Tag: Settlement expansion

Home demolition in Jerusalem: “They want our land. We need help to protect it.”

1st April 2015 | Jerusalem, Occupied Palestine

Nureddin Amro and his brother Sharif Amro and their families were awakened at 5:30 am by over a hundred Israeli soldiers who came to demolish their home in the Wadi Al-Joz neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem on Tuesday, March 31, 2015. Both men are blind. The brothers live with their ill 79-year-old mother, their spouses and children. Nureddin has three young children, Sharif has four; all are under 14. Israeli soldiers pointed their guns in through the windows of the house while the children were still asleep and cut the electricity and phone lines to the house.

“We were asleep. They banged on the doors and shouted. Soldiers completely surrounded the neighborhood. There were dogs and aircraft. It was frightening,” said Nureddin. “There was no advanced notice. No reason given. They announced that they came to demolish the house and they started doing it while we were still inside.”

Amro Wadi Joz wm — The Amro family stands in the rubble of their demolished home

Nureddin asked for time to go to court or the municipality for an explanation, but the soldiers refused. The soldiers assaulted the family, kicking Sharif and beating everyone, including the women and children. “They attacked us and locked us in one of the rooms. My son and brother were injured. They stayed for four hours and destroyed four rooms, the garden. They would not give us time to take anything from the rooms. All of our things, the children’s pets, their rabbits and chickens were killed under the rubble” Sharif was taken to the hospital after a soldier kicked the blind man hard in the ankle. Israeli forces refused to even let the family salvage their belongings before they tore it down.

Amro famil wmy — Members of the Amro family gathered beside the part of their home that is still standing

Nurredin is the founder and principal of the Siraj al-Quds School for visually impaired and sighted children in Jerusalem. He is a Synergos Institute Social Innovator and was recognized by the British Council for his leadership working for positive change and social development for people with special needs. According to Nureddin, there was no demolition order against the homes although there have been demolitions in the neighborhood before. They had received warnings a couple of months ago to clean up scrap wood, wires and materials that were around the house, and they did the cleaning as required.

While they were demolishing the rooms of the Amro family’s home Israeli forces destroyed a fence on the neighboring Totah family’s land, along with a shelter that housed a horse, chickens, and a dog. Soldiers also cut the family’s internet and broke the water line. The father of the Totah family was beaten, handcuffed, and arrested; he was later released.

Totah family land wm — The Totah family’s land after Israeli forces destroyed a fence and a shelter for animals

As of this writing, the part of the house that remains standing where Nureddin and his brother are staying with their families; still has no electricity, water, sewage or telephone services. Soldiers returned to the family’s home again this morning, moving the rubble that was visible from the street and threatening that they would be back.

Amro children wm — The Amro family children climb on the rubble – all that is left of four of their rooms

Israeli authorities have already annexed land across from the Wadi Al-Joz neighborhood, creating a national park which encompasses an illegal Israeli settlement. Local residents reported, speaking of the constant threat of settlement expansion under the Israeli occupation, that “they want to get rid of all the houses, all the neighborhood. They want to put their hands on this land from here to the Old City.”

Big turn out and high spirits at Wadi Fukin Land Day olive tree planting and protest

31th March 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, al Khalil Team | Wadi Fukin, Occupied Palestine

On Monday March 30th about two hundred people commemorated Land Day in the village of Wadi Fukin. The protest, which involved planting olive trees was a response to Israeli theft of village land.

Land Day protest marching in the streets of Wadi Fukin.

After midday prayer around two hundred Palestinians and internationals gathered in the village of Wadi Fukin to commemorate Land Day and support the villagers struggle against the illegal Israeli expropriation of their lands. People from Wadi Fukin, neighbouring villages and internationals started their march towards the green line carrying Palestinian flags, digging tools, playing music and singing, to where the settlement of Beitar Illit is forcibly taking over Palestinian land in order to expand. The protest continued peacefully through the small streets of Wadi Fukin and just before going to the hill above the village every protester was given an olive tree to carry. Spirits were high as protesters climbed the village hill overshadowed by the settlement expansion site and began to take back Palestinian land by planting the trees.

