Yesterday, UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) announced the “postponement” of a talk by extremist pro-settler group Regavim in London due to opposition from British, Israeli, and Palestinian activists.
Regavim, which receives funding from the Israeli government, is not only anti-Palestinian and openly racist, but also lobbies for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from the West Bank and destruction of their homes and schools, in clear violation of international law. A range of voices have been raised in opposition to Regavims visit including the International Solidarity Movement, Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, Stop the Demolitions, with criticism also coming from Yachad UK and New Israel Fund. In the words of Regavim General Director Meir Deutsch, the protests planned against Regavim’s London lecture “represent a whole new level of cooperation between…organizations operating in Israel and abroad with Palestinian organizations”
We strongly reject UKLFI’s claim that most of the objections to the proposed talk related to irrelevant statements by a co-founder of Regavim who has since stopped working with the group. Regavim’s racism has been clear since the beginning, and it continues to do so, spreading discriminatory and hate filled messages.
While UKLFI claims it “is not aligned with any particular political viewpoint or party in the UK or Israel”, their actions show they are anything but a neutral or objective group. In March this year, an UKLFI document describes itself as an “association of lawyers” who “invok[e] laws in support of Israel and against Israel’s enemies”, “combat” the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign, and “work[s] closely with other pro-Israel organisations in the UK and around the world”. They devote most of its energy to lobbying public bodies in order to suppress activism for Palestinian rights, and target organisations promoting the Palestinian-led BDS movement, lodging complaints with regulatory bodies and sending letters threatening legal action. UKLFI seeks to frame groups advocating for Palestinian rights as extremists, but happily invites to the UK an organisation that has promoted violent racist narratives, and the violation of international law. UKLFI itself refuses to accept the illegality of Israeli settlements under international law.
While Regavim’s propaganda lecture has been postponed, it is still planned to take place at a later date, while on the ground in Palestine Regavim continues to lobby for the demolition of Palestinian communities and eviction of UNESCO from Jerusalem. We call on those committed to human rights, international law, and justice in the Middle East to continue to oppose both Regavim’s attempts to propagate its extremist views and discriminatory organizations like UKLFI that play in supporting role in Regavim’s destructive actions.
– International Solidarity Movement
– Stop the Demolitions
– Palestine Solidarity Campaign
August 25| International Solidarity Movement | Beit Kahel, Occupied Palestine
As part of a targeted collective punishment towards the village of Beit Kahel following the death of an Israeli settler in Gush Etzion, ten individuals from the village have been arrested by Israeli Occupation Forces.
Seven of the detainees are all part of the Asfara family, and include brothers Ikriah and Naseer Asfara (28 and 23 years old), their brother, their cousin Qassam Asfara (30 years old), his two brothers, and his wife Dnas Nabeel Asfara (27 years old). Qassam – who has a permit to work in Israel which requires a background check for security clearance – and Dnas have two very young children, of just 3 and 5 years old. The children have now been without their parents since they were arrested during preparations for Eid Al-Adha, on Saturday 10th August 2019.
The Israeli military have announced that Ikriah, a journalist, is not under suspicion in relation to the death, but they have not released him. Relatives of the detainees have heard nothing since the arrests, except that they have been taken to an Israeli prison north of Gaza. Their lawyers have been unable to have any dialogue with Israeli authorities about the individuals or the case; the only news that family members have had has come from Israeli media about the incident. The Asfara family are very concerned for the arrested individuals, as Israeli prisons are well known to employ torture methods in an attempt to coax ‘admissions’ from accused parties. All of these torture methods are made legal under the title of “Moderate physical pressure,” and include: solitary confinement in high temperatures; being forced to stay awake for days or weeks on end; starvation; and enduring incredibly loud sounds and music 24 hours a day.
Prior to the arrest, members of the Asfara family, and other residents of the village of Beit Kahel had been subject to daily harassment by the Israeli military, and when they came on the Saturday 10th before Eid Al-Adha at 2am, 30 soldiers broke into and terrorised two buildings they raided as they carried out the arrests.
Forced window in Naseer and Ikriah’s home.
