Tag: Settlers - Page 11 - International Solidarity Movement

Settler attack towards Palestinians in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron) [VIDEO]

4th August 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

Friday 4^th of August after the Shabbat prayers (Kabbalat Shabbat), approximately 40/50 settlers attacked Palestinians on Prayer Road by using verbal violence and throwing stones, 3 Palestinians were injured due to the stones thrown by the settlers. The Israeli forces forcefully dispersed the crowd by throwing stun grenades at the Palestinians.

Around 8.20 PM, tensions got high when a group of settlers returning from the Shabbat prayers started to intimidate and physically and verbally harass a group of Palestinians. The Israeli Occupation Forces tried to separate the two groups, without attempting to disperse the settlers. The settlers were aggressive and continuously attempted to get at the Palestinians but were held back by the Israeli soldiers. The settlers began throwing rocks at the Palestinians, injuring 3. In self-defense, the Palestinians threw rocks back, injuring one settler. The soldiers pushed back the Palestinians and threw several stun grenades into the crowd, dispersing it. The settlers were escorted back to the settlement. None of the settlers were arrested. The soldiers remained at the site as more arrived. The Palestinians attempted to show the soldiers their injuries caused by the settler attack but were ignored. Large amounts of military vehicles and soldiers remained in the area, limiting the free movement of Palestinians on their way home. After two hours, the soldiers began to leave the area.

Due to the tense situation in al-Khalil, with settlements placed close to the Palestinian neighborhoods, Palestinians are often harassed and attacked by the settlers. Every Friday settlers from the illegal settlements of Qiryat Arba and Beit Shalom pass through a Palestinian neighborhood on their way to Shabbat prayer, often leading to verbal and physical violence towards Palestinians in the area.

Palestinian victim of settler attack in al-Khalil (Hebron)

8th Kite Festival in Burin

18th July 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Burin, occupied Nablus

At the beginning of July the local committee of Burin invited to the town`s 8th Kite Festival of the City. The festival is kind of a tradition for this town, but has not taken place for the last three years, because the main organiser and head of the Burin Youth Committee, Target Organisation for Rural Development, Ghassan Najar was in prison, having been arrested for hosting the last Kite Festival in 2014.

Burin is a small village west of Nablus with 2,000 inhabitants.

Around 400 people participated in the festival, which saw the community organise food, water and music for the attendees, who gathered on a hill in the north of the village. Families from Burin, children form the Jordan Valley and also kids from the Balata refugee camp in Nablus were able to come together to spend a sunny day in the hills and to compete to see whose kite flew highest. The children brought colourful, handmade kites, the men danced and the women handed out delicious homemade treats. The atmosphere was full of peace and joy.

Every child got a medal as memento for this great day after the competition was over.

Some children proudly showing their medals

The main organiser, Ghassan, has been head of the Target Organisation for Rural Development for several years. This Committee is heavily targeted by the Israeli forces: 25 of the 40 members were once detained up to three years without a charge, laptops were stolen, their belongings were broken and relatives of the members threatened.

Military raids are common in Burin, as it is located directly next to the illegal Ariel settlement and surrounded by illegal military and settler outposts. Settlers are constantly threatening the farmers of the village when they go out to work on their land. A huge part of the land is not even accessible for the farmers, as entering the property which is close to the settlement is simply to dangerous. Settler violence is one of the major problems of the community: burned olive trees, stolen olives and harassment are part and parcel of the olive harvest season.

Apartheid illustrated: Israeli soldier shoots another soldier in Hebron

6th July 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

On Tuesday, 4th July 2017, Israeli forces were conducting a ‘military training’ in a civilian Palestinian neighborhood near Gilbert checkpoint in Tel Rumeida in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron). The result of this ‘military training’ was a fatal shot by one Israeli soldier to the other. The injured commander was immediately evacuated to hospital by an Israeli ambulance, and was later confirmed dead. The Israeli forces immediately closed the whole area to Palestinians by closing all the checkpoints, collectively punishing the civilian Palestinian population. The army, after the incident, announced that these ‘military trainings’ will be suspended in al-Khalil.

