Tag: khalil

A Report-back from Dismantle the Ghetto’s Torch March

10th February 2019 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

Demonstrators marched through Al-Khalil today holding torches, flags and signs that called for the re-opening of the stolen Shuhada street, the return of TIPH and other international support, the end of the occupation, as well as a statements of anti-imperialism, anti-colonialism and solidarity with Venezuela.

We stand in solidarity with the Dismantle The Ghetto Campaign. They issued this statement during their Torch March demonstration, on the 10th of February 2019, in Al-Khalil.

“Dismantle the Ghetto, take the settlers out of Hebron

The recent announcement of the Israeli government shutting down the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH) and the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine-Israel’s recent decision to withdraw their team from Hebron, coupled with seven Christian Peacemaker Team workers denied entry, has put the Palestinian community in Hebron in a vulnerable position. We need your solidarity more than ever.

Since the beginning of the 1967 occupation, the Israeli settler movement has concentrated on the colonization of Hebron. 1994 was a turning point in their movement. On February 25, American-Israeli Baruch Goldstein of the Jewish extremist organization, Kach, opened fire on worshipers in the Ibrahimi Mosque killing 29 Palestinians and wounding another 125.

Despite an Israeli settler committing the massacre, it was the Palestinians who were forced to pay the consequences, setting a clear message that those who commit violence against Palestinians will not face the consequences. A policy of indiscriminate restrictions on Palestinians emerged as a means to perpetuate indigenous displacement and the establishment of illegal Israeli colonies. The Israeli military imposed curfews on the Palestinian community in the early 2000s. Entire streets were shut off from Palestinian access. The Israeli army closed over 520 Palestinian in the center of Hebron, and nearly another 1000 Palestinians were forced to close their shops due to the economic impact of Israeli’s checkpoints, road closures, and settler violence.

This campaign is about the memorial of the Ibrahimi Mosque Massacre of 1994, the thousands of lives lost, the millions of lives permanently impacted by Israel’s illegal military occupation.

We are focusing on Hebron as a microcosm of the occupation, a symbol of the colonial settlement issue, the policy of separation in Hebron/al Khaleel and the entire West Bank, the lack of freedom of movement, and the occupation at large.

We urgently call all the friends of Palestine in the world to organize and be part of this campaign.”

–Dismantle the Ghetto, in Al-Khalil

“Hundred Million Dollar Home” Hebron Shop Keeper Punished for Resistance to Occupation

2nd February 2019 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

Today, our good friend Abdulraouf Al-Mohtaseb’s, the famous owner of the 100 Million Dollar home , had his shop enclosed by steel barricades. We condemn this blatant act of aggression by the IDF against shop owners in the Old City of Al-Khalil. This is a direct response against Abdulraouf’s resilient act of resistance with his refusal to comply with the occupation.

We stand with Abdulraouf and the shop owners of Al-Khalil.

 

Help Josefin get her visa to stay with her husband in Hebron

5th March 2016 | Hebron, occupied Hebron

25-year old Social Work student Josefin Herbach from Germany and 23-year old Abd Elrahman met doing human rights work in occupied Hebron. They were married on the 11th of November, and as Josefin planned to stay in Hebron to live with her husband, she applied for a “spouse visa” through the Palestinian Ministry of Interior in occupied Hebron.

The Palestinian Ministry can only pass the request to the Israeli authorities, who are the ones who decide who is allowed to reside in the occupied Palestinian territories and for how long, including spouses of Palestinians. On January 6th, Josefin Herbach received notice from the Israeli Ministry of the denial of her spouse visa, and that she had until the 10th of January to leave the country. Being left with no alternative, she decided to hire a lawyer to appeal this decision. Since then, the Israeli State has repeatedly asked for extensions of the court’s deadline to present their opinion on the case, and on the 4th of March has asked for yet another month to ‘prepare an offer’.

Abd Elrahman explains: “Every aspect of our lives is controlled by the Israeli occupation and they are constantly trying to make us leave. Israeli soldiers enter our homes and threaten to arrest and even kill us. But we still stay on our land. Now they want to deny my right to live with my wife.”
“I consider Al-Khalil as my home. I have a life here, all my friends and my husband. I can’t leave now. I have nothing to go back to in Germany,” Josefin says about her visa denial.

