Tag: Izbet Tabib

UPDATED: ISM honors Kayla Mueller

9th February 2015 | International Solidarity Movement | Occupied Palestine

Update 10th February 2015:

Today, 10th February, Kayla Mueller’s family confirmed she has been killed.

Abdullah Abu Rahma, coordinator of the popular committee in the village of Bil’in where Kayla joined the protests, told ISM: “Kayla came to Palestine to stand in solidarity with us. She marched with us and faced the military that occupies our land side by side with us. For this, Kayla will always live in our hearts. We send all our support to her family and will continue, like Kayla, to work against injustice wherever it is.”

*****

Kayla Mueller volunteered with the International Solidarity Movement from August to September of 2010.

Kayla, sitting under a poster of Ashraf Abu Rahma from Bil'in — Kayla, sitting under a poster of Ashraf Abu Rahma from Bil’in.

On 4 August 2013 Kayla, 26, originally from Prescott, Arizona, was working with Syrian refugees when she was kidnapped after leaving a Spanish Doctors Without Borders hospital in Aleppo. Since that time she has been held in captivity by Da’esh (ISIS). This information was not previously released publicly out of concerns for her safety. On February 6th, Da’esh announced that she had been killed by Jordanian airstrikes in Raqqa, northern Syria. The validity of their announcement has not been confirmed.

Our hearts are with Kayla, her family, friends, and all those who have lost liberty, lives and loved ones in the global struggle for freedom and human rights.

With the ISM, Kayla worked with Palestinians nonviolently resisting the confiscation and demolitions of their homes and lands. In the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Occupied East Jerusalem, she stayed with the Al Kurd family to try and prevent the takeover of their home by Israeli settlers.

Kayla sitting in a protest tent in Sheikh Jarrah - Photo by — Kayla sitting in a protest tent in Sheikh Jarrah.

Kayla accompanied Palestinian children to school in the neighborhood of Tel Ruimeda in Al-Khalil (Hebron) where the children face frequent attacks by the Israeli settlers and military. She stayed with villagers in Izbat Al Tabib in a protest tent to try to prevent the demolition of homes in the village. She joined weekly Friday protests in Palestinian villages against the confiscation of their lands due to Israel’s illegal annexation wall and settlements.

Kayla with two other ISM activists in Bil'in — Kayla, standing beside two other ISM activists in Bil’in.

Kayla published writing online about her work in Palestine with the International Solidarity Movement in August and September 2010. “How can I ignore the blessing of freedom of speech when I know that people I deeply care for can be shot dead for it?” she wrote.

Below are excerpts from two of Kayla’s posts.

October 29, 2010:

“I could tell a few stories about running desperately from what you pray are rubber-coated steel bullets launched from the gun tip of a reckless and frightened 18-year old.”

“I could tell a few stories about sleeping in front of half demolished buildings waiting for the one night when the bulldozers come to finish them off; fearing sleep because you don’t know what could wake you. . . . I could tell a few stories about walking children home from school because settlers next door are keen to throw stones, threaten and curse at them. Seeing the honest fear in young boys eyes when heavily armed settlers arise from the outpost; pure fear, frozen from further steps, lip trembling.”

“The smell and taste of tear gas has lodged itself in the pores of my throat and the skin around my nose, mouth and eyes. It still burns when I close them. It still hangs in the air like invisible fire burning the oxygen I breathe. When I cry tears for this land, my eyes still sting. This land that is beautiful as the poetry of the mystics. This land with the people who’s hearts are more expansive than any wall that any man could ever build. Yes, the wall will fall. The nature of impermanence is our greatest ally and soon the rules will change, the tide will turn and just as the moon waxes and wanes over this land so too the cycles of life here will continue. One day the cycle will once again return to freedom.”

“Oppression greets us from all angles. Oppression wails from the soldiers radio and floats through tear gas clouds in the air. Oppression explodes with every sound bomb and sinks deeper into the heart of the mother who has lost her son. But resistance is nestled in the cracks in the wall, resistance flows from the minaret 5 times a day and resistance sits quietly in jail knowing its time will come again. Resistance lives in the grieving mother’s wails and resistance lives in the anger at the lies broadcasted across the globe. Though it is sometimes hard to see and even harder sometimes to harbor, resistance lives. Do not be fooled, resistance lives.”

On New Year’s Day of 2011, Kayla received news that Jawaher Abu Rahma, from the village of Bil’in where Kayla had demonstrated in solidarity with her and her family, had been killed by tear gas asphyxiation. On the first of January 2011, Kayla wrote:

“I felt compelled to blog on this today. The first day of 2011, the actual day that she died, just a few hours ago in a village called, Bil’in.”

