Tag: Nablus

by ISM Nablus affinity groups and ISM Media team

Harvest Continues in Salim Despite Occupation

Wednesday 25th October: With Eid celebrations complete, the annual olive harvest continued today in villages across the West bank. In the village of Salim near to Nablus city, volunteers with the International Solidarity Movement were invited by local Palestinians to help with the harvesting of their olives in the groves close to the Israeli settlement of Elon Moreh.

On the approach to the olive groves, villagers were stopped by soldiers of the Israeli occupation forces. They were controlling the gate through which Palestinians must go to cross the settler-only roads, which stand between their village and their land agricultural land. After requiring the villagers to show their IDs, the Palestinian villagers continued their journey on to the olive groves.

Salim’s olive groves are situated in the beautiful valleys to the east of Nablus, commanding stunning views of the city and on a clear day, the hills of Jordan. However, this local environment has been marred by the sprawl of Israeli settlements, and colonial outposts on the hilltops surrounding the olive groves (all structures Israel builds in the occupied territories in order to house its civilian population are illegal under international law). In the course of the construction of these illegal settlements and settler-only apartheid roads, some 80 dunnums of land have been confiscated by the Israeli army from Salim.

One Palestinian family from the village told volunteers how they had had 350 olive trees, which had been destroyed last year by settlers. They also indicated the loss of large areas of fertile land which they were no longer able to access due to the continued construction of the illegal settlements and settler-only roads. The lands had been previously used for growing cereals and vegetables. This land now lies unused – a vexatious waste of natural resources and a serious blow to the economy of Salim.

Olive picking in Salim today progressed without serious incident, and in spite of the numerous obstacles put in the way of the villagers by the Israeli army and the continued colonisation of their land, villages were in good spirits. However, as volunteers were returning to the village, reports were coming in of a violent settler attack on Palestinians, also out picking olives on their land in a village west of Nablus. With several weeks of the olive harvest to go in the occupied west bank, it remains to be seen whether or not settlers and soldiers will continue the violence, intimidation and theft that have marred the olive harvest of 2006 so far.

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“This is not peace!” – Olive Harvesters in Awarta Face Obstacles from Settlers and Soldiers

Friday 27th October: Sitting in the shade of an olive tree, drinking tea out of a thermos, it is easy to forget where you are. Walking among a throng of chatty, giggly children in a stunningly beautiful valley framed by gently rolling mountains, you could be forgiven for letting your guard down for a moment. That is, until a military jeep comes careening down the road at 100km/h and an 8-year old Palestinian boy hangs out of the window of a car driving toward it – his face distorted and feigning terror, screaming at the top of his voice. Then you are reminded that this is Awarta, a village south of Nablus city and adjacent to the ever expanding and notoriously violent Israeli settlement of Itamar, and that the calm moments always precede a storm.

Awarta’s olive groves are located between the Palestinian village and the Israeli settlement, the latter’s caravan and watchtower outposts spread out on hilltops in every direction. A dirt path leading up to the gate in the outer perimeter settlement fence divides the land directly facing the settlement into east and west, while a tarmac road leads deeper into the groves in the south-west. All of the land is under direct threat from Israeli colonist attacks and Itamar has recently erected a second perimeter fence around its original border, thus confiscating even more fertile land and further decimating Awarta’s olive harvest.

The Palestinian villagers are now afraid of even approaching the fence to pick olives from the trees. “If we go within 50m of the fence, the settlers go mad. They will cut down more of our trees and pollute our water. This is what they always do”, says one anonymously speaking villager with land adjacent to, and on the far side of the barrier. In light of these obvious risks, the harvesters’ resolve to pick every last olive this year is especially impressive. Even if the Israeli army decide not to protect the Palestinians villagers in accordance to the Israeli High Court decision taken earlier this year, where it was stipulated that Palestinian farmers have a right to enter and work their land, with or without DCO* permission, and that the military commander in the area must defend this right. In the past, the Israeli army have often opted for declaring Palestinian land that deem likely to be target by Israeli colonists “closed military zones.” They have justified this by saying that the law is aimed to protect the Palestinian residents, but has in reality, saved them from any real confrontation with Israeli colonists, while at the same time often preventing Palestinians from farming their olives. The court ruling clearly says that this is no longer allowed and that territorial closure is subject to a number of strict preconditions.

