Tag: Jerusalem - Page 13 - International Solidarity Movement

12 year old Palestinian killed in Bethlehem as violence explodes across the West Bank

5th October 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | West Bank, occupied Palestine

Abed al-Rahman Shadi Obeidallah, 12 was still in his school uniform when he was rushed in a civilian car to Beit Jala hospital from Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem today. The boy, from from a Al Kahder village, was shot in the heart during confrontations at Aida camp as violence explodes across the West Bank prompting the Red Crescent to declare a level 3 state of emergency across the occupied Palestinian territories. Another boy was shot in leg with live ammunition during the attack.

Abed al-Rahman Shadi Obeidallah, 12, just before being shot to death by Israeli forces in Bethlehem

Denouncing Israeli violations against humanitarian international law, the Palestine Red Crescent Society staff have endured 14 attacks on their emergency vehicles as Israeli forces and settler violence has sharply surged in a bloody three days. Attacks on PRCS have included medics being beaten by soldiers in Jerusalem, Israeli forces beating an ambulance crew with batons in the old city of Jerusalem and after one attack on an emergency crew in Jabal Al Taweel (Al-Bireh), two medics were injured. Israeli forces attacked an ambulance in al-Issawiya village in occupied East Jerusalem, before arresting an injured Palestinian who was being treated inside the ambulance. An ambulance windshield was also shattered by settlers in Burin village in Nablus. Burin underwent a frightening attack by settlers which left much of it in flames.

Reportedly 465 Palestinians have been injured thus far, including 28 shot with live ammunition and 68 injured with rubber coated steel bullets. Hundreds of others have been overcome by teargas that Israeli forces have been showering over villages and in cities where Palestinians have gathered to demonstrate against their murdering of several Palestinian youths since this past Saturday.

Young Palestinians martyrs recently murdered by Israeli forces.

Fadi Samir Mustafa Alloun, 19, from the East Jerusalem village of al-Issawiya, was shot to death by Israeli forces after allegedly attempting to stab a group of Israelis. 18-year-old Huthayfa Othman Suleiman was shot in the chest during clashes and died in the operating room. In a particularly heinous attack, Yousef Bayan al-Tabib, just six years old, was standing on the side of the road when a settler reportedly stopped his car, shot the child in the stomach, and fled the scene.

Across the occupied Palestinian territories, there have been reports of settlers slaughtering Palestinian’s sheep, attacking Palestinian cars with stones on roads and carrying out violent attacks on villages. As for Israeli forces, soldiers disguised as Palestinians assisting an injured Palestinian into a hospital in Ramallah, disabled security cameras and proceeded to arrest a Palestinian undergoing medical treatment. This is similar to other hospital raids in recent days where a variation of this tactic was repeated.

As for the Israeli government, Netanyahu today made an inflammatory statement to wage a “harsh offensive” against Palestinians; Zionist opportunism at its most typical. Collective punishment is the usual expectation when it comes to the illegally occupying force dealing with the civilian population whose land they are occupying. Israel launched three air strikes in the besieged Gaza strip targeting alleged Hamas ‘terror’ sites after two rockets were fired from Gaza, hitting nothing and injuring no one.

News reports of shootings, injuries, murders, arrests and raids continue to flood in as the situation unfolds at a lightning quick pace. For Palestinians enduring the brunt of Israeli incited race hatred and promoted retribution for the shooting of two Israeli settlers last week, the cavalierly imposed restrictions on al Aqsa Mosque, which have sparked outrage and violent confrontations- and the ensuing chaos, are yet another violent incursion into their lives.

Jerusalem Day: Palestinians met with extreme violence

On Sunday 17th May 2015, I witnessed some of the most violent and painfully blatant acts of Apartheid since my time in Palestine. I went to Al Quds for the annual ´Jerusalem Day´, to document the racist chants, commonly known to occur. ‘Jerusalem Day’, or ‘Yom Yerushalayim’ is a zionist celebration of the 6 day war in ’67, when Israel claims to have reuinited Jerusalem. Having ethnically cleansed West Jerusalem in 1948, Israel has occupied East Jerusalem since ’67, which had previously been under Jordanian control. The day consists of thousands of hard line Israelis, many of them young men, marching with flags through the muslim quarter of the old city, chanting racist and abusive slogans such as ‘Death to the Arabs’, and forcing shops to close their doors for the day.

