Tag: Nablus

Inhumane treatment of Palestinian prisoner

30 June 2009

The 23 year old Palestinian women, Somod from Nablus, was recently released after having been imprisoned in Israel for four and a half years. Despite her young age, she suffered from inhumane treatment such as rape-threats, isolation, and denial of access to basic sanitation facilities. She went to court as many as 18 times before she was released.

The treatment in jail

Regardless of any crime that Somod might have been accused of, the treatment that she faced in the Israeli prisons cannot be legitimated.

“In jail they beat me badly, and I suffered under inhumane interrogation techniques. They threatened me by saying that they would ‘make me a woman’ if I refused to give them information. It was horrible. I was sent to many different places for interrogation, in many different prisons. Many times they did not even tell me where I was, or where I was going. They tried to make me sign conditions that I did not agree on, and they hit me in order for them to make me talk. But I feel that to give them such information would be like selling my home, my family. It would be the same as being a spy. So when I still refused to talk, they took me to an isolated room with only red lights for two days. I was later sent to Talmond prison where I was kept in isolation for 7 days”, Somod explains.

“In Talmond prison we were 11 women in a single room, with only 8 beds so that some had to sleep on the floor. There was only one small bathroom, which was full of insects, and even mice. There were no showers in the bathroom, only small buckets with water, and many times the prison authority cut the water while we were showering. It felt very humiliating. I was transferred to various different prisons, and in some of them they woke us up 7 times each night “in order to count us”, the prison authorities said. If some of us did not immediately rose up from bed and said “yes I am here”, the person was punished by being transferred in to an isolated room. Sometimes they even threw tear gas in the sleeping room were we slept, or cold water.”

Somod could not even enjoy a homecoming with her family. On her scheduled release date, she was told by the warden that she will be detained for an additional 6 months. When she asked why she could get no answer. Meanwhile her parents waited outside the jail for two days and were unable to get any explanation as to why their daughter was not being released. Four days after her scheduled release Somod was sent out of the prison with nothing. She found a man on the street that allowed her to borrow a phone. When she spoke to her father he could not believe his ears.

Settlers set fire to Palestinian land in Asira al Qibliya

29 June 2009

Around 7 p.m. on Monday night, dozens of heavily armed settlers trespassed on farmers land, setting fire to the wheat crop and attacking a home in Asira al Qibliya. Settlers fired high-caliber weapons into a family’s home where 4 children live the youngest one only a year and a half old.

Israeli soldiers responded to the event around 8:30, shooting tear gas into the family’s home after the settlers retreated. Rubber coated steel bullets where fired and some soldiers threw a sound bomb.

Palestians and internationals gathered at the house for the rest of the evening. In the morning the women who lives in the house discovered that the settlers had also shot out the family’s water tank and thrown rocks on the solar water heater.

Asira al Qibliya, south -west of Nablus with settlements above the village.

Nablus area family served demolition order

24 June 2009

Luban al-Sharqiya, Palestine – Khawla Abdel-Qader Ewes, her husband, sister, and 6 children are facing a daunting situation. They have been living in the village of Luban for their entire lives, and for the past 20 years, this life has consisted of a 7 square meter single room.

Luban al-Sharqiya is a village of approximately 3,500 people, 5 kilometers southeast of Nablus City. The village is completely surrounded by Area B and C land, while the village itself is Area A as defined by the Oslo Interim Agreement (Figure 1).

Luban Village (OCHA)
Luban Village (OCHA)

There are several illegal settlements in close proximity to the village. The only means Ewes had to improve her quality of life was to build upon the land bequeathed to her by her father, outside of the village. In order to finance building a new home she was forced to sell her jewelry as well as her current home. This 400 square meter plot of land is located in Area C.

A significant amount of work has already gone into the construction on this home, but last week Ewes received a demolition order from the neighboring government of Israel. The order states that she must go to court on July 2, 2009 in order to start the demolition process. Now Ewes finds herself forced to use the last of her funds to pay a lawyer in an attempt to save her new house. Meanwhile, she will be forced to leave the house her family currently occupies next month.