Josefin is legally able to remain in the West Bank while the court proceeding drags on, but she cannot leave the country with her husband to visit Josefin’s family in Germany, who she has not seen since the marriage. Abd has not had the chance to meet his wife’s family yet, for fear that if they left the country, she would never be allowed to re-enter.

“It’s an impossible choice – if I go visit my family in Germany, I would not be able to come back and live with my husband; and if I stay with my husband here I can not see my family”, explains Josefin.

Josefin and other human rights defenders monitor the checkpoints and provide protective presence for Palestinian children on their way to and from school in Israeli-controlled parts of occupied Hebron. Palestinian children routinely face harassment and violence from tear gas to arbitrary arrests and threats from settlers living in adjacent illegal Israeli settlements. In some areas of Hebron parents fear sending their young children to school without international presence.

Josefin and her husband needed 15.800 shekels to challenge this unjust ruling in the Israeli High Court which is the only legal route available to them. They have raised 1.800 shekels so far, which leaves them with 14.000 shekels (about 3.300€ or 3.900$) to pay for the lawyer.
Support them here.

To stay updated on Josefin’s case, support and share the facebook-event.

For more information: josefin.herbach@arcor.de, 00972-597570178

Join us! For a day of action to #EndHebronMilitaryZone and #OpenShuhadaSt on March 1st

25th February, 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | al-Khalil, occupied Palestine

Our thunderclap campaign, calling on the international community to pressure the Israeli military to put an end to the closed military zone in al-Khalil (Hebron) will come to an end on the 1st of March, 2016. Join us for a day of action!

In 1994, the shops on formerly vibrant Shuhada street (martyrs’ street) were forced to close by the Israeli military, and soon Palestinians were not allowed in the area anymore. Within a few years the street became a ‘ghost street,’ with shops and houses boarded up and no Palestinians permitted to walk on most of what was once a main thoroughfare for the city. This arbitrary closure occurred after the Ibrahimi mosque massacre and was said to be a short-term measure. Short-term became long-term; the street has now been closed to Palestinians for 22 years.

4 months ago, the Israeli military restricted movements of Palestinian residents of al-Khalil even more by declaring the last part of Shuhada street, as well as much of the adjacent neighborhood of Tel Rumeida, a closed military zone. Palestinians had to register with the Israeli military in order to access their homes in these zones. This measure resulted in the tiny last bit of Shuhada Street that so far is still accessible for Palestinians – at least in theory – being barred for most Palestinians now – clearly yet another step in the Israeli attempts to force out Palestinians of the Old City in al-Khalil to connect the illegal settlements. This supposed ‘short-term’ measure keeps being renewed by military orders, making life for Palestinians in the area harder than ever.

Let’s not let the Israeli military once again take over more of the city of al-Khalil.  It’s time show support to Palestinians struggling every day, living in an apartheid city. It’s time to show the world, once again, what is happening in al-Khalil.

What you can do to act:

  • On the 1st of March, our Thunderclap campaign will come to an end, and our message to #EndHebronMilitaryZone will be published on each one of our supporters’ twitter or facebook accounts. The goal is to reach as many people as we can around the world. Support our thunderclap campaign today, join the social media thunder and raise awareness.
  • Tweet on the 1st of march with the hashtag #EndHebronMilitaryZone, using sample tweets, photos and videos here provided.
  • Join our Facebook event page for updates and more information.
  • If you are in Hebron, attend the events for #OpenShuhadaSt, or share the call in the media.
  • Call on organizations you work with or are affiliated with to add their names to the Action Alert, and to issue brief statements detailing why the organization is supporting this campaign and why you find it important. Please send all requests to sign and statements to palreports@gmail.com for publication. Please also contact us for versions of the Action Alert in languages other than English and Arabic – we currently have translations available in German, French, and Dutch, and will update this page as more become available.
  • Organize an event, such as a demonstration, presentation or other campaign to raise awareness on the situation in Hebron and mobilize support in your area
  • Contact media outlets in your country and call on them to report on the situation of the closed military zone, in Hebron and Palestine in general
  • Write a message to your elected representatives (MEPs, members of congress or whichever position is the equivalent in your country) using the sample text included in this article, and encourage your friends and contacts to the same
  • If you are based in Europe, call on your EU representatives to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement until Israel complies with international law
  • Organize a delegation to visit Hebron, see the situation for yourselves and talk to Palestinians about the restrictions imposed by the Israeli occupation. Seeing the conditions in Hebron with your own eyes offers an understanding of the occupation that one cannot get from reading about it. If you want to organize a delegation you can contact the ISM in Hebron at palreportskhalil2012@gmail.com and we will help you and answer any questions you might have.

