17/04/2018 International Solidarity Movement Al Khalil | Hebron
Today’s demonstration was held by the Palestinian prisoners club, political factions and Palestinian civil society also in attendance were Palestinian prisoner family members and internationals. Palestinians marched from the stadium in Al Khalil, Hebron to Ibn Rushd square. The aim of the protest was to support and highlight the Palestinian prisoners on International Palestinian Prisoners day.
Palestinian Protestors march from the stadium to Ibn Rushd Square
Hisham Sharabati from Hebron defense committee present at the demonstration stated:
” We want all Palestinian prisoners free until then we want decent human conditions for detainees. Prisoners under administrative detention are clearly under arbitrary detention”.
” All the prisoners are not terrorists as Israel likes to claim, they are freedom fighters who are working for the liberation of their people and land. International law guarantees the right of the occupied to resist the occupier.”
Palestinians gather at Ibn Rushd Square to hear speeches in support of Palestinian Prisoners
Palestinian Prisoner statistics
There are 500 Administrative detainees who are boycotting the Israeli legal system.
6,500 Palestinian prisoners held inside Israeli jails
350 Palestinian child prisoners
6 Palestinian MP’s
20 Prisoners have spent 20 years in prison
25 have spent more than 25 years in prison
700 Palestinian prisoners are in need or urgent medical attention or treatment as Israel does not provide sufficient medical care for detainees.
64 Female prisoners including minors.
Palestinians hold placards of Palestinian prisoners at Ibn Rushd Square
A Palestinian who spoke at the demonstration said: ” The battle for the freedom of Palestinian detainees is not just a battle with the Israeli occupation only, but it is also a struggle against the imperialist powers including the united states of America who are currently pressurizing the Palestinian authority to cut funds for the Palestinian prisoners and their families”.
02/04/2018, International Solidarity Movement, Al Khalil/Hebron
Today Israeli forces sealed off parts of three streets in Palestinian controlled H1 near Bab Azawiyeh ordering more than fifty Palestinian shops to close for ‘security reasons’. Israeli forces also closed the Al Ibrahimi Mosque and the checkpoint adjacent to it for two whole days.
Pictured: Israeli forces seal off road with spike strips and armed presence.
The incursion into Palestinian controlled H1 started at around 11am with Israeli soldiers entering the area, ordering shops to close and preventing vehicle access to the marketplace. Around 30 minutes later Israeli Border Police in armored vehicles with teargas canons on top blocked the three main streets leading to the market. In front of the vehicles, the Israeli soldiers laid spike strips to further restrict vehicle access, and they took up positions in front. Only residents of Tel Rumeida were allowed to pass. In past years, Israeli forces blocked access to less of this commercial zone, but this year they encroached further into the Palestinian city. Snipers were positioned on the surrounding roof tops.
Pictured: Israeli forces order over 50 Palestinian stores and market holders to close.
The Israeli military blocked off this H1 area under Palestinian control so Jewish settlers could visit a tomb shrine during the holiday of Passover.
During the afternoon, the Israeli soldiers took several Palestinian adults and minors from the street for not having their ID’s with them or simply for watching and daring to get too close to the Israeli forces. Some were taken through Checkpoint 56 presumably under arrest.
Early evening around five thirty PM, Israeli forces began to withdraw from H1 area back into H2 area under ‘Israeli control’ through checkpoint 56. Small scale clashes between armed Israeli forces and unarmed Palestinian youth. The clashes began as Israeli forces were still present on roof tops. Palestinian youth began throwing stones and Israeli forces threw stun grenades and fired rubber coated steel bullets at the youth, this went on until six thirty PM. Two Palestinian youth were shot with rubber coated steel bullets one in the left leg and another in the lower spine but they did not require immediate medical treatment on the scene.
The day was a complete disruption of Palestinian businesses and freedom of movement. “Normal” life is extremely difficult for Palestinians without additional disruptions. More than twenty permanent checkpoints block movement in the city along with the countless other restrictions that Palestinians face.
Pictured: A map from OCHA showing Al Khalil, Hebron restricted access and closures to Palestinians only.
