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.
Under the cover of night, several Palestinian homes in the Mleihat Arab community endured violent incursions by settlers in an attack overseen by the occupation army. Disturbing video of the storming of Palestinian family homes last evening in Mleihat displays a nightmarish scene in which a heavily armed extremist used his gun to viciously beat a resident and then pursued him at gunpoint.
During the home invasions, the settlers, one who has been identified as Zohar Sabah, committed violent assaults of Palestinian residents, traumatized children, insulted the women of the home and stole sheep from two Mleihat residents. This hours-long campaign of terror is part of a wider, coordinated project of ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their land by ideological extremist settlers who have been targeting small, isolated Palestinian communities for years. These assaults have soared in pace and have remained at fever pitch since October 7th with over a dozen farming and shepherding communities effectively terrorized into abandoning their villages under death threats accompanied by the destruction of water infrastructure, the smashing of vehicles, the destruction of farming equipment.
The violence committed against Palestinian family homes of Mleihat last evening is but the latest echo of settler brutality including tactics disturbingly targeting children and weaponizing their proximity to occupation forces against Palestinians through false accusations which place their lives at the whim of occupation troops who have long acted with the affirmed assumption of impunity.
The violent settler invasions of Mleihat last evening goes unanswered by the same authorities and occupation army whose lines have been intentionally blurred with the terrorist extremists who committed, and continue to perpetrate, these acts. There is no recourse for the victims, only endless nights of waiting until the next settler invasion, beating, shooting or theft is violently visited upon them by a gang whose arms continue to be supplemented by the Israeli government even as they offer lip service of “reigning in settler violence.”
She was deported after very perfunctory proceedings at the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court. Israeli police alleged in a public statement that Alison “supported a terrorist organization”. Her attorney pointed out that this claim had no basis. Nevertheless, the presiding judge issued a verdict couched in fiery nationalist rhetoric, claiming that “There are many faces to Hamas terror. There are various kinds of terrorists. Some terrorists wield guns and bombs while others use a computer keyboard”.
The Human Rights Defender was taken to the Ben Gurion Airport, and deported, with a decree issued to bar her re-entry. Itamar Ben Gvir, the Kahane linked Minister of Police in the Netanyahu government, issued a personal statement celebrating “The deportation of the Belgian terrorist supporter who had supported the Hamas Nazis” and “congratulating the Judea and Samaria Police for their good work”.
In the last month and a half, the charge of being a “supporter of a terrorist organization” has become an excuse for an extensive campaign of political persecution against anyone who dares to post any protest the unfolding genocide in Gaza. This is affected against Palestinians who have Israeli citizenship, and against Israeli Jews such as the teacher Meir Baruchin who was detained for almost a week on completely unfounded charges. In the Gaza Strip, a far more brutal procedure for the same allegations is implemented. A Gazan journalist or political activist accused of “supporting Hamas” may expect to be targeted and/or have their family targeted by a missile from an Israeli warplane. Such was, for example, the fate of Ahmed Abu Artema and countless other Palestinian activists and journalists.
In the case of human rights defender Alison Russell, the far-fetched charges of “supporting terrorism” or “keyboard terrorism” cover up the real reason for her detention and deportation. In court, the state asserted that “she had many times disrupted the activities of the IDF troops, whenever she came in contact with them”. Indeed, it is highly disturbing for the troops to have outside observers and witnesses present where acts of oppression take place, which often constitute blatant violations of International Law.
Not in vain do the soldiers regularly confiscate the mobile phones of activists and even the footage of international TV crews. Alison, like the other human rights defenders who come from all over the world to express solidarity with the Palestinian people in their difficult time, together with Israeli people of conscience, are struggling to stem the wave of ethnic cleansing which is going on all over the West Bank, under cover of the war in Gaza.
The shepherd communities, the most vulnerable part of Palestinian society, have become the target of a brutal attack by the fanatic settler militias, and already sixteen such communities have been forced to leave their land under violent attacks and explicit threats of murder.
The tiny villages at Masafer Yatta in the South Hebron Hills are attacked by settlers on one side and the army on the other: The settlers attack the villages, destroy whatever is at hand and threaten entire communities with murder, and in these criminal acts they enjoy complete immunity from the police and army. For its part, the army arrives to destroy the houses of the villagers, houses which were declared to be “illegal” by the Supreme Court. Alison was detained and deported when she tried to document the destruction of one of these houses..
The police had stated “a deportation order from Israel” was issued to Alison, as well as a decree to “prevent her from entering Israel” in the future. We would like to emphasize that Alison never wanted to “enter Israel”. She wanted to come to the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel, by the express invitation of Palestinian residents to document and intervene in human rights abuses and stop an ongoing nakba.
In the words of Alison herself, “The UN, created when the world was saying ‘nie wieder faschismus,’ has given up on Palestine. But right now, right here, in a tiny little corner of Palestine, there are a dozen villages that are under direct and immediate threat. When the handful of determined people that are here manage to organize a group to sleep in the hamlets, we delay their expulsion…I’m here ‘cos I really think our action is effective. Please make it more effective by getting involved too.”
Alison points to a sign that says, “Humanitarian support to Palestinians at risk of forcible transfer in the West Bank.”
