Memorandum submitted by International
Solidarity Movement (ISM)—London Group
SUMMARY
This report is from the London group of the
International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a Palestinian led human
rights organisation. A brief description of the aims, methods,
and organisation of the ISM is below.
The remainder of the report attempts to answer
the 10 questions posed by the committee.
ISM volunteers operate at a "grass roots"
level in the occupied west bank, and have first hand knowledge
of the effects of the illegal Israeli occupation. In particular,
we feel qualified to describe the day-to-day experience of Palestinians
under the occupation, and the effects of the illegal settlers
and occupying Israeli Army and Police on Palestinian economic,
social, and cultural life.
In particular, we hope the committee will closely
read our evidence in regards to question 6. The impact of the
separation barrier and other controls on the movement of goods
and people on employment, poverty, economic development and on
the delivery of humanitarian assistance.
And question 7. The control that the network
of settlements in the occupied territories have over the basic
conditions for the development of the Palestinian economy: agricultural
land, water, movement of persons and goods, environmental impacts.
And question 8. The role of civil society, including
NGOs, in ensuring a broad popular participation in the development
of Palestinian society.
Where possible, we give some suggestions as
to how development aid could be used to help the Palestinian people.
Since its foundation in 2002, ISM volunteers
have written hundreds of eyewitness accounts of the effects of
the occupation and the apartheid wall. A very small selection
of these reports appears in the 17 appendices, which are also
referred to in the text.
We strongly believe the main cause of the Palestinian
problem is the illegal occupation of Palestine itself. Without
an end to the occupation, efforts to improve the lot of the Palestinian
people can only have limited results.
INTRODUCTION TO
THE ISM
In.1 The International Solidarity Movement
(ISM) is a Palestinian led organisation. The ISM aims to end the
Israeli occupation of Palestine by supporting non-violent Palestinian
protest and direct action.
In.2 Volunteers from all over the world
travel to Palestine and join Palestinians in non-violent protests,
marches, and demonstrations. The ISM does not initiate or control
these non-violent actions. Instead we are invited to participate
in them. The Palestinians believe, and experience has shown, that
an international presence at these events often reduces the level
of violence from the Israeli forces.
In.3 In addition ISM volunteers participate
in many other activities.
In.4 For instance ISM volunteers escort
Palestinian children to school where there have been cases of
assault or intimidation from Israeli settlers (eg Hebron). ISM
volunteers accompany Red Crescent ambulances during Israeli Army
action (eg Balata Refugee camp, near Nablus). ISM volunteers report
and often witness cases of violence and aggression shown towards
Palestinians by the occupying Israeli forces and by Israeli settlers
(eg Qawawis).
In.5 Less dramatically, ISM volunteers observe
and record in writing and photographs the day-to-day effects of
the occupation; visit families who have people imprisoned, and
are often invited into schools, homes, and hospitals. The committee
can understand the varied role of the ISM by reading our volunteers
reports, a selection of which can be found in the appendices referred
to in the text.
In.6 Volunteers travel at their own expense,
and must attend a compulsory two-day training course in Palestine
before they can work with us. Once trained, volunteers stay in
the Occupied West Bank for periods of about two weeks to several
months. Their accommodation is provided, or arranged, by the ISM.
At any time, somewhere between 15% and 30% of our volunteers are
Jewish.
In.7 There are three core principals of
the ISM that all volunteers must obey:
(1) The ISM is Palestinian led.
(2) All ISM volunteers must be non-violent
at all times and under any provocation including physical assault.
(3) The ISM works in groups that use consensus
decision making to operate and set policy.
In.8 The ISM received considerable media
coverage in Britain in 2003-04 when one of our volunteers, the
22-year-old Briton Thomas "Tom" Hurndall was shot and
mortally wounded by an Israeli Army sniper in Raffah (Gaza Strip)
on 11 April 2003. Tom was attempting to shield some Palestinian
children from Israeli Army gunfire at the time he was shot. He
suffered extensive brain damage, went immediately into a coma,
and finally died from his wound in London on 13 January 2004.
In.9 Intensive media coverage also followed
the death of the American ISM volunteer Rachel Corrie (aged 23)
in Gaza on 16 March 2003. She attempted to protect a Palestinian
house from demolition when she was crushed to death by an Israeli
Army armoured bulldozer.
EVIDENCE
E-1 One or more of our volunteers
witnessed all the evidence in this report.
E-2 Where possible we give
specific instances in the appendices A to O at the end of the
document.
E-3 It is important for the
committee to realise that the appendices are just a selection
of relevant reports from 2005 and 2006. For a full list of ISM
volunteers reports, see the main ISM website at www.palsolidarity.org.
1. The impact of the suspension of aid to
the Palestinian Authority and the impact of the temporary international
mechanism for Palestinian basic needs, agreed by the Quartet and
the European Council
1-1 Many Palestinians reported that the
Palestinian Authority (P.A) had not paid their wages since the
suspension of aid in the early part of 2006. These include teachers,
government administrators, utility workers, and the police force.
1-2 Worryingly, our volunteers also reported
peaceful demonstrations by members of the Palestinian police and
security forces in the centre of Al Khalil (Hebron) in April 2006.
Similar demonstrations, but more violent, took place in Ramallah
in May 2006. In each case the demonstrators told the volunteers
that they had not been paid for several months.
1-3 Shopkeepers in Al Khalil (Hebron) and
Ramallah said their takings were noticeably down by the end of
spring as the suspension of aid began to take effect.
2. The impact on Palestinian development
of Association Agreements between the EU and Israel/Palestine
2-1 We have no specific knowledge of this.
3. The challenges faced by the UN in addressing
humanitarian affairs in the Palestinian territories and in service
provision, and its effectiveness in meeting those challenges
3-1 In our experience the UN presence is
very limited in the Palestinian territories.
3-2 For example, in the Tel Remida district
of Hebron the UN presence consists of a doctor who visits one
morning per week. This is to offer psychiatric counselling to
local people. These are mainly children who have suffered settler
attacks.
3-3 Otherwise the day-to-day experience
of the UN to most Palestinians is the occasional glimpse of a
white vehicle.
3-4 Palestinians often say that they don't
want pity and handouts, but instead want to develop their industries
and agriculture so as to prosper as they used to do before the
occupation. Whilst UN aid has maintained life in the refugee camps,
it humiliates and demoralises the Palestinians who have to depend
upon it.
3-5 ISM volunteers pick up a sense that
there is a weariness of the UN, which has been there so long.
There is an air of cynicism about how exactly the UN has helped
over the last 39 years, except to maintain the status quo of a
military occupation.
3-6 Something that causes particular resentment,
and has been witnessed many times by ISM volunteers, is the sight
of a white UN 4x4 being ushered through a checkpoint past a long
line of Palestinian people and vehicles (often including ambulances).
See Appendix A (Karsten's Journal: five days
in Qawawis) 15.4.06—for a brief description of a U.N visit.
4. The impact on development in the Palestinian
Territories of Israel's disengagement from Gaza and the possibility
of further disengagement from parts of the West Bank.
4-1 Israel has not permitted the ISM to
operate in Gaza since 2004.
4-2 Palestinians within the Gaza strip report
a desperate economic situation, as Israel closes the borders at
will.
4-3 Within the West Bank, until the recent
war in the Lebanon, there were cautious hopes of an Israeli withdrawal.
The closing of the illegal settlements would liberate much needed
agricultural land and free up precious water resources. The settlers
themselves are armed, and often verbally and physically violent
towards people and property. Their departure would be very welcome.
4-4 If the "settler only" roads
were available for everyone, journey times within the occupied
territories would be dramatically reduced, helping the local economy,
and people's day-to-day lives.
4-4 At present journey times of several
hours between major cities less than 30 miles apart are normal,
and it's not unusual for the Israelis to close a particular road
or junction for a day or two, making travel impossible except
cross-country on foot.
See Appendix M (The Trip from Tulkarem to
Ramallah: three road blocks, five check-points, seven cars) for
a description of checkpoints and road closures on journey times.
