Weekly protests continue across Palestine

20 September 2010 | ISM Media

Palestinian youths open the gate in the apartheid fence in Bil`in
Palestinian youths open the gate in Bil`in. Photo credit: Hamde Abu Rahma

Bil`in

On Friday, 17 September 2010, the people of Bil’in were joined by Israelis and Internationals to protest against the theft of land and the imprisonment by Abdullah and Adeeb Abu Rahma, Ibrahim Burnat and other political prisoners from Bil’in. The demonstration went on for one and a half hours and was met with large amounts of tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets. After initially firing tear gas from the military base and road, soldiers came through the gate and chased the protesters back towards the village.

This week’s protest called for the release of prisoners, who have been kept in jail under administrative detention (which is to say, without trial) and also the ones who have been victims of false charges and unjust trials in Israeli military courts. People were carrying masks of Abdallah Abu Rahma, who has been held in Ofer Military Prison since November, and is now in the sentencing phase of his trial after being convicted for “incitement”. Other people were wearing masks showing the faces of Gandhi and Martin Luther King. This is to show that Palestinian political prisoners enduring long sentences in Israeli prisons are peaceful activists, who are leading the non-violent struggle against the illegal Israeli occupation.

The soldiers initially fired tear gas from inside a military base near the illegal apartheid wall. One tear gas canister hit an Israeli protester, Tali Shapiro, in her leg, causing pain and bruising. The protesters retreated from the fence due to the tear gas but returned – a process that repeated several times until the soldiers came through the gate. They continued shooting tear gas and also fired rubber-coated steel bullets – shooting one Palestinian youth in the back.

After one and a half hours the demonstration ended and the participants walked back to the village. Abdallah Abu Rahma’s many friends and family are now awaiting the outcome of his sentencing, hoping he will not join the hundreds of political prisoners held in jail many years for taking part in the non violent struggle against the brutal Israeli occupation.

Al-Ma`sara

On Friday, around fifty Palestinians accompanied by thirteen international and Israeli activists assembled in the West Bank village of Al-Ma`sara near Bethlehem. The weekly demonstration is against the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine and against the land theft by the nearby Gush Etzion settlement bloc, and this week there was also commemoration of the anniversary of the 1982 massacre in the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut, Lebanon.

Still within the village and far from the illegal settlement (which is built on Palestinian land anyway), the procession was stopped by the Israeli army. The soldiers showed a paper declaring the area a “closed military zone” and threatened to arrest anyone who had not left in sixty seconds. Immediately they began to throw sound grenades and tear gas canisters directly into the group of demonstrators. The group retreated some metres and then soon returned, repeating this five times. In each instance the soldiers threw many sound grenades and tear gas canisters.

Several Palestinian, Israeli and international activists spoke out at the demonstration for around twenty minutes, condemning the occupation and the apartheid regulations it entails for the Palestinians, before returning to the village.

An-Nabi Saleh

There were approximately 60 Palestinians and 20 international and Israeli activists at this week’s nonviolent protest, which began shortly after the noon prayer in the small village of An-Nabi Saleh. As usual, many children took part in the demonstration, and as usual it was they who bore the brunt of the Israeli military’s violence.

The protestors began by attempting to gain access to the spring which was stolen from the village by settlers from the illegal Halamish (Neve Zuf) settlement. This attempt was blocked by military jeeps and armed soldiers. Despite this difficulty, the demonstrators managed to enter on to the road leading to the spring, but many were prevented from continuing further.

The majority of the women and children then managed to move further down the road, and sat and chanted and sung when they were stopped by the soldiers once again. The rest of the group mirrored this action at the top of the road, and later the two groups united and sat in peaceful protest until they were forcefully removed from the road.

The demonstration then moved back up the hill into the village, at which point some of the children began to throw stones towards the blockade. The military responded by chasing the children up the hill and attempting to make arrests (although many of the children were under the age of 13, and therefore not legally adults in the eyes of the Israeli courts).

Some sound bombs and tear gas canisters were thrown at this point, but the soldiers did not shoot tear gas projectiles until much later on in the demonstration- perhaps due to the presence of media crew from the BBC.