Naively, I expected a relatively uneventful day, videoing marchers as they passed through the street. In reality, the day consisted of an abusive demonstration of the Zionist apartheid state and the ethnic cleansing upon which it is founded.

We arrived at Damascus gate just after 2pm to a crowd of young Israelis waving Israeli flags and, closely watched by soldiers, a small group of Palestinians and internationals waving Palestinian flags. All seemed tense. Throughout the city were swarms of zionists, dancing, chanting and celebrating their deemed ‘ownership’ of this city. Their loud chants through the Old City and choice to gather at Damascus Gate (The entrance to the muslim quarter), was a nod towards the provocative nature that this day would inevitably take.

Over the course of an hour, I witnessed a number of arrests. Although all separate to each other, they all had a common thread; they were all arrests of Palestinian men, and all included acts of violence shocking even within the context of the abusive occupation. I saw the first of these arrests only once the man’s head was locked in the arms of two soldiers. I burrowed under the arms of the soldiers and pulled the man away, a group of us successfully dearresting him. As he ran, the soldiers grabbed him again, holding his arms behind his back and squeezing at his chest. The man collapsed. His body fell to the ground between the soldiers, and as people rushed forward to perform CPR, the soldiers pushed them back, not allowing them to reach him. Eventually the man was carried away to hospital. We heard no news as to how he was later in the day.

Pushed against some close by metal railings, another man was grabbed by around 6 soldiers and thrown to the ground, before being stamped on and kicked as he lay there handcuffed. Just below the same railings, an Israeli soldier throttled another Palestinian man. Whilst his two hands were round the mans neck, other soldiers swarmed in and pushed him to the ground, hitting him in the face. He too was taken off by paramedics. An older man who looked in his sixties, whose arrest I didn’t see, was carried by his four limbs through the crowd by police.

These arrests were all at the entrance to Damascus Gate, watched over by a group of Zionists who were left to stay in the area. The agenda of the police and military at the scene, was to clear the area and road leading to it of any Palestinians. All Palestinians were moved to a side street, by police on horses charging through the crowds. Palestinians were pushed shoved and pulled away from the gate, many of whom had shopping bags and were with their children.

One elderly man passing through was thrown forwards onto his face by two soldiers. I next saw him as his bloody mouth was tended to by paramedics. Another was grabbed by a number of soldiers, and thrown with such force onto his back, he traveled a meter or so passed me before landing. A Palestinian man who attempted to stop a young zionist from pulling a scarf from a Palestinian woman, was pushed down the steps by two soldiers, as the zionist boy and his friends watched on. The woman, reclaimed her scarf and sat on the spot holding a Palestinian scarf in one hand, gesturing the peace sign with the other.

At around 7pm, what looked like tens of thousands of Zionists marched to Damascus Gate and on through the muslim quarter of the Old City. Largely consisting of young men, they chanted in Hebrew, directed at any Palestinian watching from the side. An older man next to me held a Palestinian flag, as the Zionists threw broken sticks from their flags at him. Later, standing among a small group of press at the side of the square, I found myself on the receiving end of sticks, as the crowd took any opportunity to attack onlookers. Press were hit with sticks, and dragged by police away from the gate. One police officer rugby tackled me from behind, as sticks were thrown from overhead. The crowd hurled abuse, as the soldiers watched on, many laughing along to the chants. As a Palestinian man nearby shouted back to the crowd, he was abruptly arrested and pulled away by soldiers.

The scenes witnessed at Damascus Gate on Sunday were not however the full extent of the day. A family we later visited whose house has just been demolished in East Jerusalem, had their area surrounded by Israeli flags, with people chanting ‘Death to the Arabs’ outside their window. Their 8 children, who were too afraid to leave the house, are daily witnesses to hatred inflicted towards themselves and their families.

Jerusalem Day to me was Zionism personified; the racist apartheid state that Israel is unashamed of. There were violent attacks on Palestinians by soldiers, police, and Zionist marchers alike. The soldiers and police supported Zionist youth as they hurled verbal abuse at passers by. Palestinian shops were forced to close as Zionists banged on their front shutters. Palestinians were made to move from the Muslim quarter to watch from afar as Zionists chanted hatred towards them – inciting ethnic cleansing and death to the Arabs.

