Tag: International law

Villagers live in fear and uncertainty as four more homes demolished in South Hebron Hills

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.

 

Protesters break through replica of Apartheid Wall in Bethlehem symbolic run

Protesters gather for symbolic marathon near Apartheid Wall in Bethlehem

 

June 19 2019 | International Solidarity Movement | Bethlehem, occupied Palestine

Hundreds of people gathered in cities across the Palestinian Territories and England on Sunday June 15, to participate in a symbolic marathon in honour of the international right to freedom of movement. 

The project, called “Small Park Big Run’, takes place every year thanks to the cooperation between solidarity groups in Sheffield and the Palestinian regions of Gaza, Nablus, Ramallah and Bethlehem. Two ISMers joined the run in Bethlehem, organised by Aida refugee camp community centre Aida Youth Centre, where the event was happening for the first time.

The purpose of the race was to raise awareness about Palestinian oppression focusing on Israel’s flagrant violation of the Palestinian people’s human right to freedom of movement, to raise money for local groups and to condemn the “Deal of the Century,” – the US’s new Middle East ‘peace’ deal devised by Trump’s radical Zionist son-in-law Jared Kushner. 

In Bethlehem, the race kicked off near the infamous “300 checkpoint” where thousands of Palestinians are forced to queue as early as 3am every morning to make it to their jobs in Israel on time. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, it is just one of the 700 road obstacles which controls Palestinian movement within the West Bank and one of its 140 checkpoints. Protesters ran past another important symbol of the control and the oppression that the Palestinian Territories face everyday – the 708km Israeli West Bank Barrier.

Protesters finished the race by breaking through a replica of the Division Wall – a symbolic finish line – at the entrance to Aida Refugee Camp.

 

People walk over the broken pieces of a replica of the separation wall, used as a symbolic finish line

 

Freedom of movement is guaranteed under international human rights law, which fundamentally stipulates that everyone shall be free to leave any country, including his or her own, and that no one shall be “arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his or her own country”. The importance of this right results from the fact that this is a prerequisite to the exercise of other human rights, such as the rights to family, health and education.

Israel’s restrictions on the freedom of movement in the West Bank includes checkpoints, roadblocks and permit restrictions, as well as the Division Wall it has constructed along the West Bank side of the pre-1967 border. The Society of St. Yves, a legal centre based in Jerusalem, reports that: “Combined, the application of military law and control of the issuance of permits have the effect of segregating and oppressing Palestinian nationals and relegating them to second-class citizens in their native homeland”.

Other threats that reduce the right of movement is the presence of settlements officially established by the Israeli government after 1967, which is considered illegal by the international community, and the building of new outposts without government approval and so considered illegal even for Israeli law.

 

Palestinians hold pictures of Trump to condemning his ‘”Deal of the Century” in Bethlehem

Insidious colonial strategy

7th December 2018 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Deir Samaan, Salfit, occupied Palestine

In the area of Salfit, harassment by settlers is a regular occurrence. They come to the villages, often late at night, to graffiti messages of hatred, and also vandalize cars and property. New settlements are being established frequently and are rapidly expanding.

Farris is a university teacher living in the village of Kufr al-Dik.  He drove us to his land of Deir Samaan, a beautiful olive grove with panoramic views, and a complex of Roman ruins at it’s heart. It’s only a stone’s throw from his village, but we had to drive 15 minutes extra, as the occupation’s gate to the village’s main entrance has been closed for three weeks. This is a common practice of collective punishment inflicted by the army. Farris and the rest of the village were perplexed as to why they were being “punished” just now.

Up until now, it’s still possible to access Farris’ land, but one must pass the brand new constructions of Leshem, and an array of JCBs and cranes.  Leshem appeared in 2010, and now hugs the west edge of Deir Saaman.  It is the newest of many illegal settlements that now surround him.  This year a further 1200 units were added.

Leshem, 1200 units built this year

 

“Leshem means Holy Rock in Hebrew.  I think they used this name because I have a Roman castle on my land.  They used bombs, a lot of bulldozers, and a lot of time to build Leshem.  Construction has been constant since 2010 until now, and I suffer for this.  There is a lot of dust because of this, so during the olive harvest I cannot collect the olives until the rain comes.”

 

Alei Zahhav intrusively overlooking the ruins of Farris’ land

Alei Zahhav, a settlement on the East side of Farris’ property, was established in 1983.  It has now joined up with Leshem to the North, creating a large crescent of houses that have eaten into his land.  “On the other side of the settlement, I have another piece of land with 300 olive trees.  Now, because of the new constructions, I cannot come to my land because the road was closed.  I need to go around the whole valley, and then more than 3km off road, through the valley, which is very bad for the car.  So a lot of time is wasted and I have to get a tractor which is expensive.”

 

Alei Zahhav pinching the border of Farris’ land

He tells us that another huge impact from the Alei Zahhav settlement is the emptying of its sewage directly into the fields, which runs down the valley into his land.  “Aside from being disgusting and affecting the trees, it is attracting many wild boars which are destroying everything I plant.”

