Israeli plan for the renewed confiscation of lands around Alei Zahav illegal settlement.
The Israeli Occupation Forces have recently announced a new sequence of land seizures in eleven villages in Salfeet (Salfit) District and three in the Qalqilya area of Occupied Palestine. The total amount of land being confiscated, for “military/security” reasons, is the equivalent of nearly one million square metres. 850,000 of this is for the compulsory renewal of notices of land confiscation that had already been issued, the rest is made up of new illegal acquisitions.
Plan for the renewed confiscation of lands around Ari’el illegal settlement.
Residents in the fourteen villages – which include Bruqeen, Iskaka, Deir Istiya and Zawiya – were given notice of the seizures within the last two weeks. They were allowed just seven days to register appeals with the Israeli court. Many were unable to do so within the tight deadline, which required producing notarised copies of land title deeds, and the additional expense of hiring a lawyer to represent them. Based on bitter past experience the majority of residents, however, chose not to register appeals, as the Israeli courts have proven themselves to be completely unwilling previously to overturn any order raised by the military that cite ‘security concerns’.
A view of Marda village, overwhelmed by the Ari’el illegal settlement.
Despite some appeals having been lodged with the court, the Israeli Army has nonetheless continued to occupy the confiscated land in question, and erected fences and other barriers on the disputed new land. Residents can now only gain access to tend crops or pick olives if they apply to the Israeli Army for a permit to enter their own land. This still means they have to pass through checkpoints and face humiliating delays, ID checks, bag searches and body searches.
July 19 2019 | International Solidarity Movement | Kafr Qaddum, occupied Palestine
Abdul Rahman Yasser Shteiwi, 9 years old, shot in the head by the Israeli military in Kafr Quddum
An Israeli human rights group has proved that live fire was used by soldiers against the 9-year-old child who was shot in the head last Friday in Kafr Qaddum, exposing Israeli Military lies that none was used.
The report by B’Tselem, published yesterday, says that Abdul Rahman Shteiwi was shot with live ammunition during a protest in the West Bank town on July 12 “while sitting at the entrance of one of the homes on the edge of the village playing with a piece of wood.”
It reads: “Now hospitalised in critical condition, he is the latest victim of the reckless open-fire policy that allows soldiers to use live fire even when neither they nor anyone else is in any danger.”
Many people turned out for the weekly protest in Kafr Qaddum today, which has been held every Friday for the past 8 years, to call for justice for Abdul who is fighting for his life in Sheba Hospital near Tel Aviv.
At the demonstration, which was attended by leaders of the PLO, international observers and local and international media, Israeli soldiers bombarded protesters with rubber-coated steel bullets and tear gas canisters.
Paramedics from the Red Crescent told ISM that 40 protesters were treated for various injuries, 22 for rubber-coated steel bullet wounds and 18 for tear gas inhalation.
Ahead of today’s protest, a number of Palestinian politicians including PLO minister Walid Assaf declared that they will bring the case to the International Criminal Court (ICC). “The blood of our children is not cheap!” he said. “We will follow Netanyahu and the Israeli war minister in the ICC.”
The Israeli Military still insists that no live ammunition was used last week, despite the mounds of evidence stacking up against their hollow claims.
Kafr Qaddum resident, Riyad Shtaiwi, was sitting under an olive tree with his two children when he witnessed the shooting of Abdul last Friday.
He told ISM through an interpreter that he saw soldiers at the top of the mountain, “taking the position of sniping by lying on the ground,” just before Abdul was hit.
“When I saw the soldiers on the top of a mountain aiming and taking the position of sniping and shooting by lying himself on the ground towards us, I feel real danger,” he said. “I decided to move away from this place and to speak with the child who was opposite me, to take him away from this danger. Before I reach the child, one of the soldiers, the one who was taking the position of shooting, he shot one live ammunition. At this moment I look around myself at my children and then I saw the child on the ground and the blood.”
Mr Shtaiwi ran towards Abdul to pick him up. While he carried the unconscious boy in his arms, soldiers fired 3 or 4 more rounds of live bullets towards them which hit a metal gate just behind.
B’Tselem claims that Abdul’s severe injury is the “direct result of the open-fire policy implemented by the military in the Occupied Territories.”
“This policy illegally and without any justification permits the use of live fire against Palestinians who are not endangering anyone,” the report continues. “The policy remains in force despite the fact that it has resulted in hundreds of Palestinian deaths and thousands of injuries.”