The whole incident, though, needs to be contextualized: an occupying army conducted a ‘military training’ near a checkpoint installed for the control and humiliation of the occupied population, in a civilian residential neighborhood. Immediate medical assistance to the injured occupying soldier, with an ambulance that, without any problems, was granted immediate access to the injured.

Military trainings, under international humanitarian law, are prohibited in civilian areas. The Israeli occupying army in al-Khalil, and all over the occupied territories, though, conducts trainings in civilian areas. This serves two functions: for one, it is more ‘real’, a training in the area where the perceived ‘enemy population’ is living, and second, the intimidation of the population. Israeli forces in al-Khalil are sometimes seen ‘practicing’ the ‘neutralization’, as it is called in Israeli rhetoric, of Palestinians at checkpoints. In those cases, a Palestinian that allegedly carries a knife is seen as a threat to the life of the heavily armed and armored occupation forces – and thus has to be shot and, as documented in so many cases, left to bleed to death on the ground without any medical assistance. The idea is always to shoot to kill.

Whereas an Israeli soldier or settler from the illegal settlements would immediately receive medical assistance, as Israeli ambulance are free to pass, Palestinian ambulances, and actually any Palestinian vehicles (often including donkeys and bicycles) are not allowed to drive on one of the roads in al-Khalil – which conveniently connects the settlements in down-town al-Khalil with the Kiryat Arba settlement on the outskirts of the city. Palestinian ambulances, as they are not allowed on this street, instead, are often detained by Israeli forces at the checkpoints, denied to pass and thus denied access to give first aid.

Immediately after the incident, the Israeli forces closed all the checkpoints in the area, effectively putting the area under curfew – for Palestinian residents. Any Palestinian civilian inside the area, thus, was prevented from leaving, and anyone outside trying to reach their homes, was prevented from coming back home. This is clearly collective punishment of the Palestinian civilians, who are not involved in the incident at all – other than living in an area that the Israeli forces are trying hard to rid of any Palestinian presence. Whereas Palestinian movement was completely restricted and Palestinians trying to film the incident and it’s aftermath were stopped and harassed by soldiers. Settlers, however, from the illegal settlements, were allowed to move around freely. In a separate incident, a settler beat up a Palestinian young man, causing his face to be unrecognizable as it was covered in blood. The settler though, can be sure that he’ll enjoy full impunity under the protection of the Israeli forces.

These kind of military trainings in the aftermath were declared ‘suspended’ in the city of al-Khalil. However, only because a soldier was killed, not because of their illegal nature in civilian areas or a possible threat to the occupied population.

This incident illustrates the apartheid system installed by the Israeli occupying forces in al-Khalil, and all over the occupied Palestinian territories. An apartheid-strategy that aims to displace the Palestinian population from their homeland in favor of illegal settlements.

A day in Umm al-Kheir, threatened by demolition by Israeli forces

29th June 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

Our day in Umm al Kheir started with a common flying checkpoint, set up by the Israeli forces in Zif. Our mini-bus driver dind’t want to pass this control so we got out of the car and walked through the control and then waited for our friend from the village to pick us up. We had some spare time and bbserved the soldiers controlling nearly every vehicle trying to pass and wrote down their plate-numbers. After we got picked up we tried to enter the village, which is only accessible through one road. This road is directly next to the illegal settlement Karmel and therefore entirely under the control of the Isreali forces. An Israeli police-car was stationed directly at the entrance to the village to stop and control every passing car, so we made a u-turn to avoid yet another control and contact with the police and instead waited until the police had left to enter Umm al Kheir.

