Tag: Settlement - Page 11 - International Solidarity Movement

Palestinians denied passage for Friday prayer in Deir Istiya

6th May 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah Team | Deir Istiya, occupied Palestine

*Israeli forces prevent Palestinians to access their own lands for Friday prayer in Deir Istiya*

Yesterday, 5th May, for the second week in a row , a group of Palestinians gathered in the olive groves, just outside Deir Istiya, district of Salfit, for their Friday prayer.

Before the prayer even started, a group of Israeli soldiers denied them passage to an open space near Highway 5066, which connects Tel Aviv to the illegal settlement of Ariel, stating that the prayer would have to take place at least 300 meters away from the road. After harassement and threats from the soldiers, who temporarily restrained Riziq Abu Nasser, one of the leaders of the peaceful protest, another group of soliders was called to the spot, with the Israeli police lingering not far from there. Pictures and videos of the protesters were taken and the Friday prayer ended up taking place where the growing number of Israeli soldiers allowed. The crowd dispersed soon after the prayer was over, in a peaceful manner.

*Palestinians gathered in the olive groves, next to Highway 5066, start their prayer*

This is the second time the inhabitants of Deir Istiya try to peacefully demonstrate against the construction of the highway, that rendered inaccessible their farmlands on the other side of the road. Last year, 15 demonstrations took place in Deir Istiya, and they were heavily repressed and followed by night raids into the village.

*Israeli forces temporarily restrain the leader of the peaceful protest*

After contacts between Israeli authorities, the Salfit Governorate and Deir Istiya municipality, along with the Israeli promise that a new agricultural road would be built, the population agreed to put a stop to the demonstrations. The new road would allow Deir Istiya’s farmers to regain acess not to their own lands – around 2000 dunums in the valley of Wadi Qana – but also to neigbouring villages. The construction of Highway 5066 has become a check-point for Deir Istiya inhabitants, forcing them to walk more than 2 km to access their lands without ensuring their own safety and preventing them to take their cattle, tractors or other machinery with them. Frequent attacks from settlers have also been reported, with no response.

The frequent harassment, both by Israeli Occupation Forces and settlers, as well as the inability to take care of their own lands and crops has led, according to Abu Nasser, to a growing dependency on imported agricultural products and to a serious population loss. Still his belief on peaceful resistance as the best mean to send a message to Israeli authorities remain unchallenged.

*Palestinian farmers from Deir Istiya have their Friday prayer while being watched by Israeli soldiers*

Israeli forces obstruct transport and installation of protective fence

6th April 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

Israeli forces on Tuesday evening, 4th April 2017, obstructed the transport of large materials by Palestinians on Shuhada Street in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron).

Large metal pieces Palestinians need as protection from settlers

Palestinians were carrying the large metal pieces first to Shuhada checkpoint, where just a few days before, Israeli forces extended their perimeter of control further into the H1 neighborhood supposedly under full Palestinian control. With no Palestinian vehicles whatsoever allowed, Palestinians then had to carry the large pieces through the checkpoint, navigating the narrow doors and metal-cage like structure of the checkpoint. Afterwards, the fence-parts had to be carried down the street, and were first set aside on the sidewalk outside a building at the end of the tiny strip of Shuhada Street. Palestinians are still allowed to be on the end of this strip, whereas the rest of the street has been ethnically cleansed of any Palestinian presence.

As Palestinians attempted to pull up the large metal pieces onto the roof on the outside of the building, as they would not fit through the doorways, Israeli forces from the nearby checkpoint arrived to prevent them from doing so. The reasoning of the occupying soldiers was that the large pieces could fall on and thus injure or damage settlers walking on the streets or settler cars – not Palestinians on the same part of the street though. Israeli forces then refused to stop traffic, even for a short while, to allow the materials to be transported, instead forcing the Palestinians to put them back down. In the meantime, settlers gathered on the streets, watching the soldiers prevent Palestinians from lifting the materials up, and later on bringing pizza for the dozen soldiers that had arrived on the scene. After some negotiating, Israeli forces finally conceded to allow Palestinians to carry the materials up the stairs adjacent to the house – which are usually forbidden for Palestinians, not for settlers though.

Palestinians lower the pieces down as Israeli forces prevent them from pulling them up to the roof

While the materials were carried up the stairs, settler children started playing with full bottles of carbonated drinks in the middle of the street, throwing them up in the air and running away before they would return and hit them. One boy jumped in front of a settler mini-bus, attempting to put the full bottle underneath the wheel of the bus in order to see it explode. The soldiers still present at the spot clearly did not consider any of these activities dangerous to the settlers, and did not even intervene when a settler boy deliberately sprayed the drink on the stairs in order to make it slippery for the Palestinians transporting the materials.

Settler children and soldiers sharing pizza sponsored by settlers

The large fencing was meant to reinforce a fence at Shuhada Street kindergarten which settlers had previously cut, damaging property inside the kindergarten and on a Palestinian family’s roof. When the last piece was carried up, soldiers entered the kindergarten to prohibit the installation of the fence, claiming that the Palestinians would need a permit to do so, further delaying this protective measure.

The same kind of fencing is installed around many windows and open courtyards of Palestinian family homes, as well as other entrances vulnerable to settler attacks. This fencing is one of the only possible means of protection in a hostile environment that allows total impunity for settler abuses, under the full protection of the Israeli occupation forces.

Israeli forces demolish Palestinian farm in Abu al-Ra’eesh, west of Salfit

5th April 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah team | Abu al-Ra’eesh, occupied Palestine

*Israeli forces demolish residential tents and livestock pens in Abu al-Ra’eesh*

On the morning of April 5, 2017, the Israeli occupation forces demolished residential tents and six sheep pens in the area of Abu al-Ra’eesh, southwest of Dirbolut, west of Salfit.

