Tag: Hebron

Ethnic cleansing of Shuhada Street in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron)

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

Since the 1994 Ibrahimi Mosque Massacre, the majority of Shuhada Street – once the thriving Palestinian market and main thoroughfare connecting north and south al-Khalil (Hebron) – has been closed to Palestinians. They are completely barred from accessing it, except for a small stretch in the Tel Rumeida neighbourhood.

Shuhada st split
Photos of the same portion of Shuhada street – a thriving market before 1994, now an empty street where no Palestinians are allowed to enter (published by B’Tselem)

This tiny strip that is legally still accessible for Palestinians is restricted by the recently ‘renovated’ Shuhada checkpoint at the beginning of the street and ends where the street begins to border the illegal settlement of Beit Hadassah, beyond which Israeli forces assure that no Palestinians exist. Further down Shuhada street, clearly marked with yet another military post barring anyone who might attempt to enter the street, are even more Israeli settlements – all illegal under international law – located directly in the city center of al-Khalil.

The settlements on Shuhada Street are connected via a settler-only road to the much larger settlement of Kiryat Arba on the outskirts of al-Khalil; settlers can also reach the illegal Tel Rumeida settlement easily by traversing the tiny stretch of Shuhada Street still open to some Palestinians and the road leading up into Tel Rumeida from Shuhada checkpoint, now encompassed within the closed military zone. While Palestinians are allowed to walk on this part of Shuhada Street, Palestinian vehicles, including ambulances, are forbidden from driving there. Since Israeli authorities declared the area part of a closed military zone on 1st November 2015, the already barely existent access has been further restricted – Isreali forces only allow entry to Palestinians registered with them residents, while any Israeli settler, regardless of whether they are residents or not, can pass freely and without ever being harassed, stopped, detained, arrested, or threatened by the ever-present military forces.

Map of the city center of al-Khalil with Shuhada Street Credit: B'Tselem
Map of the city center of al-Khalil including Shuhada Street (the longest street marked in red) by  B’Tselem

At the line demarcated by Daboya checkpoint (Checkpoint 55), where the illegal settlements on the street begin and Palestinians are no longer allowed, a steep flight of stairs leads up to Qurtuba school and into the Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. These stairs, the only way for Palestinians to continue traveling in the same direction above the street as they are not allowed to continue down Shuhada Street itself, have been closed by the Israeli forces with a metal gate since November 2015.

IMG_1453
Stairs with the closed gate leading down to Shuhada Street

Even though this gate is currently not locked, Israeli forces deny any Palestinian, except for the students and teachers of Qurtuba school during school-time, to use these stairs. As a result Palestinian residents of this neighbourhood, once they have passed Shuhada checkpoint – an ordeal that can take several hours – have been denied to reach their homes by walking down Shuhada Street and the stairs leading up to Qurtuba school, forcing them instead to take a much longer detour around. With yet another way denied for Palestinans, navigating the maze of Israeli military-enforced checkpoints, complete bans on travel, roads where Palestinians cannot drive, settler-only roads, closed military zones and new arbitrary closures has become even more arduous.

Israeli forces are thereby also clearly working to minimise the number of Palestinians who will actually use this last portion of Shuhada Street – now a complete dead-end – as they bar Palestinians not only from going farther down the closed street but also declare the stairs, formerly an alternate route, yet another closed zone. This illustrates the Israeli attempts to rid Shuhada Street entirely of Palestinians. Ethnic cleansing in al-Khalil, and all across Israeli-occupied Palestinian lands is not a sudden, headline-grabbing event; it progresses gradually as Palestinians are restricted in certain areas, barred from driving there, prohibited from even being there, forced out to facilitate the expansion of the illegal settlements. Ethnic cleansing happens slowly, by erecting new and ‘fortifying’ existing checkpoints, advancing one more closure at a time.

‘It is my job to scare Palestinian children’ – Israeli forces justify intimidation of kindergarten children

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

Kindergarten-children in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron) often face harassment and intimidation by Israeli forces on their way to kindergarten.

Listen to this audio recording of a discussion between an international volunteer and the soldiers about why the soldiers ‘have to’ scare the kindergarten-children and see it as ‘their job’.

Israeli forces justify the intimidation and harassment of the children, between the ages of 4 to 6 years, that are forced to walk up a broken path – as the paved road on the other side of the fence is only allowed for Israeli settlers from the illegal settlements in al-Khalil – and then past a checkpoint on their daily way to and from the kindergarten, saying that they ‘need to scare them’ because otherwise they would ‘grow up and stab a soldier’.