5. The impact on Palestinian trade, employment,
and economic development of customs duties and taxes levied by
Israel or those collected by Israel on behalf of the PA at Israeli
ports and airports and points of entry to the West Bank and Gaza
5-1 We have no direct experience of this,
except to note that our own efforts to export Palestinian goods
such as kuffiyehs (traditional Palestinian headscarves) have proved
almost impossible.
5-2 Palestinians point out that Israel controls
all their consumer purchases including food, clothing, domestic
and industrial goods, computers, and so on. They are very expensive
and all tend to be of low quality. If Palestinians order goods
individually, excessive duties are levied by Israel.
6. The impact of the separation barrier and
other controls on the movement of goods and people on employment,
poverty, economic development and on the delivery of humanitarian
assistance
6-1 The apartheid wall has directly affected
almost every Palestinian. The ISM believes the Israeli government
term "separation barrier" creates a false impression
that the aim of the wall is to separate Israelis and Palestinians.
If this were true, the wall would run along the Internationally
recognised Green Line. Instead the wall cuts deep into the West
Bank dividing Palestinians from each other in a series of enclaves.
The length of the wall illustrates this. The Green Line is approximately
315 km in length. The announced length of the wall is over double
that, at approximately 650 km when complete.
6-2 Very large numbers of Palestinians used
to work in Israel, and can no longer travel there or maintain
a job due to frequent and seemingly random closures of the few
gates in the apartheid wall.
6-3 It's also worth noting that in the 1990s
during periods of calm, Israelis used to visit Palestinian cities
such as Ramallah and Tulkarem for shopping and entertainment.
6-4 There are numerous accounts and records
of pregnant women giving birth at checkpoints because the queue
moved too slowly for them to reach the hospital. Women and babies
have been known to die.
6-5 Similarly, Red Crescent ambulances are
held up at checkpoints with seriously ill patients inside, and
some have died directly because of delays at checkpoints.
6-6 Red Crescent ambulances and doctors
have been made to watch while people die on the street from wounds
during military incursions to residential areas. There have been
instances of ambulances being destroyed by being crushed by tanks
during Israeli military incursions. Doctors and medical personnel
risk their lives attending casualties in these circumstances.
6-7 The network of walls, fences, "settler-only"
roads, and mobile checkpoints makes movement within the West Bank
a costly, nerve wracking, and very time consuming business.
See Appendix H (Daily Harassment at Beit
Iba Checkpoint) and Appendix J (Israeli Army Shoots Civilians
at Checkpoint, Destroys Houses in Nablus) for descriptions of
ambulances being delayed at checkpoints.
See Appendix I (Qalqilya: Palestinian Grandfather
Killed by Israeli Checkpoint) for a brief description of a death
in an ambulance at a checkpoint.
See Appendix K (Action Taken Against Two
Israeli Checkpoints that Close Nablus) for a description of pregnant
women being held at a checkpoint.
See Appendix M (The Trip from Tulkarem to
Ramallah: three road blocks, five check-points, seven cars) for
a description of checkpoints and road closures on journey times.
7. The control that the network of settlements
in the occupied territories have over the basic conditions for
the development of the Palestinian economy: agricultural land,
water, movement of persons and goods, environmental impacts
7-1 The ISM has been invited by the villagers
of Bil'in to participate and support its non-violent protests
against the expansion of the settlement of Modi'in Illit.
7-2 At the request of the village, for over
18 months ISM volunteers have maintained an ongoing presence in
the village.
7-3 We have witnessed at first hand the
enclosure and uprooting of hundreds of olive trees.
7-4 A man from a neighbouring village drowned
in the flash floods of early April 2006 because the newly built
Wall formed a dam across a local wadi. Two men were swept downstream
and one drowned pinned against the razor wire fence of the wall.
The drainage pipe built under the wall to channel the water was
far too small for the flow.
7-5 A chemical plant in Tulkarem was originally
located in Israel itself but has been moved because it causes
dangerous pollution. It now pollutes the town, occupies what once
had been agricultural land, and is dangerous to approach.
7-6 There is widespread evidence of the
disruption of water supplies and access to wells by settlers and
as a result of the Wall. Irrigation and domestic water supply
is essential for sustenance of communities. Development and assistance
could be well used here, and it's worth noting that many Palestinians
are highly educated and skilled—there are plenty of local
engineers and experts that simply need the tools and equipment.
7-7 A typical example of water shortages
is the village of Bil'in. For much of the year, as many ISM volunteers
know well, there is running water for one day per week. Local
people have to collect rainwater and carefully ration what water
there is.
7-8 Agricultural development and renewal:
olive cultivation and olive oil production.
7-9 The widespread destruction of olive
trees and denial of access to olive groves for maintenance and
harvesting causes hardship.
See Appendix D (Bil'in Demonstration Remembers
Twelfth Death Caused by Wall) for a description of the drowning
and a list of others killed near to the wall.
See Appendix A (Karsten's Journal: five days
in Qawawis), Appendix B (The Surreal Story of Qawawis Continues),
and Appendix E (Israeli Settler Attacks and Harassment in Hebron)
for descriptions of settler attacks, house demolitions, and the
impact of settlements on Palestinian lives.
See Appendix F (Non-violent Resistance in
Bil'in Works) for a recent account of one of the weekly demonstrations
against the wall which deprives the village of almost half its
land.
See Appendix L (Tulkarem choked by Israel's
illegal chemical fumes) for a description of the factory and its
impact on Tulkarem.
See Appendix P (Settlers Burn Farmer's Land)
and Appendix Q (Settler Vandalism Caught on Tape) for a description
of typical settler action against Palestinian farmers.
8. The role of civil society, including NGOs,
in ensuring a broad popular participation in the development of
Palestinian society
8-1 Our volunteers are often surprised and
delighted at the diversity and depth of Palestinian society, despite
the huge pressures of an illegal military occupation that has
lasted nearly 40 years. There are many local educational and cultural
centres, as well as non-governmental social, political, and cultural
organisations.
8-2 Many arts and crafts projects have been
established, for example Yafa Cultural Centre in Balata refugee
camp, near Nablus.
8-3 The city of Ramallah, with it's Christian
and Muslim communities, brewery (in the adjacent village of Taybeh),
lively rooftop cafes and restaurants, nightclubs, bars, cultural
centres, a cinema and a concert hall belie the usual image of
the Middle East presented in the media.
8-4 There is a gaping need for training
of Palestinian nurses, health visitors, social workers, counsellors,
teachers, psychologists and doctors to work with families and
to prevent the perpetuation of the effects of generational deprivation.
8-5 Instances of mental health difficulties
are growing causing further of erosion of Palestinian life and
civil society. Settled family structures are being disrupted due
to the huge numbers of men being abducted and imprisoned by the
Israeli Military, frequently at night and in front of women and
children.
See Appendix G (Two Bil'in Teens Arrested
During Night) for an account of a night incursion into a village
and the arrest of two young men.
See Appendix O (Forgetting the Occupation,
Almost) for a good description of the Ramallah street scene.
9. The role of development assistance in
supporting political solutions to the conflict
9-1 Most opinion sees a two state solution
as the best chance of the conflict ending, although a minority
see a one state solution.
9-2 The ISM believes it up to the Palestinian
people, through their democratically elected representatives to
decide what solution is best for them.
9-3 No matter what solution succeeds, a
political solution must give Palestinians a viable way of life.
9-4 In order to survive and progress, Palestine
desperately needs to maintain a basic level of infrastructure.
9-5 This includes roads, water supply and
electricity supply. In Tulkarem ISM volunteers have seen the ruins
of a power station destroyed by the Israeli Army in 2002. Local
people said that the Germans had built it, possibly under a EU
initiative.
9-6 Likewise the Israeli Army, also in 2002
had destroyed a large modern sewage treatment plant, which, again
according to local people, had also been built with EU assistance.
9-7 Also in Tulkarem, our volunteers were
shown the local college, originally built by the British under
the Mandate, which had been systematically vandalised by IDF soldiers
in 2002. Thankfully the college had been extensively repaired
and is now open to students once more.
9-8 Local people were convinced that this
targeting of local infrastructure was deliberate and extensive,
including tanks deliberately running over telephone poles, pylons,
and sub-stations.
