Tag: Tulkarm - Page 4 - International Solidarity Movement

Israeli forces demolish Palestinian farmhouse, assault family members

24th January 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, Tulkarm Team | Jin Safoot, occupied Palestine

In the early morning, 18th January, hundreds of Israeli soldiers entered the Jin Safoot village to demolish a farmhouse belonging to the Palestinian farmer Faed. The barn was serving as a shelter for his animals and he wasn’t allowed to remove all of them before the Israelis demolished the roof. Faed claims that two of his sheep died after being smashed underneath the falling roof.

shafutwm1 — The destroyed farm house. Photo credit: ISM

shafutwm2 — Faed in front of his barn. Photo credit: ISM

Israeli soldiers shot two of the family members while they were trying to stop the ongoing demolition. One of them was hit by a live bullet in his left hand and the family now fears that he won’t regain full strength in one of his fingers. Another family member was peppersprayed and arrested on the scene. He is now being imprisoned in a Israeli military base in Huwwara, West Bank.

shafutwm3 — Faed and his son who was shot in his hand. They are standing on top of the house the IOF demolished in 2007. Photo credit: ISM

Faed’s farm is located in Area C. Roughly 60% of the West Bank is under complete Israeli control since the Oslo accords in 1990’s. To be allowed to build a house in Area C you have to get a permission from the Israeli authorities. These requests are often denied and at the same time farmers are likely to face demolition if they construct a building without Israeli permission. According to the Israeli NGO Peace Now, the Israeli Civil Administration denied 94% of the applications between 2000 and 2007.

In 2007 Israeli soldiers demolished another building belonging to Faed, also located in Area C. For the six previous years Faed has worked hard to build a new home for him and his family and the destruction came as a shock. The recent destruction of his farm house is yet another setback for him, mentally as well as financially. To be able to rebuild his barn he now has to sell parts of his land. If he does rebuild, it would still be under constant threat of Israeli destruction.

Shufa village threatened as Israeli forces begin to excavate Palestinian land

4th January 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, Tulkarm Team | Shufa village, occupied Palestine

On the 22nd of December, Israeli forces started excavating land belonging to the Palestinian village of Shufa. Residents fear the possibility of settlement expansion will threaten the future of their village.

shufa2wm — Bulldozer excavating the hillside. In the back sits the illegal Avne Hefez settlement.

Shufa village is very close to Avne Hefez, an illegal Israeli settlement that was established in 1987, which originally comprised 44 dunums of land. The settlement has continued expanding ever since and currently covers 3.000 dunums of land, all belonging to Palestinian villagers from the area.

shufa4wm — Another view of the excavation.

At the center, constructions site. Right sie: the first house of Shufa and at the far left, the first building of the Avne Hefez settlement. the road in the middle is for exclusive settler use. — At the center lies the construction site. At far right sits the first house of Shufa and at far left, the first building of the Avne Hefez settlement. The road in the middle is for exclusive settler use.

Unlike most other villages in the West Bank, Shufa is located on top of a hill, while the Avne Hefez settlement is located at a lower point. Israeli bulldozers and excavators are now digging the side of the hill where Shufa is located, just a few hundred meters from the center of the village. The landowner hasn’t received any previous notice of the excavation, and what exactly the Israeli army intends to build is still not known.One assumption is that they are trying to connect both Avne Hefez and Enav settlements with a nearby illegal outpost. Villagers fear that Israel intends to create a big settlement block in the area, by connecting these three places. Since the construction site is located at the bottom of the hill, posing a strategic disadvantage for the Israelis, the residents of Shufa are afraid that the Israeli forces will use certain measures, typically on the pretext of ‘security’, to prevent Palestinians from accessing their farm land on that particular part of the hill in the future.

Palestinians living next to Avne Hefez are already facing a lot of difficulties. Farmers are not allowed to enter their farmlands located next to the illegal settlement if they don’t hold a special permit. Israel, in turn, hardly ever gives them these permits. In a more extreme example of the harassment that farmers have to face, the Israeli military recently demolished 4 greenhouse structures in a farm belonging to a villager of Kafa, as well as uprooting more than 100 trees.