This was not the first time the military has fired live ammunition at protesters in Kafr Qaddum in an attempt to suppress the popular struggle of the town’s residents. In January alone, five protesters were hit with live bullets including a child in the neck who was in a critical condition.
For eight years, the residents have protested against the closure of the town’s main road to Nablus by the military in the early 2000s. The blocked road is now exclusively used by illegal settlers, forcing Palestinians to take the longer road which has impacted their economy.
July 15 | International Solidarity Movement | Kafr Qaddum, occupied Palestine
Israeli soldiers shot a Palestinian child in the head with live ammunition on Friday during a protest against settlement expansion in the West Bank town of Kafr Qaddum, Palestine.
Abdul Rahman Yasser Shteiwi, 9*, was rushed to Rafidia Hospital in Nablus at around 3pm and was operated on immediately. On Saturday, Palestinian doctors told ISM that a scan of the boy’s brain showed over 100 bullet fragments lodged in his head. Yesterday Abdul was moved to Tel Hashomer hospital near Tel Aviv.
10-year-old Palestinian boy undergoing surgery in Rafidia hospital. Nablus
Rafidia hospital’s head of neurosurgery, Othman Othman, who operated on the 10-year-old for three and a half hours, claimed that the bullet fired at Abdul was a live round.
Speaking through an interpreter, he said: “He had a penetrating injury in the frontal lobe on the right side. The injury was severe and there are more than 100 fragments.
“This is not a rubber bullet; this is a metal bullet. A rubber bullet will not enter because it does not have a sharp head. This is something that had a sharp head.”
Mr Othman added that he believes the bullet fired at Abdul was “not a normal bullet.”
“I have seen many gunshot wounds and they only break into a few pieces. Over 100 fragments is not normal.”
This disputes claims by the Israeli military that no live ammunition was fired during the Friday protest.
ISM activists also found a 5.56 bullet case on the ground where protesters had been standing some 15 minutes before. The case was hot to the touch suggesting it had been fired that afternoon. Dozens more bullet cases were also found by villagers following the protest.
The 9-year-old remains in critical condition, and is awaiting further scans. “This injury is a severe traumatic brain injury. He is in critical condition and there is a lot of blood in his brain,” Mr. Othman said. “We can’t yet say what is the real injury to the brain.”
The leader of the popular resistance committee in Kafr Qaddum, Murad Shtaiwi, told ISM: “I don’t have words to explain the sadness I feel.
“The army practised a very big fault if they think that what they did today will make the demonstration go down. No, never.”
Bullets and bullet casings found after the protest in Kafr QaddumProtester’s arm injured by rubber-coated steel bullets
Rubber-coated steel bullets were also fired at the crowds, as well as sound bombs. At least two people were injured by rubber bullets, including a child who was shot in the arm and a man who was also hit in the arm.
Mr Shtaiwi added: “I want to send a message to all the international community; if you care about the rights of children, come and protect them and share what happened today with the rest of the world.”
Another demonstration was held the following day on Saturday, July 13, at 4pm in Kafr Qaddum. One protester suffered a minor injury after he was shot in the stomach with a rubber-coated steel bullet by occupation soldiers.
The town has held weekly protests for 9 years against the closure of the main road to the city of Nablus due to the expansion of nearby settlements. Protesters are regularly met with tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets fired by heavily armed occupation forces.
Updated Monday, July 15, 2019
*Correction: Abdul is 9-years-old and not 10 as stated previously in report.
31st July 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Azzun, Occupied Palestine
On Tuesday, July 28, at 2:40 pm, the Israeli army arrived to the village of Azzun, located in the district of Qalqilya, to block 3 of the 4 existing entrance gates. Since the 4th gate (east side), which leads to an illegal settlement, has been permanently closed since 1992, this situation left all the inhabitants trapped in their village.
Both northern gates, leading to Nablus and Tulkarem, were blocked allowing no cars to pass, only people by foot, until 8:00 in the morning of the following day. In addition, three new checkpoints were created in these two north gates as well as the western gate leading to Qalqilya.
This event should be seen in the larger context of violence, control and surveillance to which the village of Azzun has been subjected to. The main road 55 that connects the village to Nablus, is fenced through 40 kilometers and includes three watchtowers, making villagers feel constantly threatened and controlled. Moreover, the nearby illegal settlement of Maale Shomeron has a large number of watchtowers that constantly surveil the villagers’ movements within Azzun.
