Tag: Nablus - Page 12 - International Solidarity Movement

Palestinian and international civilians will resist revenge home demolitions on the second night in a row

17th October 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus team | Nablus area, occupied Palestine

Palestinian civilians joined by International solidarity activists will gather tonight, Friday 17, October 2015, at the Nablus city homes of Yahya Hamad, Karam Al-masri and Sameer Al-kosa after Israeli forces threatened revenge demolitions.

This action of resistance started on the 15th of October where hundreds of Palestinians gathered outside the house to protest the illegal practice of house demolitions and managed to prevent Israeli forces from demolishing the house. Both yesterday and today the resistance has been joined by international civilians supporting the Palestinians. These international civilians consists of a vast variety of nationalities including the United States, Australia, France, Italy, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Holland, Moldovia, Chile and Canada.

A Call has been launched to maintain vigil outside of the targeted buildings and prevent the occupation forces from carrying out the demolition process.
The house of Sameer Kosa family in Al Dahiyya, the house of Yaha Hamad family in at Rojeeb st, and the house of Karam Al-masri family in North mountain are all under threat of demolition tonight on allegations of their involvement in the killing of a settler couple from the illegal settlement of Ithamar against earlier this month. All are Palestinian prisoners whose families will endure the collective punishment measures which have been Israel’s long established practice.

Marie, an international activist from the US staying in the house: ‘Punishing a family for something that one of their members has allegedly done, is just not acceptable, this is illegal and should not happen in any country which respects human rights and considers itself democratic’.
For more information call: 059-892-0497

PMRS to Israeli forces: Stop attacking our personel!

Repost of an appeal by Palestine Medical Relief Society:

In light of the current climate of tensions in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem particularly which has led to deadly attacks on civilians and the unacceptable systematic use of lethal force by Israeli forces against Palestinians, the Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS) calls for the respect of international humanitarian law and condemns in the strongest terms the excessive use of lethal force by Israeli forces which has resulted on several occasions within the past three weeks in what can only be described as executions of Palestinian men and women. PMRS calls on international non-governmental institutions, as well as all levels of international civil society to demand Israel respect its obligations under international law and pressure the Israeli government to abandon at once its logic of brutal repression and unrestrained use of force against children and young people.

Since the beginning of this month, 31 Palestinians have been shot dead, including several children. PMRS is gravely concerned by the escalation in the killing of Palestinian minors by police, army and settlers, the extra-judicial execution character of many of these killings, as well as the allegations – seemingly corroborated in several cases by videos and witness statements – that Israeli forces and settlers have tampered with several of the killing scenes, planting weapons next to the Palestinian victims in order to justify the murders.

Moreover, an estimated 1,500 Palestinians were injured by live rounds and rubber-coated steel bullets only since the start of hostilities, or an average of 100 a day. This number does not include the injuries resulting from excessive tear gas inhalation and physical assaults.

According to Dr. Mustafa Barghouti: “What we have witnessed during the last two weeks is intentional attacks by Israeli forces on Palestinian health professionals, doctors and first aid providers. That has included beating them, shooting them with live ammunitions and metallic bullets. One victim was Doctor Amer Aqel, who was hit in the eye with one of the rubber-coated steel bullets and lost his left eye. Ten first aid providers from the PMRS have been injured in various ways in Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jerusalem and Nablus. Additionally, several health workers and nurses working with the Ministry of Health and the Red Crescent were also injured. The Israeli army’s behavior does not respect the neutrality of medical professionals. Many ambulances were also hit with tear gas bombs and rubber bullets. Additionally, the Israeli army has been attacking journalists to prevent coverage of what is going on. So far, 41 journalists have been injured. Many have been beaten. One of them, Salah Ziad , working for Pal Media, was hit a live ammunitions.”

The violence of the past two weeks did not happen in a vacuum but rather is the inevitable result of the Israeli ongoing occupation and the ever-growing repression and Human Rights violations that come with it. Colonization, home demolitions, displacement of entire families, the impunity granted to settlers and armed forces, indiscriminate shooting and bombing of civilians… all these have been going on for decades with the international community idly watching by, hiding behind a long-time moribund peace process and the Oslo accords which have been emptied of their meaning and purpose by continuous Israeli violations. In recent decades, European countries have spent millions of Euros of taxpayers’ money to rebuild what Israel keeps destroying with impunity, from Palestinian homes, water supplies, livelihood to their very lives. This has to stop now.

PMRS calls on the international community to demand that Israel cease its serious breaches of Human Rights and humanitarian law at once, failing which, economic and political sanctions should be considered.

PMRS, just as other local and international health organizations has activated its emergency response plan in East Jerusalem and all over the West Bank. First aid teams, ambulances and mobile clinic vehicles are on the ground, ready to deploy to areas of need as they arise. Considering the level of tensions and the absence of any prompt resolution in sight, PMRS has concerns about its capacity to sustain its work during these times of emergency due to low funding and chronic medication shortages. Accordingly, PMRS calls on all international donors to allocate contingency funding and medical supplies to the current emergency.

Palestinian and international civilians to resist revenge home demolitions

16th October 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Nablus area, occupied Palestine

Palestinian civilians joined by International solidarity activists will gather tonight, Friday 16, October 2015, at the Nablus city homes of Yahya Hamad, Karam Al-masri and Sameer Al-kosa after Israeli forces threatened revenge demolitions within 24 hours.

