Tag: Hebron

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

At 3:00 in the morning to Friday, ISM-activist Andrew Macdonald was forcefully deported from Israel, 7 weeks after being abducted from Palestine by the Israeli Border Police. Still refusing to comply with the State of Israel’s policy of deporting Human Rights Workers from Palestine, he was carried on to the plane and accompanied by two Police Officers on the plane from Tel Aviv to London.

Before his arrest, Andrew worked in Tel Rumeida, Hebron, where ISM and the Tel Rumeida Project provides an international presence to support the daily Palestinian non-violent struggle against attacks from Hebron’s violent settlers. Before and after his arrest, the IDF and the Police in the area have repeatedly been trying to get as many Human Rights Workers (HRW’s) as possible out of Tel Rumeida, by arresting them on false accusations, trying to “negotiate” with Israel’s Ministry of Interior in order to get them deported, confiscating their cameras and deleting video evidence of settler and military criminal acts, issuing false Closed Military Zone Orders, and on two occasions trying to enter their apartment without a warrant.

There is evident fear from the Israeli authorities that people around the world will find out about their inability and unwillingness to protect the Palestinian population of Tel Rumeida. Palestinians in Tel Rumeida face daily acts of violence such as stone throwing, physical abuse, spitting and insulting from the violent settlers. Out of 120 documented settler attacks in the last few months, no measures whatsoever has been taken by the Kiryat Arba Police force, not a single arrest has been made, even when video evidence of the attacks has been handed over to the police by HRW’s in the area. Settlers are granted virtual unaccountability for their violent acts in this neighbourhood.

Andrew has been imprisoned for 7 weeks, one week of which in isolation, after refusing initial deportation. He has been held in the detention centres of Ramla and Tzohar. Throughout his imprisonment he has received various threats from his prison commander. Threats have varied from transferring him to a mental institution, drugging him, and to “play games with him”. He has also been subject to light torture; whilst in isolation he was deprived of his sleep when guards refused to turn off the lights at night. Furthermore, prison guards have repeatedly interfered with his visiting hours, sometimes cutting them short ahead of time, sometimes themselves sitting and wanting to take part in the conversations between Andrew and his visitors.

For more information and to get in touch with Andrew:
ISM Media Office +972 2 297 1824 www.palsolidarity.org
Tel Rumeida Project +972 54 557 3154 www.telrumeidaproject.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

A mob of 30 female settler teenagers rampaged through Tel Rumeida on Thursday, January 12. Ten of them wore black ski masks to hide their identities, and attacked everyone they encountered, including IDF soldiers and Israeli police, with spit, paint bombs and insults, and surrounded an HRW, violently stealing the battery of his camera.

Six male settlers have begun attempts to illegally occupy an empty Palestinian home located on the path near a Palestinian girls school. Settlers entered the home on Tuesday, the 10th of January, cleaned out two rooms and broke a hole in a wall to access other rooms. Police were called and made the settlers leave but they have returned periodically to continue their preparations to occupy the house. Palestinian girls are already routinely stoned and harassed on their way to the school located near this home. But the attacks would only increase if they had to pass directly in front of a settler-occupied home.

HRWs who live in Tel Rumeida witnessed the arrival of approximately 60 settlers on Wednesday, the 11th of January. They are the first to respond to a call by Hebron’s settlers for Israelis “to flock to Hebron” to resist the planned disengagement of the illegally occupied Palestinian wholesale market in Hebron’s Old City. Settlers arrived with belongings meant for a long stay in response to the settler call sent out by email to “bring sleeping bags, warm clothing for an extended stay and a strong spirit.”

Brian, a Human Rights Worker (HRW) living in Tel Rumeida, said “It is a very dangerous situation. Many of the settlers who live here are members of Kahane, an organization which Israel has declared racist and illegal. We see their violent hatred on a daily basis. We call on the international and Israeli community to pressure the police and IDF to enforce the law against violent settlers immediately; stop them, arrest them and prosecute them.”

Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz stated that the removal of the settlers from the wholesale market will be completed by the 15th of February. Settlers were ordered to leave the Palestinian-owned shops by January 15, or face forcible eviction. Settlers have already clashed violently with police and the IDF when eviction orders were issued on January 3rd, injuring 4 police officers, including a policeman who was hurt by a liquid that burned his eyes. Violent resistance from the settlers between these dates is expected and could be worse than the Gaza pullout due to Hebron’s religious significance to settlers. This is a threat to both Palestinian residents and IDF soldiers in the area. Press are invited to join human rights workers in Tel Rumeida to witness the settler violence first hand during this period.

For more information:
David, International Solidarity Movement – 054 651 7234
Luna, Tel Rumeida Project – 054 557 3154 www.telrumeidaproject.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

On the morning of Friday, January 6th, the village of Jwaya, near Tuwani in the southern region of the West bank, awoke to find one hundred and twenty of their olive trees cut down. The trees were approximately 30-31 years old and owned by Ibrahim Ahmad Al E’ moor and represent an important part of the livelihood of the village.

This is just one incident in what has been a constant stream of abuse, attacks, and property destruction against the Palestinians by the settlers of the region. Villages like Qawawis, Tuwani and others have been under near constant attack and threat of attack from the settlers. The villagers of Qawawis were evicted from their village for a year, until an Israeli court ruled that villagers had the right to live on their land, but settlers continue to harass them with humiliation and violence. ISM and CPT and other organizations have been maintaining a presence in the villages of the region.

Settlers across the West Bank have used the cutting of olive trees, an important part of the Palestinian economy and culture, to intimidate and frighten villagers, in the interest of driving Palestinians off their land. These actions take place with the tacit support of the Israeli military and police forces, who rarely prevent or punish such attacks.

These latest acts of violence against peaceful farmers in the Hebron Hills come in the wake of Sharon’s most recent hospitalization, and are being overlooked by a media focused elsewhere.

For more information call:
Rich Meyer, CPT Hebron 054-6315786
ISM Media Office 02-297-1824

Israeli soldiers violate court order and close off Palestinian homes, assault Human Rights Workers, confiscate cameras and destroy film in Tel Rumeida, Hebron

A human rights worker was filming the Israeli army’s violation of a recent Israeli court order to open a pathway to Palestinian homes at around 12:30 p.m., Wednesday, December 14, near the illegal Israeli settlement of Tel Rumeida. Israeli Occupation Forces recently installed a coil of razor wire, blocking a path that leads to Palestinian families’ homes located just below the settlement. The razor wire violates a recent court order saying that Palestinians in the area are allowed to use the path at all times.

The Israeli military commander at the scene pushed the human rights worker and tried to take her camera. Upon witnessing the scene, another human rights worker started filming and the IOF commander approached him, pushed him to the ground and started dragging him along the street, holding the strap of his bag and video camera until he managed to take the camera. A few minutes later the woman who was initially pushed was once again attacked by three soldiers who surrounded her, pushed her to the ground as she was screaming in fear, and took her video camera. In the commotion a third human rights worker was assaulted in a similar way by another soldier; he was pushed to the ground and the soldier ripped his camera out of his hands. Two other human rights workers were assaulted during this time.

The cameras were returned at 3:15 p.m. with the film missing from the still camera and the tapes in the two video cameras fully taped over by the military.

The International Solidarity Movement, together with the Tel Rumeida Project, provides an international presence in Tel Rumeida to support the Palestinian families in the area in their daily struggle to lead a normal life next door to the violent settlers of Tel Rumeida and Beit Hadassah. Among other activities, these human rights workers accompany Palestinian children to school on a daily basis to help prevent frequent attacks on the children and their teachers by settlers.

For more information about the Tel Rumeida Project, and videos of recent settler attacks in Tel Rumeida, see their website:
www.telrumeidaproject.org.