Tag: Nablus

30 Days Against Checkpoints Underway in Nablus

by the ISM media team, January 14th

Today, around 11am, a group of almost 100 people gathered at Huwwara checkpoint for the launch of the 30 Days Against Checkpoints campaign, organized by the Palestinian Body for Peace, Dialogue and Equality (HASM) and other organizations. Some Palestinians, mostly children, dressed as Native Americans in order to draw parallels between U.S. genocide against Native Americans and Israeli genocide against Palestinians.

Demonstrators carried signs including one which said “Checkpoints destroy Palestinian Life.” Other signs were addressed to Condoleeza Rice, who visited Ramallah today, including one which said “The Indian wars are not over Mrs RICE….We are still here too!!” Palestinians, Internationals, and Israelis chanted and demonstrated for about an hour in front of the checkpoint, where many people were waiting to cross. Both demonstrators and IOF remained peaceful throughout the demonstration.

The next action will be a musical one, featuring a youth band next Saturday at Huwwara checkpoint at 12 noon.

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Click here for YNet coverage

PNN: “Invasions are a way of life in southwest Nablus town”

by Amin Abu Wardeh, January 4th

Midnight raids carried out by Israeli patrols are the norm in the northern West Bank’s Nablus area. They hit the southwestern town of Sarra when residents are sleeping. Regardless of the frequency, the invasions still come as a shock and have turned lives into living nightmares.

Teacher Radwan Abdullah is a Sarra resident. He says that what is happening in the town is systematic, and what exacerbates the horror of it all is the absence of media attention.

Abdullah told PNN on Thursday that six houses have been overtaken by the Israeli military in recent days. “Ten masked soldiers stormed the houses and tore through different sections, searching and interrogating everyone and then forcing them to leave.”

He continued, “The same force came back the next day to a nearby house and did the same thing. They went through six houses like this. One of the owners, Mohammad, has been suffering for years because of this type of attack and the military post erected at the entrance to town, which restricts the movement of the population and the introduction of goods. There is no justification for these occupation incursions. The suffering of the population of Sarra is just increasing all the time.”

Israeli forces have erected several barriers on the road that links Nablus to Qalqilia and the rest of the West Bank, including checkpoints and military installations, which severely restrict freedom of movement.

Abdullah has issued an appeal to human rights organizations to expose the reality of life under occupation in a global forum.

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Local schoolchildren have recently been terrorized by IOF forces in Sarra.

Thirty Days Against Borders – Children of Nablus against the Occupation

by the Palestinian Body for Peace, Dialogue and Equality (HASM )

Sunday 14th of January

School children from Nablus dressed up like Native Americans will gather in a peaceful demonstration at Huwarra checkpoint. On the other side of the checkpoint, Israeli peace activists will be gathered to support their demonstration.

We are not demonstrating to end the Occupation together as no Israeli civilians are allowed to enter Nablus, and the children from Nablus will have great difficulties getting out through Huwarra Checkpoint.

Over four weekends in January and February, Palestinian, Israeli and international peace organizations will gather at both sides of Huwarra Checkpoint to protest against the regime of barriers which severely retricts movement in the West Bank. They will sing and play, have a photo exibition and in other ways demonstrate for peace.

Nablus under siege

We are doing this as Nablus is the most imprisoned city in the West Bank. Since 2002 it has only been possible to enter through six checkpoints. It is even more difficult to exit. Men between 16 and 45 (it varies from day to day) can only exit their city with a special permit that can be obtained only outside Nablus. Almost nightly its citizens are the victims of violent military
raids and their lives have not been peaceful, or normal for years.

The people of Nablus are regarded as terrorists by the Occupying Forces who deny them their human rights and subject them to collective punishment.

Internal Palestinian political conflicts have resulted in large numbers of Palestinians refraining from participation in collective resistance against the Israeli Occupation. We support non-violent methods of resistance and cooperation between different Palestinian, Israeli and international groups. Until now there has not been a clear strategy to coordinate various peace activities to achieve justice for all.

The lack of progress towards peace has made the new generation of Palestinians disillusioned and made them lose faith in their abilities to improve their situation.

• This project expresses the will of most Palestinians and represents their rejection of the Occupation without sacrificing their children or themselves.

• We designed these activities to express our resistance to the Occupation in general and the closures around Nablus in particular

• We hope that people from all countries and organizations will support the children of Nablus in these peaceful demonstrations at Huwarra Checkpoint .

Ynet: “Palestinian: Soldiers invaded my home to nap”

by Ali Waked, December 19th

Resident of Palestinian village forced to empty his home to accommodate over 20 soldiers for some 15 hours supposedly to carry out observation. Palestinian claims soldiers ‘just went to sleep’

A resident of the Palestinian village of Salem near Nablus was forced to accommodate 20 soldiers for 15 hours in his home, after they broke into his house in order to rest.

The soldiers claimed that he had to empty rooms for them in his house, for a security mission.

Mudayen Jbur, a resident of the village, told Ynet that “just before morning prayer, at around 5 a.m., I heard hard knocking on the door. The soldiers shouted, ‘it’s the army, open up, open up’.”

Jbur asked the soldiers to identify themselves, for fear of burglars. When he realized they were soldiers he opened the door and, according to him, “immediately after I opened the door 20 or more soldiers barged in. They said that they were here on a security mission, to observe the road around the Alon Moreh settlement, to make sure kids from the village don’t throw stones at the settlers’ cars.”

