Correction, 27 July 2010: Marcus’s surname was originally wrongly spelled ‘Rednanver’ but has now been corrected.
A Swedish peace activist was arrested in Hebron last night and stood trial today in Jerusalem.
Nursing student Marcus Regnander was accused of assaulting a soldier at a peaceful demonstration in Hebron 10 days ago. Witnesses say the charge is baseless and that he has been targeted by police arbitrarily. The judge ordered that he be detained and questioned for a further two days.
At approximately 11PM last night (20 July 2010) Regnander and another Swedish man were passing a checkpoint near Tel Rumeida when soldiers forcefully detained him, confiscated his passport and called police.
Regnander was not told where he had been taken but believed it was a police station near Hebron.
Officials at the Court of Peace in the Russian Compound, Jerusalem, heard his case at 12.30 this afternoon. Following the judge’s ruling he was led wasy in handcuffs and shackled at the ankles. He told friends who attended the hearing that he had not been fed since he was arrested.
He will be released on Friday 23rd at 12 noon unless the police investigation can produce new evidence.
For more information contact:
ISM Media Office – 0545581494 or 0546180056 palreports@gmail.com
A Palestinian property in Tel Rumedia where windows have been smashed by Israeli settlers.
Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians have increased over the past few days in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood in Al Khalil.
On Sat. July 17, Mohammed, a shopkeeper, was approached by twelve Israeli settlers near his shop by the Tomb of the Patriarchs. Without provocation, two of the settlers grabbed Mohammed and a third punched him in the face, forcing him to the ground, according to Mohammed. When the ambulance arrived to take Mohammed to the hospital, the military refused. After some discussions between the soldiers and the border police, who witnessed the event, a military ambulance arrived, checked Mohammed’s medical status, and transported him to the waiting Palestinian ambulance. Although he was not in need for further hospitalization, Mohammed’s left chin and the area around his left eye were black and blue and swollen.
Two days after the attack, Mohammad visited the hospital for a second time. The doctor told him that there was bleeding in his left eye, which may need surgery, according to Mohammed.
The Israeli settler violence continued on the evening of Sun. July 18, when Abdullah, an 11-year-old Palestinian boy, was hit by an Israeli motorcyclist, driving “at full speed,” according to an eyewitness. Abdullah was riding his bike at the time of the incident, close to a school near the Tomb of the Patriarchs. Abdullah was taken to hospital for intensive care, and was treated for critical injuries throughout the night.
On Mon. morning, Abdullah’s condition was stabilized and he was removed from the Intensive Care Unit. He spent one more night at the hospital in order to receive further testing because the doctors feared that Abdullah may have internal bleedings.
The settler that hit Abdullah was taken to the Police station, but was soon released. He was seen riding his motorbike on Mon. afternoon in the same area.
In the same area, near the Tomb of the Patriarchs, a Palestinian family suffered a settler attack on Sun. night. Several windows were smashed with stones.
Christian Peacemakers Team has also reported escalating settler violence in the area around Hebron. Settlers have recently tried to burn Palestinian farmers’ crops and have smashed two car windows in the village of Boere.
Photos of Mohammed’s injuries and the broken windows to be published soon
Over 100 Palestinians together with international solidarity activists gathered in Hebron this Saturday to protest against the closure of Shuhada street. As a response to the infamous YouTube video of soldiers dancing near the illegal settlement of Tel-Rumeida, some protesters staged a dance protest: three dancers took the role of soldiers and searched and “arrested” three Palestinians.
They performed in front of the gate that closes off Shuhada street and prohibits all Palestinians from using it. The demonstrators called for justice and the opening of Shuhada street, and for the inhabitants of illegal Israeli settlements to leave the city and take the soldiers with them.
A message to the Israeli army
The demonstration, held weekly on a Saturday afternoon, then turned and paraded through the town. As they approached the market the peaceful protesters’ path was blocked by a line of soldiers armed with M-16 rifles – some of whom were seen kicking and hitting protesters. After a short sit-in the protest continued by turning around and heading towards the Old City.
Israeli activists gave speeches in Hebrew aimed at soldiers and settlers, calling for an end to the Apartheid situation in Hebron. One settler living in a house from which Palestinians were evicted threw water down on protesters but this did not dampen their spirits. Palestinians and international activists chanted together: “One two three four, occupation no more, five six seven eight, stop the killing, stop the hate.”
There are 18 check points that severely limit the movement of Palestinians in the Israeli military controlled area of Hebron (known as ‘H2’). Palestinian residents face daily attacks and harassment from soldiers and extremist, fanatical settlers who are often armed and violate the rights of Palestinians with impunity.
Soldiers tried to force demonstrators back from a blocked entrance to Shuhada StreetPalestinian residents of Hebron gathered on Saturday, supported by a large group of Israeli activists, to protest against the continued restrictions on their freedom of movement within Hebron. This includes the total closure to Palestinians of Shuhada Street, a key thoroughfare on which all Palestinian shops and homes have been sealed shut.