In the course of the previous year, the village suffered from 385 attacks from the army, totaling more than one attack per day. These raids would sometimes be performed as training for the soldiers, at other times to directly arrest people, and overall to intimidate and cause fear among the villagers.
On Wednesday, July 29, at 2:30 am, the Israeli army raided 10 houses in the village of Azzun, arresting two 19 year old boys, Samir Shbeitah and Mohammed Salim.
Samir’s brother, Sannad, informed ISM that the soldiers violently exploded the entrance door of the house in order to wake up and shock the whole family. As the family had not been completely woken up, the soldiers, all wearing black masks, ran upstairs to the terrace where the brothers had been sleeping, to begin frightening the family by creating loud noise and trashing the house. They would hit their guns against the tin roof of the terrace and point laser beam lights into the brothers’ eyes.
Damage to the house when the military broke in.More damage.Broken door and lock.
Samir, Sannad, and their younger brother Samer, were separated form their mother in different rooms. Samir was taken back to the terrace with 15 soldiers, leaving Sannad and Samer with 4 soldiers. After approximately one hour, an officer came with 8 jeeps and more soldiers, asked Samir for his ID and arrested him, taking with him only the clothes he was wearing.
An Israeli authority called Samir’s father to inform him that his son is in a prison in Huwara. His father asked why his son had been arrested; the officer gave no answer. Samir’s father is thinking whether he can pay the 4.000 shekel fine the Israeli authority demands in order to free his son, or get a lawyer, but the family is very poor.
This is the third attack this family has suffered in three years. In very similar conditions, Samir was arrested for the first time in 2012 when he was 15 years old, imprisoned for a period of 2 and a half years, with no charges.
During the second attack to his house, there was no arrest, but the family suffered similar violence, including breaking all the doors of their home and writing graffiti on their walls in English and Hebrew, which they could not understand.
These kind of raids in the village are very common, and mostly occur during the night, violently waking up the families in the middle of their sleep, and many times making them wait outside their homes, even during the winter.
Azzun is a village that also suffers from the Israeli army’s tactic called ‘practical punishment’. When someone within a family is arrested, the rest of his brothers and sons would be forbidden to continue working in Israel, by taking away their work permits within 24 hours. This has impacted the village’s high rate of unemployment, raising it to 39%, the highest unemployment rate in the West Bank.
Azzun suffers from an average of 175 arrests per year, where 65% of the detainees are under the age of 18, making this the highest number of child arrests in the West Bank.
In 2012, 150 children were arrested in Azzun. Child arrests, who are normally imprisoned for a week or short periods of time, is a clear tactic of the Israeli army to cause fear and trauma, generating high levels of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
24th November 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Hajja, Occupied Palestine
On Monday November 17th, the Israeli occupation army invaded the village of Hajja, in the Qalqilya district and issued five home demolition orders. The village of Hajja includes land that is officially considered Area C, as well as Area B, but the village is treated entirely as if it is part of Area C. Area C makes up 60% of the entire occupied West Bank, and is under full Israeli military and civilian control. Palestinians living here face many restrictions, including building limitations.
Hajja is located near the main road to Tulkaram, a road frequently traveled on by Israeli forces. Villagers say that they see occupation soldiers nearly every day.
The five home demolition orders were distributed as the families did not have “official permission” to build or renovate their existing houses. In Area C, Palestinians are required to obtain permission from the Israeli military before doing any construction; however, such permits are nearly impossible to get in reality. Due to this, many Palestinians who need more space or a new home simply build without permission and take the risk of future home demolition.
According to one of the family’s who received a stop work order on the new house they are building for their family of nine, the Israeli occupation forces enter the village with Israeli civilian authorities approximately every 18 months. Each time they come, they check to make sure no one is building without permission; when they find people who are not following the impossible permit system (and they nearly always do), they issue stop work orders or home demolition orders. Although the family that received the stop work order is building a new home and thus will not face homelessness if it is destroyed, the other four homes facing demolition will cause the families there to become homeless.
People will continue building, even knowing that they face possible demolition, because it is necessary to meet the needs of their expanding families. Permits are almost impossible, so what other option do they have? In the meantime, the families await the destruction of their homes.
House demolition in Qalqilya in 2011 (photo by ISM).
