April 5, 2019 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Al-Khalil (Hebron), occupied Palestine
Israeli occupation forces storm into Al-Khalil and fire live ammunition at protesters after bombarding the city with tear gas, stun grenades, and rubber-coated steel bullets.
Around 1pm soldiers invaded Al-Khalil through checkpoint 56. The soldiers fired stun grenades at protesters. Immediately following the stun grenades, the soldiers fired tear gas into the street–forcing the protesters and press personnel to move. As the tear gas disappeared, protests continued. The Israeli soldiers then proceeded to shoot protestors with rubber-coated steel bullets while continuing to fire stun grenades at protesters.
At one point the soldiers switched from rubber-coated steel bullets to live ammunition. For approximately an hour soldiers fired live ammunition and stun grenades at Palestinian protesters until eventually retiring behind the checkpoint, which was closed to the public at this time.
The protests arose again and the soldiers fired several rounds of tear gas and shot rubber-coated steel bullets. During the invasion they also threw stun grenades at the press.
March 8, 2019 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Ras Karkar, occupied Palestine
This Friday, the inhabitants of the villages around Mount al-Risan–where an outpost has been established by illegal settlers on Palestinian land–gathered for a day of peaceful protest and prayer.
As soon as the religious ritual ended, the military ritual began. Before the villagers finished rolling-up their prayer mat, the Israeli military launched a large number of tear gas canisters upon the crowd.
These events are positive by comparison to the past week. Last Friday, the peaceful protesters were met with tear gas before prayers began. After prayers, the Palestinians were chased out and shot with rubber-coated steel bullets.
March01, 2019 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Ramallah, occupied Palestine
Non-violent peaceful protesters met with tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets in Ras Karkar.
In 2018, settlers invaded land atop al-Risan Mountain, which overlooks the three villages Ras Karkar, Kafr Ni’ma and Kharbatha Bani Harith. Since then local Palestinians have gathered in a valley below the mountain every Friday to non-violently protest the theft of their land, trying each week to get past occupation forces who now keep them from accessing it.
Earlier today ISMers attended the weekly protest. We arrived in the valley at 12 midday where a group of approximately 40 locals were gathering. Border Police were stationed on the hillside across from us. As the protesters tried to lay down a large plastic mat to pray on, they were fired upon with tear gas. They tried to set down the mat in several different locations, but were fired upon again and again.
Border Police stand over Palestinians during afternoon prayers
Eventually the border police came down the mountain to talk to the Imam; after a brief dialogue the police stood by while the Palestinians prayed. Once the prayers ended the border police retreated back up the mountain, and shortly after recommenced their tear gas bombardment. They also fired rubber-coated steel bullets, hitting at least one Palestinian.
Some of the younger demonstrators wielded slings, just as David did against Goliath in the Valley of Elah, not far from here. Their rocks fell short of the occupation forces’ defensive line, while some managed to hurl tear gas canisters back toward the border police.
Border police continued to fire tear gas even as protesters retreated, pushing us back to our vehicles. They persisted in their firing, eventually forcing us to leave the site by car. Protesters had to be cautious today as there was no ambulance on site, and serious injuries have been sustained in previous weeks.
February 22, 2019 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Al-Khalil, occupied Palestine
This afternoon Israeli occupation forces attacked a non-violent demonstration organised by Palestinian civil society and attended by locals, internationals and Israelis.
Occupation forces invading Bab Al-Zawiye, Al-Khalil
Protestors demanding an end to the illegal occupation of Al-Khalil were attacked by Israeli soldiers and border police who fired tear gas, stun grenades and other “less-lethal” weapons as they stormed the Palestinian H1 area of the city.
During the course of this invasion, the Israeli occupation forces directly targeted members of the press, who were recording their attacks on nonviolent demonstrators. Footage of this can be seen below. If you look carefully you will notice that a child was caught up in the attack. He was very near the checkpoint, directly in the line of sight of the soldiers. Despite his presence the soldiers showed no restraint.
The occupation forces invaded the Bab Al-Zawiye area of Al-Khalil for over two hours, raiding homes, stopping and searching people and cars, and attacking Palestinians. It has been reported that one person was shot in the leg, and one Palestinian man was abducted by the army. ISM activists managed to film the abduction, although the whereabouts and safety of the man are currently unknown.
It is important to note that this morning, a group called Im Tirtzu staged a rally in the occupied part of Al-Khalil to celebrate the fact that the UN Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH) had been forced out of the city by the Israeli government. Im Tirtzu, which has been described by the Israeli court system as a fascist organisation, demonstrated freely in the H2 area of Al-Khalil. Even though they have a record of inciting violence against Palestinians and regularly engage in Islamophobic rhetoric, they experienced no violence or restriction on their movement from Israeli occupation forces. Sadly, this type of collusion between occupation forces and the most radical streams of the Zionist movement is all too common. This is the reality of life under occupation.
