Tag: Nablus

Amani al Khandaqja, defender of prisoner rights, becomes a prisoner herself

by Robin and Axel

21 March 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West  Bank

Amani’s father displays the photo of his daughter, Amani, who was taken away by the Zionist military earlier this week.

Early Monday morning, on the 20th of March, Israeli soldiers raided a Palestinian home in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, terrorized a family and arrested a young woman named Amani Al Khandaqja.

The soldiers arrived at 2am, whilst the family was sleeping, they surrounded and then entered the house. One of Amani’s brothers was awoken by loud voices outside his window, upon looking out he saw a number of soldiers interrogating members of a neighboring household.

As he ran to wake up his father, Saleh, a series of loud, hard bangs could be heard on the front door of the household.  After repeated banging, Saleh went down to open the door, and the Israeli Occupying Forces violently forced entry into Amani’s home. The entire family of 9 were forced onto the roof of their own home with their hands held above their heads and held at gun point.

According to Saleh, the trespassing soldiers were nervous and twitchy, making the situation unpredictable and terrifying for the entire family who, suffice to say, felt severely threatened.

 “I asked for permission to sit down as I have problems with my knees,” explains Saleh. “This request was denied.”

 While the family was interrogated on the roof, soldiers ransacked the house with dogs, justifying this brazen act of terrorism with the unsubstantiated and unlikely claim that Saleh’s family home might contain weapons or explosives.

 The soldiers asked Saleh repeatedly about his imprisoned son, Bassem, who has been held in Israeli prison since the second Intifada. Amani herself was also mentioned by the soldiers as they claimed she had been writing about the Palestinian struggle for equality and rights on the Internet and had been active in the support of political prisoners.

 In an interview with her father, he described her as an incredibly brave person with an extraordinary passion for the Palestinian struggle for the most basic of human rights. In any event it was clear she was wanted by the Israeli’s primarily for the fact that she had dared to put her thoughts and feelings in print concerning the illegal Zionist occupation of Palestine.

 After two hours of interrogation, harassment and threats, the soldiers decided to arrest Amani despite the fact that they did not find anything in the house and were unable to produce any material sufficient to press charges.

 As her father emphasized, “I am not worried about her destiny because she has done nothing wrong and can’t be held guilty of any crime. But my heart is breaking from her being taken away from us.”

 Despite the fact that Amani has not been accused in a court of law, let alone found guilty of any crimes, there is a great possibility that she will be held for a long time nonetheless.

 The biased Israeli legal system allows for what is euphemistically referred to as “administrative detention,” a law adopted from the British Mandate era that allows for the confinement of persons without charge or trial. Under this law a person can be held in prison for six months at a time, without being put in front of a judge or even being formally suspected of a crime. After six months, the procedure can be repeated and therefore one can be, in effect, held for an indefinite amount of time.

 Throughout Amani’s arrest the IOF soldiers repeatedly made clear their Zionist ideology and how they viewed her hopes for a free Palestine:

 “This is not Egypt, Tunisia or Libya. A popular uprising, leading to a revolution is not possible in Israel.”

 With these chilling words, and not-withstanding the irony of Israeli soldiers comparing their own country to one of  the many U.S backed dictatorships that dot the region, Amani was handcuffed and dragged into the bracing night air, away from her broken home and devastated family.

 Robin and Axel are volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed)

A family’s nightmare: Beaten and kidnapped by illegal settlers near Qadumim as Israeli military facilitates the crime

by Jonas Weber

23 March 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Samer and his two children

A family of four was kidnapped by settlers on Thursday afternoon while having a picnic close by an outpost near Qadumim. When soldiers arrived at the scene they chased away the relatives of the kidnapped family with tear gas and rubber coated steel bullets alongside settlers throwing stones.

It was around 4.30 pm on Thursday that the El Seddi family, who were eating almonds on their families land in the outskirts of Jit, east of Nablus, was kidnapped by a gang of settlers. The settlers approached the family on four wheelers in a group of about ten young men with their shirts wrapped around their heads to conceal their faces.

