A visit to the houses of the martyrs in Nur al-Shams

Solidarity visit to the Nur Shams camp, following the deaths of Abdulrahman Abu Daghash and Oseed Farhan Abu Ali, killed by indiscriminate Israeli Occupation Forces shooting during the raid on Sunday 24th September.

Abdulrahman Abu Daghash

It’s hot, it’s the third day of mourning. There is a constant flow of visitors in the home of Abdulrahman Abu Daghash. Mohmen, his brother takes us upstairs to his upper-floor flat in the family house. But first we go to the roof terrace to see. Not for the view, but to see the broad smears of blood left when Abdulrahman was killed.

Blood on the roof where Abdulrahman was murdered
Blood on the roof where Abdulrahman was murdered

Mohmen tells us:

He had gone up to see what was happening, I was telling him come inside, it’s dangerous. He falls forward, I try to hold his body, I can’t do it, I have blood on my hands, maybe I was hit. No, he is the one bleeding, I call for help. My wife and his wife – seeing him lying on the roof – can’t react. Finally someone helps me, the ambulance is called. Now that we get down the ambulance is already there, they always go around during the raids. But soldiers have arrived with sound bombs, they try to prevent the ambulance from going. It finally manages to leave, but we stay barricaded in the house for another hour and a half, besieged by soldiers.

The view from the roof where Abdulrahman was killed
The view from the roof where Abdulrahman was killed

Mohmen told us about his relationship with his brother:

We used to work together, we were very close, I don’t know how I will cope now he is gone, his children will be like my own.

We meet Abdulrahman’s father in the mourning are set up in the courtyard. He said:

You have to tell everyone how they treat us, he had nothing to do with it, shot by a sniper who was doing target practice, couldn’t he have shot at at the shoulder? he was aiming for the eye. My son died in the hospital!

It seems the result of the murder is to bring everyone together, they will be more and more active against the occupation.

We leave the grieving family, and visit the family of another martyr. It’s very hot, it must be one o’clock, we might find a cab, but there are five of us, we don’t fit, so we keep walking, luckily we started off high up on the hill, the sniper had fired from a lower roof. So we go down and up again heading for the central square of the camp. Such destruction! The army of occupation had left a gutted building from a previous invasion, the streets torn up.

Then, on a corner between narrow alleys: the second house. There are only women here, but they accept me and T. Come on, we wipe off our sweat, in the rear room we are received by the mother and sister.

Aseed was only 21 years old, he was like all the boys here, he dreamed of being a writer, of making his mother happy, he was like everyone here, they despise death, so what kind of life is this, in one month two raids

Even on the third day of mourning there are many outbursts of weeping. After we have paid our condolences, however, food arrives, a smiling woman says she cooked. She wants us to eat with them to remember Aseed. So many tables are set up, everyone tucks in, besides yogurt and humus, there are pans with minced meat in strips seasoned in different ways.

A military bulldozer during the invasion of Nour Al-Shams

So what’s the background here? Around midnight between Saturday and Sunday, massive occupation forces attacked the Nour Al-Shams refugee camp, adjacent to Tulkarem. Dozens of vehicles, supported by three bulldozers, equipped with a kind of rear plough. These are adapted to penetrate the roads, break the asphalt and the water and electricity pipes. In Jenin, they had been caught out by the explosives hidden under the asphalt, which had severely damaged their vehicles. Now the explosives are throw them at them, but now they always enter the camps with these contraptions to destroy what they can. In Nour Al-Shams the last raid had been only 20 days earlier and they had not yet finished repairing the damage. Alarm sirens sounded immediately, the resistance fought for four hours, with barrages of fire, explosives and ambushes on the army that soon needed reinforcements.

As always, nothing is known about Israeli casualties and the damage to military vehicles. A few vehicles had to be dragged out. They severely damaged one building using rockets, it had been the home of a boy who was killed in 2001. They claim fighters were hiding there and explosives had been stockpiled; unlikely to be true because everything would have been blown up.

