Tag: House Demolition - Page 11 - International Solidarity Movement

The 13th anniversary of Rachel Corrie’s death

15th March 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Gaza, occupied Palestine

Today marks the thirteenth anniversary since the passing of fellow ISM activist Rachel Corrie (April 10, 1979 – March 16, 2003). Rachel was tragically crushed to death under the front blade of an Israeli military, American funded, Caterpillar D9R bulldozer near Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. Rachel died whilst placing herself in the path of the military bulldozer to protect the family and their home that the bulldozer was on route for and due to be demolished. Rachel’s death created a global outcry towards the Israeli military’s actions and prompted an international investigation under the contested circumstances in which she died during the height of the second intifada.

Rachel had come to Gaza during part of her senior-year college assignment that connected her home town with Rafah in a sister cities project. Whilst in Palestine, Rachel had engaged with other International Solidarity Movement (ISM) activists in efforts to prevent the Israeli army’s continued demolition of Palestinian homes in operations that the Israeli military claims were aimed at eliminating weapons smuggling tunnels.

Less than two months after Rachel had arrived into Palestine, on March 16, 2003, Corrie was killed. Her death came during an Israeli military operation after a three-hour peaceful demonstration between occupying Israeli forces operating two armoured bulldozers and eight ISM activists.

The exact nature of her death and the culpability of the bulldozer operator have since been disputed largely through extended judicial proceedings, with fellow ISM protestors that were at the scene saying that the Israeli soldier operating the bulldozer deliberately ran over Corrie, and Israeli eyewitnesses saying that it was an accident since the bulldozer operator could not see her.

Joe Carr, an American ISM activist who used the assumed name of Joseph Smith during his time in Gaza, gave the following account: “Still wearing her fluorescent jacket, she knelt down at least 15 meters in front of the bulldozer, and began waving her arms and shouting, just as activists had successfully done dozens of times that day…. When it got so close that it was moving the earth beneath her, she climbed onto the pile of rubble being pushed by the bulldozer…. Her head and upper torso were above the bulldozer’s blade, and the bulldozer operator and co-operator could clearly see her. Despite this, the operator continued forward, which caused her to fall back, out of view of the driver. He continued forward, and she tried to scoot back, but was quickly pulled underneath the bulldozer. We ran towards him, and waved our arms and shouted; one activist with the megaphone. But the bulldozer operator continued forward, until Corrie was all the way underneath the central section of the bulldozer. “

Corrie’s father, Craig Corrie has said “I know there’s stuff you can’t see out of the double glass windows.” But he has denied that as a valid excuse, saying “you’re responsible for knowing what’s in front of your blade… It’s a no brainer that this was gross negligence”. He added that “they had three months to figure out how to deal with the activists that were there.”

The report on the autopsy findings that were initially denied to the public by Israel were later revealed by the Human Rights Watch, who say a copy was provided to them by Craig Corrie, along with a translation provided by the U.S. Department of State. In the report they quote Professor Yehuda Hiss, who performed the autopsy, as concluding, “Her death was caused by pressure on the chest (mechanical asphyxiation) with fractures of the ribs and vertebrae of the dorsal spinal column and scapulas, and tear wounds in the right lung with haemorrhaging of the pleural cavities.”

The Israeli army conducted an investigation into Corrie’s death, which concluded that her death was an accident, and that the driver of the bulldozer could not see Corrie due to limited visibility from his cab. Many have criticised the investigation as bogus and are outraged at the level of direct negligence displayed by the driver and the impunity that the Israeli army receives under Israeli law.

Corrie’s family has been involved in ongoing legal battles through the Israeli supreme court in an attempt to attain justice for Rachel.

Following extended trials in an attempt to attain justice for their daughter, the Corrie family lost their latest appeal in the Israeli Supreme Court on the twelfth of February, 2015, exempting the Israeli defense ministry from liability for actions by its forces that it deemed to be “wartime activity,” but wrongly refused to assess whether those actions violated applicable laws of armed conflict, Human Rights Watch said.

