In Photos: Zionist settlers burn the vehicle of a 53 year old woman

21 January 2012 | International Solidarity Movement

On Sunday, the 16th of January, at approximately 2 AM, about fifty settlers, accompanied by Israeli soldiers, entered the Abu Haikal family’s field in the neighborhood of Tel Rumeideh in Hebron. After throwing stones at the family’s house, they savagely burnt the car of Hana Haikal, fifty-three years old.

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Israeli army complicit in settler car-burning

by Sarah

17 January 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

On Sunday, the 16th of January, at approximately 2 AM, about fifty settlers, accompanied by Israeli soldiers, entered the Abu Haikal family’s field in the neighborhood of Tel Rumeideh in Hebron. After throwing stones at the family’s house, they savagely burnt the car of Hana Haikal, fifty-three years old.

The Abu Haikal’s house is only a few meters away from a settlement from which the family are subject to constant pressure. This is the eighth car that the settlers have burned in the last five years. Five belonged to Hana, the remaining 3 to her brother. The agenda of the settlers is simply to harass the family as much as possible in order to force them away from their house and land. Their tactics include the burning of cars, verbal harassment, throwing of stones, destruction of land, and poisoning of soil to kill the family’s olive trees.

When Hana saw the car that morning she was devastated and crying. She said that since 1994, the simple act of staying in their home is a fight against the settlers, a fight that she will never give up. Unfortunately, insurance does not cover settler attacks and Hana has no more money to pay for another car.The insurance companies know that in this neighborhood there are often settler attacks and refuse to cover this type of “accident” any more.

She is demanding justice and the right to live in peace and security. But with the situation in Hebron as it is, she is left with little in the way of legal recourse.

Settlers are systematically killing Palestinian heritage, stealing land, attempting to erase their identity by poisoning the trees and attempting to make their daily life unbearable.

From this point on, Hana says she will protest until the government acts.

“She’s going to stay there, she will stay there. She will not eat, not drink until something is done,” said her brother.

A protest camp has been set up at the site of the burnt car. A group of approximately forty local Palestinian residents gathered there on the afternoon of the Monday 17th of January to express their outrage at the attacks and their solidarity with the Abu Haikal family.

A tent has been erected and Palestinian flags placed on and around the burnt car. A sign attached to the front of the car’s skeleton states: “We are here…not to upset anyone and not to make anyone happy…we are here because we are here.”

Soldiers and police arrived, apparently at the behest of a single settler who had seen the crowd gathering. In order to again protect the settlers from the peaceful gathering crowd, they took control of any area overlooking the site and barred people from leaving via the main route away from where they were.

Sarah is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Settlers and military jump pedestrians in Tel Rumeida

by Fida Far

16 December 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

When my friend and I decided to walk downtown, we didn’t expect that this walk could be dangerous. There was a funeral going on for a settler woman who had been killed by her ex-husband, who in turn committed suicide.

First we passed about 3 Israeli military jeeps and a couple of soldiers, and we followed the road inbetween two graveyards leading down to the Gilbert checkpoint.

When we arrived, there were many military cars and about 30 soldiers crowding the area as illegal settler cars and buses were coming and going.

Settlers were inciting Palestinians, by aggressively cursing at them and flashing lude  gestures. But Palestinians were calm and did not react.

Illegal settlers and Israeli military team up – Click here for more images

After two buses came there were too many settlers. Some came from Kiryat Arba, where the deceased settlers were from, while other buses came from Shuhada street.

A settler spit on a Palestinian man, who also returned the gesture, causing a fight.

“After the Palestinian spit back, settlers started to beat all the Palestinian around. All the settlers came down and very angrily started to attack everyone. I saw how they attacked internationals and smashed their cameras, and some Palestinians were bleeding.  Of course soldiers didn’t arrest any of them, they tried to arrest me and some of my friends,” said Issa Amro, a local Palestinian activist who tried to stop settlers from causing clashes.

Soldiers did not try to stop the settler who started the fight; instead they tried to arrest the Palestinians who were attacked. More and more settlers were running down from the graveyard and attacking all non Jewish people in the area. About fifty individuals were targeted by the settler violence, while women retreated into their homes for shelter. Palestinian men were actively seen defending themselves without causing transgression. After all, anything slightly malleable to mean “fighting” could have landed any of them in prison.

