Tag: Gaza - Page 47 - International Solidarity Movement

Video: Israeli troops fire on Palestinian farmers and international activists in Gaza

27th December 2013 | Resistenza Quotidiana, Silvia Todeschini | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

International activists have been accompanying Palestinian farmers to their lands near the separation barrier between the territories occupied in 1948 and the Gaza Strip. We have noticed, in recent days, an increase in the presence of the Zionist occupation forces. A few days ago, we felt more drones and F-16, then Jeeps and bulldozers began to move near the barrier more often. On Sunday, 22nd December, two Jeeps were stationed in front of the area where farmers were seeding and tractors plowing. They fired shots into the air and one the the ground. This video shows the last episode.

Olive, orange and lemon trees grew in these fields until the second Intifada. Then bulldozers and tanks of the occupying forces uprooted them. After “Operation Cast Lead,” the no-go zone was established at 300 meters, but aggression towards Palestinians was not limited to that area. According to UN reports, high-risk areas in some places reach two kilometers from the barrier, and included 35% of all arable land in Gaza. Following the truce concluded after the Zionist attack called “Operation Pillar of Defense,” farmers were able to reach their land up to 100 meters. Now, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, the situation is very similar to that seen before the last offensive: Zionist aggression reaches up to 1,500 meters from the border. The high-risk areas comprise 35% of arable land, and in the restricted areas, 95% is cultivable. Also according to PCHR data, the last farmer killed by the occupation forces while working, Mustafa Abdul Hakim Mustafa Abu Jarad, was 1,200 meters from the barrier. He was killed by a bullet in the head 14th January 2013, one of four people killed this year in the areas near the separation barrier.

Not only are Palestinian farmers attacked during their work, but the land they farm is itself destroyed by the passage of bulldozers and tanks. They create deep grooves that make it difficult for a tractor to pass and plow. By doing so, they mix layers, making the land less fertile. In addition, the water tanks which are used for irrigation in this area are all destroyed by Zionist gunfire.

In the separation barrier are installed several instruments of repression. There are turrets with automatic weapons, others on which snipers can stand, tall iron columns with cameras installed and others with radar. There is barbed wire, gates where Zionist military vehicles can enter, balloons equipped with cameras, and more.

The violence of the Zionists towards Palestinian farmers and fishermen are an attack not only on their ability to work, but also on the food sovereignty of all the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip.

The presence of foreign activists sometimes manages to lightly calm the situation, because we are inconvenient witnesses for the Zionist occupation forces. But the heroes are the farmers, who continue to reach their land. Without regular watering, they can grow only wheat, although after it has been cultivated for several years, not much grows anymore. The heroes are the farmers who, generation after generation, continue to say “adha hardy” – “this is my land,” no matter how strong the Zionist repression with all its resources, weapons, armor and surveillance equipment may be.

Metaphor in Gaza

23rd December 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Charlie Andreasson | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

Hundreds greet freed detainees at midnight rally in northern Gaza Strip (Photo by Charlie Andreasson)

You stand below a dam because you have discovered cracks where water leaks out. You try to seal them with your bare hands, but they are not enough. The pressure is too high, and the cracks too large. And you scream for help, to let people know what is happening, stop the pressure from the inside before the disaster happens. But no one listens to your warning, and no one seems to want to see the water that wells between your fingers. Some even claim you are exaggerating. And you stand there,not daring to move your hands, wondering how long you will be able to hold back the pressure, how long you can keep calling before your voice fails. This is the metaphor that best describes the frustration activists here feel from time to time, a frustration we have to deal with because it cannot pass in dejection.

To be an activist here is not just to go with farmers into the “buffer zone,” or out to sea with fishermen, more or less as human shields: to try to seal the cracks with your hands, if I am allowed to continue using the metaphor as an explanatory model. Far more time is spent interviewing victims, gathering information, going to demonstrations and writing articles, to call for help and draw attention to what is happening. And it is mainly during the search for information that you unwittingly also look for something to show that a change is afoot. One’s eyes skim through title after title, then suddenly it’s there, the article that makes you pause. Standing below the dam, you notice a change among those high above you. Maybe now something’s finally starting to happen. And you feel relief and joy, and share the news with all the activists you meet.