A statement from the Corrie family on the twelfth of February, 2015 read, “Today we received word from our attorneys that the Supreme Court of Israel dismissed our appeal in the wrongful death case of our daughter and sister Rachel Corrie. Our family is disappointed but not surprised. We had hoped for a different outcome, though we have come to see through this experience how deeply all of Israel’s institutions are implicated in the impunity enjoyed by the Israeli military.”

Human Rights Watch documented that in the primary stages of Rachel’s trial, Israeli investigators failed to call any Palestinian witnesses, threatened to indict other foreign volunteers who witnessed Corrie’s death while questioning them about the incident, and failed even to ask witnesses to draw a map of the area at the time of the incident. The initial military inquiry into her death even concluded that “no signs substantiate [the] assertion that Ms. Corrie was run over by a bulldozer,” a conclusion that the military later reversed.

Rachel’s death is an extremely sad and timely reminder of the callus acts of negligence and the immunity that the Israeli military receives under Israeli law. However, Corrie’s death is no way in vein nor is it forgotten. The spirit she displayed in her actions along with her will to take up the fight against injustice to those whom it is imposed upon by the zionist regime will forever be remembered.

At the time of her death, Yaser Arafat, the first President of the Palestinian Authority, offered his condolences and gave the “blessings of the Palestinian people” to Corrie. The municipality of Ramallah in the West Bank dedicated a street to Rachel Corrie whilst a cafe in Al-Khalil/Hebron bears her name. Yearly demonstrations are held in the name of Rachel by Palestinians and by activists for human rights alike. The memory and the fight for justice displayed by Rachel will not be forgotten and will continue to be remembered by those fighting the war of injustice and human rights abuses that plague the Palestinian people to this day and onwards, until occupation is non existent and there is peace.

Home demolition in Beit Hanina forces family to move into Shuafat Refugee Camp, East Jerusalem

10th February 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah Team | East Jerusalem, occupied Palestine

Yesterday evening, we went to visit 55 year old widow, Kifaya Rishek, after her home in Beit Hanina, occupied East Jerusalem, was demolished on the 27th of January.

After losing her house in Beit Hanina, where she lived together with her five children and 16 grandchildren, Kifaya has now moved with her family into a smaller 5th floor apartment in the Shuafat Refugee Camp, East Jerusalem.

The Shuafat refugee Camp is completely surrounded by an Apartheid Wall and its residents must cross the Shuafat checkpoint in order to access the city of Jerusalem.

Her son, Ashraf, who used to live with her in Beit Hanina, now rents another apartment for 1.500 shekels a month in the same Camp, where he lives with his 4 children and wife. His brother, Murad, also had to find a new place to live and moved with his wife and four children into the Old City.

Kifaya’s son Sherif pays the rent for the new home where the rest of them live together, costing him 1.700 shekels a month. Kifaya feels very sad as this place is not really her own. In their old house, the children had a patio where they could play outside. Kifaya recalls how much she misses her garden, with all the trees and plants she took care of for years, and today are all destroyed along the house.

The children remember that the night before the house demolition they had asked Kifaya to clean their patio because they were expecting snow to fall and they wanted to play with clean snow in the morning. Since people never know when a house demolition will actually happen, that morning they woke up instead with the Israeli police breaking into their home with dogs, kicking everyone out. To this day, the children say they are scared that the police might come again and raid and destroy their home.

From left to right: 10 year old, Tala; 8 year old, Bader; 3 year old, Fajer; 12 year old, Adel; and 5 year old, Mira.

Apart from the new expenses of paying house rent, the family must cover other costs such as taxi transportation for their children to go to school. Just for 10 year old, Tala, alone they must pay a taxi driver 600 shekels a month to take her to school. The Camp has no proper public transportation, leaving many families with no choice but paying taxis.

10 year old, tala, made this drawing in school, showing her home before the demolition and afterwords. — 10 year old, Tala, made this drawing, showing her home before the demolition and afterwords in rubble.

Another difficulty for Kifaya is that she must pay 120 shekels every time she takes her 11 year old granddaughter, Malak, to physiotherapy at the ALYN Hospital. Malak suffers from a physical disability in her legs. Although she receives special disabilities insurance, certain things in her treatment are not covered, such as the machines and her special boots, costing Kifaya another 1.000 shekels every time these need to be renewed as she keeps growing.