While in Luban, ISM representatives also met Anwar Ballouta whose house was demolished in 2005. He rebuilt it, and has been fighting a demolition order on the new house for several years now. His family’s case has reached the Israeli High Court. However, without the means to pay for a lawyer, Ewes’s case looks much grimmer.

Israeli forces invade four Awarta homes in the night

24 June 2009

In the early morning hours of Wednesday, June 24, 2009, the Israeli Army invaded four houses in Awarta, a village south of Nablus. The soldiers claimed to be looking for weapons and caused mayhem in every room of these houses. They left after six hours without arresting anyone.

Between midnight and 6am on Wednesday morning, soldiers invaded four houses in Awarta village, one of which was not inhabited at the time. According to the villagers, some 50 soldiers entered the houses while another 50 encircled the houses. They had two dogs with them.

House 1: Said Salim Hassan Awad
The husband and father of this family was in Jericho at the time of the invasion. His wife and their children were sleeping when some 50 soldiers woke them up demanding that they open the door. They ordered everyone into one room and pointed their gun at the two-year old son, telling him that they would kill his brother if he did not tell them where the gun was. Although the family assured the soldiers that there were no weapons in the house, the soldiers searched every single room, throwing the furniture upside down, slitting chairs open. They destroyed wardrobes, light bulbs, and children’s toys, and threw vases full of flowers on the floor, shattering them. The interior of this house was in complete shambles and the children were still visibly frightened.

House 2: Abdul Kader Ahmed Ibrahim Abdad
The scenario was similar in this house. Around midnight, some 50 soldiers had demanded entry to the house. Here, too, the soldiers ordered all the family members (8 children and both parents) into one room. One soldier pointed his M-16 at the 4-year old girl and asked where the weapons were. As he saw a poster of Saddam Hussein on the wall, he asked her 10-year old brother who this was. When the boy told him that he liked Saddam, the soldier ripped the poster off the wall. While searching the house, they threw furniture around, pulled out drawers, and broke one of the children’s beds. This house has been invaded several times before, the last invasion having occurred four months ago. The soldiers left after six hours without arresting anyone.

House 3: Jewer Mahmud Derawish
Around 2 am, the family inside this house was woken up by shouts of soldiers who demanded entry to the house. Here, only women (8 in total) were at home at the time. Some 40 soldiers entered saying that they were looking for something. While searching the house, they tipped over the family’s food storage containers of rice and olive oil. Thereafter, they destroyed part of their wheat field.

House 4: The owners were not at home at the time
Since this house was not inhabited at the time of the invasion, the soldiers forced the door open, breaking the lock in the process. The footprint of a soldier’s boot is clearly visible on the door. Furniture was overturned, the doors of a small wardrobe were ripped off, a children’s bed was broken, and clothes were scattered everywhere on the floor.

According to the villagers, house invasions are frequent in Awarta.

Children ‘very scared’ in Israeli incursion

Dominic Waghorn | Sky News

25 June 2009

Salah Awad claims Israeli soldiers ransacked his house
Salah Awad claims Israeli soldiers ransacked his house

Benjamin Netanyahu’s government hopes the move will help defuse growing tensions with the Obama Administration in America.

A rift between the two countries appears to be widening over Israel’s refusal to halt settlement building.

A meeting between Mr Netanyahu and US Middle East Envoy George Mitchell has been put off, reportedly because of growing frictions.

Israel has already lifted a number of checkpoints, and now says its military will refrain from entering Ramallah, Jericho, Bethlehem and Qalqilya except in cases where they believe attacks on Israelis are imminent.

Two nights ago in the Nablus village of Awata, a Palestinian family experienced one such Israeli military incursion.

Salah Awad told Sky News his sister-in-law was at home alone with seven of her children, aged two-and-a-half to 10.

“They came at midnight making a big noise to open the door,” he said. “But they didn’t say who they were. The children were very scared.”

Mr Awad claims the soldiers stayed for five hours, putting all the children in one room while ransacking the house.

“They destroyed all the furniture. They asked the children if their Dad carried a gun showing them their weapons.”

According to Mr Awad, three other homes in the village were searched but the Israelis found nothing.

The Israeli Defence Forces spokesman unit told Sky News its soldiers “uncovered AK-47 and Carl Gustov antitank rifles” during a “focused operation to uncover arms” in the area.