This day was not one of watching on the sidelines as a group marched through the street – this day was a new awakening for me as to the systematic violence the Israeli state relies on. The city was turned into a playground for the new generation of right wing Zionists, as they were taught the abuse that’s accepted against all those not waving the same flag.

Open the gate, bring down the wall!

08th May 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Al Khalil Team | Al-Zaim, Occupied Palestine

The villagers of Al-Zaim held their third demonstration today in front of the gate in the apartheid wall that separates them from East Jerusalem. Peaceful demonstrators were met by a large number of occupation forces and agreement was eventually reached to open the gate.

6000 people live in Al-Zaim, but the difference between them and most other Palestinians living inside the West Bank, is that they hold a blue rather than a green ID. This defines them as citizens of East Jerusalem. However, the apartheid wall cuts them of from their city, placing them otherside of the Green Line. An iron gate has been erected as the main way for these Jerusalemites to access their occupied city, where most of them work. “Al-Zaim is like a jail inside a jail”, comments an ISM activist present at the demonstration.

Gate separating the Jerusalemites from their own city

Two weeks ago, 16 year old Ali Abu Said Ghannam was shot dead by the Israeli forces in Attur, a neighbourhood of Mount Olive. Since then, the gate allowing the villagers in and out of East Jerusalem has been closed, apart from one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening. Freedom of movement has become near to nonexistent and those who need to reach the other side of the wall have to do a long detour via Adumin to get there.

Children of Al-Zaim asking for their freedom

The villagers are asking for the full opening of the gate. But ultimately, they are questioning its very existence. On this third demonstration in Al-Zaim, children holding Palestinian flags and signs of peace stood face to face with the Israeli forces. Behind them, the men of the village and the surrounding area prayed together before everyone united to sing songs of freedom for their people and their land.

The senior Israeli officer told the head of the municipality that if the demonstration stopped, they would open the gate. Accepting that decision, the people marched back, ending this short and peaceful demonstration. Whether the gate will actually stay open is still unknown. The fact is, there is still a gate and there is still a wall.

Organisers of Pilsen 2015, don’t host Days of Jerusalem festival

30th April 2015 | International Solidarity Movement – support group | Czech Republic

Prominent figures of Czech political and public life call on the organizers of Pilsen 2015 to step down as hosts of the Days of Jerusalem festival.

The Days of Jerusalem festival is taking place in the city of Pilsen as part of the European Capital of Culture 2015 initiative this year. It will occur between the 18th and 21st of June and its subsequent activities will echo throughout Prague, on the 22nd and 23rd of June. In response, civil initiatives engaged in dealing with the issue of occupation of Palestine wrote an open letter to the organizers of Pilsen 2015, requesting that they step down as hosts of this festival.

Journalist and formerly incarcerated dissident, Petr Uhl; former foreign minister and former President of the United Nations General Assembly, Jan Kavan; vice-chairman of the Green Movement, Tomáš Tožička; politician and journalist, Matěj Stropnický; philosopher and political activist, Ivan Bartoš; politician and professor, Šádí Shanaáh; poet and author, Milan Kohout, and many others upheld the call with their signatures, which reads, in part:

“The Days of Jerusalem event is part of a political strategy through which the State of Israel seeks to secure legitimation of its illegal annexation of Jerusalem. This is further supported by the fact that several Israeli government agencies will partake in the festival’s organization. Thus, via the festival Days of Jerusalem, the Czech public is misinformed and deliberately dragged into a highly controversial political game in which your event – Pilsen 2015 – is nothing more than another playing field.”

“…The organizers of Pilsen 2015 have an obligation to the Czech public. The public has the right to be well informed and not be manipulated by one side. Other countries in Europe are aware of this obligation.”

____

Full letter available here.

Background information here.