9-9 The ruins of other municipal buildings
and a number of police stations in Tulkarem, as well as Nablus
and Ramallah are clearly visible, destroyed by aerial bombardment
in what appears to be a deliberate policy to disrupt civil society.
9-10 This infrastructure must be replaced.
9-11 Small olive oil producers benefit from
forming cooperatives to combine harvests, oil processing and marketing
at home and abroad. For example the Zaytoun Company is a voluntary
initiative for fair-traded organic Palestinian olive oil, and
the Olive Co-operative arranges voluntary fundraising for the
resources to supply and plant olive trees to replace those destroyed
by Israeli military and settlers. ISM volunteers have seen both
these organisations in action and can attest to their effectiveness,
albeit on a small scale.
9-12 Education: All visitors to Palestine
are impressed by the strong drive for education that all youngsters
have. This is partly due to the understanding that one day they
might be able to make a living and tertiary education will be
broaden their opportunities, and partly due to their perception
that education will provide them with an "expertise in waiting"
for the day when they will run their own state. There are numerous
universities in the West Bank and Jerusalem which have been established
and maintained with development aid.
9-13 It is difficult for students to get
to their Universities because of travel restrictions (particularly
young men) in the student age group. Travel between Gaza and West
Bank for study is impossible now due to Israeli restrictions.
9-14 Distance study programmes by internet
are being established which helps to get round these problems
but contact time for learning is essential for many University
subjects, especially sciences and medicine needing laboratory
work and clinical practice. Whilst there are a few bursaries available
for post-graduate study in Britain for Palestinian graduates,
undergraduate overseas study is poorly supported.
9-15 We have numerous examples of Palestinian
students getting places in British Universities for undergraduate
study but being unable to come because of the prohibitive expense.
A degree programme in Britain costs a minimum of £30,000
for three years (at domestic rate of fees) plus £15,000 for
maintenance and accommodation. Development assistance could be
directed towards sponsoring Palestinian students at British Universities.
See Appendix N (The Scene of Destruction
at the Nablus Muqata) for a description of the destruction of
public buildings.
10. Future development needs of a Palestinian
state and the potential for its economic cooperation with Israel
10-1 Palestinians express the fact that
peace would mean a "win win" situation for both populations.
10-2 Israel needs Palestinian labour and
Palestinians need the work and wages amongst other gains. There
is evidence everywhere in the West Bank that the territory was
a prosperous, developed civil society with an agricultural, small
industrial and tourist economy. This has been dwindling away under
the effects of the occupation.
10-3 Skills and know-how will be lost with
a generation growing up without the economic opportunities and
experience that their parents and grandparents had. The West Bank
is not a desert and it is not a "developing nation"—it
is a fertile area which has been skilfully irrigated and cultivated
over millennia supporting large towns with universities and a
highly developed mercantile and intellectual society.
10-4 Market gardeners along the green line
used to sell fruit and vegetables to Israel in the Tulkarem area.
Tulkarem was a market town trading fresh vegetables and fruit
to the Palestinian region around it and to Netanya and the rest
of Israel. As mentioned above, Israeli day-trippers used to come
to Tulkarem for shopping and days out—for restaurants and
entertainment.
10-5 The building of the apartheid wall
on the western border of Tulkarem has seriously disrupted this
trade and interaction between the agricultural supply villages
around Tulkarem and between the two territories. The apartheid
wall has cut off farmers from their land, irrigation networks
and water sources. The transport of fresh and perishable produce
is impossible with long unpredictable journeys due to checkpoints
and ad hoc closures.
10-6 There is evidence of a well organised
and developed agricultural industry in the past, which is now
derelict and unviable due the apartheid wall and checkpoints restricting
every part of the agricultural process.
10-7 In Far'un (population 300) volunteers
saw polytunnels where tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergine etc were
cultivated but the water pipes, which now lie underneath under
the Wall, have been severed. Also in Far'un there are chicken
batteries lying derelict because the chicken feed is unobtainable
after the wall and checkpoint cut off reliable supplies, and their
markets were similarly impeded. Much of the borderland along the
green line has been affected in this way. Renewal and development
of the agriculture would benefit both countries.
10-8 Palestinians we talk to are not sure
their future state will be economically viable if the path of
the apartheid wall is not changed to follow the internationally
recognised "Green Line."
10-9 The wall has enclosed potential major
tourist sites such as the medieval walled city of Jerusalem and
the Byzantine Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. In Nablus,
closures and regular Israeli military incursions have removed
the church and potential tourist site known as Jacob's Well from
any tourist itinerary.
10-10 In Hebron, the great mosque, originally
built as a temple by King Herod the Great (mentioned in the Bible),
is completely ringed by Israeli Army soldiers and military installations.
The mosque itself was divided by Israel after the 1994 massacre
of 29 Palestinian worshippers at prayer by militant settler Baruch
Goldstein, and access is extremely difficult.
10-11 The medieval souk nearby has been
ruined by the aggression of illegal Israeli settlers, who throw
stones, excrement, and waste into the streets below. ISM volunteers
have witnessed numerous cases of settler violence and intimidation,
seen the rows of closed shops in the formerly thriving Tel Rumeida
district, and seen the protective grills and mesh that local people
have been forced to construct to protect themselves and their
customers from the settlers above.
10-12 There is huge potential for a thriving
and prosperous tourist industry, as well as renewing the tourist
industry that once existed, but has been all but destroyed by
the occupation and more recently by the wall. There are numerous
archaeological, historic, and religious sites that could be developed
giving rise to jobs and foreign currency income from hotels, catering,
and transport.
10-13 For over two thousand years tourists
have come to the Holy Land to visit the sites from the Bible.
These sites are now uncomfortably split between the two territories.
Palestine/Israel tourism co-operation would benefit both peoples.
See Appendix E (Israeli Settler Attacks and
Harassment in Hebron) for a recent description of settler violence
and harassment in Hebron.
APPENDICES
It is important for the committee to realise
that the appendices below are just a selection of relevant reports
from 2005 and 2006. For a full list of ISM volunteers reports,
see the main ISM website at www.palsolidarity.org.
Photographs have been removed from the appendices,
and in some cases the spelling has been corrected. Otherwise the
text is unchanged.
APPENDIX A
KARSTEN'S JOURNAL: FIVE DAYS IN QAWAWIS
18 April 2006
A1 I arrived in the village Tuesday 11 April.
A2 12.4.06 In the morning I go with Hadj
Mahmoud, who takes his sheep for grazing on the hillside opposite
the settlement of Susya. After some time we see a settler car
on the road gong up to Susya and he is probably watching us. After
20 minutes the car drives down on the main road together with
an army truck. Three soldiers walk the about 70m up to us. I go
a few steps towards them and say "welcome". A soldier
asks me what I am doing here, and I tell that I am a guest in
the village and that I have come from Denmark to tell the truth
about the Muhammad drawings. They seem a little confused and talk
together for a minute or so. Then the soldier says that I should
tell Mahmoud that he is not allowed to graze his sheep on the
side of the hill turning towards the Susya. I say that he was
only on the ridge and the soldier answers that I just should tell
him that he has to stay on this side, because he is not allowed
to come so close to the settler road. (The distance was about
300 m), I say Mahmoud only speaks Arabic but I will try to explain
it to him. The soldiers leave. The settler drives his car back
to the same place and continues watching us for the next half
hour. Then he leaves.
A3 A little detail that tells something
about the psychic element in the situation. Mahmoud has discovered
some rusty peace of iron in a bunch of soil and stones (a demolished
stone house?) about 30 m on the forbidden side of the hill. He
looks carefully around and then sends me to get it. When I brought
it back he ordered me to hide it between the stones. At a time
without any traffic he told me to run quick over the main road
and put the iron piece between the olive trees. When we walked
back to the village he threw it on he ground every time a private
car or soldier car passed.
A4 13.4.06 Nothing to report. Well for Ziad
it was an eventful day as he had a daughter. I asked if they should
celebrate it, but he informed me that it was a daughter, so no
big party.
