Tag: Qalqilya

Buildings demolished in Qalqiliya district, 26 more to be demolished

by IWPS, 24 May 2006, Hares (Salfit)

On the 24.5.06 at approximately 7:45 a.m. the Israeli army came to the village of Funduq, Qalqilya district, with several military vehicles and three bulldozers / drills. Within minutes, they started to demolish one house and several agricultural structures between the villages of Funduq and Hajja.

The house was under construction and planned to house a family. The owner, Salim Odeh, had already spent about 6000 JD on the house. He stopped building after receiving a demolition order and fulfilled all the requirements to get a permit for the house, but he was told there is no way to “legalize” it and his appeal against the demolition order was subsequently rejected by the court.

All structures were on privately owned land, and the owners tried in vain to get permits to build on their own land. The Israeli authorities block the expansion of the villages in the area, which is slated as “Area C” under the Oslo Accords, thus preventing people from earning a living or building houses to ease the crowded living conditions inside the village.

Today’s demolitions are part of a larger campaign of house demolitions in the villages of Funduq, Hajja and Jinsafut. Another 30 houses, including up to 20-year-old houses inhabited by families with children, houses that are still under construction, agricultural barracks and structures, a well, a gas station and work shops, are currently under threat of demolition.

On February 22nd 2006 a house under construction that was planned to contain agricultural facilities as well as several family apartments was demolished. The owner, who had invested about 200 000 NIS, received a demolition order in April 2005 and was in contact with lawyers and the Israeli Military Administration. He was in the process of filing a petition against the
demolition order, but was preempted by the demolition. Some agricultural structures were demolished on the same day.

For more information, please contact Jihad Odeh 052-427-5314 (Arabic) or the
International Women’s Peace Service 09-251-6644 (English or Arabic).

Video and still photos are available by contacting IWPS. The International Womens Peace Service (IWPS) witnesses, documents and publicizes human rights abuses and peacefully intervenes to prevent them.

For more Information contact:
The International Women’s Peace Service (IWPS)
Office: 09-2516-644
IWPS@palnet.com
http://www.iwps.info

Downloadable film on The Wall

In November 2002 the first section of the Israeli Aparthied Wall on Palestinian territory in the West Bank was under construction in the Qalqilya district. This short film looks at how the Wall will affect Palestinian communities and what locals and internationals were doing to resist the construction of the wall.

Filmed by a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement.

You can find the film at the Internet Archive.

IOF Continues Harrasing Jayyous Villagers

By ISM local contact

Today, 11th December 2005, at 2:30am, the IOF troops invaded the west bank village of Jayyous. They searched houses and arrested theVice President of the Jayyous municipality, Mr. Issam Muhammad Hassan Shbaita.

Mr. Shbaita is known as a local human rights activist for his work that coordinated with international organizations that helped to resist the Israeli occupation. More recently, Mr. Shbaita was known for his efforts in joining the international calls for the release of the four kidnapped Christian Peacemaker Teams activists in Iraq. He has been coordinating with local people and the Popular Committees Against the Wall and Settlements to send a strong call to release the CPT activists.

Jayyous village has suffered a lot from the construction of the Israeli apartheid wall. Lately the Israeli government has started building a new settlement on the confiscated lands. This is not the first time the village has been invaded by the occupation forces.

The people of Jayyous have been a great example of popular resistance. They say that these actions of the Israeli occupation force will not stop their resistance.

http://www.jayyousonline.org

We Shall Overcome

by Mansour
August 25, 2005

Today was another great picture of peace drawn by the Palestinian, international and Israeli peace activists as we protested against the wall being built on Palestinian land. I thought that, because some of us didn’t know the language of the others, we wouldn’t be able to participate in everything together. But I was wrong. Today, in our peaceful demo against the Apartheid wall in Imatin (Qalqilya district), all of the nationalities were chanting together, united in one voice for the Israeli Occupation Forces to hear.

It was a great moment when our eyes as Palestinian, international and Israeli peace activist met. Then a small smile appeared on our faces while we chanted the peace and freedom cries. A few minutes later, our demo changed into a festival that showed the international community that peace will come from the people who are under the Israeli soldier’s scopes. Many of us prayed at the site as an Imam to offer prayer of hope. This is the real peace that will come from people who have suffered for more than 57 years of Israeli military occupation.

Then our happiness was completed when we saw our friends from the Bil’in village who came to share in the demonstration against the wall. What a nice moment when the Bil’inians, who are also struggling to protect their confiscated land by the Apartheid wall, joined Imatin’s people. All the internationals and Israeli peace activists stood together, refusing to bow to the Israeli government’s brutality.

