Tag: Nablus

31.08.2007, Sarra – Nablus Region

On Friday, 31.08.2007, International and Israeli Human Rights Activists joined the people of Sarra village in another demonstration against a roadblock that for years has obstructed direct access into Nablus city.

For the last five years the people of Sarra have had a trip of five minutes from their town to Nablus turn into circuitous journey taking nearly an hour. The Israeli Occupation Forces have closed their road with the help of one meter squared cement blocks. There have been repeated attempts by the town to get this roadblock removed, as it needlessly damages the lives of the people inside, when they need to go to work, or to school, or to visit family. Though they have tried to work through government channels, speaking to the DCO and lawyers, it has come to no avail. Last week they were told that the army would open the roadblock, what the army did was invade and shoot up their village. Members of the village have become frustrated and impatient waiting for the government to act. Nothing has been done to help their situation and they have been lied to or ignored when they voice their complaint. In the end it has come to this; the people have taken their situation into their own hands, they are waiting for no one. They gathered on friday to demonstrate non-violently against the continued presence of a cage around their town, part of the cage around Nablus.

Around 300 people came together at the village mosque after friday prayer and made their way down the road towards the road closure. People’s spirits were high while marching down, waving Palestinian flags, chanting, cheering each other on. When they arrived, several soldiers could be seen with sniper rifles hiding behind trees on the hill right behind the roadblock. People were standing around the stone blocks, chanting slogans for some time. As the sprit of the people increased they began to drag barbwire, left on the side of the road by soldiers, across the road which leads to an army watchtower. People found old tires on the side of the road also, dragging them into the middle of the road and setting fire to them. Soon after a couple of army and police vehicles approached. Part of the group then walked towards the jeeps on the military road, attempting to prevent them from reaching the roadblock. They sat down in a row right in front of the vehicles and managed to stop them where they had parked. Some people from the group went to try and talk to the soldiers, negotiating about the presence of the roadblock. Several times the army drove closer towards the people blocking them in and attempting to threaten them. The Israeli military managed to capture and detain two of the Israeli activists, for being in a closed military zone, taking them away in a jeep.

The people who had stayed around the roadblock then started to move the stones off the road with the help of ropes. Soldiers increased their harrassment of the village, throwing several sound bombs and tear gas canisters into the crowd. Nonetheless, after dispersing for a moment, the people regathered, and continued to move all of the concrete road blocks out of the way.

People were cheering and continued chanting slogans, no more violence was at this point used by the army. The activists who had blocked the army vehicles then started retreating towards the other group around the roadblock. Some more discussions between the villagers and the DCO followed, another promise to look into the matter of the roadblock followed, which proved to be an empty promise once again.

The villagers and activists retreated back into the village, the internationals gathered in a house right next to where the roadblock was placed. All the people seemed to be very satisfied about the course of action that day.

Approximately two hours later however, the Israeli army came back with a bulldozer to re-close the just opened road. As the internationals saw them arriving, they rushed to the place and sat down on the cement blocks on the side of the road to prevent the army from moving it back in place. They were able to stop them for some time, and soldiers approached them and tried to make them leave the area. The internationals however refused, insisting on defending their just accomplished success. Unfortunately they were only five, as Palestinian and Israeli activists had already left the area. Like this they could not resist being taken away and arrested by the soldiers.

The army with its bulldozer closed the road again, putting the stones in place and after tore up the village’s land nearby, covering the cement blocks with a mound of dirt. The street is closed once again, but the people of Sarra don’t talk of giving up.

The two Israeli activists captured by the Israeli army were held until 10 pm, until they signed conditions stating they would not enter Sumeria for 15 days.

The international human rights workers arrested that day stayed in jail two more days. The men were given dingy cells and denied food beyond a few pieces of fruit the first night, the women were chained to a bench in a room with a television blaring all night. The women were not given blankets, and were ignored or mocked by the policemen on duty. They were forced to use the toilet chained to each other, and watch movies which bordered on pornography, while the policemen laughed at them. One was released the next day after nearly 24 hours in detention, the further three were dragged into court to be charged. The first activist released was made to sign a condition forbidding her from entering Sumeria for 15 days. The police wanted to ban the others from the West Bank for 30 days. The judge however simply asked them where they had friends in the West Bank; they replied Bethlehem, Ramallah, and Nablus. The judge then banned them from entering those cities for 30 days, fining them a total of 7,500 NIS each if they break their conditions. The other three activists could not readily find identification and so were thrown back in jail another night. The next day they returned to court, at which point their passports arrived in Tel Aviv and conditions of their release were confirmed.

All activists detained that day have all now been released, they would like to say a big thank you to everyone that supported them during their ordeal and assisted in obtaning their release.

For additional information relating to Sarra including video footage of the documented events please click onto Nablus Region Reports for a full outline of history and footage.

