Tag: Nablus

On the night between July 9th and 10th, Nablus was again was invaded by the Israeli army. This time health clinics, two women’s centers, the local TV-station Afaq, the shopping mall for the second time and a mosque was attacked and school buses were stolen. In all locations computers, files and other important equipment was confiscated.

Afaq, a local TV-station of social issues, financed by commercials, has been invaded by the Israeli army two times before, but last night was arguably the worst. Between 12.30am and 5am in the morning of July 10, 2008 the army broke in to their workplace in central Nablus.When Aisa Abu Elizz and his colleges arrived in the morning they found their door welded. All electronic equipment and furniture was taken or immediately destroyed by the military. The military also left a paper which stated the order to close the TV-station for one year. The order claimed the importance of defeating terrorism and that Afaq were supporting terrorism. The plan of Afaq is now to try to make a complaint to court.

The Women’s Centre of Nablus is a social centre for women and children. The center support women economically and socially by organizing summer clubs for children, a bakery to support children with food and much more. At 12 o’clock at night to the the army entered the Women’s centre. They took five computers as well as files and books with addresses for the organizations work.No reason was given to why the centre was raided by the army. Immediately the same day after the invasion the women centre organized a protest against the invasions with a message to the Palestinian Authorities to support them against the Israeli army’s violations. A women’s centre in al-Farah camp was raided the same night.

Patient-Friend society is a polyclinic in the centre of Nablus. At 12 o clock at night the clinic was raided by the Israeli army. The army stole six computers and as many documents they could find by breaking in to cupboards. A lot of information about patients was lost during the night’s incursion. The clinic was raided before some years. Now, as then, they will try to complain to court in an attempt to get their materials back. Previous times they did not succeed in this.

In total during the night health clinics were raided, along with the TV-station, a shopping mall, a mosque and women’s committees. Also school buses were confiscated. All in all, added up with previous nights incursions the army’s violations make a hard blow against the social and economical life of Nablus.

On the night of July 7th, 2008, the Israeli army, numbering between 120 and 150 jeeps, entered the city of Nablus. They entered a suburban shopping mall, several charity organizations, a girl’s elementary school and adjoining medical clinic, the last of which they did not have an army order to enter.

According to the Israeli army, the owner of the mall building is a member of the political party Hamas. Their pretext for taking control of the mall is therefore his alleged ties to deemed terrorist organizations. The army intends to close the mall on the 15th of August, 2008 and convert it into a military base. Without compensation are the approximately 120 small shop owner and renters who will lose their businesses. A typical example is that of Ahmed and his four brothers’s who bought a small pizzeria for 250, 000 Dinars ten years ago and have maintained it as a family run-business in the ensuing time. “This is my whole life,” he told us. This is a particularly harsh to him because his entire extended family will be affected by the closure. The shop owners are filing a complaint to the Israeli courts but have little hope of halting the army.

Equally egregious is the armies invasion and destruction of an elementary girls school and the neighboring medical clinic. In order to enter the school, the army, in a wave of mindless violence and destruction, destroyed doors and looks, smashed windows, stole the girls computers, and even vandalized the telephone kiosk. The school has now been closed indefinitely, damaging the innocent pupil’s education and future prospects.

More distressingly for the residents of Nablus is the simultaneous criminal attack on the Islamic Medical Centre that adjoins the girl’s school. This outrageous act of brutality started with the forced entry of a ground floor door. This was the sixth and most destructive of all attacks on the charitable medical centre since 2001. The criminal act of theft was evidenced as the illegal intruders used explosives to gain access to the centre’s safe where they stole over 2,000 JD of employees pay. Over 4,000 family’s files, approximately 20,000 individual’s, were stolen – causing immense distress to doctors trying to continue treating severely sick patients with out their background information. Along with these files also stolen was the office and administration hardware with items including computer, fax machine, and photocopier. During this violent attack office furniture including desks and chairs were overturned and smashed.

An elderly doctor, Hafez Sader, who had devoted his lives work to the medical center was shaken when he described the painstaking hours and hours he and his staff had spent trying to put back the medicine in the pharmacy that had been taken out of packets, mixed, and strewn over the floor. There has been no order or reason given for such an attack on this charitable medical centre. ‘This is the language of power’ Sader stated.