A destroyed house in Nur Al-Shams camp
A destroyed house in Nur Al-Shams camp
Destruction in Nur Al-Shams camp
Destruction in Nur Al-Shams camp

But where are we? In Tulkarem, a northern town attached to the separation wall. We are only a hundred meters above sea level, at the mouth of some valleys. Of course, there are a few settlements around here, too. So low compared to Nablus, it is much warmer and also more humid.

A. lives on a hill that divides two descending valleys, however, to get some air you have to arrive almost in the morning. From his rooftop, he points out the two refugee camps, one on each side: “Nour Al-Shams” further east, “Tulkarem” to the west attached to the city. Many workers are cross-border, but here the Israelis have also set up a dozen factories. Workers come from here, but management comes in directly from the other side.

Before visiting the martyr’s families we attended a demonstration for the prisoners, with many children.

Children at a demonstration for Palestinian prisoners in Tulkarem
Children at a demonstration for Palestinian prisoners in Tulkarem

The agricultural part has several greenhouses, in the past, there were also many orange trees, but the construction work on the expanding town devoured them.

By Abu Sara, for ISM

Destruction after destruction in Nur Shams camp

Photos and text by Diana Khwaelid for ISM

20 days after the storming and the recent massacre in Nur Shams refugee camp (in Tulkarem), the Israeli occupation launched a military campaign into the camp again. On the night of Saturday, 24-9-2023, at 12:00 AM, dozens of Israeli military vehicles, two bulldozers and two D9-type military bulldozers stormed the Nur Shams refugee camp.

The Israeli occupying forces have launched large-scale military campaigns against Nur Shams camp in the past few weeks. The camp’s infrastructure had been almost rebuilt and restored after the last invasion 20 days ago. After Saturday, however, the Israeli occupation forces once again destroyed the electricity and water systems, as well as the roads and the communication network.

Dozens of Palestinians were injured in this large military operation, and medical teams were prevented from entering the camp to aid the injured and transfer them to the hospital. Two of the injured people died. The young martyr Abdul Rahman Abu Daghesh from Nur Shams camp and the martyr As Abu Ali, 21, who was shot with a live bullet in the head.

Moreover, Israeli snipers were deployed on the rooftops of Palestinian homes in the camp. Strong clashes took place between Palestinian fighters and the Israeli occupation forces. The clashes lasted until the withdrawal of the occupation forces from the camp, after almost five continuous hours. The occupation forces used anti-armour munitions to bomb a Palestinian house. The house belonged to the martyr Sanad Ghoneim, killed in 2001. Palestinian militants were allegedly hiding inside it.

A comprehensive commercial strike and day of mourning mourning were declared in the city of Tulkaram and its villages because of the massacre suffered by the Nur Shams camp. Hundreds of Palestinians in the city, camps, and villages participated in the funeral of the two Palestinian martyrs. There is a state of anger, tension, and fear in Nur al-Shams of the occupation forces storming the camp again and killing Palestinian youth. The people of the camp are still steadfast despite all the violent and criminal occupation practices against them and the camp.

Funeral of a Martyr after the attack on Nur al Shams
Funeral of a Martyr after the attack on Nur al Shams

Six Palestinian martyrs in less than 24 hours

Six Palestinian martyrs in one day - 19 Septemeber 2023
Six Palestinian martyrs in one day – 19 Septemeber 2023

Jenin – 20-9-2023

By Diana Khwaelid

An Israeli Special Force unit stormed the Jenin camp in the northern West Bank on Tuesday evening, 19-9-2023, around 20:30 to besiege a Palestinian house. Palestinian fighters were inside the house, which belongs to the Abu Al-Baha family.

Jenin refugee camp – after the invasion

Dozens of Israeli military vehicles stormed the camp, and Palestinian fighters confronted the Israeli occupation forces in the attempt to defend the camp and its residents. The Israeli occupation forces damaged one of the houses in the camp, a civilian car belonging to one of the camp residents, and the pylon which distributes electricity in the camp. The electricity in the camp was cut off from the first minutes of the invasion, as the Israeli occupation forces blew up the electricity transformer in the camp. The invasion lasted almost three and a half hours continuously.