The family was dragged down the valley by the settlers who were armed with big sticks, and forcing the mother to say to their children that “this land does not belong to us.”

The youngest of the children, only 2 years old, took no notice of this and blatantly told the settlers what he thought of them in response. The father, Samer received many blows during the descent into the valley, and the day after his face was swollen and patched up.

The little three-year old girl also sustained wounds on her legs, and the mother says that she was constantly being pushed around and taunted by the settlers while carrying her children.

After about half an hour Samer’s father Ibrahim and two of his brothers became worried for the family and went to look for them. As they climbed a hilltop adjacent to the settlement they saw how the family was being dragged up the hill towards the settlement.

” They have an old dried out water well by the outpost, we think their plan was to throw the family in there,” said Ibrahim Jamil Khader, who hides a black eye behind a pair of big shades.

When the settlers realized they had been discovered they momentarily released the family who started running towards their relatives on the adjacent hill. Right behind them 25-30 settlers followed. When the family reached the top of the hill adjacent to the settlement, Israeli soldiers had arrived at the scene.

It soon became obvious however that they had not come to apprehend the kidnappers. Instead Samer’s father and brothers had to stall the soldiers and settlers while the family made their way back towards the village.

“As I was talking to the soldiers one of the settlers jumped out  in front of them and punched me in the face. I asked the soldiers why
isn’t he here to care about our lives and he answered that ‘We can’t fight these people, they are dogs.'”

The three men were chased off by the soldiers shooting tear gas and rubber coated steel bullets as well as the settlers who threw stones. There have been problems with the settlers before but something like this has never happened.

“No one was prepared for this, says Ibrahim. The children are mentally exhausted, and we are afraid that they will be traumatized by this.”

The military has a different view on what happened that day.

“The official story is that the family was lost in the hills and that the settlers helped them find their way back. They are so full of lies,” says Ibrahim.

Jonas Weber is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Nablus marches for Hana Shalabi

by Christopher Beckett

21 March 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

On March 19th 2012, in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, ISM volunteers joined demonstrators in solidarity with Ms. Hana Shalabi, now entering her 35th day of hunger strike.

Marching from outside the headquarters of the Red Cross, a group of around a hundred demonstrators marched towards Nablus city centre waving flags, signs and ‘Free Hana Shalabi’ posters. Some of the people attending were the parents of prisoners held illegally by Israel and held aloft photographs of their missing loved ones as they chanted slogans ranging from ‘Free Hana Shalabi’ to End Administrative detention’ and ‘End the occupation’.

Hana was violently abducted from her home in the West Bank village of Burqin on the 16th of February 2012 and was taken into Israeli custody without justification or pretense. Only after she was in custody for close to two weeks did the Israeli courts issue an ‘Administrative detention’ order on the 29th of February.

Administrative detention is the arrest and confinement of individuals by the state without charge or trial, ostensibly for security reasons. Amnesty International believes that administrative detention breaches Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which “makes clear that no-one should be subjected to arbitrary detention and that deprivation of liberty must be based on grounds and procedures established by law”.

According to Amnesty International, approximately 310 Palestinians are currently held in administrative detention inside Israeli prisons. Administrative detention allows Israel to hold detainees for indefinitely renewable six-month periods. The arrest is granted on the basis of ‘secret information’ and without public scrutiny. Therefore, administrative detainees and their lawyers cannot defend against these allegations in court. Hunger strike is therefore the only non-violent method of resistance open to prisoners whose sole demand is that their human rights are respected in accordance with international law.

In a recent report, Amnesty International expressed particular concerns that prisoners in administrative detention were being “held solely for the non-violent exercise of their right to freedom of expression and association.” Hana Shalabi had previously spent two years in administrative detention but was released last October as part of a prisoner exchange negotiated between Israel and Hamas, making this the second time she has been held in this way.