Mr. Asafra, the uncle of those arrested, described:
“We were sleeping peacefully in our homes, they (IOF) broke in and started beating everybody up. It was the Saturday before Eid at 2am while everyone was asleep. They stayed until 8am. 6 continuous hours of beating people up in the house. They horrified everyone and beat two men and arrested 4 people. They horrified everyone. They took every family member into one room and then searched the house.”
The brothers, Naseer and Ikriah, were sleeping on the roof of the other home raided, and they were woken up by security dogs. Israeli military broke in and raided both houses.
The rooftop of Naseer and Ikriah’s home.
“It was terrifying for the children sleeping inside,” said Mr. Asfara, “They and the women were screaming.”
The three men arrested, along with other family members, were beaten badly in front of the rest of the family. Dnas was not beaten, but roughly handcuffed and taken by the soldiers, who did not let her get dressed or put her head scarf on. She quickly grabbed her praying overcoat to protect her modesty as she was dragged out of her home.
Mr. Asfara states: “I never expected a country with an organised “democratic” structure would behave this way towards civilians.”
Mr. Asfara, the uncle of the detainees.
The IOF returned the next day on Sunday 11th, during Eid Al-Adha celebrations, at around the same time of 2am. Again, they entered the village with incredible violence, raided both homes, confiscated Qassam’s car, and horrified the residents. They searched both buildings for 2.5 hours before taking photographs and sketches of the properties, measuring them up for demolition, despite having no demolition order from the court.
When the IOF came to the Beit Kahel for a third time, on Thursday 15th August, residents of Beit Kahel had organised a sit in of Naseer and Ikriah’s home. As 200 people were gathered inside and on the roof of the property, the Israeli military barricaded the village and fired tear gas into the building and then surrounded it, blocking any Palestinian from leaving as the house filled with the gas. Many were affected very badly by the tear gas; considered a chemical weapon when used in War, but somehow legal in civilian cases despite the high mortality rate of Palestinians due to tear gas related casualties.
The family has not received any demolition order at all, so the village hope to resist the actions of the Israeli military until they get confirmation from the high court that the houses will be demolished for certain.
Naseer and Ikriah’s home home after the raid.Qassam and Dnas’ home after the raid.
Naseer and Ikriah Asfara reside in only 2 of the 4 apartments in the building, yet the Israeli military took measurements, sketches and photographs of all 4 apartments, as well as a separate building where Qassam lives with his wife Dnas. The residents of Beit Kahel are appealing the demolition in court, hopefully to freeze it, but even if they win the appeal not to demolish all 4 apartments in the building, the military could block the 2 houses of the accused, or fill them with cement.
Housing demolitions, most often without a court ruling, are a common collective punitive measure by Israel, under the 1945 British Mandate emergency law. This policy has its origins after end of the First World War and the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire, when Great Britain seized much of the Middle East, and gave wide authority for local military commanders to confiscate and destroy “any house, structure or land… the inhabitants of which he is satisfied have committed… any offence against these Regulations involving violence.” Despite the outdated and irrelevant nature of this policy, it was renewed by Israel in 2014, granting the occupying forces legality to demolish the homes of Palestinians under any accusation, founded or not.
Naseer and Ikriah’s home home after the raid.Qassam and Dnas’ home after the raid.
As a further punitive measure, 9 members of the family have had their Israeli work permits blocked, so in addition to their being unable to earn a living, they are also unable to pass through checkpoints. Qassam’s 57 year old father Aref has also been returned from checkpoints, unable to pass through the country. This renders the entire Asfara family without their livelihood, trapped in Beit Kahel, soon to be made homeless.
Since these initial arrests, the IOF have returned to Beit Kahel and arrested 6 more residents of the small village. Two of Qassam’s brothers, a brother of Ikriah and Naseer, and three others were arrested in a night raid on Monday August 19th.
Following these events, Israeli Occupation Forces have had an almost constant presence in the village, threatening: “We will come at any time we want, don’t think this is over.”
“Welcome Everyone” in Arabic on the connected apartment to the residence of the accused brothers.