Once in a while, Israel Defense Force soldiers carry out an operation in which they evacuate residents from their homes or certain rooms in their homes, and take charge of the area for an unlimited period of time, for security purposes.

Mudayyen’s home is the most external house in the village and that is supposedly why it was chosen by the IDF to carry out the observation mission.

‘These acts deepen loathing, hatred’

However, according to Mudayyen, the soldiers did not carry out any observations whatsoever during their stay in his home.

“The soldiers put me and my wife into one of the rooms and posted a soldier outside to guard us. They even said that if we needed anything, we were allowed to ask. But they did not carry out any observations. They spread out in the rooms of the house and simply went to sleep. It seems they were looking for a place to rest. They didn’t even open one window, they didn’t move any curtains, so what observation are they talking about?”

Mudayyen told the soldiers that lately, for almost over a year now, not one stone has been thrown from that area towards vehicles on the road, “but apparently the stone throwing matter was just an excuse, because they didn’t do anything, they just slept in the house.”

In the afternoon Mudayyen’s parents, who live nearby, began to worry since they had not heard from him. They tried to search for him, but they too were stopped by the soldiers.

“First my parents sent my brother to check on us. The soldiers saw him near the house, stopped him and threw him in me and my wife’s room. My other brother came and they stopped him too. My parents also showed up to search, not only for me but also for my brother who had disappeared – and the soldiers threw them in the room. In a short time we found ourselves to be eight people in the room, for no reason and without the soldiers doing anything,” he said.

Operation’s Coordinator in the Palestinian Authority for the Rabbis for Human Rights Organization Zachariah Sida managed to contact the IDF’s Coordination and Liaison headquarters, and over 13 hours after the soldiers took over the house, he managed to convince the army to get the soldiers out of the house.

Sida told Ynet that this was ‘gang behavior’ and that “the activity had no security purpose, it was simply bullying, which only deepens the loathing and hatred between the two sides; IDF will not achieve security in this way.”

Military sources told Ynet that “In this case, the claims about the restriction of the house’s inhabitants from being able to move freely are untrue. The family was permitted to move freely about the house and eat, and after a few hours the forces left the space after evaluating the situation.”

Checkpoint Humiliation

The other day as we were travelling through Zatara checkpoint between Ramallah and Nablus, I witnessed a particularly disgusting display of power by the Israeli army. An extremely public humiliation of a woman, who was taken out of a shared taxi and had her ID and phone removed. She was fighting back the tears, trying to retain her dignity, but was clearly distressed. Everything about the soldiers interaction exuded contempt for her. One in particular was clearly getting something from “punishing” her. We were prevented from speaking to her, which made our ability to intervene somewhat limited. What we were able to do was remain present until she was released. Most of the time I do not feel very effective; the most I can do is be present.

Apparently her ID did not “allow” her to travel to another part of the West Bank. Apart from being extremely punitive, excessively controlling and frankly wrong by any book, it is also arbitary. The rules of the game change. I have been in shared taxis with people who have been turned back…. ‘last week’ they could make that journey, ‘yesterday’ they could make that journey, ‘next week’ they ‘may’ be able to make it, but today “NO”. After a while I feel like I can never hear the word “LO” again (Hebrew for “no”), it is barked and shouted countless times a day, controlling so much of day to day life for Palestinians.

After an hour, on this bitterly cold day, the soldier returned the woman’s ID. He simply took it out of his pocket and gave it to her. Clearly she was not a “security threat”. Detaining her, frightening her, and publically humiliating her, were blatantly intended to make sure she would not attempt this journey again. I was enraged. The soldiers are boys with guns and egos. They have so much power in a situation that is impossible for them to understand with their conditioning and youth.

At this same checkpoint, in this same period of time, another situation was unfolding. It was hidden away and not for public view. I became suspicious and approached a soldier and border policeman; it was then that I saw a boy of around 15 years, sat hunched behind a concrete bollard, hidden from view, his face wet with tears. He looked petrified. He has good reason to be.
Every single person in Palestine will know someone who has been arrested or detained. Ill treatment is commonplace, and torture is far from being eradicated. I have no idea how long the boy had been held for. He was in tears as the soldiers were speaking to him, but fortunately he was “allowed” to go.

Recently I was travelling through Nablus to a nearby village, the taxi driver pointed out a street where, just half an hour before, the army shot dead a man. Apparently a targetted assasination. Five other people were injured, one seriously. “Normal life” (whatever ‘that’ is living under
Occupation) continues just a few streets away.

My time here is coming to a close, I am in a quiet, reflective mood. From all the conversations I have had, with countless people, two things are screaming out for attention. One is the overriding sense that things are getting worse. And worse. And worse. I was not here during the bloody years of the Intifada, but I think it is absolutely vital to understand that although the bloodshed and violence is less, the situation is worse. The oppressive control, which works on every level, mental and physical, is steadily going to new levels. One of the women I am working with grew up under Apartheid in South Africa. Along with several other South African activists who are here in the West Bank, she says that Apartheid here is ‘even worse’ than it was in South Africa. This has not been said lightly. The other thing I am forever requested, “tell people what is happening”.