Tag: Nablus

AP photo: Ewijan after he was taken to the morgue

by Michael

Last night, in the Ash Sheikh Musallem district of Nablus’s Old city, undercover agents of the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) carried out two extra-judicial assassinations.

According to eyewitness accounts, the IOF undercover soldiers entered the area in civilian clothing, in a civilian car, and shot Hani Ewijan, 29 and Ameid al Masri, 26. According to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) press release, Ewijan was a member of the Al-Quds brigades (a militant wing of Islamic Jihad), and al Masri was a civilian not involved in any political activity. During the assassination, al Masri was killed and Ewijan was seriously wounded, and transported to a hospital where he died from injuries sustained. The two men were unarmed shot while playing soccer with their friends and realatives.

In respose to these attacks, there is an almost total strike in Nablus’s Old City, and there were at least two non-violent protests. One involved school boys who marched from the Old City, down the main street towards Balata Camp before turning around and marching back up, past the demolished Muqtada. The other involved mostly adults, and numbered almost 2,000 people.

These attacks are a continuation of Israel’s policy of extra-judicial “targeted assassinations.” Those who are killed are denied the ability to see the evidence against them, or to defend themselves in a court of law. Israel is obliged under article 3 of the First Geneva Convention to the provision prohibiting “passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgement pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples.” The PCHR reports that “the failure of the international community and the High Contracting Parties of the Fourth Geneva Convention to take effective steps to stop Israeli war crimes has served to encourage Israel to commit more war crimes against Palestinian civilians.”

by Micheal and Lina

Last night, July 28th, at approximately 3:00 am, Saeed Haettalla, 53, from Balata refugee camp, was arrested and interrogated for the second time in two day, aparently without reason.

In the middle of the night, Saeed was awoken by over 30 soldiers of the Israeli Occupation Force (IOF), backed by six armored jeeps and one armored bulldozer. These forces arrived at his home in Balata camp, and the soldiers entered his home in search of Saeed’s son, Hathyem.

Saeed and his son run the small internet café inside Balata camp, which is why the IOF keeps harassing them. Hathyem is not suspected of doing anything illegal, but according to the arresting officers, someone has used one of the computers in his café for “illegal activity” related to the Israeli onslaught in Lebanon. After the IOF searched Saaed’s home on the 28th, they forced him to open the cafe at approximately 4:00am. He was coerced to agree to the search. The soldiers entered the café, searched the premises, and photographed the interior. After finishing in the café, the soldiers told Saeed that he had to be transported to Huwarra camp for further questioning. Once again Saeed agreed, as he had no choice. He was transported to the camp to face interrogation from an IOF “commander,” and spent an additional nine hours in questioning.

This is the second time in two days that Saeed was interrogated about his son’s whereabouts. The day prior, a similarly sized force of soldiers entered his home in the middle of the night, searched the premises, and interrogated Saeed. The IOF informed Saeed that if he did not surrender his son by 12:00 on Sunday (tomorrow), that his son would be assassinated or Saeed would be arrested once again. Saaed’s two other sons, Hani and Ahmed, are already serving jail sentences in Israeli prisons. Hathyem is now planning on giving himself up to be interrogated at Huwarra, although the entire family is of course worried that they will lose yet another son.

This type of harassment is regular inside Balata Camp. Nightly, soldiers enter the camp, harassing and arresting residents and occasionally carrying out assassinations.

A follow-up report from our original press release about the attack. By Michael.

Today, two ISM activists visited the site of the demolished Muqata in Nablus. Last week, from July 19th until July 21st Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) laid siege to the building, home to the Palestinian government. The two ISMers visited the site to document and observe the damage to the building following the three day offensive. The site of the building is almost completely demolished. The main building is completely leveled, and the peripheral buildings are missing most of their walls. The smaller buildings are also almost entirely destroyed, and deep tank tread marks scar the streets around. The scene at the site is solemn as some Palestinians scavenge for valuable metal, and others pick through the remains gathering what is left of the building’s records and paperwork.

Some have already begun to rebuild and clean up. The observers witnessed a man beginning to rebuild a wall, and a small tractor was moving rubble.

The siege in Nablus marks an escalation in the IOF’s attacks in the region. During the incursion, not only was the government building destroyed, but the IOF arrested many Palestinian police. During this offensive, the nearby Balata refugee camp was also invaded, and here the IOF killed 3. At the end of the attack, 9 Palestinians were killed, including 3 children, and over 80 were injured.

Also damaged in the attack was the office of the Palestinian Red Crescent, the national affiliate of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). The IOF occupied the premises, actively blocking ambulances from driving into or out of the building to care for the wounded. During this time, the IOF stole three bodies from Red Crescent ambulances, saying the dead men were wanted. The army also shot tear gas into the neighborhood next to the Red Crescent, and used the facility’s lot as a staging and firing area for tanks and other military equipment.

The Red Crescent building is atop a hill that overlooks the Muqata so after documenting the Muqata, ISM activists visited with the Red Crescent and spoke with a worker. He showed the damage to the observers who photographed and recorded. During the blasting of the Muqata, doors, windows and window frames were destroyed scattering glass and metal across areas where patients were being cared for. The room that was most directly facing the blasts, normally used as a rehabilitation center for disabled children, was heavily damaged, but luckily no children were present at the time. In most of the rooms facing the blast, all of the windows were destroyed.

The ISM condemns these attacks on the democratically elected Palestinian government and on the civilian institutions providing much needed medical relief.

For more information on the attacks, please read these reports:

Ma’an News: “Israel delivers remains of three killed in Nablus Wednesday, continues siege of Al Muqata’ah“, 20th July 2006

IMEMC: “Israeli military pulls out of Nablus after 4-day siege, leaving P.A. government complex destroyed“, 23rd July 2006

The Corner Report blog: “9/11 in Nablus“, 22nd July 2006

PCHR: “IOF Attack El-Maghazi Refugee Camp in Gaza and Raid Nablus“, 19th July 2006

ICRC: “ICRC calls on Israeli army to immediately leave Palestine Red Crescent premises in Nablus“, 20th July 2006

PRCS: “PRCS condemns attacks on health organizations and PRCS staff“, 19th July 2006

by Ali Omar and Raad

Today, July 26th, at 5pm, the IOF closed Yesthar checkpoint (west of Nablus) in all directions for all Palestinian and settlers passing on the road. They re-opened it at 7pm for just the settlers, while there were dozens of Palestinians waiting to go back to their homes.

Previously the road was only for settler use, but was opened for Palestinians in 2004 after it was closed since the beginning of the Intifada.

Opening the checkpoint just for the settlers made the Palestinians very angry and they responded by having a completely non-violent direct action by lying down on the road and closing it with their bodies. The army responded with excessive violence by beating the people and throwing sound grenades at the crowd. This violence wasn’t helpful to evacuate the crowd who continued chanting songs of the Intifada and refusing to move.

After the failure of the IOF troops to open the way for the settlers who were stuck waiting, the settlers began threatening the Palestinians with their machine guns, waving them at their faces. The soldiers did nothing to stop the settler’s threats.

The army failed to evacuate the Palestinians who occupied the checkpoint from 7pm until 9pm and so the army was forced to open the checkpoint for all.