Tag: Hebron

Normal Oppression

By Jane

Tel Rumeida- Today, 28th March 2006, at the Tel Rumeida check point, an Israeli soldier lashed out injuring a Palestinian man by kicking him and hitting him with his rifle.

Everyone is saying that it is tense here in Tel Rumeida. As today is the Israeli election the settlers are not at work and the children not in school. In Tel Rumeida this translates into a high possibility of settlers on the streets, encouraging their children to throw stones at the Palestinian children going to and from school.

Things were quiet and calm at the check point through the morning. I said hello to the 2 soldiers on the check point to establish some contact and they were polite and pleasant. They were allowing Palestinians to pass the check point with relatively little hassle. The children came out of school through the check point, or up the hill to their homes. At about 12.30 pm the teachers approached the checkpoint. They have established with the soldiers previously that they will not pass through the check point portacabin with the doors remotely controlled a soldier behind a glass screen. They use a small metal gate at the side.

Three young Palestinian men were being kept waiting, leaning against the wall by the gate, on the other side of the check point. One was Abu Shakhdam. After the teachers had passed by, the gate was not completely shut.

One of the soldiers said something to the 3 Palestinians waiting the other side. Abu Shakhdam
responded. The soldier shouted, Abu Shakhdam banged his hand on the gate. In a flash the soldier erupted. He rushed up to Abu Shakhdam shouting, pushing his gun a hairs breath from Abu Shakhdam’s face. Abu Shakhdam backed off, running back into the street, his side of the
check point. The soldier yelled, following and threatening him by aiming his gun. The soldier made him kneel down in the middle of the street. The 2nd soldier ran up, forcefully kicking Abu Shakhdam before swung his rifle and hit him on the side of his head. Meanwhile I’m
shouting ” I’m filmimg you, stop hitting him”. One soldier shouted “shut the fuck up”. The soldiers bring Abu Shakhdam through the gate, he has blood flowing down the side of his head.

Abu Shakhdam was taken away in an army vehical. At the Police station he was accussed of attacking the soldiers. Hageet, from Machsom Watch, made a complaint about the soldier’s behaviour. She informed the Police that we have on film the soldier attacking Abu Shakhdam but
still they refuse to release him.

A soldier attacking a person is just a part of a “normal” days events here. A call came shortly after to say that settler’s children were throwing stones at Palestinian kids. Children under 14 year of age are not arrested or dealt with by the Israeli criminal justice system, as an adult would be. It is an incredibly sad sight to see little Israeli children, as young as four or five, throwing stones at little Palestinian kids, while their communities adults stand behind them.

Border Police enter home And beat Palestinians and 75 year old Australian volunteer

By Jane

Baruch Marzel’s Mug shot

Living in the settlement building just up the road a few hundred yards from the violent episode described below is Baruch Marzel, extreme right winger, well known for his hatred of Arabs and support for transferring all Palestinians to Jordan. His wife and son are among the worst for attacking the Palestinian inhabitants of Tel Rumeida. He is standing as a candidate in Tuesday’s Israeli elections

On Sunday 26th March, 25 soldiers and Border Police entered a Palestinian home And beat two Palestinians and 75 year old international volunteer for no apparent reason.

My first evening in Al Khalil/Hebron. I have just poured myself a cup of tea and Mary is telling me about the situation here. There’s a commotion outside and we go to investigate. As we come down the stairwell a young boy says “soldiers, soldiers” and points into the apartment.

On entering the apartment of Radey Abu Aesheh I see first one soldier, gun raised and pointing at people, then I see another and another, 6 altogether. All with guns raised. The apartment seems full of women and men shouting, there are 5 or 6 children. Radey Abu Aesha had been hit in the mouth. Hasan Abu Aesheh tells Mary the soldiers kicked him.

Suddenly the soldiers decide to leave and back down the stairs. Perhaps there were too many people for them. Many people follow, shouting their greivances at the soldiers for entering their home and their violent behaviour. The soldiers are shouting back. The Captain of the soldiers says they went into the house because they heard shouting, nobody believes this.

