June 18, 2019 | International Solidarity Movement | South Hebron Hills, occupied Palestine
The al-Dababsh family watch as their home is demolished. Pic: Basil Adraa
Occupation forces went on a demolition spree yesterday in the South Hebron Hills, bulldozing the homes of four families in two villages.
A convoy of border police, Israeli Civil Administration officials, soldiers and two JCB bulldozers arrived in the village of Khalet al Dabeh at around 9am to destroy a house belonging to Mohammad al Dababsh.
Twelve members of the al Dababsh family including seven children, who have lived in the region for generations, are now homeless and have been given tents to sleep in by the Red Cross.
“People used to live in tents and caves and they had their dream come true to live in a house – they came up from under the ground into the light,’ Basil Adraa, a youth activist from the neighbouring village of al-Tuwani, told ISM.
“Now they have gone back 10 years, living before without light and houses.”
Adraa along with other local activists and ISMers arrived to Khalet al Dabeh just ahead of the demolition.
Members of the al Dababsh family were shouting in distress and at one point attempted to run through the line of border police – who had announced a closed military zone around the house – in a bid to protect his home before it was raised to the ground.
Omar al Dababsh was thrown to the floor by soldiers as he ran. His injuries required urgent medical attention and he was taken to Hebron hospital.
Soldiers also shoved local activists and ISMers in the scuffle.
A Palestinian man lies injured after being thrown to the ground by occupation forces by his demolished home
Adraa was filming the demolition from a roof near the al Dababsh house when soldiers threatened to throw a sound grenade at him if he refused to get down.
A separate building storing solar panel batteries was also destroyed and the panels were confiscated.
After forcing a family of 12 into homelessness, the convoy moved on to the village of al Halawe where they destroyed a further three homes belonging to the Aram family.
Adraa told ISM that a ‘demolition day’ has happened every week this year, except during Ramadan when there were two demolitions in five weeks.
The region of the South Hebron Hills is in Area C of the West Bank where almost all construction by Palestinians is banned by the Israeli government.
Most of the region’s 30 Palestinian villages have demolition orders on at least one building meaning they could be bulldozed at any time.
Local activist group, the Good Shepherd Collective, which raises awareness about demolitions in the South Hebron Hills area stated on its Facebook page: “It is worth noting that these demolitions, injuries, and confiscations do not simply impact and traumatize the families and individuals immediately affected – demolitions, especially during the oppressive heat of the summer, force families to rebuild in order to meet their basic needs, and in the meantime rely on their extended family and community members.”
An Israeli border police aggressively pushes locals and humanitarian observers
Adraa added: “It seems like a Nakba for these people, because the biggest goal for the occupation is to evacuate the people from these villages to the cities. So in this kind of demolition, big demolition, it’s a serious step to evacuate the people and take them from their land which is illegal by international law. They want to demolish houses so that the settlement can expand.”
Despite the ban, which also forbids Palestinians to hook up to the electricity grid and water supply, illegal settlers in the region continue to construct new buildings unimpeded by Israeli forces.
March 6, 2019 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine
Hundreds of women from all over Palestine met in Khan al-Ahmar on Wednesday March 6. The meeting was a response to a call for solidarity made by the General Union of Palestinian women and the residents of Khan al-Ahmar, as the village is facing renewed threats of demolition.
Women met to begin a new wave of resistance in the village after a year of resisting evictions and demolitions. With the upcoming Israeli election, the extreme right in Israel are once again calling for the destruction of Khan al-Ahmar. Disgustingly, politicians are using cleansing and land theft in an attempt to gain votes from segments of Israeli society.
This event, held on the Wednesday before International Women’s Day is especially significant as it marks the first time for several months that a large group have been able to access Khan al-Ahmar. In January Israeli occupation forces denied PA Officials access to the village. This act of defiance by hundreds of Palestinian women will hopefully be the first of many actions to defend Khan al-Ahmar in the coming weeks.
Solidarity with women, solidarity with Khan al-Ahmar, solidarity with Palestine. End the occupation.
In early January, ISM activists visited the villages of Um al-Khair and At-Tuwani in the South Hebron hills in order to participate in renovation work on ancient caves and to bear witness to recent settler violence in both villages. The villages are located in Area C of the occupied West Bank, occupied Palestine, an area controlled entirely by the Israeli civil administration. It is an area that makes up 61% of the West Bank, with a settler population of almost 400,000, and a Palestinian population of just 300,000. Settlements are considered illegal by the international community, yet they continue to expand with the support of the Israeli State and their international allies.
Herding sheep below the illegal settlement construction site close to Um al-Kheir.