A5 14.4.06 I am with Hadj Ibrahim who grazes
his sheep near the main road where the illegal settler road goes
to Kfar Ja'ir. A "hummer" arrives and takes position
at the next cross, by the road to Susya. They are watching us
for some time. It seems not to be a checkpoint because nobody
is stopped. After some time they just leave.
A6 In the afternoon the shepherds go into
the valley where they say there is never any problem. I decide
to go another way to the valley to get a panoramic photo of the
valley. I take the route towards Kfar Ja'ir, and half way up I
see five young people in the fields of the village. They are dressed
in white kippa and white shirts. When I walk up to them they walk
away. When I speed up, they speed up. When they cross the illegal
settler road and go towards Susya they shout something at me,
and I just wave my arms and shout "hello". I did not
know if this could mean anything, but I think they were just party
dressed young guests in Susya and they wanted to have a walk in
the area.
A7 15.4.06 No problems. Everything quiet.
In the afternoon a UN jeep turns up with two people from UNRWA
and two from Amnesty International. They took photos of the structures
that are ordered to be demolished and had talks with the families
about medical needs. They told me that some other villages in
the neighbourhood are harassed by settlers and that there is some
jealousy about the fact that Qawawis got internationals and they
do not! They stress that it would be good if more internationals
would be there.
A8 16.4.06 A rainy day. In the afternoon
I walk to Karmel—well the last 500 m I am invited to join
a farmer to sit on his donkey.
APPENDIX B
THE SURREAL STORY OF QAWAWIS CONTINUES
18 April 2006
B1 Take a trip to Qawawis and you step back
in time, yet remain in a surreal and frightening present.
B2 It's an extraordinary place of stark
beauty, situated at the extreme southern tip of the Occupied West
Bank. Most of the people live in ancient limestone cave dwellings,
variously enlarged and improved over the centuries. Yet each is
swept spotlessly clean, belying first impressions that an ancient
lifestyle means dirt and squalor.
B3 Qawawis itself is tiny, home to just
five Palestinian families. The population varies depending on
who's brother, sister, aunt or other relative happens to be around,
but it is usually between 15-50 people. The permanent residents
earn a skilful but hard living shepherding goats and growing crops
in a harsh semi-desert landscape.
B4 The survival of Qawawis as a living community
is a minor miracle, quite apart from the climate, and the day-to-day
hazards and uncertainties of subsistence farming. Over the past
few years two illegal Israeli settlement outposts, founded by
militant and very dangerous settlers, have been established on
nearby land. Since the settlers arrived, they've constantly harassed,
threatened, and sometimes physically attacked the people.
B5 They've ruined wells and poisoned livestock.
Three years ago, their tactics paid off and they managed to chase
the families away from Qawawis. A single settler moved in, vandalized
homes, and added a building of his own. Then in a bizarre twist
it turned out that Israeli Army has it's own designs on Qawawis,
wanting to turn the area into a training/security zone. The army
evicted the settler, and bulldozed rubble in front of the cave
dwellings, hoping to seal them off forever.
B6 The army's action was premature. The
people of Qawawis, with the help of international and Israeli
human rights groups fought back with a court case that went all
the way to the Israeli Supreme Court. The people won, and court
found that Palestinians, not settlers or the army had the rights
to Qawawis.
B7 Unfortunately the judgment had a catch.
The people were welcome to return, but on condition that no new
buildings were constructed. So they returned, and they cleared
the rubble, repaired their homes, shepherded their goats and sheep,
planted their crops, and repaired their free-standing bread oven
and outhouse. Both these structures are essential to the standard
of living, which at best is very low.
B8 Then they made a mistake; they added
a simple tent-like canvas awning to both oven and outhouse to
keep out the winter rains and the summer sun.
B9 In the blinkered eyes of the Israeli
administrators, these rudimentary and sensible improvements make
both structures "new." On 27 March 2006 they served
an order giving the people a month to demolish them, or the authorities
would do the job themselves. So once again, there will be a court
case, this time on 27 April 2006, in Beit El near Ramallah, where
lawyers will argue over the meaning of the word "new."
B10 Building of a very different kind has
also been going on in Qawawis area. Despite the fact that the
two settlements closest to the hamlet are illegal (all settlements
are illegal under International Law, but these ones are also illegal
under Israeli law), the authorities have been kind enough to provide
the law-breakers with electricity, telephone lines, piped water,
and a couple of new roads.
B11 One of these new roads runs very close
to Qawawis, and the Israeli Army, for "security reasons,"
has imposed a 100 metre "security zone" on each side
where no Palestinian is allowed to go. This means in some Qawawis
homes, taking a few steps from your front door means you are in
a military exclusion zone.
B12 More trouble has come from the main
road about 1km (2/3 mile) away. The Israelis have recently started
building a "mini-wall" along the edge of the northern
carriageway. Made of concrete blocks precisely 82cm high and built
along the curb, they prevent vehicles from leaving the road and
heading into the semi-desert beyond. They are also just high enough
to prevent a sheep or a donkey leaden with supplies from crossing.
B13 This poses a serious problem for Qawawis,
as this mini-wall will cut it off from Karmel and Yatta. These
are the small towns that provide supplies and markets for produce.
The mini wall itself is something of a mystery, it doesn't appear
on any publicly available Israeli or UN maps, and enquiries about
its design, length, purpose, and on who's authority it is being
built have so far been fruitless. An ISM volunteer spoke to some
of the workmen last week, and they said it will run from Karmel
to Susya (approximately 10km, six miles). As one of the people
of Qawawis said "we're going to be in a prison here."
B14 Cave dwellings, a road, an outhouse,
a bakery, and mysterious wall 82 cm high and six miles long (maybe).
Only in the surreal world of the Occupied West Bank would such
insignificant structures cause so much trouble.
APPENDIX C
DESTRUCTION AND DEFIANCE IN THE SHADOW OF
BETHLEHEM
By Tom
22 March 2006
C1 Unable to enter the al-Walaja village,
I waited for close to an hour at the Har Gill'o turnoff until
I could hear the sounds of two giant earthmovers, courtesy of
Volvo and the Israeli government. The police refused to respond
to questions, but a young soldier told me that a "military
activity" was just finishing, but he had no idea what that
activity was. He threatened to arrest me if I try to make my way
past the blockade, so I waited, along with villagers and international
press, until he allowed us to walk through. He and the others
in green and blue, on horseback and jeeps, laughed as they ate
their lunch on the hoods of their vehicles, oblivious to the villagers
watching them. Ironically, the road sign to the illegal settlement
of Har Gill'o boasts of accommodation and a lookout because of
the stunning view: a view that the family of Hadr Mahmoud Mohammed
Rabah no longer enjoy.
C2 I walked the narrow road into the village,
following the Volvo tracks and the ground up pavement, not in
need of any directions. I spoke with two teenagers just released
from handcuffs by the police. They were obviously devastated,
but at least not injured like their friend, who took a blow to
the head from a soldier's club.
C3 The Rabah family, including eight children,
are now homeless, after the Volvo earth-movers tore through the
back of their dwelling while family members scrambled desperately
to remove furniture and other items. Another home nearby was also
levelled, two more examples of an ugly Israeli tradition that
occurs on average two to three times each month. A teacher in
Bethlehem, Hadr Rabah tells me that the village is very united
against the Occupation, so there is no shortage of people offering
to take in family members temporarily at least. When I asked why
the earthmovers left the front of the home intact, his reply was
"they were afraid of the electric".
C4 It's not hard to see why Israel desires
this land that overlooks Jerusalem and a couple of illegal settlements
that used to be parts of Beit Jala and Walaja. As one neighbour
-himself in receipt of a destruction order- said... "This
land is beautiful, so Israel needs it". Another neighbour
explained that the Israeli government ... "needs to have
the ground without the people". In the distance towards Jerusalem,
I could see the zoo, complete with giraffes wandering in their
pen. After a couple weeks in Hebron, listening to Tel Rumeida
settlers refer to Palestinians as pigs, dogs, and animals, I couldn't
help but see the parallel: The Israeli government sees the West
Bank as their zoo for Palestinians, complete with walls, fences
and gates...except they would rather you did not visit. I realize
the comparison is primitive and unflattering, but I think it reflects
the unwillingness of Israel to see the Palestinian people as teachers,
doctors, shop-owners, students, mothers and sons.
