Tag: Israeli forces - Page 10 - International Solidarity Movement

Near Salfit, Palestinians try to save the last hill that is not yet occupied with a settlement

December 4th, 2015 | International Solidarity Movement with IWPS, Huwwara team | Kafr Addik, occupied Palestine

On friday 4th of december, around 50 locals from the villages of Kafr Addik, Bruqin, Sarta and Biddya, in the Salfit governorate, gathered on a hill called Daher Sabbah, located between the four villages, in order to protest the occupation of their land by Israeli forces and settlers. The group had barely arrived, when the Israeli soldiers and border police came towards them and aggressively ordered them to go back where they came from.

Soldiers took the keys to all cars when people arrived

A first group of people had arrived earlier and managed to reach the top of the hill, but the second group wasn’t let through by the Israeli soldiers. After taking the keys to everyone’s cars, they eventually let the group be united on top of the hill. Locals sat peacefully on the hill and celebrated the morning prayer, guided by sheikh Youssef Qa’oud, who also happened to own this land in earlier times. After the prayer, the group was urged to leave right away.

“I am afraid of young people”, explained the mayor, Jamal Ad’dik, a while later. Because this hill is far from villages and roads, it is hard to access if anyone is injured. “The soldiers who were here today, they wanted to make a problem. One mistake, they shoot. They were here to kill”, he added.

Soldiers stopped Palestinians from going to pray on top of the hill — Soldiers watch Palestinians while they pray on top of the hill.

If people have decided to go to this particular hill for their weekly prayer, it’s because Daher Sabbah is the last one that is not being occupied by a settlement or an outpost, but locals fear this may soon change. Two years ago, the Israeli forces came with bulldozers and started to work to flatten the land during a few months, then stopped. A few months ago, they came back and planted grape trees. According to the mayor, the goal would not be necessarily to build a settlement, but most likely to use this place for agricultural purposes. The villagers want to show, by their presence on Daher Sabbah this past Friday and by making this a weekly meeting, that they refuse to give up this land. “This is our land, we refuse them”, explains Jamal. Two years ago this land was declared state land by the state of Israel, which makes it very difficult for Palestinians to fight for it. The owner of the land, Youssef Qa’oud, took the decision to the military court, to claim that this land was his, as it had been registered, but he lost the case.

Make facts on the ground

This area is a very strategic place for the Israeli forces. 80 % of the village of Kafr Ad’dik, for example, is in area C. Which means that people are allowed to build on 1200 dunums (area B) from the 17 000 dunums that is their village. It is easy, with these settings, to completely block the expansion of Palestinian villages and to have the space and time to expand illegal Israeli settlements intensely. The goal is, as always, to make facts on the ground. “If you go up to Daher Sabbah, every hill is a settlement. You look around and you think ‘where is Palestine, there is no Palestine !’ They want to create history”, says Fares.

In the Salfit area, the four Palestinian villages of Biddya, Sarta, Bruqin and Kafr Ad’dik are separated by an Israeli road, a few settlements and industrial areas. In the east is the illegal settlement of Ariel, fourth largest settlement in the West Bank with a population of over 18 000 people. “They want to deepen Israel in this area. Here it is only 19 kilometres wide”, affirms Fares. But if they can take this hill, then they will be able to open a large cut, a “finger”, as they call it, deep inside the West Bank, all the way to the Za’atara checkpoint, which could, in the end, completely isolate the north from the south of the West Bank.

About 66 litres of water per person and per day

One of the factors that explains Israel’s effort to take over land in the Salfit Governorate is that Kafr Ad’dik, Bruqin, Sarta and Biddyia are standing on the second largest aquifer in historical Palestine. The water is exploited by Israeli water company Makarot, which means that Palestinians have to buy limited resources of water to Israel for an excessive price while the surrounding settlements have access to an unlimited amount for a fair price. For both the villages of Kafr Ad’dik and Bruqin, around 10 500 inhabitants in total, only 700 m3 of water is granted per day, around 66 liters per person and per day. As a comparison in France, the average water consumed per day per person is over 150 litres per day. One of the other problems brought by the presence and expansion of settlements in the area is the water pollution, which would, according to the mayor of the village, be coming from the illegal industrial area of Ale Zahav.

In the last five years, settlements have aggressively expanded in the Salfit area. According to Fares Dik, member of the Kafr Ad’dik municipality, “settlements are 300 % bigger today than in 2010”. Palestinian villages, on the other hand, haven’t been able to grow. In this region the Palestinian population is of around 60 000 divided into 19 villages, but they are now outnumbered by settlers from the 24 illegal Israeli settlements.

Many injured during the friday protests in Gaza

December 4th, 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza team | Gaza strip, occupied Palestine

There were many protests this Friday again in Gaza. According to the information provided by the ministry of health, 10 people have been injured in the Khan Younees area, mainly in El Farahin. 11 people have been injured in the Central Area. At the Karni border crossing (Shijaia) were demonstrations as well were 14 people were wounded. In addition to that, 7 were injured in the north.

In total, 42 were injured in the Gaza Strip today, most of them by live ammunition shot by snipers. At least one is in serious condition.