11 year old, Malak, has a physical disability in her legs and must take treatment in the ALYN Hospital.

Her new home is tighter and general life in the Shuafat Camp is very difficult. The Israeli Municipality, which is responsible for its services, does not provide sufficient water and electricity, and does not pick the garbage from the streets.

The Israeli Minucipality is responsible for services such as picking the garbage, but they refuse to do so and the streets are always dirty. — The Israeli Municipality is responsible for services such as picking the garbage, but they refuse to do so and the streets are always dirty.

Just as in Kifaya’s case, Jerusalemite Palestinians who come to live here do so in order not to lose their Jerusalem ID’s, which basically allows them to continue living in Jerusalem.

Israel’s policy of house demolitions, together with the ever growing living costs in Jerusalem, are all part of a broader plan to force Palestinians to leave the city or, as a last resource, move into the over crowded Shuafat Refugee Camp.

The streets in the Camp are in very bad conditions with holes and traffic jams are seen everyday.

Jerusalem family threatened with demolition order

8th February 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Quds team | Jerusalem, occupied Palestine

Israeli authorities on 2nd February 2016 issued a demolition order for the fence and gate surrounding the Amro family’s home in Wadi al-Joz in occupied East Jerusalem. The family was given 48 hours to remove the fence and gate before an imminent demolition.

The house is home to Nureddin and Sharif Amro, two blind brothers living with their elderly mother, their wives and their seven children, all of whom have lived in this house for their whole lives. A part of the home was demolished on March 31, 2015 when Jerusalem municipal authorities and police surrounded the house at 5:30 am, locked the Amros in one room, and demolished part of the house around them and much of the yard, trees and the wall that protected them from the busy street. During this demolition, Israeli forces attacked Nureddin’s brother as well as his children and wife, and buried their belongings in the demolished rooms under rubble. This demolition was completely illegal even under Israeli law, as the family never received a demolition order.

All the Palestinian homes in the neighbourhood adjacent to the old city in Wadi al-Joz are under threat of demolition by Israeli authorities as the land has been zoned by the municipality as a national park. Israeli authorities have long used this strategy of land zoning and confiscation across occupied East Jerusalem in their campaign of ethnic cleansing against Palestinians, while continuing to promote settlement building, which is illegal in the occupied territory including East Jerusalem under article 49 of the 4th Geneva convention.

This demolition order comes at a time when Israeli forces are stepping up demolitions of Palestinian homes, leaving many families homeless. The Amro family’s only hope now is that the Israeli courts will actually consider their appeal against the demolition of the fence.

Additional Resources:

Read an interview with Nureddin Amro about the house demolition: http://thisweekinpalestine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/February-214-2016.pdf (page 24 f.)

Nureddin’s article about his home demolition in The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/israel-wrecked-my-home-now-it-wants-my-land/2015/07/31/79808fca-36cf-11e5-9d0f-7865a67390ee_story.html?tid=pm_opinions_pop_b

Report on demolition of the Amro family house in March 2015: https://palsolidarity.org/2015/04/home-demolition-in-jerusalem-they-want-our-land-we-need-help-to-protect-it/

Three new homes will be demolished in Jerusalem

7th February 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah Team | South Jerusalem, occupied Palestine

Yesterday, on Saturday February 6th, we visited the house of 49 year old, Salah Abukaf, who lives in the neighborhood of Sur Baher in occupied South Jerusalem, and two days ago received a house demolition order.

Salah Abukaf's home — Salah Abukaf’s home

Last year, on September 13th, a 68 year old illegal Israeli settler died in a car accident near Abukaf’s home. The Israeli police first said that this was a regular car accident, but then decided to accuse his 18 year old son, Mohammed Abukaf, together with 4 other friends, all between 17 and 19 years of age, Walid al Atrash, Abed Dweyad, Jihad Tawil, and Ali Sabra, of throwing stones to the car and creating the accident.

At approximately 3 in the morning on September 24 and again on September 25, the Israeli police violently raided the homes of these five young men and arrested them. The police also confiscated their Jerusalem ID’s, which poses a serious problem because when Palestinian’s lose their Jerusalem ID they lose their right to live there and all other residents’ rights. These arrests were carried out despite the fact that the Israeli police has not yet presented evidence of them throwing stones to the car.