C5 I stood with the Rabah family as they
explained how Israeli officials had been out repeatedly to photograph
and survey the area around their home and many others in al-Walaja.
I felt awful, but was encouraged to take pictures to record and
report the flattened home and the young people sifting through
the rubble for household goods. Another local teacher added her
thoughts about the effects on young children when they witness
such events at a young age. She told me that it is very difficult
for the children of Walaja to sit in their classes and focus on
education while there is such upheaval in the community at the
hands of the occupying authorities. "Imagine what a two-year
old will grow up like". Why is not the entire village crowded
around the ruins, embracing the family? "It happens so often.
If they stand here now, will that change things? People still
have to go to school and to work. If I stand here until 12:00
tomorrow, will it be any different?" When homes in al-Walaja
are destroyed, it often means olive and orange trees fall as well,
but what is left standing is defiance.
APPENDIX D
BIL'IN DEMONSTRATION REMEMBERS TWELFTH DEATH
CAUSED BY WALL
8 April 2006
D1 Friday's Bil'in demonstration was a memorial
for the twelfth victim of the apartheid wall. Eyad Taha Salame
Taha, a 28 year-old man from Beit Annan, was drowned in a flood.
D2 Eyad and his brother, Raad, were travelling
to work when floodwaters swept their car away. They got out of
the car and were washed towards the barrier by strong currents.
Raad was rescued by villagers, but Eyad was found unconscious,
entangled in the razor wire of the apartheid barrier.
D3 Local Bil'in activists, joined by Israelis
and internationals, held their weekly peaceful demonstration by
the wall next to the village. Two people from the village were
arrested, including Mohammed Khatib from the Bil'in popular committee
against the wall. As long as international activists were filming,
the soldiers treated the detainees well, but when the cameras
were gone, the soldiers beat them up. They were both released
after the demonstration.
D4 After demonstrating at the usual site,
the activists marched to the place where Eyad was drowned. The
villagers put up a makeshift monument with posters and lavender
to honour Eyad. Speeches were given about this horrible loss and
about how the wall was to blame. The activists charged that the
Israeli government should be held responsible for this death.
D5 Eyad's tragic death highlights the reality
of the destructive effects of the wall on the lives of Palestinians
in Bil'in and elsewhere along the wall.
Unfortunately, his is not the first life lost
as a result of the wall. Eleven others lost their lives in demonstrations
against the illegal annexation barrier, including five children
under the age of 16.
D6 Mohammad Fadel Hashem Rayan, age 25,
from Beit Duko was killed in Beit Ijza on February 26, 2004 by
live ammunition shot at him by border police during a demonstration
against the wall.
D7 Zakaria MaHmud Salem, age 28, from Beit
Ijza was killed in Beit Ijza on February 26, 2004 by live ammunition
shot at him by border police during a demonstration against the
wall.
D8 Abdal Rahman Abu Eid, age 62, from Bidu
was killed in Bidu on February 26, 2004 from a heart attack after
his house was tear gassed.
D9 Mohammad Daud Badwan, age 21, from Bidu
was shot by border police snipers during a demonstration in Biddu
on March 26, 2004 and died April 3, 2004.
D10 Diaa Abdel Karim Abu Eid, age 24, from
Bidu was killed in Bidu by live ammunition shot at him during
a demonstration against the wall on April 4, 2004.
D11 Hussain Mahmud Awwad Aliyan, age 17,
from Budrus, was killed in Beitunia on April 16, 2004 at a demonstration
against the wall, after live ammunition was shot at demonstrators.
D12 Islam Hashem Rizik Zhahran, age 14,
from Deir Abu Mashal was shot with a rubber coated metal bullet
in Deir Anu Mashal on April 18, 2004 and died April 28, 2004.
D13 Alaa Mohammad Abdel Rahman Khalil, age
14, from Betunia was killed in Betunia February 15, 2005 by live
ammunition shot by a security guard while throwing stones at a
wall security jeep.
D14 Jamal Jaber Ibrahim Assi, age 15, from
Beit Likya was killed in Beit Likya on May 4, 2005 by live ammunition
shot in his pelvis while throwing stones in a demonstration against
the wall.
D15 Odai Mofeed Mahmud Assi, age 14, from
Beit Likya was killed in Beit Likya on May 4, 2005 by live ammunition
shot in his chest while throwing stones in a demonstration against
the wall.
D16 Mahayub Nimer Assi, age 15, from Beit
Likya was killed in Beit Likya on June 8, 2005 by live ammunition
shot by a security guard while he was at his family's orchards,
about 200 meters from the bulldozers parking lot.
D17 It is the hope of activists, as we continue
our protests and demonstrations, that these lives will not have
been lost in vain. It is in their memory that we protest tomorrow
and every day thereafter.
APPENDIX E
ISRAELI SETTLER ATTACKS AND HARASSMENT IN
HEBRON
By ISM Hebron
E1 27 September 2006: At 1:30pm today a
stoning took place on Shuhada Street near Beit Hadassah settlement,
which is the street where most of the attacks against Palestinians
in the street occur. Eight Israeli settler children, aged about
ten years old, threw rocks at the Palestinians and at windows
of a home, which were already barred due to previous attacks.
The settler children also threw rocks at internationals filming
the situation. The attack ended within a few minutes because the
two Israeli soldiers stationed at Beit Hadassah settlement forced
the children back. It usually isn't the case that they intervene
against colonist settler violence like they did in this instance.
E2 This situation isn't unusual. It happens
several times a week and often while Palestinian children are
on their way to and from school. At the moment teachers are on
strike because they haven't been paid for over six month. Despite
the large amount of leisure time they have because of this, few
Palestinian children can be seen on the streets. They are afraid
to go out because of the never-ending attacks from Israeli settlers.
E3 Shuhada Street was happening, the home
of Zuhair Al-Bayed was attacked by three Israeli settlers, aged
around seventeen. They came from the olive groves near Shuhada
Street, throwing rocks from above the house. The settlers destroyed
one of the solar cell panels the family kept on the roof to heat
water. Fortunately no one in the family was hit by the rocks.
The home of Zuhair Al-Bayed has been attacked five times, but
they are reluctant to call the Israeli police or military: "We
don't want to call them because it takes a very long time before
they come. If they do come, they don't help us or they cause more
problems to us than if we wouldn't call them at all", said
the son in the family.
E4 At 4.00 pm about four settler boys, aged
eight to 10, stoned the Al-Azzeh and Sharabati homes from their
Tel Rumeida settlement caravans. Settler adults could be seen
in the area throughout the time the children were stoning.
E5 At 4.10 pm, an international noticed
a group of settler women and children from Tel Rumeida walk up
to the Abu Haikel house, located on a hill near the olive groves
above the Tel Rumeida settlement. The women were filmed hoeing
on the Abu Haikel land within about 30 feet of the home. Later,
the group of settler women and children walked back down to the
settlement carrying about four rakes and hoes.
E6 Internationals visiting the home of the
Al-Azzeh family learned that the family has continued to be without
water for 20 days. Women and teenaged males from Tel Rumeida settlement
were seen by the family cutting their water pipes, which run directly
below the settlement. The Al-Azzeh family and the Sharabati family
are without water and have been forced to get water from their
neighbours. The family is not able to mop their floors or do anything
that requires a lot of water; instead, they are only able to drink
and wash with it.
E7 They have repaired the pipes numerous
times, but the Tel Rumeida settlers simply cut them again.
APPENDIX F
NON-VIOLENT RESISTANCE IN BIL'IN WORKS
15 September 2006
By ISM Media office volunteers
F1 Today, as every in Friday for the last
year and seven months, the villagers of Bil'in marched from the
mosque to the Wall. Joined by international and Israeli activists,
the marchers were confronted on the edge of the village with baton
and shield wielding Occupation forces who turned these weapons
against the peaceful protesters. An Israeli activist was hit in
the face with a riot shield and suffered severe bleeding. Despite
the beatings being meted out the villagers sang and chanted resistance
slogans.