The people of Um al-Khair were displaced from al-Arad during the Nakba in 1948, and in the early 1960s purchased the lands of Um al-Khair from Palestinians for 100 camels. These rocky hills and green winding valleys have been their home ever since. Living as refugees, the community of Um al-Khair continue to face racism, discrimination and land theft due to the existence of the illegal settlement of Carmel, the development of which began in 1980. True to the standard procedure of settler- colonialism, the first step was the construction of infrastructure- highway 317, a highway that would connect the outposts of Susiya, Ma’on, Beit Yatir, Asael, Shim’a and Carmel. Subsequently, a military base was placed less than 100 meters from Um Al-Khair and the year after, Carmel outpost was constructed and expanded over time. Research by Bimkom, an Israeli human rights group, shows the gradual expansion and the future plans for the settlement, which will see it grow to occupy more than five times the amount of land it currently has. The settled area will virtually almost enclose Um al-Khair. Within few years, the inhabitants of Um al-Khair fear that they won’t be able to graze their sheep on the surrounding mountains, on land expropriated from the Bedouin community.
Carmel is so close to Um al-Khair that if you peer through the barbed wire it is possible to see inside the windows of homes in the settlement. Despite their closeness, the two communities are worlds apart. Carmel looks like an American suburb. Its well paved roads and large detached houses with green irrigated gardens contrast starkly with Um al-Khair. The villagers’ many efforts to connect to the electricity grid, get appropriate sanitation and sewage services, and even have permanent structures have all been blocked by the Israeli state. Currently, every structure in Um al-Khair bar two have demolition orders against them. 13 demolitions have been carried out by the Israeli military in the past, with 8 demolitions occuring in 2008. The village community has repeatedly applied for permission to build on their land. This would officially recognize their existence, and reduce the chance them being expelled according to Israeli law. All attempts have been unsuccessful. This is apartheid in action- one set of policies for Israelis and another for Palestinians.
Buildings of Um al-Khair, under threat of demolition, with settlement homes visible in the background.
As well as regular violence from state forces in the form of housing demolitions, the villagers also deal with harassment from settlers on a constant basis. Settlers resident in Carmel as well as representatives of Regavim- a far right pro-settler NGO- regularly carry out invasive surveillance on Um al-Khair, flying drones over the village, reporting building or refurbishment efforts to the Israeli army, and filming and harassing shepherds as they herd their animals. Harassment from Regavim representatives took place on the morning of January 10, when a person began filming activists and shepherds, accusing them of crossing onto land claimed by the illegal settlement. After a short argument, he acknowledged the fact that the disputed land belongs to Um al-Khair.
The villagers in the south Hebron hills are subject not only to discrimination and harassment in shape of surveillance, control, limitation of movement and access to resources. With the growth of Carmel settlement, locals have experienced an increase in violent attacks on their unarmed peaceful community. In recent years, settlers have repeatedly thrown stones at people and buildings. In 2000, a shepherd, the brother of our host, was spotted by Carmel settlement security walking on Um al-Khair land close to the settlement. Security personnel fired at him but did not hit him. He escaped and hid in Um al-Khair. Shortly after this, soldiers came on the order of the settlers, found and beat him up so severely that they caused brain damage. Eighteen years after, he is afraid of people, wanders the outskirts of the village all day, avoiding contact even with his own family. In the words of our host “We lost him, he’s with us by body, not by soul”. In 2008, our host’s stepmother attempted to fetch a donkey that had wandered off into a settlement area. At the time, no fence was separating the two communities. A settler saw her and without warning shot at the woman, severely wounding her. The woman was arrested as soon as she was discharged from the hospital. The settler never faced any criminal charges or a trial for attempted murder. While these are only the worst stories, the inhabitants of Um al-Khair are often harassed by settlers without any provocation on a regular basis.
The community of Um al-Khair have stood strong against decades of state and settler violence, using a variety of non-violent tactics. These include: protest and direct action against demolitions, pursuing legal challenges against the illegal settlement, and international advocacy with political bodies in Europe and the United States. Youth from the village established the Good Shepherd Collective which organizes and raises awareness of the situation in the south Hebron hills. One villager has even presented his handmade models of Caterpillar vehicles in the European parliament, using them as a tool to raise awareness of the Caterpillar boycott- a part of the larger BDS movement called for by Palestinians.
