8th August 2016 | International Solidarity Movement
Palestinian and international activists hold signs in support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement by the buffer zone in Zeitoun on 9 February 2013. (Photo by Desde Palestina)
The International Solidarity Movement is a Palestinian-led movement with a mandate to support Palestinian nonviolent popular resistance to Israeli military occupation and apartheid. Palestinian-led nonviolent resistance includes the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions of Israel, until it adheres to its obligations under international law.
ISM volunteers also accompany children to school and farmers to harvest their olives in areas where they face ongoing settler and military violence. We find that our presence sometimes results in reducing the level of lethal force used by the Israeli military against unarmed Palestinians. Further isolation of Palestinians by denying access and/or deporting human rights activists aims to make Palestinian communities already vulnerable and suffering from abuse even more vulnerable.
As a civilian population living under military occupation Palestinians in the occupied territories are promised protection under international law. All parties signed to the fourth Geneva Convention have the obligation to insure that others, including Israel, adhere to international law. Civilians are being called on to fill in the gap created by the failure of governments and official international bodies to provide protection and fulfill their obligations.
Israel’s isolation of Palestinians both by denying Palestinians and their supporters access to Palestine as well as by denying Palestinians including human rights defenders the right to leave Palestine is not a new strategy. It is most brutal and lethal in the besieged Gaza strip but all parts of Palestine are under some degree of siege.
We condemn Israeli suppression of Palestinian nonviolent resistance. The recent announcement by the occupation authorities that they will attempt to further isolate Palestinians indicates the occupation authorities unwillingness to do the only thing that will actually bring an end to Israel’s isolation – to adhere to international law, end the occupation and grant Palestinians their rights.
See the statement By the Boycott National Committee here:
29 July 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah team | Ni’lin village, occupied Palestine
On Friday afternoon, a group of Palestinian residents of Ni’lin village along with internationals and Israelis, tried to walk to the apartheid wall that cuts off many of the villagers from their farmland. The Israeli settlers on the other side of the wall are living on illegally confiscated land. The purpose of the demonstration was to protest against the wall, but also the march was in memory of Ahmed Musa, a ten year old Palestinian boy who was murdered eight years ago in this village by Israeli military forces. The march was also in memory of Saad, Reham and Ali Dawabsheh, who were burned alive by Israeli settler extremists last summer.
The demonstration started off peacefully as the people tried walking down the road to get to the wall. They were blocked by six Israeli Border Police officers and two jeeps, including one armed with long range teargas cannister missiles. The Border Police pointed their guns and teargas cannisters at the demonstrators, and refused to let them pass.
Soon afterwards, clashes started with the shebab- young Palestinian men and teenage boys who challenged their blockage of the path and disruption of a peaceful demonstration, by throwing rocks. The Israeli Border Police fired teargas and rubber coated as well as well as “foam tipped” bullets. They shot a 22 year old man in the hand, breaking it. In addition, they also shot teargas at people who were not throwing rocks.
The demonstration and resulting clashes lasted approximately two hours. The villagers continue their fight against the ongoing theft of their land.
The Israeli Border Police threatened peaceful demonstrators, and did not allow the march to the wall to continueIsraeli Border Police prepare to attack Palestinian teenagers and young men.With rocks and slingshots, Palestinian teenage boys confront the Israeli Border PoliceIsraeli Border Police shot teargas also towards those demonstrators who were not involved in the clashes
27 July 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah team | Qalandia village, occupied Palestine
Late Monday evening, Israeli forces entered the village of Qalandia with 15 bulldozers and around 150 soldiers. In the village the Israeli military destroyed 11 new built houses, attacking the residents of the village with stun grenades, tear gas, rubber coated steel bullets and sponge bullets. 7 persons had to seek medical care for their injuries after the assaults from the military.
In 7 of the demolished houses, families had already moved in according to Yosef Awdalla, mayor of Qalandia. The demolition notices, claiming the houses had no permits, were left outside the houses on the ground only 24 hours before the army entered the village.
One of the homeowners, Fadi Awadallah describes how his friend was walking around the house the day before the demolitions, and found a piece of paper written in Hebrew on the ground. One hour after they had figured out what the document said and talked to their lawyer, the army was already entering the village to demolish their home. Fadi, who had applied and paid for an Israeli issued licence to build in area C, did not expect the demolition order since the Israeli authorities had accepted the money and the application. When he tried to explain this to the soldiers they answered him that “they were not there to talk, they were there to demolish the houses.”
The soldiers then pointed their guns to his head and told him that if he didn’t move away from the house they would shoot him.
“They didn’t deal with us as humans, they pushed us back with violence and force” says Fadi whose family had planned to move into their dream house the following week.
“Three years ago we started to build the houses. Why didn’t they come three years ago before we spent all our money on these houses? They destroyed the houses, they destroyed our dreams” says Fadi, explaining that most of the families not only spent all their savings on the buildings but now they are also left with loans that will take them years to pay.
“We came up with the idea about building a house here because we are not allowed to use our house on the other side of the wall.” says Fadi, whose father lives in a house on the other side of the apartheid wall surrounding the village. Without obtaining a permit every month from the Israeli occupation authorities, the family are not allowed to cross the wall that separates the West Bank from Jerusalem.
