10th May 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Deir Jreer and Silwad , Occupied Palestine
By Team Ramallah
At around 9 am today, 150 Palestinians, accompanied by International activists, went to Deir Jreer lands to construct a new road so that local farmers could reach their lands more easily. Two bulldozers flattened the path from the nearest road to the lands located near an illegal Israeli outpost. Israeli military personnel maintained a presence on a facing hilltop but did not intervene. In addition to constructing a new road ‘ the villagers wanted to protest the confiscation of their privately owned land by Israeli settlements and military.
A new road is constructed by the residents of Der Jreer
In the nearby village of Silwad, approximately one hundred Palestinians, joined by a handful of Israeli and international activists, also demonstrated against land confiscation and settler violence. After midday prayers, demonstrators walked along the main road towards the entrance of their village where Israeli forces were located. Clashes soon erupted; Palestinian protesters threw stones and Israeli forces shot excessive amounts of tear gas canisters, some stun grenades and rubber coated steel bullets at people. The confrontations lasted until around 15.30.
In the past few weeks, the villages of Silwad and Deir Jreer have faced an increase in violence from the settlers of Ofra settlement , the nearby outpost and the Israeli military. Settlers established a new outpost on the top of a hill but Palestinians dismantled it after a Silwad villager was severely attacked by settlers. The village of Deir Jarir was also raided by settlers who set fire to ten of the resident’s cars.
1st May 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus, Occupied Palestine
By Team Nablus
Yesterday Israeli settlers from the Illegal settlement of Yizhar set fire to the fields of Asira al Qibliya, Burin and Urif as well as attacking the school and many homes in the villages, all while the Israeli Military and Border Police provided protection for them.
Settlers attack village residents as the Israeli army stand by . Photo: Activestills
The attacks were provoked by the stabbing of a settler from Yitzhar settlement this morning who died on the scene at Tappuah Junction near Nablus. This was the first Israeli to die in the West Bank since 2011. 9 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the beginning of this year and serious attacks by settlers regularly occur without punishment for the perpetrators. At around the same time as the settler was killed this morning, a man in Gaza was killed by a targeted Israeli air strike whilst he rode his motorcycle.
At 11.15am 50 settlers from Yitzhar, named by the UN as one of the most violent settlements in the West Bank, attacked the boys high school in Urif whilst lessons were in progress. Standing outside the school the settlers threw rocks into the school breaking windows. Two students were injured by the flying glass when it hit their head, another student was injured when a rock hit his foot. Around 100 students then fled the school by jumping over the outer walls whilst the other 100 students remained inside too scared to leave. They were then trapped in the school as the settlers continued to throw rocks at the school and into the car park and at cars when anyone attempted to leave.
The settlers simultaneously lit at least ten fires on the agricultural land surrounding the school. Within ten minutes of the attack the army arrived and began shooting tear gas into the school grounds and at locals who had arrived to protect the school. One student was hit in the head by a tear gas canister and taken to hospital for medical attention.
The fighting then continued on the land above the school where the fifty settlers continued to throw rocks at locals and Palestinians responded by throwing rocks in return. Around fifty army and border police stood between and around the two groups firing tear gas and sound bombs at the Urif locals. The army did not fire tear gas or sound bombs at the settlers. Settlers continued to throw rocks at locals and at international activists whilst the army tried to push the locals back, at times using pepper spray to incapacitate a number of people. Some scuffles between Urif locals and army broke out but no arrests were made.
The clashes continued until around 1pm when the settlers finally began to return to Yitzhar and locals were pushed back down into the village by the army using tear gas and sound bombs. A drone plane was spotted flying over the village at this time. The army continued to fire tear gas into the village for the next hour after the fighting had stopped. At least one local was incapacitated by gas inhalation and required medical attention. Around 3pm settlers approached the village from the other side and threw Molotov cocktails at machinery and lit fires on land near olive trees until they were driven back by locals arriving on the scene.
In the neighbouring village of Asira settlers set fire to 14 fields which destroyed large areas of land. 4 Israeli military jeeps entered the village and shot tear gas at the residents as they tried to protect their land. At the Tappuah junction school busses containing Palestinian children were stoned heavily by settlers. Around fifty settlers also attacked Burin during their rampage, attacking the village and setting fire to large areas of agricultural land.
The villages of Burin, Asira and Urif which surround the illegal settlement of Yitzhar face daily violence from its Zionist settlers. Palestinians are regularly injured, schools are frequently attacked, agricultural land it often set alight and residential homes are often damaged. The Israeli army also frequently raid the villages, often in the middle of the night, to search houses and make wanton arrests, often of children. Under the Fourth Geneva Convention collective punishment is a war crime.
