2nd December 2018 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus team | Nablus, Occupied Palestine
Once again, Palestinians exercised their right of free speech under international law, and once again, were encountered with tear gas and gunfire. Outside Nablus, demonstrations took place against the continuous construction of Israeli settlements and outposts, imprisonment of Palestinians- young and old- and the Trump administration’s declaration to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. At one point, when the Israeli assault settled, an activist was able to comment on the situation: “We refuse any attempts to make Al Quds a capital of this zionist state, which aims to divide our lands with the ‘Big Jerusalem Project’ or ‘E1 Plan,’ that will be used to connect Ma’aleh Adomim Settlement with Al Quds, through the Palestinian lands and towns, furthering the separation of our land into small cantons.” Constant infringement on rights, humiliation, and collective punishment of Palestiniansare at the core of this dreadful conflict, and have been the fuel for non-stop protests throughout the occupied West Bank for years. The most recent example of this systematic cruelty is Isra’a Al-Ja’abis, whose been in prison for 2.5 years, reportedly having been denied proper medical treatment for her severe burns that she got after her car exploded in 2015.
For every lull in violence by the police, came another eruption of tear gas and firing, pushing the protestors back by hundreds of meters. Both Internationals showing solidarity, and the press, avoided rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas, and stun grenades. One Palestinian was injured by a live sniper-bullet, reportedly to have been bleeding profusely from his leg. “He’s been taken to the hospital for treatment, and we don’t have updates on his condition.”
22nd November 2018 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah team | Kafr Aqab, occupied Palestine
Nearly three years after being locked up in a detention center in Northern Israel, Shadi Farah, currently the youngest child imprisoned by Israel, is finally going home.“I feel that this month has been the longest month of my life.” Farihan Farah is the mother of five, including Shadi, and is representative of over 400 other mothers in Palestine who desperately wait for their children’s return. “My feelings are mixed. My son is finally coming out after three years… I will finally get to hug him and kiss him. He’ll finally get to be with his siblings. At the same time, I fear for him… That if he’s released he’ll become a target, and I may lose him forever.”
The horrific attacks of the Dawabsheh family, where an 18-month-old was burned alive, and young Mohammed Khudair, also burnt alive, had all of Palestine in an uproar. While walking from school, Shadi expressed anger to his friend, Ahmed, over the incidents. “He was talking about the necessity of taking action against the Israeli soldiers… It was just kids talking!” The self-proclaimed “only democracy” in the Middle East, would have an observer puzzled by her imperative to make this point. “A settler overheard them and called the police,” she affirms. They were picked up shortly after, and were in custody by 11 in the morning (though she didn’t know his whereabouts until 10 at night). The first twenty four hours were traumatic enough; his interrogation without a lawyer, being brought to court in cuffs the next day, and being restrained by seven soldiers who struck him when he tried to run to his weeping mother. “I thought he would be released (the night before), especially because he’s a child, and didn’t commit a crime.” Israeli Police allegedly found knives on the boys, though no evidence was brought forth. The judge ordered that the Farah family pay 5,000 shekels for bail, and they did so, only to be notified that the case had been transferred to Central Court at Salah-Al-Deen Street; The judge, jury, and DA were all changed.
The next time young Shadi was brought into court, his mother was shocked at the site of his shaved head. “They found out that he loved his hair, so they shaved it!” For one year, each trial ended in no verdict, which lead to more time in confinement, and more torture. “They kept him for 6 days in room No. 4- which is known to have a very cold AC. He was also stripped from his clothing, and remained in his underwear, kept in darkness,” she recalls from their infrequent talks. He was finally sentenced for attempted murder and possession of a knife.
It’s been almost three years for Shadi behind bars. While his freedom is being celebrated, the likely fallout from such a traumatic experience is something Farihan Darafhmeh Farah knows all too well. “It’s not easy for a child to be away from his family for three years. I have to know him all over again. He was taken away at the most critical time of his life. I have to learn how he changed. His thoughts. What does he like now? What doesn’t he like? A lot of things. His childhood was taken away from him… He was enforced to transfer into a man, not grow into one.”A recent report documented the mental, educational, and social effects of Israel’s treatment of children during detention. DCIP found bed-wetting, trouble sleeping, and self-restricting movement to be but some of the symptoms of post-trauma. This does not take into account the legal problems that young, Palestinian convicts face when they are released. “He has a 5-year probation, and they can very simply just stop him and re-arrest him… He could be passing by a protest, or someone throwing a rock, and he can be arrested without reason.”
