Tag: Karmei Tzur settlement

Israeli soldier kicks 12 year old Palestinian boy, after peaceful demonstration in Beit Ummar

By Ellie

9 September 2012 | International Solidaity Movement, West Bank

Israeli soldiers and young Palestinian boy

Palestinian, Israeli, and international activists gathered in Beit Ummar for the village’s regular Saturday demonstration against the nearby illegal Israeli settlement of Karmei Tsur, which has annexed village land. The demonstration focused on the August 27 destruction of a new Beit Ummar greenhouse by settlers, which occurred as the Israeli military stood by. The demonstration culminated in a young boy being kicked to the ground by an Israeli soldier.

Activists from the USA, UK, Japan, and Norway joined the villagers in taking a different route to the usual Saturday demonstration, surprising the Israeli soldiers, who had assembled elsewhere. Their route as they reached the Apartheid Wall was immediately blocked by 3 soldiers with riot shields. As more soldiers arrived, this number swiftly increased to around 45 – easily outnumbering the unarmed protesters.

The Israeli military formed a line, shoulder-to-shoulder, holding large riot shields. They harassed and targeted individuals, pushing and shoving Palestinians who were attempting to walk on their own land, including young children. The demonstrators retaliated peacefully by chanting and questioning the soldiers about their decision not to take action during the settler attack on the greenhouse. Soldiers also took pictures of individuals present – pictures taken at peaceful demonstrations have in the past been used to justify arrest of Palestinians and deportation or denial of entry to internationals.

Young Palestinian boy after being kicked by Israeli soldiers

After a prolonged face-off, the end of the demonstration was announced, and the protesters turned to leave. It was at this point that a 12-year-old Palestinian boy from Beit Ummar was kicked in the leg by an Israeli soldier, knocking him to the ground. The remaining soldiers immediately tightened their line around the activists and villagers, effectively preventing them from leaving, as well as shoving many with riot shields in the process. Concerned about the child, the protesters gathered around him and he was carried away from the soldiers, where he recovered with no major physical damage. The Commander of the Israeli forces in the village refused to comment on the kicking of the boy when questioned.

Ellie is a volunteer with The International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Karmei Tsur: Poisoning the vine with Zionism

by Joseph

7 May 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

When Ali Awad visited his orchard on Friday morning before the midday prayer he noticed nothing out of the usual. But eight hours later, when he returned to his land in order to gather grape leaves to sell in the local market, he was shocked to find that his trees had been poisoned. The grape leaves, which Ali depends on substantially for income, had died and shriveled up, making them impossible to sell. Twelve peach trees belonging to Ali’s neighbor were also destroyed.

Ali’s three dunums of farm land, where 28 grape trees have been growing for over 30 years, are directly adjacent to the barbed wire fence which separates the Palestinian village of Beit Ummar from the illegal Zionist settlement of Karmei Tsur.

Horrified and dismayed, Ali called his brother, Muhammad, to come and take pictures of the destruction. Before Muhammad could take any pictures, Israeli Occupation Forces and two older settlers arrived and began to hassle the two brothers, threatening to confiscate Muhammad’s camera. The settlers, one of whom is the mayor of Karmei Tsur, told Ali that his plants were accidentally sprayed with pesticides when Karmei Tsur farmers attempted to destroy the weeds on their land earlier in the day. Ali’s grape trees are located at least ten meters away from the settler’s field, opposite a fence and settlement road.

Ali, whose wheat crop was burned during the night by settlers last year just before harvest time, does not believe that the destruction of his trees was an accident.

“Its not unintentional, like they say, they mean to do this,” he said. “They want me to leave my land. My presence is an obstacle to the expansion of the settlement.”

But Ali, whose family has already lost several dunums of their ancestral land to the illegal settlement, steadfastly refuses to leave.

“I have deeds going back to Turkish times, why should I leave? The land is for me, for my family, not for the settlers.”

According to the Israeli organization Peace Now, Karmei Tsur is built on 27% privately owned Palestinian land. The Fourth Geneva Convention forbids the construction of settlements in occupied territory.

Joseph is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

In photos: Beit Ommar weekly protest

by Younes Arar

17 March 2012 | Beit Ommar Popular Committee

Hungry striking and demonstrating in solidarity with Shalabi and Corrie – Click here for more photos

The Beit Ommar Popular Committee organized today’s weekly peaceful protest adjacent to Karmei Tzur colony built on the stolen land of Beit Ommar farmers. When we arrived next to the so called security fence surrounding the colony, more than 60 heavily armed Israeli occupation soldiers obstructed our path and tried with aggression to force us back, but we resisted their violence and carried on our protest program.