Listen to the full recording:

Help Josefin get her visa to stay with her husband in Hebron

5th March 2016 | Hebron, occupied Hebron

25-year old Social Work student Josefin Herbach from Germany and 23-year old Abd Elrahman met doing human rights work in occupied Hebron. They were married on the 11th of November, and as Josefin planned to stay in Hebron to live with her husband, she applied for a “spouse visa” through the Palestinian Ministry of Interior in occupied Hebron.

The Palestinian Ministry can only pass the request to the Israeli authorities, who are the ones who decide who is allowed to reside in the occupied Palestinian territories and for how long, including spouses of Palestinians. On January 6th, Josefin Herbach received notice from the Israeli Ministry of the denial of her spouse visa, and that she had until the 10th of January to leave the country. Being left with no alternative, she decided to hire a lawyer to appeal this decision. Since then, the Israeli State has repeatedly asked for extensions of the court’s deadline to present their opinion on the case, and on the 4th of March has asked for yet another month to ‘prepare an offer’.

Abd Elrahman explains: “Every aspect of our lives is controlled by the Israeli occupation and they are constantly trying to make us leave. Israeli soldiers enter our homes and threaten to arrest and even kill us. But we still stay on our land. Now they want to deny my right to live with my wife.”
“I consider Al-Khalil as my home. I have a life here, all my friends and my husband. I can’t leave now. I have nothing to go back to in Germany,” Josefin says about her visa denial.

Josefin is legally able to remain in the West Bank while the court proceeding drags on, but she cannot leave the country with her husband to visit Josefin’s family in Germany, who she has not seen since the marriage. Abd has not had the chance to meet his wife’s family yet, for fear that if they left the country, she would never be allowed to re-enter.

“It’s an impossible choice – if I go visit my family in Germany, I would not be able to come back and live with my husband; and if I stay with my husband here I can not see my family”, explains Josefin.

Josefin and other human rights defenders monitor the checkpoints and provide protective presence for Palestinian children on their way to and from school in Israeli-controlled parts of occupied Hebron. Palestinian children routinely face harassment and violence from tear gas to arbitrary arrests and threats from settlers living in adjacent illegal Israeli settlements. In some areas of Hebron parents fear sending their young children to school without international presence.

Josefin and her husband needed 15.800 shekels to challenge this unjust ruling in the Israeli High Court which is the only legal route available to them. They have raised 1.800 shekels so far, which leaves them with 14.000 shekels (about 3.300€ or 3.900$) to pay for the lawyer.
Support them here.

To stay updated on Josefin’s case, support and share the facebook-event.

For more information: josefin.herbach@arcor.de, 00972-597570178

Bogus arrest of 12 year old boy in Hebron

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

On the 28th of February around 4:00pm, 12 year old Palestinian boy, Sayed Seder was arrested by 10 heavily armed Israeli soldiers whilst playing football with his friends on the street in front of his family home. The Israeli army claim that he was arrested under allegations he was throwing stones at the guard tower which watches over Al-Shallalah Street and the illegal Israeli settlement that has been built directly behind the street and family home.

Abed, the father of Sayed went down to confront the soldiers after Sayed’s friends came running up to the family home, explaining to the father what was happening. When Abed approached the soldiers to ask them what exactly they were arresting his son for, the soldiers responded by informing him that it was because he was seen throwing rocks at the guard tower above. However, the street is lined with a protective type of fencing above the shops roofs that prohibits objects being thrown up or in the most common cases, being thrown down by illegal Israeli settlers who live above. Abed put the argument forward that it would have been pointless for his son to have been throwing stones with this protective barrier in place. Perhaps the logic of this made too much sense and the arresting soldier quickly changed his story and then began to tell Abed his son was being arrested for stealing a settler child’s football whilst pointing to the ball that Sayed and his friends were playing with. Abed informed the soldier that the ball Sayed and his friends were playing with was in fact a ball that he had purchased for Sayed from a shop in Halhoul just recently. The soldier who was evidently lying and knowingly falsely accusing Sayed of the above allegations ignored any more of Abed’s protests and continued to arrest Sayed.

Al-Shallalah street where Sayed was arrested
Al-Shallalah street where Sayed was arrested

From this point Sayed was marched to the Shuhada street entrance gate and taken through while his parents and friends were forced to stand back and watch. Sayed was then taken to the local military base on Shuhada street. Upon entering the military base he was reportedly handcuffed and blindfolded. The blindfold remained on for around 30minutes before being taken off, assuming that it was put on so he could not get a full view of what was happening inside the military compound for security purposes. Sayed alleges that teenage settlers who were allowed into the compound then beat him while the Israeli army simply stood back and did nothing. In recent light of leaked videos showing the torture of young Palestinians by Israeli soldiers whilst being detained does nothing to boost the credibility of the Israeli army or give merit to this bogus arrest of a 12 year old.