Between the 23rd and 30th June, the farmers of the village Awarta, close to Nablus, challenged the threats of violence from settlers by constructing a well on their land close to the illegal settlement of Itamar. International human rights workers (HRW’s) participated in solidarity for the villagers right to reach their land.

The work during the week was successful, though not without provocations from settlers. The army was present the first day but did not stop the work. The night of the 30th of June the workers had their tools stolen and concrete bags destroyed. They, however, managed to finish their work. The farmers are afraid that settlers might destroy their newly built well.

Many of the villagers of Awarta have long time been scared of going to their land close to the Itamar settlement due to settler attacks. Also the Israeli army has stopped them from reaching their land by prohibiting the villagers from using the only available road. The village has had much land stolen from the Itamar settlement. From an original 84 000 dunums, they are left with only 12000. Even to this remaining part of their land they cannot go without risking being forced off by the army or by settler violence.

Two more home-made rockets were launched from the illegal Israeli settlement of Bracha at the Palestinian village of Burin, near Nablus, on Tuesday 1st July.

At 1pm, Jamal Najar, a resident of Burin, was sitting on his veranda when he saw a projectile launched from near the illegal settlement’s mobile phone tower. “It looked like a rocket,” he said. The projectile landed on his land, amongst his olive trees, just 150m from his house, 75m from his neighbour’s house. After two minutes a second one followed, coming from the same direction. “The rockets made a loud sound, and a small fire. They made a lot of smoke,” he described.

Mr Najah went to investigate, and found the two projectiles, which indeed were home-made rockets made from aluminium pipes – one approximately 20cm long, the other approximately 30cm – without any writing. “Not made in USA,” he joked. “Made in Bracha.” He described them as being pipes without heads, but closed in on both ends, with a small hole on either end. He took photos of the rockets with his bluetooth phone, shortly before Israeli soldiers arrived and took the pipe rockets away.

Later, Israeli soldiers and explosives experts returned to the village, scouring the land for evidence, and, more importantly, proof that the rockets really came from Bracha. While Israeli military officials called Mr Najah and advised him that they would catch and punish those responsible, many villagers were not so convinced of their motives. As one member of the local council speculated “These soldiers were sent by the Israeli government to know if it is true or not true – that there really was a rocket. They need to be able to report to the news [stations] that they know what happened.”

This is the third rocket in as many weeks to have been launched from Bracha at the village, according to Mr Najah. While Israeli newspapers claimed the first homemade rocket was launched from Yitzhar, the illegal Israeli settlement that is situated on the opposite ridge-line to Bracha, Mr Najah is adamant that it was in fact from Bracha. He claims that the first rocket was launched from near the houses of the settlement, but that it landed in roughly the same area as the two launched today.

“We were not afraid from these rockets [today],” he said. “The first made a fire, these rockets [today] were behind our home without fire.” His seeming nonchalance continued as he joked “Next time they will make a big rocket and we are dead.” His demeanour changed, however, when asked if his family was actually worried about this. “We are worried that this will happen. The children are worried”.

While the village of Burin is constantly under threat from settler attacks, sandwiched as it is between the illegal settlements of Yitzhar and Bracha, Mr Najah reports that in the past months these attacks have become steadily worse. As well as the rocket attacks, Israeli settlers from Yitzhar have set fire to the lands of Burin twice in the past month, once on 30th May and again on 19th June. Attacks have also been made by the settlements of Yitzhar and Bracha on nearby villages of Iraq Burin and Asira al Qibliyia. Residents report that they are unable to go to their lands which are near the settlements for fear of being shot at by the settlers. Settlers also regularly steal the villagers’ livestock; kill their animals at night; and cut down their olive trees. Three years ago settlers shot at a car carrying seven Palestinians, causing injuries.

Mr Najah was insistent that while the people of Burin, and the Palestinian people in general, are happy to live in peace with Israelis, the settlements make this impossible. “If the Israeli government wants to make peace, they will put their hand on this land, and they will force the settlers to leave. They have stolen these lands. This is my land from my father, from my grandfather. They have been here since 1984 [referring to when the Bracha settlement was first built], we have been here forever.”