A village caught between settlements and under extreme pressure
Wadi Fukin is in a valley sandwiched between the Green Line to the north-west and the fastest-growing illegal Israeli settlement in the West Bank, Beitar Illit. With around 80.000 inhabitants (as of 2014), Beitar Illit is part of the Gush Etzion settlement bloc surrounding and cornering Wadi Fukin. In order to expand these settlements and steal even more land, the apartheid wall is being built on Palestinian land far inside the Green Line around this settlement bloc. Regular Friday demonstrations are held in Wadi Fukin protesting against this continuous illegal land grab.

200 people at Land Day protest in Wadi Fukin, Beitar Illit settlement block in the background.

Military attacking unarmed Palestinians on their own land.
As Land Day protesters reached the Israeli construction site they managed to plant both olive trees and Palestinian flags directly on the site. While Palestinian flags and olive trees popped up on the ground, young Palestinian men and women also managed to take over and plant flags on the unmanned bulldozers and tractors parked there.

After about ten minutes on the site 4 military jeeps arrived with more than 40 soldiers and border police. The military attacked the protesters with tear gas and stun grenades and a police helicopter began circling the area and filming the protesters from the sky. As tear gas clouds drove the protesters from their lands and down the hill, soldiers began kicking down and destroying the newly planted olive trees and flags.

Soldiers and border police gassing protesters on their own land.

Spirits kept high in spite of tear gassing
Though several people suffered from tear gas poisoning the protest continued on the hill between Wadi Fukin village and the settlement expansion on the Green Line. Alternately running from tear gas and planting trees, protesters managed to stay on the hill for an hour continuing to plant and protest.

As everyone returned to the village spirits remained high and the succesful event was celebrated with music, speeches and freshly made bread.

Olive tree and flag planting at Land Day protes, Wadi Fukin.

Land Day – a historic day for fighting occupation and expropriation
Land Day marks the day of a general stike on March 30th in 1976. The strike was a response to the Israeli Government’s expropriation of thousands of dunums of Palestinian land. There were marches in Palestinian cities within present-day Israel from the Naqab to Galilee. Six unarmed Palestinians were killed, 100 wounded and hundreds more arrested. The Land Day was a turning point in the struggle against the occupation as it was the first mass mobilization by Palestinians within the borders of 1948 Israel.

Protests have been and will be continue to be going on all through the West Bank in the weeks surrounding Land Day.

Israeli forces arrest two shepherds in the South Hebron Hills

5th March 2015 | Operation Dove | South Hebron Hills, Occupied Palestine

On the morning of February 28, Israeli police arrested two Palestinian shepherds as they grazed their flock in the valley of Umm Zeitouna near the Israeli settlement of Ma’on.

In late morning the security chief of Ma’on settlement and Israeli soldiers arrived in Umm Zeitouna valley where the shepherds, accompanied by international volunteers, were grazing their flock on land which Israeli settlers from Ma’on are attempting to annex. After a few minutes the Israeli police arrived and they immediately detained two shepherds and two international volunteers. At about 12.30 pm Israeli police arrested the two shepherds and took them to Kyriat Arba police station. The volunteers were released. The Palestinians were released at about 3 pm, after paying a fine of 500 NIS for each person.

Screen Shot 2015-03-05 at 11.29.41 AM — Still from video Operation Dove took of the arrests (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZFpsum27Hk)

Residents of the South Hebron Hills experience continual harassment from settlers in nearby settlements and outposts, but remain steadfast in their commitment to nonviolent resistance. Each day that they graze their sheep in contested areas, the shepherds continue to resist settler attempts to drive them from their lands. International volunteers have witnessed shepherds chased from Umm Zeitouna six times since the start of the year (in five of these occasions the Israeli army came after a settler’s call).

