31st January 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine
On Saturday, 30th January 2016, large groups of settlers, accompanied by heavily-armed soldiers, entered the Palestinian market at night and took it over for about an hour during night-time in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron).
Israeli forces blocking the entrance to the Palestinian market
Around 9:30 pm, Israeli settlers from the illegal settlements throughout al-Khalil gathered at Bab al-Baladiyya, from where they walked into the Palestinian souq, the market, surrounded by heavily-armed Israeli forces. The group of more than 50 settlers started a ‘tour’ of the Palestinian market, with Israeli forces ‘guarding’ them throughout the Palestinian market. Palestinian residents were not allowed to pass and forced to wait at a distance, with soldiers repeatedly pointing the lasers from their guns at them to indicate they have to stop. The walk home at night took almost an hour for some Palestinians, instead of the usual 10 minutes.
Settler clogging up the Palestinian market
This kind of ‘settler tour’ through the Palestinian market used to take place regularly on Saturday afternoons. During the ‘tour’ Palestinians are often denied to pass, stopped, ID-checked and detained. In the recent months, no ‘settler tours’ took place, but last week they started again with a nightly-tour at 11pm. For the Palestinian residents of the souq, these tours have become a regular form of intimidation and harassment in the past.
Operation Dove concerned about the ongoing escalation of violence in the West Bank
Tensions between Palestinians and Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank have arose in recent days after two Israeli settlers were shot dead near Nablus on Thursday October 1 by suspected Palestinian attackers. Since the shootings, there has been an upsurge of settler attacks against Palestinian people and their properties.
Clashes have broken out across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as a result of ongoing confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli armed forces over the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. Palestinian religious authorities claim that the continuous and repeated tours of settlers on the al-Aqsa mosque are a provocation and violate the sacredness of one of the holiest places for Muslim worshippers.
Israeli police informed they are restricting access to the Old City of Jerusalem after a Palestinian man killed two Israelis in the historic neighborhood. Only Israeli citizens, Old City residents, tourists, businesspeople working in the area and students studying there will be allowed to enter, as police declared in a statement on Sunday.
A large number of attacks carried out by Israeli settlers were reported across the Southern Hebron Hills area during the weekend.
On October 3 at around 10 pm a group of settlers reportedly stormed al-Birkeh (nearby Yatta), and assaulted an unarmed elderly Palestinian park guard (65 years old), locals said.
On October 3 at night, as Maan News reported, a group of settlers smashed the windows of a car belonging to a Palestinian doctor, Imad Abu Iram, near the Zif village, in southern of Hebron.
On October 4, at about 2 am, Israeli settlers attacked the Palestinian village of As-Seefer. After taking down the fence dividing the village from the settlement of Metzadot Yehuda – which surrounds the Palestinian village – the settlers started throwing stones to houses and tents. The attack took place in the middle of the night thus scaring all the local families and damaged a car, an aluminum canopy and solar panels. On the day after the attack, the children of As-Seefer, were too afraid to cross the checkpoint to go to school, and decided to stay at home.
In the early morning of October 4, settlers from the Mitzpe Yair illegal outpost closed down the road from Birr al Idd to Jinba with a roadblock preventing the Palestinian teachers to arrive on time to Jinba School.
On Monday October 5 in order to re-open the road, Palestinians and Ta’ayush Israeli activists removed the roadblock.
On October 5 an army jeep turned up at the At-Tuwani village at 11.25 p.m. and threw 4 stun grenades thus scaring Palestinians in the middle of the night.
On Thursday October 6, at around 2:00 a.m. settlers raided the village of As-Sefeer for the second time in three days. Settlers threw stones against houses and families who were sleeping outdoors, injuring a 12 year-old child of the Abu Qpeita’s family who was taken to the Yatta Hospital. Settlers also damaged again the solar panels of the village.
OD is registering a very fast escalation of settler and Israeli military violence in all the West Bank.