22 years after the Ibrahimi mosque massacre, Palestinians still suffer consequences

25th February 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

On the 25th of February 1994, a US citizen residing in the illegal Kiryat Arba settlement entered the Ibrahimi mosque in the early morning during the month of Ramadan. Baruch Goldstein, dressed in his army uniform, opened fire on the Palestinians that were crammed inside for the prayer. He killed 29 men and boys and injured dozens before people overpowered him and beat him to death.

That day, many more Palestinians were killed in Hebron during riots protesting the massacre that had occurred, in front of the mosque and the hospital where the injured were treated, as well as in the cemetery were the dead were being buried. In the next few days, protests and marches happened all over the West Bank and across historic Palestine. It is believed that in total, in these few days, 50 to 70 Palestinians were killed, and over 250 were injured.

Immediately after the attack, the Israeli government released a statement condemning this act and affirming that Goldstein was acting on his own behalf. The Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin called Goldstein a “degenerate murderer, a shame on Zionism and an embarrassment to Judaism.” Rabin always affirmed that Goldstein acted on his own behalf and that the Israeli military had no knowledge of his plans. Though his act was condemned, it resulted in many measures that mostly impacted on Palestinians. Instead of evacuating the settlements of Hebron, only a few of the most extreme settlers were temporarily disarmed.

A round-the-clock curfew was imposed. Shops in Shuhada Street were forced shut by the Israeli army, on the pretext of keeping settlers safe on this commercial artery. Many other shops also had to close due to lack of supplies and customers. New checkpoints were installed. Palestinians were first banned from driving and then simply from accessing most of Shuhada Street. Much of these measures resulted in the displacement of many Palestinian families.

In 1997, a protocol was signed between Israel and the PLO, dividing Hebron into two areas: “H1”, controlled by Israeli forces, and “H2”, under Palestinian control. It called for the withdrawal of Israeli soldiers from the H1, which represented 80% of the city. To this day, even though H1 is officially controlled by the Palestinian Authority, it remains under overall Israeli control, while H2 is now the home to many violent and extremist settlers. Some of them still go every year to the tomb of Baruch Goldstein to celebrate his treacherous act of murder.

22 years later, all measures that were declared in Hebron on the 25th of February, 1994 are still enforced, except for the curfew. And settlers are more than ever taking over the city, with the compliance of the Israeli government.

The last tiny bit of Shuhada Street, that was not (yet) declared a ‘sterile zone’ and thus been completely barred for Palestinians, has been under repeated ‘closed military zone’ orders since 1st November 2015. Whereas the majority of Shuhada Street has been completely unaccessible for Palestinians, the tiny strip leading from the recently ‘renovated’ Shuhada checkpoint up to the illegal Beit Hadassah settlement, is slowly resembling a ‘ghost street’ more and more, as only Palestinians registered with the Israeli army are allowed to go there.

The closed military zone order is an illegal collective punishment on the whole Palestinian population of this area, that was forced to register in order to be allowed to live in their own houses whereas settlers in the adjacent illegall settlements can walk the roads freely and completely undisturbed. This clearly is just another step in the Israeli policy of making life for Palestinians as hard and humiliating as possible in an attempt to make them leave the area and eventually drive all of them out and connect the settlements.

Every year, Palestinians in occupied al-Khalil commemorate the Ibrahimi mosque massacre and protest against the closure of Shuhada Street and the illegal Israeli occupation. The week, leading up to the 22nd anniversary of the massacre, has seen and will continue to see creative activities and demonstrations. This past week there were also many commemorations of Palestinians, most of whom have been gunned down by Israeli forces and left to bleed to death without any medical help.