Tag: International law - Page 2 - International Solidarity Movement

Ongoing Israeli incursion: Nour Shams Refugee Camp

12/27/2023 Occupied West Bank

By Diana Khwaelid

A new Israeli incursion into the Nour Shams refugee camp northeast of the city of Tulkarm in the northern West Bank.

Israeli incursion:
Tuesday evening, December 26th the Israeli occupying forces stormed the Nour Shams camp in Tulkarm, accompanied by military vehicles, including D9 bulldozers, unmanned aerial vehicles, and troop carriers. The Israeli incursion lasted 7 continuous hours from Tuesday until the next morning. The Israeli occupation forces were stationed in more than one area in the city and the vicinity of Nour Shams camp and in some areas belonging to the camp.

Destruction:
The Israeli occupation did not stop with the destruction of streets, houses, and walls of houses in the penultimate storming, but returned to complete its work the destruction of streets and roads again.

The Israeli occupation forces managed the secondary streets leading to the camp destroyed the infrastructure and the water and sewage network in more than one area of the camp, and some walls of houses and some cars belonging to citizens from inside the camp were destroyed.

7 Palestinians wounded 6 killed
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, 6 Palestinians were killed during the Israeli incursion into the Camp, 7 others were injured of them in moderate condition and 1 in serious condition .

The Israeli occupying forces targeted 7 Palestinians with a drone from the air while they were in the quarry area near the Al-Nasr mosque. 7 Palestinians injured. 2 of them in moderate condition and another Palestinian in serious condition.

According to the head of the Palestinian doctors in the city of Tulkarm, he said that the Israeli occupation soldiers obstructed the movement of ambulances while they were working to transport the injured Palestinians from the camp to the hospital.

He added that the occupation soldiers stopped an ambulance with an injured person inside on the way to the hospital, the occupation forces stormed the ambulance, one of the occupation soldiers stabbed the injured in the neck area while he was inside the car on his way to the hospital. The six martyrs are Fares Fahmawi, Khalil al-Tabal, Ahmed Hamarsha, Yazan Fahmawi, Ahmed Abu Issa and Wahid Fahmawi. 4 of them are from the same family.

Hundreds of Palestinians mourned the bodies of the six Palestinian martyrs, and their families took a last farewell look at them. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the death toll of the martyrs of the West Bank has reached more than 300 martyrs since October 7.

Mourners gather for the funeral of the martyrs. Photo credit: Diana Khwaelid

Blocking Paths to the Holy

Children sit outside of Al Aqsa Mosque after being denied entry. Photo Credit: ISM

Israeli soldiers and police once again blocked the majority of worshippers from entering Al Aqsa Mosque on Friday, December 15th. Among those excluded were many young children who attempted to enter but were prevented by Israeli soldiers and police. The soldiers and police also pushed and beat many people away from the gates of Al Aqsa, down Via Dolorosa, out Lion’s Gate, and beyond, including shoving some women. At least one journalist was severely beaten as well and required medical attention.

An Israeli soldier violently assaults a Palestinian women attempting to attend the Mosque for prayer. Still from Video Credit: Silwanic.net

Israel has laid siege on Al Aqsa Mosque since October 7th. In multiple locations throughout Al Quds (the Arabic name for the city of Jerusalem meaning “the holy”), groups of people once again got as close as they were able to the Al Aqsa Mosque, laid down their prayer mats and prayed.

Palestinians pray surrounded by soldiers blocking their entrance to Al Aqsa. Photo Credit: ISM

At the same time that police and soldiers are denying worshippers entry to Al Aqsa Mosque for Friday prayers, they are desecrating other Mosques, such as the Mosques in Jenin where soldiers have spray painted Mosques, threw trash in them, and sang songs over the loudspeaker used to broadcast the call to prayer.

Graffiti on Mosque in Jenin. Photo Credit: ISM

Attacks on places of worship are against the rules of war, but thus far Israeli army and police have targeted mosques and churches in Gaza and the West Bank and done so without repercussions from international political bodies such as the International Criminal Court or United Nations.