This decision is important to many Palestinian farmers. It provides them with a legal weapon to use in fighting for their rights to their land. Apart from land in “red zones,” which are not subject to such rapid changes as “closed military zones,” and can be checked on military maps, all farmers should in theory be unhindered and protected in working their land and harvesting their olives this season. The result on the ground in Awarta has been that a large number of military vehicles carrying soldiers and police patrol the area during the day, driving back and forth and occasionally stopping in certain areas. This is truly a schizophrenic experience for many of the villagers. Accustomed to avoiding any contact with the Israeli military, they are now forced to rely on them for protection against Israeli colonists. Old habits die hard and the children still squeal “jeish” (“army” in Arabic) and move closer to their parents whenever a jeep speeds by.

As was clearly illustrated yesterday, scepticism as to the military’s motives is warranted. A family of olive pickers was chased away by Israeli soldiers while attempting to harvest on land near one of the outposts west of the dirt path. Colonists from Itamar claim that this land has been sold to them, while the Palestinian owners dismiss this as malicious lies and carry with them deeds to the 187 dunums concerned. Their work on the land having been brutally interrupted, the family has now contacted the DCO in Nablus, requesting that they act as arbitrator between the disputees and offer protection to the family during the harvest. “We are expecting a reply from them on Tuesday, but will go to harvest our olives regardless of their decision”, says one of the family’s adult sons.

It is also clear that the Israeli military has a very limited capacity and/or will to prevent colonists’ attacks on Palestinians. The day before yesterday, two armed colonists from Tel Hayim wandered down the mountain at around four o’clock in the afternoon to threaten olive pickers and force them to leave their land. The military were at that time not present in that particular area of the massive expanse of olive groves. It also seems that no measures will be taken to prevent this from happening again.

Apart from the impracticalities of military protection, it is clearly not a politically or morally viable solution. The pretense that the Israeli military forces are maintaining a presence on the land “on the people’s orders” as one police officer put it, is just that – a pretense. The situation is better summed up in the words of a hard-pressed Awarta farmer, eager to finish the work as soon as possible: “We are happy the soldiers are here because the settlers may not come then. But this is not a solution. We, the Palestinians, want peace. And peace is not having soldiers shoot at our children one day and then wishing us a good day’s olive harvest the next.”

Awarta will continue its struggle for a good harvest and international supporters are more than welcome to join in. For a practical and powerful act of solidarity, come to Palestine. Harvesting is resisting!

* DCO: District Co-ordination Office. Formerly joint Israeli Palestinian institutions for the administration of civilian affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories, the Palestinian Authority was kicked out at the start of the second intifada. DCOs are affectively the civil administration wing of the Israeli military.

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Beit Iba Overcomes Obstacles from the Israeli Army to Harvest Olives

Friday 27th October: Today, olive harvesting continued at Beit Iba. Villagers, including their 82-year-old grandmother and volunteers from the International Solidarity Movement and the International Women’s Peace Service, spent much of the day picking olives close to the Israeli army’s checkpoint at Beit Iba, to the Northwest of Nablus city. This site is also close to olive groves where villagers have been repeatedly driven off their land by the Israeli occupation forces in recent weeks. Today’s picking continued peacefully, and a large quantity of olives were harvested in between rain showers and lunch breaks (where international volunteers were invited to sample amazing homemade humous, cheese and bread brought by the villagers). However, harvesting could only begin once villagers had been given permission to enter their land by the Israeli occupation forces, and to do so, villagers had to climb over rolls of razor wire which were installed by the Israeli army a month ago. Children and a man with an amputated leg were among those who had to negotiate this obstacle. The Israeli occupation forces also told villagers that no vehicles could be brought close to the olive grove, thus making it difficult for the sacks of olives to be taken from the site. Despite these obstacles, and intermittent rain, villagers and volunteers persevered, and remain determined not to be denied access to their land.

