8th September 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, Huwwara-team | Kafr Qaddum, occupied Palestine
During the demonstration in Kfar Qaddum today, Friday the 8th of September, a 20-year old Palestinian protester was shot with a rubber coated steel bullet in his chest, and treated at the scene, while camera drones were buzzing above the heads of the participants. The ISM-ers present also noticed how the Israeli military forces were photographing and filming the protesters. This material is usually used in order to arrest participants, often underage and denied access to lawyers.
Israeli military forces taking photos and filming the protesters.
The Israeli army is blocking the road leading from the village of Kfar Qaddum to the city of Nablus since 2003. The closure of the road has doubled the commute to Nablus for the villagers, increasing both travel time and cost. Since 2011 the villagers have protested weekly against this road closure.
The settlement of Quedummim, bulit in 1975, has expanded over the last years, and during just the past weeks new illegal mobile homes have been placed in the outskirts of the settlement annexing more Palestinian land. The caravans are placed strategically in order to connect the two parts of Quedummim, which would cause the Kfar Qaddum villagers losing several dunams (hectar) of land nourishing hundreds of olive trees.
The illegal caravans placed strategically between the illegal Israeli settlement of Quedummim and the land with olive trees belonging to the village of Kfar Qaddum.
The expansion of settlements, blocking of roads and land thefts are witnessed daily in the illegally occupied Palestinian territories.
20th August 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, Huwwara-team | Nabi Saleh, occupied Palestine
On 23rd July, two days after the killing of three settlers from the illegal settlement of Halamish, settlers blocked Route 450 with self-made barricades preventing Palestinians from using the main road, which connects Nabi Saleh village with the south Baytillu.
The road blockade was built at the roundabout in the south of Nabi Saleh, where Route 465 goes into Route 450 and was accompanied by the building of an new illegal settler outpost on the land of Nabi Saleh. According to eyewitnesses settlers were since then seen dancing and sitting behind the self made blockades to overlook their illegal roadblock. Exclusively settler-cars and army vehicles have been allowed to cross the blockade, thus enforcing a racist roadblock only on Palestinians. Route 450 is one of the main connecting roads from the Salfit area to Ramallah and is used as an everyday passage for students at the Birzeit university and farmers to reach their land. The normally twelve minutes ride from Baytillu to Nabi Saleh now, given the roadblock, takes one and a half hour as Palestinians are forced to make a detour through Ramallah to reach their destination. And not just Baytillu is affected by this: the people from the surrounding villages Jamala, Deir ´Ammar, Deir ´Ammar Camp and Deir Nidham next to Nabi Saleh are heavily restricted in their movement, because of the closed street segment, which is now just accessible for settlers from the illegal settlements Halamish, Nahiel, Talmon and Dolev.
Roadblock at Korba
The settlers are supported by the Israeli occupation forces wh just recently installed metal gates on Route 450 at the entrance of Baytillu and close to the illegal Halamish settlement. Therefore, the inhabitants of Baytillu fear that this will be a permanent roadblock and their land will be confiscated by settlers.
Around 10.000 dunums of Baytillu land is cut off from their owners, as well as a spring, which is essential for the farmers in the area. Moreover nine houses are located behind the road gates, which means the inhabitants can only reach their houses by foot and are forced to leave their cars at the gate in Baytillu.
With the olive harvest coming up in a month, accessing the crops is crucial for the farmers. The DCO, which is responsible for coordination between Palestinians and the occupying power Israel,postponed a scheduled meeting to discuss the road blockades without setting up a new date.
The case of Route 450 however is far from the only one of its kind: the blocking of roads is a common means of control by the occupation forces to limit the movement of inhabitants in Area C. Likewise the connecting road between Baytillu and Korba, also a path used by farmers for agricultural purposes was closed off recently.
Roadblock Baytillu
Both blockades limit the freedom of movement and the access to farmland in the area, often also enforced as a measure of collective punishment. In this particular case the Israeli forces blocked off the whole village of Korba with several street blockades at every entrance of the village after the killing of three settlers in Halamish. Furthermore the COGAT (Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories) decided on the punitive house demolition of the family house [comment: house demolition was carried out in the night from Wednesday the 16th August to Thursday at 01:30 am accompanied by soldiers using rubber coated steel bullets against protesters and causing casualties] from the 19 year old Omar al-Abed, who is accused of stabbing the three setters, as well as arrested several members of his family, accusing them of not preventing the young man from carrying out the act.
Punitive demolition measurements are against Article 33 of the fourth Geneva Convention, which was ratified 1951 by Israel: “No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited. Pillage is prohibited. Reprisals against protected persons and their property are prohibited.”
These cases illustrate again how the illegal settlers in the West Bank enjoy complete impunity for their actions under the protection of the Israeli occupying forces, who act brutally against the civilian population in the illegally occupied Palestinian territories.