Protective fencing installed above Al-Shallalah street and the guard tower
Protective fencing installed above Al-Shallalah street and the guard tower

Sayed was later released from custody at around 9pm to Palestinian authorities where he complained of pain in his kidneys. His father arrived shortly after and took Sayed to hospital where doctors examined him. While the doctors could not find physical wounds that would require further attention they did note that Sayed was severely traumatised from the event and was in a state of shock.

Just 3 months ago the Israeli army arrested one of Abed’s other sons who is 10 years old. The reason for the arrest was that he too was suspected of throwing stones at the military. As Abed didn’t believe this and objected he too was arrested with his 10 year old son. They were detained for 6 hours and released without charge.

One significant fact is that Abed’s house backs onto the illegal Israeli settlement of Beit Hadasa. Abed used to sell artisans out of the family home but has had to stop because of ongoing harassment both physical and verbal to himself and to his customers from the settlers that occupy the land next to his home. The front of Abed’s house has been covered in barbed wire by the Israeli military and is adorned with bags of dirty hummus, eggs and other foul items thrown down by the illegal settlers. The army has also boarded up the windows of his family home (without his permission) that overlook Beit Hadasa.

Abed's home and the illegal Israeli settlement of Beit Hadasa
Abed’s home and the illegal Israeli settlement of Beit Hadasa
The barbed wire at the entrance to Abed's house with rubbish thrown down by settlers
The barbed wire at the entrance to Abed’s house with rubbish thrown down by settlers

While harassment from the settlers in Hebron is  often considered an unfortunate normality to most Palestinians living under occupation, the armies continued bogus charges and harassment of Abed and his family give one the impression that the Zionist regime is using a tactical ploy to get Abed and his family out of their home for further settlement expansion.

On the 1st of March, join our day of action to #EndHebronMilitaryZone

February 29th, 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil team | al-Khalil, occupied Palestine

It has now been four months since the Israeli military declared part of Hebron a “closed military zone” in which Palestinian residents are no longer free to move, even to reach their homes. For the last four months, Palestinians and internationals have been acting and protesting this arbitrary decision. Seeing no response from the Israeli authorities, we decided to declare the 1st of March a day of action to keep pressuring the Israeli authorities to put an end to the closed military zone in Hebron. Tomorrow is a day in which everyone, around the world, will be able to do something to act for the city of Hebron. Tomorrow, use social media to spread the word and share what you know about the situation there. Take five minutes or more to tweet, post on Facebook or on your blog, write to media outlets in your country, write to your representatives and demand that the international community pressure Israeli authorities to .

Join our social media event on Facebook to get all the information you will need, and invite your friends and contacts! Here are more directions to follow to get involved in the social media storm:

  • You can use some of these sample tweets, or be creative and use some of your own (feel free to translate into your own language)

In #Hebron since November Palestinian residents have to register with the army or risk being barred from their homes #EndHebronMilitaryZone

Palestinians have to register with army or risk being barred from their homes #EndHebronMilitaryZone

Since the beginning of October over 200 Palestinians have been shot and left to bleed to death without medical aid #EndHebronMilitaryZone

Since the start of October 180+ Palestinians were shot & left to bleed to death without medical aid #EndHebronMilitaryZone

4 months of life under severe restrictions for Palestinian families in Tel Rumeida #EndHebronMilitaryZone

Palestinian families in Tel Rumeida have lived under severe restrictions for 4 months #EndHebronMilitaryZone

4 months under unjustified regime of collective punishment for Palestinian families #EndHebronMilitaryZone

#IsraeliForces in #Hebron are targeting activists to silence the truth and stop it from reaching the whole world #EndHebronMilitaryZone

#Hebron activists targeted to stop the truth from reaching the world #EndHebronMilitaryZone

Amnesty International referred to killings in #Hebron since October as “unlawful,” “extrajudicial executions” #EndHebronMilitaryZone

#IsraeliForces & settlers are making life for Palestinians intolerable to try and force them to leave their homes #EndHebronMilitaryZone

#EndHebronMilitaryZone which targets human rights defenders while leaving illegal Israeli settlements unrestricted

#IsraeliForces are targeting activists to stop the truth from reaching the whole world #EndHebronMilitaryZone

4 months too long of illegal collective punishment; demand that #Israel #EndHebronMilitaryZone & respect human rights

Palestinians continue to face unjustified and arbitrary restrictions #EndHebronMilitaryZone

  • Please link your tweets to:

Our Action Alert, to encourage organisations acting for Palestine to sign it: bit.ly/1QD8p8e

