Tag: Settlers

Carmel blockaded in Jayyous solidarity action

8th February 2009

At around 6:30 this morning a group of students from Brighton locked themselves to Carmel Agrexco, the Israeli state owned export company, to protest against their complicity in the illegal annexation of the West Bank and the repression of students in the Palestinian village of Jayyous.

Carmel Agrexco grows and imports agricultural produce (including fruit, vegetables and flowers) from illegal settlements in the West Bank which are then sold in supermarkets such as Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and many others. As such, companies such as Carmel Agrexco are responsible for the systematic annexation of Palestinian land.

In these settlements workers, including children, are known to work in slave-labor conditions, with low wages, inadequate access to food and water, and no contract. Furthermore, the settlements have not only stolen land, but use up much needed agricultural resources such as water.

This action has been done in response to a callout for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel, after the events of 18th February and onwards in Jayyous. On this day, occupying Israeli Defence Force soldiers invaded the town of Jayyous, where regular protests have been held against the building of the apartheid wall, which will annex 5,585 dunums (558.5 hectares) of land from the town, much of which is to be used for the expansion of the illegal settlement, Zufim.

75 soldiers and 25 army jeeps invaded the town in the early hours of the morning, conducting house to house raids: throwing sound-bombs at houses before forcing families out at gunpoint and ransacking their houses. At least 75 people were arrested, the vast majority students, including the entire student Stop the Wall Committee. Those arrested were taken to a school that the army had turned into a detention centre. Most of the people were blindfolded and handcuffed and all were forced to sit in stress positions. They were not allowed to eat, drink or talk to each other as they were taken in for interrogation one by one. They were held for as much as 19 hours and 15 young men were taken to Huwarra military base on unknown charges. Bulldozers were then brought in which created blockades at the entrances to the town and the population were put under curfew for 18 hours.

Since then, the village has been invaded two further times, on the second time a half-day curfew was imposed on the town. Residents have also been threatened with home demolitions.

James Robinson, one of the protesters, said

The situation in Jayyous is demonstrative of the systematic human rights abuses perpetrated against the Palestinians for the expansion of the settlements which Carmel Agrexco supports and profits from.

Israeli forces and settlers attack demonstration in Burin, Nablus region

6th March 2009 | Burin village

Israeli Occupation Forces dispersed a peaceful demonstration in Burin, near Nablus, on Friday (March 6), firing teargas and rubber-coated steel bullets at about 100 protesters.The IOF opened fire on the marchers, who were singing, waving banners and Palestinian flags while engaged in a non-violent sit-down close to a Jewish settlement.

The protesters were demonstrating their frustration with the nearby settlement for stealing land that under international law belongs to the village. After a long walk to a piece of land near the settlement the marchers were met by about 40 heavily armed Israeli soldiers and border police, accompanied by a few heavily armed settlers.

The demonstrators sat down to sing and chant, when suddenly, without any provocation, soldiers started shooting teargas and throwing sound-bombs into the crowd, scattering them in all directions. Some minutes later the marchers managed to regroup, only to find themselves almost totally surrounded by the army and newly arrived settlers.

In an attempt to continue their peaceful protest the villagers sent one of their elders to negotiate. Despite being met with verbal threats and pointed guns, he managed to negotiate an agreement enabling the demonstration to continue for another two-and-a-half hours. He was escorted back by a group of soldiers and settlers, who lined up in front of the chanting crowd before again suddenly throwing teargas grenades and sound-bombs into their midst, scattering them for a second time.

On this occasion the soldiers kept following the villagers, repeatedly shooing at them until they had reached the outskirts of Burin. Five Palestinians were injured in the clashes.

The incident was witnessed by two international human rights activists.

Settlers burn Bil’in’s Center for Peace

Kristen Ess | Palestine News Network

The western Ramallah town of Bil’in is known for its unrelenting resistance to occupation, particularly to the Wall that crisscrosses its land.

In the West Bank, the Wall and settlements generally come hand in hand. The Wall is not only routed to take the water supply, but also to bring more territory into Israeli boundaries via the settlements built on Palestinian lands.