Against imperialism, from Palestine to Venezuela
Despite the occupation forces’ efforts to stop the demonstration, hundreds of people took to the streets and resisted together. It was a beautiful sight to see Palestinians on the streets together with their international and Israeli comrades, calling in unison for an end to the illegal and immoral occupation. Moments like this give us a glimpse of what can be achieved when we work together to confront tyranny and violence. Let’s keep working, lets keep dreaming, lets keep fighting. End the occupation.
17th February 2019 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine
At the end of January the occupation barred international ‘observer’ groups from Al-Khalil (Hebron), who were stationed throughout the city for more than 20 years, following the massacre of 29 Palestinians inside Ibrahim mosque in 1994 by a fanatical Israeli terrorist. Illegal settlers, many of whom proudly celebrate this massacre, are becoming increasingly empowered; effectively given free reign to attack and intimidate Palestinians, facilitated by the occupation soldiers who protect them as they run riot throughout the city.
Last week, hundreds of settlers were bused in from their fortified colonies, roaming the streets laying siege to Palestinian houses, bombarding them with bottles and stones. Families were gravely threatened that if they don’t vacate their homes, they would meet the same fate as the Dawabshas’ who were horrifically murdered by settlers in their home near Nablus. In 2015, Israeli settlers infiltrated the village of Douma, under cover of darkness, to firebomb the Dawabshas’ home, where the family of four were asleep in their beds. The father Saad, mother Reham, and 18-month-old Ali were burned alive, while 4-year old Ahmad suffered from 3rd degree burns over most of his body.
In this ‘organized demonstration’, a mob of settlers marched along Shuhada Street, chanting racist anti-arab slogans, before descending upon Palestinians homes and climbing onto rooftops. Terrifying shrieks for help could be heard as the settlers attempted to force themselves through the front and back entrances of houses, with families stacking furniture behind the doors to barricade themselves inside. At the same time, dozens of occupation soldiers, dressed as though they were entering a war zone, surrounded local and international activists who were attempting to reach the families – detaining them under orders to prevent them from leaving. Eventually, in the distance we could see the frenzied mob ushered back into buses and chauffeured by police escort, only for the sake of the military who feared the repercussions should any settlers get hurt.
Palestinians in Al-Khalil are deeply concerned that the expulsion of international observer groups, authorized to operate for the past 20 years, will further galvanize settlers, who make no secrets about their intention to expel Palestinians through violence and intimidation, in order to occupy the entire city. In spite of this however, the communities in Khalil are mobilizing to prepare for the new conditions on the ground. Today, in the primary-school on Shuhada Street, Rana* the principal organized a meeting, gathering more than forty mothers among local and international activists, to discuss strategies to protect the community from future attacks. Particularly the morning and afternoon ‘school runs’, where settlers swoop on Palestinians traveling and returning from school and work; regularly harassing and hurling abuse, driving up and down the road, accelerating through puddles when children walk past. Sometimes they accelerate directly towards the children. Residents have already begun an accompaniment system, while others including the Hebron Defense Committee are positioning themselves on rooftops daily to scout and record.
The illegal settlers and their heinous tactics of intimidation are a vulgar extension of the occupations intent to colonize the entire city. Talking with the principal from a school down the road, he spoke of his kindergarten students who are subject to bag and body searches as they pass through checkpoints each day. Teachers who stand waiting more than an hour as collective punishment for a few stones thrown on the roof of the armored mini-fort the night before. Hundreds of tear-gas canisters collected in and around the schoolyard from illegal invasions made by the occupation soldiers, as they kidnap children accused of throwing stones. Concussion grenades thundering before the first bell. Tear-gas wafting through the classroom before lunch..
Since the 67’ occupation, the Israeli settler movement has concentrated on the colonization of Al-Khalil, with the construction of five illegal settlements penetrating into the heart of the Palestinian city. A policy of indiscriminate restrictions on Palestinians has developed as a means to perpetuate indigenous displacement and the expansion of these illegal colonies. In the early 2000s, the occupying military imposed curfews on the Palestinian community, with entire streets shut off from access. Over 520 Palestinian shops in the center of Khalil were forcibly closed, and another 1000 closed due to the economic impact of Israeli’s checkpoints, road closures, and settler violence. Khalil is described as a microcosm of the colonization of Palestine, with apartheid and occupation in its most acute and vulgar form. Although, despite its perceived entrenchment, a fierce rejection of normalization exists throughout all fragments of society. Organizers tirelessly mobilize protests and actions, non-violent resistance committees are established regularly, shebab in symbolic defiance rain stones on the rooftops of checkpoints, and the Palestinians as they say, remain in Al-Khalil like the roots of their thousand year old olive trees.