“Every Friday in Bil’in villagers and international/Israel activists march to the barbed wire fence where an enormous and expanding illegal settlement is visible to protest the theft of their land and their livelihoods. The Palestinians are armed with rocks, the other activists with cameras and collectively they are armed with their bones. Each Friday the demonstration is met with violence; rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas and sounds bombs are the usual choice of artillery. Lives are taken as a result of the violence and Jawaher Abu Rahmah’s life was taken today.

I have been to this village,

I demonstrated in this village,

I demonstrated arm in arm with her brothers,

and I knew her.”

……………

“My first demonstration in Palestine was in Bil’in and that is when I met Ashraf, Jawaher’s brother. Despite his broken English he always made a point to make sure we were ok when we were at the demonstration in his village, to help us cough up the tear gas and walk off the anxiety. He showed us his village and we played with the kids. Ashraf would bring us water or tea and help us find rides out of the village back to the cities. In the summer of 2008, Ashraf was participating in the demonstration and was detained by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). After he was blind-folded and his hands bound, an IDF soldier shot him in the foot from a distance of about 2 meters shattering his toes and leaving him in trauma as one could imagine.”

(As with all of these video clips, the content may be too graphic for some, please use discretion).

“Just the next year in 2009 Ashraf’s brother, Bassem Abu Rahma, was participating in the demonstration and was attempting to communicate with the IDF soldiers telling them to stop shooting the steel-coated rubber bullets as an Israeli activist had been shot in the leg and needed medical attention. Not soon after an Israeli soldier illegally used a tear gas canister as a bullet hitting Bassem in the chest, stopping his heart and killing him instantly.”

And now just today, the daughter of the Rahmah family, Jawaher, has been asphyxiated from tear gas inhalation. Jawaher was not even participating in the weekly demonstration but was in her home approximately 500 meters away from where the tear gas canisters were being fired (by wind the tear gas reaches the village and even the nearby illegal settlement often). There is currently little information as to how she suffocated but the doctor that attended her said a mixture of the tear gas from the IDF soldiers and phosphorus poisoned her lungs causing asphyxiation, the stopping of the heart and death this afternoon after fighting for her life last night in the hospital. The following is a clip from today showing hundreds of Palestinians, Israelis and international activist carrying her body to her families home where they said their final goodbyes.

“This family has a tragic story, but it is the story of life in Palestine.”

“Thank you for reading. Ask me questions and ask yourself questions but most importantly, question the answers.

Forever in solidarity,

Kayla”

Almost three out of four houses in Izbat at Tabib are at risk of demolition

8th May 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Izbat at Tabib, Occupied Palestine

Izbat at Tabib, a small town of approximately 300 people located in the northwest of the West Bank, has 33 houses with demolition orders pending. The town totals 45 houses, this means that the demolition orders could destroy over 73% the town.

According to a local witness, the majority of the demolition orders have been standing since 2012, in recent years at least two houses have been demolished in this small town. The first demolition took place in 2009, five years after the demolition order was served. The second house was demolished in 2011; just one year after the demolition order was handed to the family. In both cases the Israeli army gave the families only one hour to gather their belongings before their houses were demolished.

Furthermore, there is Alfe Menashe, an illegal Israeli settlement located just two kilometres away from Izbat at Tabib. The growth and proximity of this illegal settlement is forcing the local Palestinian population to abandon their agricultural land. The villagers recall that the illegal settlers are planning to build a factory near Alfe Menashe, which could end up taking over 160 dunums (16 hectares) of land from Izbat at Tabib. An area of land adjacent to the town has had its trees uprooted by Israeli settlers recently. Allegedly this was done in order to clear the area for the future illegal factory. The villagers, however, have begun replanting the uprooted trees with young olive and pine trees.

As ISM has extensively reported, the Israeli army has also been harassing the town of Izbat at Tabib, although witnesses recall that no major incidents have happened recently. Nonetheless, the Israeli army frequently goes into the small village at night, questioning local villagers and asking for their ID cards. The Israeli army also frequently blocks the local road, which connects Izbat at Tabib with Road 55, forcing the locals to travel through the town of Azzun to reach their village. The last time this happened was approximately two months ago, although local villagers tend to remove the roadblock by their own means.

The town of Izbat at Tabib is located in Area C [under full Israeli military control] according to the Oslo II Accord signed in 1995, therefore building or transit permits are very rarely granted to local Palestinians. Since Israeli authorities do not recognise this town, they have placed almost three quarters of its structures under demolition orders, including the local school.

Continuing harrassment of Izbat Tabib village

25th November 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Izbat Tabib, Occupied Palestine

Yesterday, November 24th, Israeli soldiers blocked the road at the entrance to Izbat Tabib and entered the village on three separate occasions during the night, firing tear gas canisters and intimidating residents.