Such violence against Palestinian civilian population cannot be considered as “war against terrorism” neither cannot be justified with Israeli security needs, but is the direct consequence of the Israeli Occupation.
Please send the following 2 letters (below). One to EU trade officials (addresses below the letter) and one for Israeli embassies (please make sure to change the name according to location).
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EMAIL TO EU TRADE OFFICIALS
Dear _________
I am writing to you with an urgent appeal concerning a Palestinian village in the Israeli occupied West Bank. This village is called Susiya and it is had already been displaced once to make room for an Israeli settlement. Now it is under imminent threat of being destroyed again. The Israeli military has just informed the residents of Susiya that they will start demolishing buildings after the end of Ramadan in a few days.
For more on the continued harassment of the people of Susya by Israeli settlers and military see http://rhr.org.il/eng/save-susya/ http://972mag.com/idf-maps-village-of-susya-as-forced-displacement-looms/106584/
1) Do not let Israeli settlements gain from plunder and restrict the sale of all Israeli settlement products in Europe. In particular bar the importation of Carmel Wines to Europe.
2) Contact the Israeli embassy and demand that the Israeli government cancel its plans to destroy Susiya for the second time.
I am writing to you with an urgent appeal concerning a Palestinian village in the West Bank. This village is called Susiya and it is had already been displaced once to make room for an Israeli settlement. Now it is under imminent threat of being destroyed again. The Israeli military has just informed the residents of Susiya that they will start demolishing buildings after the end of Ramadan, in a few days.
To forcefully evict an entire village is a cruel and illegal act that is about to be repeated by the Israeli military. One cannot escape the conclusion that this policy is a form of systematic discrimination directed at the Palestinians living under Israeli military control. Such an act is so offensive that it implicated those who take part in it as well as those who only let it happen. We urge you to not let this happen and stop the planned demolition of Susiya.
Sincerely ______________
—
-Africa
Angola Raphael Singer consular@luanda.mfa.gov.il
Cameroon info@yaounde.mfa.gov.il
Ethiopia Belaynesh Zevadia embassy@addisababa.mfa.gov.il
Nigeria Uriel Palti info@abuja.mfa.gov.il
Sengal Eli Ben Tura info@dakar.mfa.gov.il
Pretoria Arthur Lank consular@pretoria.mfa.gov.il
Kenya Yahel Vilan info@nairobi.mfa.gov.il
Ghana Sharon Bor-li
amb-sec@accra.mfa.gov.il
-Asia
-China
• Beijing Matan Vilnai info@beijing.mfa.gov.il
• Shanghai Jackie Eldan consulgen-assist@shanghai.mfa.gov.il
• Hong Kong Sagi Karni info@hongkong.mfa.gov.il
• Guangzhou Yaacov Avrahamy info@guangzhou.mfa.gov.il
-India
New Delhi Daniel Carmon consular2@newdelhi.mfa.gov.il
Mumbai David Akov info@mumbai.mfa.gov.il
Tokyo Ruth Kahanoff information@tokyo.mfa.gov.il
Amman cons-sec@amman.mfa.gov.il
Myanmar Daniel Zohar Zonshine info@yangon.mfa.gov.il
Nepal Yaron Mayer info@kathmandu.mfa.gov.il
Philippines Effie Ben Matityau info@manila.mfa.gov.il
Singapore Yael Rubinstein info@singapore.mfa.gov.il
Seoul Uri Gutman info@seoul.mfa.gov.il
Taipei Simona Halperin press@taipei.org.il
Bangkok Simon Roded info@bangkok.mfa.gov.il
