Tag: Nablus

On the 7th of May 2008 at 3.30pm Hanadi Kanaan, a young woman from Nablus, was released from Telmond women’s prison after being held for 45 days for supposed security investigations.

Hanadi Kanaan, an engineering student within 1 month of graduating, communicated how she did not know why she was arrested and tells of the inhumane conditions she was kept in. She explained that when she was arrested she was held in a room just 2m by 2m, that she was given food that made her sick and how she was provided with no breaks during her 45 day imprisonment. She also described how she was continuously interrogated for 20 hours while she was in prison. The reason for Hanadi’s imprisonment for these 45 days were labeled as ‘security investigations’ and Hanadi went onto to explain that the prison is full of women in the exact same position as she was. This is just another case of how Palestinians human rights are being abused consistently and how little is done to stop this.

Later that day Nablus was host to an event to commemorate the Nakba organized by the National Committee for Nakba, the Jaffa Centre and the Ministry of Cultural Affairs. The event, which took place within the Jammal Abid Nasser park, entertained and audience of around 300 Nablus residents.

There were two main speakers during this event. The first, Tayseer Nassallah, the mayor of the National committee for the Nakba, spoke of national plans for the commemoration of the Nakba. These included the release of black balloons from several areas within the west bank, the coordination of all Palestinians to wear black and fly black flags in local villages, and many other ideas. The second speaker, Hamdallah Afaneh, the Palestinian cultural adviser, encouraged Palestinians to struggle against the occupation with the growth of culture and education among the people.

On Saturday 3rd of May a group of Israeli Settlers paraded and attacked local Palestinans within the small village of Assira al Qibliya. Assira al Qibliya, is situated in the Nablus governorate in the north of the West Bank and has become used to these regular settler attacks. Two Palestinians, one 15 year old and one 40 year old were hospitalised as a result of the attack.

At around 3pm in Assira al Qibliya a group of approximately 30 Israeli settlers, from the Yitzar settlement, became visible in the land close to the village. The settlers intruded on the villagers’ land, throwing stones and even starting a number of large fires within the fields. A Palestinian fire engine soon arrived at the scene, and with a group of about 20 villagers, attempted to extinguish the flames. The Israeli army showed their presence when live ammunition, rubber bullets, tear gas and sound bombs were all fired into the field. Witnesses say that shots were fired at the fire engine and that one firefighter was seized and beaten by soldiers before being released. At approximately 3.30pm two villagers were also seized, reportedly by both settlers and soldiers acting together, and beaten with stones and kicked repeatedly. These two residents – one a 15 year old boy and the other a 40 year old man, were then detained for a number of hours, but are now recovering in a Nablus hospital. Soldiers also reportedly fired shots at the water tanks on the roofs of the nearest two houses.

Israeli army spokespeople are reported as claiming that the fires were started by the residents and that no settlers entered the village at all – claims which are clearly proven false by the photos of the incidents taken by residents. Photos clearly show settlers starting fires on land owned by residents of the village, reported to be the Jihad and Machmoud Ali families.

When speaking to a group of local residents they said that these attacks were all too common in Assira al Qibliya. They expressed a feeling of vulnerability as they told of weekly attacks and encounters with settlers. One woman, Nahla Machmoud, whose water tank was shot by soldiers during the attacks, advised that today three settler men started to come at her while she was alone outside her house. She picked up rocks with which to defend herself, but was too scared, and dropped them before running inside and locking the door. “Today I’m very, very, very tired,” she said. “I’m very scared. My baby – we are very scared. I went into my home and locked my door and my baby is very, very scared and crying.” Nahla advised she is subject constant abuse from settlers who have attacked her home, stolen her water pump, and come in large groups to her home, shouting aggressively so that she was scared to leave. She reported that she has gone to the Israeli police, but that after showing her over 200 photos of settlers, none of whom were from her area, they declined to help any further. She recounts that Israeli police warned her, “If you do anything to the settlers who come to your home, even if you just hit them, we will put you in prison.” When Israeli settlers were beating Palestinians on Saturday, however, hitting them with rocks and kicking them repeatedly, injuring them severely, Israeli soldiers stood by and did nothing.

