Tag: settler attack - Page 6 - International Solidarity Movement

Israeli settlers attacked internationals and a Palestinian shepherd

15th September | Operation Dove | At Tuwani

On September 14th, two Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian shepherd and two international near the Israeli outpost of Mitzpe Yair, in the South Hebron Hills area. During the aggression, the settlers stole video cameras from the internationals and broke one of their phones. Israeli police detained the Palestinian shepherd and one of the internationals for six hours. There were no consequences for the settlers.

At about 9:00 a.m. four Palestinian shepherds from the South Hebron Hills village of Qawawis were grazing their flocks accompanied by two internationals, on Palestinian owned land nearby the Israeli outpost. Two settlers from Mitzpe Yair crossed a closed area (where the access is forbidden to everyone else) in order to attack one Palestinian shepherd, starting to chase away his flock. The two internationals present taped the scene.

Afterwards the settlers assaulted the internationals: at first they grabbed one by the neck and knocked him down, they snatched his camera and broke his phone; subsequently the settlers attacked the other one twisting her arm and also seizing her camera. The settlers ran back to the outpost holding the stolen cameras, and the Palestinian and the internationals went to Qawawis village.

The Israeli police came to the Palestinian village and asked the shepherd and internationals to follow them to the Israeli Police station in Kiryat Arba settlement, due to one settler claiming that they threw stones at him. The Police officers detained both of them for six hours and questioned them about the incident. Israeli police released them at 5:00 p.m. without consequences.

The South Hebron hills area has suffered from the presence of Israeli settlers’ since the 70’s. Eight Israeli settlements and outposts (among which Mitzpe Yair is one) almost completely isolate 16 Palestinian villages from the rest of West Bank. The settlers’ violence includes overt violent attacks on Palestinians and their animals, damages to private properties, and limitations to freedom of movement with many consequences on their daily life. Since the beginning of 2014, Operation Dove registered the arrests of 15 Palestinians, included minors, because they were on lands near the settlements. During the same period there were no consequences for Israeli settlers involved in the incidents occurring in the area.

In spite of the violence suffered by the Palestinians from the South Hebron Hills area, they keep on grazing and farming on their lands, resisting in a non-violent way to the Israeli occupation.

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

[Note: 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 considered illegal also under Israeli law.]

The arrest of Burin activist Ghassan Najjar

10th September 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus team | Burin, Occupied Palestine

The prominent activist from the West Bank village of Burin, and member of Solidarity Movement for Free Palestine, Ghassan Najjar, was taken by the Israeli army from his home in the early hours of the morning on the 27th August. He was transferred to the notorious interrogation facility, Petah Tikva.

The before he was arrested, Ghassan, alongside a group of a villagers from Burin, tried to prevent Israeli soldiers from entering the girls’ classroom of the local school.

Staff from the Israeli Human Rights organisation BT’selem, who was filming the attempted school incursion, was also detained, but released shortly after.

Ghassan was arrested for allegedly throwing stones and hitting a soldier.

On 31th August he appeared briefly before a secret court and a Military Judge agreed to his detention for a further seven days. The second court hearing, which took place on 7th September, was also brief because the soldier witness did not turn up and Ghassan’s detention was extended for eight more days.

Ghassan’s friends and family showed ISM, during a recent visit to Burin, a video of the army attack on the school and saw no evidence that Ghassan did anything other than peacefully protest with the others against the school raid.

When asked if the video would be useful for Ghassan’s defense, a friend of Ghassan said, “It would be in a democratic country, but all the Israelis care about is their security.”

Another of Ghassan’s friends told ISM he had received many threats at different checkpoints, preceding his recent arrest. “Once a soldier told Ghassan that they did not want to arrest him directly at the checkpoint, because they wanted to come to his house, destroy everything and make his mother suffer.”

When the occupying army came to arrest Ghassan, the unit captain instructed the soldiers to “destroy everything,” a soldier turned to Ghassan’s mother and stated, “we will wreck your house.”

They did as promised. Everything that could be broken was broken and slashed. They even broke pots with houseplants, and cut bottoms from the armchairs. The vandalism lasted from 2am to 4.30am.

Ghassan was taken away, handcuffed and blindfolded. Only after the soldiers left, did his mother allow herself to cry.

“Our resistance is peaceful. Ghassan never did anything violent, but we worry because we know Israeli military justice. To give you an example, to this day both Ghassan’s lawyer and the International Committee of Red Cross have been denied access to him,” A friend of the family stated.

For a number of years, the Palestinian West Bank village of Burin, located seven kilometers south of Nablus, has been under constant attack by both the Israeli occupying army, and the zionist settlers from some of the most extreme illegal settlement colonies, such as Yitzhar and Bracha, covering the hilltops around it.

A villager told ISM that the army invades the village almost nightly. Soldiers enter houses and the whole families with children and older people are forced to stay outside in the middle of the night, for long periods of time.

Frequently the army erects checkpoints at the entrance and in the center of the village, near to the boys’ school and the Mosque.

