrictions introduced by Israel at the Al-Aqsa compound. The Palestinian community had earlier called for a ‘day of rage’ in response to the restrictions, which Israel described as ‘security measures’.
Palestinian boy holds flag amidst the chaos on Ain Sarah street, al-Khalil
18th July 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine
Israeli soldiers have arrested 19 year old Ahmed Fayez in Hebron’s Old City. The teenager was working with friends when soldiers approached the group, demanding to see their IDs. When Fayez showed his, he was arrested and taken towards Beit Romano military base. He was not seen being taken into the base itself, but rather was taken to Shuhada street, where he was last seen.
The majority of Shuhada Street is ethnically cleansed of Palestinian presence and only accessible for settlers living in the illegal settlements in the heart of Hebron’s old city and international tourists. The once thriving Palestinian market connecting south and north of the city is now only “accessible” for Palestinians if they are arrested and brought to the military base there.
Immediately prior to the arrest, soldiers, border police and civil authorities had been conducting small detonations in a parking lot nearby. The purpose of these was unclear.
18th July 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Burin, occupied Nablus
At the beginning of July the local committee of Burin invited to the town`s 8th Kite Festival of the City. The festival is kind of a tradition for this town, but has not taken place for the last three years, because the main organiser and head of the Burin Youth Committee, Target Organisation for Rural Development, Ghassan Najar was in prison, having been arrested for hosting the last Kite Festival in 2014.
Festivities on the hill
Burin is a small village west of Nablus with 2,000 inhabitants.
Around 400 people participated in the festival, which saw the community organise food, water and music for the attendees, who gathered on a hill in the north of the village. Families from Burin, children form the Jordan Valley and also kids from the Balata refugee camp in Nablus were able to come together to spend a sunny day in the hills and to compete to see whose kite flew highest. The children brought colourful, handmade kites, the men danced and the women handed out delicious homemade treats. The atmosphere was full of peace and joy.
Children with their kites
Every child got a medal as memento for this great day after the competition was over.
Some children proudly showing their medals
The main organiser, Ghassan, has been head of the Target Organisation for Rural Development for several years. This Committee is heavily targeted by the Israeli forces: 25 of the 40 members were once detained up to three years without a charge, laptops were stolen, their belongings were broken and relatives of the members threatened.
Balloons flying in the sky
Military raids are common in Burin, as it is located directly next to the illegal Ariel settlement and surrounded by illegal military and settler outposts. Settlers are constantly threatening the farmers of the village when they go out to work on their land. A huge part of the land is not even accessible for the farmers, as entering the property which is close to the settlement is simply to dangerous. Settler violence is one of the major problems of the community: burned olive trees, stolen olives and harassment are part and parcel of the olive harvest season.
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