03/04/2018
Illegal Israeli settlers flood the Palestinian souq (Market)
The Israeli military occupation forces started their heightened ‘security’ measures in the Old City souq at around 9am as Palestinian shopkeepers were opening their stores. Armed Israeli Border Police and soldiers in full battle dress patrolled through the souq.
Internationals heard that the illegal Israeli settlers will enter the souq at around 1pm and the day wouldn’t finish until 5pm for a pro-longed settler tour for the Jewish holiday of Passover. At noon, with a drone circling overhead, Israeli forces massed at Bab Al Baladia, a gate in the courtyard that the illegal settlers and Israeli soldiers use to enter the Old City.
Pictured: Bab Albaladia gate where settlers, Israeli forces enter from illegal settlement into Souq.
Israeli forces lined the rooftops and all the way down the souq. Israeli military vehicles blocked off the entrance from Bab Al Baladia to prevent access to Palestinian vehicles. The sheer amount of armed forces was frightening, especially for Palestinian children who live and play in the souq streets.
Pictured: Palestinian children trying to play in the Souq with armed Israeli soldiers present everywhere.
An Israeli news channel was present interviewing the Israeli commander as the prolonged settler tour commenced. Every twenty minutes large groups of illegal Israeli settlers came out of the gates of Bab Al Baladia and walked through the souq with tour guides and surrounded by Israeli soldiers. They exited at the Mosque checkpoint that was closed to Palestinians and tourists. Some Palestinians closed their shops due to fear of attacks by settlers whilst others were ordered to close.
Pictured: Israeli forces line Palestinian Souq for pro-longed settler tour – some Palestinian shops closed.
Loud music was heard being played in the vicinity of the Ibrahimi mosque that was closed for Palestinian Muslims for two whole days. Internationals spoke with a Palestinian who works at the Mosque, and he told us that when Palestinians are allowed back in to clean up the settlers always leave it in a mess as they leave rubbish everywhere and don’t take their shoes off.
Another day of disruption for Palestinians during the Jewish holiday of Passover.
Saturday 31 March 2018, International Solidarity Movement al-Khalil/Hebron, Occupied West Bank, Palestine.
Palestinian youth protested the killings in Gaza at Checkpoint 56. The Israeli soldiers fired teargas, stun grenades and live ammunition. Beginning at 8AM Palestinian youth took to the streets of al-Khalil/Hebron to protest the killings and injuries inflicted by the Israeli military on the non-violent demonstrators in Gaza during the Great Return March. They protested outside Checkpoint 56. The Israeli soldiers took to the rooftops overlooking the area and threw more than fifty stun grenades and more than thirty teargas canisters at the youth during the day.
Toward the end of the afternoon a contingent of soldiers, as always in full battle dress: helmets, bulletproof vests, automatic rifles and ammunition, attempted to cut off the youth at the rear. Failing that, the soldiers illegally went far up in H1, the Palestinian controlled part of town. There they fired stun grenades, teargas and live ammunition in the heavily traveled commercial area of town before returning to their base having accomplished nothing. The confrontation between the protesting youth and the Israeli soldiers continued with more stun grenades and teargas.
Later in the evening, the youth were warned that the soldiers were once again attempting to cut them off in the rear. When the soldiers arrived on the scene, the youth had scattered. The returning soldiers stopped and roughly searched a youth in the nearby market letting him go when it became apparent that he was an innocent bystander. Retreating further, the soldiers grabbed, searched and showed two additional youth who were sat calmly on stairs to the watching rooftop soldiers, they claimed to identify the older of the two. The soldiers released the younger of the two boys. Four soldiers then violently wrestled the nineteen-year-old boy to the ground, handcuffed him behind his back and two soldiers hauled him off and through Checkpoint 56 surrounded by the rest of the Israeli soldiers. International Solidarity Movement volunteers who had been on the scene during the day testified that this boy had not been part of the demonstration but was an innocent bystander grabbed by the frustrated soldiers.
