20th August 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil team | al-Walja, Occupied Palestine
At 10am on the 18th of August in al-Walja, north of Bethlehem, the Israeli army demolished the residence of a Palestinian man. The man was alone on his land when the solders arrived with a bulldozer. The soldiers stated that they had a court decision to demolish the area but refused to show it to the man.
Approximately 15 Palestinians from Aida refugee camp and a group of ISM volunteers set out on the morning of the 19th of August to clean up the area. Before the demolition, the area consisted of a patio, a small home where the man slept, a kitchen and a toilet. Most of the structures were completely destroyed and the owners belongings were scattered around the broken bricks and stones.
Palestinians and ISM’ers cleaned up the area and gathered what was left of the man’s belongings. After a few hours of work, most of the debris from the demolition had been cleaned. It was possible to reuse broken bricks to create a new stone patio. The Palestinians also built a tent to create some shelter from the hot sun.
19th August 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine
Yesterday, the Israeli army demolished the homes of three Palestinian families in al-Khalil (Hebron).
At around 11pm on August 17th, a large Israeli military presence began to accumulate in the area of Daersat Alser where the homes of Abu Eisha and Marwan Qawasmeh’s families are located. Parts of both of these homes were demolished last month as part of the collective punishment that took place all over the West Bank after the deaths of three Israeli settler youths.
A group of Palestinians and internationals made several attempts to move closer to the home to document but soldiers began to target the group with the lasers of their guns to prevent them from moving closer. Immediately after the Israeli army had left the path to the home of Abu Eisha, it was possible to view the damage made. A side of the house on the top floor was blown out and damage to most of the walls and interior of the house was extensive.
Before dawn rounds of tear gas were fired from an Israeli jeep towards the home of Abu Eisha. Internationals also noticed a small white drone circling around the entire area.
Up until the early hours there was still a heavy military presence on the main road of the Daersat Alser area. 17 armoured military jeeps, eight cement trucks and around 80 Israeli soldiers and police were visible at the beginning of the path towards the home of Marwan Qawasmeh.
Preparation had begun to seal the home with cement in order to render it unusable.
Close to 5am, the Israeli army began making preparations to evacuate the area as a group of soldiers began to load several trailers with what appeared to be metal piping, electrical wires and tubing that had been confiscated from the home of Marwan Qawasmeh.
Meanwhile, a soldier that was standing near the Qawasmeh home began to aim the laser of his weapon at the heads of various international volunteers and members of the press, for no apparent reason.
The front yard and door of the Qawasmeh family were completely blocked by large piles of rubble. Piles of wet cement covered the path to the back of the home. The entire bottom floor of the home was filled with cement and there were notices on the sealed door in Arabic and Hebrew which stated:
“This building is being shut under the command of the Military Commander. Due to the shutdown of this building, no new buildings are allowed to be built on this land. Due to the shutdown of part of this building, this place is declared unsafe and no one is permitted to enter.”
Almost the entire façade of the home had been destroyed and remains unusable with most of the rooms burnt and now completely visible from the outside. In the home, there were no doors or windows and all sinks and toilets had been smashed.
Other international volunteers arrived in the area of Wad Abu Ktela at around 2am where Israeli forces had congregated to detonate the family home of Hussam Qawasmeh. Clashes between Israeli military forces and local Palestinian youths had broken out nearby.
In the meantime, soldiers shot several tear gas canisters inside another Palestinian home in Abu Ktela and eleven people suffered from excessive tear gas inhalation and had to be taken to the Alia Hospital.
Solders hid throughout the neighborhood and around 50 additional solders surrounded the targeted home of the Hussam Qawasmeh family. Solders aimed snipers at internationals walking in the area and prevented locals from walking or driving down surrounding roads.
From a rooftop of a neighbouring house, Palestinians and internationals saw solders placing explosives inside the home and heard drilling noises for several hours. At the start of the morning prayer, at around 4:30am, the Israeli military forces blew up the home of the Qawasmeh family.