Most recently, on 8th December, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte had planned to inaugurate a container scanner at the Kerem Shalom checkpoint, but called off the whole thing when it became apparent that the scanner would not, contrary to Rutte’s assumptions, facilitate and thereby increase the movement of goods between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Israel is determined to keep these two parts of Palestine separated from each other.

On the same trip, Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans refused to accept an Israeli military escort in the 1967-occupied territories, instead canceling his planned visit to Hebron’s older neighborhoods. Other foreign ministers have recently visited them without military escorts, and Timmermans did not accept the new conditions to avoid creating a precedent.

Netherlands, you are great among activists here now. Upright, a standard-bearer for human rights, the defender of the Geneva Conventions. Only days later, we read that the Dutch water company Viten ended a partnership with Israeli water company Mekorot. Also on Rutte’s trip was Dutch Minister of Trade Lilianne Ploumen, whose visit to Mekorot the Israelis abruptly canceled. Perhaps this was because Dutch media had revealed that the same company was denying Palestinians water, but we may never know.

Netherlands, you are a light in the darkness, and may other nations follow that light. You demonstrate that there is a political space to maneuver to bring about a change. And now Romania denies its citizens work in Israeli settlements in 1967-occupied territory. Salvation is close, you can stop shouting now, and soon you will no longer need to keep your hands over the cracks.

But we are deceiving ourselves, and maybe we need to do it to not be dejected. For while we focus on the good news, we shut our eyes, at least temporarily, to the bad, which is much more plentiful, and more serious in nature. As the UK develops a new type of drone with Israel, and Italy expands its cooperation on several levels with the aforementioned occupying power, that members of the Knesset already have started congratulating each other for the peace talks that do not seem to lead anywhere … the list is grows longer every day. And when we go out on the streets of Palestine, we see that nothing has improved. Do average people here know the Netherlands stands up for them? Do they react the same way we do to the news??

People here are hardened. They believe in a change only when they see it. They’ve had enough empty promises to stop dreaming. And that’s why they pay tribute to every Palestinian who returns from an Israeli prison, no matter what he or she has done – armed resistance, political activity, being in the wrong place at the wrong time – because this person tried, in a concrete way, to change the situation. That’s all that counts after the betrayal of all who walk above, without giving a thought to the cracks you frantically try to seal. They are about to be drowned further downstream from the dam. And we continue to cry out for help.

Gaza: “Free the Holy Land sea”

23rd December 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Rosa Schiano | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

Fisherman and their boats in the Gaza seaport. (Photo by Rosa Schiano)

“Free the Holy Land sea” was a three-day protest by fishermen in Gaza which began on Tuesday, 17th November. The fishermen, supported by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights and al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, set up a tent at the Gaza seaport in which photographs showing Israeli violations were exhibited, along with banners in solidarity with the fishermen.

In the tent were fishermen, international and Palestinian activists for the rights of fishermen and political prisoners, and representatives of human rights centers. Politicians came to give their greetings and express solidarity with the fishermen.

“Since last year, massive attacks against Palestinian fishermen have become a practice of the Israeli naval forces,” said Khalil Shaheen, director of the economics and social rights unit at the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights. “The attack on the fundamental rights of the fishermen, their livelihoods, makes the lives of thousands of fishermen impossible. From September 2009 until the current day, two Palestinian fishermen have been killed, 24 injured, at least 150 arrested, 49 boats seized by the Israeli forces, and at least 120 boats destroyed partially or totally, including during the last military operation, Pillar of Defense, in which harbors were also bombed.”

“Palestinian fishermen are losing 85% of their annual income due to the restrictions in the maritime area and the naval blockade,” Shaheen added. “I think it’s very important to send a clear message in support of the fishermen. For Christmas and the New Year, Palestinian fishermen ask their friends and brothers in the rest of the world to convince the Israeli occupation to end the illegal blockade in Gaza, and to free the Holy Land sea, to grant them their rights.”

Among the fishermen present at the event, Salim al-Faseh, age 57, was wounded by Israeli military fire in September while fishing on a trawler about six miles offshore. The bullets severed the little finger of his right hand and destroyed part of the internal tissue. Salim will have to wait for his surgery in February, when an internal fixator will be removed, to know if he can use his fingers again. “God willing, this event will help the fishermen,” al-Faseh said.

