15th April 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Ni’lin, occupied Palestine
On Friday, the 15th of April 2016 – and as part of a West-Bank wide protest for Prisoner’s Day – the villagers of Ni’lin held their weekly non-violent demonstration. They were protesting against Israeli apartheid politics, the theft of the villagers land through the building of the apartheid wall and illegal settlements. The protestors were also showing their opposition to the continued collective punishment that the village of Ni’lin suffers at the hands of Israeli forces.
Prayers take place before the protest in Ni’lin
After the midday prayers some of the Palestinian demonstrators walked up towards the road to the gate in the apartheid wall. Whilst another group of began walking down to a different part of the wall to start a fire with rubber tires in an attempt to draw the Occupation Forces away from the main demonstration. At the main clash the demonstrators were met with tear gas near the entrance to the village, but thankfully no rubber-coated metal bullets or live-ammunition were used by the Israeli forces this week. A main concern for the villagers was the shooting of tear gas in the outskirts of the city where two houses were hit. This show of collective punishment meant that the the villagers in those two houses, not taking part in the protest, were extremely badly effected by tear gas. The demonstrators, supported as ever by Israelis and Internationals showing their solidarity, were quickly forced back by the sheer volume of tear gas and the demonstration began to wind down.
Fire at the Apartheid wall away from the main protest
The excess use of force in denying Palestinians their right to peaceful protest and the use, once again, of long-range, potentially deadly teargas canisters, ended with 5 Palestinians injured as well as the damage suffered by the two houses hit by the tear gas canisters. On this occasion there were no fatalities and the medical team of the 101 Palestine Red Crescent Society were there to help the injured protesters.
If the Israeli Occupying Force continues to use the long-range, wall-piercing tear gas canisters, which cannot be seen as they are fired, it can only be a matter of time before there are further serious injuries to protestors or worse.
24th January 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, Tulkarm team | Kafr Qaddum, occupied Palestine
On the 22nd of January, when villagers of Kafr Qaddum carried out their weekly demonstration against the surrounding settlement of Kedumim, Israeli forces attacked them with the use of tear gas and live ammunition. Two men got shot in their legs and 9-year old Ayat Zahi Ali was shot in her arm, all of them with live bullets. Earlier that morning in the same village a farmer was ambushed and beaten when he was going out to work his land.
Since 2011 the people of Kafr Qaddum have protested the theft of their land and the Israeli closure of the village main road with weakly demonstrations. The villagers stated that they had a strange feeling on the night between Thursday and Friday, suspecting that Israeli forces may have entered the village in the cover of the dark to prepare for an ambush during Friday demonstration. Their worries were verified in the morning when a farmer that was walking onto his land got ambushed and beaten by soldiers that were hiding in the bushes.
In fear of more soldiers hiding in the village the route for the demonstration was changed and people were extra cautious. One hour after the protest started Israeli soldiers showed up and immediately started shooting live ammunition towards the crowd. Two men, Hamza Abu Khaled, 21 and Abd Allah Anwar, 40, were shot in their legs. According to villagers one of the bullets shattered the bone.
Ayat Zahi Ali, 9 years old, was shot in her left upper arm with live ammunition while she was inside her father’s house. Her uncle and family members carried her to a red crescent ambulance. Israeli forces entered the village with a military bulldozer armed with snipers and continued to fire tear gas and live ammunition at the protesters and nearby the houses.
Ayat Zahi Ali is being carried after being shot by Israeli forces. Photo credit: ISMA bullet fired at villagers. Photo credit: ISMMilitary bulldozer entering the village, with a sniper in the right window. Photo credit: ISM
Ayat is not the first young girl that has been injured by Israeli live bullets in Kafr Qaddum in recent times. In September 2015, Israeli soldiers shot the 3 year old Maram Abed al-Latif al-Qaddumiwaa in her head while she was standing on her balcony. When her father rushed to help her he was also shot in the head.
The main road that leads to Kafr Qaddum is cut off by a permanent roadblock, making the journey to the main road three times longer than necessary. This again is illegal according to an Israeli court decision from 2010, but the road is still kept closed.
18th January 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil Team | al-Khalil, occupied Palestine
Today marks day 12 of an ongoing sit-in protest at check point 56 at the entrance to Shuhada Street and the Israeli occupied part of the city. The peaceful protest began on 7th January when a local woman, Wafa’ Sharabati, 38, was arrested at the checkpoint due to a discrepancy with her ID while trying to pass. During the arrest she was harassed by Israeli forces who claimed that she was a ‘troublemaker’ and threatened to put a knife in her bag.
Israeli forces detaining Wafa’ Sharabati
The family, joined by other locals and activists, staged a sit in afterwards protesting the arbitrary arrest and harassment as well as the increased difficulty passing the newly renovated checkpoint and the closed military zone. The checkpoint leads into the Tel Rumeida neighbourhood which Israeli authorities declared a closed military zone on November 1, 2015. The closure forced all residents to register and be assigned numbers in order to pass to their homes, and to add to the restrictions, no visitors of any kind, family, friends, media or human rights defenders have been able to enter. ISM and many other organizations are now calling on the international community to act and put an end to the closed military zone.
Families peacefully protesting after the arrest
Since the initial sit in, an ongoing protest tent open to all has been established to show solidarity and support until the closed military zone comes to an end. The tent is set up and visited daily, despite the cold weather, from morning until night by local residents, youth, activists, and even tourists. Members of international organizations such as Interfaith Peace Builders from the U.S. and the UK Political Council, as well as local ones such as, Hebron Rehabilitation Committee, have also visited to learn about the situation. Any individuals or groups who wish to attend to show support or learn more are welcome to join.