Vietnam Meirav Eilon Shahar info@hanoi.mfa.gov.il
-Central America
Costa Rica Abraham Haddad consular1@sanjose.mfa.gov.il
Dominican Republic Bahij Mansour Info@santodomingo.mfa.gov.il
El Salvador Oren Bar El info@sansalvador.mfa.gov.il
Guatemala Moshe Bachar sec-ambassador@guatemala.mfa.gov.il
Mexico Rodica Radian Gordon info@mexico.mfa.gov.il
Panama Alexander Galilee info@panama.mfa.gov.il
-Euro-Asia
Azerbaijan Rafael Harpaz info@baku.mfa.gov.il
Croatia Zina Kalay Kleitman info@zagreb.mfa.gov.il
Georgia Yuval Fuchs press@tbilisi.mfa.gov.il
Kazakhstan Eliyahu Tasman info@astana.mfa.gov.il
-Russia
Moscow Olga Words info@tehila.gov.il
St. Petersberg Michael Lotem info@spb.mfa.gov.il
Serbia Yossef Levy info@belgrade.mfa.gov.il
Ukraine Eliab Byelotserkovski info@kiev.mfa.gov.il
Uzbekistan Carmela Shamir operator@tashkent.mfa.gov.il
-Europe
Mission to UN, Geneva, Eviatar Manor mission-israel@geneva.mfa.gov.il
Mission to European Union, Brussels David Walzer
Austria Zvi Heifetz info-sec@vienna.mfa.gov.il
Bulgaria Shaul Kamisa Raz info@sofia.mfa.gov.il
Cyprus Maria Hadjigeorgiou ambass-sec@nicosia.mfa.gov.il
Prague Gary Koren info@prague.mfa.gov.il
Copenhagen Barukh Binah info@copenhagen.mfa.gov.il
London Daniel Taub info@london.mfa.gov.il
Finland Dan Ashbel info@helsinki.mfa.gov.il
-France
Paris Yossi Gal consul-sec@paris.mfa.gov.il
Marseille Barnea Hassid consulgeneral-sec@marseille.mfa.gov.il
-Germany
Berlin Yakov Hadas-Handelsman botschaft@israel.de
Munich Dan Shaham consul-sec@munich.mfa.gov.il
Greece Irit Ben-Abba pr@athens.mfa.gov.il
Hungary Izrael Allam info@budapest.mfa.gov.il
Ireland Boaz Modai info@dublin.mfa.gov.il
Italy Naor Gilon cons4@roma.mfa.gov.il
Latvia Hagit Ben-Yaakov press@riga.mfa.gov.il
Netherlands Haim Divon consular@hague.mfa.gov.il
Norway Raphael Schutz consular@oslo.mfa.gov.il
Poland, Anna Azari, publicaffairs@warsaw.mfa.gov.il
Portugal Tzipora Rimon israelmb@lisbon.mfa.gov.il
Romania Dan Ben-Eliezer info@bucharest.mfa.gov.il
Slovakia Alexander Ben-Zvi cao-sec@bratislava.mfa.gov.il
Spain Alon Bar info@madrid.mfa.gov.il
Sweden Isaac Bachman info@stockholm.mfa.gov.il
Switzerland Yigal B. Caspi press@bern.mfa.gov.il
Vatican Zion Evrony info@holysee@.mfa.gov.il
-Turkey
Ankara Amira Oron info@ankara.mfa.gov.il
Istanbul Shai Cohen info@istanbul.mfa.gov.il
-North America
-Canada
Ottawa Rafael Barak info@ottawa.mfa.gov.il
Toronto DJ Schneeweiss consular1@toronto.mfa.gov.il
Montreal Ziv Nevo Kulman info@montreal.mfa.gov.il
-USA
Washington D.C. Ron Dermer info@washington.mfa.gov.il
Pacific Northwest San Francisco Andy David Consulardep@SanFrancisco.mfa.gov.il
Los Angeles David Siegel consular-assist@losangeles.mfa.gov.il
Florida and Puerto Rico in Miami Chaim Shacham concal.sec@miami.mfa.gov.il
Atlanta Ofer Aviran info@atlanta.mfa.gov.il
Mid-Atlantic Region Yaron Sideman information@philadelphia.mfa.gov.il
New York Ido Aharoni info@newyork.mfa.gov.il
New England Yehuda Yaakov info@boston.mfa.gov.il
Midwest Roey Gilad contactus@chicago.mfa.gov.il
Houston Eitan Levon concal.sec@houston.mfa.gov.il
-Oceania
Australia Shmuel Ben-Shmuel info@canberra.mfa.gov.i
New Zealand Yosef Livne info@wellington.mfa.gov.il
-South America
Argentina Dorit Shavit info@buenosaires.mfa.gov.il
-Brazil
Sau Paulo Yoel Barnea info@saopaulo.mfa.gov.il
Brasilia Dr. Reda Mansour info@brasilia.mfa.gov.il
Chile Rafael Eldad info@santiago.mfa.gov.il
Colombia Marco Sermoneta info@bogota.mfa.gov.il
Ecuador Eliyahu Yerusalmi info@quito.mfa.gov.il
