Tag: Nablus

by ISM Nablus

The Israeli military blocked the road to three villages south-east of Nablus city for nine hours on Thursday. Iraq Burin – a breathtakingly beautiful village of 1,000 people situated on top of a cliff from where, on a clear day one can see all the way to the Mediterranean (or “the white sea” as the villagers call it), and its bigger neighbors Tel and Sara were all isolated from one o’clock until ten o’clock, supposedly because of information received about a alleged suicide bomber. Nearby Huwarra checkpoint was also completely closed from mid afternoon as soldiers held a crowd of people at gunpoint under the red hot sun, preventing them from even entering the shaded checkpoint. Throughout the day, an American made and supplied Apache helicopter circled overhead, and soldiers with M-16s patrolled the roads and overpasses on the way to and from Nablus.

Late afternoon, a long line of cars, buses and donkeys were backed up on the winding hill-road, waiting to be allowed to pass. The 10-15 soldiers manning the flying checkpoint consisting of two hummers and one jeep – were extremely slow in checking vehicles and also very aggressive, with one constantly pacing around on the bank of earth by the side of the road, proclaiming that he hates “all Arabs” and pointing his machine gun at people in the crowd. During the checkpoint procedure, all car passengers were made to exit their vehicles, and the men were forced to pull up their shirts to show their bellies and backs from a distance to prove that they were not carrying explosives. Bags, purses, and vehicles were searched with varying degrees of thoroughness.

Earlier in the day, a 12-year old boy was, for no apparent reason, shot in the back with live ammunition. He is now being treated at Rafidia Hospital in Nablus, where they report that the bullet narrowly missed his kidney. An older man was also shot in the foot by a ricocheting bullet, right in front of the eyes of human rights workers. Upon returning from hospital with his foot bandaged and painful, he was only allowed to pass through the checkpoint after long negotiation.

Despite the apparent danger, young boys scuttled back and forth through the checkpoint fetching water from a nearby well for the people waiting in the Palestinian midday heat. One man was especially grateful, having been forced to sit beside the road in the sun for eight hours because he was recognized by one of the soldiers at the checkpoint as having disobeyed an order while working his land with a tractor last week. Any such resistance against the occupation is routinely met by harsh punishment. He was finally given his ID back and allowed to leave, when a senior officer arrived at the scene.

The security concerns offered by soldiers to justify the humiliating and oppressive practice of checkpoints are painfully transparent in their arbitrariness. As soon as it gets dark, they invariably pack up and leave and the thoroughness of checks relies on the mood of the commanding officer on that particular day. Furthermore, as a man waiting at the checkpoint put it, “Security is not created by forcing men to lift up their shirts in front of their neighbours, their students and their daughters. Security is not created by making the 10-minute journey from Nablus into a six-hour one. Security is not created by shooting children in the back. Security is created by justice and respect.”

by Lina

Israel is constantly inventing new ways of making life in the occupied Palestinian territories ever more difficult and humiliating and several companies in the Nablus region have recently been subject to one of these policies. ISM Nablus visited but one of the affected companies – a small enterprise started in 1995, employing only three people.

They receive tenders from various private and public medical institutions in Nablus, and import supplies directly from abroad – mainly from Turkey, Italy and China. The majority of their shipments are based on inquiry and most items are low-cost such as syringes, casts, stethoscopes, gloves and IV-bags. Occasionally, larger and more expensive items such as infant incubators and electrically powered beds are needed and imported. In the past year, the price to import and process shipments has drastically risen, although it is only recently that companies in Nablus have been affected. One particular order got stuck in Israeli customs for more than 2 months and the company was forced to pay an additional import fee of 25,000 NIS (about $5,000 dollars) to access the order.

The fee was officially required for covering the cost of a so-called CB (Certification Body) Test Report. The CB scheme originated in Europe, where nations were moving toward adopting a common set of International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standards. It was originally intended to provide a common test format to be used by all participating certifying agencies, but manufacturers are increasingly using the CB test report as final proof of compliance to a specific international standard. Although the goal of the CB scheme is to provide a harmonized international environment, manufacturers must still comply with local electrical installation codes and practices. This creates deviations for many countries, which greatly decreases the value of the scheme.

Despite these difficulties, Israeli authorities claim that these new fees are designed to ensure quality. It is, however, clear that the addition of these fees to the regular costs of foreign imports, has a prohibitive effect on small companies such as that described above. On average, this new policy means that each item will be 10 times more expensive to import.

The only way to circumvent the CBTR and related costs, is to buy directly from Israel. By adding these fees for foreign imports, Israel is in fact forcing Palestinian companies to buy Israeli. This is, apart from politically unappealing, also much more expensive than importing directly from foreign manufacturers.

The interviewed company and its client institutions are not the only ones to suffer from this unprecedented offensive on foreign imports. The proprietor of one Nablus company was unable to meet the costs and consequently had to send back a large shipment to China and buy the same items from Israel. Several other company owners are now, reluctantly, considering doing the same.

by Michael

Israeli setlement and raized olive field in Beit Furik

Today, August 12th 2006, in the village of Salim, near the city of Nablus, Palestinians joined one another in solidarity to resist soldiers of the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) who were attempting to prevent a villager from farming his land. Later that day, a Palestinian woman with Israeli citizenship was detained at Beit Furik checkpoint because her husband was “wanted.”

In the village of Salem, a Palestinian farmer attempted to travel up a mountain to farm olive trees planted on his land. On his way up the mountain, he was detained by Israeli soldiers who told the man that he was not allowed to travel to his land without permission from the Israeli D.C.O. (District Coordination Office). Furthermore, because of his attempt to farm his land, the farmer was being detained. In an act of resistance and solidarity, the villagers of Salem, came to the aid of the farmer, when they arrived, they stood with the man and collectively negotiated his release. Because of their joint efforts, the man was released from detention, though he was still prevented from farming his land.

Salem village is surrounded by a number of Israeli settlements. The settlers of one particular colony recently attacked the village of Salim, cutting down hundreds of trees.

Israeli military guard tower overlooking Beit Furik

Later in the same day, as internationals were crossing Beit Furik checkpoint, they encountered a woman being held in detention. The woman, approximately 35 years old, was at the checkpoint with her two children, one of which a newborn, while the other was about 3 years old. The soldiers of the IOF explained that while the Palestinian woman had a valid Israeli passport, she was being detained because her husband was “wanted.” She had been at the checkpoint, with her children, for over 4 hours. The IOF told the woman that she was waiting for a police transport, then changed their story telling the woman that she was waiting on the D.C.O. Despite these claims, after over 4 hours of military detention, the woman and her children were released without charge.

During conversation with the soldiers, one proudly explained that while the woman’s Israeli passport helped her “case” she was still an Arab-Israeli and said, “I can detain whoever I want, but if she was Jewish, she would be let go.” When asked why the police had not arrived to transport the woman after 4 hours, the soldier responded, “The police, they do this, they take a longtime because she is Arab.”

This type of harassment and collective punishment is a regular occurrence in the villages of Palestine, especially those around Nablus.