by ISM Nablus, October 27th

Palestinian farmers were today harvesting olives on their land between the quarry at Huwarra checkpoint and Berakhya settlement. A Palestinian house stands uninhabited in the middle of this area, casting a desolate shadow over the settler bus stop on the road below. The man who used to live there is longing for the day when he can move back to his home but remains pessimistic. The entire land has remained untouched for over 6 years, as Israeli colonists always threaten any Palestinians who dare to even approach it.

Today, however, a family of farmers from Burin decided to brave the Berakhya settlers and set off early this morning to harvest their olive trees. At twelve o’clock, six Israeli colonist men trespassed onto the land and, wielding a knife, proceeded to threaten the Ghazzal family, shouting at them to leave the land immediately. In front of their children, the father and mother were pushed and pulled around by colonists and beaten on the arms and chest.

A volunteer from Rabbis for Human Rights, Zachariah Sadea, was contacted. Upon arrival at the scene at around half past one, he immediately contacted the DCO in Nablus. Frightened by this, the Israeli colonists finally left the land, only to go to the police station in Huwarra military base in order to file a complaint against the family’s 18-year old son, Fatih Ghazzal. Claiming that Fatih had beaten, or threatened to beat up the Israeli colonists, they demanded that he be arrested.

At three o’clock, two Israeli soldiers drove up to the land where the family were harvesting; still recovering from the shock of the colonist attack. The soldiers arrested Fatih, beating him severely over the head as they did so. Zachariah Sadea, explaining to the soldiers that Fatih had not beaten the colonists but in fact had been attacked by them, attempted to physically prevent the arrest and was then also beaten by the soldiers.

Devastated by the kidnapping of Fatih, the family carried the day’s harvest down to the checkpoint to wait for their beloved son and brother. As the rain poured down and friends of the family stopped to commiserate with them before passing through the checkpoint, Fatih was transported from Huwarra to the Ariel colony police station. Finally, the family left the checkpoint, hauling the sacks of olives onto their backs and piling into a taxi in teary-eyed silence.

The RHR volunteer will, as an eye-witness to the colonist attack, testify against their blatantly false accusations. The prospects of success are, however, bleak since a senior military commander is now claiming to have witnessed Fatih’s attack on the colonists, even though he was stationed on the other side of the hill at the time. Fatih is currently still being held at Ariel, awaiting legal assistance from Yesh Din.

For more details contact:
ISM Nablus 0599076568

by ISM Nablus, October 19, 2006

The Nablus region, with its three refugee camps, many villages, Old City and sprawling city center has been a scene of consistent Israeli violence. Such violence has accelerated since the beginning of the Palestinian Intifada in September 2000. Nablus has become synonymous with nightly invasions, targeted assassinations, home demolitions and other acts of violence by the occupation forces.

This report combines the reporting of eight Palestinian and Israeli news sources to document the violence perpetuated by the Israeli Occupation Force (IOF) in the Nablus region. The various news sources were used to generate an accurate and complete report, and the factual differences in reporting were taken into account and investigated. Sometimes it was not possible to locate arrestees names, or places of birth, though this information was recorded whenever available.

The invasions of villages of the Nablus region were noted, though the invasions of the refugee camps and city were not because of the regularity. Nablus Old City, Balata Refugee Camp, Askar Refugee Camp and Ein Beit el Ma Refugee Camp (known simply as Ein) are invaded nearly every night. The Old City as well as Askar and Balata Refugee Camps have rarely gone 24 hours without the presence of IOF soldiers firing at citizens. Because of the regularity of these invasions, and the presumption that they are occurring each and every day, invasions are only noted when they involve significant property destruction, arrests, injuries or deaths.