Peru Ehud Moshe Eitam info@lima.mfa.gov.il
Uruguay Nina Ben-Ami info@montevideo.mfa.gov.il
11th May 2015 | Operation Dove | At Tuwani, South Hebron Hills, Occupied Palestine
POPULAR STRUGGLE COORDINATION COMMITTEE AND POPULAR STRUGGLE COMMITTEE OF SOUTH HEBRON HILLS CALLS FOR INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE IN SUSIYA VILLAGE
Susiya village, South Hebron Hills
Where: Susiya Village, South Hebron Hills
When: From now, permanently
What: Popular Struggle Coordination Committee and Popular Struggle committee of South Hebron Hills has just opened the “Solidarity tent” and invites you all to bring your solidarity and your support in order to save Susiya village from the eviction plan. Internationals are also invited to document and to spread the information about the situation in Susiya.
Why: In 1986 the village of Susiya was declared archeological site, its land expropriated and inhabitants were evicted and forced to move in their nearby agricultural land where on 2012, Israel’s Civil Administration distributed demolition orders to over 50 temporary structures. In 2014 the residents of Susiya, represented by Rabbis for Human Rights, sued for a request to freeze the demolition order’s implementation. In 2015, on May 5, the Israeli High Court rejected that request, allowing the demolition of the village.
Now the threat to be evicted and deported again, becomes more imminent for the inhabitants of Susiya. Please come to participate at the initiative.
The entire Palestinian village of Susya is in danger of demolition and expulsion. By refusing to issue an interim order preventing preemptive demolitions before their case is heard, the Israeli High Court is allowing for the demolition of the entire Palestinian village of Susya and subsequent expulsion of its 340 residents. The refusal of the State to commit to not demolishing before the conclusion of proceedings suggests it has plans to destroy the village in the near future.
On one hand, the High Court of Justice is willing to hear the village’s petition to legitimize its status, but on the other hand, the court allows the village to be destroyed before even deciding on the case.
On May 5 2015, High Court Judge Noam Solberg rejected the request for an interim order by the Palestinian village of Susya, represented by Rabbis for Human Rights, in a petition against the Civil Administration’s decision to reject the master plan prepared by the village and subsequent demolition of the entire village.
The village argued that their plan was rejected for non-professional reasons and that the village should be legalized due to its unique history. The residents sought an interim order to freeze the implementation of the demolitions until the petition is heard, as is standard practice in these sort of cases.It was against this request for an interim order that Justice Solberg, without even conducting a hearing on the request, made the unusual move of granting the state’s request not to freeze the orders. This decision means that the Civil Administration can now destroy Susya at any time. The demolition of the village will lead to hundreds of residents living in the desert with no roof over their heads and may result in their displacement. The state’s refusal to commit to waiting for a conclusion to the court proceedings raises great alarm that it intends to implement the demolition order in the near future; tragically, it seems the villagers are in real danger.
