Tag: Settlement - Page 43 - International Solidarity Movement

Beit El demonstration under attack by Israeli forces after Martyr laid to rest

10th October 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Ramallah, occupied Palestine

Less than one hour after the Halabi family laid their son, martyr Mohannad al-Halabi, to rest in a cemetery in Ramallah, violent confrontations broke out in the nearby Beit El area. In a continuation of the sharp escalation in violence seen across the occupied Palestinian territories and Jerusalem, demonstrations across the West Bank today were met with an unleashing of brutality by Israeli forces that left hundreds injured and two dead.

After withholding the body of 19 year old Mohannad al-Halabi for seven days, his family received him at 2am Friday morning at a hospital in Ramallah. Thousands gathered Friday afternoon at the Abd al Nasser Mosque for prayers before bringing his body to a nearby cemetery where he was laid to rest near his grandfather.

As Palestinians filled the streets in the Beit El area for demonstration, Israeli forces began showering the crowd with rapid live ammunition fire, hitting 23 and seriously wounding at least 2. 44 others sustained injuries by rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and clouds of tear gas which were fired in rapid succession by venom trucks. Water cannons filled the streets with foul smelling organic or chemical composition fluid.

Confrontations raged on during a demonstration near the Beit El settlement

A Palestinian youth was unharmed after being run over at the demonstration by an Israeli military jeep.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unRWEnqmbm0

Video credit: Maan News

In Gaza City, where West Bank and Jerusalem solidarity demonstrations were held, 7 young Palestinians were martyred in similarly brutal Israeli military attacks that utilized exploding bullets aimed at Palestinian children’s heads and chests. 145 others were reportedly injured as Israeli military forces opened fire at the demonstration held by the border fence east of Gaza City, near Khan Younis on Friday, medics and the Ministry of Health confirmed.

Two Palestinians have been confirmed killed by Israeli occupation forces as of today, bringing the toll of Palestinians murdered in a week of sharply escalated violence in the West Bank to 16 martyred. Over 1,000 have been injured during the escalation. Tensions were sparked after the Israeli government, again, imposed restrictions and refused Muslims entry into al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

An Israeli governmental official in Jerusalem, days ago, made inflammatory statements in calling for Israeli’s to arm themselves amidst the conflict. These statements sharply conflict with other Israeli official’s statements claiming to want to calm tensions raging throughout the West Bank where Palestinians are undergoing not just Israeli military violence but brutal attacks by settlers which include attacks on Palestinian cars, homes and random attacks in the streets.

Days ago in the Tel Rumeida section of al-Khalil, (Hebron) nearly two hundred settlers marched, burning Palestinian flags, chanting ‘death to Arabs,’ and attacking Palestinians and human rights monitors with stones and physical violence.

Today, the 22 year old Palestinian man shot to death near the Kiryat Arba illegal settlement in al-Khalil will be laid to rest after funeral services. In the occupied Palestinian territories, violent escalation continues.

Settlers march through occupied al-Khalil attacking, insulting and threatening Palestinians and internationals

7th October 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

Yesterday night, October 7^th 2015, a large group of settlers harassed, insulted and physically assaulted Palestinian residents and internationals in the Tel Rumeida neighbourhood of occupied al-Khalil (Hebron), injuring several.

Around 08:00 pm, more than 50 settlers from the illegal settlements within al-Khalil, most of them children and teenagers, accompanied by a few adults, marched around the Palestinian neighbourhood of Tel Rumeida, chanting insults and hate-speech, calling for the death of Arabs. The group was not only chanting racist abuse, but also demonstrated a high level of violence and aggression towards the Palestinian residents of the neighbourhood.

After marching through the streets loudly chanting, they attacked Palestinians right outside a shop, running towards them and beating them, and hurling rocks at Palestinian youth and internationals documenting these violent assaults. Instead of intervening, Israeli forces watched these attacks happen at first just to point their loaded guns at Palestinians that just a few seconds before were standing in a hail of stones, threatening to shoot. Two persons were injured with stones thrown by the settlers, a Palestinian youth in his hand and an international in his chest. In the meantime, the settlers openly picked up more stones and rocks from the ground, attacking families that opened their main gates to find out what the shouting was about. Again, instead of preventing or stopping attacks by the settlers, the army violently pushed Palestinians to move back into their homes, yelling at them. All complaints made by Palestinians against the attacks by the settlers were ignored by the soldiers. But not only the settlers, also the Israeli soldiers violently attacked several Palestinians and beat them.

