16th March 2018 | International Solidarity Movement, al Khalil team | Occupied Palestine
This morning, Palestinians gathered in front of the apartheid wall by the Intercontinental Hotel in Bethlehem for Friday Prayer, which was held in the street. After the prayer, Palestinian and international protesters marched peacefully to the gate of the apartheid wall chanting and began banging their backs against the metal gate of the apartheid wall. Border Police quickly came through the gate pointing their weapons in protesters faces and throwing stun grenades, accompanied by an armored police carrier topped with multiple rounds of tear gas.
Border police then advanced on demonstrators firing rubber coated steel bullets and stun grenades at Palestinians and internationals. Luckily no one was hurt or arrested today and the Police retreated back through the apartheid gate.
Today’s demonstration surrounded Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and his decision to move the United States embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Palestinians remain outraged at this decision, as East Jerusalem is Palestinian land and home to Al Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site for Muslims.
Protests have been consistent since Trump’s meddling and aren’t likely to stop anytime soon as we approach May 14th, the proposed day for the embassy move to Jerusalem as well as the anniversary of the Nakba day or “day of catastrophe.” Palestinians have been under Israeli occupation almost 70 years, facing humiliation and human rights abuses every day.
9th March 2018 | International Solidarity Movement, al Khalil team | Occupied Palestine
Today local Palestinian citizens gathered in their village of Kafr Qaddum, protesting against the illegal Israeli settlement of Kadumim and the road blockage that inhibits access to their village. Israeli armed forces fired copious rounds of tear gas, stun grenades, rubber coated steel bullets and live ammunition. During the protest an 18-year old Palestinian man was hit in the shoulder by a rubber coated steel bullet.
Shortly after Friday prayer, Palestinian demonstrators marched towards the main road in Kafr Qaddum. Israeli armed forces were positioned on hills surrounding the village, immediately firing rubber coated steel bullets and live ammunition at protesters. During the demonstration an 18-year old Palestinian man was hit by a rubber coated steel bullet in his shoulder, but was luckily not in need of hospitalization. The protests went on for about 3 hours where Israeli soldiers kept firing live ammunition as well as tear gas and stun grenades whilst advancing toward the village. An Israeli drone accompanied the soldiers on top of the hills surveying the area.
The villagers of Kafr Qaddum have had weekly protests since 2011 due to the closing of the main road in 2003 that now leads to the illegal settlement of Kadumim. This has had severe effects on the citizens of Kafr Qaddum and is a form of collective punishment, what was once a 15-minute drive to Nablus is now 40-minute drive.
29th September 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine
On Friday afternoon, the 29th of September, protests erupted in Al-Khalil near Bab al-Zawiya at approximately 2:00 PM. The military countered the protests with sound bombs and advanced into H1, shooting rubber-coated steel bullets, out of which at least three hit protesters, in the neck, in the stomach and respectively in the arm. During their first incursion into H1, the soldiers detained a young Palestinian.
During the rest of the afternoon, there were multiple confrontations between the Israeli Army and the protesters in intensely circulated areas of H1, lasting until approximately 7 PM.
6th August 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, Huwwara team | Kafr Qaddum, occupied Palestine
On Friday 4th of August residents of Kafr Quaddum held their weekly demonstration against the closure of a road, once the main transport route from the community to Nablus. The weekly Friday demonstrations began on 1st July 2011.
Palestinians march in Kafr Qaddum during last Friday’s protest
The closing of the road was justified as a security measure for the nearby illegal settlement of Kedumim, and has led to residents of Kafr Quaddum having to use a significantly longer route to Nablus, and the surrounding area.
Last friday’s demonstration started around 1 PM, with local residents, joined by Israeli and International activists, marching through the village.They were met by Israeli soldiers who used tear gas, sound bombs and rubber-coated steel bullets to suppress the crowd. The demonstration was pushed back from several directions, with Israeli forces raiding the house of local resident Jamal Jumaa, and using it as a strategic point from which to disperse the protesters.
Kafr Qaddum residents have been protesting the closure of a main road since 2011
Despite the use of excessive violence by Israeli forces, no one was injured during the three hour demonstration.
Drones were also deployed in order to surveil residents participating in the protest, so as to identify targets for arrest.
Israeli forces repressed the demonstration and raided the house of Jamal Jumaa, a local resident
In the six years since the weekly demonstrations began, locals report that 85 Palestinians have been shot with live ammunition, with a further 170 people arrested.
