Tag: Settlement - Page 26 - International Solidarity Movement

Ramadan in occupied Hebron

12th June 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

On 5th June, the holy month of Ramadan started. In occupied al-Khalil (Hebron), the Old City, that till then had been mainly deserted, comes back to life as many stream towards Ibrahimi mosque for prayers.

The Old City of al-Khalil, including the ‘souq’, the market, during the last months, has been mainly deserted. Starting in November, when Palestinians were shot down at Ibrahimi mosque checkpoint by Israeli forces, Palestinians began avoiding to use this checkpoint. The Ibrahimi mosque checkpoint directly connects the souq with Ibrahimi mosque, and is the main checkpoint to reach the area around the Ibrahimi mosque. With, at times, various arbitrary restrictions enforced at this checkpoint, denying any Palestinian between 15-30 to pass, for many the checkpoint stopped being an option for passage.

When trying to avoid this checkpoint, there’s only two options: either walking a long-detour up the hill and then down on the other side, far past the checkpoint; or to take a service-taxi that will drop passengers close to yet another checkpoint, the Queitun or Abu Sneneh checkpoint, that has recently been ‘upgraded’ to include a box where anyone passing inside the checkpoint won’t be seen from outside.

With the advent of Ramadan, many Palestinians now stroll through the market in the Old City to buy groceries or anything else needed in the house, with even more shops opened and prices low for Ramadan. After months of the Old City market resembling more and more a Ghost Street – just like Shuhada Street after it’s forst closure and complete prohibition for Palestinians – it now finally is busy again with Palestinians. The atmosphere during Ramadan is peaceful, and Palestinians pass the Ibrahimi mosque checkpoint for prayers in Ibrahimi mosque.

Palestinians praying outside Ibrahimi mosque

Especially on Friday, large crowds of Palestinians flocked to Ibrahimi mosque for prayers, so many that some of them had to pray outside the mosque. Despite the heavy Israeli forces presence, the majority of the worshippers was allowed to pass the checkpoints without major delays or denials of entry. Again, after months of detentions at checkpoints on the way to prayer and arbitrary detentions, this is only a slight relief from every-day harassment. On the way to prayer, to exercise their freedom of religion, Palestinians still have to cross various military checkpoints – just to pray inside Ibrahimi mosque.

Watch a video of how these checkpoints look like for Palestinians (video credit: Christian Peacemaker Teams Palestine).

Peaceful planting activity stopped by Israeli forces in Hebron

11th June 2016 | Youth Against Apartheid | Hebron, occupied Palestine

On 9th April, Hebron Youth against Apartheid organized a planting activity in cooperation with the Colonization and Apartheid Wall Resistance Commission in the heart of Shuhada Street and Tel Rumeida neighborhood of al-Khalil (Hebron). Dozens of heavily-armed Israeli occupation forces stopped the group while marching towards the land, and prevented them from carrying out the planting. Despite this, the group refused to leave the area and instead protested in front of the armed soldiers, raising Palestinian flags, calling for human rights, justice, freedom, peace, nonviolence, freedom for prisoners and an end to the colonization of the old twon of Hebron city.

Actvists stopped by Israeli Forces Photo credit: Youth Against Apartheid — Actvists stopped by Israeli Forces
Photo credit: Youth Against Apartheid

Afterwards, the activists visited families in the Tel Rumeida neighbourhood, by sneaking into the area that then was still a closed military zone, meaning families are prohibited from receiving visitors. The group managed to visit the activist Imad Abu Shamsiyah who documented the execution of the injured Palestinian teen Abdul Fattah Al-Sharif and for this received threats from Israeli colonists threatening to burn him and his family; as well as the family of human rights defender Hashem Azzah, who was killed by Israeli forces’ tear gas.

Banner against Israeli occupation Photo credit: Youth Against Apartheid — Banner against Israeli occupation
Photo credit: Youth Against Apartheid

Youth Against Apartheid activities against Israeli apartheid occupation of Hebron

11th June 2016 | Youth Against Apartheid | Hebron, occupied Palestine

On 8th June, Hebron Youth Against Apartheid organised an activity to erase the racist Zionist occupation slogans on slaps of concrete walls and the military checkpoints within mainly the Tel Rumeida and Shuhada Street area. The slogans were replaced with slogans calling for freedom, BDS, peace, and to remove the illegal Zionist occupation colonies from the heart of al-Khalil (Hebron) city. During the activity, Israeli forces stopped and chased the activists.

Activists replacing slogans Photo credit: Youth Against Apartheid — Activists replacing slogans
Photo credit: Youth Against Apartheid

In the evening, despite the Zionist occupation forces restrictions, threats and closure, Hebron Youth Against Apartheid decorated Shuhada Street and Tel Rumeida with special Ramadan lights, for the first time in years.

Activists preparing Ramadan lights Photo credit: Youth Against Apartheid — Activists preparing Ramadan lights
Photo credit: Youth Against Apartheid

On 7th June, Hebron Youth Against Apartheid organised a sit-in to protest the continued closure of the apartheid passage leading to Shuhada Street in front of the illegal Zionist occupation colony Beit Hadasa. The Palestinian citizens demanded freedom of movement and a removal of the closure imposed on these stairs since November 2015.

