Twelve new demolition orders were delivered at houses in the Salfit village of Deir Ballut on June 15th, 2009. The papers were left at their homes, most of which are still under construction. Two of the homes are already occupied. Five of the homeowners have a court hearing on July 5th, 2009 and seven on July 16th, 2009. Lawyers have told the families that they must make an application to the Israeli authorities for building permits before the court dates.
The reason given for the demolition orders is that the homes do not have the required permits for construction in Israeli-controlled Area C. However, not all houses in Area C in Deir Ballut have building permits, nor have they all received demolition orders. Deir Ballut’s mayor said he believes new demolition orders were delivered to these twelve houses because they are located near the planned route of the Wall.
In November 2006 Deir Ballut received a notice from Israel informing them of construction of a section of the Wall east of Deir Ballut and south of the neighbouring village of Rafat. This will cause Deir Ballut to be completely surrounded by the Wall, and its farmers to lose more than half their land. In 1948 the village lost more than 15,000 dunams of land. In the first phase of the Wall construction the village lost 6,000 more dunams.
Forty-one houses in Deir Ballut now have outstanding demolition orders against them.
A major military operation took place today in Haris between 2am and 5pm. Around 15 jeeps, 2 border police jeeps and vans belonging to Israeli Intelligence Shabak entered Haris and arrested around 150 people including large number of minors.
A number of people reported injury by the soldiers including several cases of beatings of small children and women. Soldiers also destroyed furniture, appliances, walls and various food products in at least 4 houses.
At 4:30pm most of the people who were arrested were released. At present IWPS is aware of 4 youths all aged 16 who have not been released and whose whereabouts is currently unknown. There are strong indications that more people were taken away and we are hoping to have more accurate figures soon.
At 2 am soldiers and jeeps entered Haris in a major military operation which lasted 15 hours. The soldiers raided most houses in Haris, arresting youths and interrogating them about their friends, family members and the layout of the houses. The IWPS has heard from many parents and adults that soldiers gave them a piece of paper with a number and photographed them holding this paper.
All those arrested were blindfolded, handcuffed and taken to the primary school in Haris. Here they were seated in the classrooms and in the playground and interrogated one by one by Shabak and the military. Those released were given a paper so that other soldiers would not re-arrest them as the arrests continued throughout the day.
The IWPS members witnessed several of the arrests and we have managed to secure photographic evidence and statements form a number of victims and their relatives.
IWPS also received a report of a man who suffered a back injury due to excessive use of force by the soldiers. The IWPS called for an ambulance which arrived shortly after but was denied entry into Haris by the soldiers, in spite of being urged by the IWPS and the villagers living near by. The reason given was that if a person was injured it would be army’s responsibility to take care of them and provide the ambulance. However, the Israeli ambulance parked nearby was not called by the soldiers to treat the injured man.
Two photojournalists who managed to enter Haris close to the primary school where shortly after escorted by the border police out of the village. In addition, a TV van and two other journalists were denied entry into Haris.
The army incursion finished around 4.30 and villagers fear that it might continue in the near future.
When questioned about the purpose of the incursion, IWPS members were told by the army that they were updating their database of information of Haris residents. Last Saturday 21st March there was another army incursion into Haris where army jeeps and Shabak vans parked in front of the primary school and took photos of the school.
IWPS is concerned about the current wave of arrests of residents of Haris and especially minors and youths. IWPS is also very concerned about the violent behavior of soldiers during the arrests and the use of primary school for detention and interrogation purposes. In addition the media access has repeatedly been denied and there is limited flow information including about the very serious human right abuses mentioned above.
On February 4th, settlers from the illegal Israeli settlement of Kfar Tappuah began clearing land for building outposts, despite the fact that this land legally belongs to the Palestinian village of Yasuf.
The settlers brought a bulldozer with them to clear village fields, and it is expected that extensions of Kfar Tappuah in the form of trailer outposts will be erected in the next few days.
Yasuf village, which is located in the Salfit region, has already lost over 1500 dunums of land in the creation of the nearby settlements of Ariel, Rechel and Kfar Tappuah, along with two smaller outposts.
Yasuf land is now almost completely surrounded by these settlements, as well as an Israeli-only road that connects Ariel and Rechel settlements that villagers are prohibited from accessing. Large parts of village land have been declared closed military zones by the army, which forbids Palestinians from being in these areas. This allows settlers to more easily confiscate land for expansion, even though it is still legally owned by Palestinians.
Yasuf residents, who often face harassment from the illegal settlers, can only view the work of the bulldozer from roughly 1 km away. If they approach any closer, they risk attack from the armed settlers or arrest from Israeli forces stationed nearby, but do nothing to stop this illegal confiscation of land.
A 16-year-old boy and a 20-year-old man, from the Qalqiliya and Salfit districts respectively, were killed in unrelated incidents in January during Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip.
On January 8th, Ibrahim Abdulkarim Shamlawi, a student at Al-Quds University in Abu Dis, east of Jerusalem, but from the village of Haris in the Salfit governorate, was shot dead by soldiers at an Israeli gas station near the Ma’ale Adummim settlement. Mr. Shamlawi was reportedly very angry about the war on Gaza and went out to the gas station, with no identification but with 100 shekels in his pocket and a bottle full of benzene. He proceeded to pour the benzene on the floor of the gas station and then tried to light it. Palestinian employees of the gas station tried to stop him, and succeeded, but soldiers arriving in response the incident shot him dead rather than arresting him, said the deputy governor of Salfit.
