Tag: Settler violence

Caught on Tape: Drunk settlers in Al Khalil assault two international women; Israeli military admits special relationship with violent settlers

11 March 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

On March 9 2012, 6 volunteers of International Solidarity Movement were walking down Shuhada Street near Checkpoint 55 at approximately 11 AM, when drunk settlers attacked the group and injured one international volunteer.

About 5 drunk male settlers began to scream at and surround the internationals, yelling “keffiyah,” the traditional Palestinian scarf, that two internationals were wearing.  Settlers were visibly carrying bottles of alcohol.

The drunk settlers shoved one woman from the back and then threw wine on her.

At the point the group began filming the settlers continued to hit, shove and try to grab the cameras of all 6 people.  A police car drove by and did not stop the attack.  One settler, wearing a dinosaur tail costume on his back put a towel on his face before trying to grab the camera of a Canadian ISM volunteer and then punched a British ISM woman in the face. They then fled shouting.

The British woman fell to the ground and dropped her camera, and another settler picked it up.  The ISM volunteers walked up to 5 or 6 Israeli soldiers sitting about 50 yards ahead and told them what happened.

They laughed and said the internationals had brought it upon themselves by wearing keffiyehs.  The internationals then walked to a police car parked at the next junction. While they were explaining what happened, settler Anat Cohen came up to the internationals and police screaming in Hebrew, and then slapped a Canadian ISM woman on the arm, in front of the police.  The police then sent this woman to retrieve the camera.

They told the internationals that this woman was the “head of the settlers” and that they had a “special relationship with her.” “We do her favours and she does us favours,” they said.

The camera was not returned so the internationals attempted to file a complaint at the Israeli police station near the mosque, but were told to go to the  Kiryat Arba police station.  When the British woman asked for a police escort they said to take the bus (motioning to the settler bus station).

A police report was filed at Kiryat Arba but was only in Hebrew so the Candian ISM woman and the British woman refused to sign these statements.  The police have instructed them to bring in the film footage after Shabbat.

The attack comes following weeks of warning and aggression towards photojournalists and activists with cameras by Israeli military and police, which have stated to internationals that Israeli law forbids the photography of their operations, or rather, their breach of international law and human rights.

Activists have received these warnings for weeks now, and today’s attack comes parallel to the deliberate targeting by Israeli military of journalists and activists with cameras, by shooting tear gas canisters and bullets directly at them at most West Bank demonstrations.

About a month ago, Reporters without Borders published this statement regarding these warnings and threats.

While this attack is an escalation against internationals in the region, and while it is evident that the Israeli military and illegal settlers are collaborating in attacking Palestinians and internationals,  International Solidarity Movement will not desist from bringing proof of Israeli aggression through pictures, videos, and its continued reporting.

Breaking: 2 international activists assaulted by extreme settlers in Al Khalil

9 March 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Two international activists were assaulted late this morning by extreme Zionist settlers in Al Khalil (Hebron). A female activist was assaulted by a male settler, after being punched in the face and having her camera stolen by this male settler.

Today’s attack comes following weeks of warning and aggression towards photojournalists and activists with cameras by Israeli military and police, which have stated to internationals that Israeli law forbids the photography of their operations, or rather, their breach of international law and human rights.

Activists have received these warnings for weeks now, and today’s attack comes parallel to the deliberate targeting by Israeli military of journalists and activists with cameras, by shooting tear gas canisters and bullets directly at them at most West Bank demonstrations.

About a month ago, Reporters without Borders published this statement regarding these warnings and threats.

While today’s attack is an escalation against internationals in the region, and while it is evident that the Israeli military and illegal settlers are collaborating in attacking Palestinians and internationals,  International Solidarity Movement will not desist from bringing proof of Israeli aggression through pictures, videos, and our continued reporting.

We thank the international solidarity community for its continued support in the face of Israeli Zionism, colonialism, discrimination, and militarization of Palestine.

In Solidarity,

International Solidarity Movement- Palestine

Settler violence rages in Nablus area

by Jonas Weber

29 February 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Yesterday, violence erupted close to Joseph’s Tomb when settlers gathered near the site. Youths from Balata refuge camp came out to chase the settlers off but where kept at a distance by the soldiers that accompanied the illegal settlers as usual. This is the second time this month that violence occurred due to settlers visiting Joseph’s Tomb.

In the nearby village of Burin, dozens of settlers from the illegal settlement Yitzhar attacked the house of Umm Ayman Sufan by throwing rocks and bottles. The olive trees surrounding Sufan’s home on the southern edge of the village were also cut down.