The fence separating Umm al-Kheir from the illegal Karmel settlement

Umm al Kheir is located in the South Hebron Hills in the south east of Yatta. The village is divided in different parts: on one side there is the bedouin village Umm al Kheir and a bit further the village itself with the mosque and around 1300 inhabitants. We visited the Bedouin part of Umm al Kheir. This part of the village is located directly next to the settlement: the playground for the children is surrounded by fences which separates the settlement from the village, the main road through the village leads directly into the settlement and is frequently used by settlers. The whole life in this beautiful peace of land is dominated by their settler-neighbours: except of one house in the village, every house has several times been demolished and is constantly threatened by demolition by the Israeli forces. The location directly next to settlement and in Area C is reason enough for the Israeli administration to reject building permits and thus ignore the villagers trying to live their every day lifes (The vast majority of building permits in Area C for Palestinians are denied). Umm al Kheir is not connected to any water or electricity supply system, and the Israeli government refuses those services for the village. Meanwhile the settlement directly adjacent to the village has electricity 24 hours a day. Umm al Kheir on the other hand is dark in the night, just lit by the light shining from the settlement and the chicken-farm on the other side. The Israeli administration build a mast system to ensure the power supply for the chicken-farm directly through the village. This power cable, cutting through the village, highlights even more how communities in the South Hebron Hills and anywhere else in Area C are humiliated by the Israeli forces and deliberately left alone in their fight for dignity and their basic needs such as water or electricity.

But Bedouins are strong people and so the people of Umm al Kheir remain to their land, raise their children, find love and happiness. A solar panel installation was installed to ensure at least the basic electrical needs. This plant was build on the only house in Umm al Kheir, which is, according to the Israeli administration not ‘illegal’ and thus not under threat of demolition.

The inhabitants, left without shelter after a demolition, rebuild their houses after a demolition. There is a community centre, a playground and even a library in this tiny village. Everything is build without a permission and was demolished several times but the will to fight for the land and their existence is bigger than the bulldozers.

Umm al-Kheir library and community-center

We met unbelievable warmhearted people, made new friends and had a delicious Iftar, made by the local women. Because of the bedouin hospitality we felt directly at home and enjoyed strolling around between the sheep and discovering which plants are growing in the garden.

But as mentioned before, Umm al Kheir is threatened by house demolitions, as every house has an outstanding demolition order. The army keeps coming to the village, taking pictures of the shelters. Also camera drones, controlled by settlers are appearing regularly to record any possible changes. Umm al Kheir fears demolition after the end of Ramadan and has requested protective presence in the village. We already spent a night there with a team, as are other groups such as CPT.

Rubble from a recent demolition by Israeli forces

This is not just about a few houses, this is about homes and the existence and Umm al Kheir, which shares its fate with so many small villages around the whole occupied West bank, which suffers under the Israeli occupation.

Israeli soldiers occupy home of Palestinian family during Pesach, al-Khalil

15th April 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | al-Khalil (Hebron), occupied Palestine

Israeli soldiers walk down the stairs of the family home, where some of the children wait, after occupying the roof.

A Palestinian family living in the Old City of al-Khalil were subject to nightly home intrusions by Israeli forces throughout the week leading up to Pesach, or Passover. On Wednesday 12th April, ISM activists visited the home on Shalallah Street before staying with the family overnight to monitor the situation.

The father of the family told ISM activists how six soldiers would arrive at the house at roughly 2 am, banging aggressively on the door with their M16 rifles before forcibly making their way up to the roof of the family home. These incursions occurred several times throughout the week as the same soldiers would arrive in the middle of the night to access and occupy the roof where they would sit for just one hour before leaving again through the family home.

The father believes these nightly intrusions come as punishment from Israeli forces in response to him welcoming tour groups and tourists onto his roof to witness the family’s situation. The rooftop overlooks the illegal settlement of Beit Hadassah – from which members of the family often experience harassment from neighboring colonial settlers – as well as the nearby Israeli military outpost.

The family has eight small children, all of whom are frequently woken-up scared at the sight and sounds of Israeli soldiers entering the home. The intrusions occurred all week before culminating on Wednesday the 12^th of April when Israeli forces – this time consisting of eleven soldiers and two dogs – appeared at the house a total of four times throughout the day.

The entrance to the family home, located between Shuhada Street and Shalallah Street. To the left of the house is the playground for the children of Israeli settlers.

The past week in Khalil has been characterized by an increased military presence, house intrusions, closures, and harassment as Israeli settlers and tourists celebrate the Jewish holiday of Pesach. However, incidents such as these are not unique, as many Palestinian families living close to illegal Israeli settlements or outposts across the occupied West Bank often experience night raids, vandalism, and harassment at the hands of both colonial settlers and Israeli soldiers.