Tel, Nablus region
29/08/08

On Monday, August 27th, at 2pm, a family of seven settlers, headed by the father, Moshe Zohar, came down from their illegally built house next to the Qadumim settlement, on to Palestinian land and set fire to around 300 olive trees.

The Zohar family live in a house illegally built three years ago on the land of the Tel Village, with a military watchtower standing next door built at the same time. A year and a half ago an Israeli high court decision stated that the settlers of Qadumim must stay off the land of the Tel village and the Zohar family must leave their home. Around a thousand settlers from Qadumim came and successfully resisted attempts by the military to evict the Zohar family, and they still live there today.

When international human rights workers visited the village today, wednesday the 29th, it was this family that villagers told us cause all their problems. They said that when the smoke was visible from the village, the local sheikh spoke over the megaphone of the mosque to tell people to go help put out the fire and prevent more settler aggression. Around 150 villagers came but the military watchtower saw them approaching and the army was there in force when they arrived. The soldiers did nothing to the settlers, nothing to help put out the fire, the settlers left when the villagers came and the soldiers watched as the people put out the fire themselves. The land burned belongs to around 20 different families.

The aggression did not stop there however. The Zohar family later found a Palestinian shephard, a man from the Hebron region who took his sheep up to the Nablus region to find more green land and readily accessible water. The family held knives to his wrists and told
him that if he continued to stay here, they would cut off his hands before killing him. They stole all of his sheep (there were around 20) before leaving him there.

Sarra, Nablus Region
08/20/07

Today at 8:30 in the morning, 16 ISM human rights workers joined over a hundred local Palestinian villagers and activists in an attempt to remove a roadblock. Normally a journey from Sarra to Nablus would take five minutes, but since five years ago a roadblock has been placed, effectively making it an Israeli only road for the military and settlers. This prevents villagers from using this road, extending the
journey to at least half an hour. There are also 500 dunums of villagers’ land that they are prevented from accessing due to the roadblock. Local villagers contacted members of ISM to join them in removing the roadblock.

The people marched down to the roadblock in high spirits. Once there, villagers used tractors and ropes to remove the cement blocks from the road. The strategy was not only this, however. In the past the roadblock had been removed, but afterwards the army entered the village, shot out the tires of the tractors, and arrested the tractor driver. The village was looking for an action in which
everyone took part, and in which everyone could share the responsibility for fighting against oppression. The idea was that with
such a large group of people, committed people, showing with their presence and their action that they would not ignore what was being done to them, they would be better able to negotiate with the local DCO.

The DCO then came, two men in a white jeep. The people from the village, including the mayor, talked to them about this roadblock. The DCO of course said they could take no action then and there but they would talk amongst themselves and see if another solution could be found. Afterwards the activists met in a local man’s house and decided the day’s action was a success. They had achieved what the villagers
had wanted, removed cement blocks from their road and helped them with their negotiations, all without violence. This did not prove to be the end of the day’s events.

Afterwards media came, and it was decided to remove another cement block still in the road to widen the path for cars. This time soldiers showed up in two vehicles and began provoking the people gathered there. An army jeep revved his engine and drove forward almost inside a group of people. Still there was no violence from the Palestinians, and people seemed more concerned with removing the block in spite of the provocations. Then the soldiers began throwing sound bombs. At this, the affront could not be contained by some, and local children began throwing stones. More soldiers came and began shooting tear gas into crowds, firing live ammunition into the air. Some
internationals went back with the fleeing villagers, while some stayed to document what was happening, and to witness in the event that the army tried to invade the village. The soldiers laughed into the cameras of the press after shooting live ammunition into the air.

The army kept coming, followed soon by the border police. The international activists went back to a local man’s house to find out what should be done next. Some then followed a group of Palestinians who returned to the roadblock, in the face of the violent aggression from the soldiers, in order to try to de-escalate the situation in a non-violent way. People held their hands up in the air, in order to show that they did not intend to throw rocks, and tried to speak to the border police who had arrived. They then spoke together, the local mayor telling how the rock throwing only began after the provocation from the soldiers. Bravely, after hearing live bullets shot into the air, the
villagers themselves brought the situation to an end. The army said they would back down if the villagers did, and the villagers said they didn’t want the violence in the first place.

Again the internationals met together, this time in a local boy’s school. It was a different meeting from before, with different things to speak about, but once again, due to the dedication of the Palestinians present, the day’s events were thought to be successful.

The villagers are waiting for a decision from the DCO about the fate of the roadblock preventing them from accessing their land and roads. But they do not trust the israeli army to work for their benefit. They believe there is a good chance that this roadblock will soon be replaced, and the DCO will decide it will be there to stay. They have called on international volunteers to come in this case, Friday, August 24th, around 1:00pm after the Friday prayer to protest the continuing presence of the roadblock, and they are ready to make weekly
demonstrations in the village until the roadblock is removed.