Tag: Qalqilya

DCI/PS: 10-year-old subjected to torture by Israeli soldiers

Defence for Children International: Palestine section

To view original press release click here

Name: Ezzat H
Age at incident: 10
Date of incident: 11 June 2008
Location: Sanniriya, Qalqiliya
Accusation: None

A 10-year-old boy was subjected to physical abuse amounting to torture for 2.5 hours by Israeli soldiers who stormed his family’s shop on 11 June, seeking information on the location of a handgun. The boy was repeatedly beaten, slapped and punched in the head and stomach, forced to hold a stress position for half and hour, and threatened. He was deeply shocked and lost two molar teeth as a result of the assault.

On Wednesday 11 June 2008, at around 10:30am, 10-year-old Ezzat, his brother Makkawi (7) and sister Lara (8) were in their father’s shop selling animal feed and eggs in the village of Sanniriya, near the West Bank city of Qalqiliya. The children were suddenly startled to see two Israeli soldiers storm in to the shop.

Interrogation and abuse in the shop

One soldier wearing a black T-shirt started shouting in a loud, menacing voice in Arabic, “your father sent us to you to collect his gun”. A terrified Ezzat responded, “My father does not own a gun”. The soldier responded by slapping Ezzat hard across the right cheek and his brother Makawi across his face. The soldier then ordered Makkawi and Lara to leave the shop. Once the younger children had left the soldier demanded once again that Ezzat hand over his father’s gun. Although Ezzat repeated that his father did not own a gun the soldier ordered him to search for it in the sacks containing the animal feed. Ezzat kept insisting that there was no gun in the shop so the soldier slapped him once again, this time across his left cheek.

One of Ezzat’s friends, realising that something was wrong, tried to enter the shop but was kicked by the soldier standing at the door and prevented from entering. Soon a group of local people had gathered outside the shop. Some of the people in the group also tried to enter the shop but were prevented from doing so by the soldier at the door.

The soldier in the black T-shirt asked him once again to produce the gun. Ezzat answered, “We do not have anything”. The soldier responded by punching him hard in the stomach causing Ezzat to fall over on to empty egg boxes. Ezzat started screaming and crying out from pain and fear. The soldier in the black T-shirt started making fun of Ezzat and imitated him crying. Ezzat remained in the shop alone with the soldiers for a further 15 minutes when the soldier in black abruptly grabbed him by his T-shirt and dragged him out of the shop. Ezzat asked the soldier if he could lock up his father’s shop but the soldier said he wanted it to remain open so that it could be robbed. The soldier also threatened to put Ezzat in his jeep and take him away.

Once they were out of the shop, Ezzat was ordered to walk in front of the soldiers to his house, whilst a gun was pointed at his back. The soldiers hit him several times on the nape along the way. On approaching his house Ezzat saw many Israeli military officials surrounding the house and a number of green military vehicles parked outside. One of the olive coloured jeeps had the word “police” written on it.

Interrogation and abuse in the home

After arriving at the family’s home the soldier in the black T-shirt stood Ezzat in the yard and ordered him to search the flower basin for the gun. Before Ezzat had a chance to respond the soldier slapped him so violently that Ezzat fell down face first into the basin. Without giving him the chance to stand up the soldier grabbed him by his T-shirt and lifted him up roughly. He was then instructed in Arabic by another soldier to head to the guestroom.

On approaching the guestroom Ezzat could see his father standing by the door. The soldier slapped him on the neck and Ezzat fell to the ground. As Ezzat stood up the soldier slapped him a second time making him fall to the ground once again. All this happened in front of his father. He then grabbed Ezzat by his T-shirt and lifted him in to the air. The soldier told Ezzat’s father that he was going to take his son to prison. He also threatened to take Ezzat’s 19-year-old sister to prison. Ezzat was then pushed forcibly in to the guest room where his mother and four of his other siblings including his sisters Diana (19), Raghda (18), (Aya) 15 and brother Jihad (3), were being held. His mother was crying. Ezzat was also crying and when asked by his mother why he was crying, he said it was because he had been hit by the soldiers. His mother asked the soldiers to stop beating her son and to beat her instead.

After several minutes Ezzat was taken out of the guestroom and slapped several times by the soldier in black, once so hard that he fell to the ground. After being moved to several locations in the house Ezzat was told to stay in the boys’ bedroom. The same soldier then left the room but would return every five minutes to slap Ezzat and also to punch him several times in the stomach. Each time this took place Ezzat would shout and scream out in pain and burst in to tears. The soldier would then imitate him and make fun of him. The soldier hit him around six times.

