Tag: Qalqilya

The village of Al Funduq, 15km from Qalqilia, is today under curfew. For the first time in the history of the village the 700 residents are forbidden from entering the streets, driving cars, and are subject to random house searches.

Following the shooting of an Israeli settler at 11pm on Monday 19th November, Israeli soldiers have imposed the curfew, which is tantamount to collective punishment. Eathmound roadblocks have been installed on two of the main roads out of the village, preventing travel to neighbouring villages of Hajja and Tulkarm. The main road through the village – road 55 connecting Qalqilia to Nablus – remains open but only to Israeli vehicles. Soldier patrols and flying checkpoints ensure no Palestinians are able to use this road.

The curfew came as a surprise to the residents, many of whom have been left stranded without food. One resident was forced to take the risk of violating the curfew to travel to a nearby village in order to obtain milk for his children, as all shops in Al Funduq have been forced to close. A doctor attempting to travel through Al Funduq to attend an emergency in Jinsafut was denied entry and told to go home by Israeli soldiers.

Soldiers are claiming that the curfew is necessary to secure the area following the shooting. However, soldiers have admitted to village residents that they know the shooter was not from Al Funduq, a village noted for its peaceful coexistence with settlers, many of whom come to the village to do their shopping. The car allegedly used by the shooter has been found, and determined to not belong to anyone residing in Al Funduq. Soldiers, however, in a testament to ridiculousness, claim that the villagers should have prevented the shooting from taking place, thus insinuating that the villagers are somehow responsible for this action.

To the contrary, two of the village residents came across the scene of the incident last night, mistaking it for a car accident, and attempted to help. Upon realising the life-threatening condition of the injured settler, they proceeded to call an ambulance, however the settler later died.

At 4pm, a convoy of Israeli settlers entered the village from the direction of the Qedummim settlement, and proceded to construct a makeshift roadblock from materials they found on the side of the road. Angry at being photographed, they attempted to intimidate Human Rights Workers in the vicinity. Numbers of settlers swelled, preventing the passage of Israeli vehicles along the arterial road. Soldiers and police entered the scene shortly after, but did nothing to disperse the aggressive settlers, nor even to remove the roadblocks. Indeed, it was Israeli motorists themselves who got out of their cars to clear the roadway. With the roadblocks gone, settlers then positioned themselves in the middle of the road, stopping lorries and hence the flow of traffic.

As their protest continued unabated, Israeli settlers then took their rage to the property of the Palestinians, smashing shops and houses inside which resided trapped villagers – all under the unchallenging gaze of the Israeli soldiers and police. It was only after night fell and the local council turned off the street lights that settlers moved their rampage from the heart of the village up to the major highway intersection on the village outskirts, between Al Funduq and Jinsafut.

At least 6 other villages in the Qalqilia district are also under curfew, including Kafr Laqif, Jinsafut, Haja, Baqa Al Hatab, Immatin and Kafr Qaddum.

This morning an Israeli jeep containing 4 Israeli soldiers invaded the school grounds of the Azzoun High School – contravening international law. Jeep #401 entered the school grounds at approximately 8:30am, at the end of the second lesson, driving through the school yard, all the way up to the steps of the main school building.

Three teachers and one administrator went to speak to the soldiers, requesting very politely that they leave. Soldiers replied that it was the teachers who should leave them alone – telling them to go back to their classrooms and stop interfering in the soldiers’ work, all the time pointing a gun at the teachers.

One teacher reported: “We said to him that there are rules that forbid you from entering a school”. The soldier said “For me there are no rules. I will come one time, two times, ten times, as many times as I want and no one can forbid me. If you forbid me, I will shoot you.”‘ Another teacher, reportedly asked the soldiers “What if we were soldiers and came to your schools?”, and was immediately threatened with arrest. The teachers told the soldiers that coming into the school would cause problems, asking “Do you want to cause problems?” to which the head soldier replied “Yes, I do.”

The teachers consider these actions to be provocations by the Israeli soldiers, which are common. Two weeks ago soldiers shot two sound bombs into the school, and regularly enter the village and wait outside the school to provoke the students as they are heading home for the day. These provocations in the past gave soldiers the excuse for imposing curfews on the village. They take on an even more sinister edge now that the Commander has advised villagers that students caught throwing rocks will be killed.

Azzoun school prinicpals claim that this is the first time a jeep has entered school grounds in the history of the Israeli occupation of Palestine. The principal called the Qalqilia DCO, who seemed to not know about this invasion, and advised that they will find out what happened from the soldiers.