Palestinians stopped by Israeli forces on the Qurtuba stairs Photo credit: Youth Against Apartheid — Palestinians stopped by Israeli forces on the Qurtuba stairs
Photo credit: Youth Against Apartheid

Continuous implementation of apartheid-policies in Hebron

9th June 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team| Hebron, occupied Palestine

For already more than seven months, Israeli forces have kept a staircase leading to Qurtuba school and the surrounding neighbourhood in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron) under closed military zone (CMZ) orders, blocking the access for Palestinians only.

Despite the lifting of the closed military zone (CMZ) in the Tel Rumeida neighbourhood and the tiny stretch of Shuhada Street that is still accessible for Palestinians, the access to Qurtuba stairs has been kept blocked by Israeli forces for Palestinians to use. The access-restriction only applies for Palestinians though – who are entirely denied the use of the stairs – while settlers are free to use the stairs however they please.

The stairs, right at Daboya checkpoint mark the line where Palestinians are no longer allowed to proceed on Shuhada Street, as from there on the street is settlers-only. Therefore, the stairs were a major thoroughfare for Palestinians, as it’s the only option to proceed when coming down this tiny strip of Shuhada Street that is accessible for Palestinians. Around 70 families have been depending on the stairs to access their homes through Shuhada Street. All of these families, with their homes further up from the stairs, are now forced to take a longer and more-strenous detour through olive-groves. These families include old people, women, little children and sick people – none of who will be allowed passage regardless of that.

Additionally, the stairs have been the main access to the Muslim cemetry, as well as the second hand market in the Abu Sneineh neighbourhoood, which regularly attracts hundreds of people. With the access through the stairs closed, Israeli forces are effectively forcing all these Palestinians to take much longer detours, that depending on the way, even require a 15-minute taxi-ride

With settlers, and most often internationals, allowed to use the stairs; there’s no reason to keep up the discriminatory blocking of access for Palestinians. On 1st July 2016 Israeli forces started registering some arbitrarily picked Palestinian families on Shuhada Street for the use of the Qurtuba stairs, refusing to register all the families actually depending on the access through their stairs to reach their homes. The arbitrariness of the Israseli forces decision – and at times the ridiculousness – was illustrated when Israeli forces at Daboya checkpoint, denied a Palestinian man with a watermelon to pass up the stairs despite a permission to pass – unless he would leave the watermelon. What kind of threat that watermelon would have posed to the Israeli forces, is a question that will probably never be answered.

This illustrates that the closure of the stairs is deliberately designed to keep Palestinians away – based on the simple fact that they are Palestinians – while everyone else can use the stairs without any problems. Whith an official closed military zone order in place at the moment, it remains to be seen whether the Israeli forces will uphold this racist strategy that seems to be a continuation at the attempts of forced displacement and thus ethnic cleansing first implemented with the CMZ of the whole neighbourhood, now continued on a smaller scale.

Hebron Human Rights Defender testifies in case of execution of Abdel Fattah al-Sharif

8th June 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

On Wednesday, 8th June 2016, human rights defender Imad Abu Shamsiyah testified in Israeli court in the case of the extrajudicial execution of Abdel Fattah al-Sharif on 23th March 2016 in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron).

Abdel Fattah al-Sharif and Ramzi Aziz al-Qasrawi were both gunned down by Israeli forces at Gilbert checkpoint in the Tel Rumeida neighbourhood of al-Khalil on 24th March 2016. Imad Abu Shamsiyah took footage of the army medic and soldier Elor Azraya executing al-Sharif with a shot in the head while he was lying motionless on the ground after already being shot at several times. The footage went viral and lead to Imad and his family receiving death-threats from settlers, that ‘promised’ they would find the same fate as the Dawabsheh family that was burned alive in their house in a settler-arson attack in the West Bank village of Duma. Israeli forces have failed to provide any kind of protection for the family, which has repeatedly been attacked. Instead, human rights organisations are providing protective presence.

Recent witness statements claim that not only al-Sharif, but also al-Qasrawi was executed in cold-blood with shots in the neck or head at close range when posing no threat and incapacitated. The fact that the Israeli forces surveillance footage of the event has still not been publicised, can only lead to the conclusion that these claims are most likely true and the refusal to publish the surveillance footage is an attempt at hiding the truth of the actual events.

Imad Abu Shamsiyah when entering the court-house

At the same time, large parts of Israeli society were protesting for the release of Elor Azraya, celebrating him as a hero that did not do anything wrong or even committ a crime. Instead, participants were seen with banners calling to ‘Kill them all’ – openly calling for the ethnic cleansing of all Palestinians. For the Jewish festivities of Pessach, he was then released home ‘to celebrate the holiday with his family’ and received in his hometown like a hero.

Today, large groups of settlers were protesting outside the court in Tel Aviv, according to Human Rights Defenders Group some of them from the illegall settlements in al-Khalil.

Demonstrators outside the court-house in Tel Aviv Photo credit: Human Rights Defender Group — Demonstrators outside the court-house in Tel Aviv
Photo credit: Human Rights Defender Group

In a society where the execution of a defenseless, injured and incapacitated person that without any possibility can pose a threat to anyone, is acceptable – as shown in the demonstrations in support for Elor Azraya, and the simple fact that he’s not even charged with murder but merely manslaughter – fails to create a public outcry, it remains to be seen, whether there will be any justice for this cold-blooded killing at all.