Meanwhile, another attack on Burin from the illegal settlement of Bracha was reported by the Palestinian Authorities.

“Recently we have noticed that young settlers are hanging out with soldiers at the checkpoints, and we know that they receive training in handling fire arms from the age of 15 under the cloak of self defense,” says Ghassan Daghlas. “Why do they need to learn about fire arms for self defense when they have an entire occupational army protecting them?”

Yitzhar is considered to be home to some of the most militant Zionist settlers of the West Bank, and Palestinians from nearby villages claim that settlers from Yitzhar coordinate attacks against Palestinian villagers with other settlements. The illegal settlement Yeshiva has been suspected by the Israeli intelligence service Shin Bet to be teaching racist and violent ideologies to their students.

The Yeshiva leaders Rabbi Yitzhak Ginzburg and Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira have many times been at the center of controversies surrounding their statements about non Jewish people. Shapiras organization Od Yosef Hai, which includes various grades of educational institutions and publishing, up until recently received extensive funding from the Israeli Education Ministry. In November 2011 both Ginzburg’s and Shapira’s institutions were closed down by the Education Ministry due to information about the participation of students and teachers in attacks on Palestinians and Israeli military forces.

Since these institutions were closed the settler violence from Yitzhar has increased according to Ghassan Daghlas. After all, Yitzhar was the settlement to first take the so called “price tag” tactic into practice. The price tag tactic means to target Palestinian civilians or property in order to get revenge for actions from the Israeli military or government to curb settlement activity, perceived as unjust by the illegal settlers.

Generally the settler attacks increase during the summer when the weather is warmer according to Ghassan Douglas. They also change character with the weather

“In the summer everything is dry and they tend to burn crops and trees, when it’s colder and damper they move on to burn mosques and cars,” he says.

Jonas Weber is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Tel Rumeida: As locals march for rights, Israel sprays funeral procession and injures journalist

by Aaron and Silvia

26 February 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

The divided city of Al Khalil (Hebron) was transformed into a war zone this Friday, as thousands of Palestinian, Israeli, and international activists attempted to peacefully reopen the segregated Shuhada Street and were violently attacked by the Israeli military. Soldiers and riot police used tear gas, sound bombs, sonic weapons, and foul-smelling ‘skunk water’ to break up demonstrations at three different locations, resulting in numerous injuries that sent at least 95 to area hospitals. The demonstrations were the culmination of a week of protest against the closure of Shuhada Street and commemorated the 1994 Goldstein Massacre, in which a Zionist extremist murdered 29 and seriously wounded over 150 Muslims praying at the nearby Mosque Al-Ibrahimi. The call for this Third Annual Global Day of Action to Open Shuhada Street resulted in over 35 actions internationally, organized by scores of groups. In Al Khalil, two local demonstrations (organized by Youth Against Settlements and Hebron Defense Committee) directly confronted the racist laws preventing them access to their once-main street in the heart of the City.

Youth Against Settlements

The larger demonstration left after prayers at the Wassaya Rasoul Allah Mosque in the economically strangled Qeitun neighborhood, just inside the Israeli-controlled H2 zone of Al-Khalil. From there protesters marched and bussed two kilometers towards the Qeitun checkpoint, at which Palestinian are denied access to Shuhada street. Along the way, youth activists from across the West Bank kept the atmosphere festive with chants, drums, banners, and street theater. Activists in white clothing covered in red paint lay down across the road, bearing messages of “The Occupation is Killing” and “End Israeli Apartheid”, to represent the economic, emotional and physical suffering of Palestinians under Occupation.

As activists neared the military’s position some hundreds of meters from the checkpoint, they were quickly attacked with repeat volleys of tear gas and sound grenades, driving protesters back and disrupting the peaceful march. Soldiers arrested local organizer Badia Dweik (39), a member of Youth Against Settlements, along with five other Palestinians. As the military pushed forward with further barrages of tear gas, sound bombs, and a noxious-smelling chemical deterrent called ‘skunk water’, demonstrators scattered over several city blocks in every direction. Yet protesters of all ages and backgrounds returned again and again to confront the military aggression, some with stones and burning tires, but most with their presence, voices, and cameras.

Hebron Defense Committee

Demonstrators met with the Hebron Defense Committee in the troubled neighborhood of Tel Rumeida, where Hanaa Abu Haikl has set up a tent in defiance of the closure of the main road leading to her home which forces her and her elderly parents to climb a rocky wall to enter. Settlers in the area have attacked her family with torrents of abuse and violence, even going so far as to set fire to her car. Surrounded by the charred remains of ancient olive trees, the site is now particularly tragic. Their blackened trunks are a painful remainder of what the illegal occupation has cost the Palestinians of Hebron.