Both soldiers and jeeps then made their way to the centre of the village, where children stood around the soldiers chanting and singing. The soldiers then forcefully entered a house from which they attempted to block access to those protesting, and seized one young female demonstrator who they accused of stone-throwing. She was, however, quickly released when they realised she holds both Palestinian and American citizenship.

The soldiers later chased a teenager (presumably suspected of stone throwing) through the village and attempted to arrest him. Many of the Palestinians and several internationals successfully de-arrested him, but he had already been badly beaten by this point and was taken to hospital after falling unconscious.

Several attempted arrests were made, and one international was violently seized by the soldiers shortly after this, and was detained at Halamish settlement’s military base. The international was kept in a dark room and had his hands tied behind his back at all times, even when bread was thrown on the floor for him to eat. He was given no explanation for this treatment and was released without charge after 6 hours.

The protest continued, whereupon soldiers began firing tear gas projectiles both in an arc (the legal method) and directly at individuals (which is illegal according to both international and Israeli law). Several of the children suffered cuts and heavy bruising as a consequence, and many adults and children suffered extreme tear gas inhalation, although none was severely wounded.

The demonstration stopped for almost an hour when the jeeps and soldiers left the village, but continued when they entered once again and continued to fire both directly at protestors and into the villagers’ gardens, at which point large amounts of tear gas entered numerous houses, including the houses of those who were not taking part in the protest.

The demonstration ended at approximately 6:30pm, when the soldiers finally left the village after continuing in this vein for several hours. By this point there were over 150 participants.

Since January 2010, peaceful protestors have spent their Fridays attempting to reach the spring, which was confiscated along with almost half of the village’s arable land. Despite confirmation from the District Coordination Office that the spring is on Palestinian land, the villagers continue to be prevented from accessing the area.

An Israeli marksman at the Bil`in demo.
An Israeli marksman at the Bil`in demo. Photo credit Hamde Abu Rahma

Ni`lin

On Friday over 100 Palestinians attended noon prayer in the olive groves outside the village of Ni’lin. After the prayer finished at around 12:15, over 70 Palestinians accompanied by ten international and Israeli activists and two journalists marched toward the wall that cuts through the village’s land. As well as being against the illegal apartheid wall, this demonstration was in part a protest against the American pastor Terry Jones who claimed he was going to burn the Qur’an on 11 September. Demonstrators held their copies of the Qur’an towards the sky as they marched and chanted.

Upon reaching the apartheid wall, stones were symbolically thrown at the huge concrete structure by the youths for twenty minutes, before tear gas and sounds bombs were then fired over the wall by the soldiers for about minutes five minutes before they opened the gate and began chasing demonstrators back towards the village, firing tear gas all the way. One man received medical assistance for an injury sustained running to avoid being hit by tear gas canisters.

For some hours most demonstrators and soldiers stood on opposite sides of a small valley. Some youths attempted to sneak back towards the wall while tear gas and sound bombs were fired by the soldiers. Five gunshots were heard and blank cartridges were found which indicate rubber-coated steel bullet use, though no-one was hit. Another group of soldiers came towards the olive groves where the demonstration started, and fired dangerous low-flying tear gas close to the heads of Palestinians and international activists, forbidden even by the army’s own regulations.

Young children symbolically threw stones in the direction of the soldiers who responded with low-flying tear gas until they retreated. The demonstrators ended the demonstration at 3:15 PM. No arrests were made and injuries consisted of two sprained ankles endured running from the potentially lethal tear gas canisters.

Beit Ummar

Around 60 Palestinians were supported by about 15 international activists in the village of Beit Ummar on Saturday in a demonstration against the illegal annexation of land by the neighboring settlement of Karmei Sur. The demonstration took place on the road leading to the fence that surrounds the settlement. Protesters made their way towards the gate in the fence, but were stopped by a group of soldiers who blocked the road, firing and throwing both tear gas and sound grenades.

Three Palestinian demonstrators were detained, including one journalist, along with two internationals. At one point during the protest, soldiers brought the detained journalist back out through the gate and offered to let him go if all of the media would leave the village with him. All parties refused and he was taken back into custody.

One international activist was hit in the back with a tear gas canister as soldiers fired them directly at the group of civilians. Additionally, a Palestinian boy was injured in the same way when soldiers drove an army vehicle through one of the gates onto the village’s farmland, and proceeded to chase the demonstrators through the fields, continuing to fire tear gas at body level. One other international temporarily lost hearing in one ear when a soldier shot a sound grenade directly next to her head, and many suffered from inhaling large quantities of gas.

