April 5, 2019 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Al-Khalil (Hebron), occupied Palestine
Israeli occupation forces storm into Al-Khalil and fire live ammunition at protesters after bombarding the city with tear gas, stun grenades, and rubber-coated steel bullets.
Around 1pm soldiers invaded Al-Khalil through checkpoint 56. The soldiers fired stun grenades at protesters. Immediately following the stun grenades, the soldiers fired tear gas into the street–forcing the protesters and press personnel to move. As the tear gas disappeared, protests continued. The Israeli soldiers then proceeded to shoot protestors with rubber-coated steel bullets while continuing to fire stun grenades at protesters.
At one point the soldiers switched from rubber-coated steel bullets to live ammunition. For approximately an hour soldiers fired live ammunition and stun grenades at Palestinian protesters until eventually retiring behind the checkpoint, which was closed to the public at this time.
The protests arose again and the soldiers fired several rounds of tear gas and shot rubber-coated steel bullets. During the invasion they also threw stun grenades at the press.
March 8, 2019 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Ras Karkar, occupied Palestine
This Friday, the inhabitants of the villages around Mount al-Risan–where an outpost has been established by illegal settlers on Palestinian land–gathered for a day of peaceful protest and prayer.
As soon as the religious ritual ended, the military ritual began. Before the villagers finished rolling-up their prayer mat, the Israeli military launched a large number of tear gas canisters upon the crowd.
These events are positive by comparison to the past week. Last Friday, the peaceful protesters were met with tear gas before prayers began. After prayers, the Palestinians were chased out and shot with rubber-coated steel bullets.
February 24, 2019 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Al-Khalil, occupied Palestine
ISM were monitoring the checkpoint at Salaymeh this morning when they witnessed a soldier throwing a concussion grenade at children on the H1 side of the checkpoint.
This morning the ISM team in Al-Khalil were monitoring the checkpoint at Salaymeh.
Infamous illegal settler Ofer Yohana (עופר אוחנה) arrived around 7.20am, greeting the soldiers warmly and began conversing in Hebrew while looking in the direction of the activists. He then began to film and harass activists, insinuating that they were pedophiles for greeting the students on their way to school.
After 15 minutes of harassing activists, Ofer then turned his attention to the children on the H1 side of the checkpoint. He stood directly in front of the checkpoint on the H2 side so as to antagonize the children on their way to school. He began to film the children on the H1 side, provoking a reaction from them.
Some children threw stones in Ofer’s direction after 5 minutes of him filming them. This in turn caused a soldier to leave his post without wearing his helmet and move round to the H2 side of the checkpoint so he could toss a concussion grenade in the childrens’ direction. We captured the incident on video here:
The children then scattered in different directions with several of the younger girls screaming when the concussion grenade exploded. Thankfully none of the children were hurt by the grenade exploding, although some were left visibly shaken, with some children standing close to activists not wanting to cross the checkpoint.
He then returned to his vehicle and departed after 30 minutes of bullying children and harassing activists.
February 22, 2019 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Al-Khalil, occupied Palestine
This afternoon Israeli occupation forces attacked a non-violent demonstration organised by Palestinian civil society and attended by locals, internationals and Israelis.
Occupation forces invading Bab Al-Zawiye, Al-Khalil
Protestors demanding an end to the illegal occupation of Al-Khalil were attacked by Israeli soldiers and border police who fired tear gas, stun grenades and other “less-lethal” weapons as they stormed the Palestinian H1 area of the city.
During the course of this invasion, the Israeli occupation forces directly targeted members of the press, who were recording their attacks on nonviolent demonstrators. Footage of this can be seen below. If you look carefully you will notice that a child was caught up in the attack. He was very near the checkpoint, directly in the line of sight of the soldiers. Despite his presence the soldiers showed no restraint.
The occupation forces invaded the Bab Al-Zawiye area of Al-Khalil for over two hours, raiding homes, stopping and searching people and cars, and attacking Palestinians. It has been reported that one person was shot in the leg, and one Palestinian man was abducted by the army. ISM activists managed to film the abduction, although the whereabouts and safety of the man are currently unknown.
It is important to note that this morning, a group called Im Tirtzu staged a rally in the occupied part of Al-Khalil to celebrate the fact that the UN Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH) had been forced out of the city by the Israeli government. Im Tirtzu, which has been described by the Israeli court system as a fascist organisation, demonstrated freely in the H2 area of Al-Khalil. Even though they have a record of inciting violence against Palestinians and regularly engage in Islamophobic rhetoric, they experienced no violence or restriction on their movement from Israeli occupation forces. Sadly, this type of collusion between occupation forces and the most radical streams of the Zionist movement is all too common. This is the reality of life under occupation.
Against imperialism, from Palestine to Venezuela
Despite the occupation forces’ efforts to stop the demonstration, hundreds of people took to the streets and resisted together. It was a beautiful sight to see Palestinians on the streets together with their international and Israeli comrades, calling in unison for an end to the illegal and immoral occupation. Moments like this give us a glimpse of what can be achieved when we work together to confront tyranny and violence. Let’s keep working, lets keep dreaming, lets keep fighting. End the occupation.
February 18, 2019 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Al-Khalil, occupied Palestine
The day after a group of illegal settlers and soldiers invaded a Palestinians’ home and threatened to slaughter their children in front of them, one of their children was arrested by the Israeli police.
On Saturday, a group of settlers climbed down onto the rooftop of Emad Eqneibi’s home. Among them was Noam Arnon (נעם ארנון)–a right-wing settler who referred to Baruch Goldstein (the mass murderer of 29 worshipers in the Ibrahimi Mosque) as an “extraordinary” and “lovely” person.
Responding to settler complaints, a group of soldiers descended on Eqneibi’s house the following day and arrested his 14-year-old son, Amer Eqneibi. Video was captured as the soldiers were taking the child away:
Amer is currently being held in an adult prison Ofer outside Ramallah. Locals expect that it may be more than 40 days before the child is released.