This protest was in solidarity with Hana Shalabi who has been on hunger strike for the last 31 days in the Israeli occupation jails, and in memory of the ninth anniversary of the martyrdom of Rachel Corrie, who was bulldozed by an Israeli occupation military bulldozer while she trying to stop the bulldozer from bulldozing a Palestinian house in Rafah in the Gaza Strip.

It’s important to note that the popular committee of Beit Ommar has been on hunger strike for the last two days in solidarity with Hana Shalabi.

Justice and Freedom for Hana Shalabi, Long live the memory of Rachel Corrie. LONG LIVE PALESTINE

Younes Arar is a coordinator for the Beit Ommar Popular Committee.

Beit Ummar: Settlers throw stones from behind military tear gas

by Anders and Aurelie

30 October 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, 2011

What started as a peaceful demonstration soon erupted into violence when soldiers and settlers from Karmei Tzur settlement attacked a demonstration in Beit Ummar today. The demonstration of around 30 Palestinians and internationals started from the outskirts of the village and continued through a field of olive trees to a fence which separates the village from the settlement.

A group of soldiers from the settlement entered the field and positioned themselves in front of the fence and initially let the peaceful demonstration continue. Settlers from Karmei Tzur arrived soon after and began to verbally abuse the protesters. Arguments broke out between the demonstrators and the soldiers who responded by deploying a few sound grenades and a canister of teargas. The demonstration continued but the atmosphere became increasingly tense.

The settlers and some of the demonstrators entered a shouting match between each other, and the military then decided to force the demonstration back towards the back of the olive field by using a significant amount of teargas. Encouraged by this, the group of settlers began hurling stones and rocks from behind the fence and a Palestinian journalist from a French agency was taken to hospital with a head wound.

Before being taken to the hospital, the journalist said, “The strange thing was that the soldiers didn’t stop the settlers, but they used violence against the demonstrators and journalists…they left the settlers free to throw stones.”

Three people suffered from teargas inhalation, among them a 74 year old French woman and two villagers.

Beit Ummar is a village located to the south of Hebron. There are weekly demonstration against the illegal Israeli setllement. The security fence seperates Beit Ummar from the settlement of Karmei Tzur. It has expropriated a significant amount of Beit Ummar´s land.

Anders and Aurelie are activists with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed)

Broken wrists and arrests by Israeli military as farmers cultivate Beit Ummar

10 September 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Supporting Palestinian farmers in Beit Ummar, international activists joined the weekly Saturday activities–clearing the land for cultivation despite the harrassment of Israeli military and illegal settlers, which resulted in the injury of a Palestinian man and the arrest of a British national, Jude Wells.

At 9 AM the solidarity march to protect the farmland of Beit Ummar began from the local mosque to the main gate of the illegal Israeli settlement, Karmi Tzur. Dozens of citizens, Israeli and foreign activists participated in the march. Volunteeres removed the brush and thorns as well as the irrigation networks that the settlers put in to desecrate the farmland. Participants started chanting slogans in support of the creation of a Palestinian state.

Israeli soldiers arrived in the lane next to the field and began entering the field to prevent the farmers working. When work began again soldiers and border police briefly showed a military closure order to one of the Palestinian farmers. It was not possible to check the legality of the order and a request to photograph the order was refused.

But with the insistence of the participants in the march, a significant amount of the participants were able to access the land intended to be controlled. Flags were held up and the Israeli army violently reacted by brutally beating activists. A large number of settlers were gathered and started screaming and insulting the Palestinians, offending Muslims, as the army stood by.

Two participants in the action were arrested including 27 year old Jude Wells of Britain, and 45 year old Ali Abad, a member of the local Popular Committee who sustained injuries to his right hand. For a video of the arrests, visit this link.

Abad who was originally handcuffed to be arrested was transported by the Red Crescent to Alya hospital to treat his broken wrist. Wells was released from detainment after ten hours.

Riyad Abuayyash, a farmer who was present and witnessed the aggression said, “I want to live in peace with my neighbors, with mutual respect, my dream is to have my own house here and grow grapes on my land.”

After the second Inifada farmers of Beit Ummar were driven from the land which borders the illegal Israeli settlement. Without support and presence of internationals, the risk of farming their own land would be potentially fatal.