August 20 | International Solidarity Movement | Beit Ummar, Occupied Palestine
Beit Ummar is an agricultural town and farming community just north of Hebron, with a populace of about 17,000. Al Shoroq, a Palestinian led group comprised of local activists based in the region since 2013 founded by longstanding committee members, work with families, farmers and the community to create resistance based empowerment through skill building, construction and collective work. Al Shoroq as an organisation are focused primarily on assisting in sustainability and development in Area C; Israeli controlled areas containing Palestinian families, farmland and buildings long standing on now occupied territories, which currently makes up 70% of the land. Beit Ummar is under constant scrutiny and stress from the Israeli government and military, and more increasingly, Israeli settlers.
Settlers are extremely volatile in their treatment of the residents of Beit Ummar, frequently shooting at farmers, cutting down their trees, attacking their livestock or burning their land so that the soil will not bear plantation. One of Al Shoroq’s avenues of support for the farming community is to replant trees. Recently 1000 olive trees were planted to replace those destroyed previously by settlers, only for the settlers from Bat Ayin to then tear them down and raze the ground earlier this year. Israel also controls and restricts the integral local resources in the area, including water, as Yousef Abu Maria explained: “Israel takes all the water to use on their trees, you can see the difference between the Palestinian and Israeli trees.”
There is growing evidence of extreme oppression in the area, and the rate in which land is taken and occupied is faster than ever. Another founding member of the organisation warned: “Problems like this happen constantly; it is impossible to live and work well here. The Israelis want the Palestinians to leave their land. 15 years ago, there were only 10 houses in the settlement in Karmei Zur, now, you can see 1,000. To do this, they take Palestinian land. The Israeli area has grown from 100 dunums” (100,000m2) “to 6,000 dunums”. (6,000,000m2). In interview, representatives of the municipality asserted that “This is the main aim of the occupation – to press the people, until they are fed up, to make them leave their land, to leave Palestine. It will NEVER happen. We are Palestinian. It’s our land. We will stay here. We will die here.”
Settlements at this point are surrounding and cutting off Beit Ummar, from all accessible sides, via Karmei Zur, Bat Ayin and Gush Etzion. On the remaining side are uninhabitable rocky valleys and mountainous terrains. While the entirety of the West Bank is dramatically affected by the occupation, Beit Ummar is a special case, as they are completely surrounded by settlements and the apartheid wall. The settlements are constantly undergoing expansion, ebbing away at Palestinian land. Naturally this has made daily life incredibly difficult for residents of Beit Ummar, their routes cut off and their land under threat from the occupation and biased military intervention. “If a Palestinian has to go to the hospital, or they want to go to pray, but the checkpoint is between them and the hospital or mosque, they can’t” explained one of the founders of Al Shoroq, Yousef Abu Maria.
“The suffering is daily, in our own land. This is our land.” – The Mayor of Beit Ummar.
The community suffers first hand in this situation. Whilst under constant harassment and devastation of the land, there is also the factor that Israel bars Palestinian farmers from sending their produce to external markets, overseas or even as close as Jordan. This coupled with the lack of employment and opportunity results in economic turmoil.
The occupation affects every Palestinian territory in the West Bank. In the case of Beit Ummar, a once thriving agricultural community is now under the constant threat of a new invasive manipulation of the law served only to make life harder for Palestinian residents, whilst simultaneously closing the area off, making movement incredibly difficult.
A blocked Palestinian access road.
International funding for Settler-only roads is met, whilst pre-existing roads for the Palestinian people are blocked and destroyed. A member of Al Shoroq stated that: “Any Palestinian that wishes to work in Israel occupied areas, cannot enter without a special permit, and even then, they must pass through a checkpoint which takes hours. Workers have to get to the checkpoint at 2am to wait to pass through to get to work in time. There are many people waiting there, and have to wait 4-5 hours to enter Israel. For many Palestinians, they are not even granted a permit, so are unable to move through checkpoints.”
Representatives of the municipality added: “So what about the farmers? Daily they have to go to their land to take care of it. They need permission every time? It is too difficult!”
The main entrance to the town is now situated next to an arbitrarily designated ‘military zone’ with a consistent Israeli military presence. However, there is no Palestinian police station in Beit Ummar, and so, if police presence is required, it has to be approved by the Israeli Civil Administration. This process takes up to 6 hours to get approval to enter, which more often than not, will result in rejection. This is not only dangerous, but denial of a basic human right for the people of Beit Ummar. as they cannot receive direct or timely emergency response in critical situations.
