Tag: Susiya

Susiya farmer attacked by settlers and arrested by police

On 30th September, at approximately 10am, Josef Imrat, a farmer from Susiya, was tending his flock of sheep near the outpost of Old Susiya.

Two settlers attacked Josef, throwing stones and attempted to steal some of his sheep while shouting abusive words in Hebrew. The residents of the nearby camp were alerted and came to assist Josef. The settlers then ran away towards the outpost of Old Susiya.

A local resident called the police. While waiting for the police, the settlers, who were previously involved in the attack, drove past, giving a bystander a chance to take pictures of them on a mobile phone. The army, who attended the scene of the attack first, told the residents that the police would know the names of the settlers. However, when the police arrived, they said they didn’t know any of settlers from the outpost and refused to accept the photograph taken by the mobile phone as an evidence of the attack.

Josef was later arrested when he went to give his statement to the local police station, as the settlers apparently told the police that it was Josef who attacked them. By 5.30pm that day Josef still had not been released from the police station despite the attempts of the members of the local community to negotiate his release with the police.

Join the 2009 Olive Harvest Campaign

9 September 2009

With rapidly escalating levels of settler violence in the West Bank, the International Solidarity Movement is issuing an urgent call for volunteers to participate in the 2009 Olive Harvest Campaign.

The olive tree is a national symbol for Palestinians. As thousands of olive trees have been bulldozed, uprooted and burned by the Israeli military and settlers, harvesting has become more than a source of livelihood; it has become a form of resistance. The olive harvest is an annual affirmation of Palestinians’ historical, spiritual and economic connection to their land, and a rejection of Israeli efforts to seize it.

Palestinian communities are inviting internationals to support and show solidarity with this resistance by working in the olive groves with them. By doing so, activists can reduce the risk of extreme violence from Israeli settlers or army through non-violent intervention and documentation.

The campaign will begin on the 3rd of October and run for approximately 6-8 weeks, depending on the size of the harvest. We request a 2 week commitment from volunteers.

Training:

The ISM will be holding mandatory two day training sessions every Saturday and Sunday. Please contact palreports@gmail.com for further information.

Ongoing campaigns:

In addition to the olive harvest, there will also be other opportunities to participate in grass-roots, non-violent resistance in Palestine.
In occupied East Jerusalem, ISM activists have been staying with the Hanoun and Ghawe families, prior and post their evictions. We will continue to support the initiatives of the families who face evictions or demolitions in Sheikh Jarrah, Silwan and other Palestinian neighborhoods in resisting the ethnic cleansing of occupied East Jerusalem.

ISM has been active in the village of Ni’lin, supporting its non-violent resistance to construction of the Apartheid Wall that annexes much of its land. Since May 2008, Ni’lin has been demonstrating and the Israeli military suppression of their unarmed protests has led to the death of 5 Palestinians and critical injury of an ISM activist.

In Bil’in, ISM has once again taken an apartment to participate in prevention of arrests and the ongoing night raids. Since the beginning of the summer, Israeli forces have been invading and arresting in the village of Bil’in, known for its creative resistance to the Apartheid Wall and construction of settlements on village lands.

Additionally, ISM maintains a presence in Hebron and Susiya. Work in these areas includes solidarity visits, farmer accompaniment and response to settler violence.

Come! Bear witness to the suffering, courage and generosity of the Palestinian people under Israeli occupation. Experiencing the situation for yourself is vital to adequately convey the reality of life in Palestine to your home communities and to re-frame the debate in a way that will expose Israel’s apartheid policies; creeping ethnic cleansing in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem as well as collective punishment and genocidal practices in Gaza.

Settlers attack Palestinian village in South Hebron Hills following an outpost demolition

9th September 2009, Susiya, South Hebron Hills

5:30 am: International volunteers conducted usual rounds with the shepherds grazing their sheep. All was quiet.

8.30am: Army jeeps passed and one had stopped. More border police jeeps and a D9 armored bulldozer moved toward a settler outpost and started demolishing it. International volunteers continued to monitor the situation as fears of settler attacks spread among the local community.

Around 10.30am: A group of settlers were seen walking towards one of the Palestinian camps. The Palestinians ran in that direction and the internationals followed. They also saw an army jeep racing towards the scene.

The settlers, Palestinians and army all met at the same time. A fight broke out between the Palestinians and settlers. The settlers were dispersed after the intervention from the army.

One international attempted to negotiate with the soldiers to allow the locals to return to their homes, as they were being detained in the hot sun while fasting. The soldiers only allowed them to move into the shade.

After the Palestinians were finally released, the international and Israeli activists went to see the home that the settlers ran through, causing damage. They saw that the settlers attempted to damage a solar panel by throwing stones at it.

Upon returning to the main camp the police arrived and took statements from the Palestinian families. More international and Israeli activists joined the locals (Ta’ayush, COMET, Operation Dove and EAPPI). The army declared the area a ‘closed military zone’. One of the Israeli activists was arrested by Shin Bet, the Israeli internal security service, shortly after his arrival.

