Tag: Settlers

Israeli Army shoots resident of Nabi Saleh following settler attack

By Paddy Clark

14 September 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

On Sunday evening, settlers entered Nabi Saleh village. In clashes that followed Israeli soldiers shot Omar al-Tamini, 25, with live ammunition in the abdomen, and then arrested him and Eyas from inside the ambulance which was taking Omar to Ramallah hospital. On Monday, September 11 at 2:30 a.m., Israeli forces forced entry to homes in Nabi Saleh and arrested Mohammed, and Zeyad, younger brother of martyr, Mustafa Tamini.

Most of the local residents were at home on Monday as a result of the Palestinian general strike. Settlers entered the village in an attempted attack which was reported on PSCC. Residents of Nabi Saleh resisted the intrusion, and then clashes broke out between local youth and the military. Omar al-Tamimi was shot with live ammo during clashes which continued in to the night.

Later that night around 2.30 a.m, Israeli military invaded again (see video here.) They raided the family home of martyr, Mustafa Tamini, who suffered a fatal injury on December 9, 2011, after being shot in the face with a tear gas grenade from a distance of less than 10 meters (see photo here and video here.) Heavily armed soldiers once again, stood in the hall of their home, this time demanding another family member to be taken away to an Israeli jail.

I blog on Palestine and Resistance blogged;

“i feel so so angry that they had the nerve to go into that house once again, that they dared to harrass this family once more. its not even been a month since they released loai (20) from ofer military prison – and already when they had arrested him, in the middle of the night, from inside their home, barely two months after they had shot dead mustafa in cold blood in their own village, i (like so many others) could almost not believe it, felt so so enraged that they would enter their home again with their guns. it still makes me furious that they actually imprisoned loai – FROM INSIDE THEIR HOME – only two months after he saw his eldest brother bleed into the street in their village, before friends carried him into a car and away from him forever. (watch this video: loai, wearing a grey/black checkered jacket, can be first seen at 0:22). I still feel a mixture of rage and pain and i struggle to grasp that they not only murdered mustafa in the way they did, but that they did storm the house of the bereft family so shortly after and violently arrested the brother who actually saw mustafa dying, when they had only released his twin odai from military jail the day of mustafa’s funeral – AFTER the funeral. i still can’t grasp that odai heard in jail that someone in his village was severely injured, heard in jail that the injured young man was his eldest brother, heard in jail that it was a serious injury and that he might lose his eye, heard in jail that he might be fine after all, and heard in jail the next day that his brother was martyred. and that he was denied the right to spend that terrible day with his family and friends, with his twin brother.”

The legal office of Gabi Lasky said yesterday that Zayed and Mohammed were being detained at Ofer prison but was still unaware where Omar and his friend were being held.

For background information about the struggle and further information in Nabi Saleh see blog here

Paddy Clark is an activist and writer living in the West Bank (name has been changed).

Help bring Jalaal home

September 11, 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

What would you do if 30 men armed with sticks and guns stormed into your home beat your little brothers and began beating your mother and ripping her clothes?

On August 28 this happened to sixteen year old Jalaal Daraghmah. He did his best to protect his family. He grabbed a pick used for gardening, and stood at the door of his house and told the settlers he would not let anyone in. When one of them tried to enter by force Jalaal hit him with the pick. The Israeli police arrived on the scene, and they ignored the two little boys that were beaten so badly they needed to be hospitalized, the mothers bruises and torn dress, and the family’s car that had been completely destroyed by the settlers. They instead arrested Jalaal and his father Khalid. No settlers were sought for questioning or detained. The Israeli press treated what happened as a “terror attack” and dubbed It a“Axe Attack”. Jalaal has been in Israeli custody since.

Jalaal’s little brother, Nour al-Deen being treated in an ambulance after the attack. (Photo courtesy of Wafia – International Communities Against Israel).

Starting today until Thursday Jalaal can be released on a five thousand shekel bail ($1300) Jalal’s family can not afford to free him. With your help they can bring him home before the long holidays that will force him to remain in Israeli custody.

Please send what you can through the ISM donate link make sure to send an email to palreports@gmail.com to say how much you have donated for Jalaal’s release.

For the past four years the Daraghmah family have faced regular attacks by Israeli settlers at their home in Khan al-Lubban, simply for attempting to remain on their land. Help Bring Jalaal home to his family.

For more information on the attacks click here.

Update: Thanks to you we  raised all the money necessary for Jalaal’s bail and he was released yesterday!

 

Settlers destroy 18 olive trees Burin

 By Alex Marley

11 September 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Eighteen Palestinian-owned olive trees were destroyed by Israeli settlers in the village of Burin, near Nablus, when the illegal settlers attacked the Palestinian land on Tuesday 4 September 2012. Burin, located in the northern West Bank, comes under frequent attack from the illegal settlements of Yitzhar and Bracha that encircle the village.

One of Nasser Qadous’ olive trees lays destroyed after settlers from Yitzhar attacked

Under the cover of dark,  settlers from Yitzhar entered the olive grove of the Nasser Qadous family and began cutting the branches from his trees. This is not the first attack on his land. Two years ago, the settlers burned his land, which consists of 5 dunums. The following morning Nasser Qadous arrived in the olive grove and found all his olive trees destroyed. After one hour the Israeli army, police, and The District Coordination Office (DCO) arrived at his land. They spoke with Nasser but he says that they have taken no action to find those responsible.g

Olive Tree sits destroyed on Nasser Qadous’ list

Background:

Located  7 kilometers southwest of Nablus, Burin is home to 3000 residents. From every position within the village you can see evidence of the Zionist occupation. Three of the most volatile Israeli settlements within the West Bank, Yitzhar, Bracha and Givat Arous reside on the hilltops of Burin. Yitzhar is the largest of the three settlements and was founded in 1984. Yitzhar consists of 1233 dunams and according to Peace Now, 35 per cent of the land is privately owned Palestinian land. The villagers in Burin are predominantly farmers and the fields that surround the village full of olives trees are testament to this. However, the land has been under threat since the start if the occupation in 1967.

