Tag: Tel Rumeida

Tel Rumeida: International observers and Palestinians alike targeted by checkpoints

by Alistair George

27 October 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

 The Israeli military is continuing to harass and intimidate Palestinians and international volunteers at checkpoints throughout Tel Rumeida, Hebron.

 On 25 October 2011, around 7.15pm, a Palestinian woman was held at checkpoint56 inTel Rumeida for around an hour after refusing to pass through the metal detector.  The woman claimed that she was unwell and had been instructed by her doctor that it was not safe to pass through metal detectors.  Although she produced papers from the doctor showing that she was ill, the soldiers refused to let her pass.  She was eventually allowed to continue her journey, without passing through the metal detector, after the Israeli police were called and allowed her to return home.

Since 11 October 2011, the Israeli military has stated that pregnant women, people with heart devices and those with medical conditions are required to pass through the metal detector, despite the health risks posed.  Furthermore, teachers at Qordoba school have also been forced to pass through the metal detector and submit their bags for inspection, despite passing through a separate gate for the last seven years.  Six children were sent to hospital on 11 October 2011 after being injured by the Israeli military during protests against the treatment of the school’s teachers.  On October 16 2011, Israeli soldiers shot tear gas at a group of young schoolchildren and female teachers, who were attempting to hold a lesson outside of the checkpoint as an act of protest.

However, the Israeli military has repeatedly attempted to confiscate the passports of international activists as they pass through the checkpoints of Tel Rumeida; a practice which is illegal under Israeli law and appears designed to harass international observers going about their work in the area.  The military has the right to ask to see passports and record details if deemed necessary – provided that the passports remain in the possession of the owner  In several instances where international activists have refused to hand over their passports, the Israeli police have been called to intervene – often resulting in a 30 minute delay at the checkpoint.

On 25 October 2011, at around 12.50pm, an international activist was assaulted by the Israeli military after refusing to comply with an illegal demand to hand over their passport.  The soldier pushed and then kicked the activist with significant force; the activist stated that “It seemed that perhaps my awareness of Israeli law and my refusal to comply to his illegal demands antagonised the solider.”  Again, the police were called and looked at the passport before allowing the activist to continue their journey.

On 27 October 2011, several international activists were held at checkpoint56 inTel Rumeida for over an hour after refusing to hand over their passports to the Israeli military.  The police were called – however, in this instance they colluded in the military’s illegal activity by taking the passports and then handing them to soldiers for inspection.  The Israeli military confiscated three of the passports and kept them at the checkpoint for around 20 minutes.  The senior police officer, who gave his name as ‘Assaf’, threatened to arrest any international visitors to the area who refuse to hand over their passports to the military in the future; effectively threatening to arrest international activists for obeying Israeli law.

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

As settlers disrupt olive harvest, Israeli officer declares: “I am the law, I am God.”

by Alistair George 

22 October 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Intimidation of Palestinians in the Israeli-controlled H2 section of Hebron continued today as the Israeli military and settlers harassed Palestinians and international observers as they attempted to pick olives on their land in Tel Rumeida.

Around 40 students from different Palestinian universities marched onto the land at 11AM Saturday morning and began to pick olives along with local families, activists from Youth Against Settlements (YAS) and international observers.

At 12:30 PM the Israeli police confiscated identity passes for 20 Palestinians and, whilst checking their details, forced the group to stand together and individually filmed their faces.

The police declined to justify their actions, only insisting that they had a right to check the details of those present.  The Israeli military became increasingly belligerent as protesters challenged the legality of the actions and began to push and shove Palestinians and international observers.  After around 20 minutes the police returned the passes and allowed the detained Palestinians to leave.  They then ordered international observers to leave the olive groves or be arrested, claiming that the Palestinian-owned olive grove is “Israeli land” and that it was illegal to be on the land and “illegal to be in a group.”

