Tag: Hebron

Israeli forces harass Palestinians at Tel Rumeida checkpoint

12 August 2009

At around 16.00pm, a call was received regarding a flying checkpoint south of the Tel Rumeida area of Hebron, in the Palestinian controlled area of H1. On arrive, it was apparent that a military operation of stopping cars with male passengers and searching their vehicles, whilst checking identification was in implementation. One group of brothers driving a white van were required to wait more than an hour, without any explanation of their restricted movement. I then had the following dialogue with an Israeli soldier:

Me: Why have these men been waiting for an hour?
Soldier: It’s non of your business
Me: But isn’t it the business of these men?
Soldier: Why are you here? I’m following orders and you are preventing me doing my job.

Eventually the men were released, however the checks became more frequent until traffic on the street had come to a halt. I asked a different soldier what they were doing in the area and he replied, “We are searching for terrorists.”

Around 17.30pm, a soldier was in the process of a vehicle search, when a young boy, approximately 7-10 years old walked to towards the soldier but maintained a 2 meter distance from the soldier and remained quiet. The soldier turned, raised his weapon (however did not point it directly at the child) and the child retreated looking disturbed. The soldier then aggressively charged towards the child who ran to two Palestinian men who protected him from the soldier. The soldier gave up on the child and returned to the ID checks.

Once the checks had finished on the street, the soldiers marched back down to their Tel Rumeida post. However they took two men with them. One of the men told us that he had been held for 2 hours. He had forgotten his ID, had it retrieved by his family however he described that the soldiers had kept him for longer as “punishment” for not having the ID.

Close to the Tel Rumeida base, the soldiers made the men wait as they had refreshments from a van in the presence of Baruch Marzel, the kahane supporter and former leader of (terrorist labelled) right wing extremest group Kach. Other settlers started to take pictures of the detained men and ourselves, while a Sin bet guard patrolled in front of the soldiers and settlers.

After the refreshments had ended, the soldiers escorted the men to the army base, where they released them from the back entrance.

Backed by their army, settlers bid for expansion in three locations

Ma’an News

8 August 2009

Israeli settlers launched a series of actions on Friday in a bid to take over more West Bank land from Palestinians.

In the city of Hebron settlers began planting Palestinian-owned land under military guard in an apparent takeover attempt. Settlers from the illegal Israeli colony of Kiryat Arba moved on to land belonging to Muhammad Mustafa Jaber, in the Al-Beqa’a area, outside of Hebron.

Jaber told Ma’an Israeli soldiers blocked his family from reaching the land. A similar incident took place last week when soldiers cordoned off his land to make way for the settlers’ activities.

In a separate incident dozens of Israeli military vehicles closed the village of Kfil Haris, north of the West Bank town of Salfit, Thursday as they escorted a group of settlers through the area, locals reported.

Shop owners were ordered to close, families out for evening strolls were told to return to their homes and all car traffic in the village was ground to a halt and drivers stranded at the village entrance as troops spread across the area.

Kfil Haris resident Karam Abu Hammad said troops ordered him to leave his car at the entrance of the city and proceed on backloads on foot. On his way home he was ordered off the streets by half a dozen other soldiers.

Israeli troops erected checkpoints throughout the village to ensure locals stayed indoors as a herd of settlers entered the area on busses to visit an area that villagers recognize as a holy shrine to the Prophet Zel Kefl, an ancient local religious figure. The area is surrounded by a village graveyard.

In years past settlers defaced the shrine and nearby tombs with anti-Arab slogans and spray paint, but Thursday night made a pilgrimage to worship at the area.

Meanwhile, in the town of Beit Sahour, outside of Bethlehem, Ma’an reporters observed settler activists converging on an abandoned Israeli military base they are seeking to transform into a settlement. Settler groups have been holding weekly events at the hilltop base, including religious services, lectures, and martial arts trainings, all under heavy military guard.

Israeli settlers arson Palestinian land in al-Bueri

2 August 2009

Settlers occupying an illegal outpost near al-Bueri in Hebron District set alight four fields of grape-vines belonging to local Palestinian families just weeks before the grape harvest season is due to begin.

On Saturday residents raised the alarm as the blaze began to spread shortly after midday on land owned by the Zateri and Jaaber families. Separate fires had been set in fields and stone out-building within one hundred meters of the settler outpost. The 77 year-old head of the family which is closest to the outpost, which was established six-months ago is illegal even under Israeli occupation law, explained that the family have farmed the land for at least 150 years. The family are subjected to frequent setter attacks and have received death threats from settler youths.

When ISM volunteers arrived at the scene they found large swaths of scorched earth and blackened vine-terraces. ISMers used shovels and handfuls of earth to extinguish the last of the flames but the damage was extensive.

