Tag: Nablus

Report from Nablus region

Deir Al Hattab August 17th, 2007

Four international ISM human rights workers joined Palestinian activists and the local popular committee yesterday in Deir Al Hattab concerning the ongoing situation there.

Deir Al Hattab is a village of 13,000 dunums that has been able to reach only 5,000 since 1986 due to the grabbing of land from the settlement Elon Moreh done in collusion with the Israeli occupying forces. Elon Moreh is situated on two hilltops and between these hilltops is around 2,000 dunums of land they have decided to annex. In 1993 the Israeli High Court ruled that the Palestinian villagers who own the land must be allowed to access it. In response the military has declared all of it a closed military zone and prevents villagers from working or visiting their land.

The human rights workers were led around the village to see the land that was stolen, and were told about the recent developments. A few days previously, an Israeli activist from Ta’ayesh crossed the Israeli only road that runs through this land, around the settlement, and saw that on a thousand dunums, separate from the 2,000 already claimed by the settlement, settlers had planted 5,000 olive trees. This is an attempt to establish lies on the ground to prove that the land belongs to the settlement. Members of the local Popular Committee then pointed out 6 dunums close to the settlement, also separate from the 2,000 already annexed, that had been set on fire the day before. IOF soldiers allowed the Palestinian owner and a few members of his family in to his land to try to put out the fire but the damage was visible from the village. This is another tactic settlers use to harass and drive out Palestinian people from their land, and clear it for their own use.

We witnessed all of this from afar. Settlers and nearby military camps won’t even allow Palestinians to see the damage closely, much less visit the land they own. Behind the settlement the local villagers pointed out a building on another hilltop, a 700 year old holy site of Sheikh Billal, used as a signal tower in case of an attack on Nablus, that was closed to Palestinians and had a military camp next to it. The popular committee stood there surrounded by their stolen land, which they were unable to access, and said they would like to organize a campaign against this injustice, with media and legal work, and demonstrations, not just one, but many, weekly, to protest the theft of their land, and the arrogant defiance by the IOF of their own High Court rulings.

They called on international activists and Israeli activists, people from all walks of life that wished to protest injustice to come and witness what was happening around them.

People are being organized with more definite details to come.

15.08.2007

This morning at 7AM human rights workers rushed to the other side of Nablus in Ta’awun Street where 8 homes had been taken over by the Israeli army. They joined the medical assistance relief team that had already arrived at the scene. 10-15 military vehicles and a bulldozer were in the street. In this case the families were told to leave their homes at 2AM. People were roused from their beds, among them small children including a 2 1/2 month old baby, and were forced to leave their homes, which were then occupied. One of the occupied houses was used for interrogation purposes – people were taken from the surrounding homes and brought there for questioning. There were a lot of holes in the homes, shattered glass and destroyed rooms, crying women and children and many projectiles that were fired as well – 2 of them Israeli and one of them, the largest, referred to as an energy bomb, was made in the USA. Maher Awada, aged 19 and Omar Ma’alla, aged 20, who were arrested, are purported to be wanted by the Israeli army. Forcing families from their homes as the Israeli army did is a form of collective punishment and is illegal under international law. For some of the families, this has been the third and fourth time this year that the soldiers have invaded their homes and destroyed their personal belongings. One of the mothers has two sons in Israeli prison: Ihsan Awada, 25, who has been imprisoned for 5 months and Husam Awada for 1 year. She also related how one of the invasions took place right before her daughter was to be married – they shot holes in the clothes cupboards and then burned all their clothes, including the wedding dress and trousseau. Others described crawling on their hands and knees to keep from being hit from the soldiers’ gunfire.
The incursions, explosions and shootings are a nightly occurrence in Nablus.

Nablus: Occupation Forces Use Family Home As Sniper Post

At around 7:50pm a group of seven internationals were alerted to a house occupation by Israeli forces which had lasted for almost 20 hours. Israeli soldiers occupied the home of the Dwakat family, which consists of 2 brothers, Muhammed 28 years old and Hamed 29 years old, the wife of one of the brothers, 25 years old, and their two small girls aged three and six years old. Residents suspected that Israeli soldiers were interested occupying the house due to its location facing the Balata refugee camp. This was the second time the house had been invaded in the last three months.

