Tag: Settlers - Page 134 - International Solidarity Movement

Settlers and army attack farmers in Qaryut, leaving five wounded

27 October 2009

At around 8am, on Tuesday 27 October, olive farmers from the village of Qaryut, south of Nablus, were physically assaulted by settlers from the nearby illegal settlement of Shilo. At least two Palestinian children were injured by the settlers, one sustaining an injury to his arm and the second one to his foot. When the Israeli forces arrived, they allowed the settlers to leave the scene, as the soldiers started attacking the Palestinians. One man was hit in the back of his head by a soldier’s rifle, only to find himself detained. The Palestinian farmers were ordered to stop picking and return to Qaryut.

Shortly afterwards, however, the village was raided by the army. Fearing that their fathers, husbands and sons would be arrested, the local women formed a human chain around them. The Israeli army responded to this non-violent act of resistance by showering the women with pepper-spray and hiting them with their rifles. It was at this time that Wegdan Mohammad Khalid, a 42 year old woman from Quryat was hit in the back with a rifle butt by an IDF soldier. She was taken to the emergency room at the Rafidiya Hospital in Nablus, suffering from great pains in her back. According to Red Crescent medics, at least five Palestinians were treated for injuries during the morning.

In spite of the heroic, non-violent resistance by the women of Quryat, the army managed to arrest one Palestinian and detained him at the police station in Shilo. Following the arrest, a large congregation of Palestinian men and women assembled near the settlement, demanding his release. For several hours, the villagers stood in solidarity with the detained man and were repeatedly pushed around by the Border Police, who prevented them from getting closer to Shilo.

The attack occured on one of the limited dates the District Coordination Committee (DCO) has allocated to Qaryut for picking olives. Today’s events will thereofre have a significant economic impact on the village, as they have been left with a very little time to pick the remaining olives. The DCO dates in theory allow Palestinians to pick their olives in a safe environment, as the army is obliged to protect them from violent settlers on days that have been allocated to them. It is very unlikely that a new date will be given to the village.

Tragic and pointless as this incident was, Palestinian farmers are regularly subjected to such harassment. In April of this year, 900 dunums of land were stolen from the village for the construction of roads solely for the benefit of the army and illegal settlers. While this is defended as ‘necessary for logistics’, there are already reports of the land being used for agriculture by the settlers. Qaryut is surrounded on three sides by these illegal settlements and as such finds itself in a very difficult situation.

Tensions escalate in Sheikh Jarrah as settlers attempt to provoke violence

23 October 2009

On Friday 23 October 2009, tensions ran high when 30 settlers conducted a provocative prayer on the street outside the confiscated Gawi family house in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of occupied East Jerusalem. Several heavily armed Israeli police units arrived quickly thereafter but they did not stop the prayer until after one hour. In response to the settler action, the Gawi family and Palestinian neighbours put up a display of resistance by making noise with pans and horns which drowned out the prayer noise. Many internationals arrived on the scene to document the event and discourage any physical attack by the settlers or police. After the visiting settlers had left the neighbourhood, the police withdrew, leaving one unit on the street outside the house all night long.

The incident started at 4pm when a large number of settlers arrived at the house. This immediately sparked worries about a potential violent attack. The tension escalated at 5pm when 30 settlers exited the house and gathered on the sidewalk outside, in close proximity to the small tent just across the road, where the Gawi family have been living since they were forcefully evicted from their now occupied house on 2 August 2009. Facing the staircase running along the front of the house, the settlers collectively conducted a passionate and loud prayer. After about 30 minutes, they changed the prayer mode to singing and dancing in a ring. The one hour long prayer seemingly blessed and celebrated the Jewish family’s confiscation of the house, showing no sign of concern for the hardship inflicted upon the Gawi family.

A couple of days earlier, on Tuesday 20 October 2009 at around 8pm, the Gawi family were violently attacked by a group of eight settlers. In that attack, lasting 30 minutes, seven members of the Gawi family had to be treated in hospital for relatively minor injuries, for example a knife-cut hand, and their tent was vandalised. Six police units arrived on the scene but did not stop the attack, instead opting to first observe the attack and later arrest five local residents including members of the Ghawi family; three of them were quickly released but two remain in custody for allegedly attacking settlers.