Al Shoroq’s work is imperative in sustaining a resistance to the land grab tactics and destruction long imposed on the innocent civilians of Beit Ummar. They are a singular force taking a stand against the ceaseless abuse of human rights in the town.
The founders of Al Sharouq have been working as a commitee for 15 years against the separation wall, settlements, the closing of road 60 for Palestinians. Around 2013, they formed Al Sharouq organisation and started working in humanitarian intervention, supplying food boxes, clothes, beds. The opportunity to start a small scale project for the farmers or for the women has been difficult. Al Sharouq do what they can, but it is not easy to do this work alone. They need support from the international community, to support fundraising for this project in their countries to help the farmers of Beit Ummar. – Al Shoroq member.
As the only tangible source of support, Al Shoroq are an integral part of the Beit Ummar municipality, also performing outreach work across Hebron and Yatta. They are small in number, but their dedication to improving the quality of life for Palestinian inhabitants of Area C is great, and appreciated throughout the community.
“What can we do to resist the occupation? We protest Israel’s plans for demolitions, building of walls, and sometimes we are successful in stopping their building plans, but most of the time we are not. The occupation has been going on for so long, that any small thing we can do to fight or support people to stay in their land, is a big thing.”
“Maybe we can’t stop the wall, but we can support people to stay living and working where they do, near the wall, or near the settlements. If the farmers do not have anyone to support them to stay where they are near the wall, or a settlement, and they leave, it is easy for Israel to expand the settlement, and push back the wall even more.” – Al Shoroq member.
Al Shoroq and the community of Beit Ummar are fighting daily against multiple impending threats as a result of the occupation. How dangerously close the settlements now are, the threats of security guards and settlers, the burning and razing of plantations, of homes, and of land to ensure that nothing is rebuilt. The terrorising nature of the occupation is seen here in full swing. A crater of rubble and corrugated twisted metal from the Israeli military’s destruction of what was – until recently – a thriving family home, acts as a reminder that nothing is off limits to the Israeli occupation.
“But there are many things we can do. We support the farmers to plant olive trees, we build wells so the farmers can easily access water, we run workshops on how farmers can resist the occupation and stay on their land, we provide legal support and documents to the farmers so that they can prove ownership of their land to Israel, we make food boxes for the people who are really suffering. All of these activities we do, while we never stop demonstrating against Israel and their plans. This is the goal of Alshouq, it’s a simple goal.” – Al Shoroq member.
“We can start small and get bigger and bigger.” – Yousef Abu Maria
But to achieve this goal effectively and to make a deeper impact on the unrelenting injustice of the occupation, Al Shoroq require the support of internationals and partner organisations. To focus and maintain global attention to their cause, to support and assist in the excellent progress they are making in the face of the oppressive Israeli regime, and to help expand their team and abilities with people power, funding, publicity and communication. Al Shoroq would like to reach out to fellow communities, organisations and individuals, so that they may visit and support the people of Beit Ummar by building small projects in the area, improving the stance on agriculture, support and outreach, by spreading the word, fundraising, planting, building and making imprints on the unjust state of things; sowing the seeds to return their land to a place of strength, unity and resistance.
“We have so many daily problems, but we have to exceed them. By any way we have to exceed them.” – The Municipality of Beit Ummar
To join Al Shoroq’s voluntary programme or to donate to their important work, please contact:Palestine-Hebron-Bayt Umar-Main Street
August 6 | International Solidarity Movement | South Hebron Hills, occupied Palestine
Youth activist Sameeha walks through the beautiful South Hebron Hills
“My life is occupation … all the time you have to be ready for the bad, and the most bad you can imagine,” Sameeha Huraini tells me, as she explains the reality of day-to-day life in the South Hebron Hills.
She is just 20-years-old but Sameeha has already experienced and witnessed more brutality than most people in their entire lifetime. When she was just a child, she saw her father beaten close to death by occupation forces during a peaceful protest against the construction of the apartheid wall. Her grandmother, who was 70 at the time, leapt to protect her son but was shoved to the ground by soldiers, smashing her fragile head against a rock. The impact caused her to lose sight in one eye and hearing in one ear. But this experience didn’t scare Sameeha from following in her father and grandmother’s footsteps. In fact this traumatic childhood memory has strengthened her will to fight the occupation.
