Tag: Settlers - Page 103 - International Solidarity Movement

CPT: Settlers Heat Up the Air in Al Bweireh

Since approximately 2000, the Israeli Military and nearby settlers have set in place an iron gate across the road leading to Al Bweireh. They have also positioned a huge several-ton rock perhaps 25 meters from the barrier gate on the same road and another gigantic heap of rock and earth 100 meters up from the second blockade. Three roadblocks and a huge settlement, plus Outpost Hill 86 have all but destroyed the “heaven” these villagers once enjoyed on their beautiful land.

Fifty six families representing 560 people no longer have the “luxury” of carrying their groceries to their home by car, of driving their children from school in rain and storm to their homes, or of shipping grain and grapes to market without passing a settlement and military tower. Now, if these Palestinians are going to use a car, they need to go an extra six or seven kilometers on a very bumpy detour road to get to their destination..

In Nov. 2009 CPT was invited to accompany the children of the village on their way home from their schools. The children had experienced stone throwing, cursing, and chasing by the settlers. At times they also had their bicycles stolen. Some of the villagers therefore invited CPT to accompany their children from the eight schools they now attend, past the settlement and outpost to their homes.

Within the last six months, the settlers from the Outpost and Harsina Settlement have begun to “heat up the air” in Al Bweireh with their violent provocative activities toward the Palestinians. Every Friday the settlers enter the village to reach a lone tree on the hill opposite from Outpost Hill 86. They say their leader, Neti, was killed some years ago on this hill. According to the Palestinian residents, as the settlers walk through the Al Bweireh village, they try to pick a fight with some of the Palestinians.

During the week of July 11 the settlers broke two Palestinian car windows and started a fire in a Palestinian neighbor’s lawn. They also threw stones at the farmers and cut the water pipes in one of the grape fields. Prior to these activities, at the beginning of planting season, settlers stole a horse from one of the families. This put the farmer behind in his plowing and also forced him to borrow money to buy a new horse to use until the settlers returned his former horse one month later for the ransom price of 1200 shekels.

During the week of July 18 “about 200 settlers” gathered on the Palestinian road leading through the village. A local Palestinian called CPT to come, to see, to document what was happening. Two CPTers responded, but when they saw the settlers on Outpost Hill 86, they feared something was happening to one of the Palestinians. They approached the settlers at the Outpost and were told to leave. When they began to leave the Outpost, the settlers kicked the CPTers and attempted to steal one of their cameras.

In response to all these provocations, members of CPT or ISM (International Solidarity Movement) are present for some hours in the village every possible day of the week. Also, every Sunday CPT plus their translator Hani Abuhaekel visit the families, build relationships, ask for a review of the past week, and check any further growth of the Outpost. On one Sunday the former Sheik spoke so poignantly: “Why do they (the settlers) come here and do this to us? We all – Jews and Muslims – lived as one family before 1928.”

CPTer Paul Rehm presented a proposal to the “U.S. Campaign to End the Occupation” to help the village of Al Bweireh remove the road blockades to their village. The organization accepted his proposal unanimously and will send it to all 300+ organizations of the Campaign in hopes that each sub group will work creatively in their context on this proposal for the next year.

Though it is not clear what will result from this action, soldiers and police arrived in Al Bweireh at 3:00am Thursday Aug. 5 to dismantle the Outpost. A neighbor said the soldiers found the settlers asleep and had to forcibly carry some of the settlers out of the Outpost. By the time CPT was alerted and was able to arrive in Bweireh, there was evidence of settler reaction to their removal: huge rocks and glass on the Palestinian road and a part of a grape field burned. The military had built a huge earthen mound on the road to the Outpost, making it inaccessible to the settlers. Typically, the settlers begin rebuilding almost immediately. Time will tell.

Masked settlers attack international peace activists in Hebron

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

6 August 2010

Al-Buwayra, HEBRON – This morning, in a second day of violence in the village of Al-Buwayra, near Hebron, two international peace activists were attacked by three Israeli settlers wearing black masks.

Both were left seriously injured and have been hospitalized following the unprovoked attack.

Peter after attack, Al Buwayra — Peter after the attack which left him with a probably broken nose

The settlers knocked Canadian Peter Cunliffe (pseudonym), 26, to the ground then beat him in the face and body using metal poles and wooden sticks. He is being treated for a probable broken nose and serious back injuries.

Danish peace activist Koba Soernesen. 23, is currently having his left foot examined as he is unable to stand.

He said: “We were sitting under a fig tree where we often sit, when they appeared out of nowhere, from the direction of the settlers’ area. Peter didn’t see them coming. They continued to beat him when he was on the floor, but I was able to fend them off a bit with my leg.