The refurbishment of caves and rehabilitation of farm and grazing land is another example of the creative methods of resistance used by Um al-Khair in the face of illegal occupation, and what ISM activists visited the village to work on. The work took place over two days as we focused on clearing animal waste out of one of the caves which has been used as a shelter for goats in recent years. If ever there was an example of joy as an act of resistance, this work was it. We worked together with locals on the cave, and we laughed and drank tea as much as we shoveled goat shit! While there is much work to be done, the locals hope that this cave will one day be a museum and cultural activity center that tells the story of the people of Um al-Khair, past and present.
Leaving the village, we walked with shepherds from Um al-Khair to the village of at-Tuwani. While the villages are linked by a large highway, it is not possible for Palestinians to use it as it is for settlers. Palestinians risk attack or arrest if they walk close to the road. Crossing the hills, we passed by the illegal settlement of Ma’on, and the outpost of Havat Ma’on on a forest-covered hilltop. Havat Ma’on is controlled by a small number of religious extremist settlers and is currently not recognized as a settlement by Israel. Despite this, its residents benefit from army and police protection and can use all of the colonial infrastructure that links illegal settlements in the West Bank. The Havat Ma’on settlers are infamous for their violent attacks against schoolchildren walking their route from the village of at-Tuba to the school in at-Tuwani. The shepherds of at-Tuwani report being harassed weekly by the Havat Ma’on settlers who call on IDF soldiers to arrest shepherds grazing on what they regard as too close to their forest.
Olive trees cut down by settlers in at-Tuwani
The olive groves of at-Tuwani were vandalised by settlers on the night of January 7 2018, shortly before our. visit. They cut over 18 olive trees and spray painted Hebrew graffiti on nearby stones, which translated to: “Pay the price” and “death to the Arabs”. This is a common occurrence, and since olive trees are an important source of food and income for many Palestinian communities, damage to even a single olive tree is a catastrophe. Actions like this seriously compromise Palestinians’ ability to earn a livelihood. Additionally, the olive tree is an important symbol of Palestinian culture and cutting them down sends a strong symbolic message of violence and cultural erasure.
Graffiti written by settlers in the olive groves of at-Tuwani after an attack.
Despite all of what has been inflicted on them by the occupation, the residents of at-Tuwani have remained strong and united. We had the pleasure of walking over grazing land that had previously been controlled by the outpost. This land was returned to the community after persistent advocating and resistance by locals, who continued attempting to access the land in the face of settler and state violence. Seeing a shepherd and his children herding their animals, laughing and joking in the winter sunshine made it all clearer that resistance is necessary and effective against the occupation.
Recently, over 20 demolitions were carried out in the Shu’fat Refugee Camp by the Israeli Occupation Forces to make way for a wider road and inevitable future relocation of the residents of Jerusalem’s only refugee camp.
5th September 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Umm al-Kheir, south Hebron, occupied Palestine
Spent the last two days at Umm Al Khair, a Bedouin village in the South Hebron Hills enjoying the wonderful hospitality, generosity, and loving kindness. This was not my first trip there. And as much as I hate to say it, as with most things in Palestine, things are so much worse than my last visit. The illegal colonial settlement of Carmel belonging to the entity called israel surrounds the village on almost every side. Some of the tents and housing units are less than 20 feet from the “security” fence. Housing units in the illegal settlement have increased and more are being built with plans to take more of the land owned by the village to continue expansion.
Some of the newest settler homes in Carmel
The villagers sit day after day waiting for the illegal occupation soldiers to come with their bulldozers to demolish more of their housing. People speak openly about their discouragement for their future but still stand steadfast that they will not be moved or defeated. Our tent was one of those closest to the Fence and for two nights we sat up most of the night while zionists threw stones and rocks over the fence at the tent at anything that appeared to move. The village leader says the violence is increasing all of the time and fears that one of these night something much worse than rocks will be thrown. Fortunately no one was hurt (physically) the past two nights but there was little to no sleep for us or any of the men of the village who sat up keeping and open eye and ear to try to spot the thugs doing this. The commotion would wake up many of the villagers and you could hear the crying of many frightened small children throughout the night.
The “security” fence less than 20 feet from the tent
This is an every night occurrence and everyone is exhausted, all of the time, and can only catch a few hours of sleep after sunrise. Phone calls to the police of the entity called israel Police as well as the Palestinian Authority Police are a waste of time. No one will respond to the calls for help to make the settler violence stop. Many internationals, such as ourselves go for a few nights (when we have the people to do so) to help with a protective presence but it doesn’t stop the ever increasing settler violence. The Bedouins are very peaceful people and are committed to nonviolence but they are called the terrorists by the zionists, and most of the zionist supporting governments of the world (such as the United States). More International presence is needed and more of the world needs to know the truth.