F2 As the protesters were being forced back
into the village they sat down on the road to non-violently resist
the Occupation invading the village. In contrast to previous anti-Wall
demonstrations when soldiers brutally dispersed any groups of
protesters, this time the soldiers allowed them to sit on the
road. The rhythmic beating of a Buddhist monk's drum rang out
over the act of silent resistance and shamed the Occupation forces
into contemplating their unwelcome and provocative presence in
the village.
F3 Injuries:
— Yotam—hit with a shield in
the face.
— Koby—beaten on the shoulder.
— Jonathan—beaten on the leg.
— Eyad Burnat—beaten on the leg.
— Adid Abu Rahme—beaten on the
leg.
— Khamis Abu Rahme—shot with
a rubber bullet.
— Sharar Mansour—shot with a
rubber bullet.
— Wiyam Nasser—shot with a rubber
bullet.
APPENDIX G
TWO BIL'IN TEENS ARRESTED DURING NIGHT
14 April 2006
By Jane
G1 Just when I thought I was in for a quiet
night, saying good-bye to the resisters in Bil'in, the Israeli
army came into the village and arrested two young men, Yassar
aged 16 and Tariq aged 19.
G2 It was a beautiful warm night at the
outpost. R and I arrived just after dark. We tried to collect
some wood and we built one of the smallest fires the outpost has
witnessed. As we finished our supper of aubergine dip, yoghurt
and bread the shebab begun to come out of the night in two's and
threes. Ali arrived in his truck bringing his young son. They
got the fire going and the kettle on. A typical outpost night
of being taught Arabic words, sweet tea, rich coffee, cigarettes,
sunflower seeds and loud stories of which I could only understand
the final burst of laughter. The full moon shone and we came out
from under the shelter to bathe in it's light.
G3 At midnight I pulled myself into the
cab of Ali's truck. Shebab climbed into the back and we left R
and two young men from the village behind. We took the slow, bumpy
ride back to the village. Through land belonging to Ali's family,
now piled with stones and rubble, 300 year old olive trees uprooted
and gone. Onto the security road by the fence, up the hill, round
the fence and down to the gate and the site of the Friday demonstrations.
Along the old tarmac road, unmaintained, pot holed, passing fields
then houses. They dropped me outside the ISM apartment. We called
goodbye, they told me to bring all my family to visit Bil'in.
G4 I read till late and finally turned out
the light at about 1.30 am. No sooner had I closed my eyes than
Abdullah was banging on the door. Soldiers are outside. I grabbed
my camera, bag with notebook, pen and cigs, stuck my feet in my
trainers, pulled on another top and I was out of the house. Abdullah
was standing in his red pyjamas, two armed soldiers next to him.
He was demanding they leave the village. There were 3 or 4 military
vehicles in the street. It was hard to see behind the glare of
their headlights. Soldiers with nightsights and guns pointing
at roofs, round walls, at trees and shrubs. Abdullah went up on
his roof, "Get off the roof" yelled two soldiers, "No
I won't, this is my house, what are you doing here, we don't want
you here, go away". I'm walking up and down the street, between
soldiers. Soldiers emerge from a building, they all climb into
vehicles and drive past the mosque and up the hill. It's only
now that I can see a group of shebab and a camera man by the mosque.
" Hello Jane", I recognise a few of them. "Did
they take anyone" they ask me. "No I didn't see anyone
with them". We start to follow the military vehicles up the
hill.
G5 Five hundred yards and the soldiers have
stopped again. I look at the cameraman and we go forward. Again
I'm walking in among the soldiers asking what are they doing,
why are they here. It's the middle of the night, the occupying
military force is armed and on the streets of a small West Bank
village and I'm walking around in the middle of it all. It's very
strange. Then from a track soldiers are bringing a young boy,
Yassar, he is frightened, he's a child. On his face are the tracks
of a few tears. His eyes, like headlights, beam out fear. "What
are you doing with that child, let him go, let him go, he's a
child, why have you got a child, let him go". They try and
put him in the back of a vehicle. There's me shouting and getting
in the way and a whole lot of big soldiers but my white skin,
my English voice means they hesitate. At one point I managed to
get my arm round they boy and we begin to walk away. For a split
second I think they will let us go. Hands get hold of us, they
start to pull us apart, we are holding onto each others arms and
hands, the distance between us gets bigger and bigger till we
can't hold onto each other any more. A soldier twists my arm behind
my back. "You are interfering with our operation, go away".
"Yes I am interfering with you trying to take away a child".
A woman in a nightgown appears, she is pleading with the soldiers.
A man in his night time clothes approaches. We are in a chaotic
bundle around the child.
G6 So many soldiers. Were there 16, 18,
20? I don't know. They took the child. Later I found out he was
16 years old. In the night, surrounded by soldiers he looked about
13.
G7 As the door of the vehicle closed on
the boy the stones started flying. Soldiers fire teargas at the
shebab. Stones seem to be coming from all directions. I find myself
crouched behind a wall with a soldier. The vehicles start turning,
the soldiers run to them and off they go, stones bouncing of the
metal and scattering across the road.
G8 The shebab congregate back at the mosque.
Abdullah appears in his pyjamas. News comes that Tariq, 19 years
old, has also been taken. The soldiers drive through a couple
more times and are met by stones raining down from behind every
wall and gate. The stones of the shebab are shouting "get
out of our village, get out of our village".
G9 Bil'in has been targeted by the Israeli
military because of its continuous non-violent resistance to the
annexation fence/apartheid wall. This week, in addition to Yassar
and Tariq, two children were arrested whilst tending their goats.
ISM supports Bil'in's ongoing struggle by standing side by side
with the villagers, trying to prevent arrests, witnessing, media
work and legal support. This legal support is expensive as it
costs 1000's of shekels to get villagers released from Israeli
detention.
G10 The ISM urges all its supporters to
continue raising money for the legal fund, so that we can continue
to support non-violent protest against illegal occupation and
theft of Palestinian land, and continue to free jailed children.
APPENDIX H
DAILY HARASSMENT AT BEIT IBA CHECKPOINT
8 August 2006
By Woody, Miss J and Ernesto
H1 There is continual harassment and human
rights abuses at Beit Iba checkpoint, northwest of Nablus, which
connects the largest city in the West Bank to Tulkarem and Jenin.
H2 Students and patients travelling in ambulances
are routinely stopped, as human rights workers witnessed yesterday,
August 7th. One international travelling through the checkpoint
was also arrested, apparently for taking pictures.
H3 Human rights workers monitoring the checkpoint
reported that three students of Al Najah University were detained
by Isaeli soldiers, which means that they were pulled out of line
and put into a pen surrounded by razor wire until their name was
cleared. It is necessary for these young men to travel through
this checkpoint daily in order to attend the university.
H4 There were an additional 15 men detained
between 20 minutes and 3 hours. They reported to the internationals
that they are detained almost daily because the last four digits
of their ID numbers are the same as those of "wanted"
individuals (meaning the Israeli army wants to arrest or assassinate
these people). Some soldiers acknowledged that these men, many
of whom are students, cross the Beit Iba checkpoint daily and
are known to not be "wanted". However, they still could
not explain why these men are detained regularly nonetheless.
H5 Ambulances with their lights on were
stopped at the vehicle crossing and required to provide documentation
and undergo a rigorous inspection in order to clear the checkpoint
and transport their patient to the nearest hospital.
H6 The human rights workers spoke with the
soldiers on duty and negotiated the crossing of several men across
the checkpoint, despite official military orders that no men between
the ages of 15 to 35 are allowed to cross under any circumstances.
The Israeli authorities claim that it is a security risk to allow
men of this age group to cross the checkpoint.
An international woman from Sweden, not working
with the group monitoring the checkpoint, but on a tour with a
group to Jenin, was arrested. The group noticed a Palestinian
man being arrested although he had on a leg brace and said he
was on the way to the hospital. She asked the soldiers why he
was being held and took some photos after which the soldiers told
her to stop or they would call the police. They passed the checkpoint
and went to get food and water. When they returned the police
had arrived and directly targeted the international who took pictures.