Contacts for media:
Zdeněk Jehlička (Initiative Not in Our Name! – For a Just Peace in the Middle East)
tel. no.: +420 603 369 574, email: nenasimjmenem@gmail.com | ism-czech.org

Vojtěch Srnka
tel. no.: +420 775 129 722, email: vojtech.srnka@gmail.com

Journal: House demolition in East Jerusalem

27th April 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Team Al Khalil | East Jerusalem, Occupied Palestine

The family and internationals sitting around a fire during the night

This has been hard to write down. The three of us put off again and again the thoughts and fears of that day, to remember them and to finally write them down. We have been avoiding it, because it is easier to simply try and forget. But then at the same time, for us it was just this one night, whereas for the families living in the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of Wadi al-Joz this is everyday life.

An illegal demolition of the majority of the Amro-family home on the 31^stof March, 2015 left all the families in Wadi al-Joz scared for the future. If Israeli forces can just turn up one early morning and tear down half a family home without prior notice or any legal grounds, might this also happen to the other few families still living in this neighborhood?

On a Sunday night, the 18^th of April, 10 international activists and journalists as well as a few members of the Tutalji family sat outside the family’s home. It was a cold night but we had set up a fire to warm us up. The stars were shining and we were drinking tea and chatting. The children were asleep inside.

Sounds lovely, doesn’t it?

The truth is, the atmosphere was filled with fear and despair. Only a few days earlier, the Tutalji family had received a demolition order for their house, home to Aref Tutalji, his wife and adult daughter, as well as twelve children, aged between 4 and 18 years. They were told the Israeli army would come to demolish their home at four o’clock that night. At very short notice the family now stood to be homeless. After seeing what happened to their neighbours, the Amro-family, the Tutalji family tried to store their life, their most precious belongings, in cardboard-boxes to be kept outside the home.

The Amro family told us that they wanted to get rid of the rubble of their house, but felt it difficult to do so due to their connection to the house. They felt attached to the rubble. The house of your family is not just four walls and a roof- it is your history. You feel the memories in the walls, and you know every corner and every crack, even if you are blind – as is the case with Nureddin, the father of the Amro family.

It was a long night; sitting outside the house, listening to the family’s stories, their fears and desperation. What are they going to do if their house, the only home they’ve ever known, gets destroyed? What kind of future would that bring for their children? Were they going to be killed by the army, that told them that, when they come, they “see nothing in front of them”? As a precaution, the family-dogs were given away and animal shelters were moved to the outer limit of their land.

Most of the family was unable to sleep that night. They were too scared they would wake up to their house being demolished or not being able to get out of the house fast enough. Listening to the family talk about their fears, not only for this night, but also for the longer run, it was hard to hold back the tears.

Earlier that night, the three of us sat down for a pizza in the old town of East Jerusalem – self-care, we called it. We went through possible scenarios for the coming night, scared and unsure of what was about to happen. What would we do, if the army immediately starts demolishing the house? Were people going to get hurt – were the children going to be beaten by the army, as happened during the demolition of the Amro-family’s home? It was good to talk about all the possibilities, but also hard to admit how scared we were of what might happen during this night.

We felt the frustration of the father who kept asking why this was happening to his family. Why did their house pose a threat to the Israeli state? Where were they going to sleep? What about the kids? He pleaded that he doesn’t hold grudges against Judaism, Christianity or any other religion, and told us that he wanted nothing more than to live in peace, side by side with his neighbours. But how can he live in peace when they come and ruin his home? These house demolitions are strange. After having lived for several generations on their land, these people are pushed out of their homes in order for Jews from Brooklyn to come and replace them. You have to wonder why.

In the early evening, we tried to get some sleep, but every time we heard the sound of a car driving past the house, we would sit up, turn our heads and look at each other, sure that now, they were coming to tear down the house. It would take some time listening to what was going on to realise that again, this was just a car driving past – until we heard yet another car. Next morning the Amro-family told us that having internationals stay with them meant they were able to sleep through the whole night for the first time for three weeks. Having stayed only one night, not being able to fall asleep dreading what might happen, we were able to understand that easily.

For us it was only one night. For the families living in this neighborhood, this is everyday life. Every night, the families wonder what to do, how to continue their life, if all their belongings are destroyed with their house. Every night, going to bed they are worried they might not have a house the next morning. Every night, they have to worry about getting beaten, to have their home – and their future – destroyed.

Maja, Siggy and Jenny.