More soldiers and Border Police arrive until they are very many. The Captain confers with his men. They decide they want to take Bilal Abu Aesheh. In the chaos I don’t know if the soldiers reentered the building. What I saw was 4 soldiers wrestle Bilal to the ground and handcuff him with plastic cuffs behind his back, using aggressive force, banging his head on the ground. After he was cuffed a soldier approached him and kicked him. The Police arrived and he was taken away. Besam persuaded everyone to go back into the building. We stood at the entrance. The soldiers decided they wanted Husan. Soldiers surrounded the doorway, they tossed me aside. Mary refused to let them enter saying “ these people are my family, you can’t come into my house”. They hesitated, they yelled at the Palestinians inside. Husan appeared on the stairwell. They grabbed Mary very roughly twice and threw her aside and grabbed Husan. They pushed him up against the outside wall of the building and rubbed his face across the stone. They hit him and threw him on the ground, they kicked him. They cuffed him behind his back. The women are screaming out of the windows. They take Husan behind one of their vehicles.

For me when I see a Palestinian being taken behind a vehicle I think he will get beaten so I stood nearby, the 2 soldiers guarding him demanding ‘get back, get back’. A large man in civilian clothes shone a bright video camera light in Husan°s eyes and filmed him. He stood right over him as Husan was crouched down on a low ledge. I turned my back for a second, on turning round Husan signaled with his eyes and motioned that the man had spat at him. An action I had half caught in the corner of my eye. Then I understood the man was a settler. The soldiers continued to let him stand over Husan and verbally abuse him. Soldier had lined up behind vehicles and trained their guns on the building. It seemed to take forever before the Police arrived again and Husan was put in the back of their vehicle. Mary said she wanted to go with Husan and the Police did not object, so she climbed in too.

In Radey Abu Aesheh’s home the wait began. The street had been closed but now people began to arrive. The older men clicked their prayer beads whilst they talked. Women made coffee, peeled oranges and apples. Yechye, a lawyer, regularly rang the Police. No news, no news and then bad news, Bilal and Husan were accused of attacking the soldiers. Radey Abu Aesheh says “Bush is claiming we are the terrorists and all the Euopean Governments go along with him and support him. But look how Palestinians are treated, you can see the reverse is true”. Rajab Abu Aesheh says “The settles want the Palestinians to leave the area but the people will not follow this plan, so they are harassing us to force us to leave, but we will not leave until we die and this will be transmitted from son to son”.

Suddenly the police tell Yechye good news, Mary, Bilal and Husan are all being released. It’s a fast walk up hill to get to a car. It’s parked outside the Israeli controlled area, where Palestinians are not allowed to drive. We skirt round Tel Rumeida in the car, to get back to almost where we had left the house and on to the Police station. At the gates of the Police station, Yechye has to stick his fingers though the metal gate to use a phone to communicate with the Police inside. At midnight, the 3 are released. Mary who mis seventy five years old has also been accused of attacking the soldiers. Husan is very sore and bruised, he has blood in one of his eyes.

Palestinians, U.S. citizen complain of Hebron settler violence

By Amos Harel and Michal Greenberg, Haaretz Correspondents for Haaretz

Several Palestinians and an American volunteer in the West Bank on Sunday filed complaints with the police, accusing settlers of violence toward Palestinians in the Hebron area on Saturday, after three people were wounded in two separate incidents.

In one of the incidents, Palestinians said about 10 masked, Hebrew-speaking youths had raided a tent encampment near the settlement of Sussia, on the border of the Havat Yair outpost on
Saturday night. They allegedly attacked two Palestinian brothers with clubs and knives and then escaped. The brothers, Abdelrahman and Aziz Shanaran, were lightly to moderately wounded and were taken to Alia Hospital in Hebron for treatment.

Another Shanaran relative, who said he had witnessed the incident, filed a police complaint on Sunday.

Also Sunday, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel asked the state prosecution to intervene immediately in an effort to bring the assailants to justice.

Left-wing activists familiar with the area said they thought the assailants were settlers from Sussia, and said settlers had been attacking Palestinian villagers in the area for a long time, in an
attempt to steal their land.

Abdelrahman Shanaran told the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem that the assailants had hit him on the head with a sharp object while he was sleeping in his tent. He said they continued to beat him and removed him from the tent.

His brother, Aziz, heard the screams of his wife and children and rushed to his assistance. According to the testimony, some of the assailants then began beating Aziz.