Destruction of property and use of stress positions

A short time later, five soldiers entered the room and proceeded to destroy the family’s property using hammers. In all, the soldiers destroyed wooden ventilation panels in the attic, a small refrigerator in the bedroom and it contents, damage to the kitchen, a fan and the fireplace.

Ezzat spent one hour in the bedroom alone with the soldiers. In that hour he was ordered by the same soldier to stand on one foot for half an hour, with his back against the wall and with both his hands lifted up in the air (see picture). Ezzat was exhausted by this but was too scared to put his foot down on the ground. Eventually he was told by one of the other soldiers that he could put his foot down. He was then asked to sit down in a squat position. He managed to remain in this position for two minutes and then had to stand up. A female soldier then walked in to the room and asked him to sit on the refrigerator box.

Shortly after the soldier in the black T-shirt returned accompanied by Ezzat’s older sister Diana. He proceeded to ask Ezzat whether he cared for his sister to which Ezzat responded, “Yes I do”. The soldier then asked him to tell him where the gun was hidden and that if he told him where it was hidden that he would not tell Ezzat’s father. The soldier left the room with Ezzat’s sister. He then returned to the room on his own and hit Ezzat all over his body. He left the room once again and after a while came back offering Ezzat 10 Shekels in return for telling him where the gun was. Ezzat responded that he did not care about money. This made the soldier extremely angry and he took off his helmet and started throwing it at Ezzat from two metres away. Ezzat was in extreme pain. The soldier continued to hit him with the helmet and then left the room once again returning to slap him across his face and on his stomach. This continued for some time with the soldier leaving the room and returning to hit Ezzat and to question him over the gun.

Interrogation of family

Ezzat then witnessed the soldier in the black T-shirt and the female soldier leading his sisters and mother to one of the rooms close to the boys’ bedroom. They closed the door of the room but Ezzat could hear the soldiers shouting at them. He overheard the soldier telling the female soldier to hit his mother because she was refusing to take her clothes off to be searched. After the incident was over Ezzat’s sister informed him that they were all strip searched by the female soldier, while the male soldier waited outside.

Meanwhile, a soldier wearing black sunglasses entered the bedroom in which Ezzat was being held. He walked in pointing a rifle, a few centimetres away from Ezzat’s head. Ezzat was so terrified that he began to shiver. The soldier laughed and made fun of him. He asked Ezzat to tell him where the gun was and threatened to shoot him if he didn’t. Ezzat continued to maintain that there was no weapon hidden away. The soldier, getting agitated shouted at Ezzat, “for the last time, tell me where the gun is before I shoot you”. Ezzat repeated that he did not have a gun. Hearing this, the soldier lowered his rifle and left the room. After about five minutes the soldier in the black T-shirt entered the room along with four other soldiers and said that they were leaving but would return.

The soldiers spent two and half hours in the house in total. After the incident Ezzat spent the night at his uncle’s house because he was too scared to sleep in his home. As a result of the physical assault Ezzat lost two of his molar teeth and is deeply shocked by the incident.

DCI/PS Statement

DCI/PS is appalled that Israeli authorities would subject a 10-year-old child to beatings, position abuse and threats over the course of several hours. The treatment of Ezzat falls within the definition of torture and other acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment as defined in the UN Convention Against Torture, to which Israel is a State Party. The treatment of Ezzat also infringes numerous other international conventions to which Israel is bound1, as well as Israeli military and domestic law2.

DCI/PS again calls on Israel to immediately ensure its compliance with the UN Convention Against Torture and to thoroughly and impartially investigate the allegations of torture and abuse of Ezzat and bring those found responsible for such abuse to justice.

DCI/PS also calls on the EU to make the upgrade of EU-Israel bilateral relations conditional upon measurable and confirmed progress by Israel to uphold the EU human rights standards in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

————-

1. Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) – article 5; Fourth Geneva Convention (1949) – articles 27 and 31 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966) – article 7; and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) – articles 2(2), 3, 16 and 37(a).

2. Israeli military law establishes the specific offence of “ill treatment” which prohibits the beating or other abuse of any person in a soldier’s custody: see Military Adjudication Law, 5715-1955, Article 65. See also articles 378-382 of the Israeli penal code.

** Take Action **

Please send appeals in English, Arabic, Hebrew or your own language to Israel and/or the EU:

Israel

* Urging Israeli authorities to comply with the UN Convention Against Torture and thoroughly investigate the allegations of torture and abuse of Ezzat and other Palestinian detainees and bring those responsible for such abuse to justice.