The burnt skeletons of the olive trees were decorated with the Palestinian flag on the morning of Friday 24th Febuary. One hundred and sixty Israelis, Palestinians and internationals came together for the morning prayer and a brief discussion of the effects that the closure of Shuhada street has had on the people of Hebron. The atmosphere was impassioned as Hebron Defense Committee leader Hisham Shabarati described the plight of the Palestinian people through the illegal Israeli occupation.

Some 800 demonstrators walked towards an army of soldiers with their hands in the air in a show of peaceful, non-violent resistance. Despite this clear and non-threatening gesture, Israeli soldiers forced their way into Palestinian homes and roofs and began shooting tear gas and sound bombs at the protestors before the demonstration had moved 100 meters. One sound bomb caught a female reporter from the Israeli human rights organizaion B’Tselem in the back. The grenade blew a hole through her bag, badly burning her hand and back.

The march for Shuhada Street | Click here for more photos

A funeral procession was caught up on the street whilst the demonstration was in process. Protesters stood by to allow the body to be carried forth but Israeli soldiers used this opportunity to shoot skunk water at the demonstrators, which hit the body of the deceased and outraged the family.

Fifteen people were injured and brought to hospital following the demonstration and one person was arrested. Though the action ended prematurely, Hebron Defense Committee member Sami stated that the demonstration was “useful”, explaining that it “brought attention to the pressure put on Palestinian people in Hebron. We are here and we’re not going to move; We do not accept the military machine and its response towards non-violent resistance”.

Aaron and Silvia are volunteers with International Solidarity Movement (names have been changed).

Al-Aqsa Mosque and its surrounding area attacked 100 times during 2011

22 February 2012 | Middle East Monitor

A study conducted by Al-Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage in Israel has revealed that Al-Aqsa Mosque and its surrounding area has been subjected to around 100 attacks and violations in 2011 alone. The study noted that the attacks varied between physical attacks and plots which pose threats to the sanctity and security of the mosque. The study also documented provocative statements constituting incitement by Israelis to damage the third holiest site in the Muslim world.

The report claims that around 5,000 Israelis, including Jewish settlers and members of other extremist groups, stormed into Al-Aqsa in 2011. The intruders performed Talmudic rituals, sometimes in public, other times in secret, including carrying parts of the Torah inside the mosque.

There has also been an escalation in the frequency of incursions by Israeli intelligence officers and political and official figures into Al-Aqsa Mosque.

More than 200,000 tourists were granted admittance to the mosque, sometimes violating its sanctity by wearing scanty clothing.

Al-Aqsa has witnessed a campaign of unprecedented military presence; strict measures preventing Muslims from going to the mosque; and acts aimed at decreasing the continuous Muslim presence in the Noble Sanctuary, through banning orders and limiting entry to certain age groups. The Israeli Occupation Authorities also prevented 3.7 million Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip from reaching Occupied Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque to conduct acts of worship therein.

While the Israelis have blocked essential maintenance and reconstruction within the mosque compound, Jewish organisations’ calls for the mosque to be destroyed and a temple to be built in its place have increased in number. The year 2011 saw a campaign of excavations and the construction of long, interlinked tunnels underneath Al Aqsa and the surrounding area in all directions. The tunnels are to have “Jewish synagogues and Judaisation centres”. What has been notable about the excavations last year is that they have been more overt, unlike previous years.

Israeli efforts to Judaise the area have included work at the Muslim-owned Buraq (“Wailing”) Wall and the proposed demolition of the historic Magharba Gate Bridge. The report notes that the latter was saved, temporarily at least, by the effects of the Arab Spring and concerns raised by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israel has plans to transform the area around Al-Aqsa into so-called “Talmudic gardens”, which will incorporate tourist centres and commercial shopping malls. All of this is in addition to the increasing number of illegal Jewish settlers and settlements in districts such as Ras Al-Amoud.

The Al-Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage has issued a warning that the Israeli Occupation Authorities could seek to capitalise on the developments of the Arab Spring so as to damage Al-Aqsa Mosque and Sanctuary in 2012. Intelligence reports, it says, predict serious attacks against Al-Aqsa by extremist Jews. Such predictions follow statements by former Knesset (Israeli Parliament) Member Avraham Burg that Al-Aqsa will be demolished or torched while Netanyahu is in office; and this, he claimed, will be followed by the establishment of the so-called Third Temple. In the light of these serious threats to the Holy Mosque, the Foundation called on Muslims and Arabs to put Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa at the top of their priorities for action.