Rafi Dagan, an Israeli commanding officer, stated “I am the law.  I am God” when asked to explain why he was flouting Israeli law by forcing people to leave Palestinian land under threat of arrest, without any paperwork to show that it was a closed military zone.

Earlier in the day, Israeli soldiers had pushed photographers attempting to document the olive harvest and confiscated an international observer’s passport for several minutes.  Under Israeli law, passports may be shown to the Israeli military but it is illegal for them to be taken away.  The Israeli military also briefly detained a young Palestinian man, apparently for running through the olive groves with a Palestinian flag, although he was released after around 10 minutes.

When the Palestinian flag is criminalized by Zionists – Click here for more images

In addition to intimidation by the military, Israeli settlers arrived on the Palestinian land within minutes of the olive harvest beginning and began to harass people picking olives.  A group of around 10 settlers gathered in the lower olive groves in Tel Rumeida at 11:55am where Palestinians were busy picking olives.  Baruch Marzel, a prominent extremist settler, stood on a Palestinian flag in an obvious attempt to provoke olive harvesters.  The military intervened as anger flared between the two groups and sent settlers back to their settlement.

Badia Dwaik, 38, is the Deputy Coordinator of Youth Against Settlements, a nonviolent Palestinian group campaigning against Israeli settlements.  He stressed that olive harvesting in Tel Rumeida is not just about economic necessity; it is a form of political defiance and a way to “confirm our existence and to encourage the people to resist”.

The Palestinian land in Tel Rumeida is surrounded by four illegal Israeli settlements.  A Palestinian educational centre overlooks steep, dusty terraces to the south which contain around 200 olive trees.  The centre, established in 2006 after the building was reclaimed from Israeli military control, and the olive groves below have been subject to repeated attacks and incursions by settlers in recent years.  Anti-Palestinian graffiti and the Star of David is clearly visible under fresh coats of paint on the walls at the back of the building, only metres away from a settlement.

The olive groves contain around 200 olives trees and olives were picked on around 70 trees today.  Badia Dwaik lamented the poor quality of the olives and the sparse fruit on many of the trees, saying that Palestinians are often unable to tend the land for fear of settler attacks.  There is also a chronic shortage of water in Hebron and the owners of the trees are denied permits to dig the land. For example, the YAS reported having problems with water circulation for three days and discovered today that the water lines had been deliberately cut.

According to Badia Dwaik, the YAS intend to continue picking the olives in the coming weeks as “people are scared to come and pick olives alone.  And it gives a message: we will continue and never give up.”

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

Day 4: When school becomes Israeli Occupation

16 October 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

On the 4th day of demonstrations outside of a checkpoint in Hebron, on October 16 2011, IDF soldiers shot tear gas and projected ‘The Scream’ at a group of young schoolchildren and female teachers, who were attempting to hold a lesson outside of the checkpoint as an act of protest.

Since Tuesday, October 11, the group of children and teachers have been gathering outside of Checkpoint 56 in Hebron, which blocks off the Israeli settlement from the rest of the city, to protest increased security measures at the checkpoint. For the past seven years, teachers at the Qurtuba School have been allowed to bypass the usual metal detectors and cross the checkpoint through a separate gate in order to reach their school, which lies in the treacherous area beyond the checkpoint, in between the aggressive Israeli settlements of Tel Rumeida and Admot Yishai. For no apparent reason, the army announced that it had suspended this allowance on Tuesday, and that it would now force the teachers to pass through the metal detectors and present their bags for inspection every day. At the same time, the army announced that pregnant women and people with heart devices or other medical complications, though they likewise had previously been allowed to bypass the metal detectors, can no longer do so, and must now put their physical well-being at risk on a daily basis.

On Tuesday, the teachers refused to submit to inspection at the checkpoint, and instead held an impromptu silent demonstration on its Palestinian side. At 9 AM their students, between the ages of 6 and 13 and now deprived of education, marched to the checkpoint carrying signs and chanting slogans. Shockingly, nine children were sent to the hospital with injuries, as Israeli soldiers threw them up against stone walls, kicked and hit them with the butts of rifles, and forcibly dragged them through the checkpoint, and as one settler attempted to push them out of the way with her car as she drove by.