“They also stole my bag with my passport and camera in it.”

Both are currently receiving treatment in Hebron hospital.

The attack comes after violence erupted in Al Buwayra yesterday following the evacuation by Israeli authorities of an illegal Israeli outpost near the Kiyrat Arba settlement. Peace activists based in the area have been trying to prevent settlers setting fire to olive trees and documenting cases of attacks on Palestinians by settlers.

On 25^th July two other peace activists, from the Christian Peacemaker Team, were attacked by settlers in Al Buwayra during a massive settler gathering at an illegal Israeli outpost.

Contact
ISM Media Office: 054-618-0056

Available for interview: Koba Soerensen (English & Dansk): 052 821 0047

CPT: Palestinian fence damaged in village in At-Tuwani area

Christian Peacemaker Team – At-Tuwani & Operation Dove

On the morning of Wednesday, 4 August, Palestinians from At-Tuwani found that their fence built between the village and the nearby Havat Ma’on settler outpost had been partially destroyed during the night. The fence, made from cemented metal supports and barbed wire, was funded by European Commission for Humanitarian Aid, Union of Agricultural Work Committee, and Save the Children UK. At-Tuwani villagers built the fence in March 2010 with the aim of protecting crops planted in the area, defining the borders of the agricultural land belonging to Palestinians, and as a response to the ongoing and rapid expansion of the nearby Ma’on settlement and Havat Ma’on outpost. The villagers also constructed the fence to help protect the village from Israeli settler raids (such as the events of 26 January, see press release “Israeli settlers and soldiers invade At-Tuwani, attack and injure villagers” and 12 June, see press release “Israeli masked settlers attack At-Tuwani Palestinian village”).

The morning of August 4, Palestinian villagers found 17 poles supporting the fence pulled up and about 100m of barb wire fencing cut in pieces. They suspect that the perpetrators of this action are the Israeli settlers from the outpost. During this year the same fence had already been damaged on 11 May (see press release “Palestinian fence vandalized in At-Tuwani village”). After that incident, the owner of the land filed a complaint to the Israeli police but he never received any update from them concerning the progress of the investigation.

This property damage is just the last of several ongoing provocations carried out by the Israeli army and Israeli settlers which Palestinian communities in the South Hebron Hills have committed to respond to with nonviolent resistance.

Pictures of the incident:

For further information:
Operation Dove, 054 992 5773
Christian Peacemaker Teams 054 253 1323

[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.]

Dozens mark first anniversary of double Sheikh Jarrah evictions

4 August 2010

Dozens marched to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) headquarters in Jerusalem on Monday, August 2^nd, to mark the first anniversary of the eviction of two Palestinian families from their homes in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah.

Holding UNRWA to account

Representatives of the al-Ghawi and Hanoun families, whose homes have been occupied by Israeli settlers since August 2^nd 2009, were joined by Palestinian, Israeli and international supporters, who gathered at ten in the morning outside the houses in question, held a short prayer, and then marched to the UNRWA compound.

The group of around sixty people, including members of the media, asked to be admitted for an audience with UN representatives. Family members demanded of officials why, after one year, nothing had been done, and Palestinians from the same neighbourhood who are facing eviction asked why they had been show so little support.

Some ISM activists accompanied representatives from the Hanoun and Al-Ghawi family, as well as from the Al-Kurd family – who currently remain in Sheikh Jarrah but must endure daily harassment and humiliation from settlers who have occupied the front room of their property – inside the UNRWA building to speak with officials.

Demanding long overdue support

The families made three principal demands of the UN: firstly that they provide the full financial assistance to which the families are entitled, and which they need to pay the rent for the apartments they have lived in since being dispossessed; secondly, that the UN help them establish and maintain a presence in Sheikh Jarrah as a symbol of resistance to the injustice of the situation; and finally that they provide UN flags to families in Sheikh Jarrah still under threat of eviction – as a sign of support and in recognition that international law views such evictions as illegal.

Eventually Filippo Grandi, Commissioner General of UNRWA, spoke, saying that the UN is working in Sheikh Jarrah and similar places such as Silwan, and is maintaining a strong presence as well as pressuring Israel to hear an appeal on behalf of the families and monitoring the cases of other families threatened with eviction. However, some ISM activists and family members felt that the UN’s response was unsatisfactory.

One member of the Al-Ghawi family – who have documents proving that they own the house from which they were evicted – commented: “It’s always the same, excuses, words but almost no action. Why can’t the UN at least show they are supporting us with something as small as a flag?”