“My father was beaten for the resistance, for Palestine,” she says. “My grandmother lost her eye and ear for the resistance, for Palestine, for At-Tuwani. It shouldn’t make me weak; it should make me strong.
“From there we really learnt the resistance, and how to fight for our rights and not to give up. I am my father’s daughter, if he can be in this situation, so can I… and more.”
The tree-topped settlement of Havat Ma’on looms in the distance behind a house in At-Tuwani that faces constant attacks from the settlers.
Sameeha is from At-Tuwani, a small farming village (shown in video below) of around 350 people, located in the South Hebron Hills. She is one of many youth activists in the village who have taken up their parent’s mantle in fighting against Israel’s unrelenting attempts to steal Palestinian land in the region. These attempts come in many forms, from expanding and protecting violent settler communities to preventing Palestinians accessing water and electricity. This constant onslaught is strategically carried out to make life unbearable for the people of At-Tuwani and its surrounding villages in the hope that they will leave.
“But they don’t understand,” Sameeha says. “Our connection is not with the life, it’s with the land.”
For the past two years, she has been involved with Youth of Sumud, an activist group with over 50 members, 15 of those girls, and all under the age of 25. They are constantly on call, responding to attacks from settlers, soldier harassment of shepherds and house demolitions. At the scene, they document the incident, and share it on their social media ensuring that Israel’s crimes do not go unheard. It’s dangerous work – every male member of the group has been arrested at least once.
Local activists from At-Tuwani challenge soldiers trying to move Palestinian shepherds from their land
Sameeha tells me about a time when she was planting olive trees with other Youth of Sumud activists. Israeli soldiers tried to stop them and attacked their friend who has a mental disability. Sameeha and her friends tried to prevent the soldiers beating him, but were then given arrest warrants themselves.
As well as taking part in these actions, she notes that simply going about her day-to-day life is a form of resistance. ‘It’s non-violent resistance,’ she explains. “The occupation is in every detail of our lives. Just planting trees, visiting friends in another village, for me it’s my daily life, what’s your problem with that?”
Alongside her activism work the 20 year old studies English at university, giving her the tools to spread the stories of At-Tuwani, the occupation and the South Hebron Hills across the globe.
Her village has a long history of resistance, one where women have played a crucial role. Sameeha grew up watching her mother and friend’s mothers help to build the town’s school. Building at that time was forbidden in At-Tuwani without a permit from the Israeli Civil Administration and these permits are rarely if ever given to Palestinians. The whole community worked together to make the school a reality, with the women taking over from the men in the field during the day so their husbands and sons could build the school under the cover of night to evade detection by soldiers.
Traditional dresses made by a women’s cooperative in the South Hebron HillsYoung women activists look over the village of Tuba in the South Hebron Hills
Sameeha is incredibly proud of the women’s role in fighting the occupation.
“They have this big history of resistance,” she tells ISM. “If you go back in At-Tuwani history you will find that’s the reason why At-Tuwani is like that now. They succeed to have a village in this new age, to build the school and build a clinic – that will learn and educate. They don’t want their sons and daughters to have the same life they had. They had a hard life in At-Tuwani without water and electricity and roads. They decide for us, for me, to make the life for them more easy to keep going.”
At protests, women often form the front line, creating a protective barrier against the soldiers who are more reluctant to arrest or act violently towards them. However this is not always the case, as Sameeha’s traumatic childhood memory of her grandmother painfully shows.
Part of her work with Youth of Sumud is to empower other girls and young women to join the resistance.
“I want the women of the South Hebron Hills to be more activist, to be more open about their rights. I want them to take part in the non-violent resistance.”
To do this, she visits girls in other villages, sits with them and explains the importance of uniting together as a community, men and women, to fight the occupation.
“What if there were no international people to help you when soldiers come to your house and arrest your father,” she tells me, explaining how she empowers her friends. “You are young, you are smart, you study, and you can use the cameras and you have to help yourselves, help your family, help your village.”
She uses herself as an example: “I am a young girl and I am studying and also dealing with my activism in the group so you can do that.
“We are the heart of the community, if we don’t work hand-by-hand, we will fall.”