On Tuesday evening, the Israeli occupation forces carried out a military operation that lasted for 10 continuous hours resulting in the killing of 6 Palestinians and the destruction of the camp’s infrastructure – streets, and roads, shelling of the al-Balaawneh Diwan, and two other houses.
Occupation forces destruction of Tulkarm
While the residents of the camp were enjoying the calm on Tuesday evening around 11: 00, the residents of the city of Tulkarm, and the residents of the Tulkarm refugee camp specifically, woke up due to the news of the storming of dozens of military vehicles to the city and to the camp. Eyewitnesses said that about 40 military vehicles, including jeeps and D9 bulldozers, stormed the Tulkarm refugee camp.
Israeli snipers were deployed everywhere, especially on the roofs of Palestinian houses inside the camp and its surroundings, as well as inside buildings under construction in the city, targeting anything that moved.
The Israeli occupation bulldozers began bulldozing the main roads in the camp as usual, destroying the infrastructure as they did in the previous incursion, and destroying the water and sewage network.
An Israeli drone also targeted the building (Diwan Al-balaawneh), a public property of the camp, and targeted those inside it. Four Palestinians were killed who had been inside the building. Two more Palestinians were killed by Israeli snipers.
Three houses were destroyed with moderate damage, a car was burned and three other cars were damaged, belonging to two civilian residents of the camp.
Feelings of fear, tension, and despair prevailed among the residents of the camp because the Israeli occupation forces continued to storm the camp, kill Palestinians, and destroy the infrastructure, streets, and roads in the camp.
Hundreds of Palestinians participated in the funeral of the bodies of the 6 martyrs in the camp. Their bodies were transferred to their families’ home for a final farewell look, after which their bodies were transferred to the UNRWA school to pray for them. And because of their large number, the number of camp residents participating in the funeral alike. The camp residents carried the bodies of the martyrs on their shoulders and chanted words expressing anger, unity and resistance to the occupation inlegitimate ways. Until they arrive at the cemetery of Denabaa.
Tulkarm residents gather for the funeral of 6 martyrs of the occupation army raid.
The Israeli occupying forces continue to commit and intensify their crimes against the Palestinian people in the West Bank, in particular in the Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the number of martyrs of the West Bank since October 7 has reached more than 215.
Grief and fear persist for Palestinians in Tulkarm and across the occupied West Bank.
URGENT: Contact occupation authorities to demand the release of human rights monitor:
On November 22nd, 2023 early in the morning, Israeli occupation forces bulldozed a family home in Sha’ab Al-Butum in the Yatta region of the occupied West Bank which has seen soaring levels of extremist settler and IOF violence against Palestinians and human rights defenders.
Palestinian family watches as bulldozers arrive
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, there have been 916 home demolitions in the West Bank, in 2023 alone. As international human rights monitors were present to document the destruction of the residence, occupation authorities arrested a peaceful Belgian/British foreign national and currently have her detained in a central police station.
Human rights worker being led away under arrest during demolition.
The human rights worker, Alison Russell, was standing peacefully at the site of the demolition, and was arrested on outrageous allegations of “publications supporting Hamas” “disturbing soldiers,” “desecration of state symbols,” and “supporting a terror organization”. Alison Russell was brought before a judge on Thursday, November 23, 2023, and charged with “praising, encouraging, or publishing a call to do an act of violence” “damaging the respect of the country’s flag or other symbols” and “disturbing a public worker”. The judge extended Alison’s detention until Sunday, November 26th.
Since October 7th, human rights defenders monitoring this campaign of escalating violence and terror against occupied Palestinians in the West Bank have been groped, verbally assaulted, held at gunpoint, had their phones smashed and confiscated, and the passwords to their devices demanded by occupation forces along with their proxies, the extremist ideological settlers working to ethnically cleanse the area in the South Hebron Hills.
Palestinian women and children survey the damage of the home demolition in Sha’ab al-Butum
Documenting the atrocities occurring in the occupied West Bank has included reporting on the ethnic cleansing of 16 Palestinian villages in Massafer Yatta in the South Hebron Hills. The Palestinian families in these villages are enduring violent raids, the smashing of their vehicles, the destruction of their farming equipment, the slashing of their water tanks, invasion of their homes and threats that if they do not abandon their homes and villages to the settlers, they would all be murdered within 24 hours.
Free speech is not treason or terrorism. Even Israel’s state prosecutor has previously warned Israeli police that unjustified arrest of dissenters harms the rule of law. International human rights workers and Israeli peace activists are being arrested and jailed for speaking out against settler violence, apartheid, massacres, ethnic cleansing, and genocide. These same unfounded, absurd accusations, when leveled at Palestinians in the West Bank, result in their arrest and torture. And these same unfounded, absurd accusations when directed towards human rights activists in Gaza, result in missiles killing them or their families, as has occurred with Kahlil Abu Yahia, Ahmed Abu-Artema and others.
Urgent action is needed to demand occupation forces release Alison Russell and stop the arrests and prosecution of all international, Israeli, and Palestinian peace activists and human rights workers:
State Prosecuter Eisman:
Email: Amitai@justice.gov.il