The demonstration continued for around an hour and a half before protesters were chased back into the village amidst a barrage of tear gas.

The detained international is still being held by Israeli forces 48 hours after his arrest.

Hebron

On Saturday, after stopping for several weeks due to the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, the regular Saturday protests against the illegal settlements in Hebron and the closure of Shuhada Street started again.

Palestinians and internationals gathered in Al Zajed in the centre of Hebron at 3 p.m. and made their way to the gate that closes off Shuhada Street by the Beit Romano settlement at the entrance to the old city, but from the very beginning soldiers and police blocked their passage.

The demonstrators chanted against the occupation and the settlements, and many were carrying posters illustrating the crippling difficulties the Hebron residents suffer under Israeli occupation. This week they were also commemorating the anniversary of the massacres in Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon in 1982. After nearly an hour the protestors turned their backs on the soldiers and slowly made their way back through the old city, coming to another entrance to Shuhada Street, where once again the Israeli army had closed the way. After twenty minutes of singing and chanting the protestors moved back to the starting point of the demonstration.

Palestinian youth dodge tear gas in Bil`in.
Palestinian youth dodge tear gas in Bil`in. Photo credit: Hamde Abu Rahma

Israeli soldiers raid Palestinian house in Hebron; one man arrested

15 September 2010 | ISM Media

At 21.00 on 12 September 2010, the final day of the Islamic festival of `Eid al-Fitr, eight Israeli army jeeps and armoured personnel carriers (APCs) were observed leaving the Israeli-only apartheid roads in Hebron and crossing into the Palestinian Authority-controlled “H1” region. Five international activists followed the vehicles to their destination, a house in the Tel Rumeida area. Around twenty soldiers stayed close to the jeeps, while around ten others entered the targeted house. Other soldiers closed off the area, not letting cars pass. The internationals were already in the area close to the house so they were able to document what was happening, although they were physically prevented from approaching the raided home.

About ten minutes after the jeeps parked in the neighborhood, one Palestinian man was taken from his home, blindfolded and handcuffed, and loaded into an APC. When asked why he was detained, the response from the soldiers was that he is a “security threat”. The soldiers remained around the house for some time, going in and out, and two other family members were taken outside. One of them was blindfolded and body-searched, but was later let back into the house. The international activists persisted in trying to get closer to the house to discourage human rights abuses, but were aggressively pushed back and thrown to the floor by the soldiers. The army stayed at the location for about an hour.

When the convoy left, the internationals went to speak with the family. They learned that the arrested person is named Dirar Abu Monshor, aged 32. Abu Monshor has two little children, who were terrified by the sight of their father being taken away by the soldiers. This has happened before, as he has been imprisoned by Israel twice, for periods of 6 months and 1 year. He was denied the right to see his family or children; his family fears that this will happen once more, for an unknown period of time. On the previous occasions, the reason given for Abu Monshor’s arrest was his former political activities and affiliations.

Abu Monshor joins over 7,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, including at least 200 in ‘administrative detention’ – held without trial sometimes for several years.

Iftar with the army: a Hebron story

11 September 2010 | ISM Media

At about 17.00 on the 9th September 2010, right before Atta Jaber and his family were about to sit down to break the fast on the last day of Ramadan, eight soldiers appeared on the doorstep.

One of them said that they wanted to come into the house, in the Baqa’a Valley, east of Hebron, to “have a look”. Atta Jaber opened the door, and did not ask for further explanation, as over the years he has become accustomed to soldiers turning up in this way. His four kids, aged 10 to 17 have all grown up with daily harassment by soldiers and settlers. Still, they seemed anxious and stressed as eight armed soldiers made their way through the hallway and into the living room, most armed with M-16s, one with a machine gun. A couple of soldiers asked for Atta’s son’s name, and shook the 13 year old boy’s hand, before searching the house. The boy replied to the greetings politely.

The soldiers walked through the house, looked around all the rooms, opening closets. One soldier remarked, while looking out from the window over to the neighbor’s house – which has been occupied by the army for one week – that they just want to see what the Jaber family can see from their house. He then told the international that was asking him questions about their presence that the soldiers wanted to maintain the army base for an unknown amount of time, since the junction leading to Harsina settlement is a vulnerable place for the settlers. He said that they aim to protect the settlers from further attacks. The family then had to hand over their IDs, and the soldiers wrote down their information.