Local youth set up the protest tent in the morningDay 5 at the tent (photo by Youth Against Settlements)Gathering around the fire at night
December 11th, 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Tulkarm team | Kafr Qaddum, occupied Palestine
Friday, December 11th, in Kafr Qaddum, the Israeli occupation forces shot three young men in the legs with tutu, and a fourth youth was injured with a rubber coated steel bullet at a demonstration protesting the road closure. Two illegal Israeli settlements located between Kafr Qaddum and Jit have blocked the Palestinian road and the Israeli occupation forces have been shooting protesters that just want to travel from one village to the other. The protest has been happening every Friday at 12:30 pm and will also be every Saturday at 2:30 pm.
Standing at the end of the road, protesters started a fire. The Israeli occupation forces moved towards the protesters. Without using tear gas to disperse the crowd, as was done the week earlier, the Israeli soldiers simply began to shoot rubber coated steel bullets at the unarmed Palestinian boys. The crowd began to run away from the seven soldiers. Several boys carried the injured to the ambulance. The Meta Peace Team, press and ISM were there to witness the event.
There was one Israeli man standing against the Israeli soldiers and yelling in Hebrew “you are criminals using live ammunition against unarmed people” and “your commanding officer is sending you to hell.” Road closures near illegal Israeli settlements are just one example of how the Israeli settlers control the military and governmental policy to some extent. According to the mayor of Kafr Qaddum, over 70 Palestinians have been shot so far by Israeli occupation forces at demonstrations there.
December 4th, 2015 | International Solidarity Movement with IWPS, Huwwara team | Kafr Addik, occupied Palestine
On friday 4th of december, around 50 locals from the villages of Kafr Addik, Bruqin, Sarta and Biddya, in the Salfit governorate, gathered on a hill called Daher Sabbah, located between the four villages, in order to protest the occupation of their land by Israeli forces and settlers. The group had barely arrived, when the Israeli soldiers and border police came towards them and aggressively ordered them to go back where they came from.
Soldiers took the keys to all cars when people arrived
A first group of people had arrived earlier and managed to reach the top of the hill, but the second group wasn’t let through by the Israeli soldiers. After taking the keys to everyone’s cars, they eventually let the group be united on top of the hill. Locals sat peacefully on the hill and celebrated the morning prayer, guided by sheikh Youssef Qa’oud, who also happened to own this land in earlier times. After the prayer, the group was urged to leave right away.
“I am afraid of young people”, explained the mayor, Jamal Ad’dik, a while later. Because this hill is far from villages and roads, it is hard to access if anyone is injured. “The soldiers who were here today, they wanted to make a problem. One mistake, they shoot. They were here to kill”, he added.
Soldiers watch Palestinians while they pray on top of the hill.
If people have decided to go to this particular hill for their weekly prayer, it’s because Daher Sabbah is the last one that is not being occupied by a settlement or an outpost, but locals fear this may soon change. Two years ago, the Israeli forces came with bulldozers and started to work to flatten the land during a few months, then stopped. A few months ago, they came back and planted grape trees. According to the mayor, the goal would not be necessarily to build a settlement, but most likely to use this place for agricultural purposes. The villagers want to show, by their presence on Daher Sabbah this past Friday and by making this a weekly meeting, that they refuse to give up this land. “This is our land, we refuse them”, explains Jamal. Two years ago this land was declared state land by the state of Israel, which makes it very difficult for Palestinians to fight for it. The owner of the land, Youssef Qa’oud, took the decision to the military court, to claim that this land was his, as it had been registered, but he lost the case.
Make facts on the ground
This area is a very strategic place for the Israeli forces. 80 % of the village of Kafr Ad’dik, for example, is in area C. Which means that people are allowed to build on 1200 dunums (area B) from the 17 000 dunums that is their village. It is easy, with these settings, to completely block the expansion of Palestinian villages and to have the space and time to expand illegal Israeli settlements intensely. The goal is, as always, to make facts on the ground. “If you go up to Daher Sabbah, every hill is a settlement. You look around and you think ‘where is Palestine, there is no Palestine !’ They want to create history”, says Fares.
In the Salfit area, the four Palestinian villages of Biddya, Sarta, Bruqin and Kafr Ad’dik are separated by an Israeli road, a few settlements and industrial areas. In the east is the illegal settlement of Ariel, fourth largest settlement in the West Bank with a population of over 18 000 people. “They want to deepen Israel in this area. Here it is only 19 kilometres wide”, affirms Fares. But if they can take this hill, then they will be able to open a large cut, a “finger”, as they call it, deep inside the West Bank, all the way to the Za’atara checkpoint, which could, in the end, completely isolate the north from the south of the West Bank.
Salfit area. OCHA
About 66 litres of water per person and per day
One of the factors that explains Israel’s effort to take over land in the Salfit Governorate is that Kafr Ad’dik, Bruqin, Sarta and Biddyia are standing on the second largest aquifer in historical Palestine. The water is exploited by Israeli water company Makarot, which means that Palestinians have to buy limited resources of water to Israel for an excessive price while the surrounding settlements have access to an unlimited amount for a fair price. For both the villages of Kafr Ad’dik and Bruqin, around 10 500 inhabitants in total, only 700 m3 of water is granted per day, around 66 liters per person and per day. As a comparison in France, the average water consumed per day per person is over 150 litres per day. One of the other problems brought by the presence and expansion of settlements in the area is the water pollution, which would, according to the mayor of the village, be coming from the illegal industrial area of Ale Zahav.
In the last five years, settlements have aggressively expanded in the Salfit area. According to Fares Dik, member of the Kafr Ad’dik municipality, “settlements are 300 % bigger today than in 2010”. Palestinian villages, on the other hand, haven’t been able to grow. In this region the Palestinian population is of around 60 000 divided into 19 villages, but they are now outnumbered by settlers from the 24 illegal Israeli settlements.