The police were very aggressive and informed her that a soldier
had filed a complaint against her, which justified her arrest.
H7 The police took her to Qedumim settlement
police station and then Ariel settlement police station and threatened
to deport her. They asked her to sign papers agreeing she will
stay out of the West Bank. She reported that," They tried
to bribe me with offers of "only being excluded from Nablus".
I said I wanted to move about freely: "Is Israel not a democracy?'
I said. They finally let me go with no papers being signed."
APPENDIX I
QALQILYA: PALESTINIAN GRANDFATHER KILLED
BY ISRAELI CHECKPOINT
26 July 2006
I1 Today, 26 July at 8.30 pm at Azzun checkpoint
near Qalqilya, Palestinian Grandfather Mahmood Ahmed Sumha, 68
years old from the village of Jayyous died from complications
resulting from heart disease. He was on his way to hospital when
the ambulance he was in was stopped by the Israeli army at one
of their checkpoints.
I2 Contrary to international law, soldiers
at the checkpoint refused to let the ambulance pass.
I3 According to official Israeli army policy,
"the checkpoint commander will allow a person to cross the
checkpoint (including entry into Israel) to obtain medical treatment,
even if the individual does not have the requisite approval, if
an urgent medical emergency is involved." See B'Tselem website,
"Infringement of the Right to Medical Treatment" (1)
I4 Mahmood's ID number was 929535110.
I5 Mahmood was placed on a stretcher and
those with him attempted to cross the checkpoint on foot. Once
again, they were blocked from doing so by soldiers.
I6 Mahmood died shortly afterwards.
APPENDIX J
ISRAELI ARMY SHOOTS CIVILIANS AT CHECKPOINT,
DESTROYS HOUSES IN NABLUS
26 August 2006
J1 The Israeli army shot two Palestinian
civilians in the legs near Nablus this morning. The Sebehtash
(17th) Checkpoint between the Nablus village of the Assiri Ashamalya
and the Centre of Nablus has been closed and Nablus has been declared
a closed military zone.
J2 The army has been very vocal with racist
comments abusing the people at the checkpoints verbally and not
letting them past this morning. Amongst the comments were "We
don't want you Arabs here".
J3 The violence of the army escalated resulting
in two Palestinian men being shot in the legs. The ambulance is
seeing to them now but is not allowed to pass through to the hospital.
J4 This particular incident eventuated because
two men who were in a car full of people who were going to see
loved ones (who were suffering injuries from a car accident they
had been in today) in the Nablus hospital asked for special treatment
to be allowed through the checkpoint.
J5 The soldier they asked responded by kicking
them and spitting at one of the men in his face. This man pushed
the soldier back. Other soldiers gathered. They opened fire, shooting
the men in the legs.
J6 There are hundreds of people stuck at
this checkpoint at the moment and the tensions are still very
high. Saturdays are heavy transit days for people here in Palestine
but today was particularly busy because of a Committee of Internationals
Doctors who are in Nablus hospital to conduct appointments for
Palestinians.
J7 House Demolition
The army today has demolished a two story building
in the center of Nablus.
The demolition has rendered the house next door
in danger because the second floor of the first home has been
severely structurally fractured. The army is not allowing the
residents of the second home out of their house because they have
called a curfew. They are currently occupying several houses in
the immediate area. They have also destroyed four cars.
J8 ISM volunteers have managed to get to
the area and are currently trying to get the residents out of
their house to safety. All other humanitarian groups are stuck
at various checkpoints.
APPENDIX K
ACTION TAKEN AGAINST TWO ISRAELI CHECKPOINTS
THAT CLOSE NABLUS
By Michael
K1 Yesterday, August 2nd, hundreds of people
waited for hours at Huwarra checkpoint, which is the main entrance
to Nablus from the south and one of the most restrictive in all
of the West Bank. Everyone was packed into the terminal, while
soldiers allowed one to pass at a time, after undergoing humiliating
searches and questioning. Yesterday, the average waiting time
at Huwarra was over two hours.
K2 Over the course of six hours, international
activists working with ISM were able to escort many people through
the illegal barriers, and facilitate the release of men detained
without charge. Through physical accompaniment, negotiation and
other non-violent means, the ISM was able to pressure Israeli
Occupation Force (IOF) soldiers into allowing the passage of many
Palestinians. Using this tactic, they were able to allow many
pregnant women, small children and people with medical issues
to pass. Without international accompaniment, the soldiers do
not have any interests in treating Palestinians as humans and
often force them to wait the entire day in the hot sun.
K3 In response to the international presence,
the soldiers brought an additional 15 soldiers, and threatened
the ISM activists with arrest, while the soldiers pushed, screamed
and physically attempted to stop the internationals from documenting
the closure with cameras. The internationals witnessed IOF soldiers
pushing Palestinians, grabbing some by the throat, and continuously
touching Palestinian women after being asked not to do so. The
internationals were also threatened violently by soldiers with
M-16 machine guns. On one occasion, a female soldier told a female
activist, "F*** you, I will shoot you with my big gun,"
after the international asked why the Palestinians were being
delayed.
K4 In the end, activists were able facilitate
the crossing of about 20 people, forcing the IOF to create a "humanitarian
line," where women, children and the elderly were allowed
to pass with more efficiency. After exhausting the patience of
the soldiers at Huwara, the activists moved to Beit Iba checkpoint
on the road to Tulkarem.
K5 At Beit Iba, activists found eight young
men in detention, one of whom was in isolation in a metal cell
not much larger than the width of his shoulders. The man, named
Bashir, had been in detention for over 8 hours, and when asked
why, the soldiers told the activists that he was a "wanted,
dangerous, terrorist." After investigation, it turned out
that the man had been detained that morning after he intervened
in the case of an IOF soldier sexually harassing a Palestinian
women. Once again, when the activists attempted to remain in the
checkpoint to speak with the detained men, activists were physically
assaulted, and threatened with arrest.
K6 The other seven men were detained in
a metal pen, surrounded by razor wire. Many had been there for
close to six hours. The ISM activists brought them food, water
and phones to call their families. Most of those detained were
university students from al-Najah in Nablus, one was a Palestinian
Authority policeman, and one was a taxi driver. The students had
final exams the next day and most reported being stopped every
day. When asked, the soldiers said they were detained because
the Israeli intelligence had flagged their names.
K7 After over one and a half hours of negotiation,
the activists were able to persuade the soldiers to let Bashir
out of isolation and put with the other men. After an additional
30 minutes, all the men were released. As the ISM was leaving
Beit Iba, a man of approximately 16 years of age was pulled from
the crowd of waiting Palestinians and the IOF attempted to detain
him. The man's ID was not cross referenced with the list of "wanted
persons," and the soldiers gave no justification for singling
him out. In response, ISM activists physically prevented the man
from being taken by surrounding him with their bodies, and after
de-escalating the situation; they accompanied the man to the front
of the checkpoint. ISM activists remained with the man during
his "interrogation," in which the soldiers asked him
very little. When this was over, the soldiers attempted to detain
him again, but the activists were able to successfully accompany
him out of the checkpoint. Although he was unable to pass into
Tulkarem to visit his mother he was at least not arrested.
APPENDIX L
TULKAREM CHOKED BY ISRAEL'S ILLEGAL CHEMICAL
FUMES
5 July 2005
L1 Today's Freedom Summer action was focused
on the presence of a toxic chemical factory at the edge of Tulkarem.
The Israeli-owned factory was originally located near residences
in Israel, but was deemed to be polluting beyond acceptable legal
levels.
L2 Following a court case in Israel, it
was moved to the West Bank city of Tulkarem in the mid-eighties.
The complex of factories has been expanding ever since, spreading
like the cancer that the output from the factory induces.
L3 This issue represents a particularly
dangerous dimension of the occupation for the Palestinian people.
As I stood looking up at the chimney and IOF watchtower inside
the factory compound, it occurred to me that this was a large,
ugly weapon, slowly but surely attacking the people around it.
