Tag: Night Raid - Page 17 - International Solidarity Movement

UPDATED: Army raids Burin’s cultural centre

12th April 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Burin, Occupied Palestine

UPDATE 16th June: On Wednesday 12th of June Burin’s cultural centre was invaded again by the Israeli army. They entered the village at 2am breaking into the Bilal Najjar Cultural Centre and taking documents and the centre’s official stamp. The army spent around two hours in the village also breaking into the future cultural centre that is under construction and taking photos of it. The Bilal Najjar Cultural Centre has been closed since the army invaded it on the 11th of April, damaged the building and destroyed all resources within.

*******

At 2am on Thursday 11 April Burin village near Nablus was invaded by over ten army jeeps, 100 soldiers and border police. The Army raided houses arresting 3 young men from the village and destroying the cultural centre used by the community.

Solidarity activists entered the village shortly after 2am and witnessed soldiers all over the village, detaining a youth and raiding several homes. They were able to enter the home of one family and stay with them as the Army pulled back at around 4:30am. The family had several small children including a baby. Soldiers entered the home, questioning one of the family members and checking the families computer. The family regularly suffer harrassment from the Army due to their community activity, with the last invasion of their home only 10 days before.

The Army appeared to be targeting members of the cultural centre in the village, which is used to organise events, teach english and is a space for local people and youth to use computers and learn. The centre was destroyed , donated computers were thrown on the floor and the doors and equipment were smashed.

Saed Suhail Najjar (18), Muhammad Najjar (20) and Oday Eid (21) were arrested by the Army and are currently still being held with no contact with their families or lawyers. They were all regular attendees at the Cultural Centre. Burin village is regularly invaded by the Israeli Army due to its steadfast resistance to the stealing of village land by the illegal settlements of Yitzhar and Bracha.

These illegal settlements are particularly notorious and the villages surrounding them regularly suffer settler harrassment. On Friday 12 April settlers entered the village of Urif and burnt trees, attacked farmers and damaged property. Settler harrassment has been steadily increasing across the West Bank and are supported by the Israeli Army. In 2008 the nearby village of Asira al Qibliya was subject to a rampage by armed settlers, while soldiers looked on and passed their weapons to them. Several Palestinians were shot and several more have been killed in the villages that surround the illegal settlements. Under international law all these settlements are illegal and despite this fact, Israel continues to build on Palestinian land, stealing more land from villagers who them suffer harrassment from the illegal inhabitants

For Urif the price can never be high enough

15th June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Urif, Occupied Palestine

On Tuesday, 11^th June, Israeli forces invaded the village of Urif and arrested nine youths between the ages of eighteen and twenty-seven. This incident is believed by the villagers to be related to the ‘price-tag’ settler attacks that the village suffered on 30^th April.

At around 1am, forty foot soldiers and four jeeps coming from the nearby Yizhar settlement raided Urif and arrested the nine youths. Without giving any information, the soldiers left in the early hours of the morning, leaving the village at roughly 4am.

Israeli soldier pointing at residents of Urif with a M16 rifle charged with rubber coated steel bullets during a settler attack last January (Photo by ISM)

The town’s mayor says the incident is part of an ongoing assault on the villagers who rightfully resist settler attacks. He stated, “nobody complains when Israel violates the law like this anymore, they are too afraid of being arrested themselves”. He also believes there is a clear pattern of targeting all the young men in the area in order to create circumstances where the only people left to defend their land are older and other vulnerable people.

The incident, as mentioned earlier, is directly linked to the confrontations that erupted between Palestinian youths and settlers and Israeli armed forces after settlers from Yizhar settlement attacked the villages of Urif, Burin and Asira. These ‘price-tag’ attacks on Palestinian villagers were followed by the killing of a settler by a Palestinian at the Za’tara checkpoint on April 30^th.

Urif, located southwest of the city of Nablus, is one of several villages in proximity to the extremely hostile settlement of Yizhar and as such subject to constant harassment and violence from settlers and Israeli forces.