Many families rushed into their homes upon hearing the yelling, locked their doors and then had to watch the settlers chanting abuse at them from behind their windows – protected only by the metal grids installed in the past due to frequent settler attacks. Soldiers, in the best case, are standing idly by. Last night, they were pointing their guns at children and women watching in fear from the roof of their houses – the one place farthest away from the settlers down on the street; and soldiers were banging on the door of Palestinian family homes, while the group of settlers are aggressively chanting and threatening the familieswhile standing right behind the soldiers.

Settler woman photographing internationals getting attacked

When the march proceeded down the hill towards Shuhada checkpoint, where over two weeks ago the Israeli army ruthlessly gunned down and killed the Palestinian student Hadeel al-Hashlamoun, more than two dozen activists from Youth Against Settlement arrived to document the racist abuse and attacks against Palestinians. Israeli forces that by then finally arrived, immediately stopped the Palestinians and isolated them in an alley, preventing them from going anywhere. The group of settlers on the other hand was allowed to keep on chanting racist abuse and burned Palestinian flags, cheering and clapping. Israeli soldiers were getting their guns ready, facing the Palestinians that were clearly upset when their flags were being burned, but did not do anything to stop the flag-burning.

In order to allow for the greatest possible space for the settlers to move around and keep on chanting, Israeli forces pushed back the Palestinians, with one soldier threatening an international that he would ‘break his face’ if he didn’t move right away. Settler children and women also attempted to break cameras of internationals, blocking them from documenting the events and spit at them.

Infamous, aggressive settler Anat Cohen repeatedly attacked an international observer while she was standing right in front of a police car with two policemen inside, that did not even bother to get off the car and instead just kept watching from inside. Soldiers did at no point try to prevent Anat Cohen’s attacks and instead ordered the internationals to go back up the hill, which at that point was not safe with settlers still roaming the streets. The settler woman both tried to grab the international observer’s camera and attempt to punch her in the face without soldiers intervening. When the international observer was ordered by soldiers to move towards the Palestinians detained on the other side of the road, Anat Cohen pushed her as she was passing in front of the police car, and her daughter kicked the her in the stomach. Soldiers still did not intervene and refused to take a complaint about this attack, forcing her and another international to leave.

This incident again illustrates the power settlers hold over the Israeli army. Even when attacking Palestinians – or internationals that enjoy a greater protection than any Palestinian – settlers enjoy the protection of the Israeli army.

Last evening, most Palestinian families, did not go to sleep, staying up late scared of what might happen during the night. Unfortunately, this incident in al-Khalil is only a case in point in a long record of settler attacks, that recently have been escalating not only in al-Khalil, but throughout the occupied West Bank.

Watch a video of the events:

12 year old Palestinian killed in Bethlehem as violence explodes across the West Bank

5th October 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | West Bank, occupied Palestine

Abed al-Rahman Shadi Obeidallah, 12 was still in his school uniform when he was rushed in a civilian car to Beit Jala hospital from Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem today. The boy, from from a Al Kahder village, was shot in the heart during confrontations at Aida camp as violence explodes across the West Bank prompting the Red Crescent to declare a level 3 state of emergency across the occupied Palestinian territories. Another boy was shot in leg with live ammunition during the attack.

Abed al-Rahman Shadi Obeidallah, 12, just before being shot to death by Israeli forces in Bethlehem

Denouncing Israeli violations against humanitarian international law, the Palestine Red Crescent Society staff have endured 14 attacks on their emergency vehicles as Israeli forces and settler violence has sharply surged in a bloody three days. Attacks on PRCS have included medics being beaten by soldiers in Jerusalem, Israeli forces beating an ambulance crew with batons in the old city of Jerusalem and after one attack on an emergency crew in Jabal Al Taweel (Al-Bireh), two medics were injured. Israeli forces attacked an ambulance in al-Issawiya village in occupied East Jerusalem, before arresting an injured Palestinian who was being treated inside the ambulance. An ambulance windshield was also shattered by settlers in Burin village in Nablus. Burin underwent a frightening attack by settlers which left much of it in flames.