The day after that attack, about 20 settlers arrived for a meeting in the occupied house, causing tension and anxiety about another potential attack. Relatives and neighbours of the Gawi family gathered around the tent, and organised a night-watch presence for the next couple of days, putting the family under an even bigger pressure as they were getting barely any sleep. Settlers are armed with guns and knives, while Palestinians are not even allowed to be in possession of kitchen knives.

On Sunday 18 October 2009, the police and municipality workers came to the tent and verbally gave an eviction notice to the Gawi family, ordering them to remove the tent before Sunday 25 October 2009. In response to this planned eviction, international activists gathered in the area, in order to discourage or document potential violence, as well as to discourage the eviction. As of Sunday night, the tent is still standing, however, according to the family and local residents, the threat is not over.

Background

The Gawi and Hannoun families, consisting of 53 members including 20 children, have been left homeless after they were forcibly evicted from their houses on 2 August 2009. The Israeli forces surrounded the homes of the two families at 5.30am and, breaking in through the windows, forcefully dragged all residents into the street. The police also demolished the neighbourhood’s protest tent, set up by Um Kamel, following the forced eviction of her family in November 2008.

At present, all three houses are occupied by settlers and the whole area is patrolled by armed private settler security 24 hours a day. Both Hannoun and Gawi families, who have been left without suitable alternative accommodation since August, continue to protest against the unlawful eviction from the sidewalk across the street from their homes, facing regular attacks from the settlers and harassment from the police.

The Karm Al-Ja’ouni neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah is home to 28 Palestinian families, all refugees from 1948, who received their houses from the UNRWA and Jordanian government in 1956. All face losing their homes in the manner of the Hannoun, Gawi and al-Kurd families.

The aim of the settlers is to turn the whole area into a new Jewish settlement and to create a Jewish continuum that will effectively cut off the Old City form the northern Palestinian neighborhoods. Implanting new Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank is illegal under many international laws, including Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Three Palestinians injured as settlers attack villagers from Iraq Burin

24 October 2009

The village of Iraq Burin came under attack from the nearby settlement Bracha on Saturday, 24 October. Approximately 50 settlers clashed with 50 young men of the village, followed by violent intervention of Israeli Occupation Forces. Three Palestinian boys were taken to hospital following the attack.

At 1pm approximately 50 settlers were seen approaching Iraq Burin. They then surrounded a now-defunct well approximately 200m from the edge of the village. Eyewitnesses report them sitting on the land around the well, watching the village from across the small valley that divided them. Taking up rocks in their hands they began to attack, as the boys and young men gathered to face the settlers were showered with hundreds of stones. The Palestinians ran in to the valley to fight back, hurling rocks at their invaders. Three Palestinians sustained injuries in the clash; one to the arm, one his shoulder and one his hands.

Abu Haisan, mayor of Iraq Burin, called the District Co-ordination Office to alert the military who arrived at 2pm. 40 Israeli soldiers arrived in 7 jeeps and immediately pushed the settlers and Palestinians apart, only to turn and begin firing tear gas and sound bombs on the villagers as they retreated. The settlers, now driven back to the opposing hill top, splintered in to groups – some moving back towards the settlement, others hiding in the olive groves at the top of the hill, attempting to move forwards but being held at bay by the soldiers.

The gas cleared to see Palestinians and settlers withdrawn to the opposite sides of the valley, divided by Israeli Occupation Forces maintaining a close watch. It was at this stage international activists arrived on the scene, to witness a group of six settlers attempt to move down through the olive groves again to attack, but held back by the military. A Red Crescent ambulance was able to transport the three injured to Rafidiya Hospital in Nablus for medical attention.

The clash took place on land annexed by Bracha, 30 dunums of which the DCO announced two weeks ago it will return to the rightful owners of the village. Izad Qadous, a farmer owning 20 dunums of the contested land has stated however that so far the majority of the land still remains de facto property of the settlement, as when the farmers have attempted to reach the lands they have been prevented by the military.

The settlers retain their presence on the land as well. A tent, heralding the potential construction of a new outpost, lies on the hill facing the village which the DCO has stated it would remove since its appearance at the beginning of the summer but thus far has failed to do so. Settlers are sighted often in the area of the tent and also the aforementioned well, rendered unusable when explosives were thrown in it by the IOF several years ago. Qadous states that settler violence in the area has seen a sharp increase this year, the village experiencing only isolated cases prior to 2009. Attacks occur frequently, as in other areas of the West Bank, on Saturdays, or Sabbat, traditionally the Jewish holy day and day of rest.