In addition to all this, the villagers in Shufa are in desperate need of an increased water supply, in order to irrigate their farmlands. But Israel doesn’t let them finish a newly constructed water pipeline that starts in the nearby village of Esba Shufa, and is planned to go all the way to Shufa. The reason for Israel to stop this pipeline construction is that part of it is meant to go through the land area designated as Area C: the territory that comprises 60% of the West Bank and is under full Israeli control. Residents of Shufa also mentioned that the neighboring village of Saffarin is facing worse water problems. They do not have a drinking water pipeline at all, and must buy water from surrounding Palestinian villages at double the normal price.Shufa is just a few minutes drive from Tulkarm. Since the 2nd intifada, Israeli forces have closed the road between Shufa and Tulkarm periodically, forcing the residents to make 32 km detours in order to get to Tulkarm. During a demonstration on Friday, December 18th, villagers from Shufa removed the illegal Israeli roadblock. Israeli commanders then promised that the road will be kept open. But until now, the road has remained closed most of the time. The few occasions when the soldiers open the road, they begin checking all ID-cards, allowing only residents of Shufa to pass through.

Palestinians remove roadblock restricting movements of villagers near Tulkarm

December 18th, 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Tulkarm team | Shufa, occupied Palestine

UPDATE 22nd December: After the removal of the road block during last weeks demonstration in Shufa village, Israeli forces told villagers that they will keep the road open in the future. But since then the road has remained closed almost every day, causing Shufa residents a lot of trouble.

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Yesterday, on the 18th of December, residents of Shufa village removed a roadblock, that was imposed on them last week as a collective punishment. The soldiers announced that the road will remain open from the 19th of December.

During the last week’s closure of the Tulkarm district, Israeli forces placed a road block between the two villages Shufa and Esba Shufa. As a result, residents of Shufa had to drive 32 kilometers in order to get to Tulkarm city, instead of just 4 km.

Shufa village is located on a hill next to the illegal Israeli settlement of Avne Hefez. In the past, the residents of the two villages have suffered greatly from Israeli roadblocks. Since the beginning of the second intifada, the roads between the villages have been more or less permanent, not only forcing villagers to drive a 30 minutes de-tour in order to get to Tulkarm, but also making it more difficult for the residents of Shufa and Esba Shufa to meet friends and family in the other village.

The roadblock was removed in the autumn of 2014, but occasionally, Israeli soldiers block the road and check IDs of everyone wanting to cross. Even though the road block is illegal, even according to an Israeli court-decision, the Israeli soldiers re-closed the road during last week’s closure of Tulkarm, and it has remained closed until today.

Since last week, the water pipe that provides Shufa with water has been cut. Earlier this autumn, Israeli settlers entered the village of Shufa in a bus and started building a roadblock with stones and branches, threatening villagers and throwing stones towards houses.

Villagers are very concerned by the expansion of the existing illegal settlement of Avnei Hefetz, as well as the newly built illegal Hahar outpost next to Shufa. The illegal Hahar outpost, with the potential of growing to a big settler-city, will link the illegal Avne Hefez settlement with the bigger, illegal Enav settlement.

Villagers are already being carefully monitored by Israeli soldiers and their surveillance cameras. Many farmers are denied access to their farm, even if it is located next to the village. Neighboring villages have had problems with trash being dumped by settlers on their land. Last week we reported about a demolition of a farm in Kafa village, a neighboring village to Shufa, located on the other side of the Avnei Hefetz settlement. Residents of the Shufa village told activists from the international solidarity movement that by denying them access to their own land, Israel is trying to make them leave their village, in order to give room for expanding illegal settlement. Our village is under constant threat, they say.

Farmers protest closure of gate blocking them from accessing their land

18th of December, 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Tulkarm team | Deir al Ghsoon, occupied Palestine

Hundreds of farmers protested on the morning of the 18th of December against the closure of an agricultural gate, which led Israeli commanders to agree to reopen the way. In 2002, 3200 dunumns of farmland got cut of from the rest of the two Palestinian villages of Deir Al Ghsoon and Al Jarosheyyah by building of the Israeli apartheid wall. Ever since, farmers have to cross one, out of two, agricultural checkpoints in order to get to their lands. The process of getting through the checkpoint takes a lot of time and not all farmers manage to get a permission to cross.