“The fishing sector is the sector that suffers the most in Gaza,” he added. “We suffer from lack of fuel, the limits imposed on the fishing area, the unsuitable materials. Everything is making the profession of fishing die.”

The port was calm under a blue sky. After the raging storm and incessant rain that flooded roads and houses in the Gaza Strip, the sun was shining again. Some fishermen were harvesting small fish from their nets. Others sat under the sun and spoke of their daily problems, especially the economic difficulties faced by Gaza fishermen.

The Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip affects Palestinians’ economic and social conditions. More than 75,000 people depend on the fishing industry as the main source of their livelihood.

Israel has progressively restricted Palestinian fishermen’s access to the sea. The 20 nautical miles established under the Gaza-Jericho Agreement between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1994 were reduced to 12 miles in the Bertini Agreement of 2002. In 2006, the area Israel allowed for fishing was reduced to six nautical miles from the coast. After its “Operation Cast Lead” military offensive (December 2008 – January 2009) Israel imposed a limit of three nautical miles from the coast, preventing Palestinians from accessing 85% of the water to which they are entitled under the Gaza-Jericho Agreement.

Under the ceasefire agreement by Israel and the Palestinian resistance after the Israeli “Operation Pillar of Defense” military offensive (November 2012), Israel agreed that Palestinian fishermen could again sail six nautical miles from the coast. Despite these agreements, the Israeli navy has not stopped its attacks on fishermen, even within this limit. In March 2013, Israel once again imposed a limit of three nautical miles from the coast. On 22 May, Israeli military authorities announced a decision to restore the limit to six nautical miles.

In the month of November alone, PCHR reports 12 attacks. During one, gunfire injured a fisherman. Overall six fishermen were arrested and six boats confiscated. These attacks constitute a violation of the international humanitarian law.

At the end of the event, fishermen, along with human rights organizations, submitted a letter to the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process office in Gaza City.

Israeli naval forces chased Palestinian fishermen and confiscated their fishing equipment in the Gaza waters

19th December 2013 | Palestinian Centre for Human Rights| Occupied Palestine

Israeli Naval Forces stationed off Beit Lahi shore in the northern Gaza Strip opened fire at Palestinian fishing boats in 4 separate incidents while sailing between 600 meters and 3 nautical miles. Israeli naval forces also confiscated 24 fishing nets. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) expresses concern over the continued targeting of fishermen and their livelihoods. Economic and social rights of fishermen have been violated by the illegal naval blockade imposed by Israeli authorities on the Gaza waters since June 2007.

According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 10:40 on Wednesday, 18 December 2013, Israeli gunboats opened fire at a Palestinian fishing boat that was sailing about 600 meters off al-Wahah shore in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip. Two gunboats surrounded the fishing boat that was boarded by 3 fishermen: Mahmoud ‘Ali ‘Arouq (16); his brother Mohammed (22); and Jom’aah Amin ‘Arouq (24). Israeli naval forces ordered them to stop fishing and give themselves up, but they refused and fled away. The naval forces confiscated 14 fishing nets whose total lengths are 840 meters. Mahmoud ‘Ali ‘Arouq (28) said that they left the waters to the shore and watched the gunboats hoping that they would regain the fishing nets. However, the gunboats confiscated the fishing nets and left the place.

In another incident, at approximately 12:30 yesterday, 18 December 2013, Israeli gunboats opened fire at a fishing boat belonging to Khalid ‘Awad al-Kafranah, from Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, while sailing at approximately 1.5 nautical miles off al-Wahah shore in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip. Israeli naval forces then confiscated 10 fishing nets.

In a third incident, at approximately 06:00 on Tuesday, 17 December 2013, Israeli gunboats stationed off al-Wahah shore in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip opened fire in the vicinity of Palestinian fishing boats that were sailing approximately 3 nautical miles offshore. The shooting continued for about 10 minutes, so fishermen were forced to flee for fear of being attacked.

In a fourth incident, at approximately 14:10 on Monday, 16 December 2013, Israeli gunboats stationed off al-Wahah shore in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip opened fire in the vicinity of the Palestinian fishing boats that were sailing at approximately 3 nautical miles offshore. The shooting continued for about 15 minutes, so fishermen were forced to flee for fear of being attacked.

