21st December, 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, al Khalil team | Al Khalil, occupied Palestine
Children and teachers of Ziad Jaber elementary school in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron) are daily subjected to body searches and intimidation by armed Israeli soldiers at checkpoints, as they walk to school.
International ISM activists monitored a checkpoint right in front of the school two times today: during the morning when children go to it and during the afternoon, when they go back home.
During the morning, when teachers and students went to school, as well as during the afternoon when they left school after the exams, international observers monitored:
20 male adults body searched
12 male teachers body searched
11 females bag searched
34 boys body searched
~150 people passed throught the checkpoint
Some boys turned around because they did not want to be humiliated due to the body search, avoiding the street they were walking through.
December 20th, 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, al Khalil team | Al Khalil, occupied Palestine
Sunday, 20th December 2015, Israeli forces shot and injured three Palestinians at Shuhada checkpoint in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron), before arbitrarily firing towards civilians and journalists in the area.
Israeli forces shot a girl in the head with live ammunition. A Palestinian bystander, trying to help the girl and pull her towards the Palestinian side of the checkpoint right after she was shot, was shot in the mouth by Israeli forces. The man was trying to help, knowing that Israeli forces would most likely deny the girl any medical aid if the Palestinian ambulance was unable to reach her. Another Palestinian bystander was shot. The Palestinian girl, according to eye-witnesses, did have a knife, but instead of trying to disarm her, Israeli forces directly shot her in the head.
Photo credit: YASThe ambulance was denied access to the injured Palestinian girlIsraeli forces used the roof of a Palestinian family’s house to shoot
Whereas the Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance, at the scene after only a few minutes, was denied access to the girl in order to deliver first aid, the two Palestinians injured were taken to hospital. After this happened, the Israeli forces threw stun grenades and shot tear-gas at passer-bys and Red Crescent medics to prevent them from coming any closer and seeing what happened. Journalists that arrived at the scene were also attacked with stun grenades and threatened by Israeli forces with rubber coated steel bullets.
Israeli forces entered the H1-side of al-Khalil, that is under full Palestinian control, running into the Palestinian market and indiscriminately shooting tear gas at civilians going about their everyday life. They entered the roof of a Palestinian family’s home to use it as a base for shooting tear gas and rubber coated steel bullets at Palestinians in the street. A 5-year old boy was injured when Israeli forces fired directly at a school-bus passing by the checkpoint.
Israeli forces entered the market into the H1-area of Hebron
Shuhada checkpoint has recently been closed for ‘renovations’, stopping Palestinians from accessing the Palestinian neighbourhood of Tel Rumeida, located in the H2-area under full Israeli control. This neighbourhood, including the small stretch of Shuhada Street that Palestinians still had access to, has been declared a ‘closed military zone’ on November 1st. With the closure of the checkpoint, the restricted freedom of movement of Palestinians, has been completely brought to a halt.
December 18th, 2015 | UN Press release | al Khalil, Occupied Palestine
UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders Michel Forst. Photo: MINUSTAH
GENEVA – United Nations independent experts today expressed grave concerns at continued reports that human rights defenders are being subjected to physical attacks, harassment, arrest and detention, and death threats, particularly in Hebron in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), in an apparent bid by Israeli authorities and settler elements to stop their peaceful and important work.
“Amidst a charged and violent atmosphere over past months in the OPT, Palestinian and international defenders are providing a ‘protective presence’ for Palestinians at risk of violence, and documenting human rights violations,” said the UN Special Rapporteur the situation of human rights defenders, Michel Forst.
“The continued harassment of human rights defenders in the OPT, who are exercising their rights to freedoms of expression and association, is simply unacceptable. It should cease immediately,” Mr. Forst stressed.
Earlier this month, a group of UN human rights experts urged the Israeli Government to ensure a protective environment where human rights defenders in the Occupied Palestinian Territory can work without unlawful restriction and without fear of retaliatory acts.
“We recently addressed concerns to the Israeli Government regarding retaliatory acts by Israeli authorities against members of one organisation based in Hebron, Youth Against Settlements, after its Centre was subjected to raids and settlers allegedly called for it to be closed,” noted the UN Special Rapporteur the situation of human rights in the OPT, Makarim Wibisono.
“The Centre has now effectively been shut down as a result of the Israeli military declaring the surrounding area a military zone,” Mr. Wibisono said. “We urge Israeli authorities to lift this military order.”
The experts’ statement has been endorsed by the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Mr. Juan E. Méndez, and by the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Mr. Maina Kiai.
December 18th, 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, al Khalil team | al Khalil, occupied Palestine
On Thursday, 17th December 2015, Israeli forces yet again body-searched every male adult – and also youth – passing Ziad Jaber school in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron). Most female adults were also searched by male soldiers, a clear violation of their privacy. Various female students were also searched or had their bag searched.
These body-searches by Israeli forces are humiliating and often conducted aggressively with soldiers kicking the legs of the Palestinians and pushing them in the kneepit almost making them fall.
Not even children and youth – especially protected by UN-Conventions and international law, are exempted from these rigorous, frightening and humiliating searches. All of this hapens regularly both on the way to and from school thus also infringing on the children’s basic right to education.
Israeli soldier checking trash-bins before allowing the care-taker to dispose of the trash just five meters past the military gate
School-children walk past soldiers and infamous settler Ofer on their way to schoolA school-boy looks on as his teacher is body-searched by Israeli forces right outside the schoolIsraeli forces body-searching elderly man at gunpointIsraeli forces body-searching teenage boyIsraeli forces aggressively body-searching teenage boyTeenage boy empties his pockets before body-search by Israeli forcesTeenage boy aggressively body-searched by Israeli forcesA group of school-children looks on as Israeli forces body-search a teenage boyPalestinian youth body-searched at gunpoint by Israeli forces
Two boys watch Israeli forces body-searching their father
December 17th, 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, al Khalil team | al Khalil, occupied Palestine
On Thursday, December the 17th, hundreds of Palestinians in occupied Al-Khalil (Hebron) gathered to protest against Israel’s policy of withholding the bodies of Palestinian martyrs killed since the beginning of October.
The peaceful demonstration started at Haras Mosque and continued towards Ibn Rushd roundabout with many martyr posters, signs, Palestinian flags and chanting. Many friends and relatives of the martyrs were present, mourning the loss of the more than thirty martyrs from Al-Khalil and more than 123 martyrs from all around the occupied Palestinian territory killed since the beginning of October this year.
The demonstration was organized by the movement “We need our children” (Bidna awladna). This movement was created recently on the initiative of the families of the martyrs in Al-Khalil to demand the release of Palestinian bodies, still being kept in Israel. This unlawful policy not only violates international law but also denies the families the right to mourn the loss of their husbands, sons, mothers and daughters. “Some of the mothers haven’t realized that their sons are dead. Some times the fathers try to call their sons on the mobile”, a brother of a martyr explains.
For the past two weeks a solidarity tent has been established near the Haras mosque in order to create a space for the families to mourn, share the pain and support each other. Not only the relatives waiting for the return of the martyr’s bodies are present in the tent, but also the relatives, who already received the bodies of their loved ones, attend the tent in solidarity, as the father of Dania (17 years) and Udey Irsheid (24 years) who both were killed by Israeli forces in the last two months.
Solidarity tent for the martyr’s families
The policy of withholding the bodies of killed Palestinians constitutes another measurement in the collective punishment against the Palestinian people, which is illegal according to international law.