According to Salah Abukaf, the five young men were sitting in a place 500 meters away from the car at the moment of the accident, and denies the claims that his son threw stones. “They are accusing my son of things he didn’t do.”

Salah Abukaf talks in an interview for Maan news.

Salah's wife is suffering with this situation and couldn't help crying in her interview. — Salah’s wife is suffering with this situation and couldn’t help crying in her interview.

On Friday, February 5th, the Israeli police gave home demolition orders to three of the young men’s homes, for Mohammed Abukaf, Walid al Atrash and Abed Dweyad. According to these orders, the families have up to the 10th of February to make an appeal to the court. Nonetheless, the families say that according to the way Israeli authorities normally behave, they are afraid that when waiting for the court’s answer to their appeals, the Israeli forces will come to demolish their houses anyway, making their efforts futile.

Israeli forces came into the house and drilled house into the walls. The family suspects they were measuring how thick they are to dynamite the house. — Israeli forces came into Abukaf’s house and drilled holes into the walls. The family suspects they were measuring how thick the walls are in order to dynamite the house.

SAMSUNG — Another hole in the main room’s wall.

In the meantime, the family of Salah Abukaf is paying 50.000 shekels, Walid al Atrash 60.000 shekels and Abed Dweyad 75.000 shekels to cover their lawyers’ expenses to fight their cases in the court. These families already suffer from bad financial situations and paying these amounts of money are a big burden for them.

Abukaf explains; “If I knew my son had done something wrong, then I would be willing to accept this, but what the Israeli authorities are doing is simply collective punishment. It is illegal under International Law that they destroy my family’s home where my children live. Where are we going to go now?”

8 year old Hala, on the right side, and 9 year old Hadeel on the left, are the two youngest living in this home.

Mohammed's sister, 17 year old Ala' — Mohammed’s sister, 17 year old Ala’.

In Walid al Atrash’s house, a total of 8 people, including his two parents and five siblings, will be left homeless if their home is demolished.

Abed Dweyad’s home includes a total of seven people, with his two parents and four siblings, will be left homeless as well if their house is demolished.

It is important to note that this event is happening following Israel’s master plan to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from Jerusalem. The objective of this plan is to reduce today’s 37% Palestinian population to 20% by the year 2020, and allow for 80% of its total population to be Israeli Jewish.

Six families in Jerusalem wait for their homes to be demolished

On Thursday, January 7th, the ISM went to visit Kifaya Rishek, a widow who lives in Beit Hanina, occupied East Jerusalem, waiting for her home to be demolished.

But Kifaya is not alone, she lives in this house together with her five children and 16 grandchildren, including 11 year-old, Malak, who is physically disabled. Their financial situation is very difficult; Murad and Ashraf, who have 4 children each, both work cleaning the Cinema City. Sharif has 5 children, and works selling toys in a store. Mohannad has 1 child and works in construction, but his salary is unstable since he works when he is called in by the company. Her daughter, Faiza, is divorced and also lives here with her 2 children. These 5 families who live here will be left homeless.

Friend Nuredin Amro and his son, Abedkarim sit on the far left side. Seven of the children who live in this house are, from left to right: Mira, Mayaan, Ahmad, Yara. On top, Fajer. On the floor, Mohammad and Badar. — Friend Nuredin Amro and his son, Abedkarim, sit on the far left side. Seven of the children who live in this house are, from left to right: Mira, Mayaan, Ahmad, Yara. On top, Fajer. On the floor, Mohammad and Badar.

In 2012, the Israeli municipality of Jerusalem came to Kifaya’s house to tell them that they planned to build a road that would pass through the land where they live and that they would demolish only the outdoor kitchen that sits in the terrasse. With time, the Israeli authorities changed their plan and said they would demolish the whole house.

Kifaya brought her case to court, with the intention of having the lawyer convince the municipality to change the direction of the road so that it would pass through another piece of land that her family owns together with another family, named Zaloum. She would attend the court hearings, but they were always in Hebrew, which she does not understand. In the end, she lost her case in the High Court, leaving her and her family with no more options in the Israeli controlled legal system. All of this is happening even though the house and land belongs to them: all payments are up to date, including their monthly taxes.