PCHR condemns the continued Israeli attacks against Palestinian fishermen in the Gaza Strip, and:

1. Calls for immediately stopping the policy of chasing and arresting Palestinian fishermen, and allowing them to sail and fish freely;

2. Demands compensation for the fishermen for the physical and material damage caused to them and their property as a result of these violations;

3. Calls upon the international community, including the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, to immediately intervene to stop the Israeli violations against the Palestinian fishermen and to allow them to sail and fish freely in the Gaza Sea.

At Gaza sit-in for detainees, Um Rami and Um Dia’a hope sons will be released next week

17th December 2013 | Resistenza Quotidiana, Silvia Todeschini | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

The weekly sit-in for Palestinian detainees in the ICRC's Gaza courtyard. (Photo by Silvia Todeschini) — The weekly sit-in for Palestinian detainees in the ICRC’s Gaza courtyard. (Photo by Silvia Todeschini)

Every Monday, activists and relatives of political prisoners in Israeli jails attend a solidarity sit-in inside the courtyard of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza. The perseverance of these women and men, who have met here every week for eighteen years, is admirable, but this Monday was animated by a special hope.

Um Rami is waving a small Palestinian flag and holding a sign with a picture of a teenager. The teenager is Rami, her son. He was taken by the Zionist occupation forces 20 years ago, when he was 15 and a half years old, before the Oslo accords. After the prisoner exchange for Shalit, she was able to visit him in prison four times. Before, for twelve years, she had been forbidden to see him.

“He was a child,” she said. “They should not give them all these years. The judge was unfair! I had three other children after his arrest. None of them has been able to meet him in person. My daughter got married, had children, and even they have never met their uncle.”

According to Um Rami, he was arrested on the street near the illegal settlement of Kfar Darom. Two military jeeps stopped his car, took him, tied his wrists, blindfolded him and took him inside the colony. They sentenced him to life imprisonment on charges of stabbing a soldier of the Zionist occupation forces. The same occupation forces killed two of his brothers, two other sons of Um Rami, but no one has been given a life sentence for this.

But this Monday, there was an atmosphere of hope.

Um Rami is confident that her son will be released in a week, with the third group of Palestinian political prisoners Israel has agreed to free. Despite the accompanying expansion of settlements, and the fact that they should have been released years ago according to the Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum, this is good news for Um Rami.

“When the other two groups of prisoners were released, both times, a few days before, the neighbors told me that my son was on the list,” she said. “When the news turned out to be false, I fainted from sorrow.”

“But I went to the Erez to greet the freed prisoners, to bring solidarity to them and their families.”

Um Rami is active in the campaign for the release of Palestinian political prisoners. She participated in solidarity visits to the families of prisoners, was present at meetings of the UN to defend the prisoners’ cause, is also in contact with human rights centers.

Um Dia'a. (Photo by Silvia Todeschini) — Um Dia’a. (Photo by Silvia Todeschini)

Um Dia’a hopes that her son Dia’a will be released with the next group of prisoners. She does not know whether or not he is on the list, but, she says, he was arrested before many that have already been released, so he should be.

“My son was hiding in his sister’s house, but a spy told it to the occupation forces, so they surrounded the house,: she said. “They ransacked it, found him and took him away before they beat daughter’s family because they were hiding him.”

Dia’a was 16 years and 4 months old when he was detained 22 years ago. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. For seven years before Slahit exchange, his mother could not see him. After the exchange, Um Dia’a says she was only allowed to visit him three times.”In the meantime, I became the grandmother of 45 grandchildren,” she says. “None of them has ever been able to see his uncle.”

According to current agreements, the Zionist entity should release 104 prisoners detained before the Oslo Accords . The first two groups were released on August 13 and October 30. While these prisoners have been freed, dozens more were arrested. 4,996 currently remain in prison.

Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are political prisoners because they are “guilty” of resistance against the occupation.

Their transfer from the Gaza Strip or West Bank to Palestinian territories occupied in 1948 violates the fourth Geneva Convention, which forbids the occupying power from transferring persons out of an occupied territory.

145 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails held in administrative detention, without notification of any charges. Administrative detention orders are issued by Zionist military commanders for a period of six months, but may be renewed for an indefinite number of times.

Inside Israeli jails, torture is routinely practiced torture, children are detained, and family visits are often prevented.