At approximately 14:30, a military jeep carrying four soldiers set up a flying roadblock near the entrance to the village preventing the passage of traffic and pedestrians on the road to Qalqilya. The roadblock remained in place for one and a half hours. Only a few vehicles or pedestrians were permitted to pass according to the arbitrary judgement of the soldiers.

Shortly after sunset, an Israeli armoured jeep entered the village. Three soldiers aggressively searched the tent used as a community center, physically searching a 14-year-old Palestinian and threatening to return later in the night.

At around 22:00, a foot patrol of four soldiers stationed itself in the bushes near the entrance to Izbat Tabib.

On all three occasions, soldiers were confronted by international activists. When asked the reason for their presence, they made unfounded allegations that village children had been throwing stones and molotov cocktails onto Highway 55, a road shared by both Israelis settlers and Palestinians.

When specific details were asked for to clarify these claims, the Israeli soldiers gave conflicting and inconsistent accounts. For instance, one soldier even claimed that a molotov cocktail had been thrown at 15:00 near the entrance to the village. This was impossible as soldiers had been blocking the road and international activists were present during this time.

Finally, at 00:30, soldiers entered the village for the fourth time that day and fired tear gas amongst the houses.

Izbat Tabib, population around 250, is located within Area C. Several years ago the village, east of Qalqiliya, was served with demolition orders by the Israeli Army. The orders would mean destruction of 33 houses (73% of the village) and the village school. Two houses have already been demolished, and the school, which has 52 students, is vital to the village and its future.

The harassment is part of an ongoing campaign of intimidation and collective punishment to pressurize residents into dropping popular resistance to these demolition orders and to the occupation as a whole.

Israeli soldiers and the flying checkpoint outside the village

Songs tear down fences in Izbat Tabib

13 July 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

On July 13th villagers in the small town of Izbat Tabib wanted to protest against the illegal Israeli construction of barbed wire fences outside the village, preventing farmers from tending their lands and olive trees.

In the beginning of the afternoon, villagers and international activists gathered at the mayor’s house before the demonstration. Afterwards, the demonstration started and participants headed towards the barbed wire fences, not far from the village entrance. Here the villagers and activists from ISM helped each other tear down the fences, this continued for around half an hour, until the arrival of Israely military jeeps with about 20 soldiers. The cutting of the fences halted, and together the villagers and activists, prevented the entry of the soldiers into the village by means of peaceful singing and demands for Palestinian rights to their rightful
land.

Army builds fence around Izbat Al Tabib

23 May 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

This morning at about 9am the Israeli army entered the village of Izbat Al Tabib with construction vehicles and began to build a large barbed wire fence along the side of the village separating it from highway 55 which runs parallel. The International Solidarity Movement joined with men, women and children from the village in attempting to peacefully resist the construction but were violently beaten back by the army who used stun-grenades and pepper spray, resulting in the hospitalisation of one man and the arrest of another. Throughout the day more and more military and police arrived until by the afternoon demonstrators were outnumbered by a ratio of about 3:1. Despite the protest of the village, the army succeeded in building approximately 200 metres of fence, containing and isolating the village with an ugly and imposing wire structure and annexing their agricultural land. It is unclear at the moment whether the army will return to expand the fence further into the village land.

This is the second time this month that the Israeli military has violently entered Izbat Al Tabib, injuring and arresting those present. On 1st May the military entered the village with a bulldozer and other heavy machinery and began to level land for the fence. As the villagers and internationals protested the invasion, the army beat and arrested three ISM activists and threw a 60 year old woman from the Michigan Peace Teams to the ground, breaking both of her wrists and causing a head injury. The army then returned during the night a few days later and evicted internationals from a protest tent that the village had erected on the proposed site of the fence construction. They confiscated the tent and the property that was inside it and raided three houses in the village, detaining those inside and destroying property.

Izbat Al Tabib is located east of Qalqiliya in area C of the northern West Bank. It was built in the 1920s and is home to 247 inhabitants. Due to its location, Izbat Al Tabib is extremely isolated: it is the fifth poorest village in the West Bank and villagers have already lost 45% of their land to the illegal annexation wall. Farmers are forced to apply for permits to access areas of their land which are located near to the highway, however these are rarely given and when they are it is only to one farmer at a time.

The village was notified on 3rd April of the Israeli Civil Administration’s plan to build the fence under the pretext of preventing stones being thrown from the village onto passing cars. The village filed a compliant against this decision but it was rejected. The village Major Bayan Tabib says

“This was an arbitrary decision meant to isolate the village and part of the Israeli effort to take it over. Israeli forces have threatened more than once to displace our people.”