30 March 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza
Today we joined the Global March to Jerusalem from Gaza. Israeli soldiers shot continuosly, dozens of people injured, one killed.
I made this small video during the march. Some young people show the blood on their hands. Some guys with two motorcycles carried continuously the injured people injured to ambulances. However the Israeli soldiers kept on shooting.
Rosa Schiano is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement. You can visit her blog here.
1 April 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
Linking Elbows at Qalandia - Click here for more images
A Swedish peace activist at the Land Day demonstration in Qalandia, outside of Ramallah, was arrested. During the arrest he was kicked and beaten by the Israeli soldiers.
“It happened so fast, I never understood what was going on before I was sitting with my hands tied behind my back in a military jeep,” said Philip after his release on Friday evening.
On Friday, demonstrations were held throughout Palestine and neighboring countries to mark Land Day, a day of remembrance of the fight against land theft in the Palestinian territories, an issue that is constantly present in the area.
This year Land Day was commemorated through the Global March to Jerusalem, engaging thousands of people in the West Bank, in Gaza, inside Israel and in surrounding countries. The idea was to simultaneously walk towards Jerusalem and on the West Bank the march was arranged in Bethlehem as well as in in Qalandia right outside of Ramallah. Qalandia is also the name of the enormous checkpoint denying Palestinians access to Eastern Jerusalem from Ramallah. Because of the wall the Israelis are building, Qalandia functions as a bottleneck which can at any time be closed down by the Israeli Army.
Thousands of Palestinians, Israelis and international activists marched on Qalandia checkpoint near Ramallah to commemorate Land Day and protest Israeli policies of apartheid and ethnic cleansing in Jerusalem as part of the GlobalMarch to Jerusalem. There were also protests in Bethlehem, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.
Israeli occupation forces attacked the unarmed demonstrators with rubber-coated steelbullets, baton rounds, tear gas, skunk water, and the Long Range Acoustic Device. Palestinian medics reported treating over one hundred wounded, with dozens transferred to hospitals with serious injuries. At least eight ambulances were damaged by Israeli fire, and several medics suffered injuries while providing care.
The demonstration at Qalandia went off at half past twelve and soon turned into a turmoil when Israeli troops when the demonstratorrs were met with rubber-coated bullets, teargas and so called “skunk-water”, a chemical mixture with a terrible smell that sticks to your clothes. The Red Crescent treated 249 persons during the day of which 20 were hospitalized.
Present at the Qalandia demonstration was Philip Schulz, 20, and some twenty other activists from the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). Around half past three the activists gathered for a joint action. With hands in the air the activist moved towards the ranks of soldiers still shooting bullets into the crowd when the group, consisting of activists from Sweden, Denmark, USA, France, Italy, Canada and the Netherlands, reached the troops and queried their behavior, the soldiers intended to arrest one of the American activists.
“We held linked elbows to avoid being parted by the soldiers,” says Phillip, “but suddenly I saw one of the borderpolice nod at me and I was violently parted from the group.”
During the arrest Philip received several kicks and punches. The day after he is still sore.
“They took me to a cell where I was left to sit untill evening together with a 16 year old Palestinian kid. We were not allowed to visit the bathroom for the entire time.”
In the evening Philip was released but he must present himself for further interrogation in Jerusalem on Sunday. He is suspected of having attacked and pushed one of the soldiers.
“It’s preposterous, we have it all on film and Philip makes no resistance at all,” said Gabbi Tynell, who also was present at the time of the arrest.
During similar demonstrations at the Eretz crossing in Gaza on Friday, the Palestinian activist Mahmoud Zakot, 20, was killed by live ammunition fired by Israeli forces. In Jerusalem, 34 demonstrators were arrested and several were taken to hospital.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz recently published information on the Israeli plans for future expansion of settlements. At present only 8% of the West Bank is controlled by the Palestinian Authority, while the rest is partially or fully under Israeli control. Settlements are the key to continued expansion of Israeli rule in the occupied territories.
The treatment of Palestinian residents of Jerusalem is in many ways a microcosm ofthe settlement, apartheid, and occupation of all of Palestine. Israeli practices there are geared towardseliminating any hope of Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinianstate. The demonstration represented only one stage in the ongoing struggle against the occupation. It will continue until Palestine is free.
Jeff and Jonas Weber is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed). You can check out his blog here.
27 March 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza
Photo courtesy Hussein Amody, 2012
Thirty six years ago on March 30th 1976 demonstrations against the confiscation of Palestinian land by the Israeli government spread throughout Palestine. Six Palestinians were killed, over a hundred wounded, and hundreds more arrested. Land day was one of the first large mobilizations of Palestinians with 1948 Palestine. This year, on Land Day, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from all over the world will march towards Jerusalem. Today, in Beit Hanoun, Land Day came early. The weekly Tuesday demonstration against the occupation and the no go zone was in honor of Land Day and the six martyrs who gave their lives defending their land thirty six years ago.