The Jaber family gathered in the living room to break the fast with the post-sunset meal known as Iftar. After fasting the whole day, they had to eat and drink in the presence of the army. It was a quiet meal. Normally the family would talk, laugh and share stories while eating, but this time everybody was looking down at the table, eating slowly. Some family members didn’t eat at all. While some of the soldiers were walking around the house, locking themselves into the rooms and taking notes, one soldier was standing next to the table, staring at the family with his machinegun in his arms. As one of the internationals looked back at him, the soldier told her to “back off!” in an aggressive manner. The same soldier also ordered Jaber and two of his children, who were sitting close to the window, to move closer to where he himself was standing. The family was not allowed to move freely around their own home, and they were not even told why the soldiers were there.  The soldiers walked around the house, with their fingers resting on their gun triggers, speaking in Hebrew and laughing to each other.

After going through all the rooms in the house several times, writing down ID-information for the family members and the two internationals, one soldier gave Atta Jaber a piece of paper with English and Hebrew writing on it. He then read out loud that Jaber will have to meet with the Israeli intelligence, Shebak, on Thursday next week. The reason given was that his daughter had been filming the Israeli soldiers when they were taking over parts of their neighbor’s house on September 4th. The camera in question belongs to the human rights group B’tselem, and is lent to the Jaber family so that they can document human rights violations committed by soldiers and settlers – and there is never a shortage of incidents to document. Now Jaber has been summoned for interrogation because his family has tried to document the illegal activities of the Israeli army. It’s important to note that the Harsina settlement is illegal, and that this is what the army wants to protect by converting the neighbouring Palestinian house into a military base. The soldiers left the Jabers’ house after nearly two hours.

Atta Jabr and his family have lived in the area for more than three generations. Their house has been demolished twice. They have been attacked and harassed numerous times in the past, by both settlers and soldiers. Just over a week ago the family were trapped in their house when over 100 settlers started constructing a new outpost and soldiers took over the roof of the family’s house for several hours. Just two weeks before that Atta and his pre-teen daughter were attacked by six settlers.

A ghost town beckons? Old City in Hebron under threat

10 September 2010 | ISM Media

During the month of Ramadan the Israeli army used various tactics to repress protest and intimidate the population of the Old City in Hebron, which illegal Israeli settlers are seeking to ethnically cleanse

When, on August 10th 2010, the Israeli Army invaded the Old City in Hebron and closed off three Palestinian owned shops located in Bab al-Balladyeh opposite the gate leading to Shuhada Street, the situation in Hebron took a turn for the worse. The shopkeepers received warning a few hours before and were told to empty their shops because they were going to be closed. The action itself involved of a high level of violence and the arrest of five people, four Palestinians and one English citizen, who tried to prevent the army from closing the shops.

The few surviving shops in the Old City receive few customers due to restrictions placed on movement by the Israeli authorities

After this incident the Israeli Army told the Palestinian Authorities that if the weekly demonstrations do not stop, all the shops in the Old City will be closed. This clearly is part of a strategy to split the shopkeepers from the demonstration by aiming to spread fear among the shopkeepers so that the weekly demonstrations – that have been going on since April 2010 – will be forced to end.

Over the last months Hebron has seen an increased level of army violence in response to the non-violent protests, which are calling for the opening of Shuhada Street. The process of closing off Shuhada Street for Palestinians started in 1994 after Baruch Goldstein massacred 29 Muslim worshippers. The street is used by Israel to connect the illegal settlement of Kyriat Arba to other illegal settlements inside Hebron. The street that used to be a bustling area of shops and markets now consists of sealed-up shops and army checkpoints preventing Palestinians from entering. The entire Old City is now threatened with the same fate.

The demonstrations are used as an excuse, rather than a reason, for closing off another part of Hebron so it can be given to Israeli settlers. It is important to note that every Saturday evening Israeli settler tourists are escorted in to the Old City, guarded by heavily armed soldiers, and participate in a Zionist walking tour which makes claims about the Old City’s Jewish character and exhorts Jews to ‘reoccupy’.