After our camera was smashed and settlers still wanted to beat us, we had to run away.

“I felt really scared when settlers were attacking me and the soldiers just supported them. When they wanted the card from my camera, they just smashed it. It was really horrible, when I realized that the soldiers are with the settlers, instead of protecting the people. I was so scared that they were gonna lynch us,” said one international activist, who wished to remain anonymous.

“I was so helpless and powerless, when I had to fight for my life and saw all that anger from settlers who were supported by the soldiers,” said another international activist, also wishing to remain unnamed.

Palestinians from about 5 households had to lock themselves in to avoid the settler mob. Afterwards the soldiers invaded the houses and took position to attack, stationing themselves atop the roofs of Palestinian houses.

After twenty minutes, when the situation became better, we wanted to go back and help the people that were in the houses, but soldiers didn’t let us go down and when they saw that we didn’t have our camera any more, they started to push us and beat and jab us with their riffles. One of them charged like a bullet into the room, pointing at us with his gun as he yelled, “I am gonna kill you all!”

Soldiers didn’t have the situation under the control and were out of their minds.

“When one of them went mad, and charged the riffle and pointed it at me I believed, that he was gonna shoot,”  an activist said.

The atmosphere here in Khalil and all West Bank is escalating. Only this week the settlers burned two mosques, and last week they attacked a family and burned three houses.

This is evidence of apartheid here in Khalil, where there was so many soldiers who are not even aloud to arrest the settlers at all according the Israeli law.

Fida Far is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement.

Hebron: Zionist paraders harass Palestinians, 7 internationals detained

by Alistair George and Ben Lorber

20 November 2011  | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Over 1000 American and International Zionists joined 700 extremist settlers in Hebron this weekend to celebrate the reading of the Torah portion detailing Abraham’s biblical purchase of Hebron land, and to assert sovereignty over the Palestinian residents of Hebron.

On Friday, many Zionist visitors camped in tents on Israeli-controlled Shuhada Street. Inebriated from the Shabbat festivities, the visitors harassed local Palestinians throughout the night.

On Saturday, soldiers stationed themselves through the streets of Hebron’s Old City, forcing the shutdown of Palestinian shops, while swarms of visitors were treated to an extensive settler-guided tour championing the Jewish roots of Old Hebron. In what was advertised by the Hebron Committee as “the most unforgettable Jewish experience of a lifetime”,  throngs of young, mostly American males clapped and chanted ‘Am Yisrael Chai’ (‘life to the people of Israel’) and other nationalistic chants, while  Palestinian residents were forced to the sidelines of their own streets and kept there by soldiers. Throughout the day, 7 international activists and 2 Palestinians were arrested.

While a few visitors were respectful to Palestinian shop owners and residents, many were outright hostile. Mohammed Awawdeah owns a small shop in the old city, selling glass bottles filled with intricate colored sand patterns. Some of his bottles were smashed by a passing settler.

“He came and broke my stuff,” Awawdeah says. “I told the police but they are not here for us, they are here for the settlers…I am not even angry for my stuff, I’m angry at the soldiers who let them do this”.

Hamday Dwaik decided to close his bakery in the old city, since his shop was targeted by settlers during the event last year. “The settlers don’t want me to open. If I open they will throw my products on the ground, no one will buy it”.The Israeli police have taken the details of the incident and said that they intend to carry out an investigation.

Laila Slemiah, who works in Women In Hebron, a woman’s collective in the old city selling kiffiyehs and embroidery, was determined not to close her shop.

“I know I won’t have any business today,” she said, “but I have to stay open. I’m not scared of them.”

Clashes were also reported between visiting Americans and international activists. One activist relates that “as we were walking, a group of young American Jewish boys got into an argument with us. They became threatening towards us, and one of them had an M16 around his waist. They told us they would break our camera, they told the nearby Palestinian shop owner they would burn down his shop, they told me I would be dead on the floor.”

As this event is touted by the Zionist community as a Biblically-ordained ‘return to the homeland’, an organization called Project Hayei Sarah has been founded in the U.S. and Israel, offering alternative interpretations of Abraham’s Biblical relationship to Hebron that challenge the attempted Zionist appropriation of this legend to legitimize territorial conquest.