Approximately 100 people joined the demonstration which gathered at a military barrier which blocks one of the entrances to Shuhada Street from the Old City. After an hour or so of speeches, chants and songs, and the distribution of numerous boycott ‘contracts’, which ask people to commit themselves to boycotting settlement products, the demonstrators marched through the Old City to a second blocked entrance, from which soldiers tried to force them back. The march continued, stopping at the Palestinian Authority Municipal Inspectors office, which the Israelis closed last week, in a direct contravention of the Oslo Accords (1994). As protesters moved through the Old City, settlers in the floors above poured water and threw eggs at them.
The settlements in Hebron are, like all settlements within the West Bank and East Jerusalem, illegal under international law. Palestinian residents of the Old City and the district of Tel Rumeida suffer severe restriction of movement, frequent harassment and occasional violence at the hands of both soldiers and settlers. Shuhada Street has been closed to Palestinians since 1994, forcing shops to close and residents to leave their homes.
ISM Journal: A visit to Hebron
Wadiya and FadehHebron, Al Khalil, is the largest city in the southern West Bank. While walking through the the Old City we were invited to pay a visit to the house of Fadeh, who lives with his young wife and baby in one of the ancient stone buildings overlooking the market. Although the few rooms are small and, to our eyes, cramped, they have a picturesque charm.
Fadeh’s problem is that his house is situated in an area of the city which Jewish settlers have, since 1967, progressively infiltrated. Called by them “Beit Hadassah”, the neighbourhood is now home to some of the most rabidly racist settlers in the West Bank. They occupy upper floor apartments from which they have forcibly expelled the Palestinian owners. From here they have been known to throw rubbish, rocks, urine and faeces down onto passers by.
Constant aggression and physical attacks are tactics employed by the settlers to force more Palestinians to leave the neighbourhood. Fadeh himself was shot four times during an invasion of his house. His nephew Wadiya (6) still bears the scar on his face of a recent rock attack. As a four-year-old he was abducted by settlers and was later found unconscious, with traces of a chlorine-like substance around his eyes.
Sometimes the settlers adopt less violent methods of persuasion. Fadeh has been offered in excess of AUD$1,000,000 for his modest house. This ties in with reports of other Palestinians being offered similar sums for their strategically-placed properties, together with the offer of resettlement in the United States. While this may seem far-fetched it is worthwhile remembering that a proportion of the settlement activity on the West Bank, and in particular in Hebron, is financed by American Jewish billionaires sympathetic to the Zionist enterprise.
Complaining to the Israeli police, who have jurisdiction in this part of the city, is useless. When he complained about the storefronts which had been welded shut, Fadeh was told by a captain of police, “This area will remain closed until the death of the Palestinian state”. Such is life in Occupied Hebron.
ISM is hard at work in the West Bank and Gaza, and needs your help!
The ISM media office was raided two times in the span of four nights in February, when Bridget Chappell and Ariadna Jove Marti were arrested. In the raids, the Israeli military stole all of our computers (three laptops, one desktop) as well as several video cameras. Just a few weeks ago, the Hebron office was broken into while activists were away. We believe the military is also to blame because neighbors reported soldiers coming to look through the windows multiple times when the apartment was empty, and in the raid two laptops, multiple cameras, photo memory cards and USB memory devices were stolen, while other valuables were left in plain sight.
ISM needs to replace this equipment in order to continue the important work we’re doing. Documenting ongoing settler violence and harassment in Tel Rumeida (Hebron) and Sheikh Jarrah (East Jerusalem) are two of our most important activities. The residents of these communities demonstrate remarkable resilience by refusing to be deterred by settler violence. In order for the communities to have a chance of telling their story to the global community (one of ISM’s primary roles), and to prove the innocence of our Palestinian friends when they are falsely accused (a frequent occurrence), we need to capture high-quality footage.
We need: at least two small hand-held video cameras (roughly $150-200 each).
ISM Gaza activists risk extreme danger to document some of the worst human rights violations in the world. One primary activity is documenting use of live fire in the “buffer zone” towards farmers and non-violent demonstrators. Israel’s use of live fire has killed 14 and injured over 50 thus far in 2010. Bianca Zammit, a Maltese activist, was shot in the leg April 23 while filming a demonstration, proving that such documentation is viewed as a threat by the Israeli military.
We need: a Mac laptop computer for video editing ($1000)
A camera with good ‘optical’ zoom, such as a Canon Powershot S51S ($150-300)
The strategic theft of our media equipment, combined with Bianca’s shooting, serve as a reminder that we pose a real threat in our ability to reach global audiences with information about Israel’s actions. As non-violent activists, cameras are our weapons in exposing the Apartheid. Please, help us to continue this important work by donating here: palsolidarity.org/donate, or by sending equipment to Palestine with an activist.