The actions of the soldiers throughout the day with the use of lots of stun grenades, teargas and even live ammunition is an example of the continuing use of excessive force by Israeli occupation forces.
Friday, 23rd March, 2018 Occupied Palestine, al Khalil (Hebron team)
Clashes between Palestinian youth and occupation forces continued from around midday until dusk in al Khalil on Friday. Throughout the afternoon, Israel forces threw stun grenades and fired tear gas to supress Palestinian youth.
Before midday Israeli soldiers with their automatic weapons and tear gas launchers positioned themselves on the rooftops of Palestinian houses near check point 56 which controls foot traffic between Shuhada St in the Israeli controlled H2 area and the Palestinian suburb of Bab al Zawiyeh.
The “shebab” (Palestinian youth) soon began to express their resistance to the occupation by throwing stones at the soldiers on the roof. The soldiers responded with sound bombs when the shebab were close enough and increasingly through the afternoon with tear gas. The day was still with little wind and the tear gas hung in the air with no wind to disperse it.
Towards evening soldiers repeatedly entered the streets from checkpoint 56 and fired large amounts of tear gas and threw some stun grenades. Around 40 tear gas canisters were fired and the gas could be smelt for hours afterwards. The suburb has families with children living in apartments who are exposed toxic gas.
Frequent exposure to tear gas can cause various physical effects including losses of consciousness, miscarriages, trouble breathing, asthma, coughing, dizziness, rashes, severe pain, allergic dermatitis, headaches, neurological irritability and even blunt trauma from being hit by tear gas canisters as well as psychological trauma.
See also the ISM you tube video of tear gas on the day:
18th March 2018 | International Solidarity Movement, al Khalil team | Occupied Palestine
Two years ago Dima al-Wawi woke up for school feeling sick. Her throat hurt and her lymph nodes were swollen. Her parents were already out of the house, on their land that is split in two by the illegal settlement Karmi Zur in Halhul outside of al Khalil / Hebron.
Dima al-Wawi, present day, in her room in Halhul
Dima’s parents have faced many problems with settlers from this illegal settlement who tried ceaselessly to prevent them from entering their land through the main checkpoint. They took their case to Israeli court and miraculously won access through the checkpoint to both sides of their land sandwiched between the illegal settlement on the East and West side of the Al Wawi’s land. The family remained cautious due to settler harassment and thought that only the adults of the family should enter through the checkpoint as violence is always inevitable.
Dima, 12-years-old at the time, didn’t think so cautiously that morning innocently wanting her mother to take her to the doctor. This day would be the first time she attempted going through the checkpoint onto her own family’s land.
Immediately Israeli soldiers and border police accosted her, blindfolding and handcuffing her behind the back (an action deemed illegal under international law). At 8 a.m., the soldiers shoved her to the ground and commenced beating her and kicked her in the back. Dima was then taken to the police station in Kiryat Arba, another illegal settlement in al Khalil/Hebron.
12-year-old Dima on the day of her arrest
Scared, confused and traumatized, Dima remained calm thinking she would be released that evening since she had done nothing criminal. Through several hours of questioning, her interrogators never asked her if she would like to phone a lawyer. Since the subject of a lawyer never came up, she didn’t know to ask for one unaware of her rights. In the end, she was given a four-month sentence and carted off to notorious Hasharone Prison in between Haifa & Tel Aviv on the charges of carrying a knife. It is worth noting that this act is also illegal under international law to transfer an occupied person from the West Bank into Israel.
Dima with her sisters and mother in their home in Halhul
The al-Wawi family is cheerful and welcoming beyond belief. Meeting the whole clan two years later, one would not think such intense trauma existed within their home. Dima’s disappearance and arrest caused the family many sleepless nights. All of them applied for permits to visit her in prison and only her mother was granted access and only twice.
Dima with her parents on the day of her release 24 April, 2016
Two and a half months passed and Dima was released early with an 8000 NIS bail. Her memories of prison are brief, recalling her many mother figures, the cold iron cells and falling out of the top bunk bed once. She still wakes from nightmares of prison guards counting her endlessly. The media attention surrounding her case was vast, as the Israeli occupation forces falsely claimed Dima carried a knife to the checkpoint with violent intentions. The family resents this cover-up story as well as the amount of media attention, claiming it makes their family vulnerable to settler harassment in the future.
