Tag: Issawiya

Photos: Palestinians rally for prisoners in Gaza as Samer Issawi freed in Jerusalem

27th December 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Marco Varasio | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

On 23rd December, like every Monday morning, relatives and friends of the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails gathered at the International Committee of the Red Cross’ Gaza office for the weekly rally.

But people at the rally had another reason to gather: the impending release of the Palestinian hero Samer Tariq Issawi, who spent more than 270 day on hunger strike before signing an agreement with the Israeli authorities on 22nd April .

Mothers and wives holding banners of their imprisoned relatives chanted slogans paying tribute to Issawi and all the Palestinian prisoners.

“Today Samer Issawi will be released,” the rally’s opening speech began. “We are so happy for him. We will distribute flowers to all the people here to celebrate his freedom. We need freedom of all the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.”

“We, as Activists for Palestinian Prisoners, celebrate his release to Jerusalem after a 270 days hunger strike,” said Samoah Ahmeed, a Palestinian activist and journalist. “We are close to his family. We want freedom for all the Palestinian prisoners in the future.”

Sweets and flowers were distributed to the people attending the rally to honor Issawi’s release.

What made the release of Issawi’s freedom so special was also that he was not deported to the Gaza Strip, but was instead released in his hometown Issawiya, northeast of Jerusalem.

The Israeli authorities will release another five Palestinian prisoners in the Gaza Strip through the Erez checkpoint next week as part of the current round of negotiations between the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government.

(Photo by Silvia Todeschini)

Israelis and Palestinians march together against demolitons

3 December 2010 | International Solidarity Movement

Friday, hundreds of Israelis and Palestinians marched together in the Issawiya neighborhood of East Jerusalem against recent brutality toward the village by the Israeli government: house demolitions by Israeli authorities, a siege on entrances to the neighborhood, and police misconduct with local residents. This is the first joint protest to be held in Issawiya, a neighborhood that has experienced much turmoil in recent years.

Like most Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem, Issawiya is neglected by the municipality. Portions of its land have been annexed at different times to build up Jewish neighborhoods, roads, and parks, and the villagers suffer from continuous harassment by the police. Within the last month Israeli authorities have significantly increased the number of house demolitions, set up barricades and roadblocks, and repeatedly entered the area to patrol and issue fines for minor vehicular defects.

There is only one main entrance now open to traffic going in and out of the village; the rest having been sealed off by the authorities with concrete barricades. Israelis joined the residents in solidarity and walked through the neighborhood, ending the procession at its other end where a narrow opening in the concrete barricades is wide enough to allow only one or two people to pass at a time.

Despite that the protest was non violent, after it had ended and Israeli and International activists had left, Israeli border police entered the neighborhood and fired tear gas grenades. Once again, Occupation forces brutally punished any form of resistance by the residents.

Israel steps-up pressure on Issawiya village with blockades

14 November 2010 | Wadi Hilweh Information Center & ISM

Issawiya, Jerusalem – Today large concrete blocks were laid across Issawiya village’s north-eastern entrance by Israeli troops, marking the second time in three days that the entrance has been physically blockaded by the military. The blocks, aside from severely obstructing village traffic, confirm residents’ fears of what appears to be Israeli authorities’ strategic isolation of Issawiya village.

Thursday, November 10th, Issawiya witnessed clashes between Palestinian youth and Israeli forces. Israeli police, accompanied by troops from the Israeli army, surrounded the village and closed off all but the easternmost entrance to the village, the furthest entrance from Jerusalem, following the clashes which erupted between Israeli troops and residents of the village. In doing so, the police carried out a collective punishment over the more than 18,000 Palestinians who live in the village.

Many of Issawiya’s 18,000 inhabitants, all of whom are Palestinian, fear that the road blocks are indicative of the village’s position being earmarked for a more permanent isolation from the rest of Jerusalem: the route of the illegal Apartheid wall. One resident stated that “what is happening here in Issawiya is a form of collective punishment, meted out by the Israeli authorities. Many people here are subjected to harassment and intimidation by the Israeli tax department, who are waging a campaign of fines and financial punishment on Palestinians in Jerusalem. This new development of the physical isolation of our community comes merely as the next level of pressure applied by the authorities.”