The international activists and local Palestinians kept watch throughout the night. There were no more incidents. During the night the outpost was being rebuilt, with the army present.

The following morning around 5.30am, the internationals conducted rounds again. All was quiet.

Settler stabs B’Tselem worker in Susiya

B’Tselem

10 August 2009

This morning [Monday, 10 August], at about 7:30, I heard voices and shouting coming from the direction of the wadi near our village, Khirbet Susiya. I got up and took my stills camera and ran toward where the voices were coming from. On the way, I looked behind me and saw two others from our village running behind me. They apparently also heard the shouting.

I got there quickly. I saw Jaziya Nawaj’ah and her sheep and two settlers. One of the settlers was average height and heavyset, with short hair, a beard, and slightly dark skin. I know him. His name is Dotan and he works for Dalia [Har-Sinai] at the Yair Farm settlement. The other settler was a bit shorter and younger than Dotan, had short hair and was fair-skinned. I know him too. His name is Shalom, and he is also from Yair Farm. The settlers tried to lead the sheep toward the settlement, and Jaziya shouted and tried to lead her sheep back toward the village.

I went toward Dotan to take a picture of him from up close, and he took something sharp out of his pocket and tried to attack me with it. I managed to get away, but it wounded my right hand. It might have been a knife.

I managed to take pictures of the settlers. I saw that Jamal and Ahmad Nawaj’ah filmed the incident on video and that foreign peace activists who were with us in the village came and also began to film what was happening.

When other residents arrived and tried to help Jaziya, the settlers left. Dotan went to a white car that was parked about five hundred meters to the east, and Shalom walked toward the settlement, where there were soldiers. I went to talk with the soldiers and saw Shalom standing between two of them and telling them that we had trespassed settlers’ land. I explained what had happened and Shalom threatened me, saying that when he went into the army, he would shoot me. While I was there, Shalom took their two-way radio a few times and called for reinforcements from one of the battalions. The soldiers let him keep using the device, but nobody answered.

I went back to the village and called the police and asked them to come quickly. I went to the main road to wait for them. About half an hour later, a police car with three police officers inside arrived. One of them was called Jalal and another was called Tal. They spoke with me and then asked me to go with them to the settlement so I could identify the assailants.

I got into the van and we drove to where the soldiers were. Two of the police officers got out to speak with the soldiers, and I stayed in the car with Jalal. Suddenly I saw Dotan passing by in a white Mitsubishi Magnum. I pointed him out to Jalal and said that he was the one who had assaulted Jaziya. Jalal said he would arrest him later on. When the two police officers came back to the car, Jalal told them that Dotan had just passed by. One of the policemen asked him why he hadn’t stopped him, and Jalal said it was impossible to take us together. They told me to go with Jaziya, Ahmad, and Iyad Abu Qabita, to the Kiryat Arba police station. One of the policemen returned me to Khirbet Susiya. They said they would arrest Dotan.

I took Jaziya to al-Hassan al-Qassem Hospital, in Yatta, and then we went to the Kiryat Arba police station and filed complaints. My hand wasn’t severely injured and I didn’t get it examined.

Nasser Muhammad Ahmad Nawaj’ah, 27, married with three children, is the coordinator of B’Tselem’s video-camera project in the southern Hebron hills and a resident of Khirbet Susiya, Hebron District. He gave his testimony to Musa Abu Hashhash on 10 August 2009 in Hebron.

Settlers attack Susiyan Palestinian sheep herders

10 August 2009

At 7:30 of this morning, a group of sheep shepherds from Susyia, a small Palestinian village in the Southern Hebron hills, came under attack by a pair of Israeli settlers from the nearby illegal colony.

The shepherds, a small group of two Palestinian men and one woman had been grazing their sheep in their family land, in the hills near their homes. The two settlers, having faced no previous provocation from the group, came running suddenly down a dirt road, attempting to frighten the sheep off the land. The Palestinian shepherds began chasing after their animals and shouting at the settlers to end their harassment, but the pair continued their attack, hitting the sheep with stones and sticks they had been carrying with them. The Palestinian woman in the group had a stack of firesticks she had been collecting thrown of her hands and herself pushed away from her retreating animals.

Meanwhile, a pair of Israeli soldiers standing watch on an adjacent hilltop and overlooking the scene did nothing to stop the attack. Instead a large number of Palestinian residents of Susyia arrived shortly to attempt to confront and halt the settler attack.

The two settlers eventually retreated having pushed the sheep completely off the hills and back to the Palestinian settlements, giving no explanation or reply as regards their actions. With the two of them present, the shepherds together with fellow family members confronted the Israeli soldiers who had been overlooking the scene, demanding explanations for their inaction. The two attackers however remained protected by the soldiers, and allowed to leave freely.

The Israeli police arrived shortly afterwards requesting information from the Palestinian shepherds. As of this moment no information is known as to possible responses from the occupation authorities regarding the attack.