Appeals to:

President of the State of Israel
Shimon Peres, President of the State of Israel
Office of the President
3 Hanassi St., 92188
Jerusalem, Israel.
Tel: +972 2 6707211
Fax: +972 2 5610033
Email: president@president.gov.il
Salutation: Dear President

Prime Minister of the State of Israel
Ehud Olmert, Prime Minister
Telephone: +972 2 6753277
Telephone2: +972 2 6753547
Email: eulmert@knesset.gov.il
Saluation: Dear Prime Minister

Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs
Ms. Tzipi Livni, MK
9 Yitzhak Rabin Blvd., Kiryat Ben-Gurion, Jerusalem 91035
Fax: + 972 2 5303367
Email: sar@mfa.gov.il
Salutation: Dear Foreign Affairs Minister

European Union

* Urging the EU to pressure Israel to immediately ensure its compliance with the UN Convention Against Torture and thoroughly investigate the allegations of torture and abuse of Ezzat and other Palestinian detainees and bring those responsible for such abuse to justice.
* Urging the EU to make the upgrade of EU-Israel bilateral relations conditional upon measurable and confirmed progress by Israel to uphold EU human rights standards in the occupied Palestinian territory.
* Making the EU aware of the recent inclusion of Palestine/Israel as a priority conflict for the implementation of the EU Guidelines on Children and Armed Conflict, and of the subsequent reporting tasks on child rights violations incumbent upon EU diplomatic missions and EU institutions in the field.

Appeals to:

Mr. Bernard Kouchner, Ministre des Affaires Etrangères
Ministère des Affaires Etrangères français
37, quai d’Orsay, 75 007 Paris, France
Email: bernard.kouchner@diplomatie.gouv.fr

Personal Representative for Human Rights (CFSP) of the EU Secretary General/
High Representative Javier Solana
Ms. Riina Kionka
175 Rue de la Loi BE 1048 Brussels, Belgium
Fax. : +32 2 281 61 90
Email : riina.kionka@consilium.europa.eu

The Commissioner for External Affairs and European Neighbourhood Policy
HE Ms. Benita Ferrero- Waldner
Email: relax-enpinfo@ec.europa.eu

Demonstration in Wadi Qana against Israeli system of apartheid

On 21st June, approximately 100 residents of the Qalqiliya region, as well as international and Israeli activists, and six Palestinian officials, joined the residents of Wadi Qana, a small village on the Qalqiliya/Salfit border, surrounded by seven illegal Israeli settlements, to protest against the system of apartheid that has stolen their land and water; demolished their houses; and destroyed their livelihoods.

Israeli soldiers initially attempted to prevent the demonstrators from reaching the village by blocking the single access road to the village, in an attempt to prevent the protesters from showing solidarity with the village. The villager’s protest took the form of a small festival, with children playing traditional Palestinian music, and singing traditional songs.

The demonstration was designed to highlight the difficulties of life in Wadi Qana, where 33 of the 40 houses that once existed there have been demolished by the Israeli army, and villagers are subject to special building orders that in effect prevent any building from taking place at all – even sheds for animals. The remaining seven houses have been issued with house demolition orders from Israeli authorities.

Wadi Qana was once an important site for water for Palestinians, where for hundreds of years people from far around would come to wash their clothes and collect water. Now, the village has to purchase water from the Israeli company “Makarot”, because all of their water sources have been either intentionally destroyed by the surrounding settlers, who have polluted wells with raw sewage; or because those sites have simply been stolen by the illegal Israeli settlements. In the rare instances where there are still viable wells available for Palestinian use, those sources are fiercely guarded by armed settlers, who attack any Palestinian who attempts to use them.

Settlers also attack Palestinians who attempt to enter what lands they have left – often setting dogs onto them. The result is that the villagers, who were once dependent on their livestock, are now forced to keep only greatly reduced numbers of animals close to their houses. Villagers also report that the settlers cut down their trees on a daily basis.

While the Israeli army does not itself invade the village on a regular basis, they do regularly accompany the settlers in their attacks, standing by doing nothing to prevent the attacks taking place.

The worst, however, has not yet come for the village of Wadi Qana, as the Israeli authorities have concrete plans to build a wall around the settlements, trapping the villagers in a “closed area”, preventing their freedom of movement. This is clearly part of a larger plan to eventually evacuate the village entirely – forcing the Palestinians from their land.