The arrest followed a nonviolent action that morning during which residents successfully repaired the road which links At-Tuwani village to Yatta, and the attendance on February 27 of the South Hebron Hills Popular Resistance Committee at the 10th anniversary nonviolent action in Bil’in.

These are two examples of the commitment of the South Hebron hills people to use nonviolence to resist the occupation, both in their own communities and throughout Palestine. The life of South Hebron Hills residents is one of a daily resistance to the Israeli occupation.

Israeli settlers cut 36 olive trees in the South Hebron Hills

22nd February 2015 | Operation Dove | South Hebron Hills, Occupied Palestine

On the morning of February 20, Palestinians in the South Hebron Hills awoke to find that 36 olive trees had been cut or seriously damaged during the night, probably by Israeli settlers. The 25 year-old trees, owned by the Hushiy family from Yatta, were located near the village of Qawawis in the South Hebron Hills, between the Israeli illegal outpost of Mitzpe Yair and the Israeli settlement of Suseya, beside Bypass road 317.

p1060765_800 — The Hushiy family’s damaged olive trees – photo by Operation Dove

p1060762_800 — Olive tree cut by Israeli settlers from illegal settlements in the South Hebron Hills – photo by Operation Dove

This is the third incident of Israeli settler ‘price tag’ vandalism against the Palestinian inhabitants of the South Hebron Hills in the last two months. On January 9, in the same area between the Bypass road 317 and Suseya settlement, Palestinians discovered nearly 200 olive trees cut on their property. On December 31, two settlers threw a molotov cocktail into a Palestinian house in Ad Deirat village.

Palestinian residents of the South Hebron hills have suffered from the presence of Israeli settlers since the 70s. By occupying Palestinian agricultural lands and destroying Palestinian olive trees, crops and property the settlers seek to deprive the Palestinians of their main livelihood. Ongoing settler violence deprives Palestinian families of security in daily life, and restricts their freedom of movement.

According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Hague Regulations, the International Court of Justice, and several United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements and outposts in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Most settlement outposts, including Havat Ma’on (Hill 833), are also considered illegal also under Israeli law.

Despite attempts by settlers to force them from the area through violence and intimidation, the Palestinian communities of the South Hebron Hills remain strong in their commitment to nonviolent popular resistance against the Israeli occupation.

Operation Dove has maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and South Hebron Hills since 2004.

Open Shuhada Street, demand Palestinian demonstrators

21th February 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

On February 20, Israel forces threw at least thirty stun grenades and ten tear gas grenades at a peaceful Palestinian protest.

Residents of occupied Hebron (Al-Khalil) were demonstrating against the closure of Shuhada Street, a former economic centre in Al-Khalil. The street, running through the middle of a once-thriving neighbourhood near Al-Khalil’s Old City, was once an important market. The shops on the street were first closed in 1994, following the Ibrahimi mosque massacre, when an Israeli settler killed 29 Palestinians at prayer. The street was fully closed to all Palestinian pedestrian and vehicular access in 2000. The protest held was organized as a preview of the annual “Open Shuhada Street” event, postponed to the 27^th because of the weather conditions.

The protest began in Bab Al-Zawiye at 11.30 am, in a city covered by a thick layer of snow. Around one hundred and fifty Palestinians took the street through the old city’s souq (market) towards the Ibrahimi Mosque. Arriving in front of the Israeli military base in the illegal Beit Romano settlement, protesters sang and waved flags even as Israeli forces assaulted them with stun grenades.

Israeli forces advanced outside the base and threw several rounds of stun grenades and tear gas grenades. The protesters did not abandon the street, and faced the army with a determination still unwavering even after two individuals suffered from excessive tear gas inhalation.

After singing an arabic version of “Bella Ciao,” demonstrators returned to Bab Al-Zawiye, outside of Shuhada checkpoint. As tensions rose some youth threw stones towards the checkpoint, and Israeli forces again shot tear gas grenades at the protest.

Later, Israeli forces arrested a Palestinian youth in Tel Rumeida, on the suspicion of participating in the protest. He was released a short time later.