Now I’m sure that if we seek a real peace, our language will be united. We don’t need to speak Hebrew or English or Arabic. Our beliefs, humanity , smiles, friendship, and solidarity are the only language that we need to speak.

As a Palestinian farmer, I consider defending Palestinian rights as the first step in the process of defending human dignity. We are very proud that we carry the flag of Palestine. We are not defending our rights only, but we are drawing the map for next generation to continue the struggle for justice. We are not the only people who do that; we have internationals, we have Israeli activists, and we have our strong spirit and insistence on freeing our occupied land.

I really was very happy today, but was also very sad for a lot of our international friends who have already left for their countries without living this moment. I’m hoping they can feel our happiness from this peaceful demonstration as they felt out sadness in so many hard times,

After this great day, I really felt that I wanted to write how I felt and to ask our friends to come and share such a nice moment, a moment where you stand side by side with people who proved to the whole world that they want to live together, away from the misleading Israeli propaganda. Both Israeli peace activists and Palestinians showed the world today that they want a life of peace and not of violence, and they want the government of Israel to see we are united in our search for justice.

Azzoun burns


Villagers set fire to some of their own olive trees to send a message to settlers that even if they get the land, they won’t get the agriculture that Palestinian families have spent generations cultivating.

By Sarita
Friday, August 12

Over 500 villagers from Azzoun demonstrated Friday, August 12, to protest the second stage of the construction of the Apartheid Wall which will confiscate 1200 dunums (about 300 acres) of land on the eastern side of their village.

The demonstrators set fire to their own olive groves as a message to the settlers of Karmeh Shimron, situated on the hilltop directly above their lands, that the Israelis cannot take the trees even if they steal the land. The villagers of Azzoun have already lost 12,000 dunums of fertile land, once abundant with fruits and vegetables, to the Wall, already finished on the western side of the town. The Annexation Wall itself occupies 250 dumuns of land. Azzoun has 10,000 dunums left for the 8,500 people that remain in the village after the wars of 1948 and 1967.

villagers stop to pray on their land as soliders shoot and launch tear gas canisters in the area. Nine people were injured in the demonstration.
Villagers stop to pray on their land as soliders shoot and launch tear gas canisters in the area. Nine people were injured in the demonstration.

The village has recently obtained a copy of the Israeli government maps which prove that the confiscation of land is for settlement expansion, exposing a plan to build a settler only by-pass which will link the nearby settlements of Itsofin and Ma’ale Shamoron. Additionally, the Israeli government plans to close the main road leading to Nablus, forcing villagers to travel a longer distance and to pay more money for transportation.

Soldiers take aim at civilian demonstrators who are trying to protect their land from the wall and settlement expansion.
Soldiers take aim at civilian demonstrators who are trying to protect their land from the wall and settlement expansion.

Dozens of Israeli soldiers began shooting tear gas and rubber-coated
bullets, targeting the villagers’ at head level. Nine youth were shot, in
the head, neck and upper back. Sixteen year old Siad Sayel Ali Swedan
remains unconscious in a Nablus hospital. In a phone conversion between
the Mayor of Azzoun and the Military Commander Shannan, known throughout the region for his brutality, the commander said that his soldiers felt threatened by the youth. The Mayor then asked if any soldiers were hurt, since 9 Palestinians had been injured in the demonstration. The commander threatened that to impose curfew on Azzoun, and hung up. Soldiers took up a position on the hilltop near the settlement. Fifteen
ISM and IWPS internationals joined the demonstrators dispersed throughout the olive grove and moved towards the hilltop.

The constant shooting by the army pushed the demonstrators to the bottom of the hill, and the internationals found themselves surrounded. After demanding that the Israeli soldiers stop firing at the villagers, the internationals asked to speak with the General Command. The internationals spoke with Commander Shannan to request a ceasefire to allow for safe passage to return to the bottom of the hill to join the villagers. The shooting resumed quickly, and the villagers organized a mass prayer in the midst of the tear gas and smoke. After several hours of shooting, a fire truck came to extinguish the spreading flames.

ISM volunteers negotiatiate a five-minute ceasefire with soldiers to allow Palestinians time to leave before they continue to shoot.
ISM volunteers negotiatiate a five-minute ceasefire with soldiers to allow Palestinians time to leave before they continue to shoot at stone-throwing youths.

The villagers of Azzoun are prepared to fight for their land and freedom,
and are organizing more protest in the upcoming weeks to expose Israel’s “disengagement” policy for the fraud that it is.