Fields burn during settler attacks. Photo : Activestils
27th April 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Ni’lin, Occupied Palestine
By Team Nablus
Around 50 Palestinians supported by around 20 international activists, demonstrated against the apartheid wall yesterday in Ni’lin, which is a village close to Ramallah. The residents attempted to dismantle the wall and were met with violence. Around 20 were treated for tear gas inhalation and one demonstrator was injured when he was shot in the chest with a tear gas canister.
A young demonstrator at Ni`ilin
The demonstration started when around 100 people from the community gathered for the Friday prayer in an olive field. After prayers the demonstrators approached the apartheid wall, chanting peace slogans in Arabic and Hebrew. In a speech, a member of the Popular Committee expressed the injustices that Ni’lin has faced in the past and continues to face today because of the actions of the Israeli military.
Residents tried to open the metal door that separates them from most of their land that has been appropriated illegally by the establishment of settlements and the construction of the wall. Soldiers fired tear gas at the demonstrators. One demonstrator, who had climbed the wall using a ladder, was speaking to the soldiers through a megaphone before they shot him directly in the chest with a tear gas canister.The impact caused him to fall of the ladder and require medical treatment. More tear gas was fired at other demonstrators, photographers and internationals.The demonstration lasted about one hour, weakening the wall and showing the resilience of the population of Ni’lin.
Ni’lin’s history is characterised by land theft, starting with the first Israeli occupation of Palestine in 1948. Before 1948 the village of Ni’lin owned 58’000 dunams of land, from which 40’000 were stolen with the creation of Israel. The 1967 occupation lead to the construction of illegal settlements on Ni’lin’s land, stealing a further 8’000 dunams. The illegitimate establishment of the wall, which began in 2008, has stolen a further 2’500 dunams. Furthermore, the entrance of the village was closed in order to build a tunnel exclusively for settlers that lead to a further land theft of 200 dunams, highlighting the apartheid nature of Israeli policy. Nearly 90% of Ni’lin’s original land has been lost due to this systematic theft from war, settlements and the wall.
The non-violent demonstrations since 2008 have lead to the killings of five Palestinians. 10 year old Ahmed Moussa, 17 year old Yousef Amera, 22 year old Arafat Khawaja, 20 year old Mohammed Khawaja and 36 year old Yousef ‘Akil’ Srour. The residents of Ni’lin still struggle for peace and justice, and will not give up hope in spite of Israel’s use of extreme force and oppression.
23rd April 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Bethlehem , Occupied Palestine
By Team Khalil
Palestinians and International activists held a brief demonstration outside the gates of an Israeli military base near Herodium mountain, east of Bethlehem. The activists stood outside the gates with Palestinian flags and shouted to the soldiers inside that the base was built illegally on Palestinian land. The demonstration also intended to highlight the illegal Israeli settlements nearby. Stun grenades are thrown at demonstrators outside an Israeli military base
Soldiers threw stun grenades at the peaceful demonstrators and used tear gas to disperse the journalists who had gathered to document the demonstration. Demonstrators also hung Palestinian flags from a nearby military outpost.
This demonstration was part of a series of actions targeting the infrastructure of the Israeli occupation including checkpoints, military bases and watchtowers which are all obstacles to peace in the occupied territories.
A Palestinian flag is hung from an Israeli outpost
21st April 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Hebron, Occupied Palestine
By Team Khalil
Settlers from the Tel Rumeida area in Hebron gradually cut down 15 almond trees on privately owned Palestinian land over the last two weeks. The settlers also installed an irrigation system and planted seeds with the clear intention of taking over the land. The owner of the land has complained to the police and army on several occasions to no avail. Destroyed almond tree in Tel Rumeida
“The police just showed up, watched the settlers and then went away.” “The trees are very close to my heart, my children used to play around them.”
The Palestinian family Abu Heikel is renting the land from a Palestinian Jew called Jofef Ezra who fled Hebron during the 1967 Israeli invasion of the West Bank. The Ezra family continues to rent its property to the Heikel family to prevent the land from falling into settler hands. With the army on call to defend the settlers on their various, usually violent, whims, there are serious doubts that Ezra`s wishes will be fulfilled. Palestinians by contrast have little to no legal support or protection against their aggressive neighbors.
Settlers in Tel Rumeida regularly occupy parts of privately owned Palestinian property under the pretext that the Bible has given them permission to do so. As long as the Israeli army continues to tolerate the settlers’ illegal activity and offer them protection whilst attacking and arresting those resisting them, the expansion of illegal settlements and the level of settler violence is likely to continue escalating.