In the petition, Susya’s residents claimed that the army is obliged to legalize their village as it was the one to confiscate their land and their caves in 1986, leaving them without a housing solution and forcing them to move to their adjacent agricultural lands. As evidence to the life in the village prior to the expropriation, various testimonials and photographs of life in caves were presented to the judge. Among other things, there were documented photos of a visit by the US Consulate to the village at the beginning of 1986. The photos and testimony clearly shows that the Palestinian village of Susya is an old village formed prior to the Israeli occupation and the declaration of the area as an archaeological site.
Among the evidence was the opinion of the late governmental legal adviser Plia Albeck (considered to be very pro-settlement and who wrote in her memoirs that she tried to find legal ways to declare Palestinian land as State land), indicating the existence of a Palestinian village in 1982 where today the archaeological site stands.
Despite the evidence presented before him, revealing the many injustices done to the villagers – from the expropriation and dispossession of their lands, to the refusal by the state to recognize the status of the village in its new location – Judge Sohlberg did not agree to hear the case before allowing the demolishment the village and setting the fate of its inhabitants.
Attached to the petition, inter alia, was an expert opinion by Prof. Eyal Benvenisti, a renowned expert in international law, stipulating that the demolition of the village of Susya constitutes a war crime.
This week, a report by radical right-wing NGO “Regavim” (which has close ties to the settlement enterprise) was exposed indicating that in the nearby Jewish settlement, also called Susia, there are 23 illegal homes built on private Palestinian land. We have no indication of any attempt by the state to demolish these illegal structures in the settlement Sussia or in its nearby outposts. We see in this current situation that this Jewish settlement, whose very existence is prohibited by international law, and where some of its homes are sitting on private Palestinian land, is prosperous, while the Palestinian village of Susya, whose inhabitants are on their own private land, is at risk of displacement and loss of their entire village.
Background:
In 1986 the village of Susya was declared an archaeological site, its land expropriated, and its inhabitants, who lived in caves, were deported. While the Palestinians were told that they could not reside in an archeological site, Israeli settlers live in an illegal outpost located inside the archeological site.
After the expulsion, villagers were forced to move to their neighboring agricultural plots. Because there was no willingness to grant a zoning plan, they involuntarily became illegal builders. Dozens of villagers followed procedures in attempts to obtain building permits, but those attempts were rejected. In 2012 the villagers raised funds and submitted a proposed master plan, drawn up by Professor Rassem Khamaiseh, for the Civil Administration for review. The plan would authorize construction in the village according to accepted standards of professional planning.
The plan was rejected in 2013 on very questionable grounds, indicating a double standard in planning, and blatant discrimination against the Palestinian population. For example, it was argued that the number of residents in the village, which is a few hundred people, is not substantial enough to grant it independent planning as its own entity. On the other hand, dozens of unauthorized outposts which are built housing only a handful of residents are approved by the Civil Administration’s planning body. In addition, it was argued that the plan will prevent the population from properly developing and moving out of poverty, and therefore, they should be moved to an adjacent city. It should be noted that the city is, of course, in Area A, and what actually prevents the progress of Susya is the lack of infrastructure which they are prevented from building. Also important to note is that Israelis are permitted to choose their preferred way of life – be it urban or rural, and are not forced by the state into one or the other.
In 2014, Rabbis for Human Rights petitioned the High Court on behalf of the Susya village council and its residents against the decision to reject the village master plan (HCJ 1420/14). As mentioned, on May 5th the court rejected the request for an interim injunction, leaving the whole village vulnerable to imminent demolition.
The big picture:
The danger of demolishing and expropriating the village of Susya reflects the systemic problem of planning for Palestinian villages located in Area C; in these villages, planning is done by military planning committees, without representation of Palestinians, with the intent of preventing residents from building on their own land based on reasonable and professional planning standards. A recent High Court petition, submitted by the village council Dirat, Rabbis for Human Rights, Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Society, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, and St. Yves – Catholic Human Rights Center, demands planning authority be returned to Palestinian villages for their own communities in order to prevent the tragic demolitions of hundreds of homes every year due to the impossibility of obtaining building permits.