Farmer Abdullah Ghaner arrives at 6 o’clock to the checkpoint every morning in order to be among the first half of the farmers to cross the checkpoint. The soldiers are supposed to open the gate at 7 o’clock, but farmers often complain that opening hours are unreliable.

“When, and even if, we get through is depending on the mood of the soldiers”, says Abdullah.

He and his family own 16 dunnams of land on the other side of the Apartheid wall. The farm has been property of the family for three generation, and Abdullah is hoping to pass it on to his daughter. “We are born farmers. By enclosing our land they are trying to demolish her heritage !”, he says.

This part of the wall doesn’t in-circuit any settlement or military base. The only thing between the wall and the green line is Palestinian farmland. “This piece of land has not been surrounded by the wall for security reason, they surrounded it in order to steal our land”, Abdullah explains.

Yesterday, soldiers told the farmers that they would close checkpoint 623, one of the agricultural checkpoint leading to the farmland. Closing the checkpoint would be devastating for Abdullah and the 300 farmers that are dependent on this checkpoint for making a living. “What can we do ? he asks. We are farmers, we can only shout. They are soldiers, they can shoot”.

It it is not even certain that the farmers affected by the closure will get permission to enter the other checkpoint. Even if they do, the lack of roads on the other side of the apartheid wall will force them to walk for hours in order to reach their lands. It would take Abdullah 1,5 hour of walking from the other checkpoint to reach his land. That means he would only be able to work for a few hours on his land before having to return back to the checkpoint, in order to get there before the soldiers close it.

Yesterday morning farmers and Palestinian activists together with politicians gathered to protest Thursday’s announcement to close the checkpoint. After demanding the checkpoint to remain open, and threatening to take this decision to court, Israeli commanders agreed to leave the checkpoint open. For the farmers, this is a small but important victory. But the future of the checkpoint is still uncertain and farmers will not be satisfied until the apartheid wall has been removed, and the farmers guaranteed unlimited access to their land.

Palestinian workers forced to cross overcrowded checkpoint everyday

17th of December, 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Tulkarm team | Tulkarm, occupied Palestine

In the early morning of the 17th of december, Israeli security guards kept parts of the al-Tayba checkpoint closed, causing tension and frustration among the waiting Palestinian workers.

Every morning, 8000 to 10 000 Palestinians have to cross the al-Tayba checkpoint, located in the outskirts of Tulkarm, to be able to go to work in Israel. For them, commuting to work is frustrating, time-consuming and dangerous.

Crossing the Al Tayba checkpoint near Tulkarem in the morning. Photo credit : ISM

One of the Palestinian workers that ISM-activists spoke to this morning explained that under normal circumstances, it would take him a maximum of one hour to go from Tulkarm to his work in Tel Aviv. But with the checkpoints, it adds multiple hours to his daily commuting. Every morning he leaves his home before three, and after spending several hours at the checkpoint, he arrives in Tel aviv at around 6-7 o’clock, just in time to start working. Not knowing how long it will take him to get through, or if he even will be allowed to cross at all, is for him worst part.

When the security guards open the checkpoint at 4 o’clock, workers have already been waiting for hours. All workers goes through four lanes leading to four separate turnstiles, that they have to pass one-at-a-time, before finally passing metal detectors and being ID-checked by the staff.

Workers also complain that the turnstiles often remain closed for no reason. Between 4:00 and 5:15, each turnstile was open for an average of 21 minutes. At one point, one turnstile was closed for 40 minutes, leaving the Palestinians to choose between climbing over to the next lain, risking to upset other workers, or having to go back to the entrance, and start the process all over again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCx9S5axBjQ

Many people suffer from the overcrowded checkpoint. The owner of a coffee stand located next to the entrance says that people get injured almost every day. According to Maannews, 2 Palestinians were squeezed to death at this checkpoint in 2014.

Even though Israel needs Palestinian workers, as they are cheap labor, the Israeli forces are still forcing workers to cross these deadly checkpoints everyday. The economical situation of the West Bank often leaves no other choice for Palestinians than to go and work in Israel, despite all the challenges they face as doing so.