However, life goes on for the Farah family, and Shadi’s release is beyond a spectacle of rejoice. “I think to myself, what does Shadi love? Should I bring him Shawerma? ShouldI make him dolma? Should I bring him his little cars and toys? But Shadi’s a young man now. If I take him his toys, he’ll probably not want it. He’ll probably be embarrassed. I don’t know, I think everyday, what can I do for him? I’m fixing the house, I’m fixing his room. I have so many ideas and I’m overwhelmed. Should I take him to the pool where he used to swim? Or should I take him to ride a horse? He rode horses as a child. There’s a lot that he was denied, and I want to compensate him for everything. I want to cook him the food he loves. I want to bring his old friends to see him. I don’t know…” Farihan Farah takes a moment as tears begin to well up in her eyes, managing to say- “My father died while Shadi was in prison. I want to take him to his grandfather’s grave. A lot has happened when he was in prison.”
The damage that has been done is undeniable, and the only way forward for the Farah family is resilience and courage. From here, the path forward is uncertain, happiness not guaranteed, and in fact the obstacles may only increase. “I will have to move him to a school that’s closer to the house. He’ll always have trouble at checkpoints. He won’t be allowed to practice a normal daily life. We will be living in the horror of what might happen. And this is the way many Palestinian families live… We try to make hope. We try to be optimistic.” Ten year-old Nawal, Shadi’s sister, is a gymnast and Dabke dancer, and was being taught how to swim by Shadi before he was taken. “I’m happy that he’s coming back,” she says, “I was seven when he was taken.”
It’s hard to understand the evil nature of Shadi’s treatment without knowing the systematic degradation of Palestinian minors in the state of Israel; only one function that embodies the nature of the occupation, internationally recognized to be illegal. “People only view darkness. They are pessimistic and depressed. There’s no hope for us, in Jerusalem, Gaza, or The WestBank. Everyday passes in horror… We eat, drink, and live day by day. We don’t know what’s going to hit us- capture or murder. A worker heads to his job in the morning and you hear in the news that he was shot, claiming that he attempted to stab someone. I never imagined that a little boy like Shadi would be captured. I always fear that when we’re driving to Al-Khalil, a road that is filled with checkpoints and obstacles, if by God’s will the car was broken mid-way, that they’d shoot everyone inside and murder us, claiming that we are up to no good. I cannot even imagine stepping a foot in a place like Zaatara, where they would see my hijab and immediately think that I am up to no good, and just shoot me. They deny us and our children the right to live a normal life. To play, study, grow. Like Shadi, there a lot more children.”
Shadi Farah is set to be released the 29th of November, 2018.
9th January 2018 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | al-Khalil, Hebron, occupied Palestine
A protest and march against the occupation of Palestine took place in al-Khalil tonight. Protestors gathered at Dawar Ibn Roojd before marching with lit torches at dusk to checkpoint 56 in Shuhada Street.
The action was organized by Dismantle the Ghetto, a collation of Human Rights organizations, popular resistance committees and Palestinian political organizations. They call for the removal of checkpoints and the illegal settlements in Hebron.
Marchers gathered outside the checkpoint chanting for the removal of the checkpoints and illegal settlements within the city. Soldiers eventually stormed out from the checkpoint into the H1, Palestinian part of the city, throwing stun grenades and threatening protestors with their weapons. The peaceful protest was scattered by this violence as the soldiers spread out throwing more stun grenades and dispersing the crowd. Effectively this aggression suppressed the free speech of the Palestinian people.
This event was organized as a precursor to the annual Dismantle the Ghetto campaign to take place in February.
24th October 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza-team | Gaza, occupied Palestine
On Sep 5th, 2016, the Gaza fisherman, Ahmed Mohamed Zaied. 32 years of age, was fishing along with his friend using a hasaka (small boat). They were fishing closer than 1.5 miles in the Palestinian territorial waters, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, when the tarrad (Israeli warship) was at 3 miles.
Fisherman Ahmed Zaied on his bed with his three sons after his injury from the Israeli forces while he was fishing.
