Tag: Hebron - Page 85 - International Solidarity Movement

Armed settler invades schoolyard in Hebron

20th November 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

Yesterday, at approximately 11:00 in al-Khalil (Hebron) a settler from a nearby illegal settlement approached the Qurtuba school in H2 with a gun [H2 is the area of Hebron under Israeli military civil and security control]. The settler entered the school grounds, terrifying the children with his loaded gun. After some time the settler left but the children were forced to evacuate a building and move to another area of the school. The teachers asked for international presence until school was finished that day.

The children were rushed out of school early and internationals and Palestinians stood at a prominent place to ensure the children were safe. Not long after this, a settler attacked a Palestinian and threatened another. The settler threatened to stab a 16-year-old boy and another local Palestinian who tried to film the incident. 40-year-old Jawad Abu Aisha stated, “The settler told Awne (the 16-year-old) that he would bring a knife to stab him. Awne told me and I tried to tell the soldier so he would do something but he did not do anything. When I tried to film the settler he attacked me and tried to break my mobile but did not manage to do so.”

Photo by Christian Peacemakers Teams – Palestine

Eventually, and after much prompting by the Palestinians, the soldier stepped in and pulled the settler away. Both Palestinians were left badly shaken by the attack.

Two Palestinian youths arrested in Hebron

20th November 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

Late yesterday afternoon in Hebron, Israeli forces arrested two Palestinian youths, 15-year-old Ahmed Alazeh and 21-year-old Dea’a Abu Dawoud.

A local Palestinian contact reported to ISM that Alazeh was charged with throwing stones at soldiers, while Abu Dawoud was arrested after saying to soldiers at the checkpoint, “what do you think, I have a knife?” after soldiers made him walk multiple times through a metal detector.

Stone throwing is a serious accusation as the Israeli cabinet recently approved a law which enables Israeli courts to sentence Palestinians to up to twenty years of imprisonment for throwing stones at Israeli military personnel.

The two Palestinians were arrested near the Shuhada checkpoint. The checkpoint leads to Shuhada street, a street in which Palestinians have been completely restricted from since 2000, and the neighbourhood of Tel Rumeida.

The soldiers closed the checkpoint while they detained the youths and awaited the arrival of police. The closure forced residents of Tel Rumeida neighbourhood to wait up to 45 minutes before being able to continue their walk home.

The police arrived approximately 45 minutes after the first young Palestinian was detained; after a few minutes of arguing both Palestinians were led to the police car and taken away.

Israeli forces fire 29 tear gas canisters towards youths and schoolchildren in Hebron

19th November 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

This morning in al-Khalil (Hebron), clashes broke out in the Qeitun area starting between 07:00 and 08:00 near the Qeitun checkpoint. By 08:00 the group of Palestinian teenagers and young boys present had grown to approximately 100 individuals, since the school closed, most likely due to tear gas drifting inside. The large group of schoolchildren marched towards the checkpoint while chanting and shouting. Some of the boys threw stones at the checkpoint, though no soldier was either hit with a stone or injured.

The clash went on for one and a half hours, with Israeli forces firing many tear gas canisters at the children. Two ISM’ers present saw how a group of soldiers tried to ambush a group of children, seemingly in an attempt to arrest them.

An ISM’er present stated, “Suddenly five or six soldiers came running from an alleyway, the kids saw them in time, and fled. I yelled at them [the soldiers] that they should leave, and that it was only children.”

Overall approximately 29 tear gas canisters and one stun grenade were fired.

At around 11 am the soldiers were still stationed outside the checkpoint, aiming their guns down the street, even though no stone throwing youths were present.

Israeli forces ignore settler attacking child

9th November 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

This afternoon in al-Khalil (Hebron), ISM activists witnessed a Zionist settler push a 10-year-old child to the ground. The settler was driving close to Salaymeh checkpoint, through a group of Palestinian schoolchildren walking home. He suddenly stopped, exited his car, and violently pushed the young boy.

ISM activists who saw the incident tried to speak to nearby Israeli border police, who stated that they had not seen anything, so were unable to take action. The ISM’ers pointed out that the settler was still present, and the young boy was crying and bleeding, and then the officers asked, “what do you want us to do?”

An ISM’er present stated, “We tried to say to the border police that they could at least speak to the little boy, and stop the settler from leaving the area, or even speak to the many witnesses present. However they refused to do anything, and even waved to the settler as he drove away in his car, smiling. We pointed out that if a Palestinian adult male had pushed a young settler child to the ground, they would have taken action whether they has seen the incident or not. They had no response to this.”

VIDEO: 14-year-old violently arrested in Hebron

6th November 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

On October 30th, a 14-year-old boy was violently arrested by Israeli forces in al-Khalil (Hebron).

Due to a teachers strike in solidarity with underpaid public workers, school in Hebron finished at 10:00 in the morning. Several young boys threw stones towards the military, armed at Salaymeh checkpoint, and the soldiers then fired three canisters of tear gas.

The children threw more stones, and the soldiers fired approximately ten more tear gas grenades in several rounds. This continued until 11:00 when an army vehicle drove up from a side street at a high speed. Three soldiers jumped outside one of the school buildings, before running into a school yard and arrested the 14-year-old boy.