Legally unjustifiable

The eviction on August 2^nd 2009 was justified on the basis of the ruling by an Israeli court which recognized the settlers claim to own the properties, based on a document dating from the Ottoman era, riddled with inconsistencies. However, the American and British consulates as well as the United Nations, condemned the eviction. The court had refused to recognize the documents the Palestinian families had provided proving their ownership, granted to them by the Jordanian government and UN. Regardless of ownership their status as refugees also grants the families protection.

Under international law Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem violate UN Security Council resolutions 465, 242, 446, 452. All measures taken by Israeli to change the character and demographic character of Jerusalem lack legal validity and its policies and practices towards this end constitute a flagrant violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention relating to the protection of civilians in conflict situation

Despite this clear position, just last week another Palestinian family were evicted from their home under similar circumstances, showing that Israel’s policy of ethnic cleansing is continuing. The attempted Judaisation of Jerusalem – spoken of explicitly by several settler groups – and its corollary, the expulsion of Palestinians, is a slow and insidious but ongoing phenomenon, which has been condemned by Israeli human rights groups ICAHD and B’Tselem as well as the United Nations Commission for Human Rights.

Solidarity gathering

Later that evening the families hosted their usual Monday night community dinner and a drumming lesson taught by an Israeli samba band and attended by around 80 people followed.

Settlers could be observed filming people from the occupied houses. They also called Israeli police and complained to them that the road was being blocked. Police loitered on the scene for a long time but did nothing.

A talk was given by a Jewish Israeli professor from Tel Aviv University, in Hebrew and Arabic, analyzing the similarities – and difference – between the Holocaust and Palestinian situation. There was also a screening of the acclaimed film Bili’in Habibti.

Just before the projection of the film a settler threw a stone into the garden but no-one was hurt.

One ISM activist said: “It’s sad that on an anniversary like this, it’s clearer than ever that Israeli policy is not changing – a new eviction in the Old City happened just last week. These evictions are illegal, and create a massive obstacle to justice and peace, as well as on an individual level making families including young children homeless in a very traumatic way.”

First anniversary of double Sheikh Jarrah eviction

2 August 2010

Today, August 2^nd, marks one year since the Hanoun and al-Ghawi families were evicted from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem at 5:30 in the morning by Israeli security forces.

A 'Stop Ethnic Cleansing' banner from a demonstration against the Sheikh Jarrah evictions. — A banner from a demonstration against the Sheikh Jarrah evictions.

The families, together with their Palestinian, Israeli and international supporters will mark the date with a gathering and prayer at 10:00, followed by a march to the Jerusalem municipality. They will call for an end to the injustice of evictions and to the ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem which the Israeli legal system supports.

A community dinner will be held in the evening followed by an all-night vigil.

Existence is resistance

The eviction of the two families on August 2^nd 2009 caused international outcry, and was condemned by the UN, as well as the American and British consulates.

Since then both families have maintained a presence outside their houses which are occupied by extremist Israeli settlers who moved in on the same day that Israeli police evicted the Palestinians.

Daily harassment

For those Palestinians who remain, such as the al-Kurd family, who remain in their home despite the front part of their house having been occupied by settlers, daily verbal harassment and physical violence from the settlers is the norm.

A settler attacks young boy in Sheikh Jarrah

The Israeli police also exhibit a consistently discriminatory attitude towards law enforcement, along ethnic lines, so that Palestinians can expect no protection – but instead they are frequently blamed and arrested when they are the victims of violent attacks.

The anniversary falls a few days after another Palestinian family were evicted from their home under similar circumstances, and the property, near Herod’s Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem, occupied in the same manner by Israeli settlers.

History

The Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem – a particularly sensitive neighbourhood due to its proximity to the Green Line – was built by the UN and Jordanian government in 1956 to house Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war. However, with the start of the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem, following the 1967 war, settlers began claiming ownership of the land the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood was built on.

Stating that they had purchased the land from a previous Ottoman owner in the 1800s, settlers claimed ownership of the land. In 1972, settlers successfully registered this claim with the Israeli Land Registrar. An Israeli Supreme Court ruling was used to justify the eviction of the Hanoun and Al-Ghawi families.

Israel occupied east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed it in a move not recognized by the international community. It sees all of Jerusalem as its “eternal, undivided” capital and is attempting to alter the demographics of the east side of the city.

For many Palestinians, however, the east of the city — home to some 200,000 Jewish Israelis and 268,000 Palestinians — should be the capital of their state.

Contact:

ISM Media Office

palreports@gmail.com

054 618 0056