The next day, teachers again refused to walk through the metal detectors or submit to inspection, and this time, as an act of protest, students and teachers held lessons outside of the checkpoint. On Thursday, they held lessons outside of the checkpoint again, and were joined by the Director of Education in Hebron, representatives from the Governor’s office, and local and international press. During the peaceful demonstration, students sat on the ground outside of the checkpoint during lessons, and stood up at intervals to chant ‘we will not return, we want our right to education!’ This time, soldiers and border police closed off the checkpoint with barbed wire, and pushed students and teachers out of the area.

On Sunday, teachers, students, Palestinian locals and officials, along with international activists and press, gathered for a peaceful demonstration outside of Checkpoint 56. Mohammed Abutherei, Director of Education in the Hebron Municipality, was optimistic.

“God willing the army will allow the students and teachers to pass normally,” he said, “because for four days now the children cannot learn properly! Why do they do this to our students?”

His optimism was short-lived, however, when a line of about 20 soldiers and border police pushed the schoolchildren back from the checkpoint, and announced over loudspeaker that the crowd would be arrested if it did not disperse within 5 minutes.

“This is their character!” exclaimed Tamer, a Palestinian activist from the group Youth Against Settlements, based in Hebron. “This is their behavior, this is their ethics! Yes, we are terrorists,” he said sarcastically, “because we want to learn, we want an education!”

When the crowd remained, soldiers projected a high-pitched siren noise nicknamed ‘The Scream,’ and fired rounds of tear gas to forcibly scatter the crowd. In the rush to flee, one teacher was arrested, and at least 5 were injured as multiple rounds of tear gas were fired down the main streets of Hebron for 20 minutes in the middle of the morning commute.

Though the teach-ins and demonstrations have garnered much international attention, at the moment there is unfortunately little else that can be done to break the iron barricade of Israeli regulations, which need answer to no higher authority.

“We have contacted the Palestinian DCO [District Coordinator’s Office],” said Abutherei. “we have contacted TIPH [Temporary International Presence in Hebron] and many other organizations for human rights, but nobody can do anything.” In Tamer’s words, “[they] don’t have any tools to use except protesting,  calling demonstrations. ” “What can we do?,” he said.

Both Tamer, who works on the ground with Youth Against Settlements to document and demonstrate against settler and military violence, and Abutherei, who protects the rights of students and teachers through legislation in the Municipality, are suspicious of territorial motivations underlying the Israeli army’s seemingly random decision to force Qurtuba School teachers, who as individuals have peacefully passed through Checkpoint 56 for seven years, to now submit to daily metal detector scans and personal inspections.

Abutherei said, “I’m afraid the settlers want to take the school. Now that the school is closed [for these days] I’m afraid the settlers will attack the building, or try to take it over”. Similarly, Tamer claimed that “this is the first step for evacuating the school. They want to close the school because this is an apartheid state. They want to make the whole area for Jews only.”

The Israeli army may be seeking simply to make life more difficult for the teachers of Qurtuba school, or they may be seeking to escalate a conflict as a pretext for imposing harsh restrictions upon the school, or for forcibly closing it alltogether. Either way, this is only the latest incident in a long legacy of resistance centered around the Qurtuba School.

Says Abutherei, “its very hard to have education in H2 [the Israeli settlement district of Hebron]. The occupation effects [the children’s] social health. The students suffer from fear, worry and sadness. How to get an education, how to learn to read when you are attacked by settlers on the way to school? The same for the teachers…we need students to learn in safety, and not to have to worry about these things.”