In thirty days in the Nablus region:

• 6 Palestinians were killed by Israeli military personal.
• At least 18 Palestinians were injured by IOF attacks.
• At least 63 Palestinians were arrested.

Below you will find a day by day account of incidents of arrests, injuries, killings, village invasions and other such incidents of occupation violence. See also the previous ISM Nablus report “Three days in Nablus: Four Killed, Six Injured, Eight Arrested“.

September

Tuesday 19th

IOF stormed Askar refugee camp, invaded houses in Nablus city, and invaded homes in Osarin village, southeast of Nablus city. In total, seven people were arrested:

• Rashad Yassein, 16, from Askar camp
• Fadi Abu Koshik, 18, from Askar camp
• Bara’a Abu Ja’far, 21, from Nablus city
• Amin Qdili, 20, from Osarin village
• Turki Adili, 20, from Osarin village
• Salim Azimah, 19, from Osarin village
• Haitham Adili, 20, from Osarin village

Wednesday 20th

IOF invaded Beit Furik village, east of Nablus city, and arrested Firas Mlitat, 26. Later that day, another unnamed Palestinian male was arrested at Jit checkpoint.

Thursday 21st

During an incursion into Nablus city nine Palestinians were arrested:

• Ferass Militat, 30
• Nafeth Ahmad Al Faqeeh, 23, from the Hebron region
• Mohammed Ahmad Al Faqeeh, 21, from the Hebron region
• Yousef Ahmad Ayed Al Faqeeh, 20, from the Hebron region
• Nassem Al Khzari, 32
• One unnamed woman from Balata Refugee Camp
• Two unnamed resistance fighters, from Nablus city

Sunday 24th

IOF fired at a Palestinians taxi approaching Nablus from Ramallah, injuring four people:

• Ali Mohammed Al-Aqra, from Qabalan village, suffered a head injury
• Maged Snuber, 33, from Qabalan village, was shot in the left hand
• Jamil Abdur-Rahman, from Qabalan village, was wounded in the hand and back
• Mohammed Al-Aqra, from Qabalan village, shot in the back and suffered hand injuries

Tuesday 26th

IOF invaded Nablus Old City and shot Amjad Anabtawi, 22, from Nablus Old City. Anabtawi was shot in the chest and critically injured.

Wednesday 27th

IOF invaded Balata Refugee Camp, and injured three unnamed Palestinian males. Soldiers attacked the Qattaui building, arresting three people:

• Ala’ Shary’ah, 21
• Jihad Yusef Shamah Dukan, 17
• Abdullah Khaled Mahmod Qatari, 17

Three unnamed Palestinian males from Nablus Old City were also arrested that night.

Thursday 28th

IOF invaded Rujeib village, south of Nablus, and Assira Al-Shamalila village, north of Nablus. Homes were invaded and searched and private property was destroyed.

IOF invaded Balata refugee camp, and destroyed a number of shops with an armored Caterpillar D9 bulldozer. Two Palestinians were arrested:

• Du’a Hussin, 20 (female)
• One unnamed Palestinian male.

Friday 29th

IOF invaded Ein and Balata Refugee Camps, as well as Nablus Old City, searching shops and destroying private property.

October

Sunday 1st

IOF closed the line for senior citizens at Huwwara checkpoint, south of Nablus city center. Palestinian demonstrators threw stones in protest, and were shot with tear gas and rubber-coated metal bullets.

Wednesday 4th

Nablus city and Balata Refugee Camp were invaded in the night and two Palestinian males were arrested:

• Muhammad Abu Halimah, 17, from Nablus city
• Ammar Hassanain, 26, from Nablus city.
• Nasir Hasan Mansur, 40, from Kafr Qallil village, south of Nablus, was shot in his foot by IOF soldiers stationed at Beit Ur checkpoint, while he was sitting in front of his house.