Reportedly 465 Palestinians have been injured thus far, including 28 shot with live ammunition and 68 injured with rubber coated steel bullets. Hundreds of others have been overcome by teargas that Israeli forces have been showering over villages and in cities where Palestinians have gathered to demonstrate against their murdering of several Palestinian youths since this past Saturday.

Young Palestinians martyrs recently murdered by Israeli forces.

Fadi Samir Mustafa Alloun, 19, from the East Jerusalem village of al-Issawiya, was shot to death by Israeli forces after allegedly attempting to stab a group of Israelis. 18-year-old Huthayfa Othman Suleiman was shot in the chest during clashes and died in the operating room. In a particularly heinous attack, Yousef Bayan al-Tabib, just six years old, was standing on the side of the road when a settler reportedly stopped his car, shot the child in the stomach, and fled the scene.

Across the occupied Palestinian territories, there have been reports of settlers slaughtering Palestinian’s sheep, attacking Palestinian cars with stones on roads and carrying out violent attacks on villages. As for Israeli forces, soldiers disguised as Palestinians assisting an injured Palestinian into a hospital in Ramallah, disabled security cameras and proceeded to arrest a Palestinian undergoing medical treatment. This is similar to other hospital raids in recent days where a variation of this tactic was repeated.

As for the Israeli government, Netanyahu today made an inflammatory statement to wage a “harsh offensive” against Palestinians; Zionist opportunism at its most typical. Collective punishment is the usual expectation when it comes to the illegally occupying force dealing with the civilian population whose land they are occupying. Israel launched three air strikes in the besieged Gaza strip targeting alleged Hamas ‘terror’ sites after two rockets were fired from Gaza, hitting nothing and injuring no one.

News reports of shootings, injuries, murders, arrests and raids continue to flood in as the situation unfolds at a lightning quick pace. For Palestinians enduring the brunt of Israeli incited race hatred and promoted retribution for the shooting of two Israeli settlers last week, the cavalierly imposed restrictions on al Aqsa Mosque, which have sparked outrage and violent confrontations- and the ensuing chaos, are yet another violent incursion into their lives.

Settlers continuously trespass on private Palestinian land with police protection

3rd October 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

Last night, a group of about two dozen Israeli settlers trespassed on private Palestinian land in al-Khalil (Hebron), protected by the Israeli police.

Firday evenening, a group of about two dozen settlers from the illegal settlement of Kiryat Arba again came to private Palestinian land situated right opposite the entrance to the illegal settlement to pray.

Settlers trespass with protective police presence on Palestinian property/closed military zone

In the past, settlers have built a synagogue on this land that was demolished in April this year, after an Israeli court ruled that they had no right to build on this land owned by a Palestinian family. Since the demolition, settlers have repeatedly attacked the Palestinian families living in this neighbourhood.

Now, the piece of land has been declared a closed military zone, denying the family access to their own land, even though an Israeli court ruled that the land belongs to them. As the land is a closed military zone, settlers are forbidden from entering, yet Israeli police forces were present and protective of Israeli settlers trespassing on the land.

International human rights observers documenting the illegal use of this land were accosted and threatened by the group of settlers as they left the area.

Settlers accost and threaten ISM observers as they leave the area where they were trespassing

Israeli forces escalate restrictions and violence against Palestinians during Sukkot-holiday

2nd October 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, the 28^th – 30^th September 2015 is the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. In the occupied West Bank city of al-Khalil (Hebron), while Israeli settlers from the many illegal settlements within al-Khalil celebrate their holiday, Israeli forces have escalated restrictions and violence against the Palestinian residents, further infringing on their most basic rights.

In preparation for the celebrations of Sukkot, already heavily restricted Palestinian freedom of movement has been almost entirely grinded to a halt by Israeli forces. Especially in the area around the Ibrahimi mosque, food-stalls and entertainment has sprung up for settlers not only from al-Khalil but also visiting from other West Bank illegal settlements. In order to completely barr Palestinians from this main venue of celebration for the settlers and Israeli forces, the mosque checkpoint leading to this area from the Palestinian market has been closed down for two days. Shopkeepers were handed notices by the Israeli army forcing them to again close their shops for the Jewish holiday, imposing more days of forced closures and lost income.