 

Seven school children injured over tightened “security” measures in Tel Rumeida

11 October 2011 |  International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Tightened security at Tel Rumeida checkpoint cause an impromptu demonstration by the schoolchildren, resulting in seven injured children, and injuries to the headmaster. Teachers of Tel Rumeida’s school were told they must begin to pass through metal detectors and present their bags for search, despite the permission they have had for the past 7 years to pass through a separate gate. The rules have also been changed for those suffering heart complications, and pregnant women, who carry permits that normally would allow them to avoid the metal detectors. The children of the school emerged, chanting slogans and holding posters. Finally, the children exited the checkpoint to be with their teachers, and began classes on the sidewalk. Seven children reported injuries and six went to hospital. The head master of the school also reported injuries from soldiers aggressively handing her.

In Tel Rumeida, Hebron, around 7:30 Tuesday morning, the teachers of Tel Rumeida’s boy and girl school of grades 1-10 refused to submit to checks, instead beginning a silent demonstration by remaining outside the gate where they were refused entry. 9:00 am, the school children marched out of the school to the inward side of the checkpoint, demanding their right to education. Israeli military soldiers at times pushed the children. An Israeli police man grabbed two girls, about 12 years old, and dragged them out through the checkpoint, causing an uproar. He continued to grab outspoken children and pull them out of the checkpoint. Seven children ended up in the hospital with injuries from aggressive handling by soldiers. Some were pushed against a stone wall. A female settler drove through the demonstration, aggressively pushing both adults and children with her car. She drove around, and returned to drive through again. Many of Tel Rumeida’s inhabitants claimed that she pushes pedestrians with her car on a regular basis while driving through the streets that Palestinians can only walk on.

 

Demonstration of teachers and students in Tel Rumeida - Click here for more images

Before the children emerged from the school, a soldier was asked why restrictions are enforced only on the Palestinian residents, despite the violent reputation of the settlers. He replied, “I also don’t agree, but I have a mission to protect the Jewish people. I don’t want to be here.” Their batallion was newly transferred to this area, and soldiers said that their commander had come the day before and changed the rule. As the kids began the demonstration, the head of the school health department, Mohammed Abutherei was detained in a police jeep for at least half an hour because he was unable to control the over 100 children. “Police threatened that if I did not control the students, Tel Rumeida would no longer have a school” said Abutherei.

For the past seven years, teachers, those with heart complications, and pregnant women have passed through a gate without a metal detector.

Several of the teachers exclaimed that they will continue to hold classes on the street until the checkpoint’s rules are reverted. More protests are being planned.

Youth arrested in Hebron over cereal

2 October 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

On 2 October in Al Khalil (Hebron), the Israeli army and police arrested 2 Palestinian children based on petty, unfounded accusations whilst allowing settlers to employ violence with complete impunity. 13 year old Khaled Abu Snaeneh and 15 year old Said Abu Aisha were arrested and detained for over 4 hours at Kiryat Arba police station.

At 2:45 soldiers came to the Abu Aisha house in Tel Rumeida to investigate a complaint made by settlers that Palestinians had stolen some boxes of expired cereal from their backyard. A group of around 30 settlers gathered around the house shouting at both the Palestinian residents and the police and army. Under pressure from the gradually increasing number of settlers surrounding the house Israeli police made the decision to arrest the two young boys, solely on the evidence of being accused by the settlers.

Ibrahim Abu Aisha explained that the boys arrested had not taken the cereal as they were working at the time the incident took place.

Several Palestinians reported that Baruch Marzel from the Tel Rumeida settlement kicked 30 year old Fawaz Abu Aisha requiring him to go to hospital. Despite the visible bruising on Fawaz’s leg and attempts to complain to the police they refused to take any action on this assault. Marzel has a history of assaulting Palestinians and was formerly a spokesperson for the Kach party before it was made illegal in Israel as a racist, terrorist organization.

After being driven to Kiryat Arba police station and detained for 4 hours, the boys were not charged but still forced to pay a fine of 200 shekels each.