During the night a group of Israeli settlers broke into Bil’in’s Center for Peace. It is a room kept by residents to ensure Palestinian presence on the land on the “other side of the Wall” despite harassment by settlers and soldiers.

Until a month ago Bil’iners took shifts 24 hours day. That was until the Israeli soldiers in the area drove them out. Under a ruling by an Israeli court three years ago Bil’in residents are “allowed” to pass through a gate in the Wall in order to reach their land, and that includes the Center for Peace. But last month Israeli soldiers forbade their presence at night. Instead the settlers were given reign to roam freely in view of the soldiers who are omnipresent in this part of the occupied West Bank.

This morning two young men headed out of the center of the village to take their day shift in the room, to enforce their rightful presence on their land and their steadfastness. But what the Bil’in residents found was a Center of Peace trashed and burned.

“They set fire to everything,” said Iyad Burnat of the Popular Committee against the Wall. “They burned the chairs, the furniture, even the Qu’ran.”

The Director of the local nonviolent resistance movement hosts weekly demonstrations against the Wall as he has every Friday, save for the eight times he has been jailed for his popular activities that confront the occupation.

“We called our lawyer who contacted the Israeli police who deal with the settlers from Matayah Mizrah Settlement. They have been on the case recently, before this, because last week the settlers came and broke the windows of the Center of Peace and stole the gas canisters,” Burnat told PNN Tuesday. “It’s been more than four times that the settlers have come at night and broken things, stolen things.”

The people of Bil’in had been guarding their land and their Peace Center 24 hours a day for three years, attempting to protect it from the marauding settlers until the soldiers forbade them last month. The Israeli soldiers themselves are now the only the witnesses to the criminal acts of the settlers.

Burnat told PNN today that the resistance will not be deterred despite what he describes as an increased violence on the part of both the settlers and soldiers who attack Bil’in.

“We are going to fix the room again because we have to have people who stay there and take care of our land, we have to look out for our land.”

Bil’in residents are able to pass the gate in the Wall, however harassment is not rare and there is often a checkpoint in place. The court decision for passage did not return the land to Bil’in, nor did it stop the Wall or the settlements which exist in contravention to international law, the decision of the International Court of Justice, and to existing United Nations resolutions.

Burnat said, “It is clear that the settlers want to destroy the people, our things, our land and lives. The violence is escalating on their part, along with that of the soldiers. But we are still strong in our resistance to the Wall and in protecting our land. We protest the soldiers and the Wall and the settlers. And we will return to our land.”

The Bil’in resident and director of the Popular Committee added, “We are going to return to the room, to the Center of Peace, with new chairs, with new furniture, new everything. We are going to clean it up and fix it. This fire will not keep us away from our land.”

Settlers confiscate more land from Yasuf village

On February 4th, settlers from the illegal Israeli settlement of Kfar Tappuah began clearing land for building outposts, despite the fact that this land legally belongs to the Palestinian village of Yasuf.

The settlers brought a bulldozer with them to clear village fields, and it is expected that extensions of Kfar Tappuah in the form of trailer outposts will be erected in the next few days.

Yasuf village, which is located in the Salfit region, has already lost over 1500 dunums of land in the creation of the nearby settlements of Ariel, Rechel and Kfar Tappuah, along with two smaller outposts.

Yasuf land is now almost completely surrounded by these settlements, as well as an Israeli-only road that connects Ariel and Rechel settlements that villagers are prohibited from accessing. Large parts of village land have been declared closed military zones by the army, which forbids Palestinians from being in these areas. This allows settlers to more easily confiscate land for expansion, even though it is still legally owned by Palestinians.

Yasuf residents, who often face harassment from the illegal settlers, can only view the work of the bulldozer from roughly 1 km away. If they approach any closer, they risk attack from the armed settlers or arrest from Israeli forces stationed nearby, but do nothing to stop this illegal confiscation of land.

