21 January 2012 | International Solidarity Movement
On Sunday, the 16th of January, at approximately 2 AM, about fifty settlers, accompanied by Israeli soldiers, entered the Abu Haikal family’s field in the neighborhood of Tel Rumeideh in Hebron. After throwing stones at the family’s house, they savagely burnt the car of Hana Haikal, fifty-three years old.
by Sarah
17 January 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
On Sunday, the 16th of January, at approximately 2 AM, about fifty settlers, accompanied by Israeli soldiers, entered the Abu Haikal family’s field in the neighborhood of Tel Rumeideh in Hebron. After throwing stones at the family’s house, they savagely burnt the car of Hana Haikal, fifty-three years old.
The Abu Haikal’s house is only a few meters away from a settlement from which the family are subject to constant pressure. This is the eighth car that the settlers have burned in the last five years. Five belonged to Hana, the remaining 3 to her brother. The agenda of the settlers is simply to harass the family as much as possible in order to force them away from their house and land. Their tactics include the burning of cars, verbal harassment, throwing of stones, destruction of land, and poisoning of soil to kill the family’s olive trees.
When Hana saw the car that morning she was devastated and crying. She said that since 1994, the simple act of staying in their home is a fight against the settlers, a fight that she will never give up. Unfortunately, insurance does not cover settler attacks and Hana has no more money to pay for another car.The insurance companies know that in this neighborhood there are often settler attacks and refuse to cover this type of “accident” any more.
She is demanding justice and the right to live in peace and security. But with the situation in Hebron as it is, she is left with little in the way of legal recourse.
Settlers are systematically killing Palestinian heritage, stealing land, attempting to erase their identity by poisoning the trees and attempting to make their daily life unbearable.
From this point on, Hana says she will protest until the government acts.
“She’s going to stay there, she will stay there. She will not eat, not drink until something is done,” said her brother.
A protest camp has been set up at the site of the burnt car. A group of approximately forty local Palestinian residents gathered there on the afternoon of the Monday 17th of January to express their outrage at the attacks and their solidarity with the Abu Haikal family.
A tent has been erected and Palestinian flags placed on and around the burnt car. A sign attached to the front of the car’s skeleton states: “We are here…not to upset anyone and not to make anyone happy…we are here because we are here.”
Soldiers and police arrived, apparently at the behest of a single settler who had seen the crowd gathering. In order to again protect the settlers from the peaceful gathering crowd, they took control of any area overlooking the site and barred people from leaving via the main route away from where they were.
Sarah is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
17 December 2011 | Notes from Bethlehem
I was hoping to write about something more pleasant regarding our Christmas ministry in Nablus. I was hoping to write about the usual; singing and rejoicing with the believers there. As always, Nablus concert was special. The Anglican church where we usually go was full. There was joy. The choir really did well. It was a real blessing!
On our way there I remembered the first time the choir went to Nablus in 2007. Back then it was really difficult to enter Nablus as it was under Israeli military siege. We had to change buses and go through many checkpoints. It took us about three hours. This time is was much easier to get into Nablus. The way back was a different story.
The road to Nablus goes through many “shared” roads. These are roads inside the occupied West Bank that Israeli settlers use. The best and high land is occupied of course by settlers. Recently, the settlers have become increasingly violent, even attacking their own military – that military that is there to protect them. As we were passing by the illegal settlement of Ofra, we were attacked by a small group of settlers who were standing by the street. One big rock hit the front shield of the bus causing a big hole and cracks and miraculously the shield did not go down. I was in the front seat with Rudaina and we were hit by many small pieces of glass but thankfully we were not hurt – just terrorized! We were all shocked when it happened. We all thanked God for his protection and for the bravery of the driver who simply kept driving in very high speed. God protected us. But what if …
How long will settlers activities go unpunished? How many more mosques will be burnt? Cars hit? People killed? What if the driver yesterday lost control of the bus? What if the rock went through the bus? When will Israel treat these settlers equally as they treat Palestinians who do violence (or nonviolence)? Will Mr. Natanyahu – who just last week refused to call these settlers terrorists – taken action?
Tomorrow we will go to the village of Zababdeh to sing and will we take the same road. We want to go. We must go. Life in Palestine is not easy or safe, but God never promised us safety.We will continue to sing and praise. We will continue to pray for peace and justice. We will continue to celebrate the Son of God who came to Bethlehem to reconcile us to God and to one another. We continue to hope. It is Friday … but Sunday is coming.
by Amal
8 December 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
The smell of fire and sorrow was evident in Bruqin today, which is located to the west of Salfit in the northern area of the West Bank. Even eight hours later the feeling of loss populated the air. At approximately 2:30 AM a group of settlers entered the village and set fire to a mosque, a bulldozer, and a car.
Israeli police and soldiers documented the attack, but claimed that they did not know who committed it. Many people are skeptical due to the fact that the roads coming into Bruqin are secured and monitored by soldiers and cameras. This was another attack to make life miserable for the Bruqin people. It has been targeted by settlers and Israeli soldiers many times, so the people are certain that this attack will not be the last.
The mosque was saved by the villagers. They came out in time to stop the fire as it reached the front door. The settlers did not leave the mosque in flames, but also marked it with words in Hebrew showing their loyalty to the illegal Ariel settlement. Unfortunately, Bruqin is surrounded by four major illegal settlements.
The criminals managed to completely destroy a brand new bulldozer. The owner, Ali Sabar, purchased the bulldozer last week with a down payment of 19,000 NIS. Ali will spend the next 12 months trying to pay the remaining balance of 60,000 NIS. This violent act not only violated the Sabar family’s human rights, but has devastated any hope of prosperity for them. Ali stated that insurance will not cover the damages because “this is an attack and not an accident.”
The state of the Samara family’s car is immobile just like Ali’s bulldozer. The car is totally useless, just another casualty of the Israeli Occupation. The only thing that was not ruined in the car was a copy of the Quran.
Bruqin is in Israeli controlled Area C. Israeli Apartheid laws allow for any construction in Area C to be demolished if the Israeli Army orders it. The odds are against the people of Bruqin, yet hope was still present today. The Mosque still continued the call for prayer, and although they could not pray inside they still gathered together with hope.
Many commented that the Quran was only spared due to the binding of it, while others will credit their faith. Nonetheless, the Bruqin people are using this to increase their hope and strengthen their resilience.
Amal is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
by Thom Andrews
9 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
This afternoon, 45 year old Abdullah Mutaled Al-Mashni, father of 5, was run over and killed by an illegal settler.
Whilst returning from collecting his olives, Abdullah was last seen riding his donkey back towards his village of Deir Istia – 7km northwest of Salfit.
Soon after the killing, Israeli Occupation Forces arrived to shield the scene from photographers and journalists gathered to report on the crime.
It is believed the settler was a resident in the nearby illegal colony of Revava – established on occupied Palestinian land in 1991.
This attack comes just as a relatively peaceful olive harvest draws to an end. Tomorrow there will be a funeral for the martyr in Deir Istia.
Thom Andrews is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement.