In addition to the 100 dunums of land lost to construction and agricultural expansion of Bracha there is a further 500 dunums of land surrounding the settlement lost by farmers of Iraq Burin, merely by proximity to the illegal settlement and rendering it impossible to reach for fear of settler or military incursion.

Israel confirms settlers ramping up West Bank construction

Amos Harel | Haaretz

23 October 2009

The defense establishment confirmed that in recent weeks West Bank settlers have been making a noticeable effort to expedite construction, in an attempt to maximize the “facts on the ground” before the United States and Israel reach an agreement on a settlement freeze.

A senior security source said this week that the defense establishment’s view on the situation was reflected in reports published in Haaretz last Friday, which stated that extensive construction is currently being carried out in at least 11 settlements.

“The settlers are very much in tune with the ticking political clock,” the senior defense source said. “You can sense it on the ground, with the infrastructure work that is being done, but also in more minor things. They are acting without any legal authorization and are ignoring the state.

“The approach at this time is that whoever can, goes ahead and builds,” the source continued. “It begins with the official leadership of the Yesha Council [of settlements] and ends with the hilltop youth.”

He pointed out that the phenomenon of unbridled construction is evident in both the more established settlements and in the illegal outposts.

“Whoever can, lays the floor in preparation for constructing a building; and in factories they add extensions to roofs. In some settlements, they’ve built factories for rapid construction of caravans on site, so that they can bypass the ban – on transporting caravans – which was issued by the Civil Administration. Everything was done with the intent of creating a critical mass in many different locations at once, which will make evacuation in the future [more] difficult,” he said.

“They are well aware of the historical precedent: after all, all sides – the Americans, the Israelis, the Palestinians – are now talking of a permanent settlement that will include the settlement blocs in Israeli territory. This is happening because of previous construction in those locations,” the source added.

The senior defense source acknowledged that the measures that have been adopted by the defense establishment to counter the new construction are limited in their scope. “Wherever it involves limited housing, they are evacuated. In other places, where they manage to [get there before] us, the IDF secures warrants – but this does not necessarily result in evacuation,” he said.

Bil’in villagers appeal Canadian court

Dan Izenberg | The Jerusalem Post

21 October 2009

Farmers from Bil’in, 12 km. west of Ramallah, are continuing their efforts in Canada to obtain a court order instructing two building companies registered and domiciled in Quebec to stop all apartment construction on land they maintain belongs to them, a Toronto lawyer representing them said on Tuesday by conference call during a press conference in Jerusalem.
Map of the Bil’in area.

The lawyer, Mark Arnold, said that on Monday, he had filed an appeal against the September 18 ruling of Quebec Superior Court Judge Louis-Paul Cullen, dismissing a civil action suit by the plaintiffs on the grounds that the claims should be heard by the High Court of Justice in Jerusalem.

The suit was filed against Green Park International Inc. and Green Mount International Inc., which were originally slated to build 3,000 housing units in East Matityahu, a neighborhood in the Modi’in Illit settlement. As a result of a court decision that shifted the route of the West Bank security barrier in the area, the companies are now set to build a total of 2,000 units, including 500 that are already completed and others currently under construction.

Arnold explained that the legal action is based on the fact that, unlike in Israel, the Geneva Conventions have been incorporated into Canadian Law. According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, it is forbidden for the occupying power to transfer citizens of its own country to the occupied territory. Since the two construction companies are based in Canada and are allegedly violating Canadian law, the case brought by the Bil’in farmers ought to be heard in a Canadian court of law, he said.

The lawsuit against the two construction companies marks the first time that Israeli and Palestinian human rights and social action organizations have fought a legal battle against Israeli settlement building in a foreign country.

In the appeal against Cullen’s decision, Arnold argued that the judge had erred in several ways. First of all, the High Court of Justice only hears petitions aimed against the State of Israel. Second, the High Court has repeatedly refused to rule on questions involving the legality of the settlements, on the grounds that the issue is not justiciable.

He also rejected Cullen’s argument that the connection between the construction companies and Quebec was “merely superficial,” given the fact that the defendants are registered and domiciled in Quebec.

Attorney Michael Sfard, who represents the Bil’in village council here, said it was important to take action against private individuals and companies that help the state in its actions that violate international humanitarian law.