26 December 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, Urif, Occupied Palestine
Over the past three days, the village of Urif, south of Nablus, has been under constant attack from Israeli settlers and soldiers. Soldiers invaded the village twice and numerous people sustained injuries from rubber-coated steel bullets and tear gas canisters. People in Urif said that settlers attack their village almost daily, especially now that Palestine has been granted observer member status in the UN.
Soldiers on the hills overlooking Urif
The latest attack started on Monday, 24 December at 10 am when armed settlers attacked a school in Urif with stones. When youth from the village went to defend the school and confront the settlers, the Israeli military arrived and started shooting at people. Clashes continued until late in the evening, with live ammunition, rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas and sound bombs fired at the people of Urif. Two non-violent international activists at the scene of the clashes shouted at the soldiers that these actions by the Israeli army and settlers were completely illegal and inhuman, at which point the army started shooting rubber-coated steel bullets directly at the activists. At sunset the army came running down the hills toward Urif and stopped at the outskirts of the village, from where they continued shooting live ammunition, rubber-coated steel bullets and tear-gas into the streets of the village.
Early on Tuesday morning, the Israeli soldiers invaded the streets of Urif and started shooting sound bombs and tear gas into the empty streets of the village.
Attacks resumed on Wednesday afternoon when settlers again attacked the school with stones. The same incidents which occurred on Monday were repeated on Wednesday, except that this time soldiers invaded the village at around 5 pm and shot tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets into the middle of the village. One person was hit in the head by a rubber-coated steel bullet.
Urif has a long history of attacks by illegal Israeli settlers. Some years ago a person was shot by Jacob, the guard of the Yizhar settlement, who is notorious for attacks on Palestinians in the area. In May this year Jacob violently attacked a farmer in Urif, tied him up and shot him in the back. In the last few weeks, attacks on Urif have intensified as settlers, with the protection of Israeli soldiers, attacked the village on most days of the past month.
21 December 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, Kifl Haris, Occupied Palestine
At around 9.30pm last night several Israeli Army vehicles entered the village of Kifl Haris as they do many times every year. They immediately imposed a strict unannounced curfew. The Israeli military tell nobody this will happen, nobody can leave their homes, nobody is able to visit a doctor or a hospital. If settlers attack your home you must deal with it alone. Kifl Haris is a Palestinian village in the northern West Bank, located six kilometres west of Salfit and 18 kilometres south of Nablus. Unfortunately for the villagers of Kifl Haris they are amongst the nearest village to the West Banks largest illegal settlement Ariel.
The pretext of the invasion into Kifl Haris is a pilgrimage to three disputed tombs, praying and dancing at a site they claim holds the remains of biblical ancestors. But as a resident explained, if they want to visit the tombs, why does it have to start in the middle of the night, and go onto the morning? Why do my children have to lay awake as they sing and drink alcohol? This isn’t about religion. This about them continuously intimidating us and seizing our land.
Settlers invade the village anywhere between 5 or 10 times a year, with an Israeli military escort. Last year at around the same time around 10,000 settlers invade the village of Kifl Haris. They arrived at midnight and stayed till around 7 in the morning. This year as we awaited the arrival of the settler party we heard reports that 60 bus loads were waiting at the entrance to the village. Fortunately the weather took a turn for the worse and the rain began to fall very heavily, only a fraction of the numbers of Israeli’s that were expected actually made streets of Kifl Haris.
On certain visits the settlers have caused various different sorts of damage the village of Kifl Haris. They have forced their way into peoples homes leaving a trail of destruction behind them and often have damaged cars, by puncturing tyres or smashing windows. As the rain continued to fall the organisers began to pack belongings away earlier than expected by 2am in the morning. Although the settlers left early the Israeli Military continued to aggressively and beep there horns and rev their engines, in what certainly seemed to be intimidation.
19th November 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
Today, Monday 19 of November at around 4 am, a bunch of settlers from the illegal settlement of Yitzhar set a mosque in the village of Urif on fire. The door has been damaged and the prayer mats were severely burned. After a few hours Israeli soldiers reached the area causing several clashes with the inhabitants who appeared nervous due to the attack. The soldiers shot a huge amount of tear-gas and sound bombs at the residents.
The village of Urif has been attacked many times in similar ways by the illegal settlement of Yitzhar. This year, on 29th April, mask-wearing settlers invaded the village supported by Israeli soldiers who used tear-gas, sound bombs and live ammunitions. Another event happened on 26th May when armed settlers burned cultivated fields, threw stones and shot live ammunition against the Palestinian people, one of whom was injured in the abdomen.
The illegal settlement of Yitzhar is responsible of countless attacks against surrounding villages: not only Urif but also Burin and Asira al-Qabaliya suffered similar attacks.
Urif is a Palestinian town near Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank, located thirteen kilometres South of Nablus. The town has a population of just under 3000 inhabitants and is overlooked by the illegal Israeli settlement of Yitzhar.
The front of the mosque is seen here with scorch marks near the doorThe prayer mats are seen here, scorched by flames
Vincent Redheart and Anas Green are volunteers with the International Solidarity Movement (names have been changed)
11th November 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
Thousands of fundamentalist Israeli tourists from around the world arrived into Al Khalil (Hebron) on Friday, camping overnight in the centre of the city for a Jewish religious holiday. One Palestinian was punched and kicked and hundreds were denied access to daily life as settlers invaded the old city for five hours.