Yitzhar settlement is notorious for its fanatically ideological residents, the violence they inflict on neighboring Palestinian communities, and the extremist doctrines they espouse. Settlers have frequently launched attacks with rocks, knives, guns and arson on Palestinian families and property in the area. In one of the most extreme act of terrorism students of the Yitzhar Od Yosef Hai yeshiva fired homemade rockets on Burin in 2008.

Despite West Banks settlements’  status as illegal under international law, Yitzhar was included in the Israeli governments’ recent “national priority map” as one of the settlements earmarked for financial support. Construction has continued unabated in both Yitzhar and Bracha. Yitzhar and Bracha also receives significant funding from American donations, tax-deductible under U.S. government tax breaks for ‘charitable’ institutions.

 

Alex Marley is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Hebron man walks down street for first time in years

By Ben

10 September 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Hashem Azzeh in front of the graffiti on his door. Photos: EA Phelie Maguire.

On Sunday 9th September, Hashem Azzeh walked down the street outside his house for the first time in years.

Hashem lives with his artist wife Nasreen and their four children (14, 9, 4 and 2 years old) on a hillside in the Tel Rumeida district of Hebron. The street outside Hashem’s house is barred to Palestinians and overseas visitors, with an army checkpoint at the end of the street to enforce the ban. To reach their house, the family have to go via a treacherous back route, clambering over walls and around other properties on the way.

Despite all the harassment and violence, Hashem remains determined to stay in his house, and today said he wanted ‘an adventure’. Hashem and five ISM volunteers from the UK, Italy and the USA clambered up from the house to the street, then walked the 200 or so metres to the checkpoint at the end of the street. The Israeli soldier at the checkpoint appeared astonished to see Hashem and international volunteers come along the street from the ‘wrong’ direction and immediately started radioing for back-up. When the soldier asked Hashem why he was walking on the street, Hashem replied, ‘I am walking to my house’.

Hashem’s family have faced years of harassment from residents of the illegal Israeli settlement on the hillside just above their house. The settlement happens to be home to some of the most fanatical settlers in Hebron, including American-born extremist Baruch Marzel.

Over the years, Hashem’s family have faced attacks on their property by settlers, with Israeli soldiers standing alongside doing nothing to intervene. Settlers have also poisoned his water supply, and killed his olive trees, fruit trees and vines. When Hashem installed his own water tank, the settlers shot it full of holes in yet another attack.

As well as attacks on their property, the family have faced regular physical violence. Hashem’s nephew had his teeth knocked out by rocks, and his brother was also smashed in the face with rock and suffered damage to his teeth and nose. Nasreen has had two miscarriages. An ISM activist, 77 year old Australian academic Mary Baxter, also faced violence in the past, when accompanying Hashem’s children to school in 2005. She and the children were attacked, and Mary had four bones in her back broken and is now disabled as a result.

Ben is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed)

 

Three injured from tear gas after settlers raid Qusra

By Leila

10 September 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Settlers together with Israeli soldiers in Qusra. Picture from Tantawi Aljiniral

Three people were treated for injuries related to tear gas after an attack by illegal settlers in the village of Qusra near Nablus on Saturday night. The attack comes roughly a year after Qusra resident Issam Kamel Odeh, 33, died from Israeli gunfire after settlers invaded the village in September of 2011.

Shortly before six in the evening on Saturday, 5 settlers came onto the land of Akram Taysir Daoud at the edge of Qusra village. Soon after, they began beating the man’s wife and yelling obscenities at his mother. Additional raiders arrived until there were a total of fourteen settlers on the land.

In an attempt to get help, Akram Taysir called the mayor of the town. The mayor alerted the people of the village to come to the farm, and then called both the local District Coordination Offices to report the attack.

The invading settlers sealed a well on the property with a large stone.

Israeli soldiers arrived at the village thirty minutes later. According to Abdel Ahrim, a resident who observed the event, soldiers began firing tear gas shortly after their arrival. Abdel Ahrim stated that soldiers fired 30 total tear gas bombs. Thirteen of these were fired directly into the house of Abdul Majid Towfeek, a resident of Qusra.

Abbdel Ahrim repored that the commanding officer told the mayor that if any of the villagers followed the soldiers over the hill, he would burn the village down.

Soldiers fired three times before leaving the immediate area of the conflagration.

According to Red Crescent workers, three people were treated for injuries related to tear gas, two for inhalation, and one for an injury he received when a canister hit him in the ankle.

This is the second invasion by settlers on the village of Qusra in as many days. Yesterday, settlers from the nearby illegal development of Aish Coddish came onto land belonging to the

Photos of that incident show that they were armed with an M16 rifle and a

At that time, officials from the occupation forces told the mayor of the town that the only recourse for the farmer involved was to go to the local Israeli-administered court and file a complaint against the settlers. This type of legal appeal requires the petitioner to either hold an Israeli identification card, or to hire a lawyer who holds an Israeli ID to file the complaint on his or her

Leila is a volunteer at The International Solidaity Movement (name has been changed)