Thursday 5th

One unnamed Palestinian male arrested in southern Nablus city.

Friday 6th

Six unnamed Palestinian males arrested in Nablus city.

Saturday 7th

IOF invaded Askar Refugee Camp. Two unnamed Palestinian males arrested:

• One unnamed man arrested south of Nablus city center.
• One unnamed man arrested in Salim village, east of Nablus.

IOF, stationed near the Apartheid wall, shot Farid Tu’amah in his abdomen, and left him bleeding for 20 minutes while the ambulance was banned from reaching the scene of the shooting.

Sunday 8th

IOF invaded Balata Refugee Camp and killed one Palestinian male:

• Usama Saleh, 23, known locally as “Skipper,” shot twice in the chest.
• Four additional unnamed Palestinian males were injured during the invasion.

Mohammed El-Haj Tirawi, 23, from Balata Camp shot dead while attempting to pass Huwwara checkpoint, south of Nablus city center, via a bypass road. The checkpoint was closed because of the Jewish holiday. During the attack by IOF soldiers, Ahmed Hazzaa Ramadan, 21, from Til village was shot in the shoulder and injured.

IOF arrested three unnamed Palestinian males from Nablus city.

Monday 9th

IOF invaded Nablus city, targeting a number of houses in Jabal Al- Shamali, and Wad Al-Toffah areas. Three unnamed Palestinian males were arrested.

Wednesday 11th

IOF raided Nablus Old City, as well as Ein, Balata and Askar Refugee Camps. Armored Caterpillar D9 bulldozers destroyed water pumps and pipes, and also causing damage to the central market in Askar Camp.

During the invasion into Ein Camp, one man was shot and killed: Abdullah Mansour, 29, from Jericho city, was shot and killed while looking out the window of a relative’s house.

Five Palestinian males were arrested in Nablus Old City and Balata Refugee Camp:

• Fadi Ziad Galiz, 18, from Nablus Old City
• Mohammad Ziad Galiz, 25, from Nablus Old City
• Azmi Tawfiq Al Serafi, 20, from Balata Refugee Camp
• Abu Rish, 20, from Balata Refugee Camp
• Hussam, 20, from Balata Refugee Camp

Two unnamed Palestinian males were arrested near Huwwara checkpoint, south of Nablus city center, during the night.

IOF established additional closure barriers at Yitzhar checkpoint, south of Nablus, forcing Palestinians to use bypass roads.

Thursday 12th

IOF at Huwwara checkpoint, south of Nablus city center, shot and killed Mohammed Waleed Mustafa Sa’ada, 20, from Til village, as he approached soldiers searching a taxi.

Two unnamed Palestinian males were arrested, one from Nablus city and one from Ein Refugee Camp.

Friday 13th

IOF raided Beit Furik village, east of Nablus. Military vehicles entered the village, imposing curfew.

All men under the age of 45 were denied passage through Huwwara checkpoint, south of Nablus city center. One unnamed Palestinian male was beaten and thereafter arrested.

Sunday 15th

A number of Palestinians were arrested under suspicion of possessing a pistol or knife in their car.

Mohamed Rabai’a, 28, from Nablus city was arrested under unclear circumstances, while his brother was detained for over one hour.

Monday 16th

IOF invaded Nablus city and Balata Refugee Camp and arrested three Palestinian males:

• Motaz Affouri, 23, from Nablus city
• Iyad Tirawi, 22, from Balata Refugee Camp.
• An unnamed Palestinian male from Nablus city.

Tuesday 17th

Two Palestinian brothers killed in Ein Refugee Camp, west of Nablus, by IOF Special Forces:

• Adel Abu Al-Rish, 24, shot with ten bullets in chest and head.
• Firas Al-Rish, 22

Several people were also injured. Soon after the assassination IOF reinforcements carried out a full invasion of the camp.