‘Enemies of life’ – Israeli bulldozer rips up water pipes near At-Tuwani
August 3 | International Solidarity Movement | South Hebron Hills, occupied Palestine
This is the second of a series of reports documenting the control and devastation of water sources by Israel as a tool of oppression.
Israel is escalating its war on water in the South Hebron Hills, demolishing wells, ripping out kilometres of pipeline and even confiscating trucks carrying emergency water tanks to parched villages.
In the sweltering month of July, five demolitions targeting water infrastructure were carried out, leaving Palestinian farming villages without access to water.
The latest took place on Wednesday July 31, when the Israeli Civil Administration – the body that governs Area C in the West Bank – cut pipes supplying water to houses and farmland in the area of al-Jaway near At-Tuwani.
Tariq Hathaleen, a local activist from the South Hebron Hills, says that the number of demolitions on water sources has “more than doubled,” this year compared to previous years.
He told ISM: “Now in the summer it sounds like the Civil Administration has a plan to restrict Palestinian access to water in the South Hebron Hills, in Area C in general, and that’s actually to put more pressure on those people to move them away from those villages.
“Because the Civil Administration don’t have a direct excuse to expel those people from their land but the plan is to put more pressure to make them leave by cutting their water sources.”
On July 4, bulldozers destroyed three water wells outside the town of Dkeika, a day after they came to the same area and uprooted over 500 olive trees.
A village elder is detained while trying to protect water sources on July 4
The destruction of the wells and trees have affected around 1,200 people, 60 per cent of them registered as refugees. according to the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Four water cisterns were also destroyed on July 24 in a park between the villages of Umm al-Kheir and Umm Daraj
“I know the reality of these people,” Tariq, who was at the demolition, adds. “I call them the enemies of life and they prove this by cutting trees, by cutting water pipes, by cutting the lives of people.”
The Good Shepherd Collective, a group that advocates human rights predominantly in the South Hebron Hills, puts the escalation of demolitions down to the actions of far-right settler NGO Regavim.
Regavim, which receives Israeli tax-payers money and has charitable status, spies on Palestinian communities, looking out for structures built without a permit and reporting them to the ICA. They then speed up demolition cases in the courts through petitions.
Their devastating impact can be seen by the steep rise in demolitions in the South Hebron Hills; 65 structures have been bulldozed or confiscated so far this year, compared to 23 structures in the same period last year, according to OCHA.
The al Dababsh family watches as their home is razed to the ground in the village of Khalet al Dabeh
“For anyone who still has qualms about the placement of blame on the state or Civil Administration for the act of demolitions, the message of these continued demolitions in natural areas should serve as a clarifying message,” the Good Shepherd Collective said.
“The state, the settlers and the organizations like Regavim that push forward the destruction of these areas, structures and resources for Palestinians are not motivated by the preservation of humanitarian rights, environmental laws, or the protection of the natural environment.”
The series of attacks on water sources in July comes after Israel ripped out a huge pipe network earlier this year that had supplied 12 Palestinian towns in the South Hebron Hills with running water.
The pipes were built in secret and took four months to install. But just six months later, Israel destroyed them, cutting the 20km lifeline.
The 12 villages have had to return to the old method of accessing water – by transporting tanks on tractors along poor roads which wears down the tyres and wastes precious work days.
Transporting water in this way adds to the economic burden of the area’s small villages, costing 30 shekkles for one cubic metre. In contrast Israelis pay just 8 shekkles per cubic metre.
And even the trucks are not safe from Israel’s war on water; on July 15, 18 water tanks were confiscated by Israeli soldiers. In the same raid, several thousand dollars of water pipeline and drilling equipment to install the pipes were also taken.
“The feeling is hard to accept, the fact that those people, those humans out of blood and flesh agree on themselves to cut other peoples’ lives by cutting the water,” Tariq tells ISM.
“It’s far from doing something legal. There’s no law in the world that says you can cut water from humans and forbid him from having water access. Its insane.”
A bulldozer destorys water wells while a Regavim drone hovers above
The South Hebron Hills is in Area C of the West Bank which means it is under full Israeli control. Palestinians in this region are denied building permits even to install water pipelines or wells, and are not allowed to hook up to the water network that Israel has laid across Palestinian land to supply illegal settlements.
As a result, villages in the area are subject to unrelenting attacks on not only their water sources but farmland and homes.