Since the signing of the Oslo agreement in 1995 most of Qalandia village was classified as Area C, where israel has full control over security and civil administration. Only 2% of Qalandia is constituted as area B, where construction is permitted. Palestinian building in area C has to be permitted by the Israeli Civil Administration and since the Israeli occupation of the West Bank 1967, Israeli authorities regularly demolishe houses in area C, thus breaking international humanitarian law. According to a report released this Wednesday from Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, Israeli authorities have demolished more Palestinian homes in the West Bank in the first six months of 2016 than they did in any year over the past decade .
The Israeli demolition policies systematically implemented by the government and the lack of possibilities to build legally in the area constitutes the ethnic cleansing and forcible transfer of Palestinians.
As Fadi Awadallah points out, “Where are we supposed to be? In the sky? In the space? No, we are staying here.”
Sameeh Huseen holding a picture of his home that was ruined by the Israeli army.“How are we going to explain this to the next generation? How can we teach our kids about peace when this is what they see?” says Fadi Awadallah.“We are still here. We will never leave.” Ajaleen Salah Mousa has worked as a teacher for 20 years and has spent all his savings on the house, his dream. “They try to make it hard for us to live here but we will never leave.”
16th July 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Kafr Qaddum, occupied Palestine
On the 15th of July in the afternoon, the people of Kafr Kaddum took part in a demonstration against the Israeli Army’s continuing theft of their road. The soldiers checked cars going in and out of the village, and stationed snipers in the bushes and on top of the hill. The Israeli Army also brought men in dark uniforms, a special unit that is used to quell prison disturbances. They had a jeep that was loaded with teargas. Clearly, their main goal was to intimidate the demonstrators and stop the protest from happening.
Palestinian demonstrators march towards the road
Palestinians, Israelis and internationals alike were in the crowd. After some chanting, the people tried to do a march but as soon as they got close to the hill where soldiers were stationed, stun grenades were thrown at them. The Israeli soldiers also fired rubber coated steel bullets at the Palestinian youth, as well as several volleys of teargas towards both them and the rest of the crowd. Although no one was hit by their ammunition, many people suffered from excessive tear gas inhalation.
Before leaving the Israeli Army made sure to destroy the main water pipe of the village, which will cost some 3000 NIS to repair. An overwhelming use of force was employed against a people who are simply fighting for the return of their road, which was illegally stolen from them in 2003.
1st July 2016 | IWPS | Kafr Qaddum, occupied Palestine
The 1st July 2016, the last Friday in Ramadan, marked the fifth anniversary of Kafr Qaddum’s demonstrations. The Israeli military were present in the village and firing rubber coated steel bullets prior to the start of the demonstration. The soldiers continued to use full force against protestors, using high velocity barricade penetrating tear gas grenades, and live ammunition. Two young men were injured with live ammunition. One 15-year-old boy took a .22 caliber bullet to the stomach. He entered surgery in Nablus at approximately 3 PM to remove the bullet. In addition, a 19-year-old was hit in the lower leg. The injury is not serious, but still a cause for concern: the young man in question had been released from jail less than a month ago, after he was arrested for his participation in the weekly protests.
15-year old shot with live ammunition by Israeli forces loaded into ambulance
Every week the villagers, accompanied by international and Israeli activists, have marched down the road that once connected the village to Nablus. The road was shut down due to expansions in the nearby illegal settlement of Kedumim, and is now accessible only to settlers. The road closure has been an economic burden for Kafr Qaddum, and well as a public health and safety issue, as ambulances and fire trucks face restricted access to the village. Murad Shtawi, the head of the Popular Resistance Committee in Kafr Qaddum, says that the village does its best to keep the demonstrations nonviolent – shebab will throw stones at the soldiers, but only if they are attacked first, or the soldiers enter the town limits.
Israeli forces enter Kafr Qaddum village
Today’s protest followed a familiar pattern, soldiers entered the village prior to the protest, armed with tear gas, stun grenades, rubber coated steel bullets, and live ammunition. While most of the village took part in the midday Dhuhr prayer, a few shebab monitored the soldiers, risking injury from rubber coated steel bullets. After the prayer, approximately one hundred protestors marched up the road, but were repelled before even reaching the end of the village by more rubber coated metal bullets, and interior barricade penetrating tear gas. When the protest regrouped, undeterred, the military opened fire with .22 calibre ammunition. The military also employed a bulldozer during the protests, in an attempt to block off the road at the entrance to the village. The bulldozer struck the main water pipe to Kafr Qaddum, flooding the street, and ensuring it would be a dry day for many families.
Kafr Qaddum has paid a high price for its protests. According to Murad Shtawi, there have been up to 84 injuries from live ammunition. In 2014, a 75-year-old man in the village died from tear gas suffocation, and countless others have passed out from inhalation. There have been over 200 injuries from rubber coated metal bullets, including one young man who lost an eye, and another who can no longer speak due to brain damage. 120 villagers have been arrested, and their families have paid a collective 250,000 NIS in fines. Today was the 7th time the water pipe has been damaged.
Protestor throws back tear gas canister
Still, the villagers remain optimistic that their protest will be effective someday, in opening the road, and pushing out the settlers of Kedumim. They’ve held 330 marches and actions against the settlement and road closure in the past five years, and will keep going, as long as it takes.
“We see the victory in our children’s eyes” Shtawi proclaimed at the end of the day, “the strangers [settlers] who came later must be the ones who will leave earlier.”
