Tag: Hebron - Page 35 - International Solidarity Movement

Photo story: Jewish holidays bring harassment to occupied Hebron

6th October 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

The 3rd and 4th of October marked the celebrations of the Yewish New Year. In the occupied West Bank, Jewish holidays, celebrated by the settlers from the illegal settlements. This usually translates to an increase in harassment, restrictions and the presence of heavily-armed military occupying forces and settlers, often not only from the illegal settlements of the respective cities, but additionally ‘settler-visitors’. In occupied al-Khalil (Hebron), with the celebrations for the New Year now past, preparations for the upcoming week-long holiday of Sukkot are already underway.

Palestinian children play outside their homes - right next to heavily armed Israeli forces watching movement of Palestinians — Palestinian children play outside their homes – right next to heavily armed Israeli forces watching movement of Palestinians

During the two-day celebration of the Yewish New Year, the part of Ibrahimi Mosque that has not been confiscated by the Israeli forces has been closed entirely for Palestinians and Muslims. Sixty percent of the Mosque was illegally annexed by Israeli forces who installed a synagogue inside in the aftermath of the 1994 Ibrahimi Mosque massacre. Additionally, the nearby Ibrahimi Mosque checkpoint that connects the new Palestinian market (after the closure and ethnic cleansing of Shuhada Street, the former bustling Palestinian market, in the aftermath of the Ibrahimi mosque massacre) with the Ibrahimi Mosque area has been closed for Palestinians since Sunday night. This leaves Palestinians, including residents, school-students and teachers with only few options to reach school, work and their homes, as the closest alternative of Shuhada Street is ‘illegal’ to use for Palestinians under Israeli occupation ‘rules’. On Thursday, October 6th, both the Mosque and the nearby checkpoint were closed as well – even though there’s no official Yewish holiday; yet another arbitrary movement restriction on Palestinians in order to favour settlers.

These movement restrictions, which are solely and deliberately only enforced on Palestinians, have directly impeded the right to education in various areas. At Ziad Jaber school near the illegal settlement of Kiryat Arba, school-students, their parents walking them to school and teachers had to cross paths with the heavily-armed settlers, and often undergo bag-, ID- and body-searches based on racial profiling by the Israeli forces. Young adult men are especially targeted by these arbitrary and often humiliating searches, where they are forced to lift up their shirts and trouser-legs, basically getting half-undressed in public.

Palestinian young men are forced to lift up their shirts and trouser-legs by Israeli Forces near Ziad Jaber school

A similar procedure is enforced on Palestinians when Israeli settlers from the illegal Kiryat Arba settlement walk down to Ibrahimi Mosque (the 60% of it where a synagogue was installed) in the evenings. As any Friday night, where the settlers have the same ritual for Shabbat, Palestinians are oftentimes stopped by Israeli forces who completely line the roads the settlers will be taking, in order to allow for settlers to pass the street before allowing Palestinians to continue their way. Often, Israeli forces stop especially young men and force them to undergo similar checks, ordering them to lift up their shirts and turn around, and then lift up their trouser legs.

Israeli forces at night force Palestinian to lift up his shirt

Opposite the al-Faihaa girls school in the Ibrahimi Mosque area, Israeli forces put up an additional CCTV surveillance tower, registering and locking Palestinians’ every movement. The structure is fenced off with concrete blocks and barbed wire, and always manned with at least two soldiers.

CCTV surveillance tower newly put up in Palestinian neighborhood

For the upcoming holiday of Sukkot, where many settlers from the illegal settlements all over the Israeli occupied West Bank are expected to visit the Ibrahimi Mosque (the 60% of it where a synagogue has been installed), preparations in al-Khalil are under way for making the area as empty as possible of any Palestinian presence. New sign-posts are being put up to indicate directions for the ‘visitors’. Changing and ‘Hebrew-nising’ street names, giving Hebrew names to houses illegaly taken over by settlers, etc. has already been identified as one of the tools of the Israeli occupation to lay claim to Palestinian property and streets – an obvious attempt to erase the Palestinian existence in the mind of the people first. At the same time, ethnic cleansing is slowly but steadily taking place, especially in the Old City of al-Khalil.

New sign-post erected by Israeli Forces near ethnically cleansed Shuhada Street

Continuing ethnic cleansing in closed military zone in Hebron

5th October 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

Israeli forces in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron) are continuously increasing their efforts of ethnic cleansing in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood. In the area, declared a ‘closed military zone’ for almost a year, Israeli forces do everything imaginable to force the Palestinian population to move away in order to create an ethnically cleansed zone free of any Palestinian presence, geographically linking the illegal settlements.