On Monday 28th April, the Israeli checkpoint Assira ‘Ash Shamaliya, known as checkpoint 17, was opened for the first time in four years. The checkpoint, which separates the city of Nablus from the northern village of Asira ‘ash Shamaliya and other neighbouring villages, was the first of the promised fifty checkpoints to be removed around the West Bank.

Local residents and press gathered around the closed road gate, eagerly awaiting its opening. Cars queued up to be amongst the first to pass through.

At 2:30pm two Israeli soldiers unceremoniously opened the locked gate, as jubilant Palestinians pushed against it, cheering as they did so. Drivers sounded their horns and the waiting people marched through clapping, reclaiming their road.

“People are happy the checkpoint is removed from here,” noted one local journalist, as cars streamed between the already disused checkpoint booths.

Even Israeli soldiers were taking photos of the momentous occasion, which serves as a publicity coup for the image of the Israeli government’s illegal occupation of Palestine, and works to counter the horrific child death-toll that is emerging from Gaza daily. Just that morning, four children were killed with their mother in Gaza’s Beit Hanoun as Israeli tanks shelled their house while they were eating breakfast.

Despite the fanfare surrounding the opening of the gate, the promise of greater freedom for residents of the Nablus district seems to be more image than substance. The road itself is not completely open now, it is open only from 6am until 10pm each day, after which both gates will be once again locked to all vehicles, including ambulances. When questioned about this one soldier replied “They can use the roads that they are using now.”

The road is also only open to drivers of motorised vehicles, such as cars, trucks, and motorcycles. It is prohibited to pedestrians and other forms of non-motorised transport. Indeed, within ten minutes of the opening, Israeli soldiers were harassing the celebrating populace, forcing people back into their cars, and insisting that women waiting for a lift to Assira go back to the city of Nablus and wait there. The logic for this prohibition was stated by one Israeli soldier as follows: “We want to make sure people stick to the road. This is the way we can make sure they stick to the road.”

The opening also provides a very limited increase in the freedom of movement for the people of Nablus. The road to Asira ‘ash Shamaliya serves only a few smaller villages, such as An Naqura, Sebastiya, Beit Imrin, Burqa, Yasid, Ijnisinya, Nisf Jubeil and Talouza – some of whom already utilise the already open road through Al Badan, which runs north from Nablus to Jenin. Whilst this opening will greatly improve the lives of residents in those villages – enabling them to travel to and from the city of Nablus more quickly and easily – it does nothing for the thousands of Palestinians who must travel each day through the major checkpoints of Huwarra and Beit Eba, where extensive delays and humiliations are endured daily. Indeed, it has been reported that in negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian authorities, the possibility of removing these checkpoints was completely dismissed.

Many residents are also cynical about the extent to which the road to Asira ‘ash Shamaliya will be “open”. “In half an hour they will be stopping cars and checking IDs, once the media leave,” mused one journalist.

On Saturday 26th April, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Committee in Nablus organised a demonstration to commemorate the 4th International Day of Solidarity with Political Prisoners. Sponsored by the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, the Ministry of Prisoners, Palestinian Women’s Union and Palestinian political factions, the demonstration started in the centre of Nablus, before marching through the city to the main park in Nablus, where approximately 300 people congregated to protest against the incarceration of more than 11000 Palestinian political prisoners.

Once in the park, speeches took place, with a number of speakers, including Sameh Gazelle, a representative of joint Palestinian Factions, as well as May Mir’ee, who spoke on behalf of prisoners and martyrs, calling for the issue of Palestinian political prisoners to be made a top priority in Annapolis negotiations. Both speakers also called for reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, with Gazelle demanding that the reconciliation be based on the charter for reconciliation developed by Palestinian political prisoners. Mir’ee also called for Palestinian institutions to unite in the efforts for the release of political prisoners.