The home was completely destroyed and only dust and ruins remain. When Palestinians, media and internationals rushed down the street in an attempt to get closer to the home the Israeli military fired several stun grenades and rubber-coated bullets in their direction. Around 150 Palestinians gathered at the home around 5am in solidarity with the family. Family members were crying and visibly distraught.
Shortly after 5 am, all the homes had been demolished and the military presence had been lifted. According to Israeli officials, the homes of Hussam Qawasmeh, Marwan Qawasmeh and Amer Abu Eisha were destroyed as punishment for their alleged involvement in the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli settler teens in June. As the forces left, a group of soldiers exchanged congratulatory hugs and took a celebratory picture together.
9th August 2014 |Sarah Algherbawi | Gaza, Occupied Palestine
Sarah Algherbawi is a Palestinian citizen who was born in Saudi Arabia in 1991 and now lives in the Gaza Strip. She finished her BSc degree in Business Administration at the Islamic University of Gaza, and now works as a media project coordinator.
It is extremely difficult to find a starting point when trying to write about martyrs. The death toll till is now 1898 people, including 433 children, 243 women, and 85 elderly, while the number of injured people is 9837.
They have left thousands of stories, and incurable pain, behind.
I’m Ibraheem Ismaeel Al-Ghoul. You can find me in the photo on the left. I had a twin brother. We lived together for nine months inside mom’s womb and only ten days out.
I thought we’d also share our lives, play together, go to kindergarten, school, and university together, and have the same friends. I though we would be friends forever.
My twin was killed before we could even grow a little and see life outside.
I lost my other half, Mohammed.
My twin brother wasn’t my only loss. I also lost my mother, my father and my older brother Wael. I’m so sorry I will never have the chance to know them, nor my two lovely sisters, Hanady and Asma’a – they were also killed.
My brothers and sisters were kept inside an ice cream freezer. You can see them in the photo on the right. There was no room for more dead people at the hospital.
There’s no room for more pain either.
On Sunday, 3rd of August, the Al-Goul family lost 10 members, including Ibraheem’s family and five members of his uncle’s family.
I’m Ramy Rayan. I had a mom and a dad who loved me like no other parents on earth did. I was their only son. They gave me everything. I was their life.
I also had a lovely wife and four children. My oldest child was only eight-years-old when I was killed. I was killed for doing my job. I did not hold a gun; all I had was my camera.
They didn’t just steal my life; they stole the lives of a whole family. I died only once. I wonder how many times my poor family will die every day now that they have to live without me?
They will never forget. They will never forgive.
I’m Momen Qraiqeh, a Palestinian photo journalist, aged 27-years-old.
In 2008, I lost both my legs to Israeli air strikes while I was doing my job.
In 2014, I lost my house to the same enemy.
No one can predict what else they may lose.
We all share the same pain. We all know and feel what loss means.
None of us can imagine how the rest of our lives, if it is even right to call this life, will be after this moment.
We lost the apples of our eyes. Our innocent, poor, and pure babies were killed with no guilt.
They loved life, but weren’t given the chance to live. It was their simplest right, to live!
We had a house here.
We had a life, memories, joys and sorrows…all were completely buried under the wreckage. Everything was gone in a blink of an eye.
It takes time, health, and wealth to build a house. It takes so long to create the tiny details and build it up, to make every solid piece beat with life!
Many stories are now meaningless beyond the limits of this place. Many feelings won’t be felt again, and many smells will be missed…
Nothing is left here but destruction, grief, and the unending smell of death.
This is my university.
I built my future here, and my friendships. I had the best times. It was my gateway to the world.
In this building I took many pictures with my friends at our graduation ceremony. I loved it as much as I love my friends.
It was beautiful, wasn’t it?
Does it seem like a place where terrorism can be practiced? I suppose yes, the most dangerous type of terrorism is practiced here– knowledge building! Here we learned how to face the occupation with education and knowledge, and to make the world aware of who we are.
16th July 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Charlie Andreasson | Gaza, Occupied Palestine
Just one or two hours after the ceasefire talks broke down, Sohil Deeb Mahmoud al Hosris’ house was completely demolished in the densely populated refugee camp of Shati in an air strike.
Photo by Charlie Andreasson
It was a miracle nobody were killed or injured.