Where a combination of the road and wind direction meant that the flames had not caught in some vines, bunches of grapes had been ripped from branches and left to rot on the ground.

Israeli settlers arson Palestinian land in al-Bueri

2 August 2009

Settlers occupying an illegal outpost near al-Bueri in Hebron District set alight four fields of grape-vines belonging to local Palestinian families just weeks before the grape harvest season is due to begin.

On Saturday residents raised the alarm as the blaze began to spread shortly after midday on land owned by the Zateri and Jaaber families. Separate fires had been set in fields and stone out-building within one hundred meters of the settler outpost. The 77 year-old head of the family which is closest to the outpost, which was established six-months ago is illegal even under Israeli occupation law, explained that the family have farmed the land for at least 150 years. The family are subjected to frequent setter attacks and have received death threats from settler youths.

When ISM volunteers arrived at the scene they found large swaths of scorched earth and blackened vine-terraces. ISMers used shovels and handfuls of earth to extinguish the last of the flames but the damage was extensive.

Where a combination of the road and wind direction meant that the flames had not caught in some vines, bunches of grapes had been ripped from branches and left to rot on the ground.

Hebron settler stabs Palestinian

2 August 2009

Hebron is a divided city. Around 500 hundred Israeli settlers illegally occupy buildings in the city centre and to accommodate them the lives of over 180,000 Palestinians have been thrown into disorder.Palestinians’ movement through their own city is severely restricted: thousands of Israeli soldiers man checkpoints along a line of segregation that cuts through the city; in order to pass Palestinians must present their ID cards and can be detained arbitrarily. Some roads and sidewalks are segregated – Palestinians have to walk on small divided sections. Local residents are forbidden from driving on many streets and what was until recently a bustling main market street is now forbidden to them. Step-by-step, house-by-house the settlers plan to take over all of Hebron and expel the local Arab population.

Settlers in Hebron are part of the most extreme Israeli right-wing movement. The leader of the Jewish National Front, Baruch Marzel, lives with his family and many supporters in the heart of the city. Still the residents, traders and shopkeepers at the core of the ancient Old City resist the encroaching settlers. It is not easy. Each Saturday afternoon one of several military barriers separating the Old City from the illegal settlements swings open – no one knows which barrier will be opened from one week to the next – and an Israeli Army patrol sweeps in. Many shops close, streets are blocked off, residents cannot access their homes and normal life comes to a halt. The soldiers are there to escort groups of Israeli settlers who come to see buildings that they claim should only be occupied by Jews.

On Saturday 1 August settlers climbed over a roof onto the home of the Palestinian Al-E’wewi family in full view of Israeli soldiers and pushed a large metal water-tanker to the ground several floors below. During the hot summer in this dry region water is scarce and the Al-E’wewi’s are so poor they will struggle to replace the tank which has been vandalised by settlers many times before.

Settler boys took up positions on roof-tops which are designated as closed military zones under Israeli law and intimidated passers-by while Israeli soldiers looked on and happily chatted to them. Later in the afternoon settlers attempted to assert their dominance over the local population. Young setter men decided to break away from the main group moving through the Old City. As they swaggered down the narrow streets of the Old City Israeli soldiers began to call them back. The settlers’ views are so extreme that despite all the restrictions the Israeli Army imposes on local people, soldiers are viewed by settlers as being too soft. Angry at not being able to run riot a settler attacked an Israeli soldier, punching and kicking him.

However, rather than arresting the violent settler the soldiers told him to calm down and let him continue away from the main group. Settler leaders shouted at the soldiers that they should not interfere with the young man. Quickly a group of young seller men rallied round their friend and made their way through the streets. They attacked a Palestinian’s car, breaking-off a wing mirror. As they passed local shops they cursed and screamed at shopkeepers who had dared to stay open.

International Solidarity Movement and Christian Peacemaker Team volunteers worked together to witness document and record the actions of soldiers and settlers and saw their behaviour first hand.The Israeli soldiers had lost control and decided to escort the settlers from the Old City. Angry at being unable to assert themselves in their usual manner the settlers decided to lash out.

An innocent Palestinian man, Nizam Azazmeh (32), who was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, was attacked by ten settlers. Using a blade, they slashed his forehead, arms and stabbed him in his chest. Israeli soldiers standing nearby refused to intervene to help the victim and he saved himself only by grabbing a police shield and defending himself.

Mr. Azazmeh filed a complaint to the Israeli police but, despite having security cameras covering the area of the attack, the police have yet to arrest any settlers.The man survived and has submitted a complaint to the Israeli police.In the meantime the residents of Hebron hold their breath, waiting for the next time settlers lash out.