Palestinian schoolchildren forced to squeeze past armored Israeli jeep on their way to school

Families that for generations have lived in this neighbourhood directly next to the Ibrahimi mosque are also barred access. Even if not physically prevented from leaving their houses by closed checkpoints or soldiers randomly denying them entry into the area, large crowds of settlers and soldiers right outside their doorsteps pose an immediate threat for leaving the house. With settlers, at times ‘wearing’ machine guns or hand-guns just like an accessoire, known for their attacks on Palestinians, that seem to escalate especially during the Jewish holidays, Palestinian families are locked up in their houses as if under house arrest, caged inside their homes while right outside their doorsteps settlers and soldiers merrily celebrate their holiday together without even having to think about the local families hoping for the holiday to pass as uneventful as possible.

But in most of the cases, that was not the case, with huge groups of settlers flooding into al-Khalil, Israeli forces did everything possible to facilitate their movement. New checkpoints and road-blocks popped up randomly, leaving Palestinians with their cars parked on the wrong side of them without any possibility to access their cars, soldiers took over several Palestinian houses, using their roofs or even the whole house as a military base to ‘keep an eye’ on Palestinians’ every movement in the maze of obstacles, dead-ends and military checkpoints – almost impossible to navigate in every-day life in a militarily occupied city – further exacerbated by this holiday.

Israeli forces further restricting Palestinian freedom of movement with additional roadblocks

Even in the H1-area of al-Khalil, that is supposedly under full Palestinian control, Israeli forces evicted Palestinian civilians going about their everyday lives attacking them with stun-grenades and rubber coated steel bullets, to facilitate access exclusively for Israeli settlers. Sudden attacks like these didn’t allow even for a few minutes for shopkeepers and vendors to protect their produce from violent assaults by Israeli forces or for families and mothers to hurriedly whisk their small children to safety out of the range of indiscriminate fire. In the area around Bab al-Zawwiyya and Shuhada checkpoint, where Palestinian student Hadeel al-Hashlamoun was ruthlessly gunned down and killed by Israeli soldiers just last week, endless rounds of stun-grenades and rubber coated steel bullets fired at protectors have echoed throughout the days. Israeli forces’ fire has also been directly targeting Palestinian families, with tear gas and stun grenades continuously exploding on the roofs of their homes, leaving them scared and hurriedly closing windows to minimise tear gas slowly seeping into their homes.

Israeli soldier shooting rubber-coated steel bullet from a Palesitnian house

In this escalation of violence, harassment, attacks and restrictions, it doesn’t matter if you’re a small child, a grown up adult or an old person. The stepped up ‘security’ is only imposing further hassles and obstacles on Palestinians’ already severely restricted everyday life. Israeli settlers on the other hand, under the watch of the Israeli forces are free to attack Palestinian families and shops or keep them locked up in their home by blocking their front door. And age doesn’t matter in these cases either, while some of the settlers use their children to block international observers’ cameras, other parents encourage them to join the attacks and insults on Palestinian families. Soldiers idly standing by watching these incidents happen, just a few minutes afterwards, receive pizza delivered by the same settlers or giving them a hug on their way home after their shift is finished.

For Palestinians, every day life is children coming home from school crying, coughing and choking from tear gas shot at them by Israeli forces at one of the many checkpoints they have to cross, passing heavily armed military. Every day life is mothers and fathers anxiously waiting for the return of their children from school if they’re late, hoping and praying they were not randomly snatched by Israeli forces and arrested for ‘dirty hands’ that would indicate they were throwing stones – just because children would never play and get dirty hands. Every day life is families having to endure Israeli settlers attacking a son, brother or father with Israeli forces standing by not intervening and later on arresting the person attacked.

Every day life is a struggle against the illegal Israeli military occupation of every aspect of Palestinian life, a daily struggle against the denial of most basic human rights.

When celebrating a holiday makes this struggle through every day life even more miserable and seemingly impossible, where is humanity?