13 February 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
Villagers of Bruqin and supporters went out today to plant trees in the field by the factory. While trees were planted alongside pictures of Khader Adnan, two young men sneaked over to the fence of the factory and put up Palestinian flags.
In the outskirts of Bruqin, a small village in the Salfit area, there is a field where old Roman ruins slumber amongst the olive trees. The field would be a peaceful place if it was not for the huge Israeli factories built on stolen land right next door. The Israeli factories have caused pollution in the area, contaminating crops and pastures. The rapid settler expansion in the Salfit area is stirring up distress among the residents in Bruqin who worry that even more of their land will be stolen.
Being attacked for harvesting resistance - Click here for more photos
In the Salfit area, 19 Palestinian villages are surrounded by 22 illegal settlements. It is a cluster of stolen land that is threatening to cut the West Bank in two if expansion is allowed to continue. Israel plans to build train tracks from Tel Aviv to the illegal settlement of Ariel, which would speed up this divide.
As the land repairing villagers came closer to the factory, they drew on the attention of the illegal settler security, and a man with a rifle demanding for volunteers to leave. Since the tree planting was taking place on Palestinian soil these calls where not heard by the villagers. A few minutes later the first Israeli soldiers started showing up asking the tree planters to move back from the factory. As some men decided to plant yet another tree at the edge of the factory area, they were surrounded by soldiers and one man was pulled away from the group.
ISM activists tried to get a straight answer as to the reason of the man’s arrest, but it was of no avail. Instead the soldiers surrounded yet another group of men and started tugging at them.
When questioned why they were attempting to arrest Palestinians, the only answer offered by the soldiers was that the area had been declared a closed military zone and that the man had been bothering the soldiers. However the soldiers could not produce any document proving the declaration of the area beeing a military zone.
ISM activists demanded to see relevant paperwork in support of the military’s claims, else they must release the man since there were no substantial suspicions against him. After apoximately 20 minutes of avoiding the stares of upset activists and villagers, the soldiers retreated, and after some further negotiations back and forth the Palestinian man was successfully de-arrested and released.
Though this particular case ended with nothing worse than a pair of sore wrists, it is a clear example of the lawlessness suffered by Palestinians under Israeli military law.
Jonas Weber is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
11 February 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
The extreme Golani Unit of the Israeli military is escalating its arrests of Palestinian children in Al Khalil (Hebron), targeting boys between the ages of 12 to15 years old with at least 10 reported cases of child arrests made just in the span of one week.
The arrest of Dwaik and Sultan
On February 2, 2012, 12-year old Islam Dwaik and 13-year old Ahsan Sultan were walking near Tel Rumeida. According to the two children, they were on their way to register for English courses. During their walk Israeli military accused the youth of throwing a stone at Israeli soldiers patrolling the area, with 12 soldiers arresting the two boys and walking them through Shuhada Street and into the illegal settlement of Abraham Avino.
Dwaik and Sultan stated that as they were walking, they noticed military was following and “running near them” until they were arrested.
The youth were detained for a total of three hours, which included them being escorted by military to their homes. Once they arrived at their respective households, soldiers threatened that if their children were arrested in the future, that the parents would also be arrested as well.
A local Palestinian stated that as the military paraded the youth into Shuhada street, it was “as if they were making an example of them and their families.”
In another incident on Saturday, February 4th, during a settler tour in the old city of Al Khalil , Israeli military alleged a single stone was thrown towards the heavily armed soldiers while the illegal Israeli settlers and Zionists were returning to their illegal colony. The settler tour is a weekly activity of the Israeli settlers and Zionists, where they take a tour of the Palestinian old city with armed soldiers as escorts, in an attempt to claim heritage, taunt locals, stifle local businesses, and invoke their presence as occupiers.
Volunteers from International Solidarity Movement, Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), and The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) were on the scene when six Israeli soldiers claimed the stone was thrown, who then sought out Palestinian youth who were in the area. The soldiers found three boys between the ages of 12 to 15 years old, threatening them and their families with arbitrary arrests. International activists and observers were barred from getting near the detained youth, who were later released.
Another incident was reported by an international volunteer on Monday, February 6th. Volunteers from Temporary International Presence in Hebron witnessed the arrest of two boys near Qordoba school, while soldiers threatened their school principal.