The 50 remaining residents, however, are determined to stay in their village, and will continue to hold demonstrations and solidarity tours to bring the area to public attention, in an attempt to save their village.

NY Jewish Week: Protesting Leviev, From Here To Dubai

by Walter Ruby – Special to The Jewish Week. To view original article, click here

N.Y.-based Arab-Jewish group claims credit for UAE snub of diamond merchant; Leviev spokesman says stores will open under his name.

Leviev already operates two jewelry stores in Dubai under the name “Levant” through a Moroccan-Palestinian agent Arif Bin Khadra.

Israeli diamond producer and retailer Lev Leviev’s penchant for flamboyantly branding his posh jewelery stores with his own name appears to have gotten him into trouble again – this time with the government of the glittery Arabian emirate of Dubai.

Leviev has been under siege from pro-Palestinian protestors who have been picketing his posh diamond shops on Madison Avenue and London for months. They are protesting the fact that subsidiary firms of Leviev’s company Africa-Israel have been constructing Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

The diamond producer suffered a new setback last week when a high-ranking Dubai official last week stated that his opulent city-state in the United Arab Emirates will not grant the Uzbekistan-born magnate a trade license to open two new stores there – at least not under the name “Leviev.”

But a Leviev spokesman insisted the 51-year-old billionaire will get his way in the end and open “Leviev” stores in Dubai to add to those already in existence in New York, London and Moscow.

Responding to a recent announcement by Leviev that he plans to open new stores this fall in Dubai, Ali Ebrahim, deputy director general for executive affairs in Dubai, said: “We are aware of these reports and have not granted a trade license to any business of this name. If such an application does come to us, we will deal with it accordingly.”

According to Leviev, one of the new stores is slated for the Dubai Mall, soon to be the world’s tallest building; the other is slated for the Atlantis Hotel, on a recently constructed artificial island.

Ebrahim said Israeli citizens are not permitted to operate businesses in Dubai. He added that such citizens would also be prevented from operating through local partners, even though Leviev already operates two jewellery stores in Dubai under the name “Levant” through a Moroccan-Palestinian agent Arif Bin Khadra. According to media reports, Israeli diamond traders have operated openly in Dubai for years.

Ebrahim made his comments after Adalah-NY, a pro-Palestinian group here that has been holding anti-Leviev demonstrations since last November outside the magnate’s diamond shop on Madison Avenue, strenuously protested to the Dubai government over Leviev’s plans to open new diamond stores there.

Yet on May 4, Leviev spokesman Justin Blake told The Jewish Week that, Ebrahim’s comments to the contrary, Leviev remains committed to his goals for Dubai.

“The stores will be opening in Dubai under the Leviev name as planned,” Blake said, declining to respond to questions as to how Leviev will manage to open his stores in Dubai despite the stated refusal of the authories there to allow him to do so.

Before Blake made his comments, observers in Dubai speculated that Leviev, acting through Bin Khadra, would ultimately agree to open his new stores there under the name “Levant” rather than his own name.

Yet Blake’s remarks indicate that Leviev may be planning to fight Dubai’s decision not to allow him to brand the stores with his own name, and will likely press the U.S. government to apply pressure on Dubai to reverse its decision. Leviev has previously asserted that attacks on his business activities by Adalah-NY and other groups are “politically motivated” or impelled by anti-Semitism.

Ethan Heitner, a spokesman for Adalah-NY, which is composed almost equally of Arabs and anti-Zionist Jews, claimed primary credit for Dubai’s reversal of its earlier apparent willingness to allow Leviev to open his stores there. “Working in conjunction with activists in Dubai and Palestine, Adalah-NY sent out a press release calling for Dubai to boycott Leviev on the basis of his violations of international humanitarian law. … We’ve heard reports of UAE papers and officials receiving our press release from multiple sources and angry phone calls.”

Heitner said that even if Leviev ultimately succeeds in opening his new stores in Dubai under the “Levant” name, Adalah-NY will still have achieved a moral victory. “Before our boycott call … Leviev was proudly planning to open an eponymous flagship boutique in the tallest building in the world – a grand symbolic achievement for a titan of global capitalism. Now, that’s not going to happen.”

Lev Leviev appears to believe otherwise.

———-
See also: “For Leviev, all that Glitters isn’t Gold,” NY Jewish Week, Feb. 20

Israeli soldiers beat residents and damage vehicles during curfew in Azzoun

The village of Azzoun, nine kilometres west of Qalqilya, was again put under curfew by Israeli soldiers at 6pm on Friday 2nd May, lasting until 2pm the next day. This is the ninth curfew to be imposed on the village of 11000 people in the past eleven days.