Video: “Only Jews Can Walk Here” 

Seven international observers were detained by the Israeli police over the course of the day. At around 8 am, five international activists were detained after they were observing the checkpoint in Israeli controlled H2 area. They were held at Kiryat Arba police station for 8 hours and were threatened with charges of ‘interfering with police work’ unless they signed a statement agreeing not to be in the H2 area for a week. Two other international activists were detained at around 2:35pm today after attempting to film settlers passing through the old city; they were taken to Kiryat Arba and held there for around 2 hours. They were released without any further action being taken.

As darkness fell and the rain became harder, the tour ended. Large groups of settlers gathered in Palestinian areas of Tel Rumeida. A rowdy group of around 15 settlers chanted and attempted to intimidate Palestinians outside a shop in Tel Rumeida at around 5pm. The Israeli police were called and the group dispersed shortly afterwards.

Alistair George and Ben Lorber are volunteers with International Solidarity Movement. Ben Lorber also writes for the Alternative Information Center.

Hebron copes with self deifying Israeli military and its settlers

by Alistair George

3 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

The streets of Tel Rumeida are locked-down and divided; physically occupied by a forceful Israeli military.  For the Palestinian community living in this part of H2, Israeli-controlled Hebron, military occupation is an inescapable intrusion into everyday reality. The existence of an estimated 500 Israeli settlers is facilitated by up to 4000 Israeli soldiers stations in Hebron. Grey, austere watchtowers gaze over streets in which Israeli soldiers and military vehicles are stationed at regular intervals, frequently stopping Palestinians as they walk through their own neighbourhood to demand they prove their identity.  Those wishing to travel into H2 from Palestinian-controlled H1 must pass through metal detectors and checkpoints, where they may be arbitrarily harassed or detained by bored Israeli soldiers.

Movement around H2 is severely restricted.  In some streets Palestinians are allowed to walk but not drive, forcing them to manually lug heavy supplies such as gas canisters and food.  Even ambulances are not allowed to drive through certain areas.  Palestinians are forbidden from passing through some streets by car or by foot; the main street linking north and south Hebron has been closed to Palestinians; turning a 5 minute journey into a 45 min trek through alternative roads.

However, despite the enduring hardship in Tel Rumeida, resistance to the Israeli occupation remains strong.  The ‘Study and Challenge Centre’ is located on Palestinian land that is surrounded by four Israeli settlements – the closest of which is only metres from the rear of the building.  It faces south Hebron, overlooking steep, dusty terraces, planted with olive trees and cratered by old archaeological digs of excavated Roman artifacts.  The centre is a hub of nonviolent resistance and its existence is a testament to the spirit that exists in a beleaguered community under occupation.

The ‘Study and Challenge Centre’

The property that houses the centre used to belong to a Palestinian family who were forced to vacate the premises in 2004 by the Israeli authorities, who claimed that the owner’s Jerusalem identity prevented him from living in the area.  The Israeli military took over the property in 2004 and turned the house into a detention centre, fortified with barbed wire.

The campaign to reclaim the house began in 2006.  After local Palestinian activists had gained approval to rent the property from the lawful owner in Jerusalem, dozens of people, including local Palestinians and international activists, started to go to the house to re-occupy the land; maintaining a presence, removing the barbed wire and dismantling a military tent.  The large numbers of people attempting to reclaim the property forced the Israeli military into negotiating and, with the services of an Israeli lawyer, the activists took their claim to court.  After three months, an Israeli court ruled in favour of the protesters and the house was taken back by the Palestinians.

Palestinian control of the house remained perilous as the local Israeli settlers fought back.  Badia Dwaik, the 38-year old Deputy Director of Youth Against Settlements (YAS) explains; “The settlers went crazy, they started to attack the house and us physically.  Groups of 100-200 settlers came and made speeches full of lies”.  The activists arranged a 24-hour presence at the house to protect it from attack or seizure by settlers.  As Dwaik says, “It was tough and exhausting but we didn’t give up.  The home became safer although the settlers still attacked; they burnt a sofa, stole a laptop and broke the gate a couple of times.”

As the Palestinian activists consolidated their control over the house, they started to consider how best to use the property to serve the community.  It was agreed that it would become an educational centre for local people, run by volunteers.

The centre now trains people in Tel Rumeida to use photography and video cameras to record violence by settlers and the military, as well as documenting their daily lives under occupation.  As local activist Tamer Atrash says, “The camera is our weapon.”  The centre also offers English classes, painting, gardening workshops and shows films.