Settlers from Yizhar, including the head rabbi, have distributed Islamphobic literature, describing Palestinians as a “Cancer that needs to be cleansed from the land of Israel” and created pamphlets expressing support for Israeli mass murderers, most notably Baruch Goldstein, who carried out the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre.

These settlers are also known for being the ideologists of the ‘price-tag’ practice, where any kind of action taken against settlement expansion in the occupied Palestinian territories by the Israeli government is met with harsh, violent and aggressive attacks on Palestinian communities.

The wave of night time invasions and arrests by the Israeli military continues in the village of Ni’lin

11th June 2013 | Ni’lin Sons | Ni’lin, Occupied Palestine

A wave of night time invasions and arrests by the Israeli military continues in the village of Ni’lin. At 3am on the 10th of June Ahmad Daood, 26 years old, was arrested in his home. Six military jeeps and more than thirty soldiers invaded the village in the night and tore down the gate to the Daood house. Ahmad was awakened from his sleep and brutally dragged out of bed. He was handcuffed, blindfolded and beaten in front of his family before being taken away in one of the jeeps.

Ahmad Daood (Photo by Ni'lin Sons) — Ahmad Daood (Photo by Ni’lin Sons)

Ahmed was taken to Ofer Military Prison but it is still unclear whether or not he has received any medical treatment for the wounds that he sustained during the arrest. Witnesses stated he was bleeding as he was taken away by the soldiers.

Nighttime incursions in Ni’lin are still a very common occurrence and on the night of Ahmad Daood’s arrest the village was invaded twice; the first time around 1:30 am where no arrests were made. As the villagers just settled back to bed, thinking that the soldiers had left for the night, Ni’lin was invaded yet again.

On an average week the village is targeted for nightly invasions two or three times and since last month 29 people have been arrested during these incursions. Most of those arrested are likely to face sentences of more than a year in prison for their participation in peaceful demonstrations against the annexation wall separating Ni’lin farmers from their land. Many of the arrested have previously spent time in prison and therefore can expect harsher sentences, sometimes even double, as the Army prosecutors claim that they have violated the conditions of their release.

We ask ourselves how probation conditions could regulate basic human rights such as taking part in peaceful demonstrations against the occupation of one’s land. Once again the makeshift order of the Apartheid Israeli justice system only serves to facilitate the colonization of Palestine.

Villages of Hares and Kifl Hares resist insult and injury from the “Ariel Finger”

30th May 2013 | International Women’s Peace Service | Hares & Kifl Hares, Salfit, Occupied Palestine

Thursday, 30th May 2013, roads to the villages of Hares and Kifl Hares (Salfit District) were blocked for three hours by the Israeli military. Za’tara checkpoint was closed in both directions from Ramallah and Nablus; there were also numerous flying checkpoints on the road to Salfit.

At 03:00am on Monday 27th May four boys were arrested from Kifl Hares village, all from one family, including two brothers, their cousin and neighbor. At the same time the Israeli military came to Hares and served two boys a note instructing them to come to Qalqiliya for court that same morning. The boys obeyed, attending their court hearing where their work permits were made invalid. Without these papers they are unable to legally access their place of work.

This nightly terrorizing of the people of Hares and Kifl Hares by the Israeli military is constantly exacerbated by the expanding presence of the neighboring illegal settler colonies of Ariel, Revava, Yaqir, and Immanu’el. The rapid growth of these illegal settlements and their aggressive populace, known as the “Ariel finger”, threatens Hares and Kifl Hares on a daily basis. The events of this morning are a part of a larger effort to defeat the Palestinian people of this region.

On 1st and 2^nd of May of this year at 10pm the local municipalities of both villages warned their residents of possible settler attacks; that night, however, as villagers stayed awake, the banging on their doors came not from settlers but from the Israeli military who forcefully entered seven homes, destroyed property and arrested six youths.