The international group arrived at 8:05pm. After trying to assess the situation from locals who lived in the area and who knew the family, a group of six went up to the second floor of the apartment building while one person stayed behind outside the house to monitor the situation as a safety precaution. Internationals knocked on the door for about 5 minutes and asked to see if the family were alright. The door opened slightly and was immediately shut again. The room inside was in complete darkness as was the rest of the building.

After another minute or so one male soldier with an American sounding accent opened the door to speak with the internationals assuring them that the family was fine and was in need of no medical attention. He asked for the video camera to be turned off and then brought one of the brothers to the door to show he had been unharmed. The soldier then promptly shut the door and refused to engage in further dialogue.

The American international stationed outside the building was brought in to try and resume negotiation with the soldier. She entered the building while another international went outside to take her place. After speaking with the soldier she was able to see that the two young children were unharmed, but was unable to get inside the apartment.

After placing a call to the humanitarian line of the DCO, the internationals were assured the family would be released very soon. Within the next few minutes, a large army vehicle arrived and parked directly outside the entrance to the apartment block while another couple of smaller armoured army vehicles arrived and parked on each adjacent side. At the same time other army vehicles were seen heading towards Balata refugee camp at which time the internationals decided to move to the camp while another two stayed behind to ensure the release of the family. At approximately 9:10pm almost an hour after the international group arrived, 10 soldiers vacated the apartment block and immediately drove away. Prior to that one of the soldiers who had driven up in an armoured vehicle had requested to speak to the two internationals away from the entrance to the apartment block stating it was not safe for him to be there, however only one of the internationals went to speak with him to find out exactly when the family would be released while one stayed facing the entrance to the building. After the soldiers were seen to have left and started driving away the two ran upstairs to check on the family. They all appeared to be fine and were full of smiles especially the two young children.

Hamed Dwakat told the internationals that a group of ten soldiers had rung the bell at around 2am. The soldiers asked Hamed if there was anyone else present in the building and told him that they would open fire on him if they were lied to. The soldiers then entered the apartment and told the family not to speak at all. They were held in the kitchen for 20 hours. A soldier sat pointing a gun at them the whole time while the other soldiers occupied the rooms facing the refugee camp. The family were able to eat snacks and use the toilet throughout. He also told us that at around 6am four hours from the time the soldiers entered, young children on the street below suspected there were soldiers inside and started throwing rocks up to the second floor window, to which the soldiers responded by opening fire.

Near the village of Hares south-west of Nablus lays the industrial compound of Barqan where Salman Mahmoud Simlawi has been facing a takeover of his land for decades by two factories on each side of his property. On Thursday the 26th the factory managed to uproot several olive trees after arresting Simlawi and preventing him to contact his lawyer nor any human rights groups.

On three occasions ISM Nablus has spent time on Simlawis land trying to prevent further conquest from the Villar factory bulldozer. Villar international is an Israeli construction company that specializes in large scale residential projects, amongst other things expansions for settlements.

“Villar group specializes in finding and purchasing lands for industrial buildings, safe housing for immigrants to Israel and offices for lease.” – Villar Corporate Statement.

For companies such as Villar producing their materials in industrial compounds inside Palestine is an opportunity to acquire a lower minimum wage, around 8-10 NIS per hour, cheaper than the average 19 NIS per hour in Israel. In 1982 Villar began clearing land to expand their productions facilities and Simlawi chose to go to court. Since 1986 Simlawi has legally been able to work on his original land near Hares yet harassment from the factory using military help continues with Villar refusing to recognize the 1986 court decision when confronted on Simlawis land. Now facing two large factories on each side Simlawi is slowly but surely loosing land. Simlawis only chance to fight the factory is through the Israeli legal system, but it requires the appearance and cooperation of the civil administration who haven’t yet showed support.

The invasion of ‘Ein Beit Al Ma’ refugee camp by the Israeli occupation forces continued on Friday, July 20, 2007 at 10:20 am when several jeeps returned to the main street of Nablus and entered the camp. International human rights activists present created a human roadblock on the main thoroughfare of the camp to stop any other jeeps from entering the camp and continuing their siege on the camp’s inhabitants. Three internationals were shot with rubber bullets during the blockade. They were just three of the several victims of the Israeli army’s aggressive and excessive use of force that morning, on what could have otherwise been a quiet, peaceful and sunny Friday holiday.

For past ISM reports of this event click here and here.