In the last few days we have begun to receive reports that Hana’s health is deteriorating rapidly. ‘Physicians For Human Rights’ have made clear their concern for Hana Shalabi’s life. The organization also expressed its alarm at the recent proposal that doctors and prison staff are still considering the possibility of force-feeding, despite the fact that international treaties explicitly forbid this. A call to action has been issued by various groups in solidarity with Hana and others held alongside her. According to Palestinian human rights group Addameer, at least 24 other prisoners our at various stages of hunger strike inside Israeli prisons. This includes Ahmad Saqer, the longest serving Palestinian prisoner under Administrative detention, held since November 2008.

Christopher Beckett is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Nablus: 2 youth arrested during night raids into Burin

by Lydia

13 March 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

On Monday, 12 March at 9pm, the soldiers were making themselves comfortable yet again in the village of Burin.  Around 6 jeeps entered  and 10 jeeps surrounded the village.

It seemed for a while it was just another evening of playground antics with the soldiers occupying the village and enjoying an evening of military training,  as this often happens and is expected throughout the nights when the village no longer belongs to the residents but instead becomes the soldiers training field.

There is a military compound very close to Huwarra which makes Burin and surrounding villages, such as Madama  and Assira al Qablia, very convenient places for the soldiers to embark on such antics.

This evening however, the tactics took a turn for the worse when the soldiers began to raid the homes of residents. It started with the homes of Ahmad Samir Najjar, 16, and Mahmoud Nasser Asasus  also 16. They are both now being held in Peta Tikva interrogation center.

After the completion of the interrogation they will either be released or moved to a prison.

Later raids were made into three more homes, with all three receiving threats from the soldiers that they would be the next to be arrested.

The raids consisted of the soldiers evacuating the families outside while they searched their home thoroughly, turning cupboards, bedrooms, and living areas upside down.  Leaving a family outside, with their young waiting for the soldiers to finish in order to be allowed back into their homes, leaves the next day spent on  putting their homes back together.

Members of the village went to visit the families of the young men arrested to offer their support and solidarity. Despite the problems the morale is high within the families.

Lydia is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Beit Dajan gears up for continued resistance

by Robin

15 March 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

On the 14th of March 2012 two internationals from ISM went to Beit Dajan to talk about the recent upstart of demonstrations in the village.

We met with Naser Abu Jaish who is the administrative manager in the municipality. Beit Dajan is a village with about 4000 inhabitants and is situated about 10 km east of Nablus. Since the beginning of the second Intifada, there has been a roadblock put up on the main road by the Israeli military.

This has made transportation difficult for the villagers as they were forced to take a 60km “detour” to reach Nablus. With the amount of time wasted by taking a longer road, both water supply and emergency health care cannot function normally anymore. The road block has not only been a disaster in logistics and services for the village, but more importantly four people have been killed by the army when trying to use the road.

In 2005 a new road was built to Beit Furik, a village nearby which shortens the travel distance to Nablus. However, it’s still a detour which complicates the daily life for Palestinians. It was rumored that the roadblock would be removed by Israel, but four months ago it became clear that this was not the case. The citizens of Beit Dajan organized and mobilized for their first demonstration on the 7th of March. The actions were carried out in order to open the road for Palestinians again, a cause which of course is very popular in the village. Naser was very happy with the action.

“More than 500 people participated, both young and old! And we are expecting even more people this week.”

The demonstration was outspokenly non-violent and this succeeded as not one single stone was thrown. Despite of this the Israeli soldiers used tear gas against the villagers.

Naser tells us that the demonstration has been warmly welcomed by the people and that a lot of excitement and unity has come from it.

“Of course we fear that the military will use even more violence, but it will not stop us from delivering our message: That we have the right to use the road,” Naser says.

“We would like ISM to show their presence at our demonstrations every Friday along with other international observers”, Naser said with hope in his eyes and emphasis on the importance of peaceful resistance in order to regain their road.

Robin is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).