From March 15th to the 21st 2013, sixteen teens were arrested in several raids in the village of Hares in relation to a car accident on nearby Road 5. Both the boys who have been released and those who remain in prison report being held under inhumane conditions qualifying as torture. Overall, 12 boys from Hares village remain in various Israeli prisons.

Villages of Hares and Kifl Hares resist insult and injury from the “Ariel Finger” on a daily basis. Though the people understand the massive political strategy that manifests in daily violence in their lives, they continue to demand their basic human rights, and to live with their families in peace on the land on which their livelihoods depend on.

OCHA map of the Salfit region showing the 'Ariel finger' — OCHA map of the Salfit region showing the ‘Ariel finger’

Collective punishment of Kufr Qaddum by the Israeli military for political activity

29th May 2013 | International Women’s Peace Service | Kafr Qaddum, Occupied Palestine

Early on Monday 27 May at 1:30AM three Israeli border police jeeps entered the village of Kufr Qaddum. The border police made their presence known to the villagers by driving slowly through the town center. Additionally, the following night, Tuesday 28 May, at 02:00 AM around 60 soldiers on foot and four jeeps stormed the village. The Israeli military forcefully entered 10 homes, demanding the names and employment details of all the members in each household. The soldiers and jeeps left the village at about 04:00 AM, having collectively punished an entire community through nightly harassment but making no arrests.

Israeli border police officers and armored bulldozer invading the village during a demonstration, April 2013 (Photo by ISM)

Just a few days before that, residents reported that on the night of Thursday 23 May, the day before the weekly demonstration, the Israeli army entered the village and stole some 200 tyres that residents light up during the demonstrations to prevent Israeli military vehicles from entering the village. Moreover, on Saturday 18 May, one day after that week’s demonstration, Israeli soldiers in jeeps came to the house of one of the organizers at night and left some burning tires in his yard.
Kufr Qaddum is a 3,000-year-old agricultural village that sits on 24,000 dunams of land. The village was occupied by the Israeli army in 1967; in 1978, the illegal settler-colony of Qedumim was established nearby on the remains of a former Jordanian army camp, occupying 4,000 dunams of land stolen from Kufr Qaddum.
The villagers are currently unable to access an additional 11,000 dunams of land due to the closure by the Israeli army of the village’s main and only road leading to Nablus in 2003. The road was closed in three stages, ultimately restricting access for farmers to the 11,000 dunams of land that lie along either side to one or two times a year. Since the road closure, the people of Kufr Qaddum have been forced to rely on an animal trail to access this area; the road is narrow and, according to the locals, intended only for animals. In 2004 and 2006, three villagers died when they were unable to reach the hospital in time. The ambulances carrying them were prohibited from using the main road and were forced to take a 13 km detour. These deaths provoked even greater resentment in Kufr Qaddum and, on 1 July 2011, the villagers decided to unite in protest in order to re-open the road and protect the land in danger of settlement expansion along it.
Kufr Qaddum is home to 4,000 people; some 500 residents attend the weekly demonstrations. The villagers’ resilience, determination and organization have been met with extreme repression. More than 120 village residents have been arrested; most spend 3-8 months in prison; collectively they have paid over NIS 100,000 to the Israeli courts. Around 2,000 residents have suffocated from tear-gas inhalation, many in their own homes. Over 100 residents have been shot directly with tear-gas canisters. On 27 April 2012, one man was shot in the head by a tear-gas canister that fractured his skull in three places; the injury cost him his ability to speak. In another incident, on 16 March 2012 an Israeli soldier released his dog into the crowded demonstration, where it attacked a young man, biting him for nearly 15 minutes whilst the army watched. When other residents tried to assist him, some were pushed away while others were pepper-sprayed directly in the face.
The events of the past week are part of a continuous campaign by the Israeli military to harass and intimidate the people of Kufr Qaddum into passively accepting the human rights violations the Israeli occupation, military and the illegal settlers inflict upon them.