The area of the ‘closed military zone’ (CMZ) that is solely and deliberately only enforced on Palestinians, while at the same time facilitating settler movement, has recently been extended to encompass the Tel Rumeida neighborhood in it’s entirety. On the tiny strip of Shuhada Street – that in the aftermath of the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre hasn’t yet been fully ethnically cleansed of Palestinian presence – illegal annexation attempts are progressing continuously. For the few hundred meters of the street where some Palestinians are still allowed to walk and the whole Tel Rumeida neighborhood, Palestinian vehicular traffic, including ambulances, is forbidden and has effectively been made into a dead-end for Palestinians. The stairs leading to the Qurtuba school-area have been closed, again only for Palestinians, and the rest of the street continuing from there has already been ethnically cleansed and is now completely off-limits to Palestinians.

One of the main checkpoints needed to reach the area of the CMZ is the highly-militarized and fenced-in Shuhada checkpoint, where Israeli forces in the last few days have replaced their old list of ‘registered Palestinian residents’ with a brand-new copy. For the new list though, Israeli forces arbitrarily dropped many names of Palestinians previously registered, thus leaving them stranded at the checkpoint and denied passage to reach their own homes. How the ‘new list’ was created baffles the Palestinian residents, as there has not been any new ‘registration’ of residents in which Israeli forces would suddenly, usually at night time, show up in family homes in order to register names and ID-numbers of the present family members.

Whereas the Israeli forces are trying to enforce the ‘normality’ of family or friends, workers or medical personell – if Palestinian – as not being permitted in the so called ‘closed military zone’, Israeli settlers from the illegal settlements are free to go and come as they please. With hightened restrictions on Palestinian freedom of movement, Israeli forces at Shuhada checkpoint have additionally started forcing men to lift up their shirts and trouser-legs after having already passed the metal detector installed inside the checkpoint box, which ensures that no outside observer will see what’s happening inside. The sole reason for this, as for the whole existence of the checkpoint itself, is humiliation; humiliation to a degree where Palestinians decide to leave as there is no option to live a life with at least a shroud of dignity, where you’re treated like a human being – despite being born, and identified, as Palestinian.

Nowhere to hide: New illegal observation tower in occupied Hebron

3rd October 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

Israeli forces put up a CCTV observation tower in the Ibrahimi mosque area, further increasing not only their all-encompassing surveillance of Palestinians, but also their slow but steady illegal annexation of more and more Palestinian land in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron).

At the end of last week, Israeli forces in a ‘secret’ over-night action put up the observation tower, surrounded by dozens of cement blocks and barbed-wire. Located in a corner between Palestinian houses, the observation post with a container and all the surrounding paraphernalia is just another step in the illegal annexation of yet more land. In recent weeks, Israeli forces have increased their illegal annexations of the tiny strip of Shuhada Street still accessible to Palestinian pedestrians and stepped up the game of creating a coercive environment directly leading to forced displacement of Palestinians in the Tel Rumeida area.

This observation tower is fitted with a camera that reaches high above the houses in the neighborhood, thus watching Palestinians constantly. This feeling of permanently being watched for Palestinians is combined with the ever present controls and humiliations at the more-and-more militarized checkpoints. Palestinians are watched, humiliated, numbered, deprived of their most basic human rights – occupied not only physically by the Israeli occupation forces, but also mentally. They can never tell whether they’ll be allowed through a checkpoint (something that solely depends on the respective soldiers whim), whether their children will be tear-gassed on their way to school or arrested, or even whether they’ll be gunned down by Israeli forces at a checkpoint and left to bleed to death. Any and all of these forms of collective punishment are enforced by the Israeli occupying forces on the entire population of civilians in complete disregard of any care for international law or humane treatment of the occupied indigenous Palestinian population.

The Tel Rumeida neighborhood, Shuhada Street, and the area around the Ibrahimi Mosque are already linked by a settler-only street that has been ethnically cleansed of Palestinians in the aftermath of the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre. Restrictions in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood (declared a ‘closed military zone’ solely enforced on Palestinian residents for almost a year now) and around the Ibrahimi Mosque (where Palestinians are often prevented from passing checkpoints on a age-limit between 15-30) have escalated in a very short amount of time, making life for the Palstinians as hard – or rather impossible – as possible, leaving them with no choice than to leave. The only and clear aim is the forcible transfer of all Palestinians in this area, thus geographically linking the illegal settlements in an area ethnically cleansed of any Palestinian presence.

CCTV camero on top of the surveillance tower

The slow creep of ethnic cleansing – closed military zone in Hebron

30th September 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

Israeli forces in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron) have further expanded the closed military zone (CMZ), now covering the whole Tel Rumeida neighborhood, while setting up new and enforcing existing checkpoints with increased restrictions.

Parts of the Tel Rumeida neighborhood and the tiny strip of Shuhada Street that have not fallen prey to Israeli illegal annexation and ethnic cleansing, creating a ‘Palestinian-free’ zone, have been a CMZ since the end of October 2015. However, the borders of the CMZ have now been further extended to include the entire Tel Rumeida neighborhood. Checkpoints that have formerly been roadblocks preventing Palestinian traffic throughout this neighborhood, are now additionally permanently staffed with Israeli soldiers. Palestinian residents, at these newly staffed checkpoints, are often kept waiting by Israeli forces for hours, denying them passage stating ‘military orders’, while at times at the same moment telling them to ‘just go around’, which would ‘only take 2 minutes’. On Wednesday, 28th September 2016, Israeli forces forced a whole group of Palestinians, including small children to wait to reach their homes for over two hours – and then suddenly just walked away from the checkpoint, thus allowing for Palestinians to pass.

