28 December 2023 | International Solidarity Movement | West Bank
Early this morning, between 1:00 am and 6:00 am, Israeli Occupation Forces invaded several cities across the West Bank. Seven of the eleven Palestinian governorates in the West Bank were invaded in a coordinated attack, the largest since October 7. Clashes were documented in Jenin, Hebron, Qalqilya, and Ramallah, with reports of invasions in Tulkarem, Nablus, and Jericho. Invasion forces stormed the cities, targeting money transfer stations, stating that funds were being funneled from these major cities to Hamas. Many eyewitness reports observed soldiers breaking open safes and, according to The New Arab, stealing at least $2.8 million from these targeted locations after classifying them as having involvement with “terrorism”.
IOF Soldiers in Ramallah steal millions (source: FajerTV)IOF in Qadura Refugee Camp
On the ground ISM members in Ramallah report dozens of army tanks storming and patrolling the streets before direct clashes with Palestinian youth resistance in Al Manara square and in the Qadura refugee camp. Youth were preparing to resist by smashing large rocks to break them up while tanks loaded steel bullets into their assault rifles (steel bullets, as opposed to copper, are intended to be able to penetrate helmets, concrete, and other industrial materials).
Israeli military shell casings vs Palestinian defense weapon
Palestinians fiercely resisted the military invasion for hours, throwing rocks, metal pieces and molotov cocktails at the indestructible tanks. Invasion forces responded with live fire, rubber tipped steel bullets, tear gas, sound grenades, and other explosive devices. This bombardment withstood for several hours, mostly concentrated between 2 and 5 am, resulting in one IOF soldier shot, 14 Palestinians injured, at least 4 of which were with live ammunition, and one Palestinian, named Hazim Al-Qatawi (23), shot and killed.
⭕ Hazem Al-Qatawi ascended to martyrdom as a result of being shot by Ziomist forces during violent confrontations in the center of Ramallah.
Along with bodily harm, this extension of the ongoing occupation has resulted in storefront destruction, shattered car windows, and the street littered with remnants of destruction.
Community cleans up after shop destroyed near Al Manara squareCab in Al Manara
14th December 2016|Press Release|Beirzeit University|occupied palestine
In continuation of its barbaric aggression on our people and national institutions, the Israeli occupation forces stormed Birzeit University’s campus in the early morning hoursof Wednesday 13 December 2016. These blatant attacks and subsequent measures of harassment constitute outrageous interferences to our right to education.
Birzeit University expresses its deepest concern regarding this belligerent military attack on the university, its sanctity, and violation to all the international and fundamental principles involved in the freedom of education.
A large number of heavily armed Israeli forces stormed in Birzeit’s campus at dawn through the western gate, forcing the campus security guards to stand against the walls, and raiding several buildings including the university’s administration building, the Headquarters of the student council, Kamal Nasir Hall and the Faculty of Science. They forcibly deterred our university security personnel as they invaded these buildings, leaving a great deal of havoc behind.
The Israeli military confiscated the students’ flags and banners, and sabotaged properties inside campus and the administration building.
Birzeit University views this attack as very dangerous and a barbaric intrusion. We deplore the conversion of its academic facilities to military barracks, as well as the confiscation of its student property, searching parts of the administrative offices.
As an academic institution that aspires to live by the values of democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights, the Israeli occupation needs urgently to stop its aggressive behavior against all Palestinians.
The academic freedom of Palestinian academics and students is severely hindered, due to the occupation, its policies and continuous defiance of the fundamental rights of our people and the sanctity of our universities, and that must be defended.
Birzeit University confirms that these attacks will not deter its commitment to higher education, and the pivotal role it has played since its establishment.
The Israeli occupation had waged an extensive campaign against Palestinian universities in the last two years. In June 2014 and January 2016, Israeli Occupationraided Birzeit Universityand confiscated the contents of student blocs’ offices. They also attackedPalestine Technical University- Kadoori, and the building of the Arab American University of Jenin, as well as Al-Quds University in Abu Dis.
The university calls on the international community and human rights organizations to immediately put a stop to these raids and violations, and actively engage in supporting our struggle for liberation.
19th August 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Asira al Qibliya, Occupied Palestine
In the evenings of the 15th and 16th of August, the village of Asira al Qibliya was raided by Israeli occupation forces, who fired teargas canisters and sound bombs throughout the village. Residents of Asira are concerned for the children of the village and how life under the occupation is stealing their childhoods.
