Tag: Farmers

Jordan Valley: Three families invaded by one hundred Israeli soldiers in Al Jiftlik

by Kim

 17 March 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

On March 15th  at 16:00 we got a call about three house demolitions in the village of Al Jiftlik, near the Jordan Valley. We threw ourselves into the first public transportation vehicle to take us to the village. It was dusk when we came to the outskirts of the village where we met our contact person.

He quickly fixed up a car, and we got straight to the first house which was adjacent to the highway. Here we found two families standing before the ruins of their homes. They are seven people in all, including three children, one of whom is sick. It is the second demolition for one of the families,  the first for the other.

We talked to Bashir Mbarak Basharat Yousef Ibrahim, a local, who described to us what happened. He explained that just two hours before, about one hundred Israeli soldiers with bulldozers had restricted access to the area around the house. He had tried to take pictures with his camera phone, but a soldier took the phone away from him and deleted the images. Five months ago locals were told not to build  anymore on the house. No family members had been allowed to go in and fetch any belongings before the demolition.

That night they were accommodated by helpful neighbors, but in the future they do not know what to do.

We jumped back into the car and moved onto the next family consisting of ten family members. Sulaiman Omar Daragmeh told us what happened to them. He says that they had had a demolition order issued on the house. Around 15:00 the same Israeli soldiers came from Bashir Mbaraks house. Three family members were given 15 minutes to enter the house and retrieve personal belongings. No furniture or larger objects were possible to get out of the house.

The soldiers also destroyed the olive trees around the house. He constantly repeated the soldiers’ violence, and in his shrill voice is heard despair. He says that they are farmers and have no other income.

Because they live far out in a field, there are no neighbors to help, so this family had to sleep without a roof over their heads. But they will not give up, they stated, and they intend to stay and will try to get help from the local district administration.

We moved on to the third and final family consisting of seven people.

Ayman Mahmoud says that the Israeli soldiers came at 16:00 to demolish their house. They had received a demolition order a month and a half ago. Two family members were given 15 minutes to retrieve personal valuables before the bulldozer destroyed their homes. This family owns many sheep, who were frightened by the soldiers, violence, and bulldozers. Fifteen had run away of which two were killed by the bulldozer. They managed to capture five of the escaped sheep again.

After their home was destroyed they also received a bill for the demolition. They did not know how much they must pay. This family also lives just outside of the village so no neighbors could help them for the night. The family will sleep under the open sky, or possibly under a broken plastic sheet formerly used as an animal shelter.

The soldiers left them with the words “If you build here again, we will demolish the house over your head.”

When we left the family, we heard children crying and were overwhelmed by powerlessness. The situation is totally unreal.

Al Jiftlik is a village with about 5000 inhabitants, situated in the Jordan Valley. This area is one of the most fertile agricultural areas in Palestine. Many households subsist on farming. The village is located in Area C, which means that Israel has the right to administer and manage the area to suit their purposes. The consequences are that families who live in Area C are not licensed for their homes or workplaces,  and that Israeli soldiers may come at any time with a bulldozer and demolish houses. They also receive daily disruptions in electricity and water supply, like a recent three day cut to water supplies.

It rained, hailed, and stormed  a lot tonight. Two of these three families were sleeping under the stars. What we can do for these families is to show that they are not forgotten. The only thing they asked  for was to tell their stories and disseminate information about inhumane Israeli policies.

Kim is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Jordan Valley: Demolitions and arrests of two Palestinians

by Satu and John

15 February 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

On February 14, 2012, in the small village of Twael of the Aqraba district, southeast of Nablus in the Jordan Valley, the home of the Bunni Jaber family was destroyed by an Israeli backhoe protected by 20 soldiers in four military vehicles. Two men from the family were arrested – Ayman Bunni Jaber, aged 36, and Rafie Bunni Jaber, aged 30. The family’s tractor was also confiscated by the Israeli authorities.