Jenin refugee camp

After that, fear and tension reigned throughout the camp and its inhabitants, women and children had their share of this situation. Medical staff and journalists were also targeted while inside the camp. Medical personnel were prevented from reaching and assisting the injured.

Four Palestinian martyrs were killed in this military operation, two died upon arrival at Avicenna hospital and two died later because of serious injuries. The martyr Mahmoud al-Arrawi was 24 years old, the martyr Mahmoud al-Saadi was 23 years old and the martyr Tamo SA was 29 years old from the town of Qabatiya, one of the neighbouring Jenin villages. The youngest of them is the young martyr Arafat Omar Khamaisa, 22 years old. At least 30 people inside the camp were injured by live ammunition. They were taken to the hospital for treatment.

Martyrs funeral in Jenin

In Gaza, Palestinian crowds mourned the body of the young martyr Yousef Salem Radwan, 25, from the city of Khan Younis, south of the Gaza Strip, who was shot by the Israeli occupation forces after clashes broke out between young men and the occupation forces on the border with the Gaza Strip.

The sixth martyr, 19 year old Dergham Al-Akhras from Aqabat Jabr camp in Jericho was shot dead while he and some young men were in the camp while the Israeli occupation forces stormed the Aqabat Jabr camp this morning. Palestinian crowds in a state of anger and vigilance called and grieved the six Palestinian young men in Jenin, Gaza, and Jericho. These killings have raised the number of martyrs since the beginning of 2023 to 250 in the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem.

Join ISM: Training in Bristol & Belfast, July 24, 2022

 

ISM UK & ISM Ireland are offering pre-training sessions in Bristol and Belfast this month for prospective volunteers who are interested in joining the International Solidarity Movement on the ground in Palestine. 

Attending the training session will give you a chance to get a first impression of ISM and the kind of work we do, receive training, connect with former volunteers and have your questions answered. You will also be filled in on how Palestinians are resisting the occupation and how we as internationals can work in solidarity with them using non-violent, direct action methods. 

There is no obligation to join ISM after the training. 

We ask participants to donate £5 to cover training costs. 

 

Bristol 

Date: July 24, 2022

Time: 10:30-16:00

Location: Bristol, UK 

To sign up for the training, please contact training.ismlondon@riseup.net

 

Belfast 

Date: July 24, 2022

Time: 10.30 – 4.30 

Location: Belfast

To sign up for the training, click attending on Facebook here

About the legitimisation of the Palestinian oppression in Al Khalil (Hebron)

December 1st | International Solidarity Movement | Al Khalil, occupied Palestine

Last Saturday, November 23rd, was ‘Sarah’s day’, a festivity for the Jewish community that gathers Israeli settlers from all around the occupied Palestinian Territories and Jews travelling from abroad, in the Palestinian city of Al Khalil (also known as Hebron). This year in particular, there has been a special effort by the Hebron Fund to bring as many devotees as possible, who converged in the ‘H2’ zone of Al Khalil, including the old city area and all the surrounding illegal Israeli settlements.

 

A sign on Shuhada Street, Hebron,

 

In their daily life, Palestinians’ right of movement in this zone is severely restricted, and at times forbidden. The incoming celebrations worsened, if possible, the situation. In response to the huge influx of settlers and people coming from abroad, military involvement was significantly increased.

The outcome of these three different factors -massive presence of zionists, increased military presence and effective closing down of the area for the Palestinian residents – was a situation in which the incoming crowds were legitimated to do any type of action inside a de-facto ‘amusement-park’, with the complicity of the army, whose effective duty is to control and suppress local people and activists. The situation resembled the conditions under which the first settlement in Hebron was created. In 1968, a group of Israeli zionists reserved hotel rooms in the old city during a Jewish holiday. Their stay evolved into a permanent occupation, protected by Israeli soldiers and endorsed by the Israeli government.

 

Banner put by zionists during Sarah’s day.