In Tulkarem, students afraid to go to university after two months of violence

December 2nd, 2015 | International Solidarity Movement with Meta Peace Team, Tulkarem team | Tulkarem, occupied Palestine

Palestine Tech University (PTU) in Tulkarem has now been closed for two days, for unknown reasons. The school has been witnessing many clashes between the students and the Israeli forces since the beginning of October. Dozens of young people are getting injured daily from tear gas inhalations, rubber coated bullets and live ammunitions shot by soldiers in the middle of campus. The students are deeply concerned with the situation as they all have experienced this violence in the past month. “The army came into the university, smashed the windows, broke the doors, and they are doing that for this moment everyday”, explains Ahmad Yaseem, a student who recalls the first incursions of the university Israeli forces. The university administration has asked the Israeli government the reason for this sudden explosion of violence but were not given any answers. According to the administration, the university should open again tomorrow.

Israeli forces come on campus and scare th students — Israeli forces come on campus and scare the students

P1000369 — The campus of the university has become the centre of clashes between Israeli forces and students

Yesterday during clashes two students were arrested, one of them after being shot with live ammunition. He was not allowed to access medical care though, and was taken away directly in the jeep.

On the 29th of november, while the students were attending an art exhibition on campus, the Israeli forces entered the university and started shooting tear gas, rubber coated bullets and live ammunition at the students. Eyewitnesses and human rights activists said that the area was filled with teargas that day, and as a result 58 students suffered from severe gas inhalation. 7 more people were injured from live ammunition, 5 from rubber coated steel bullets and 9 to 10 from rubber coated bullets. In addition to this, one student had to be taken to the intensive care unit in Nablus, and is still there at this moment. All of them were between the age of 15 and 20 years old.

Many students have been injured by live ammunition being shot in the middle of campus

Since october 1st, over 20 students have been arrested during clashes. None of them has yet been released. Nabeha Hasan Ahmad, 21 years old, remembers the first time the army entered the university : “At first they started on the outside. They were shooting in the air. They were shooting live bullets at the students. They started to get inside the university more and more. They threw skunk water on the library. The students who were there were getting hurt by bullets. So many students have had a gun shot. It affects our psychology, we become more afraid when we are doing our exams. We hear the sound of the bullets and we smell the gas. It became normal for our body to smell gas.” This situation obviously affects the students’ ability to attend their classes and to succeed in their studies. “Everyday they were throwing gas, so the students were afraid to come to the university, adds Beisan Ismail, a second year program information student. For the students that were shot, and the others who were arrested, it makes their education hard because they are unable to move on to the next year, they have to repeat the current year. Just like them, if I inhale gas or get arrested it’s going to be bad for my education.”

Israeli forces invade homes and threaten families with nine children in Deir Istyia

November 30th, 2015 | International Solidarity Movement with IWPS, Huwwara team | Deir Istyia, occupied Palestine

Deir Istyia, in Salfit district, is a village of 4000 inhabitants who mostly live on agriculture. The Salfit district has 19 villages and 24 settlements. Land confiscation is ongoing in the area and many of the settlements are growing, as the road that connects them is widening.

The 3 families are now the only Palestinians living on the west side of the road.

Now three families, living in the outskirts of Deir Istyia (see photo), are under daily threats and harassment from the Israeli forces. They don’t know if the goal is to take over their land or just to try to make their lives so unbearable that they will themselves decide to move from the land on which they have been living peacefully for many generations.

It started in the beginning of october this year, where the soldiers started to come to the houses and harass the families, mainly at daytime. Often the women are alone with the children during the day while the men are working. Israeli forces have chosen this time to come to the houses and scare the families. One of the women explained to us that the soldiers hit her, told her that the house wasn’t hers and that she soon would have to move away. They also told her that she was a terrorist, and that the soldiers would soon come back and shoot her.

Over the last 4 days the Israeli forces have been there day and night, telling the families that they have permission to stay on the roof of one of the houses. One night, they stayed all night and slept on the roof. They claim to have to watch the road and the surroundings, because of stone throwers, even though there hasn’t been any stone throwing in that area. Last Saturday, when the soldiers were there, they took pictures of the house and the yard.

Now, the children are very insecure, and their mothers don’t leave the houses as they are afraid of leaving them alone, a situation that makes them feel, as they describe it, as in prison. They can hear the soldiers walking around outside their houses and standing on the olive hill behind them at night.

Volunteers from International Solidarity Movement and International Women’s Peace Service will follow up on the situation of these families.

Settlers violently attack a Palestinian man on Shuhada-street

5th September 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil Team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

Tonight at around 6 pm a Palestinian man was detained at Daboya checkpoint in Shuhada-Street in Hebron in occupied Palestine. While he was detained a group of young settlers came to the checkpoint and attacked him. The 3 settlers were beating the Palestinian youth, while a soldier was standing close by without interfering. When the Palestinian youth ran away from the violent attackers, the unmasked settler pepper-sprayed him, right before he was able to escape the violent attack by running into the house of a Palestinian family living opposite the checkpoint.

After the attack, the Palestinian youth was falling in and out of consciousness for over half an hour. Palestinian cars and thus also ambulances are not allowed in this area by Israeli forces, which led to a long period of waiting before the youth was able to receive medical attention. Due to the closure of the road for Palestinians, the medics from the Red Crescent first had to pass through another checkpoint walking to the location of the incident and then had to carry the Palestinian youth back through the checkpoint. He was brought to the hospital with the suspicion of broken rips and in an enormous amount of pain. He is now out of the hospital and his condition is stable.

Watch a video of the attack from Youth Against Settlements here:

Photo credit: Youth Against Settlements