Yesterday night, hundreds of Palestinians gathered outside the house to protest the illegal practice of house demolitions and managed to prevent Israeli forces from demolishing the house. Tonight, they will be joined by internationals from the United States, Australia, France, Italy, Ireland, the United Kingdom and Holland.

Watch a video of the events of last night, where you can hear Palestinians chanting when the army arrives (despite the low quality of the image, the sound illustrates the amount of people present) :

Settlers terrorize Palestinian farmers in Burin: burn trees and disrupt olive harvest

14th October 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus team | Burin, occupied Palestine

A Palestinian farmer and English human rights defender have been hospitalized and at least 40 olive trees burnt following an attack by illegal Israeli settlers in the northern West Bank town of Burin today.

At 10am this morning, as ISM and other international volunteers accompanied olive farmers who have repeatedly been restricted from accessing their fields, gun shots were heard ringing out across the valley from the settlement above. Approximately thirty masked settlers from the illegal Yizhar settlement then descended the hill and started throwing stones at the group which had peacefully been picking olives for several hours. International human rights defender David Amos, a Quaker from London, was repeatedly attacked with rocks from three meters away, causing two head wounds and copious bleeding. The owner of the land, Abed Musaa, was hit in the front and back with stones and has been treated for lacerations and bruising. The attacking settlers also stole phones, a camera and a bag from the international human rights defenders.

The settlers were then witnessed setting four separate fires to grass on the edge of the olive groves which rapidly grew in dimensions, consuming olive trees and the grasslands between family plots. Two Israeli forces jeeps and two collaborating illegal settler vehicles drove into the valley, took photos of the scene, and then parked alongside each other on the road to Yizhar as more fires were lit by the masked settlers throughout the valley.

Israeli forces then scaled the valley and were witnessed saying to Palestinians, “yes you want peace, we want peace, they want peace,” referring to the settlers. Burin farmer and school teacher Doha and Samir were prohibited from continuing to pick olives on their land, being told they required a permit despite no legal provision to that effect, being within Area B zoning under the Oslo accords.

Palestinian firefighters were prohibited from accessing the fire for three hours, being told that a permit was required to utilize the road to the Yizhar settlement, which has been heavily restricted to Palestinian traffic in recent weeks. Palestinian civil workers, farmers, and international human rights defenders attempted to put out the blaze with sand, shovels, and olive branches but were unable to stop the spread of the fire amid 30 degree heat and rising winds.

Olives are a traditional produce of the Nablus district and constitute 25% of the West Bank’s economy (OCHA 2014). This critical October harvest season falls amid rising tensions in the West Bank, as Israeli forces increase their deployment of soldiers and use of violence in the occupied territories. The Yizhar settlement has also been implicated in the tragic death of 18 month old Ali Dawabsheh and his parents in the Palestinian village of Duma two months ago.

Settlers lighting fires throughout valley

International human rights observer David Amos attacked by settlers

Palestinian civil workers attempt to put out fires while fire truck prohibited entry

Israeli army prevents farmers to pick olives in Burin

9th October 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Burin, Occupied Palestine

This Friday morning, at approximately 10:30 am, a group of 6 soldiers came down the mountain from the illegal Israeli settlement, Arousa, in the village of Burin, to prevent the family of Ahmad Mustafa Najjar from picking their olives.

Israeli soldiers prevent Ahmad's family from picking their olives — Israeli soldiers prevent Ahmad’s family from picking their olives

Early in the morning, a group of illegal Israeli settlers from Arousa came to the farm and began threatening and intimidating Ahmad’s family. Ahmad’s uncle, Salah Najjar, telephoned Abu Mursi, from the District Coordination Office, to ask for help and managed to make settlers go away. Soon afterwards, a group of six soldiers arrived shouting aggressively and demanding the family to stop working. The family protested and the commander argued they were not authorized to pick olives, despite the fact that the family owns the land and trees and, therefore, does not need to have a permit. International activists asked the commander and soldiers what was the reason to stop them from picking olives from their own trees inside their privately owned land, and the commander and soldiers would not give an answer.

Abu Mursi, member of the village council, argues with commander that the family is entitled to pick olives in their field

Abu Mursi, member of the DCO, quickly arrived to the field to insist to the soldiers that the family does not need permission to pick their olives.

The argument continued for one hour, until a second commander arrived and made the decision that the family was not allowed to pick olives from the four highest trees, forcing them to move downwards to pick olives from other trees instead.

According to Ahmad, his family has lost $3.000 shekels because those 4 trees would make 120 liters of olive oil. He adds, “The soldiers violently beat my cousins, Muntasar and Mohammad, and I had to stand between them to stop the soldiers from killing them.”

Burin is a village located south west of the city of Nablus, which suffers from an ongoing harassment from the Israeli army. During the last month, Israeli soldiers have carried out several night raids into the villagers’ homes, waking up families in the middle of the night and searching their houses, with the clear purpose of terrifying the villagers.

Particularly during the olive harvest season, the farmers of Burin are scared of going to their fields to pick olives, especially in the farms located near the illegal settlements, due to the high risk of being attacked by settlers.