The Israeli military recently posted a blog that used falsified images to claim that there was not a humanitarian crisis in Gaza and that Palestinians were enjoying the holiday season of Eid, which comes after the fasting month of Ramadan. It is true that Palestinians all over Palestine are enjoying the holiday season particularly the children, as they have a break from school but they still face the difficulties of living under the occupation on a daily basis.
Palestinian dubke dancing from a children’s event in Asira (Photo by ISM)
In Asira, children have been involved in various activities and workshops. On Saturday the 18th of August they celebrated the end of their music workshop with a party. The holiday had not been problem free however, as on the nights of the 15th and 16th of August, at around 9.30pm, the Israeli army drove into the village and shot teargas and soundbombs. Because it was the holidays, children had been playing in the street and families had been relaxing as they were not at work. The army invasion led to everyone being trapped in their homes, suffocating from the gas.
The army shooting their weapons in the night was ‘like lightning,’ an organiser of children’s activities said, ‘leaving people shocked and scared.’ The children’s organiser was confused about the reason behind the attack, asking ‘why do they come now? There have been no incidents or clashes, it’s the Ramadan holiday when people are relaxed, I don’t know why they come.’ The army stayed for 30-40 minutes and made no arrests, leaving the village in shock. Many people wondered why the army would come, other than to add to a list of problems and harassment that the villagers already face.
The villagers of Asira have faced problems with settlers almost daily, even during Ramadan. Settlers from the illegal settlement of Yitzhar regularly attack the village, an attack which the army then join against the villagers when they come out to defend their homes. Settlers have been focusing their attacks on a water project on the outskirts of the village, which is being constructed in order to provide the people of the village with water. Asira has a shortage of water – unlike the nearby illegal settlement of Yitzhar – so families are required to buy tanks of water. However, these are so prohibitively expensive that villagers always have less than they need. The children’s organiser spoke about an attack that day where settlers had managed to set a small fire at the water project, but it was thankfully swiftly extinguished. The water project is scheduled to be finished in 18 months, but with almost daily attacks by the settlers, who knows its fate.
Asira al Qibliya being attacked by settlers on 30th May 2013 (Photo by ISM)
The children of Asira are naturally conditioned by the occupation. The activities organised for them aim to offer an escape and psychological support for the fear and hardships that the occupation creates. During the holidays, children were encouraged to make a film about themselves but instead wanted to make a film about the army and the settlers. This saddened the organiser who said: ‘They should take opportunity to talk about themselves and their feelings. If they want to talk about settlers it will take too long, as the history is long. Children should escape and should not always have to think about the occupation, they should talk about what they want to talk about, they must start now to talk about what they want.’
The party celebrating the end of the music project was a break from the children’s typical games of playing soldier, settler and shabab (Palestinian youth). The children listened to music and joined in with the excercises they had learnt in the workshop, before celebrating Palestinian culture through dabka and traditional songs. The party was interrupted briefly when a boy commented on gathering military on the hill and so everyone believed it would lead to a settler attack. Fortunately that evening they did not attack the village, allowing the children to enjoy their workshop.
18th August 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Beita, Occupied Palestine
On the 16th August 2013, Israeli occupation forces blockaded the village of Beita, near Nablus, stopping movement in or out. They proceeded to spend the hours of 10am to 7pm attacking the village with teargas, rubber-coated steel bullets and sound grenades. One fourteen-year-old boy was injured with a rubber bullet to the leg and three others were arrested. Their current legal status is unknown.
Abdel Aziz being arrested (Photo by Feras Zahrawi)
At around 10am, around eleven jeeps arrived in the area, proceeding to completely surround the village of Beita. Several jeeps blocked each access road to the village, completely restricting freedom of movement. Soldiers in military vehicles then drove into the village, the residents of which were now completely trapped. Storming through the village soldiers shot teargas and sound bombs, some of which were seemingly deliberately fired directly into homes. Some youth emerged from their homes to defend their families and the town from the Israeli military incursion. Others watched from the roofs of their homes, as the teargas fell down on their village.