20th August 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, Huwwara-team | Kafr Qaddum, occupied Palestine
Israeli occupation forces suppressed another non-violent demonstration on Friday the 18th of August, in the village Kafr Qaddum, in the occupied West Bank. The weekly demonstrations protest the closure of the main road connecting the village with Nablus, which is the main city in the area.
The blocking of the road was enforced, to “secure” the nearby illegal settlement Kedumim, thus prohibiting Palestinians from using the main road to Nablus. Kedumim illegal settlement is currently being expanded further.
Smoke from burning tires rising at the demonstration
Within the first 30 minutes of the demonstration the Israeli forces were firing both live ammunition and rubber-coated steel bullets at protestors. This went on for two and a half hours, before the army retreated and the participators of the march went home. Throughout the demonstration the Israeli forces circulated the area with a drone, filming the participants of the protest. Additionally, the soldiers were carrying cameras on their bodies.
Palestinians demonstrating the illegal land theft
Apart from keeping files on individuals supporting the popular resistance, such pictures can serve as ‘evidence’ against Palestinians for the participation in ‘illegal’ demonstration.
While it was not the case this particular Friday, the occupying army has been raiding houses regularly in the early hours on days of demonstrations, taking pictures of all young men in the given homes.
Israeli forces in Palestinian civilians homes
During this Friday’s demonstration however, various homes were raided, as Israeli soldiers made their way unto balconies and rooftops of strategically located houses, to control the protest. This is a common protocol for the Israeli army, and an intrusion the local residents can do nothing about.
19th August 2017 | International Solidarity Movement | Al-Khalil team, Occupied Hebron
Friday 18th of August, the villagers from al-Walaje, a village near Bethlehem, were peacefully protesting the demolition orders of 22 houses in their village. The residents received the demolition order last month.
Friday protest in al-Walaje against house demolition
The Israeli forces want to demolish the houses in order to expand the construction of the apartheid wall, and build new settlements on the villagers’ land. Farmers from the villages have lost access to their olive fields due to the apartheid wall, and they are forced to apply for permission to access their own land for the olive harvest. In this case they are granted permission for only a few days to harvest their fields.
One of the houses with a demolition order
The residents of al-Walaje have been facing repeated harassment and house demolitions in the previous years. Just last May, two jeeps and 16 soldiers from the Israeli military went into the village at 3 AM, and demolished four houses. The military closed off the entrances to the village, preventing people from entering or leaving. The residents were not given any previous warning, and people were not able to defend themselves or pack their belongings. Residents tried to protect their houses, but faced violence from the soldiers, and several Palestinian men were arrested. The 11th of August, the Israeli military raided the village at night, photographing and video-recording residents, claiming that they were searching for a wanted individual.
Young woman protesting against the demolition orders and the Israeli occupation
Earlier the same week, residents in al-Walaje resisted a house demolition, by peacefully standing in front of the house and refusing to move. The Israeli forces decided to call off the house demolition until further notice. The villagers protest regularly against the Israeli occupation and land grabbing. Usually the peaceful protests are violently dispersed by the Israeli occupation forces.
Children from al-Walaje participating in the Friday protest
6th July 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah Team | Qalandia, occupied Palestine
Israeli authorities have decided to demolish four buildings in Qalandia in order to expand the apartheid wall and build a “security road”
Four buildings are at risk of being demolished by Israeli authorities close to Qalandia checkpoint, occupied West Bank. One of these buildings is still under construction, and the other three are undergoing major renovations, yet most of the apartments have already been sold or rented.
All four buildings face the apartheid wall
The decision to demolish the houses is justified by Israeli authorities with the need to both expand the apartheid wall, part of the Qalandia checkpoint, and to build a “security road” alongside the wall. The apartheid wall already separates Palestinians living in Qalandia from several dunums of their land, which were confiscated and turned into a military airbase, no longer in use, or for other military purposes. According to the Israeli plan, 18 meters (9 meters for the expansion of the wall and 9 meters for the construction of the road) of Palestinian private land are to be confiscated.
Qalandia checkpoint, along with a deactivated military airbase, are only a few meters away from the residential buildings
Around 80 households will be affected if the demolition is implemented and a few Palestinians families have already moved in. The owners have received the demolition orders on 14th May and the construction hasn’t stopped. Along with the four residential buildings, a children’s playground, situated next to one of the gates Israeli forces often uses to make incursions into Qalandia, is also going to be destroyed.
The demolition orders were issued to the owners on 14th May, and a petition to suspend it has been filed to Israeli courts
The residents and future residents of the four buildings have filed a petition to prevent the demolition and even if a first ruling from an Israeli Court ordered its suspension there is still the fear that the demolition and further expansion of the apartheid wall will indeed take place, vaguely justified by “security reasons.”
A children’s playground is also at risk of being demolished
This is not the first time that Qalandia (located in both areas B and C, according to the 1995 Oslo II Accord) has been subjected to house demolitions. In July 1996, 15 structures were destroyed in the village, which remains under the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem but separated from the rest of the city by the apartheid wall.