Two 11 year old boys from Qordoba school, detained by Israeli military
The female, international volunteer described the event:
Two 11 year old boys were detained at Qordoba school. Towards the end of our monitoring period this afternoon, as we were leaving the area, the TIPH (Temporary International Presence in Hebron) and I saw 6 soldiers armed with M-16’s run urgently up the hill towards the school. We then heard 6 soldiers shouting violently at the children and heard children screaming and crying.
The three of us ran up the stairs to find the soldiers pulling the boys by their clothes to take them to the police station. The teachers from the school were still on the school grounds and surrounded the children to protect them and attempted to talk to the soldiers. The soldiers yelled at the teachers several times to “go away.” Finally, the principal came out and intervened. The soldiers made the teachers leave and allowed the principal to stay and talk to them on the boys behalf, since she told him the parents were at home and not near the school.
The soldiers were accusing the boys of throwing stones at the Israeli settlement (Beit Hadassah Settlement) across the street and down the steep hill from the school. The principal explained that the boys were playing and started to fight with each other and did not intentionally throw stones at anyone. TIPH said while they had been standing near the school, they only saw the boys playing. They did not see anyone throw a stone. The principal pleaded that the boys not be arrested.
The captain for these soldiers, who was negotiating with the principal of the school, threatened her by saying, “Next time if stones are thrown at the Jewish people, I will take the nice little children to the police and I will make a big (something inaudible stated in Hebrew or Arabic) at your school.”
He then told the principal and the students they were free to go.
After the incident, TIPH and I talked to the principal. The children who were involved and another student who had been playing with them were crying hysterically and were visibly traumatized by this incident.
In October 2011 Qordoba school was the scene of Israeli violence against school children, as soldiers obstructed access to the school and assaulted male and female students as they demonstrated for their right to education.
Arrests were also made on February 9th after violent incursions by the Israeli military. The soldiers arrested three youth, whose ages range between 14 and 15 years old. According to WAFA News Agency, the arrests were made following the use of tear gas and sound bombs to raid Palestinian homes.
Palestinian youth have been manipulated through military arrests, according to the Defense for Children International, which launched its current campaign against such treatment in 2001. According to DCI children are arrested and used to incriminate other Palestinians through typically illegal or forged testifying, applying pressure to the communities of arrested youth to create subservience and fear, and to set an example out of those politically active, enticing entire communities to become fearful of exercising freedom of speech and assembly. And in some cases, youth are arrested and subdued into becoming informants for the Israeli military.
According to the Palestinian Information Center, a total of 3,200 Palestinians were arrested by Israel in 2011 alone, 383 of those being children. Approximately 350 Palestinian youth are currently imprisoned by Israel. The issue of administrative detention is under fire as Khader Adnan continues to withhold food consumption in an act of civil disobedience against Israeli arbitrary arrests and extensions of its illegal administrative detentions. Yet to further Israel’s lack of regard for international law, the rights of defenseless children are being violated to continue Israel’s illegal and violent occupation as the Golani unit continues to target youth in Al Khalil.
By manipulating arbitrary child arrests as a means to pressure the Palestinian community, Israel stands in violation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which it is a signatory.
Satu Gustfasson is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
10 February 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
Planting trees in Aqraba
“Hurry up you turtles!” Wael yelled in the distance. He had suddenly turned this walk into some kind of contest. We skipped across the rocky landscape of Palestine, dirty and with the sun in our eyes.
We were planting trees in the small village of Aqraba, putting up pictures of our missed friends Rachel Corrie and Vittario Arrigoni. Men and women, young and old were helping out with the planting, and we were treated to tea sweet as syrup. Aqaba has lost 144,000 dunums of land to the ten illegal settlements surrounding the village. A road is being built between the settlements of Itamar and Gittit, effectively grabbing even more of the 17,000 dunums still in the villages possession.
After the planting some villagers insisted on showing us something on the other side of the mountain adjacent to the hillside on which we were planting the trees. We went down the slope between the blooming red, yellow, and purple flowers. We crossed the road leading from Itamar to Gittit and started climbing around the hill on the other side. From a rock right next to the trail a turtle watched us wobble past a hyenas nest with our arms stretched out to our sides, so as not to lose our balance.