Because Mr. Shamlawi was not carrying ID, it took three to four days to identify his body, the deputy governor said. His father in Haris reported him missing after this period, and the Salfit governorate, which had information on the incident, contacted Israeli authorities, who brought photographs of the body to Haris for his father to identify. Following an autopsy performed at an Israeli medical centre, the body was returned to Haris on January 15th and buried the same day.
On the night of January 13th three teenaged boys from Azzun were arrested by the army, allegedly for throwing stones on Road 55, though a cousin of the dead boy claims he was helping a friend look for strayed sheep. After being arrested, the boys had their hands tied behind their backs. A settler on the scene – reportedly from Immanu’el settlement and the son of the former mayor – is said to have then beat to death one of the boys, Nasser Mustafa Daoud Audh, age 16, by hitting him repeatedly over the head with a blunt object. The other two boys were arrested and reportedly taken to the jail at the IDF base near Huwwara, Nablus district.
The cousin said Nasser’s body was taken to Qedumim settlement, where his father went to claim it the following day. He was reportedly asked to sign two forms, both in Hebrew. One was a consent form for organ removal, and the other was said to have been a form agreeing not to press charges against the settler, who was then freed. The father had apparently not understood the nature of the second form when he signed it, as he cannot read Hebrew and it was not explained to him.
Nasser’s body was returned to Azzun on January 15th for burial, following an autopsy and organ removal. However, the Israeli army, returning the body at around 5 p.m., reportedly opened fire with rubber bullets on boys near the entrance of the village who were said to have been throwing stones at the army vehicle. The army also reportedly lobbed tear-gas canisters, and seven boys were said to have been injured in the incident.
The family waited for several hours for Nasser’s body to be returned, as the army then took it away again following the incident. Just before 8 p.m. mourners were told the body would not be returned until the following morning, though it was finally returned to the family after 9 p.m. for the funeral.
Report written by: Beth
Date report written on: January 19, 2009
UPDATE: Settlers are attacking Palestinian residents and property around the West Bank in a coordinated outbreak of aggression following the eviction of settlers from the occupied Rajabi house in Hebron. Attacks against Palestinians have been reported from Turmas’ayya, Burin, Huwarra, Beit Iba, Azzoun, al-Funduq, Assira-al-Qabliya and Susiya, as well as the mass settler riots in Hebron.
10:30pm 4th December: Settlers have thrown molotov cocktails at a house in Assira-al-Qabliya, Nablus region, setting the house alight. Widespread damage has been reported by Palestinian firefighters who have now put out the blaze.
In Susiya, the tent of Hajet Sarra Nausaja has been burnt down by settlers who have stormed through the area.
One Palestinian man has been taken to hospital in Qalqilya after his car was attacked by settlers close to al-Funduq. His condition is as yet unknown. Residents of al-Funduq also reported that Israeli soldiers ordered all shops to close and people to remain inside their homes in case the settlers arrived.
6:30pm 4th December – These coordinated attacks appear to be the manifestation of settler warnings of a ‘price-tag’ campaign that were reported in September of this year.
Just outside the village of Turmas’ayya, Israeli soldiers stopped a bus and at least 40 other Palestinian cars from traveling down Road 60 that links Nablus and Ramallah. As the cars were being stopped settlers attacked the cars, throwing rocks and other projectiles. Large-scale damage was reported from the scene.
Those trapped inside the cars report that Israeli soldiers are refusing to intervene and prevent the settler attacks or to allow the Palestinian traffic to pass so as to escape from the settler attacks. Witnesses to this have said that they are very scared and that there has been considerable damage caused towards the bus and cars.
In the village of Burin, Nablus region, over 100 settlers have attacked the village, throwing stones at Palestinian houses and damaging property. Settlers have also set fire to Palestinian agricultural land in Burin. Groups of settlers have been throwing rocks at houses with Israeli soldiers seemingly unwilling to prevent them. In one house residents are trapped inside while settlers have repeatedly thrown rocks against their property. International Human Rights Workers in the village have reported that Israeli soldiers in the vilage have been using tear-gas and sound grenades against Palestinians not in their homes, but are refraining from using such force against settlers attacking the village.
Rather than confront the violent settlers, Israeli soldiers have preferred to use force on Palestinian residents in the regions. A resident of Burin was violently detained by Israeli soldiers after settlers had attacked his car and broken his windshield. A similar incident was reported to the International Women’s Peace Service as one resident, while driving home, was confronted by Israeli soldiers who refused to intervene as settlers attacked his car.
International Human Rights Workers have also reported that both Beit Iba and Huwarra checkpoints have been blocked by settlers and that rocks are being thrown at Palestinians attempting to pass through the Israeli checkpoints.
In response to these settler attacks, rather than confront the settlers, have blocked Palestinian traffic from running on Road 60 that links Nablus and Ramallah, the road between Kufr Laqif and Jinsafut and the road between Jit and al-Funduq. With the religious of Eid approaching, it appears that Israeli forces are seeking to prevent Palestinians traveling instead of acting to prevent the settler attacks.