In the midst of the interview a Settler nonchalantly strolled through the middle of Farris’ private property.  Farris tells us that many of the ornately carved Roman stones have been destroyed by settlers. They often enter, vandalize the ruin, and also swim in his well occasionally.

The crescent has now expanded around to the South side of the property, with a new double fence, only a few weeks old, completely surrounding him. He was recently notified that he’ll soon be locked out from his olive trees and will have to obtain permission from the Israeli military to pass through. Based on previous cases, it’s likely he’ll only get permission for a few days a year to harvest olives.

“I opened a new agricultural road to come to my land because they destroyed the previous one. Now they’ve constructed a fence, which means that I will need a permit to come to my land. I have here 170 olive trees, and I recently planted 200 trees of other kinds. The restrictions mean these will be destroyed.”

Double fence recently installed

“Israel is annexing everything from the green line to the Jordan Valley. That is a big finger which cuts across the middle of the West Bank” he explains.

It’s clear that the settlements are being strategically planned and positioned.

Another settlement, Shalem to the south

“If you go to the high mountain and look around, to the West you will see Kafr Qasim, that’s the green line. From there the Israelis put settlements as a finger in the middle of the West Bank. All the mountains in that line have settlements on top, and they’re near to each other. If there is an Israeli city in the middle of the west bank there is no state of Palestine.”

The progression of annexation and dividing of the West bank

There are now 24 settlements in the Salfit area and only 18 Palestinian villages. Ariel, at the top of the valley from Farris’ land, with a population of around 20,000 is one of the largest settlements in the West Bank. “They want to make Ariel a city, all the settlements you can see refer to Ariel”.

Just bellow Ariel is a huge Israeli industrial area called Barkan. Palestinians have suffocating restrictions on what they can build. For example, they are prohibited from building industrial facilities. Whereas Israel has managed to flaunt International laws, and even Israeli laws, to establish these massive industrial zones, thus giving Israel evermore control over the region, and the Palestinian natives.

Barkan employs many Palestinians. At a time when unemployment is very high in the West Bank, the Palestinians take the work out of necessity, receiving much lower wages than their Israeli colleagues. Working for your illegal occupier is beyond humiliating, and gives rise to intense frustration. It’s not surprising that this forces people over the edge at times.

For land owners there is not always a choice. The accumulated obstructions and violent interventions take away the capacity to earn a living, forcing younger generations into accepting the low wages at Barkan. Traditional ways of village life are eroded, land is left untended, and therefore open to settler land-grabbing, as per Israeli law, and against international law. The objective is obvious, frustrate the occupants into leaving, or act out so as to be thrown into prison or worse, leaving the land empty.

Sewage and waste from all settlements, and the Barkan industrial complex, is emptied on to the fields of Palestinian farmers. This is causing a big loss of income, there are also significant cancer clusters within the villages of the valley below.

“I hope the Israeli people change their government because their government are terrorists to the Palestinian people. They don’t want peace, they lie all the time saying they do want peace, they lie about everything. They lie just to make the people keep wanting them. If the government wanted peace it would take ten minutes to do, we can start with 1967, but the Israeli government wants to take all of the land.”

It’s International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, but Israel still lays claim to the longest occupation of our time

30 November 2018 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah team | Ramallah, occupied Palestine

November 29 marks the 71st anniversary that the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 181 in 1947, which later became known as “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.” Leaders in Ramallah called on the UN to recognize that resolution, during a time where settlements have massively increased up three-fold from last year. “This day should demand actions that will re-instate the role of the United Nations as an international institution who’s mission is to realize peace and justice,” states the coordinator of the political parties in the Ramallah district, who read out a letter written to the UN secretary General, then presented it to the Representative at the UN Office in Ramallah. The letter contained 4 major demands: International protection for the Palestinians under illegal occupation, proper punishment for Israel’s war crimes, ending American enabling of Israel’s illegal actions, and an international investigation into the continued practice of aggression, notably settlements. International crimes by the Israeli government have gone unabated, the sustained occupation of the West Bank being the most notable, and the confiscation of land thereof. Or the imprisonment, torturing, and rendition of children; or the outright massacre(s) of the defenseless population of Gaza, including the brutal, decade-long siege. The UN’s stance has always been clear, but their inability to put a stop- or even a deceleration- to Israel’s belligerent policies is the reason this demonstration was staged. Recently this month, Israel ramped up its assault on the Palestinian leadership, as well as on East Jerusalem itself. The East Jerusalem Governor’s recent arrest, and the demolition of over 20 businesses in Shu’fat Refugee Camp, are the most telling examples. “We affirm our right of national resistance in all forms that comply with international laws, to realize these rights, which are un-negotiable, and uncompromising… We want the international community to (help) build the Palestinian State on the ground, and to make our people achieve their goals of independence, self-determination, and the right of returning back according to the resolution.” Israel has laid claim to the longest military occupation in modern history.