Nineteen-year-old Abdel Aziz was working in his father’s shop during the incursion, but closed the doors when the army approached the area. Going up onto the roof, he watched as the teargas fell in the village. Around seven soldiers, having seen him on the roof, came to the front door and started banging at it. When Abdel Aziz came to the door, they pushed him inside and immediately started to beat him. He was then dragged outside and searched violently at the jeep. His father and brother, who witnessed the arrest, said that he was then hit in the head and brutally pushed into a jeep, where he was blindfolded and handcuffed. Abdel Aziz is due to start studying law at university in less than two weeks time on the 1st of September. However, his family are concerned that he will not be released in time to begin his course. His father said today “his mother is the most concerned – she is very upset”.
Twenty-year-old Amar Yousef was assisting in the preparation of a family wedding at his grandmother’s home when the soldiers stormed the village. Amar initially sought cover before he witnessed a fourteen-year-old receive a rubber-coated steel bullet to the leg. Leaving the safety of the house, he tried to assist this young boy with his injury. However, he was observed by a group of soldiers and subsequently beaten and arrested. At the age of sixteen Amar was imprisoned for two years, currently he has been attempting to find employment and has found this to be extremely difficult due to unemployment levels in the surrounding area.
A third young man, Mazen Dweikat was also arrested under similar circumstances. After contacting the Palestinian/Israeli military liasion, some of the families were informed that their arrested sons are in Huwwara military base, but that they will not be able to have any legal representation for at least three weeks. The fourteen-year-old who was shot with a rubber-coated steel bullet was unable to be treated at a hospital in Nablus because exits from the town were still blocked; instead he was treated by a local doctor in Beita.
Beita is not unaccustomed to assaults from the Israeli military, during Ramadan the village was subjected to a night invasion where teargas was fired. There were no arrests or injuries in this last attack, therefore it seems that as the “peace talks” begin, the situation is escalating; a fact confirmed by the army invading the village once again the next day, 17th August, shooting gas at residents.
UPDATE 1st June: Last night, two Israeli military jeeps invaded Kufr Qaddum. Soldiers threw stun grenades and stuck several posters with photos of four children around the village. The posters read: “We are the army. Be careful. If we see you, we are going to catch you. If not, we will come to your houses and take you”
Poster with the photos of the children (Photo by resident of Kufr Qaddum)
*******
On 31 May the residents of Kufr Qaddum held their weekly demonstration after the Friday prayer and were violently repressed when the Israeli army invaded the village, firing tear gas and sound bombs directly at the protesters and into several houses and the local mosque.
Window broken by Israeli soldiers during army incursion (Photo by IWPS)
The protest began at around 13:15 with the regular march to the eastern side of the village toward the road closure that separates Kufr Qaddum from the illegal Israeli settler colony Qedumim, which was built on land stolen from Kufr Qaddum. As protesters approached the last house on the edge of the village, the road was blocked by one Border Police jeep and a bulldozer. A standoff ensued between Israeli forces and local youth who built defensive stone barricades along the main road to prevent an army incursion. After half an hour, Israeli soldiers began to shoot tear gas canisters from a device know as “The Tempest,” which fires multiple canisters simultaneously. As the protesters retreated from the continuous barrage of tear gas from Israeli foot soldiers, the bulldozer advanced into the village, clearing the barricades along the way.
Residents at the western part of the village alerted the protesters in the east that the Israeli army was seen on the road outside the entrance. As residents attempted to construct new barricades, 3 Israeli army and Border Police jeeps charged into the village, accompanied by others invading from the north and the east, attempting to surround the protesters. Many residents took shelter in nearby houses as army and border police forces in the center of the village began to fire directly at people. Several women came out from their houses to confront the soldiers, who continued to shoot indiscriminately at local youth. Many tear gas canisters were shot into houses and into the mosque, where carpets were burnt by the canisters. Excessive amounts of tear gas entered one home and 5 children (ages 9, 7, 4, 1 and 6 months) suffered from tear gas inhalation. A journalist from PALMEDIA also passed out from gas inhalation after putting his gas mask onto a local woman, and was assisted by local paramedics.
After half an hour, the Israeli forces withdrew from the town, having fired more tear gas at the protesters who had once again gathered at the eastern side of the village. Two Israeli activists were arrested and taken to Ariel police station. One was later released, while the other has not yet been released (as of midnight 31 May). After the demonstration, witnesses observed many spent casings from live ammunition along the protest route, as well as a window that was broken by the soldiers.
Israeli army and Border Police invade Kufr Qaddum during the protest (Photo by IWPS)