We gathered on the road in front of the Beit Hanoun Agricultural College in preparation for the march into the no go zone. There were about 50 of us, the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative, the International Solidarity Movement, other foreign activists, and Gazan activists from all over Gaza. Palestinian flags flew high, music played over the megaphone, and we unfurled banners in memory of the martyrs of 1976. Young men carried olive trees, hoes, shovels and water. We would plant the trees in the no go zone today. We marched slowly toward the no go zone.
The no go zone has been overgrown with thistles, for some reason the Israeli’s have stopped bulldozing the ground so often. Perhaps they are satisfied that they grounded most signs that people used to live here, that the no go zone used to be a place of thriving orchards, completely to dust under the treads of their tanks of their bulldozers. We made our way through the thistles using paths cut by our previous demonstrations in the no go zone. We made our way to the trench the Israeli’s dug to bisect the no go zone. The trench is lined with flags from our past demonstrations. Today it is also lined with pictures of Rachel Corrie and Hana Shalabi from last week’s demonstration.
Young men set to work with their hoes. They cleared two areas of thistles, dug holes, and planted young olive saplings. While the trees were being planted the crowd chanted, “From Gaza to Sakhnin we are all united with Bil’in.” Usually, the chant is from “from Gaza to Jenin we are all united with Bil’in”, but this week Sakhnin was honored for its role in the first Land Day.
After the trees were planted we set about our second task for the day, erasing the trench which scars the no go zone. Young men set to work with hoes and shovels filling it in with dirt. Israeli soldiers appeared on top the concrete tower from which they usually shoot at us. This time, they did not shoot, they merely watched.
The young men continued to work at filling in the ditch. Perhaps the soldiers were afraid of shooting, afraid of inspiring even demonstrations on the 30th. Perhaps they realized that to these demonstrators, freedom is more important than life. The young men worked steadily. Soon a good part of the trench was filled in. They shouldered their shovels and hoes and we began to walk back towards Beit Hanoun. We paused at the edge of the no go zone by some giant concrete blocks painted with Palestinian flags, we ate cookies and drank orange juice. Today, we went to the no go zone and planted olive trees, God willing, on Land Day we will plant olive trees in Al Quds.
Nathan Stuckey is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement
28 March 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
Today at around 1 PM extremist settler Anat Cohen attacked a Canadian woman accompanying school children, and a few minutes later sent two teenage settlers to throw rocks at the Canadian woman and a Finnish man. The attack occurred at the bottom of the stairs connecting the Qordaba Girls School with the section of Shuhada street where Palestinians are allowed to walk.
Cohen passed the internationals in her car and stopped to talk to soldiers at the nearby checkpoint. She then reversed her car, parked next to the internationals and proceeded to shove, kick and scream at the Canadian women while soldiers looked on. Eventually a soldier came to force the internationals up the stairs, but did nothing to stop Cohen from harassing them.
In a transcript of the video provided by Uri Horesh, an ISM activist asks the soldier why he refuses to act despite Cohen’s intrusion and attack on the activist. As the soldier mumbles a response as to whether soldiers take orders from Cohen, Cohen declares vigorously, “I live here! Don’t say I should be taken away! I live here!!”
A few minutes later two settler children who Cohen had just spoken with ran up a parallel staircase and threw rocks at the internationals from less than a foot away, hitting the Finnish man in the ear. Two soldiers watched the second attack, then turned in the opposite direction and refused to intervene. Cohen then called the police, who demanded the passports of all the internationals present, who detained them for several minutes, and then told them they were not allowed to stand at the bottom or top of the stairs. When asked why the police were doing nothing about the attacks, a soldier responded that Anat Cohen is “well known to the police” and there was “nothing to be done.”
The staircase that connects Palestinian schools and houses with Shuhada street has been a site of frequent settler attacks, particularly on girls from the nearby Qordaba school who have been stoned by settlers many times on the stairs and the area leading to it.
Internationals have been accompanying children in this area to try and prevent attacks by settlers and harassment from soldiers.
Paige is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
24 March 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza
On Sunday it was reported that a young boy had been shot on farmland near the Rafah crossing. The details were unclear. Several colleagues and I traveled to Rafah to find out what happened. After making several inquiries, we entered a Bedouin area several hundred meters north of Gaza’s border with Egypt and three kilometers from the Karm Abu Salem area of the Israeli border on the East. We followed a young man on a motorcycle down dusty roads with small plots of crops and olive trees on one side, and dilapidated homes made of corrugated metal, cinder block and plastic on the other.
Standing outside a rickety gate, three boys explain that we need to wait, as there are only women at home. A child runs off to summon a male family member. Someone calls from inside asking us to enter.