A shopkeeper who was forced out of the Old City

The shops that were closed on August 10th were used by a salesman that used to be a street vendor before the PA conducted a campaign against salesmen on the street. At that time he was offered to use these shops in the Old City, and has been there for one and a half years. When the Israeli police turned up to close the shops, they referred to a closing order eighteen months ago, but no one has actually seen this document. It is also suspected that this closing is happening at a time when the army is desperate to end the non-violent demonstrations in Hebron; it is obvious that this is part of a collective punishment and an attempt to suppress freedom of speech.

In addition to the threat of closing shops in the Old City, the army is attempting to shut down the non-violent resistance in Hebron by means of financial pressure. Every time a Palestinian is arrested, either in the demonstration or in other non-violent actions against the occupation, they risk spending weeks and months in prison unless a bail is paid. The bail money varies from 1500 to 5000 NIS, and needless to say, this causes serious financial problems for the families involved.

The army has also taken severe actions against international activists who have been taking part in the demonstrations. Violent repression of peaceful protests has worsened in recent weeks – for example the unprovoked brutality of the Israeli army at the mid-August protest documented in the video below.

Arbitrary arrests of international activists have been followed by legal persecution. Court cases based on fabricated charges without any evidence whatsoever presented to the judge, except a soldier’s false accusation, have led to dire consequences for innocent peace activists including bans, big fines and even deportation.

Israel claims that the demonstrations in the Old City are illegal, citing the so-called Military Order 101 from 1967, which essentially puts activists at risk of being jailed for up to 9 years for arranging demonstrations and opposing Israel’s occupation. The justification given is, as always, “security reasons”.

Entrance to the Old City: sealed up shops visibe in the background

It is therefore legitimate to ask who is really living under threat in Hebron, and who has been responsible for violent actions in the years past? The demonstration and actions taken by the Palestinians are overwhelmingly nonviolent, while the army responds with brutal violence. Settlers attack Palestinians on a frequent basis, and the Israeli army does nothing to protect them.  However the fact that Palestinians are daily terrorized by both soldiers and settlers is rarely reported in mainstream media, whereas the rare instances of Palestinian violence are grossly over-reported in comparison.

The weekly demonstrations during Ramadan have aimed at supporting the shopkeepers. They focused on working against Israeli army propaganda which tries to suggest to people that it is the demonstrations that are harming the shopkeepers – rather than the occupation itself.

Hebron: soldiers convert Palestinian home into military base

Israeli soldiers have erected tents on the roof of the Salayma family's home and are occupying the building

6 September 2010 | ISM Media

Al Baqa’a, HEBRON

On Friday the Israeli army raided a Palestinian house in Hebron and converted it into a military base, forcing a family of 14 to move into the first floor of their home.

The following day the soldiers took over the roof as well. Yesterday an ISM activist visited the Salayma family in Al Baqa’a, east of Hebron, and spoke to Salem Salayma about the situation.

He said that now the roof has been taken over, soldiers have been on and off the roof constantly. Yesterday morning, at about 8am, six soldiers carried out some kind of exercise around our house, running up the hill, sitting in shooting positions and moving up and down the road. He added that sometimes the army move around in the area, walking or driving, and all the families in the area are very scared. When they see soldiers, they close the house, and stay inside because they fear the soldiers themselves – as well as the settlers who have been moving around the area regularly since the shooting of four settlers last week, and have carried out several attacks on Palestinians.

Salayma, who is in his forties, lives with his family who in total number 14, including 4 children. At present 5 family members are living on the second floor of the occupied house, and 9 are on the first floor. Now, the family has been ordered to vacate the upper floor by next Sunday, so the soldiers can expand their military base. The only reason given for the takeover of the Salayma home has been “security reasons” and no alternative provisions have been made for the family. Since their arrival soldiers have been using the house’s bathroom, water and electricity, without asking.

United Nations personnel logged a report from the family yesterday and Salayma says he wants to hire a lawyer to prevent the military from taking over his house. However, any court case would not happen for at least two weeks and by that time the military occupation of the house will likely be complete.

Salaymi, has not been out of the house since the soldiers came, because he fears for his family. He is also deeply worried however because this means he is losing the income he needs to support his family since he has not been able to go to work. He has also been unable to attend prayers.