What it was possible to witness from the participants in the Sarah’s day celebrations, seemed to be all the frustration and the rage cumulated during the year, crystallized, materialising into the basest actions, and enabled by an unlimited sense of power. These feelings were exemplified by banners such as “Palestine never existed… and never will” [source: Hebron Fund]. They transformed into overt hostility and aggression against the international activists observing the events. They emerged as physically violent attacks with pepper spray against unarmed Palestinian civilians, including children. This culminated with the stoning of a two-years old sleeping child.

 

A 2 years old kid stoned by the settlers in Tel Rumeida.
This gathering of zionists seems to flush out all the frustration due to the incompleteness of the apartheid process: the Palestinians in Al Khalil are guilty of not being fully subjugated by the racist policies of the state of Israel, and such a gathering is a good opportunity to remind them of the hierarchy that is supposed to be in place.

In view of all this, several questions are raised.
First of all, of course, why? Why such a rage and such a violent spirit? Does Israel not have enough? Illegally occupying a vast majority of Palestinian land seems not to be sufficient. The real occupation and the true oppression is carried out through the routine and persistent humiliation of Palestinians, and the feeling of impotence with which local people are left after every attack. However, it does not take much time for the Palestinians to resume their usual spirit of resistance. Their resilience is stronger than the fascist soul of a bunch of extremist settlers.

Secondly, what is the role of the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) present there? On
Friday afternoon, a group of almost 150 settlers attacked a barber shop on the way to the Kyriat Arba illegal settlement, assaulting the five people inside with pepper spray, wood and furniture. All around, a huge presence of IOF soldiers; did they stop this fascist aggression?

A couple of hours later, a 12 years old child was attacked by a group of settlers, spraying him with pepper spray and kicking him whilst on the ground. Nearby soldiers were stationed at an observation tower 50 meters away; did the soldiers intervene?

 

 

A 12 years old Palestinian kid gased and then kicked by the settlers.

 

In both cases the soldiers did not stop the violence. They observed, and they waited. They waited and watched while the illegal settlers vented their hatred against the Palestinians. At what expense?

A further, even more extreme example, took place on Saturday afternoon. The family of a Palestinian activist living in the Tel Rumeida neighbour (within the ‘H2’ zone) was gathered together in their home, when a group of settlers climbed on the roof and entered their garden. After shouting verbal abuse, the settlers began to throw stones at the house, the family came outside trying, in vain, to convince them to go away. One of the stones passed, not by chance, through a window and hit the two year old nephew of the activist, who was sleeping inside. The soldiers were on the rooftop, “containing” (i.e. observing) the settlers. A Palestinian ambulance could not reach Tel Rumeida: Palestinians are forbidden to drive inside ‘H2’. The only way for the family of the injured child to get him to safety and medical treatment, was to hold him and run, through the throngs of yelling settlers, towards the closest checkpoint. Then they could only hope for the medics to be able to pass the control and take the child. There are at least two past examples this not being possible. In one case, the victim died waiting at the checkpoint. On this occasion, mercifully the child could reach the ambulance, and the medical staff were able to take him to the waiting ambulance.

 

Palestinian medical staff trying to pass the check point 56 in order to enter Shuada street.
Hence it seems clear that the role of the IOF is not to prevent clashes. Not even to defend the Israelis. Their role is to indulge the settlers, whatever the price to pay for the others. In their amusement-park there is no place for disrupters, such as activists, adult and child Palestinians, who are systematically and brutally repressed.

IOF during Sarah’s day.
In the end, what should Palestinians do in order not just to be spectators of their own everlasting humiliation? The answer is more complicated than ever. As time passes by, the imbalance of power shifts further away from them, as the recent US declaration highlights. Active resistance is undermined by both the continued oppression of the Israeli police and the internal conflicts within the Palestinians factions. The presence of international activists helps in documenting the constant violations of basic rights, but is certainly not enough to change the inertia of the dynamics. While hope for change by pure political means weakens, space is created for more radical, and sometimes more appealing, answers based on the juxtaposition of Islamist ideas to the zionist arguments. The international powers, focused on the pure capitalistic interest of maintaining good relationships with Israel as an ally, are responsible for this radicalisation. They, and all those who turn a blind eye to the injustices happening here lose the right to judge the Palestinian means of resistance, in the face of an oppression in which they are accomplices.