We pass through a dusty courtyard and are directed to a small dark room with nothing but mats on the floor. A bare light bulb hangs overhead. A plastic clock hangs on the wall. Despite all the children on the street and in the home, there are no toys. A young boy sits in the corner, playing with the fringe on a woman’s coat, shy and surprised at the strangers in his home. A woman with a child clutching her leg peeks from behind a curtain. Plastic chairs are brought in for the guests.
Faiza, the boy’s forty-four-year-old mother enters and sits on the mat next to the boy. He is six-year-old Sohaib Sultan. He is the victim of the shooting, but he looks uninjured. Faiza pulls down his pants to show the fresh bandage on his left buttock. She explains that on Saturday evening at seven o’clock, they heard gunfire from the border. Sohaib was sitting exactly where we sat, playing on the floor with his brothers, when the bullet pierced the corrugated metal roof and struck him. She points to the hole in the ceiling just above my head.
She produces his x-ray, showing a large caliber bullet lodged inches from his pelvis. If he had been sitting in a slightly altered position he could easily be dead. As it was, the bullet did little damage. His mother explains that the bullet hasn’t been removed yet. They need to schedule surgery with the hospital.
Sohaib’s father, Majd, enters the room and sits beside me. He explains the family’s circumstances. He is unemployed and his wife suffers from kidney disease. There is little income and very little support from the government. He and his wife have nine children. Sohaib is the youngest. It is the first time a family member has been injured, although there is often the sound of gunfire from the border and bullets have struck neighbor’s homes in the past.
He said, “We are often afraid, we never know when a bullet could come down.” He continued to state, “To the Israelis we say, ‘Please don’t shoot us, we are civilians here, we have no weapons, we live a civilian life. We just want to live like humans. We want to live in peace.’”
Baraka al-Morabi was not as lucky as Sohab Sultan. He lived in Zeitoun camp with his mother, father and two sisters as well as his grandmother and three aunts with their families.
I attended his funeral. I watched as a father stumbled, carrying his seven-year-old child to his grave. Baraka was wrapped in a white shroud and lowered into the ground. A short ceremony was held. A Palestinian flag was draped over the fresh mound of dirt, and a cardboard placard identifies the grave. His is the last in a line of fourteen new graves of fighters and civilians.
Several days after the funeral we visited with Baraka’s father, Mohammed Osman al-Mograbi. He led us down rutted dirty streets, past the gaggles of bare foot children, to his home in Zeitoun camp. We sat in a small, concrete enclosed courtyard adjacent to a small stable that contained a horse and a small pony. The pony was born just weeks ago, a gift for Baraka.
As the family joins us under martyr posters of the young boy and his neighbors, we learn the story of Baraka’s death.
On Saturday March 17th there was a funeral in Zeitoun for three fighters who had been killed the day before in an Israeli bombing. Baraka was walking in the funeral procession. Many people were firing pistols and Kalashnikovs into the air, as they will during both funerals and celebrations. Suddenly Baraka stumbled to the ground. He was struck in the back of the head by a bullet falling from the sky. He was hospitalized for four days before he died.
Mohammed tells us, “Baraka was a happy child. He did well in school and was always smiling.”
Now, he is gone, but not forgotten.
In Gaza, reminders of war and violence are everywhere. It is normal to hear the sound of drones and F-16’s crossing the sky. The sound of machine gun fire from Israeli gunboats often punctuates a day at the beach or disrupts one’s sleep. Building facades made of plaster and cinder block are scored with large caliber bullet holes, or even larger holes from mortars. Weeds grow around twisted metal and chunks of concrete in lots where buildings were reduced to rubble in Cast Lead, and there are the newly flattened buildings from last week’s attacks.
And often, the bullets find much softer targets. Posters of the newly dead replace martyr posters faded and torn. Then there is the one legged man in the market, the burned woman I pass on the street, the pock marked arms and faces of shrapnel victims, and the men forever bound by wheelchairs.
Now there is a new poster, of a young boy who was killed in an act of senseless violence where violence and destruction seem the norm. His death is just a footnote in the context of the larger systemic violence waged on the people here, but just last week he was not a footnote, he was a smiling vibrant seven-year-old boy who did well in school and had a new horse. He was living.
Baraka’s grandmother appears heartbroken. Baraka’s mother is less than reassured. She is pale and drawn. She is also carrying her fourth child, and on the day Baraka died, she thought she was ready to deliver and was rushed to the hospital, but the doctors sent her home to wait and grieve.
Mohammed smiled.
“Do not be sad,” he said to me, “Baraka is in paradise, it is a better place than here.” Mohammed seemed at peace. “We don’t worry,” he said, “We are a happy family.”
Johnny Bravo is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
