Tag: Salfit

On Tuesday the Israeli army occupied a Palestinian house in the village of Marda, near Nablus.

At 1 am the army entered in the house of Chazi Zaki Kuhffash, a 72 year old man. He lived in the ground floor of a half-constructed building which has three floors. The army arrived in three jeeps and about 40 soldiers. The checked his house four times and then stayed on the roof, the highest point on the main street of Marda. They raised flags of their military group and the Israeli flag in the front of the house. They said to Mr. Chazi that they are going to stay there for a few days, and that they would allow the family to enter or leave the house, but no one else, then they stole their cellular phones. The women stayed in the house all the time, but Mr. Chazi and his son went out for food and essential things.

The army also closed the main gate of Marda from 7 am to 10 am. No one could leave or enter the village. The people waited there for three hours trying to get to their jobs.

In the morning when the neighbors got close to the house the army started to throw sound bombs and shot in the air, they kicked at the women, and threw tear gas in the house beside, where eight children between 1 and 13 years old were preparing to go to school. They cut off the electricity to all of the village. Marda was left without electricity until 6 pm. The jeeps came into the village all day, while the soldiers patrolled the village. A 64 year old man was detained in the street for walking without explanation, the army took him to a near base where later he was released.

At about 10:30 am, when the international Human Rights Workers arrived, a crowd of people were gathered outside the occupied house. The soldiers shouted at the crowd to go away and began throwing sound bombs in the middle of them without warning. After, they went out into the street pointing their guns at the villagers and shooting in the air, shouting at them that they have to get out of there. Half an hour later three more jeeps with about ten soldiers arrived at the occupied house.

During the day the soldiers shot sound bombs, rubber bullets and live bullets at children, who responded by throwing stones. All day the people of Marda watched how the IOF came into their village, shooting and chasing their children. As of yet, no one has been injured.

At about 7:30 pm, after patrolling the village, the army came back to the occupied house with three youths that were walking in the street that they accused of throwing stones. After that the army arrested one more youth who was walking near the occupied house. The four youths were Faraz Jammal Hofash, 24 years old, Tawffil Khuffash 24 years old, Rafig Khuffash 18 years old and Nassir Kuffash 17 years old.

The soldiers tied their hands in the back and blindfolded them. It was a very cold night and the boys were in the front of the occupied house for two and a half hours, sitting in the floor. Then a jeep arrived and the army took them to Hawara. Until now they haven’t been released. The soldiers said that they would leave the house when no one threw stones in the road near the main gate.

The house of Mr. Kuhffash is still occupied and the people of Marda are concerned about the army in their village.

The village of Deir Istiya was again subject to Israeli military invasion on Monday 4th February, with soldiers again invading and occupying a family home.

In activities almost identical to those that took place on 24th-25th January 2008, Israeli soldiers entered the village at approximately 7pm on Monday night, before forcibly occupying a multiple-story family home at 9pm, refusing to disclose to the family for how long they would be stationed there.

International Human Rights Workers (HRWs) were able to access the house and joined the frightened family to stay with them for the length of the ordeal. At the appearance of the HRWs, surprised soldiers advised that they would only be occupying the premise for one day. When questioned further, the unit commander refused to clarify, stating that he “didn’t know” how long they would tresspass upon the family’s property.

At least nine Israeli soldiers continually occupied the premise from 9pm on 4th until 9pm on 5th February – for supposed “security reasons”, but without obvious purpose or activity. At approximately 4pm on Tuesday 5th, soldiers were seen carrying out multiple cardboard cutouts of human figures – commonly associated with training exercises.

The identical pattern of these seemingly pointless incursions and home occupations led villagers and HRWs to speculate as to whether the peaceful village of Deir Istiya is being used by the Israeli army for training exercises – a practice the Israeli military supposedly halted after an expose by the Human Rights group Yesh Din, in March 2007.

Israeli soldiers invaded the village of Deir Istiya, in the Salfit region, at 3pm on Thursday 24th January, occupying a house and arresting one youth the following day. Approximately 5 jeeps entered the picturesque village, shooting sound bombs and tear gas outside homes for at least four hours, preventing passage of vehicles and pedestrians through the main streets.

Upon entering the village, soldiers immediately invaded a family home, occupying it, and refusing to allow the family access to the upper story and roof. When questioned by the family and human rights workers as to how long they would be occupying the house, soldiers refused to give a time frame, intentionally leading the family to believe that they could be there for up to one month. Three international human rights workers were able to gain access to the house and stay with the family throughout the invasion. The soldiers continued to occupy the house overnight, before finally withdrawing at 4pm on Friday afternoon.

Before departing soldiers arrested one youth, aged 18 – allegedly for questioning, but seemingly at random from a field in which he happened to be walking with his uncle when soldiers were passing by. He is the second youth to be arrested from the village in the past two weeks. Currently still in custody without charge, the youth suffers from a serious medical condition and is currently being held without the provision of medication – a potentially dire situation.

Surrounded by the settlements of Immanuel, Yaqir, Revava and Ariel, the village of Deir Istiya is subject to regular invasions, home occupations, and arbitrary arrests. As one villager explained “The life here is impossible”.

The village of Marda, in the Salfit region of the West Bank, was again placed under curfew on Friday 30th November. Israeli soldiers invaded the village at approximately 2pm, with four jeeps shooting sound bombs, tear gas, and live ammunition to force the villagers off the streets.

One youth was randomly abducted as he attempted to make his way home at the announcement of the curfew. Soldiers handcuffed him and held him in a jeep for one hour, before releasing him. Hammed, aged 16, and a student at the Lutheran High School in Jerusalem, was home to visit his family for the first time in three weeks. Before releasing him, soldiers took his permit to enter Jerusalem to attend school and destroyed it – tearing it into pieces. Hammed is unsure as to how long it will take to acquire another permit, or if indeed it will be possible at all. In the mean time he will be unable to pass through the checkpoint at Qalandia, and as such unable to attend school.

Marda, home to 2400 Palestinians, is subject to such curfews and random abductions of young men at least once a week, residents explained – sometimes as many as two or three times per week, and lasting from a few hours to a few days. Incidents of soldiers invading homes and shooting once inside, as well as shooting tear gas and sound booms inside homes are not uncommon. Residents also report Israeli soldiers breaking windows of homes with rocks and uprooting olive trees on Marda land, with over 1000 olive trees destroyed.

Residents were forced to remain in their homes for three hours, as Israeli jeeps patrolled the streets. Others were stuck outside the village gate, such as a local teacher who was forced to wait at the gate for two hours, unable to enter even on foot. Preparations for the children’s festival, held by the Marda Development Charity Society were interrupted, as soldiers forced all volunteers in the centre to return home. The festival for small children is being held to ameliorate the angst and sadness caused by the invasions and arrests.

The official excuse given for these invasions is that boys are throwing stones at the Israeli road that passes to the North of the village, meaning that the curfews constitute acts of collective punishment – illegal under international law. Residents deny the stone-throwing allegations, and evidence is rarely presented. Instead, youths aged between twelve and seventeen years are routinely abducted and detained for a few hours, usually beaten and often driven out of the village before being released without charge. Some residents suspect their village is being used as a training ground for Israeli troops – a documented practice within the Salfit region and a clear violation of international law.

Marda, situated in the shadow of the enormous Israeli settlement of Ariel, is enclosed by Israeli fences, now with only one vehicular entrance upon which an Israeli road gate is mounted, making closure of the village simple and instantaneous. As one resident remarked “easily it becomes a jail”.