Villagers were forced to close their stores and stay in their homes – risking bodily harm if they ventured onto the streets. Many residents reported incidents of attacks by Israeli soldiers on taxi drivers who were caught breaking the curfew, with at least three drivers reporting physical beatings and attacks to their vehicles. Residents advise one driver, Kamil Sleihman, was beaten and had the windscreen of his “service” car smashed by an Israeli soldier’s rifle. Another driver, Omar Aduan, was also reportedly beaten and had the mirror of his taxi smashed by a soldier. All such attacks are alleged to have been perpetrated by Israeli soldiers known as “border police” – generally considered to be amongst the most brutal of Israeli forces.

Residents report that rather than displaying the usual behaviour of Israeli soldiers enforcing a curfew on a village, whereby jeeps cruise the town announcing over loudspeakers that a curfew is in place, often threatening in crude and violent language to enact harm to those caught on the streets, soldiers instead announced the curfew only briefly on Friday evening, and then roamed the village silently over the next 18 hours, attacking those caught unawares by their presence.

One resident, Majid – a local school principal – wasn’t at home the first time Israeli soldiers came to his house at 8:30am on Saturday, he had briefly left his home to buy bread from the local bakery that was operating clandestinely. Just his wife and young son were home when soldiers stopped, shoving his son back inside the gate to their courtyard. He was in his courtyard, however, by the time the soldiers returned to throw a sound bomb through the 30cm wide gap where his gate was open. Soldiers returned to his house twice more, the final time pushing on the by then firmly secured gate and calling to the family “Sacar ad ducan” in Arabic, or “Close the shop” – when his property is clearly a family home.

Majid also reported the incident of a young neighbour who was caught sneaking out to buy bread for his family, who was then beaten by soldiers when he was caught violating the illegal curfew. Residents were unsure as to whether any villagers had been arrested during this most recent curfew, because everyone was too scared to leave their houses. They reported that one arrest had occurred during the week – a 24 year old man who was held for four days before being released.

Azzoun has suffered regular invasions and curfews imposed by the Israeli army since the intifada of 2001. Majid expressed concern that although soldiers had left the village, they had not formally announced that the curfew was over. When this happened on the evening of 29th April the week before, soldiers again entered the village at 10am the following morning, after hearing the mosques announcing that children should go to school, and enforced curfew once again. He says that for this reason it will be difficult to open the schools on Sunday morning, for fear of bringing another curfew on the town.

Ha’aretz: Senior official in Dubai government: Leviev has no license for opening a store in the Emirates

Senior official in Dubai government: Leviev has no license for opening a store in the Emirates

The Marker: Ha’aretz Daily’s Hebrew-language business magazine (Israel), click here to view

(Translated by Adalah-NY)

May 1, 2008

By Ora Coren and Michal Ramati

The “Gulf News” reported yesterday that the Leviev jewelry chain has no license to open a store in Dubai. Leviev has recently announced his intention to open two stores in Dubai.

“We are aware of the reports but we have not granted a license to a business by the name of ‘Leviev,'” said Ali Ebrahim, deputy manager for foreign affairs in Dubai to the “Gulf News.” In light of the Arab boycott of Israel, Israeli businesses are not allowed in the Gulf Emirates. Ebrahim has told “Gulf News” that measures were taken to make sure that Israelis will not operate in Dubai even through the use of non-Israeli partners.

However, Leviev already owns a store in Dubai through a local partner under the name “Levant.” The store opened on March 18 at the Al Qasr hotel in the Emirate. The two additional stores are expected to be opened with the help of the Moroccan-Palestinian agent who opened the first store, Arif Bin Khadra. When asked if he knows about Leviev’s involvement in construction in the West Bank, he told “Gulf News” that “such questions are not asked in the diamond world.”

Dubai has become a diamond trading center in recent years and opened its doors to Israeli businessmen as well, including Idan Ofer, but tried to keep the contacts relatively secret. However, it seems that Leviev’s public declaration has caused pro-Palestinian and perhaps business competitors to apply pressure which led to the recent statements.

A spokesperson for the Leviev brand in Israel said that Leviev has opened two flagship stores in Dubai a year ago through a local licensed businessman who got a permit for operating the stores: “We regret that commercial interests are constantly making use of political bodies to advance their interests.”