Wednesday 18th

IOF invaded Beit Iba village, north of Nablus, and Nablus Old City arresting five Palestinian males:

• Khalid Ismael Ramadan, from Beit Iba village (brother of Mohammed)
• Mohammed Ismael Ramadan, from Beit Iba village (brother of Khalid)
• Fuad Safwan, 25, from Nablus city
• Ihaab Mahmad As’ad Karhash, 22, from Taluza village
• Ahassan Ali Hussein Vah, 25, from Nablus city

Sources

• Ma’an News Agency (Palestinian news source, online)
• WAFA News Agency (Palestinian news source, online)
• Independent Middle East Media Center (Palestinian-Israeli news source, online)
• Al-Jazeera News (Arab news network, online)
• Ha’aretz (Israeli newspaper, online)
• Jerusalem Post (Israeli newspaper, online)
• Ynet News (Israeli newspaper, online)
• Israeli Defense Force (military press statements, online)

by ISM Nablus, 18th October

Qusin is a small picturesque village located in the green rolling hills just west of Nablus city and adjacent to the Israeli colony of Qedumim. Since the height of the Al-Aqsa intifada, the village has been spared overtly violent military incursions, but there are many other problems that prevent the villagers from going about their daily lives as normal.

About three months ago, a several kilometer long coil of razor-wire was put up by the Israeli military in order to prevent university students and workers from the village from reaching Nablus without being forced to suffer an arduous wait at Beit Iba checkpoint. Many of these people, especially the young men, are subjected to daily internment in a special holding-pen at the checkpoint. Claiming to be “checking” their IDs, Israeli soldiers hold them prisoner there for hours every day, sometimes confiscating their mobile phones and refusing them access to water and bathroom facilities. The same people are made to wait day after day even though the soldiers manning the checkpoint know their names and faces very well by now. If they attempt to go around the checkpoint, their taxi drivers are invariably stopped and made to wait for at least two hours as a punishment. In some cases, the military even confiscate or vandalise the cars.

The village council has requested that international solidarity workers accompany farmers to their land during the olive harvest, due to harassment from Israeli military forces. Two days ago, a couple of families with land on the far side of an Israeli bypass road and about 200 meters from Qedumim colony started harvesting their olives. As the electronic school bell rang out from the Israeli colony and the usually unmistakably positive but now so unsettling sound of children playing subsided, landowner Abu Ramsi explained the problems facing the village: “We are not afraid of the settlers. They are good people. But the soldiers always come to chase us off and prevent us from picking our olives.” Soldiers also prevent Palestinians from crossing the Israeli bypass road with their tractors, essential for transporting equipment and the harvested fruit.

The past two days have passed without incident. Military vehicles circled the area and at times stopped to watch the work from afar but did not interfere. Today, Israeli border police were driving back and forth on the settler-military only road for a while, before deciding to stop and assess the situation. One of them swung the jeep door open and looked ready to step out, when he caught sight of international solidarity workers armed with cameras and legal papers. Accompanied by peals of laughter from women of the village, he thought better of it mid-step, closed the door and drove away.

Every last olive on the far side of the bypass road has now been picked and the families continue picking on the near side to the village, where the risks are not so great. Inspired by last weekend’s generous downpour of rain, the slopes of Qusin are dotted with harvesters in colourful dresses and kerchiefs. Olives, chubby and sleek, fall onto tarpaulins and into buckets and pockets – a bumper harvest representing the coming year’s livelihood for thousands of Palestinian farmers all over the West Bank.

This year’s harvest will be far larger than last year’s, in accordance with how olive growth normally fluctuates (every two years there is a large harvest). In dire times like these, with the European boycott strangling what was left of the Palestinian economy, a full harvest is especially important. The importance of the olive harvest this year explains why farmers are expecting unusually high levels of violence, theft and other forms of sabotage from Israeli settlers and soldiers. In light of these circumstances, it is vital that as many international solidarity workers as possible make their way to Palestine to accompany farmers to their land, bear witness to the oppression facing them and make sure that every last olive is picked.

Remember, harvesting is resisting!