The Bunni Jaber house was located along the green, rocky hills that dominate the landscape here, built from cloth, plastic sheeting, wire mesh, stones, and dirt. There are four children in the Bunni Jaber family, ranging from toddlers to adolescents. The family are herders, with flocks of sheep and goat, and the arbitrary confiscation of their tractor presents a serious challenge for the family’s livelihood.

Click here for more photos - Photos courtesy of Rana Hamadan, 2012

The reason given for the demolition was the house’s construction without a permit in Area C, the part of the West Bank under full Israeli civil and military control. The land belongs to the municipality of Aqraba, and is used for agriculture and herding. Obtaining a construction permit in Area C is a near impossibility for Palestinians. According to the UN agency OCHA, 96 percent of request for building permits in the Jordan Valley between 2000 and 2006 were denied. Nineteen of the 22 houses in the area have received demolition orders, as has the local mosque. Many of these have been demolished, some multiple times after reconstruction by their owners.

By longstanding local custom and law, houses without concrete or foundations like that of the Bunni Jaber family, do not require a building permit. Eighty percent of the land in Aqraba has been confiscated by the Israeli Army under the auspices of its use as “training grounds,” even though land seized is in fact stolen by illegal Israeli settlements. The villagers have resisted through various means, including a one-day hunger strike.

Satu and John are volunteers with International Solidarity Movement (names have been changed).

Air strike in south east Gaza City: “For the West, you have abandoned us to death”

by Rosa Schiano

15 February 2012 | il Blog di Oliva

Locals help the family salvage animal feed for the surviving livestock | Photo courtesy of Rosa Schiano

Saturday night Israeli F-16’s bombed civilian targets in several areas of the Gaza strip. One of these strikes killed a man and injured his son in the neighborhood of al-Zaytoon, south-east Gaza city. An F-16 dropped a bomb on a farm just before midnight.

The watchman of the farm, Abed Alkareem Alzaitooni, 71 years old, was killed. He was sitting in a steel shed next to the animal pen. His son, Mohammed Alzaitooni, 22 years old, was injured. He was bringing some food to his father. Most of the animals in the farm were killed and the equipment was damaged.

The owner of the farm lost about 20 cows, 30 sheep and most of the feed for the animals. The same farm was targeted was also during Cast Lead and then was rebuilt. The house near the farm was damnaged but luckily nobody was injured. The owner of the house told us: “I was lucky because 10 minutes before the bombing I was with Abed”.

At the scene we found 5-6 young men trying to salvage the feed an anything else they could. A jacket was placed on a cement column. It was the jacket of Abed. Some chickens walked on the rubble.

A chicken lay dead on the ground. A rooster walked over to her body and pushed at it as if was trying to encourage to move. From the rubble emerged the head of a sheep. There was a big crater in the ground from the bomb.

Photo courtesy of Rosa Schiano

Rubble is spread everywhere. The day after the airstrike we went to the mourning tent. Abed Kareem Zaytooni had 6 sons and 3 daughters. His family were natives of Jaffa. Abed spent the last 20 years of his life working as watchman. He returned home only one day per week.

He started to work in this farm 6 years ago. When he was young he worked as porter.  His brother, Achmed, 73 years old, told us: “We grew up without our parents, our dad died before I can remember.

We came to Gaza directly form Jaffa. Our life started with suffering, we always tried to work anywhere we could. At the end
everyone had his family.”

We visited the son of Abed, Mohammed, 22 years old, in Shifa hospital. Mohammed worked on the same farm as his father, he fed the animals. He started to work there 4 years ago.

He always brought food to his father when he was at work. That night he wanted to replace him so his father could have a  night off. After the bombing he searched for his father, he heard his father’s moaning. Then the moaning stopped. Ten minutes later the ambulance came.

Muhammad al Zaitoni, 22, rests in al Shifa Hospital | Photo courtesy of Rosa Schiano

Mohammed is still in the hospital while his wounds heal enough for him to go home. He suffers several broken ribs and a punctured lung. We asked him if had anything to say to the world. He said:

“For the Arab and Islamic people, they must wake up from their  sleep. For the West, you have abandoned us to death”.