Dima’s personality is fiery, friendly and cunning. It seems she has room for one emotion at a time; she catches everyone’s attention in any given room. Now Dima is 14-years-old, a grounded young woman despite the knowledge that she could be sentenced to five years in prison if she has another incident with occupation forces.
The Karmei Tzur checkpoint is a constant source of violence against Palestinians, not only to 12-year-old girls but also to many teenage boys. Just last month, a 19-year-old was martyred there leaving his family in complete disarray. After leaving Dima’s, we visited the Zamara family just three weeks after their son entered the illegal settlement with a knife and was fatally shot and beaten as a result.
Hamza Yousef Zamara served two sentences in Israeli prisons before his fateful and early end. First in 2014, 16-years-old he spent one week in prison, released on a 3000 NIS bail. Second time, also 2014, this time for 14 months. 45 days of this sentence was spent in intensive torture, Hamza came out a different person, a changed man.
His weeping mother, dressed in black, described his personality after incarceration as withdrawn and psychologically damaged. Hamza’s health was in steady decline and he was severely underweight. His experience and trauma brought him to seek revenge against the Israeli occupation by way of bringing a knife to the checkpoint. According to Israeli sources, Hamza “very lightly wounded the guard in a stabbing attack in Karmie Tzur.” His attempt at violence was met with severe beating, stabbing and four shots fired fatally killing him.
It is custom in the Islamic religion to bury a body within 24 hours of death. However, Hamza’s body was held by Israel out of spite for 10 days in the freezer. When finally released, Israeli soldiers invaded the family’s home interrogating his family, detaining his father, Yousef Zamara, and deeming Hamza a terrorist directly to his family. Israeli forces also threatened the family “that they would pay for [Hamza’s] actions.”
Sadness cannot begin to describe the collective emotion of his family and friends. All dressed in mourning, Hamza’s photograph was quietly passed around and tightly clutched by his loved ones. His mother, Arwa Zamara, remembers identifying Hamza’s frozen body as “the most difficult moment.” Arwa and Yousef have two other sons imprisoned by Israel.
When asked how she has the strength to go on after losing her child, Arwa mentions the overwhelming support from her neighbors and community. Her daughter chimes in, “we are one body;” no one is alone in the brutality of the Israeli occupation.
Dima, a child, and Hamza, a young man, did not deserve the brutality and injustice they experienced by the Israeli legal system and occupation forces. The worst part is they are not alone, and their stories are not uncommon. All Palestinian civilians are tried in military court, even children, with a conviction rate of 99.7% while Israeli civilians are tried in civil court.
Palestine is home to countless administrative detainees, political prisoners and martyrs. Internationals and Palestinians wonder when this will stop. When will the international community take responsibility and halt their support of Israel’s unjust legal system and illegal occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
We wish the al-Wawi and Zamara families well in recovering from their trauma and hope their families have peace within their homes.
Palestinian Protestors march from the stadium to Ibn Rushd Square
Palestinians gather at Ibn Rushd Square to hear speeches in support of Palestinian Prisoners
Palestinians hold placards of Palestinian prisoners at Ibn Rushd Square
Family members of Palestinian Prisoners 
Pictured: Israeli forces seal off road with spike strips and armed presence.
Pictured: Israeli forces order over 50 Palestinian stores and market holders to close.
Pictured: Israeli border police detain Palestinian youth.
Pictured: A map from OCHA showing Al Khalil, Hebron restricted access and closures to Palestinians only.
Pictured: Bab Albaladia gate where settlers, Israeli forces enter from illegal settlement into Souq.
Pictured: Palestinian children trying to play in the Souq with armed Israeli soldiers present everywhere.
Pictured: Israeli forces line Palestinian Souq for pro-longed settler tour – some Palestinian shops closed.
Pictured: Israeli checkpoint closed – Ibrahimi mosque closed