“Things are going to get even worse,” Another villager stated, “The olive harvest is around the corner and that is when settler attacks intensify. Olive harvest used to be a festival, a time of joy, and now it is a nightmare.”

Since the start of the Israeli occupation in 1967, much of Burin’s land and water has been taken away and handed over to the Zionist settlers or to the occupying Israeli army, for military bases.

“About 25 to 30 dunums (one dunum is 1000m²) of land belong to our village and we have free access only to seven dunums and even that is limited to some parts of the year,” said a local man.

Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights organization, reports that in 2013, Burin lost more olive trees due to settler vandalism than any other West Bank village. In the first months of the last year alone, 7714 Palestinian owned trees were damaged.

Israeli settlers attack Palestinian family in Hebron, injuring five people including a child

20th July 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

At midnight this evening in al-Khalil (Hebron), a large group of settlers from nearby illegal settlements, attacked the home of the Al-Sharabati family.

Some of the settlers were intoxicated as they forcefully attempted to enter the Palestinian home; Israeli soldiers nearby watched the incident and made no attempt at intervention. Other Palestinians arrived as the settlers succeeded in entering into the house.

The settlers threw stones inside their house and attacked the family. Eventually the Israeli military arrived, and their response to the settler violence was to throw tear gas grenades and spray pepper spray at the Palestinians.

A 12-year-old boy was hit by a stone and knocked unconscious; he was rushed to hospital in H1 [supposedly under full Palestinian Authority civil and security control].

Four more people from the ages of 15 to 55-years-old were injured. Four of the people, including the 12-year-old child, had to be carried through a checkpoint as the Palestinian ambulance was not allowed to enter the H2 [under full Israeli military civil and security control] area of al-Khalil.

After 30 minutes the Israeli military finally allowed one ambulance to pass through and drive away with one injured person.

The Israeli military detained one youth for two hours. For an hour and 30 minutes the solders prevented Palestinians and internationals from walking near the Al-Sharabati family home.

Some of the solders appeared to make jokes with each other, posing for cameras, and when a Palestinian asked a solder if he would arrest the settlers if they attacked him, the solder responded, “no.”

Settlers attempted to kidnap and shoot two young Palestinian children

15th July 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus team | Dear Istiya, Occupied Palestine

Yesterday in the village of Deir Istiya, two young boys, Hasim Abu Zeed (13) and Hathem Yaser Abu Zeed (9) were attacked by Israeli settlers.

Every day Hasim and Hathem’s family have to cross a road, which separates their homes from the village. This puts them in a dangerous position, exposing them to settler harassment and violence.

Yesterday evening when they were passing a road to visit a store in the village, a car drove by and dragged the two boys inside. Hasim screamed, causing people to wake in the village, this appeared to unnerve the settlers and the two boys managed to escape into the olive fields, close to their house.

While the boys ran, one of the settlers pulled out an M16 and tried to shoot them, and also fired into the sky. Thankfully neither boy was injured.

When the Israeli soldiers arrived, they offered the family protection for four days, but left after an hour.

The family is now extremely frightened; especially as this was not the first time one of their children was targeting by colonial settlers.

Seven months ago, Hathem’s younger brother, Ibrahim Yaser Abu Zeed (8) was crossing the street when a settle car ran him over, dragging him several meters before driving away. When the boy was found his wounds were so severe that it seemed likely he would die.

He was taken to a hospital located inside the state of Israel and fortunately survived, traumatized and badly injured, he returned to his family. Several months later, he still has to use a prescribed cream on his wounds to help the scar tissue heal. The cream costs 170 shekels, which is a serious financial burden.

Physical violence from settlers in Deir Istya is not uncommon; the situation is the same in so many other Palestinian villages close to illegal settlements. Deir Istya is being surrounded by settlements, which continue to steal more and more Palestinian land. The village itself is located in area A (under full Palestinian Authority civil and security control), but it is surrounded by area C (under full Israeli military civil and security control).

Nine people in the Zeed family live in in two rooms. The father of the family attempted to erect a tent for his goats beside the house, which Israeli soldiers immediately demanded him to destroy himself, or they would force him to pay them to destroy it.

Settlers attack village of Einabus

7th July 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Einabus, Occupied Palestine

The village of Einabus lies approximately 10 km south of Nablus, in the northern half of the West Bank. The illegal settlement of Yizar is located just up the hill from the village.

In the evening of Monday, July 6th, ten to twelve settlers descended from the settlement and attacked a house in the village. According to witnesses, at least two of them were carrying rifles, and the rest were armed with stones. Their target was the house of an inhabitant named Saleh, who had died the previous day and whose family was in mourning. In keeping with tradition, only women and children were staying in the house, since the three day mourning period had not yet passed.

“They came to kidnap the boys,” said a witness when asked why he thought the settlers would attack that house. “They know there are only women and children there now.”

Young men from the village were able to chase away the settlers. They called the District Coordination Office, and the army entered the village, but by that time the settlers had vanished.