Tag: Settlers - Page 92 - International Solidarity Movement

Apartheid expanding in Hebron

24 May 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

During Sunday 22nd May several streets were closed in the H1 area of Hebron for illegal settlers to walk through the city followed by approximately 50 soldiers. Meanwhile the shops in the Palestinian area were closed and Palestinians were prohibited from walking through the streets and entering through checkpoint 56.

Hebron is divided into two areas, H1 and H2. H1 is under the rule of the Palestinian Authority and the illegal settlers are usually prohibited from entering it, while the H2 area which includes illegal settlements is under the Israeli military’s control. In contrary to these rules, the illegal settlers were allowed to walk the streets of H1 area on Sunday whilst the Palestinians were put under curfew.

On Saturdays, illegal settlers are normally allowed to take a tour in the old city of Hebron followed and guarded by the Israeli military. A few hours after the settler tour on Saturday May 21st the main street of the old city was attacked by the Israeli military with two sound bombs. One man was injured in his head after being hit by the sound bomb. He and a woman, who became temporally deaf, needed hospital care for their injuries.

Fire at field near Kiryat Arba, Hebron

22 May 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

Israeli settlers suspected of starting a fire on Palestinian land near Hebron.

On Thursday May 19 a part of the field of Abd al Kareim al Jabari in Western Hebron, where International Solidarity Movement activists have been present for the past ten days, was set on fire.

Settler children started to throw stones at the ISM activists as soon as they arrived at the farm on Thursday. At 3:40 PM, when the activists were helping the farmer on the land, smoke appeared from another part of the field which is just below a kindergarten in the illegal settlement of Givat Ha’avot. After approximately ten minutes the fire brigade of Kiryat Arba came and started to extinguish the fire, while children from the settlement sang songs and chanted “Death to the Arabs”.

The Israeli military, boarder police and police arrived and straight away requested proof of identity from the ISM activists, a B’tselem activist and one of the daughters of the family. Abd al Kareim al Jabari was told that a man from the illegal settlement claimed that he had seen the ISM activists setting fire to the field! This accuse was apparently confirmed by a settler guard from Kiryat Arba. After checking the identity of the activists and keeping their passports and ID cards for half-an-hour, the military and police drove away.

Israeli settler children overlook area of burned Palestinian land.

As ISM has reported earlier, the Jabari land is very exposed to settler violence as it lies between the illegal settlements of Kiryat Arba and Givat Ha’avot in Western Hebron.

Israeli army supress peaceful demonstration in Iraq Burin

21 May 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

Around 80 Palestinians and international activists held a peaceful demonstration today in the village of Iraq Burin to protest the theft of village land for settlement construction. The demonstration began at about 16.00 when protesters marched through the village and over the hills towards the illegal settlement of Bracha. The peaceful demonstrators carried Palestinian flags and banners calling for an end to the occupation and for justice for Rachel Corrie whose trial continues tomorrow. They were immedietely met with a barrage of tear gas from the Israeli forces. The demonstrators had been at the top of the hill for only fifteen minutes, peacefully chanting slogans about freedom for Palestine and an end to the occupation and illegal settlements, when troops began firing tear gas at them. The protesters were forced to retreat quickly down the rocky hill as the soldiers shot at them; they narrowly missed the protesters and caused some to suffer adverse effects of strong teargas inhalation. One man was taken away by paramedics as he suffered from asphyxiation. The army continued to fire on protesters as they made their way down the treacherous hillside. However undeterred by the army’s brutality and disproportionate response to the peaceful protest, the villagers plan to continue their demonstrations on a weekly basis.

Iraq Burin is a small village 8 km southwest of Nablus. The illegal settlement of Bracha is located about one mile southeast of the village, and is situated on around 100 dunams (25 acres) of village land, as well as more land from surrounding villages. As with other settlements, it is not just the actual land of the settlement that is a problem, but also the land near it There is a swathe of “off-limits” land around the village that farmers are often prevented from using due to its close proximity to the settlement, leaving them with less land to graze sheep on or harvest from.

The villagers of Iraq Burin held weekly demonstrations last year to protest against the expansion of Bracha, and their continuing inability to access the village’s agricultural land. This began as a reaction to a sharp increase in provocative (and often violent) attacks initiated by residents of the settlement. These attacks were frequently aided and abetted by the Israeli military, who in turn invaded the village, firing rounds of tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets and live ammunition at Palestinian civilians. However the village took the decision to stop the weekly protests when Mohammed Qaddous (16) and Asaud Qadous (19) were shot dead by the Israeli military during a demonstration.

iraq burin protestors attacked by Israeli army

Palestinian testimonies about settler attack in Tuba

20 May 2011 | Christian Peacemaker Teams

Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) has released a video of Palestinian testimonies about the recent settler invasion in the village of Tuba. On 16 May, shortly before midnight, Israeli settlers invaded Tuba, damaged property, and stole and injured several sheep belonging to the Ali Awwad family.

Members of the Ali Awwad family reported that they counted seven masked settlers, who entered the village throwing rocks with slingshots. Besides stealing seven sheep, the settlers beat the sheep and injured several, including one which lost an eye. Two of the sheep were so badly injured that the family had to slaughter them the next morning. In addition, the settlers overturned three large water tanks, damaged fences and a goat pen, punctured a storage tent and three sacks of yogurt, and destroyed the ventilation pipe of an outhouse.

Although the family called the Israeli police the night of the attack, the police did not come to Tuba until two days later. Tuba residents saw Israeli soldiers near the village immediately following the settler invasion. But when the Palestinians tried to speak with the soldiers, the soldiers were not able to communicate in Arabic and left the village.

Christian Peacemaker Teams and Operation Dove have maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and the South Hebron Hills since 2004.

Settler attacks with Molotov cocktails on Nakba day in Hebron

17 May 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

The school of the illegal settlement Kiryat Arba and the house which was attacked

A Palestinian house was attacked by settlers from the illegal settlement of Kiryat Arba in Western Hebron on May 15, the Nakba day.

Jamal Abu Saifan told the International Solidarity Movement that around 6.30 pm on Sunday, four masked settlers appeared and started to throw Molotov cocktails and glass bottles towards one of the houses of the Abu Saifan family in Western Hebron. 19 people live in the house which was attacked, including several children. The family has five houses, situated just below a religious school of the illegal settlement of Kiryat Arba. The attackers were standing in the school yard.

When the settlers appeared the family called The Red Crescent and TIPH, Temporary International Presence in Hebron, also appeared. Jamal Abu Saifan told ISM that the settlers threw bottles and some Molotov cocktails towards the TIPH personnel when they started to take photos to document the attack.

On Monday 16, the same day as ISM spoke to the family, around 14 settlers appeared at the school yard and threw stones towards the houses. Israeli police arrived and gathered stones and bottles from both attacks. The family has made a complaint to the police about the events. No one was injured in the attacks.

The family has been exposed to settler violence many times. In December 2009 two members of the Abu Saifan family were shot by settlers. Jamal Abu Saifan told ISM that most of the 90 members of the family have been exposed to stone throwing by settlers from the illegal settlement Kiryat Arba. Water tanks and satellites on the roofs of the houses have also been destroyed by settlers on several occasions.