On the other side of the hill, was a cave used by sheepherders as a place to sleep for hundreds of years. A few steps further down the road I got to see my first blooming almond tree of the year. Beyond that, the lemon groves stretched across the floor of the valley.
We were given lemons and oranges by the farmers and their children. I used the few Arabic phrases I knew to express my gratitude. Then we started the journey back to the olive trees. We picked up speed, not even stopping to admire the stunning view of the rolling green hills of the West Bank. Wael picked up the pace, treading with experienced feet over the rocky ground.
As a worn-out tourist and skeptic, who has long given up the search for the genuine and untouched, I find myself in this setting, my hands sticky with the sour juice of fresh lemons. The sheep grazing the mountainside stare at me just like the turtle, the street vendors of the old city of Nablus, and the children of Balata. As a Westerner I stand out here, without ever feeling like an outsider. The stare of the turtle, the sheep, the vendors, the children are all full of anticipation and curiosity, as is mine when I round the steep mountainside to catch up with Wael.
“Hurry up you turtles!” he yells in the distance.
But I find no reason to hurry. Palestine has greeted me well.
Jonas Weber is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
This year, Palestinian activists in Hebron are planning a week of activities to commemorate the Baruch Goldstein Massacre and demand the opening of Shuhada Street. The planned activities in Hebron are as follows:
Monday : 20/02/2012
Photo Exhibition about the Ibrahim Mosque Massacre and Non-violent Resistance in Palestine
Tuesday : 21/02/2012
Tour For Israeli Parliament Members (if Possible )
Wednesday : 22/02/2012
Film screening about Shuhada Street
Thursday : 23/02/2012
Presentation about Apartheid System in Hebron
Friday: 24/02/2012
Main Demonstration
Saturday : 25/02/2012
Visit to The Families of the Massacre Victims and Families in H2
As we have done for the past few years, we urge all people who are against Israeli Apartheid in Hebron to organize solidarity actions on February 25, 2012.
Below is a list of suggested solidarity actions that we hope you will consider.
1. Demonstrations, Marches, Vigils, Flashmobs
2. Presentations about Apartheid in Hebron
3. Photo Exhibitions concerning Apartheid in Hebron
4. Twitter: Use this hashtag #OpenShuhadaSt to spread the word and educate the masses about Hebron. This is especially important during the week of actions.
5.Video Message: Create and send video messages to community forums, media, and social media outlets urging the international community to use diplomatic pressure to re-open Shuhada Street.
6. Letter-writing and Petitions to the Israeli Ambassador and elected officials in your country asking them to intervene
7.Write letters to the Palestinian Families in Hebron to show solidarity
8.Close roads to show the public the effects of closing the main road in Hebron.
9.Visit Hebron to gain an understanding of the situation and the daily suffering of the people living there.
10. Any other non-violent activity you feel supports the cause, be as creative as possible!!
Please reply to let us know if/how you plan to participate!
Demonstrators in Qaryout attempted to plant olive trees to resist land grab. On the way, they were attacked by settlers and the army.
Photos by Popular Struggle Coordination Committee
Approximately 100 residents of the Qaryout joined the weekly protest against the occupation this week, aiming to plant olive trees on their lands, as an action against confiscation of lands by neighboring settlements. One of main legal mechanisms used by Israel to expropriate Palestinian land is the Ottoman Land Law of 1858, which was in force on the eve of the occupation. According to this law, if privately owned agricultural land is not cultivated for three years it may be declared as “abandoned property” and seized by the state.
Photos by Popular Struggle Coordination Committee
Residents and their supporters marched towards the roadblock, which they have managed to open last week, and which currently remains open. As they were proceeding, settlement private security guards approached the demonstration, shooting live ammunition in the air. The protesters continued marching, finally reaching a line of soldiers. After proceeding some more, the march was effectively trapped in between two groups of settlers – one from the front and one from the back, as well as the army. Nonetheless, they managed to plant a number of trees. As demonstrators were heading back towards the village, settlers “accompanied” them from the hilltop and threw stones directly at protesters. As a result, some clashes erupted between the local youth and the settlers. The army intervened by shooting massive amounts of tear-gas canisters at the protesters. Two injuries were reported.
The village of Qaryout is located in the Northern West Bank, near the city of Nablus. It is home for approximately 2500 residents whose lives have become unbearable due to continuous land confiscations, obstruction of movement and settler violence.