Aziz Shanaran told B’Tselem that the assailants appeared to be young and that some had earlocks and rifles. He said that after the attack, they escaped in the direction of Sussia.

Hospital records show that Abdelrahman Shanaran was treated for three cuts on his head and a leg wound, and that his brother received orthopedic treatment.

In the second incident, which took place Saturday afternoon, an American volunteer assisting Palestinians in Hebron as part of the Tel Rumeida Project said he was attacked by a group of about 20 Israeli children and youths. He said they threw stones at him, kicked him and spat at him. He was taken to a Hebron hospital shortly after the incident and underwent additional tests at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv on Sunday. He was hit in the head and doctors are concerned he may have a concussion.

The volunteer said he ran from his assailants to a nearby Israel Defense Forces post, but charged that the soldiers on duty refused to assist him.

However, IDF sources said the soldiers reached the site of the attack without being summoned and then dispersed the settlers. Police said they showed him mug shots but that the volunteer was unable to identify the people he said had attacked him.

Police said they would continue their inquiry into the attack on the American volunteer, but admitted that they had encountered difficulties.

HUMAN RIGHTS WORKER ATTACKED NEAR HEBRON SETTLEMENT

Jewish settlers attacked American Human Rights’ activist Brian Morgan, outside the Beit Haddasah settlement on Saturday March 25.

About 20 settlers, adults and children as young as eight years, kicked, punched and hit Morgan on the head with rocks. He later received sutures in hospital in Tel Aviv.

An Israeli soldier at his post outside the settlement close to the attack, repeatedly ignored Morgan’s requests for help.

‘I judged the situation was not life threatening,” commented a soldier from a nearby checkpoint.

Morgan described the incident as unprovoked: “We were not filming, but I think they did not want any international witness in the area,” he said. He believes the attack was premeditated.

Morgan works with the Tel Rumeida project, which accompanies Palestinian families and their children to and from school, shielding them from harassment by settler children.

Most attacks on Palestinians and internationals occur on the Sabbath day when settler youths are not in school.

“There has been a considerable rise in settler violence during these pre-election weeks,” said a spokesman from Tel Rumeida, But we and other Human Rights’ activists will remain in this area to do our job.”

How Can I Stop You?

By Mary

Tuesday March 21st 2006

At about 8pm, there was a lot of yelling in the street outside the internationals apartment in Tel Rumeida, Hebron. Israeli soldiers were demanding that men from the building opposite came down to the street. Two men came down. They were told that everyone, including the baby, must come down to the street. An international asked what was the reason for this. A soldier replied that he could not tell her but that there had been a complaint about someone in one of the apartments. He could not say which apartment. This all sounded odd. Soldiers sometimes go into apartments to search but they do not usually expect babies and small children to be brought into the street at night. The soldiers persisted in demanding that the two men bring the families out. The men refused. One man was sent back into the building but the families did not come out. The international rang the DCO (District Command Office). The woman at the DCO said that she would check the matter.

Some more soldiers came by. One of the original soldiers asked the international why she would not let them do their work. She replied “Let? How can I not let you? I can’t stop you.” The soldiers went into the apartment building with guns ready as though after terrorists! They banged on a door. They then came down, let the two men go and left themselves. It looked like bluff. They probably were taking orders from settlers and were not supported by the DCO. This can happen with new soldiers, if the settlers make a complaint, whether based on fact or fiction.

Wednsday March 22nd 2006

Al Jazeera newsmen were visiting Tel Rumeida. They telephoned and asked an international if she had film or video of settler attacks on Palestinians or Palestinian buildings. She went, with a Palestinian, to the Al Azzez house to collect material. This meant scrambling over rocky ground because only the family are allowed to use the track alongside the settlement, which replaces the street taken over by settler caravans. When they were leaving the house, Israeli settler children came on to Palestinian land and threw rocks ( 3inches or 8cm in diameter) at the owner of the house and the people leaving. At first, the one Israeli soldier nearby did nothing to help. However, another four soldiers arrived. Even then, some children continued to throw rocks for some minutes before the soldiers forced them to leave the area. No one was injured but the visitors had to dodge and duck away from rocks which could have caused serious injury. There is no safe way to leave the area!