Our call for action to encourage everyone in your social media circle to take five minutes to take an action that will help this campaign reach its goal: bit.ly/1QD8wR4

The petition to #OpenShuhadaSt : http://bit.ly/21wltTi

Or to any of these articles that will help people understand the situation in Hebron:

‘Children living in closed military zone enjoy day of fun’: http://bit.ly/1LqoM7n

‘Peaceful painting activity met with violence by Israeli army’: http://bit.ly/1TMIfl7

‘Ongoing sit-in protest on Shuhaha Street checkpoint’: http://bit.ly/1WSbVLH

’22 years after the Ibrahimi mosque massacre, people still suffer consequences’: http://bit.ly/1nbQObg

‘Demonstrators protest closed military zone under threat of Israeli violence’: http://bit.ly/1LPUlSM

We will also be posting more photos and graphics on Facebook that you can add to tweets

  • You can also use links to the following videos, or use some that you find yourself

Israeli military use stun grenades on young Palestinian school kids: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsV9i3Lt7fo

Israeli forces threaten Palestinians at gunpoint: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP5VZGH8lk4

Palestinian woman gunned down in occupied Hebron: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhLBYENRrKA

Israeli forces harass Palestinians after Friday prayer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYfgBd2as6c

Willful killing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JypHkx4KHmM

 

  • You can write to your representatives using this sample text

Since the 1st of November 2015, the Tel Rumeida neighborhood of Hebron, Palestine, has been declared a “closed military zone.” The zone was specifically designed to include Palestinian neighborhoods while excluding adjacent illegal Israeli settlements. Palestinian residents were forced to register with the Israeli military or else risk being barred from their own homes, while Israeli settlers are free to roam the streets without being stopped. Any Palestinians not registered as residents, international human rights defenders and media are all barred from the area. These restrictions of movement constitute collective punishment, considered illegal under international law.

In the city of Hebron, Palestinian and international human rights defenders are constantly targeted by Israeli forces and settlers from the illegal settlements inside the city for their efforts to document the situation. Meanwhile since the beginning of October over 160 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers, many in incidents Amnesty International has said may amount to unlawful, extrajudicial executions.

As Abed Salaymeh, a Tel Rumeida resident directly impacted by the closed military zone explained, “soldiers and settlers are making life for the Palestinians intolerable to force them to leave their houses voluntarily. This is a crime under international law. They are targeting activists to silence the truth and stop the truth from reaching the whole world.”

We [or I] call on you to act now for the immediate ending of the closed military zone and the restriction of movements imposed on Palestinians in Hebron. It is time for the international community to take action and call on the Israeli government to comply with international law and especially with the Geneva Conventions in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel.

  • If you live in the EU, you can write to your representatives

Using this website (and the text above): http://freepalestine.eu/, write to your EU representatives to urge them to put an end to Human Rights violations in Hebron and more generally in Palestine until Israel complies with International law.

 

  • If you are tweeting, you can choose to address your tweets to several accounts. Here are some examples:

@EuropeUnion European Union

@FedericaMog Vice President of the EU Commission

@enricopetro Member of the Cabinet of EU HR/VP Federica Mogherini

@eu_eeas European External Action Service (EEAS), the EU’s Foreign & Security Policy Service

@StylianidesEU Christos Stylianides, European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management

@Urmaspaet Urmas Paet, Member of European Parliament

@EP_ForeignAff  AFET Committee Press  European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs.

@EU_Commission European Commission

@monicafrassoni Monica Frassoni, Co-Chair of the European Green Party

@LaurentFabius Laurent Fabius, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development

@JHahnEU Johannes Hahn, Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations

@EU_Commission European Commission

@UNRWA  United Nations Relief and Works Agency, responsible for the welfare of Palestinian refugees

@UNHumanRights  Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights

@UN

@UNOCHA

@JohnKerry US Secretary of State John Kerry

@StateDept US Department of State

If you live in the US, you can tweet your representatives/senators. This site lists them by postal code, and once you click on someone it provides a direct link to their twitter account

@hrw Human Rights Watch

@USCGJerusalem US Consulate in Jerusalem

@usembassyta US Embassy in Tel Aviv

@CanEmbIsrael Canadian Embassy to Israel

@AusAmbIsrael Australian Embassy Israel

@indemtel Indian Embassy Israel

@ukinisrael British Embassy Israel

@AmbTelAviv  Italian Embassy

@martinoweiss Austrian Ambassador to in Israel

@MID_RF  Russian Embassy

@SwedeninIL  Swedish Embassy in Israel

@NLinIsrael  Dutch Embassy in Tel Aviv

@MAECgob Spanish ministry of the exterior and international cooperation

@Minrel_Chile Chilean foreign ministry