During that same night, the israeli F-16’s launched similar airstrikes in Rafah and Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza strip. One of these strike targeted an agricultural shed in al-Qarara village.  The second airstrike targeted a vacant room in a house in al-Shouka village.  The third airstrike targeted an open area in al-Shouka village.

Israel announced it had bombed military targets. The targets Israeli bombed were civilian targets. Gaza continues to live under the siege and under a sky full of warplanes. Gaza continues crying, it continues to mourn its dead.

Rosa Schiano is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement.

Bruqin avoids arrests: Planting hope for Khader Adnan

by Jonas Weber

13 February 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Villagers of Bruqin and supporters went out today to plant trees in the field by the factory. While trees were planted alongside pictures of Khader Adnan, two young men sneaked over to the fence of the factory and put up Palestinian flags.

In the outskirts of Bruqin, a small village in the Salfit area, there is a field where old Roman ruins slumber amongst the olive trees. The field would be a peaceful place if it was not for the huge Israeli factories built on stolen land right next door. The Israeli factories have caused pollution in the area, contaminating crops and pastures. The rapid settler expansion in the Salfit area is stirring up distress among the residents in Bruqin who worry that even more of their land will be stolen.

Being attacked for harvesting resistance - Click here for more photos

 

In the Salfit area, 19 Palestinian villages are surrounded by 22 illegal settlements. It is a cluster of stolen land that is threatening to cut the West Bank in two if expansion is allowed to continue. Israel plans to build train tracks from Tel Aviv to the illegal settlement of Ariel, which would speed up this divide.

As the land repairing villagers came closer to the factory, they drew on the attention of the illegal settler security, and a man with a rifle demanding for volunteers to leave. Since the tree planting was taking place on Palestinian soil these calls where not heard by the villagers. A few minutes later the first Israeli soldiers started showing up asking the tree planters to move back from the factory. As some men decided to plant yet another tree at the edge of the factory area, they were surrounded by soldiers and one man was pulled away from the group.

ISM activists tried to get a straight answer as to the reason of the man’s arrest, but it was of no avail. Instead the soldiers surrounded yet another group of men and started tugging at them.

When questioned why they were attempting to arrest Palestinians, the only answer offered by the soldiers was that the area had been declared a closed military zone and that the man had been bothering the soldiers. However the soldiers could not produce any document proving the declaration of the area beeing a military zone.

ISM activists demanded to see relevant paperwork in support of the military’s claims, else they must release the man since there were  no substantial suspicions against him. After apoximately 20 minutes of avoiding the stares of upset activists and villagers, the soldiers retreated, and after some further negotiations back and forth the Palestinian man was  successfully de-arrested and released.

Though this particular case ended with nothing worse than a pair of sore wrists, it is a clear example of the lawlessness suffered by Palestinians under Israeli military law.

Jonas Weber is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

“It’s Hevron. It’s very dangerous” warn occupation forces in Al Buwayra

by Pascaline

12 February 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

On Sunday 12 February, about 200 settlers, mainly youth, gathered at the bottom of Assima settlement in Al Buwayra to cultivate and steal Palestinian land with accompaniment by the Israeli military.

They were carrying Israeli flags and posters. The military opened a gate leading these illegal and typically violent settlers onto Palestinian land and marched them to Hilltop 25. They remained there for a while and then moved to the other side of Road 60 leading to the illegal settlement of Kiryat Arba and planted trees.

The Israeli Occupation Forces and police were faciltating the planting, and they let the settlers play music loudly from a car equipped with amplifiers to disturb the peace while making their presence a loud infringement on Palestinian land.

As ISM and Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel members walked up to visit Palestinian families, they were stopped by Israeli police, who checked IDs. When they were asked why they were checking their passports, the answer police answered that, “This is not Israel, it’s Hevron. It’s very dangerous.”

The Palestinians families told internationals that the illegal settlers had thrown stones at the house and broken a window. The settlers left shortly after the internationals got there, but were heard saying they would come back the following day.

The land where they planted trees is meant to be used to build houses for the children of the Palestinian families.

Pascaline is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).