Whereas Palestinian residents, in order to reach their own homes, were already forced to register as residents – a status which, depending on the soldiers mood, might allow them to reach their homes; within the newly added parts of the CMZ, Palestinians are arbitrarily and deliberately kept waiting without any reasons – except for being Palestinians.

Palestinian detained by Israeli forces for trying to reach his own home — Palestinian handcuffed and detained by Israeli forces for trying to reach his own home

These arbitrary and racist practices are not new to the Palestinian population of Hebron in general, and the Tel Rumeida neighborhood in specific. The sole and very obvious aim of these tactics is to force Palestinians to leave the area and thus extended the illegal settlements in this neighborhood by creating a zone ethnically cleansed of any Palestinian presence.

Reduced to a number – robbing Palestinians of their humanity

25th September 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

Palestinians in the closed military zone in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron) are reduced to a mere number. Imagine ‘loosing’ your identity to a foreign occupying army not only taking your land, but attempting to take your personality, your identity, your whole existence; reducing you to a simple number on a piece of paper, stripping you of your humanity.

This is everyday reality for Palestinians in the area declared a ‘closed military zone’ by the Israeli forces, an area that has just recently been expanded and now covers all of the Tel Rumeida neighborhood and the tiny piece of Shuhada Street that has not yet fallen prey to Israeli attempts of continuous illegal annexation. At Shuhada checkpoint, the main checkpoint leading from the H1-area supposedly under full Palestinian control into this ‘closed military zone’, Palestinians are subjected to the all too common Israeli forces’ humiliation, delays, and ‘security-checks’. At any of the checkpoints leading into the ‘closed military zone’, all Palestinians are reduced to a mere number on a list of ID-numbers and names.

Any sign of humanity – erased with the humanity of the Palestinians, who are not persons, but just another number on a long list of numbers. At any of the checkpoints leading into the ‘closed military zone’, Palestinians are one of those numbers – and without a number, they’re nothing. It’s as simple as that, with a number, registered with a foreign occupying army as a resident in your own home, your own neighborhood, you can make it through the checkpoint. Being a number, you might – and only might, as soldiers at the checkpoint can virtually do whatever they want with complete impunity – be allowed to go to your own home.

But being without even a number, not having one’s existence reduced to this mere number on a list, a Palestinian is nothing, nothing. You’re either reduced to a number, or you’re not, not at all. You don’t exist, you don’t have the ‘right’ to go to your home, a ‘right’ being something that the occupying army is almost priding themselves for giving you, for being so nice to even permit a Palestinian to become this mere number on a list. As a number, you might be allowed to go home, to bring your shopping through the checkpoint to your house, as a child to ride your bicycle and eventually be allowed to pass the checkpoint with it. A number might be allowed to pass the checkpoint to go to school or back home after school finishes, to reach their home when their sick, or be carried out of the checkpoint in medical emergencies, as ambulances are not allowed on the ‘settler-only’-road.

A number is ‘privileged’ by the Israeli occupying army to do all these things, to be granted the slightest possible pieces even of the most basic human rights. But a nothing, a no-one, someone that didn’t make it on the list? A father visiting his son and grandchildren. A daughter visiting her sick mother. Siblings coming to congratulate for a birthday or new-born baby, to celebrate a new family member, a family birthday, an important holiday, that traditionally is celebrated with the extended family. A nothing is no-one, nothing is allowed, nothing is possible.

A nothing will be denied at the checkpoint by soldiers ‘just following orders’, soldiers who, if hearing the slightest doubt due to their inhumane, racist and apartheid actions, will refuse that they’re political. In a situation where a soldiers mere presence as the occupying army at a checkpoint denying Palestinians the right to reach their homes or loved ones is a political statement. A statement of support of the apartheid and racist regime that calls itself the ‘only democracy in the Middle East’. Soldiers would defend the action of only checking and numbering Palestinian residents with ‘Israelis don’t pass from this checkpoint’ – openly admitting their racist and apartheid actions, but choosing to defend them as ‘just following orders’. Actions that any human being must recognized are non-defendable, non-excusable – and solely, openly and deliberately aimed at annihilating the existence of a people.

Anyone defending these kind of actions, of reducing a group of Persons to numbers on a list, and trampeling the mere existence of the one’s not dehumanized and humiliated like this, with their feet making them nothing, denying their whole existence; can not hide behind a uniform or orders, or excuse their behaviour. Reducing people, persons with wishes and hopes, dreams and fears, to a number, robbing them of their identity and personality – their humanity – to mere numbers on a list, or even a nothing, a no-one.