Tag: Izbet Tabib - Page 2 - International Solidarity Movement

American woman hospitalized with head injury and three international activists arrested in West Bank protest

1 May 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

Injuries suffered by a 60 year old female American activist.

Sandra Quintano, An American 60 year-old women working with the Michigan Peace Team, was evacuated to an Israeli hospital this afternoon, after Israeli soldiers caused her a serious head injury as they demolished a protest tent in the West Bank village of Izbet al-Tabib near Qalqilya. A Swede and two British activists were arrested during the protest. To download a video of the incident, click here.

Israeli soldiers, accompanied by bulldozers and other heavy machinery entered the village of Izbet al-Tabib south of Qalqilya earlier today, to demolish a protest tent set up only yesterday by the villagers and begin the construction of a fence that would cut the villagers off from Highway 55 and of their agricultural land.

During the eviction of the tent, the soldiers violently arrested two British activists and a Swedish activist. They also caused a bleeding head injury to a 60 year-old American woman. She also suffered blows to her wrist, which is suspected to be broken. She was evacuated to an Israeli hospital.

Nonviolent protester after being injured by Israeli soldiers.

The violent arrests were made solely under the pretext of declaring the area a “closed military zone”. However, the soldiers and Border Police officers carried out the arrests without having shown any document declaring the area as such, as the law requires them to do. The three are still in custody and are currently held at the Ariel police station.

During today’s protest, Bayan Tabib, the head of the village council, has received a promise from an Israeli Civil Administration officer, that the fence will only be erected on the far end of Highway 55, thus not cutting off the village’s access to the road or their land. Tabib attributed the promise to today’s protest, saying the “The protest today is the only reason that they agreed to move the fence.”

The village of Izbet al-Tabib, which consists of 45 structures and is home to 247 residents, was built in the 1920’s and is located entirely in area C according to the 1995 Interim Agreement (Oslo II). Israeli authorities do not recognize the village and 32 out of its 45 houses, as well as its school, have been served demolition orders in recent years. Izbet al-Tabib is the fifth poorest village in the West Bank and villagers have already lost 45% of their land due to the construction of Israel’s Separation Barrier.

Izbat Al Tabib set to lose land with creation of wall

27 April 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

Village land between highway 55 and Izbat Al Tabib

The village of Izbat Al Tabib outside Qalqilya is currently being threatened by the creation of a wall, which will annex 1000 square meters of their agricultural land. The village is situated right next to highway 55, and under the pretext of preventing stones being thrown onto the highway, the Israeli Civil Administration plans to build two walls, between which will be a buffer zone of Palestinian land. This will separate Izbat Al Tabib from the highway annexing vital agricultural land.

The army is planning to begin constructing the wall on 1st May. Villagers received the notice on 3rd April and were given two weeks to file a complaint. Their complaint was rejected on 23rd and they plan to take it to the Supreme Court on 28th. The army has also recently began entering the village and making arrests.

The village, which contains 45 houses and is home to 247 inhabitants, was built in the 1920’s and is located in area C. The village is not recognized by Israel and 32 out of 45 houses, and a school, have been served with demolition orders. 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.

In 1997 Israel attempted to make the east of the village into an industrial zone, however the village resisted this with demonstrations and after six months plans were dropped.

Izbet Tabib under threat

three shops — Three half-demolished shops in Izbet Tabib: the owners hope to stop any further bulldozers from the Israeli company Delek

24 August 2010 | ISM Media

In the small village of Izbet Tabib near Qalqiliya in the north of the West Bank, 27 of the 55 houses have received eviction orders from Israeli authorities. Located in Area C (following the Oslo Accords making it Israeli civilian and militarily controlled), the village has an extremely hard time getting building permits. Furthermore as it is situated near both the annexation wall and several illegal settlements, villagers experiences daily harassment and constant tension.

The wall has annexed large parts of Izbet Tabib’s farm land, and extremist Israeli settlers are in the habit of driving through the village and harassing the inhabitants by shooting in the air or setting olive trees on fire. Also, the Israeli Occupation Forces are almost always present, creating additional trouble and fear for the village. The Popular Committee and others attempting to resist the occupation are especially targeted by the Israeli authorities in an attempt to repress this resistance.

A case in point is that of the Mayor and Head of the Popular Committee, Bayian Tabib. He and his fifteen-year-old son, Thair Bayain Tabib, were arrested on Friday the 30^th of July around 2 p.m. as they stepped out of the mosque after the Friday noon prayer. Both were accused of throwing stones at a main road near the settlement – both declared themselves innocent. Regardless of the complete lack of evidence, Israeli soldiers, after having detained the two men for about an hour, put them in a jeep and drove them to a secluded place slightly outside of the village. Here, the commander in charge demanded that Bayain Tabib keep the youngsters of the village completely away from the main road and threatened him with further arrests if he didn’t obey. The soldiers seized the identity cards of the two men unlawfully and finally released them after one hour and a half.

Episodes like this are not exceptional. Thair Tabib has been arrested a number of times, the first when he was thirteen years old, and is always accused of stone-throwing. His father, Bayain Tabib, was in prison for two months in 2002 during the second Intifada. As the head of the Popular Committee, Tabib receives special attention from the Israeli authorities. Israeli soldiers often park outside his home and point their machine guns at anyone coming or going in an attempt to intimidate Tabib, his wife, and his nine children.

The latest threat is to three shops in the village which were partially demolished on August 12th by a bulldozer owned by a private Israeli gas company, Delek. The firm wants to build a new gas station in the area for the roughly 5,000 Israeli settlers from Zufin and the many more who inhabit Alfei Menashe, the biggest illegal settlement nearby, as at present the only one nearby is Palestinian. The land was sold to them by a Palestinian collaborator with Israeli ID but the shopkeepers are resisting the demolition of their shops which would destroy their livelihood. ISM activists will be staying overnight together with the Mayor and owners of the shops in case a demolition bulldozer returns – they have come on the three previous Thursdays and are expected again this Thursday. According to the villagers court has issued a demolition order on the shops.

Meanwhile, despite the great pressure that Izbet Tabib is exposed to from both soldiers, settlers, the wall, eviction and demolition orders, the village has become an important and inspiring site for resistance against the occupation. What is particularly unique is that Izbet Tabib joins an extremely small number of villages that have succeeded in having the wall that used to cut deeply into their farm land physically removed and thus getting most of their stolen farm land back after a verdict that declared the original route of the wall illegal.