This decision on the part of the court and the Israeli authorities only shows that, in reality, the intention behind the demolition of Kifaya’s home is just part of a much larger Zionist plan to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians who live in Jerusalem, and make them refugees inside the West Bank.

The demolition order became effective a week ago, which means that the family lives in the house waiting every day for the workers to come with the bulldozer.

This kind of collective punishment creates a horrible life for Palestinians, as they are all incredibly anxious, sad and absolutely uncertain of not knowing when they will lose their house, because Israel does not give any prior notice as to when they will come with the bulldozer. The demolition can happen at any time, maybe a week, a month or a year ahead. And the family will not only lose their house, since the intention is to build a road, they will also lose their land. Unlike other families who, after the demolition, can still build another home on the same land, the Rishek family is being expelled.

The children’s teachers are seeing signs of distress. They have told the parents that they are not concentrating and their grades are going down in school. Malak says, “I’m afraid that when I go to school, when I come back the house will not be there anymore.”

Malak is 11 years old and has a physical disability in her legs. She gets treatment in the ALYN Pediatric Hospital in Jerusalem.

But the extent of their loss goes far beyond the material loss of their home and land. Since the family is very poor, they cannot afford moving to another neighborhood inside Jerusalem, therefore, they will be forced to relocate inside the West Bank, becoming refugees. This means they will lose their jobs, the children’s school and Malak’s therapy program, their health insurance, and pension plans. Once the family leaves Jerusalem, they will lose their Jerusalem identity cards, together with all their social benefits, such as the insurance for all the children (according to the Jerusalem Municipality Regulation), widow pension plan, health insurance and special disability insurance. The men will also lose their jobs, since they will not be able to move long distances and cross checkpoints to get to their current jobs. All the children go to school in the Shuafat Refugee Camp. When they move into the West Bank, they will need to find a new school. They will lose all their friends, and probably the whole school year, too. Malak’s physiotherapy program, which is covered with insurance in the ALYN Hospital, will also be lost and her parents are afraid they won’t be able to afford another therapy program in the West Bank.

In a situation that produces such levels of anxiety and the feeling of not having control of one’s life, Kifaya has developed a habit of collecting all her important belongings then putting them back in their place. The family has no idea where they will go live afterward.

The living room of Kifaya's family — The living room of Kifaya’s family

In a second interview, we visited Rajeh and Nadia Hawareen, the neighbors who live next door, facing the exact same situation. The road will also pass on top of their land, and this house will be the second house that Israel demolishes for Rajeh and Nadia as collective punishment.

The couple lives in the house with their four children. 2 of them are engaged and plan to marry in August next year, but living with this kind of threat does not allow them to plan their weddings appropriately.

Rajeh explains how they suffer from the same psychological distress as Kifaya’s family. They used up their savings paying all the lawyers, engineers, and professionals they could to find a way to prevent this demolition. But just like Kifaya, they lost their case.

The Hawareen's living room. — The Hawareen’s living room.

“This is our land. They can kill our people, but we will stay. We will never leave it,” Rafeh reassures us. “When you try to prepare your house, you prepare your dreams. And Israel destroys it. I am 50 years old, and I don’t have another 50 years to build my life again. This is very stressful, especially for my wife.”

Rajeh also explains how the situation inside the court is absolutely unfair. Palestinians are not allowed to talk and the hearings are held in Hebrew. The law, of course, is also different for Palestinians and Israelis. Israel also passes special laws for Palestinians who live in Jerusalem, in order to evict them.

“I’ve had enough of 60 years of documentation from international organizations,” Rajeh continues. “We lose our dignity, they treat us like less than animals. We lose everything, we are thrown out to the street. That’s why I don’t like international organizations, establishments or institutions, because they take orders from governments.”

“65 years of writing documents, and nobody listens, no one wants to hear. I made thousands of documents for the UN and OCHA in New York, but nobody does anything. There are no results. We need answers, even if these answers are negative to know what to expect. Governments are hypocrites. They just care about relationships and mutual benefits. They don’t care about the humanitarian issues, the oppressed people. Politics has no mercy.”

“But we never give up. We believe that one day they will hear us.”