30th July 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine
An Al-Aqsa solidarity march organized this Friday in occupied Hebron was heavily repressed by Israeli Forces. Soldiers and border police fired stun grenades, teargas, putrid-smelling “skunk” water, rubber-coated steel bullets and live ammunition at demonstrators, injuring many. Several young protesters were also beaten and detained.
Palestinians demonstrate in Bab al-Zawiya, central al-Khalil (Hebron)
The Al-Aqsa solidarity march started from the Al-Hussein Mosque and continued on Ain Sarah street towards Bab Al-Zawiya towards Israeli controlled H2. Even before the march reached Bab Al-Zawiya, an Israeli video drone was seen flying above the scene and soldiers were getting ready on the other side of Shuhada checkpoint to face the demonstrators. The march reached Bab Al-Zawiya around 1:30 pm, at which point the Israeli forces came out through Shuhada checkpoint, which separates Palestinians from Shuhada street, and forcing some of the demonstrators ran to Wad al-Tofah Street, while others withdrew to the adjacent Ain Sarah street.
Border police reach stalemate with demonstrators on Wad al-Tofah street
Israeli forces followed the demonstrators down Wad al-Tofah street, firing rubber coated steel bullets indiscriminately at young boys and men. A skunk truck also drove down Ain Sarah and sprayed chemically treated skunk water on houses of uninvolved Palestinian civilians. A standoff ensued in which demonstrators lit tires on fire and a young boy was shot in the leg with live ammunition, before being quickly taken to hospital. Israeli forces eventually withdrew from the scene. These areas are located in the H1 area, supposedly under full Palestinian control.
Palestinian rushed to hospital after being shot by Israeli forces
The demonstrators moved up Ain Sarah, and once the protest seem to calm down the Israeli forces started shooting at demonstrators. At this point two more Palestinians were shot and injured. Israeli police and soldiers drove further along Ain Sarah, got out and started chasing the demonstrators. At 14:46 they detained a minor who, after being pulled down, was beaten down on his head and kicked on his back. Protesters withdrew down Ain Sarah, pursued by police and soldiers firing rubber-coated steel bullets and showers of teargas.
Teenager arrested after having been beaten by Israeli forces
As the soldiers seemed to withdraw towards the Bab al-Zawiya area again, the demonstrators followed them and some started to throw stones and light up tires. The Israeli forces promptly responded with stun grenades, tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets. The Israeli soldiers also broke into a shop in Bab Al-Zawiya, leaving an explicit note. After violently detaining a 15-year-old boy, they took him into the building, blindfolded him and then transferred him through Shuhada checkpoint. After this, the army returned again to attack the demonstrators.
Note left by Israeli soldiers in a shop that they had broken into in Bab al-Zawiya. The Hebrew states ‘Israel lives’.
One of the following attacks forced the group of young men and teenagers up the hill north of the entrance of the vegetable market. Soldiers positioned on the roof of the nearby building threw teargas and stun grenades towards the demonstrators. With around 50 border policemen in the back and support from a sniper lying at the entrance of the street, a troop of 12 soldiers went up the hill, trying unsuccessfully to break into a building. They proceeded to throw teargas and stun grenades at a group of four activists who were taking photos nearby. At the intersection at the end of the road protestors were showered in teargas and the crowd dispersed. Amidst the teagas fog a teenager, thought to be around 14 to 16 years old was shot, presumably by the sniper down the road, and was evacuated in the car of a passerby. After this incident the soldiers went back down and disappeared from Bab Al-Zawiya.
Israeli sniper takes aim at young demonstrators
The clashes lasted altogether around four and a half hours during which the Israeli forces displayed unnecessary and excessive violence not only towards demonstrators, but also towards the media. The army seemed out of control, breaking into Palestinian offices in Bab Al-Zawiya, demonstrating violence and intimidating journalists, targeting children and beating up demonstrators who were already detained, and not resisting arrest.
Soldier attempts to arrest Palestinian child after having violently assaulted him
The demonstration was in solidarity with the demonstrations in Jerusalem against the new access restrictions introduced by Israel at the Al-Aqsa compound. The Palestinian community had earlier called for a ‘day of rage’ in response to the restrictions, which Israel described as ‘security measures’.
Palestinian boy holds flag amidst the chaos on Ain Sarah street, al-Khalil
![Israeli forces violently repress Al-Aqsa solidarity demonstration in al-Khalil (Hebron) [VIDEO]](https://palsolidarity.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/IMG_8019.jpg)