The teachers closed the doors to the main school building, leaving the soldiers in the school yard, where they waited and circled for ten minutes, before driving the jeep to block the entrance to the school. When teachers went down to close the main school gates, soldiers tried to stop them saying “You are forbidden to close the door to the school. Don’t close the door”. Teachers openly defied this order, closing the gate and saying “We will close the gate, you do what you do”. Since the incursion, the school gates have been fixed, so that no vehicle entry is possible, and strengthening them to prevent ram raids.

Teachers and principals advised that there was nothing in the village this morning to provoke such an action by the Israeli soldiers – indeed, a teacher on his way to school was stopped at the Azzoun gate on Tuesday 13th November by Israeli soldiers and told to inform the principal that Israeli soldiers would attack and enter the school – proving that it was premeditated. Rather, they consider these actions as part of a cynical strategy to garner High Court approval for a four kilometre wall to be built along the highway from Izbat Al Tabib to Kafr Laqif – a wall that will effectively seal the main gate of Azzoun forever and impede travel for Palestinians throughout the region – for which the markings already exist. “If they can present a big file, showing lots of trouble in Azzoun, then the High Court will grant them permission to build this wall.” said principal Majd. “We know the game they play.”

On Friday 9th November, Oday Abdel Odeh was arrested whilst attending his uncle’s wedding in the village of Azzoun, near Qalqilya. Oday, sixteen years old and from the nearby village of Kafr Thulth, was standing with a group of friends at the celebration when Israeli soldiers approached, beat the youth and arrested him, witnesses report. He is currently being held in custody in Hawara camp, although it is unclear as to whether any charges have been laid against him as his family are unable to contact him, and he has not been granted access to a lawyer.

Approximately one hour after the arrest, 30 Israeli soldiers entered the small village of Kafr Thulth, declared a curfew around the family’s residence, and proceeded to break down the doors of their house in order to search the premises. One uncle was present when this occurred, with the rest of the family still in Azzoun. The uncle reports being kicked and punched by soldiers when they entered the premises, after which they ransacked the house, destroying furniture, and emptying the contents of all drawers and wardrobes. The family has no knowledge of the reason for the raid, no clue as to what the soldiers were searching for.

It is currently unknown why the youth was arrested, or for how long he will be held. The Prisoner’s Support and Human Rights Association, ADDAMEER, has advised his family that it is likely Oday will be held for a minimum of twelve days before he is allowed access to a lawyer. From their own experiences of having been randomly arrested by Israeli soldiers, family members suppose Oday is being held in isolation, and being subject to regular beatings. As yet their only information as to his whereabouts have come from Israeli Human Rights groups, such as Machsom Watch and Hamoked. The family has made a formal complaint about the arrest to the UN through the Palestinian Democracy and Workers’ Rights Centre.

The four youths who were arrested in Azzoun yesterday, two of whom were aged sixteen, the others aged nineteen and twenty years old, were released last night. The youths who were arrested by Israeli soldiers at the Azzoun internet cafe were taken to Jein Safout, approximately 12kms from Azzoun, where they were beaten by soldiers and then released after four hours.

Update 14th November

It has been revealed that the four youths who were arrested from an internet cafe in Azzoun on 10th November were subject to prolonged beatings as they were interrogated by Israeli soldiers.

One of the youths, who is sixteen years old, disclosed that the arrestees were taken from the internet cafe where they were playing computer games, and beaten, before being lain face down on the floor of a jeep with Israeli soldiers kicking and stamping on them. They were then driven to the settlement of Karne Shomron, where they were held for four hours as soldiers interrogated them as to whom in the village had been throwing rocks; who had guns. Throughout this time, all four of the youths were blindfolded with arms bound behind their backs. They were forced to sit on the floor, bent over, while they were punched, kicked and slapped repeatedly in order to elicit information from them.

The youths were then driven off, and released by the side of a road at 8pm, approximately 12km from Azzoun. They were told by the Israeli soldiers that they would be killed if they were caught throwing rocks.

This seems to be not just an idle threat made by low-ranking soldiers. In a meeting with the headmaster of the Azzoun High School yesterday, the new Commander of the Israeli forces based at Azzoun advised the principal that no longer would youths throwing stones be met with the collective punishment of curfews, as have been forced upon the people of Azzoun for the past two weeks. From now, he advised, should any youths be caught throwing stones, Israeli soldiers will kill them.