Where the former house stood, only a large pile of building blocks remained, along with smashed furniture and other belongings.
Photo by Charlie Andreasson
Volunteers helped with clearing the narrow footpath from stones, while others are helping to rescue the few belongings that can be saved. It is of little comfort to Sohils and his family when he has lost everything that he is not alone; 570 houses have been demolished, in Gaza alone, since the current military operation was launched, this number does not included the houses demolished by Israeli forces in the West Bank.
Photo by Charlie Andreasson
A ceasefire, without having resolved the root cause of the situation in Gaza, can never lead to lasting peace. Withdrawing to ’67 borders, respecting international law, and lifting the siege appears to be a painful idea for this occupying power, but it is the only way to provide protection to all citizens. This does not even begin to touch on the idea of a one-state solution.
Colonisation policies will not bring peace and security, only a continued escalation in violence, more uncertainty, and more demolished homes.
Following the declaration of finding of the bodies of 3 Israeli settlers who had been missing since 12 June 2014, Israeli forces have escalated their attacks against Palestinian civilians in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). Last night and this morning, Israeli forces killed a Palestinian civilian in Jenin refugee camp in the north of the West Bank, destroyed 2 houses in Hebron in the south of the West Bank, and launched a series of air strikes against several targets in the Gaza Strip. Thus, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces since the disappearance of the three Israeli settlers has mounted to 12, including 9 civilians, one of whom is a child. This escalation, which has been ongoing since the disappearance of the three Israeli settlers, in accompanied by Israeli threats to expand the Israeli offensive against the oPt in retaliation for the deaths of the three settlers.
According to investigations conducted by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), in the early morning of Tuesday, 01 July 2014, an Israeli undercover unit moved into Jenin refugee camp in the north of the West Bank, traveling in a civilian car with a Palestinian registration plate. Members of the unit stationed in al-Samran quarter in the south of the camp. At approximately 03:05, Yousef Ibrahim Ahmed Ibn Gharra “Abu Zagha,” 20, was going back home after buying some foodstuffs for the pre-fast meal of Ramadan Month. Immediately, members of the Israeli undercover unit opened fire at him. He was instantly killed by 3 bullets to the heart and the left shoulder and forearm. A number of civilians evacuated the victim’s body to Dr. Khalil Suleiman Hospital in Jenin. According to eyewitnesses, the area was completely quiet when members of the Israeli undercover unit fired at the victims.
In a serious precedent, Israeli forces destroyed 2 houses belonging to the families of Marwan Sa’di al-Qawasmi and ‘Aamer ‘Omar Abu ‘Eisaha in Hebron, on the ground of suspicions that the two Palestinians were involved in the abduction of the three Israeli settlers, before arresting, questioning and convicting them. Al-Qawasmi’s house is a 110-square-meter flat located on the first floor of a 3-story building owned by his father and brothers, while Abu ‘Eisha’s house is a 100-square-emter flat in a building belonging to his father. PCHR stresses that the destruction of the two houses is part of the collective punishment policy and reprisals against Palestinian civilians in violation of Article 33 of the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to Protection of Civilians in Times of War which provides that: “No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.”
In the Gaza Strip, Israeli warplanes launched 11 airstrikes, in which they fired 44 missiles, against paramilitary training sites, agricultural stores. The airstrikes were launched against targets in most areas in the Gaza Strip. Three Palestinian workers sustained bruises, and Palestinian civilians were extremely terrified by the sounds of the heavy explosions.
PCHR strongly condemns this crime, which further proves the use of excessive force by Israeli forces against the Palestinian civilians in disregard for the civilians’ lives. Moreover, PCHR condemns the destruction of the two houses in Hebron and the airstrikes against the Gaza Strip. Therefore, PCHR calls upon the international community to take immediate and effective actions to put an end to such crimes and reiterates its call for the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 to fulfill their obligations under Article 1; i.e., to respect and to ensure respect for the Convention in all circumstances, and their obligation under Article 146 to prosecute persons alleged to commit grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention. These grave breaches constitute war crimes under Article 147 of the same Convention and Protocol I Additional to the Geneva Conventions.