The structures belonged to the Shheibar family and were located between the villages of Deir Balout and al-Lubban. They were forcefully removed by Israeli forces, who ordered the owner to remove the remaining structures within a week. According to the owner, Mohammad Shheibar, the demolition order was only issued three days ago.

2016 saw an average of 156 Palestinian structures a month demolished by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank, displacing over 1,500 people and destroying the livelihoods of another 7,000. Meanwhile, building permits are frequently granted to the 550,000 colonial Israeli settlers in occupied West Bank, and Israeli authorities remain intent on expanding the nearby illegal settlement of Elqana.

Madama village marks Land Day 2017 under heavy military violence

31st March 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah team | Madama, occupied Palestine

Palestinians gathered in Madama village to plant olive trees during Land Day

Thursday the 30th of March was Land Day, a day in which Palestinians and their supporters commemorate the loss of huge amounts of land, stolen by the Zionist colonisers in 1976. In Madama village, in the Nablus area, around 300 Palestinian activists with some internationals marched to the outskirts of their village to plant olive trees on village land which has been stolen by the extremist illegal settlement Yitzhar. This non-violent action came under heavy attack by the Israeli Forces with more than 45 people shot with rubber-coated metal bullets and many more suffering from tear gas inhalation.

At around 12pm the march set off from the centre of Madama with many people carrying flags and singing songs, including women, children and men. After climbing a steep street up onto the fields at the edge of the village people began to plant olive trees. There were Israeli Army vehicles and around 20 heavily armed soldiers waiting for the demonstration on the hillside. As people began to plant olive trees the soldiers started to shoot tear gas and rubber-coated metal bullets without any warning. Despite this repression, people continued to plant trees and a small group of people responded to the tear gas and rubber-coated metal bullets with stones.

Israeli settlers stood next to the Israeli Forces while tear gas was being shot

Over the next two hours or so, the Israeli forces became more and more aggressive firing rubber-coated metal bullets at anyone who was there, often at head height. If someone was injured and on the floor they would fire upon them again and at the people coming to rescue them, even if they were clearly marked as medics. According to the Red Crescent at least 45 people were injured by rubber-coated metal bullets throughout the demonstration. An activist from ISM was also shot with both a rubber-coated metal bullet and hit with a tear gas canister upon their lower legs whilst providing medical support to the injured.

Extremist settlers from the illegal settlement of Yitzhar also came to attack the demonstration with stones. They were held off by the people of the demonstration and after talking to the army sat and watched the Israeli forces fire upon unarmed demonstrators.

More than 45 people suffered injuries and needed assistance

Despite this extreme repression of a group of unarmed demonstrators, people did not leave until all the trees were planted, demonstrating that this is their land and they will not be threatened into not using it.

The villages around the illegal Yitzhar settlement have suffered a huge amount since it was set up in 1983. The extremist inhabitants of this settlement regularly attack Palestinians with impunity, sometimes even killing them. They regularly intimidate Palestinians off their farm lands, attack buildings and lands in the local villages, throw stones at Palestinian cars, and, block roads, these attacks are done with the protection of the Israeli Army. Yitzhar is just one example of the over 196 illegal settlements built throughout the West Bank, supported by Israel, but deemed illegal by the international community.

Long-awaited maintenance works offer rare sight for Palestinians in al-Khalil

30th March 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

On Wednesday 29th March 2017 Israeli forces opened a blocked-off street for the first time in almost two decades to allow long-overdue sewage system works. The alley in occupied al-Khalil, open for less than a day, gave Palestinians the rare opportunity to see Shuhada Street and the illegal settlements which have caused countless closures for the civilian Palestinian population.

Palestinians working on the sewage-system while Israeli forces stand by

Palestinians have been pursuing permission from the Israeli side to do this maintenance work for years – with no success. The market in the Old Town runs almost parallel to Shuhada Street, where the main illegal settlements in the heart of Hebron are located and where Palestinians are totally prohibited. As one of the lowest points in the Old City, this area of the souq is regularly flooded in winter by rain water and overflowing sewage as much of the sewage system has been cut off by the illegal settlements. Despite a one-day ‘permit’ granted by Israeli forces for work to be undertaken, several delays were caused when Israeli forces would not allow additional maintenance vehicles to enter the area. Furthermore, the small amount of time granted by the permit only allowed workers to fix a short stretch of sewage pipe immediately beneath the concrete slabs, with other vital works having to be postponed.

Palestinians gathering to watch the ongoing work

Heavily armed Israeli forces were present on site at all times to ‘guard’ the path to what was once a thriving Palestinian market and the main route between north and south al-Khalil. After the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre in 1994 – in which colonial settler Baruch Goldstein gunned down and killed 29 Palestinians and injured more than 120 more when he opened fire with his machine gun during prayers – Israeli forces have slowly but steadily eradicated the Palestinian presence in Shuhada Street. This process has been achieved through broader, ever-increasing restrictions, harassment, and intimidation towards the Palestinian civil population of al-Khalil.

During the maintenence, passing Palestinians could be seen reacting with surprise and stopping to watch the work and take photographs. Sunlight – long hidden by the high cement slabs barricading the street – suddenly flooded the souq from the small archway. For many Palestinians, this brief opening served as a reminder of a time before the severe crackdown on Palestinian human rights by the Israeli forces in the aftermath of the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre. One elderly man demanded the soldiers let him through so he may visit his shop, which remains sealed-up on Shuhada Street where Palestinian movement is entirely forbidden by Israeli forces to favour and facilitate settler movement.