Worldwide Pressure Escalates with Global Strike for Gaza

Striking Palestinians across the occupied West Bank have been joined by millions in countries across the world for the Global Strike for Gaza, which was announced by a coalition of major Palestinian factions. The cadence of the strike declarations accelerated rapidly throughout the day in demand of an immediate ceasefire and an end to the genocide in Gaza.

The global strike action was coordinated in response to the dashing of efforts toward an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. Comfortably seated with his arm stretched high, US Ambassador Alternate Representative of the US for Special Political Affairs in the United Nations Robert A. Wood lit a fire of rage and condemnation across every continent following his signaling that the United States would use its veto power to kill a UN resolution, supported almost thoroughly through the UN security council, to block an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.

Entire nations shut down. A strike was born.

Sign on shop in Jordan announcing closure due to strike. Photo Credit: (MEE/Mohammad Ersan)

Occupied West Bank:

Across the territory, shops fell silent. Schools remained closed. Government offices shut down. Masses gathered in Ramallah’s Al-Manara Square for what was, by many accounts, the largest crowd gathered in protest in the area in some time. Palestinian children made art work and protestors carried a banner naming Gaza’s martyrs while large protests occurred simultaneously in al Khalil. Shops in occupied East Jerusalem remained shuttered through the day as the global strike action flashed across the planet with several countries joining in nationwide efforts to deal economic blows to the heart of the powers who profit from the continuation of occupation force’s genocide in Gaza.

Silence in the streets of Nablus. Photo Credit: [Zain Jaafar/AFP]

Lebanon:

Secretary-general of Lebanon’s Council of Ministers, Mahmoud Mekkiya delivered the announcement to the nation; all governments and national institutions would be shuttered in solidarity with the global call out. In reports out of major Lebanese cities, “workers downed tools” and the call for global strike was supported in calls for nationwide solidarity by the ministers of education and culture and several heads of finance. People across Lebanon engaged in the strike in solidarity with Gaza as well as southern Lebanese villages which have also been impacted in occupation forces bombardment.

Jordan:

Streets were bare across Jordan as a stunning show of solidarity surged through “the transportation sector, aviation, trade, banks, ports, as well as schools and universities.” Thousands gathered in the streets of Amman and across Jordan in massive protests. Handmade signs announcing solidarity strikes were placed across hundreds of shops as the nation grinded to a halt in a powerful cry to end the continued atrocities being committed in Gaza.

Photo Credit: English News.cn (Photo by Mohammad Abu Ghosh/Xinhua)

Turkey:

In observation of the strike, the country saw abandoned streets throughout the day, with images circulating across social media of empty streets and gated shops in the typically bustling city of Istanbul.

Photo Credit: Palestine Online @OnlinePalEng

While many countries held full nationwide shutdowns in honor of the strike call, others which did not, saw massive protests in major cities across the world. Entire communities vocally joined the strike in solidarity. #StrikeForGaza was trending across social media, businesses announced individual shutdowns, millions across the world did not report to work or school and millions more refused all financial transactions for the day, no physical purchases, no shopping, no online orders. Boycott actions are a powerful tool to cost companies standing on the side of genocide, occupation and apartheid millions of dollars in profit. Momentum continues to build for an end to the bombardment which has now claimed nearly 20,000 lives. Thousands of the missing lie among the rubble.

One day prior to the global strike, the world marked the 75th anniversary of International Human Rights Day as the bombs continued to fall on Gaza.

Masafer Yatta Families Displaced Following Home Demolitions

7 December 2023 | International Solidarity Movement | Masafer Yatta, Occupied West Bank

In just over one week, several Palestinian family homes were relegated to fields of rubble after occupation army bulldozers invaded several villages including al Deirat, Umm Lasafa and Umm Qissa. The demolitions left Palestinian children and their families homeless as the targeted destruction and expulsion of Masafer Yatta communities continues to accelerate.

The ruins of a demolished family home in Masafer Yatta. Photo Credit: BNN

On December 6, Occupation forces took the opportunity to demolish a sheep barn in Umm Qissa overnight during their destructive incursion in furtherance of the attacks on the shepherding and farming infrastructure of Palestinian communities in the South Hebron Hills. Coupled with the violent raids, antagonism and invasion of Palestinian homes by extremist ideological settlers, the pattern of harassment towards the achievement of a land ethnically cleansed of indigenous Palestinians grinds forth.