YAS (Youth Against Settlements)

The property also functions as the base for the Palestinian nonviolent activist group, Youth Against Settlements (YAS).  Badia Dwaik is keen to stress the distinction that exists between the work done by the educational centre and activism by YAS, although both make use of the property.

YAS originated as a response to the repeated attacks by settlers on Palestinians in the area.  As Dwaik says; “The main problem here is the settlements.  They steal land and push us into a corner until we leave.  We had to target them in our work as they use settlements as an excuse to continue the occupation and control the population.  They divided the streets [in Hebron] and broke the social life with checkpoints and gates to protect settlers.”

In 1994 American-born Baruch Goldstein fired on Palestinians in Hebron’s Ibrahimi mosque whilst they prayed, killing 29 and injuring a further 200.  Atrash describes the massacre by Goldstein as a “turning point” in shaping the divided and fearful environment for Palestinians in Tel Rumeida today.  After the attack, the Israeli military closed many of the Palestinian shops in the area and divided the streets. Hebronis now divided into H1 (under Palestinian control) and H2 (in which an estimated 40,000 Palestinians, and 500 Israeli settlers, live under Israeli control).  As Atrash says,  “The victims were punished.”

Dwaik continues; “It is an apartheid situation – the electronic gates, the checkpoints, the security – all happened after the massacre.”  The Ibrahimi mosque now has separate spaces for Muslims and Jews; the Jewish section is the only synagogue in the world containing a Qu’ran.

YAS organize demonstrations against the checkpoints and the Israeli presence in the area.  They run a program hosting internationals, who stay with local families that live close to Israeli settlements, to show them the impacts of occupation in Tel Rumeida.  The group also organizes olive harvesting in the area, which is not just about economic necessity but is also a form of political defiance as settlers and the military attempt to disrupt Palestinian attempts to tend their own land.  Crucially, YAS stages events protesting against the closure ofShuhuda street, the principal thoroughfare and shopping district in the area.     .

Although YAS originated in Hebron, it now has groups and actions in Ramallah and Nablus.  Overall the YAS has around 70 members and attracts hundreds to its demonstrations and actions.  Dwaik says that older people are involved in the group’s activism, however they “focus on the youth as they have energy and they are the future.”  The organization says that they welcome activists from all Palestinian political parties.

YAS adopts a strictly nonviolent approach to its activities and provides training in nonviolent resistance.  “Nonviolence is more difficult to deal with than violence.  You have to control yourself, it is not easy.  We are already surrounded and occupied, it is not possible to carry guns.  Nonviolence is difficult and may take a long time but violence would create a violent community” said Dwaik.  Nonviolent tactics help to recruit Israeli and international peace activists to their cause and the strict adherence to nonviolent principles combats the Israeli narrative that Palestinians resisting occupation are ‘terrorists’.

Dwaik also points to several examples of successful nonviolent resistance in other countries such as Egypt, South Africa andSerbia- in which Otpor!, a nonviolent youth movement, played a significant role in the peaceful overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic’s regime in 2003.  YAS has established links with Otpor!, with the latter providing training to YAS activists in nonviolent resistance tactics.

Despite the work done by the educational centre and YAS, intimidation and harassment by the Israeli military and settlers continues.  Attempts to pick olives on Palestinian land in the area a few days ago were disrupted by the Israeli security forces, who detained a group of Palestinians, confiscated their identity cards and filmed them for around 20 minutes.  Soldiers pushed and shoved Palestinians and international observers and then unlawfully forced people who had been picking olives to leave the area.

On the same day, settlers walked onto the land and attempted to intimidate Palestinians as they picked olives.  Baruch Marzel, a prominent extremist Israeli settler, provoked outrage by standing on a Palestinian flag in the olive groves.  A recently painted-over Star of David and anti-Palestinian graffiti remains visible on the rear walls of the building and the property’s water supply was deliberately cut earlier.

However, Dwaik claims that the work done in reclaiming the house and the subsequent success of the educational centre and YAS has helped reinvigorate the once divided Palestinian community in Tel Rumeida – “Now we have created a life here”. Atrash continues;, “We want our rights, we will never give up and we don’t use violence.  We can prevent Israeli expansion in this way.  The house is a living example.”

Alistair George is an activist with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).