Tonight the village of Azzoun is once again under curfew. For the sixth time in eleven days, residents have been forced to stay indoors, under threat of extreme punishment. At 4pm Israeli soldiers entered the town, arresting four youths, and firing sound bombs, tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition, calling for residents to withdraw from the streets and for shops to close.

The arrested youths were pulled from an internet cafe, where they were playing computer games, and are currently in prison. Two youths were arrested in a similar curfew yesterday, one of whom is still in prison in Nablus. Over the past eleven days over fifteen people have been arrested, most of them accused of having thrown stones, or of having the intention to throw stones. One 18 year old man was shot in the head with a rubber bullet, hospitalising him. Another 56 year old man was injured when a sound bomb was fired into his home, setting fire to his leg.

This has been an ongoing pattern of behavior since this round of curfews began on 31st October. Residents have been subject to tear gas and sound bombs being shot into their homes, their cars and their shops. Tonight, a father collecting medicine for his daughter was forced to leave the pharmacy empty handed as soldiers fired a sound bomb into the shop, compelling it to close. Eleven days ago, the same family had the doors of their home destroyed and tear gas fired into their house, while soldiers outside shot holes in their water tanks, leaving them without water for two days. During the curfew imposed on Wednesday 7th November, more than 200 sound bombs were discharged.

Access to the main road from Azzoun to Nablus and Qalquilia has been prevented for the past eleven days by Israeli army roadblocks, while the road from Azzoun to Tulkarem has been closed since 6pm today. Other roads from the village currently remain open, although they have been totally closed four times during this period, sealing the village. Checkpoints have also been randomly established between Azzoun and the village of Isa, as well as between Isa and the village of Ezbet Altabib, making travel between these towns impossible when under curfew. These curfews not only affect the people of Azzoun and surrounding villages, but effectively obstruct freedom of movement for people in at least fifteen villages to the south of Azzoun, as all access to the north is through Azzoun.

Soldiers are justifying these curfews by claiming that youths are throwing stones when Israeli army vehicles enter the town. Residents, however, suspect the curfews are implemented to facilitate construction of the second stage of the apartheid wall that separates Palestinians from illegal Israeli settlements, and confiscates many thousands of dunums of Palestinian land.

The 11,000 people of Azzoun wait in their homes to find out when they will be again allowed out, but have little hope of leading normal lives over the coming days, as they expect more road closures to be effected and curfews to continue.

Jayyus, September 8th

On Saturday, the 8th of September, 50 villagers from Jayyus and the surrounding area met together with an equal number of Israeli and international activists to demonstrate non-violently against the Apartheid Wall. They gathered at one of the gates in the wall which local farmers have to go through to reach their land. Only those farmers lucky enough to have permits are allowed to reach their land, and as demonstrators learned later from the speeches given, often times the permits are issued for members of family who are not able to work, or are not in the country, or are dead, or are under the age of 15, or older than 50. In a village of around 4,000 people, 85% of which depend on their farmland for survival, only 90 are today able to access their land with permits.

When permits are given, farmers are allowed to enter one of three gates to access their land. The gate that a farmer is allowed to enter from is usually the gate farthest from his land, making his work more arduous and time consuming. Gates are officially open only for one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening, sometimes an hour around midday. However, in practice this depends more on the whim of the soldiers, who can open the gates only for fifteen minutes if they wish, and turn all others away for being late.

Villagers spoke about the lack of available water resources to the land on the other side of the wall. One farmer said the people of the village are able to take tanks for water to a reservoir, which is situated on his land, however they are unable to bring those tanks back to their houses. Attempts to bring water tanks back to the village have been halted by the army and the locals now see it as a waste of time and resources to attempt to collect water in this way. Additionally he stated that there was a court decision to allow pipes to be built connecting the reservoir on this farmer’s land, to the reservoir in Jayyus. However despite this order being given in 2003, the army has failed, to this very day, to give the needed permits to actually build the pipes, thus leaving the reservoir on this farmer’s land inaccessible.

The villagers are tired of waiting for the army to carry through the decisions of the court, they are tired of waiting while more and more of them are unable to reach their land, unable to continue the work of their fathers, and their father’s fathers. They came together to demonstrate, non-violently, that they would not be quiet while the Israeli military forced them into starvation as a tactic to encourage emigration and further establish the myth of Israel stealing a land without a people. Though the villagers were angry, and justly so, the demonstration ended without violence. Though the army stood at the gate to the land of Jayyus village with guns ready, the farmers did not respond to their provocation. People went back to the village, without arrests, without injuries, with the knowledge that they would return.