Taking advantage of the gap in coverage with the world’s eyes on the genocide in Gaza, and the isolated nature of the villages of Masafer Yatta, the occupation army has enabled and participated in the increasing momentum of settler terrorist attacks along with the destruction of residences to force Palestinian expulsion.

On December 3, settler extremists invaded Esfay, Maghayir Al-Abid and At-Tuba, leaving behind them the destroyed water network of a wide swathe of villagers of the South Hebron Hills communities. With surgical exacting, occupation forces are removing all elements of a people’s ability to exist; from the slashing of water cisterns to the destruction of water flow pipes, a community without water cannot survive. In image after image filtering out of the embattled villages, homes are seen crashing down under the gears of army-driven bulldozers while armed IOF stand guarding the destruction from intervention.

Credit: OCHA data on demolition and displacement in the West Bank. 12/03

On OCHA’s data on demolition and displacement in the West Bank website rolling figures which “reflect the demolition of Palestinian-owned structures and the resulting displacement of people from their homes across the West Bank since 2009” are updated every 48 hours. The numbers continue to grow and the project of colonial expansion continues to saturate the occupied West Bank.

Occupation Forces Issue Demolition order for Al-Aqsa Imam

Occupied East Jerusalem

On December 3, Israeli Occupation forces converged on the Sawaneh neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem evicting its residents and pinning intention-of-demolition orders to all families in the building albeit their target was solely the home of one of Al-Aqsa Mosque’s main Imams, Sheikh Ekrima Sabri. The order affects 18 homes, ultimately impacting over 100 Palestinian residents of the building.

Noted in Hebrew, the demolition orders state, “In order to minimize damage, you must immediately remove possessions from said premises. If you do not, the state will not be responsible for damages.” The titled headline announces, “We hereby affirm you of our intent to demolish the house according to court order.”

Sheikh Sabri is no stranger to incitement against his person and property as he has been the subject of the arbitrary harassment, arrest, and imprisonment which has become the signature of the occupier whose very existence depends on silencing liberatory voices representative of justice and dignity for the Palestinian people, including when the 85 year old Imam’s home was stormed by occupation forces who imposed a 6 month travel ban for the stated reason that he had been deemed a “security threat.”

With several families residing in the building being the recipients of this same demolition order which will displace them as a consequence of the targeting of Sheikh Sabri, it is again evidenced that the Israeli government, Israeli authorities and the Israeli occupation forces are in violation of International Humanitarian Law, specifically Article 33 on collective punishment. The article states, in no uncertain terms, that “Reprisals against protected persons and their property are prohibited.” Thus, the purveyors of prolific violations of human rights of an entire people continue to be rewarded for their troubles with impunity, copious funding and arms provisions to wage further war crimes, genocide and countless other daily transgressions. For now and the immediate future while whatever veneer of an appeals process accessible to Palestinians saddled with notices of home demolitions is acted out, their already daily lot has been made heavier with this additional form of torment.

Reports from across the occupied West Bank flash across the eyes of the world like a disturbing stop-motion reality; settler incursions, beatings, murders, abductions, theft, vandalism and death threats. One of the most heinous tributaries of such threats floated Sheikh Sabri’s name across it just one month ago.

The extremist settler Telegram channel “Nazi-Hunters,” known for incitement to murder Palestinians across the occupied territories as well as inside of Israel has named Sheikh Sabri as a target, joining him with the journalists, student activists, Al-Aqsa administrative workers and others being targeted for terror attacks and death ostensibly for ‘Nazism,’ which has become code among violent ideological zionists projected onto Palestinians and allies resisting oppression and occupation.

Screenshot of “Nazi Hunters” Telegram channel. Photo credit: Middle East Eye

The channel displays images of Palestinians with crosshairs placed over their faces, encouraging the choir to circulate the calls for murder, “share a lot maybe it will reach the Nazis themselves and they will kill themselves out of fear.”

As noted by UNRWA’s Demolition Watch site, home demolitions are a leading cause of Palestinian’s continued displacement and their toll on families cannot be overstated, “The impact of home demolitions on children can be particularly devastating. Many children affected by demolitions show signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety.” The effect leaves emotional wreckage long after the rubble from the felled house has been cleared.