Mysterious arrests in Awarta

3rd February 2009

Thursday 29th of January, about one hundred illegal Israeli settlers entered the small village Awarta close to Nablus at about 11pm. The soldiers forced the villagers not to move by stating that they would kill everyone who did so. This lasted until dawn the next day.

On Tuesday 3rd of February, between 1.45am and 3am in the morning, various groups of Israeli soldiers broke into a total of five different houses in the village of Awarta, close to Nablus. During the confrontations 3 young men were arrested without reason. Two others where demanded to go to the Israeli military camp Huwwara the following day without explanation. At around noon the same day the two were immediately arrested when entering the camp. Neither of them where told why they where arrested, nor what charges they face.

Around 1.45 am in the morning approximately 30 Israeli Israeli soldiers surrounded the house of the Qawareeq family and silently broke into the sleeping family’s home. The soldiers asked for one of the family’s’ 21 year old son, Hindawi, who at the time was sleeping in the house of his nephew. The family, frightened by the sudden wake-up from several armed foreign soldiers in their home, were not told why the soldiers wanted their son. During the time the soldiers where searching for Hindawi, they entered Hindawi’s older brother Suliman’s room, who is suffering from a serious case of cancer. While searching his room, the soldiers found and stole, the family’s 4 mobile phones, on which had the emergency numbers for the sick boy’s doctors. Suleiman asked the soldiers not to take the phone because of their importance with regard to his health issues, but the soldiers did not care. While leaving the house, the soldiers also brought the family’s computer which among other things contained crucial information with regard to Suliman’s very complex medical schedule.

About 30 minutes later, the 30 Israeli soldiers marched to Hindawi’s nephew’s home, and forcefully broke into their small house, causing severe damage to the house’s front door and window. The soldiers where shouting and screaming to scare the family upon arrival. The soldiers turned everything in the house up side down, searching inside every closet and underneath every table. They found Hindawi sleeping in the guest room, and arrested him immediately, without letting him get his winter coat or clothes. Hindawi was accidentally carrying some of Suliman’s important medical papers brought from Ramallah. During the soldiers visit in the house they also threatened the family’s 14 year old son violently.

At about 3 am in the morning, another group of Israeli soldiers silently broke into the house of the Shurrab family. The father in the house woke up because he heard some strange noises from the childrens’ bedroom. When he woke up, he saw several soldiers blocking the door of their bedroom, preventing him to enter the childrens’ room to see what was happening. The soldiers beat him in the stomach, and shouted loudly at the mother. When the parents finally managed to enter their childrens’ room, they witnessed several soldiers beating up their 4 sons in their early twenties in their bedroom. Later the soldiers started to ask about the family’s 22 year old son Samer Jafar Shurrab who is recently living and studying in Nablus. They were asking the family intricate and detailed questions about Samer. When they realized that he was not in the house, the soldiers gave the father a document, demanding Samer to go to the Huwwara camp the following day. Samer was immediately arrested upon arrival at the camp around noon the same day. The soldiers destroyed the house’s front door lock mechanism, and broke a window.

At the same time, around 3 am in the morning, an additional group of soldiers also entered the house of the family Darawsheh in the village. The father in the house woke up because of some strange sounds outside, and realized that the house was surrounded by soldiers and military jeeps. The soldiers demanded to speak to his son, Baha’ Edeen Fazi’ Darawsheh, and the soldiers and Baha’ spoke alone in the house’s kitchen for about 20 minutes. 10 minutes later, the soldiers blindfolded Baha’s eyes and put on handcuffs on his hands, taking him away. The family were not told why the soldiers arrested their son.

At around 2am in the morning about 15 soldiers broke in to the house of another family in the village. The soldiers demanded that all family members were to undress completely including the women. They refused, and all the other family members were locked in a room while the oldest brother of the house had to show the soldiers every room and open every closet. He was told that if they were to find more people than what he told them, they would kill him and the additional persons. The soldiers were looking for the family’s son Hani Suleiman Quawareeq, and when they realized that he was not in the house, the family was told to inform Hani that he had to visit the Huwwara camp the following day. Hani was arrested when he went to the camp around noon. Again his family does not know why.