The thousands of Israeli tourists, who gathered in al-Khalil for two days, were gathered for the Zionist holiday, Abraham Day.
For the duration of the zionist visit, movement was even more restricted than usual for Palestinians – considering that in Al-Khalil there are already 113 checkpoints, roadblocks and closures. In the hilltop Palestinian neighborhood of Tel Rumeida, Palestinians were not allowed to walk their regular route down a gradual slope, as a Jewish cemetery is situated there. Residents, including one pregnant woman, were ordered by Israeli soldiers to walk down a dangerously steep hill.
Palestinians and international activists were not permitted to enter the vicinity of the Ibrahimi Mosque. When asked if this meant that only Jewish people had rights in the area, an Israeli policeman blocking the route replied “yes”, confirming the apartheid agenda of the Israeli authorities. The only two remaining Palestinian shops in the area were forced to close down for the two days of the zionist visit, and a checkpoint at the entrance to the Palestinian souq was completely shut down, making access very difficult.
The zionist visitors on the other hand were accommodated fully in their movement during their time in Al-Khalil and were in fact facilitated on tours of the souq. On Saturday morning, the souq was invaded by groups of over twenty soldiers on several occasions in preparation for these tours. Heavily-armed soldiers pointed guns through doorways and down alleyways in the market, intimidating shopping Palestinian families and children. Soldiers were then stationed in doorways and alleyways along the main path of the souq and remained there for many hours, blocking Palestinian access and once again, restricting movement.
After these preparations had been completed, the tours commenced. A tour for Israeli settlers happens every Saturday in the souq, on a much smaller scale – these are ostensibly regular guided tours, providing information about the area. The majority of the groups this Saturday however, seemed to aim only to be as loud and obnoxious as possible, obstructing Palestinian life and claiming that the souq should be a Jewish area.
Between the hours of one and five, hundreds of settlers were led repeatedly through the market, accompanied by over 30 soldiers each time. The groups were highly disorderly, shouting and chanting pro-Israel slogans and often threatening and yelling abuse at Palestinian shopkeepers and international observers as they passed. Several observers, Palestinian and international, were attacked for recording the disrespectful behavior of the crowd – cameras were grabbed, knocked to the ground and damaged. One Palestinian man was punched and kicked for trying to film as the group passed by him in the souq.
Merchandise and fresh produce were purposefully damaged and Palestinians were stopped from walking past the tour groups, or were forced to squeeze through the narrow gap between the wall and the crowds of sometimes aggressive zionists. One group’s guide pointed at a Palestinian flag in the souq and stated that it was “a flag of foreign anarchists and outside forces.”
There is a history of settler violence and restriction of movement for Palestinians in Al-Khalil, a city which is divided into Palestinian zone H1 and Israeli controlled H2, which includes the old city. The latter still has a majority Palestinian population of around 30,000, with around 700 Israeli settlers. The huge Israeli army presence within the city is justified by the presence of these settlers, whose residency is illegal under the Geneva Convention which states that “transfers of the civilian population of the occupying power into the occupied territory, regardless whether forcible or voluntary, are prohibited.”
An ex-Israeli soldier who was stationed in Al-Khalil claimed to Breaking the Silence that the mission statement of his unit was “to disrupt the routine of the inhabitants of the neighborhood”. This aim is being continually fulfilled by settlers, zionist visitors and the Israeli army. Despite this, the Palestinian population remain steadfast in their homes and continue to resist the occupation. While zionist tourists paraded through the souq one shopkeeper responded by waving her keffiyeh and blowing a trumpet in response to the harassment.
Checkpoint from the souq to the Ibrahimi Mosque closed down, severely restricting Palestinian movementPalestinian shopkeepers look on as soldiers and Zionist tourists pass byPalestinian boys look down on Zionist tour groupSoldiers and Zionist tourists invade the Palestinian souq
Ellie Marton is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed)
11 November 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
On Friday, the house at Khan al-Luban, south of Nablus was trespassed by settlers from the illegal settlement of Ma’ale Levona. The settlers attempted to destroy the water supply at the house.
Settlers from the Ma’ale Levona take photos and video at Khan al-Luban
Earlier in the morning, house-owner Khalid al-Hamed, his two sons and two international activists spent some hours lifting rocks out of a pit outside the house where the major water pipes are. Settlers have previously thrown those rocks down into the pit attempting to break the pipes.
At around 12:15 one settler arrived and filmed this activity from the road.
Later, at around 14:15, the same settler returned with three others. The men filmed and photographed the house. They also made threatening moves towards the international activists.
One of the settlers, who was armed with an automatic pistol, then located the only other functioning water supply to the house and grounds and tried to destroy it by pulling the pipes from the wall. He also attempted to break the tap. The water supply for the house is an outside tap that sits around 50 meters up the hill from the house. Settlers have previously attacked and damaged the water supply and the other buildings on the property.
The settlers left the immediate area as the homeowner arrived on the scene.
Minutes later, two Israeli military vehicles arrived containing five soldiers. They continued to harass Khaled who was visibly distressed about this latest intrusion to his home and the damage caused. This harassment lasted another 45 minutes until the soldiers finally left, having taken no action.
For more background information on the situation at Khan al-Luban see here.
Stephen Alexander is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement.