“The Israeli occupation warship approached us and started to shoot at our boat, without even warning us. I got injured in my right arm and my belly. I was screaming out loud in pain when my friend was trying to escape, trying to go back to the beach. Luckily, an ambulance was there, it took me directly to the hospital,” says Zaied.
Zaied stayed in the hospital for 9 days and is now forced to stay in his bed for a period of six months. Since the date of the incident, Zaied was not able to get out of bed but for a short walk that the doctor ordered him to have.
Fisherman Ahmed Zaied third injury shot by the Israeli Forces while he was fishing in Gaza sea.
“The suffering of the Palestinian fishermen in Gaza doesn’t end with the ‘shoot to kill’ policy that the Israeli occupation is applying,” Zaied’s brother who is also a fisherman, says. “My four brothers and I, we are all fishermen. Each one of us used to have his own small boat, but the occupation has taken 3 of them 2 years ago.”
“They say that we are working against the security of Israel, but generally, tell me what do I want from going to fish but to provide for my family?”, explains Zaied.
Palestinian fishermen depend on fishing as their only source of livelihood in the Gaza Strip, but the navy continuously attacks the fishermen, preventing them from providing for their families. Such attacks also led to many casualties, like Zaied’s case, including fatalities, dozens of arrested, in addition to the high costs of repairing the boats, while many other boats are illegally confiscated by the navy.
“Now it’s the fishing season, during those months they save money for all the year,” his brother explains. “Instead he is lying in bed. He wants to sell his boat, even for half of its value, because he needs about 20 NIS each day for medicine for 6 months, and he simply can’t afford it.”
Zaied has been shot 3 times by the Israeli occupation warships, the first time was in 2000 while he was at the beach, and he was injured in his leg. He was also shot in 2006 while he was fishing. His injury was in his chest and his right arm.
Ahmed Zaied second injury, shot by the Israeli forces while he was fishing.
“They say that we can’t fish here, but that’s our land, how can they forbid us to fish in our own land and our own sea?” Zaied explains trying to move on his left side with pain: “I am waiting for another operation that I have to do to take away what is left of the bullet in my belly. I am dying slowly with all this pain I am bearing.”
He continues, “Whenever I came back home with 20 NIS I feel happy. I don’t belong to any faction and never have I shot any rocket. What do they want from me? I just want to live.”
Palestinians are enduring various forms of suffering, mainly because of the imposed siege on Gaza, and the fishermen are facing so many hardships due to their nature of work, that requires them to go to the sea to fish.
“Despite his situation, my husband is always thinking of another way to provide for his family, me and our three sons, in the time that he is unable to leave his bed,” his wife expresses.
3rd July 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Occupied Hebron
In the last three days Israeli military forces have implemented several blockades isolating the cities of Yatta and Bani Na’im south of Hebron. It is reported that cement roadblocks, earth mounds, gates and checkpoints have been installed across the region, with no timeline for when they may be removed.
The blockades are only implemented to restrict the movement of Palestinians as illegal Israeli settlers can still pass the checkpoints. This discrimination is a clear apartheid strategy and limits Palestinians to not only being unable to attend work but also reaching basic human services such as hospitals. This strategy clearly violates Palestinian’s right to freedom of movement (Art.13 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights).
By enforcing these illegal blockades Israel is also restricting Palestinian movement during the final days of the holy month of Ramadan where thousands of Muslims wish to travel to the most significant religious sites for prayer and visit their families.
Operation Dove have compiled the following interactive map to illustrate the extent of the blockade.
The innocent people who are living under siege in Yatta and Bani Na’im are significantly impacted by the Israeli forces implementing such blockades, which have been condemned internationally by human rights organisations and NGOs.
The damage that has been done is undeniable, and the only way forward for the Farah family is resilience and courage. From here, the path forward is uncertain, happiness not guaranteed, and in fact the obstacles may only increase. “I will have to move him to a school that’s closer to the house. He’ll always have trouble at checkpoints. He won’t be allowed to practice a normal daily life. We will be living in the horror of what might happen. And this is the way many Palestinian families live… We try to make hope. We try to be optimistic.” Ten year-old Nawal, Shadi’s sister, is a gymnast and Dabke dancer, and was being taught how to swim by Shadi before he was taken. “I’m happy that he’s coming back,” she says, “I was seven when he was taken.”