Representative of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Committee, Maher Hub, spoke of the suffering experienced in Israeli prisons – particularly of the systematic torture practices that have been well-documented by a number of respected human rights organisations, which include beatings, sleep deprivation, suffocation, humiliations and denial of food, water and bathroom use. These forms of torture are currently legal under Israeli law.

He also spoke of the terrible health-care afforded to prisoners, and the suffering that is caused by the callous way in which the health of prisoners is disregarded. Since 1967, 197 Palestinians have died in prison, among them 48 who died of medical negligence.

The demonstration concluded with displays of traditional Palestinian folkloric dance, performed by local youth.

Since 1967 over 650,000 Palestinians have been illegally imprisoned by Israel, which forms 40 percent of Palestine’s male population. The current number of prisoners includes 360 children and 99 women. There are also 1200 in administrative detention, a process which allows for the arbitrary imprisonment of Palestinians for an unlimited period under the pretext of “security reasons”.

On Friday 18th April, 21 year old Hani Kabi, wanted by the Israeli army, was assassinated in a family home by Israeli army Special Forces in the refugee camp of Balata in Nablus. At 2am, over twenty Israeli jeeps entered the West Bank’s largest refugee camp, surrounded the neighbourhood of the old mosque in the centre of the camp, and invaded a number of homes nearby to where Hani was known to be located.

Hani was staying in the house of the Al ‘Arsi family, home to six families, where soldiers started shooting live ammunition through the bedroom windows while the family was asleep. The family were then forced out onto the street where soldiers threw sound bombs at the children, and repeatedly threatened to demolish their house. The entire family was then forced to strip naked, even the two and a half year old daughter, Malak, despite the cold. The soldiers were especially insistant the the elderly grandmother remove all of her clothes. Samer Abu Leil, aged 26 years, was arrested as was his 59 year old father, who was taken by the army. The family do not as yet know where the men are being held.

Soldiers then occupied the house for the duration of the assassination operation, which took three hours. When the assassination was completed, soldiers then proceeded to ransack the house, destroying one family’s bed; shooting all of the furniture and family’s clothes.

At the same time another nearby house was occupied, belonging to the Kassim family. Israeli soldiers broke the lock on the door and entered silently while the family was asleep. One male family member thought there were thieves in his house, and so went downstairs and began to attack the soldiers in the dark. He was quickly handcuffed and placed face-down in the ground, as were his brother and father as they came down in response to the noise. Soldiers told them all “if you say anything we will kill you.” Soldiers then proceeded to use the roof of the Kassim house to shoot at the Al ‘Arsi house where Hani was located. During the home invasion, the soldiers smashed the television and stereo, smashed windows and urinated all over the bathroom. When the residents asked why they were behaving like this, one soldier replied, “I can do anything I want.” This is not the first time the Kassim family have been subject to such an invasion, having gone through a similar experience just three months earlier.

This extra-judicial killing of Hani took place on the roof of the house, to which he willingly and peacefully went after knowing that the family were able to safely exit the home. According to the family, he apologised before he did so – “forgive me,” he said. “I’m sorry,” referring to the fact that his presence had brought Israeli soldiers to their house. He was killed with what residents refer to as an “inertia bomb”, a bomb fired from an M16 gun, and was then repeatedly shot as soldiers forced his friend Samer to watch. Family members have prevented Hani’s mother from seeing his body, as the damage to his face was too severe. Hani was in his final year of a French degree at An Najah university, and is survived by his parents, five brothers and four sisters. He was buried on Friday evening.

Balata refugee camp was invaded by Israeli soldiers every night in the preceding week, with nine people arrested throughout the week. Residents estimate that five to ten people are arrested from Balata each week – part of the forty arrested throughout the West Bank each week.