L4 Tulkarem has the highest cancer rates
in Palestine. Residents living near the factory also suffer disproportionately
from respiratory tract diseases and other health problems. The
land around the factories has been labelled unsuitable for agricultural
production, and farmers have faced extreme difficulties getting
to it. One farmer has been shot at a number of times by the owner
of the chemical factory. He has decided to convert his farm to
organic production a decision which reflects the strength and
resilience of the Palestinian people. No attempts have been made
to clean the surrounding environment or dispose of the chemical
waste safely—it is being repeatedly dumped on nearby Palestinian
land.
L5 The protest began with a march from the
centre of Tulkarem towards the factory. We wore blue surgical
masks to highlight the danger of inhaling the factory fumes, but
as we approached the factory and began to smell the foul stench
in the air I was genuinely glad to be wearing it.
L6 Our group of Palestinian, Israeli, and
ISM Activists, proceeded from the centre of Tulkarem to the factory
located at the city's edge. We walked carrying gravestone shaped
signs in Arabic and English proclaiming the death of the environment,
justice, freedom, and human rights, in addition to the disregard
of organisations such as the World Health Organisation and the
International Court of Justice.
L7 Arriving at the factory, which is in
close proximity to the Apartheid Wall around Tulkarem, the demonstrators
placed the "gravestones" outside the main gate and began
to chant. Messages were sprayed on the wall and we banged on the
gate with stones, but nobody responded and the military did not
turn up.
L8 I only hope that they do not punish the
farmers involved in the protest later, when we have left the city.
L9 Photos can be viewed at: freckle.blogs.com/photos/no—more—poison/
L10 The factories in Tulkarem are one of
many sites throughout the West Bank where Israeli industrial complexes
are situated. The companies are free to operate outside of Israeli
laws regarding health and safety, the environment and the treatment
of workers. The Palestinian workers come from a pool of very cheap
labour; they have no rights and, following the economic strangulation
of Palestine over the last five years, are desperate to work,
even if this means going to a settlement and working in unhealthy
or dangerous conditions. The factories are built on stolen land
and disfigure the beauty of the West Bank, causing environmental
problems and flattening agricultural land with concrete.
APPENDIX M
THE TRIP FROM TULKARM TO RAMALLAH: 3 ROAD
BLOCKS, 5 CHECK-POINTS, 7 CARS
29 April 2006
M1 How long does it take to travel from
the northeast of the West Bank, to the centre? In such a small
area of land, you might think not long. A Palestinian ISM co-ordinator
gives an account of the realities of trying to get out of the
prison that the Israeli military is turning the north into.
By Abdel-Karim Dalbah
M2 An average journey
— Drive time: 90 min max—directly
in one car.
— Cost: 15 shekels by bus or 20 to
25 shekels by car (service)
On the 23rd of April 2006 and for more than
five months
— Drive distance: more than 300 km
— Drive time + walking + waiting at
checkpoints: 5 hrs, 30 min
M3 WHY
Because of the Israeli policies of closure and
checkpoints and the fact that I am a Palestinian from Tulkarm
(in the north of the West Bank).
M4 HOW
I left my home at 8.30 am and walked to the
bus station. There were no buses, and no direct cars so I had
to take the service to Innap checkpoint (15 km east). Before we
reached it, we were stopped by a flying checkpoint after 5 km.
We waited about 15 min in a long line of cars before our driver
decided to go back and take another road, going around the checkpoint.
This added another 15 min as we had to go 200m east around the
checkpoint and continue to Innap (the main checkpoint). We reached
Innap and waited there about 15 min when the soldier came and
told our driver that it was forbidden for anyone to pass today.
So the he had to use another road to drive around. We reached
a roadblock just 1 km east of the checkpoint. The cost had increased
from 5 to 10 shekels by then.
The end of the first part.
M5 When we reached the roadblock we had
to walk about 200m to cross it. We started waiting for a car to
take us to Ramallah. When one arrived the driver was asking for
50 shekels each which is too much—it's normally 20 or 30
maximum. After 10 minutes, I took a taxi with four others to a
village called Funkuk, halfway to Ramallah. This cost 10 shekels
each. From there, a taxi driver offered to take us to Borgeen
roadblock for another 10 shekels. We agreed to this but after
driving for about 20 minutes we were stopped by another flying
checkpoint near Haris. The soldiers prevented us from passing,
so the driver took us back to Funduk. He offered another choice—to
try another long road through different villages. Along the way
we had to get out of the car several times because the parallel
road we were taking to avoid the roadblocks was so rough. After
driving more than an hour we reached the Borgeen roadblock—it
cost 20 shekels to get there.
The end of the second step.
M6 After we passed the roadblocks, we felt
like we were about to reach Ramallah, taking one last service.
However, the drivers said not it would not be that simple. The
soldiers at Attara checkpoint near Bir Zeit were apparently not
allowing people from the north of the West Bank to get into Ramallah.
M7 However, at the roadblock before Attara,
we would be able to pass and then get another car to Ramallah.
What should we do? We agreed to this plan and drove (10 shekels
each) to Attara checkpoint which we reached after 45 minutes,
passing through some villages that I've never been though before.
Instead of a car waiting on the other side of the road block there
was a Border Police jeep which stopped anyone from being near
by. We stayed there about 30 minutes, trying to pass though the
main checkpoint, at first with a taxi and then by trying to speak
to the commander. We tried to point out to him that we were all
over forty years of age. After a long time he said "sorry.
You can go and try to get in through Qalandya". When we asked
about going that way we discovered that it would cost 20 shekels
more.
The end of the third part.
M8 Eventually, we decided not to go that
way but also not to go back since by this point we were less than
4 km from Ber Zeit [which is just north of Ramallah]. Instead,
we decided to get past by walking. This meant we had to go over
the mountain—but we would have to pass away from the checkpoint
so that the soldiers at the military tower couldn't see us. So
after we had walked about 3 km, we finally reached Ber Zeit town,
from which we caught a car for only 4 shekels each.
We finally reached Ramallah at 2.30 pm, tired
and hungry, but happy.
The end of the fourth step.
M9 The ministry of education was closed,
where I needed to go to sign a paper for my sister. I missed it
for today. I also missed the training of new ISMers, so I decided
to go to my nephew's house to have a rest for a while, but because
I was so tired I slept for about 2 hours.
The day is over.
M10
I spent the next day doing some work till 6.00
pm before I went back to the car station to leave for Tulkarm.
After 15 minutes the car filled up and we drove directly to Tulkarm.
On the way we passed through the roads that were forbidden for
us to pass on the way to Ramallah. Not one check-point stopped
us! One of the men in the car said "it is very easy to get
into the prison".
M11 This situation has lasted for over five
moths for Tulkarm and Jenin residents—it is a collective
punishment. The Israeli government claims this is for security
reasons.
APPENDIX N
THE SCENE OF DESTRUCTION AT THE NABLUS MUQATA
28 July 2006
A follow-up report from our original press release
about the attack.
By Michael.
N1 Today, two ISM activists visited the
site of the demolished Muqata in Nablus. Last week, from 19 July
until 21 July Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) laid siege to the
building, home to the Palestinian government. The two ISMers visited
the site to document and observe the damage to the building following
the three day offensive. The site of the building is almost completely
demolished. The main building is completely levelled, and the
peripheral buildings are missing most of their walls. The smaller
buildings are also almost entirely destroyed, and deep tank tread
marks scar the streets around. The scene at the site is solemn
as some Palestinians scavenge for valuable metal, and others pick
through the remains gathering what is left of the building's records
and paperwork.
N2 Some have already begun to rebuild and
clean up. The observers witnessed a man beginning to rebuild a
wall, and a small tractor was moving rubble.
N3 The siege in Nablus marks an escalation
in the IOF's attacks in the region. During the incursion, not
only was the government building destroyed, but the IOF arrested
many Palestinian police. During this offensive, the nearby Balata
refugee camp was also invaded, and here the IOF killed 3. At the
end of the attack, 9 Palestinians were killed, including 3 children,
and over 80 were injured.
N4 Also damaged in the attack was the office
of the Palestinian Red Crescent, the national affiliate of the
International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
(IFRC). The IOF occupied the premises, actively blocking ambulances
from driving into or out of the building to care for the wounded.
During this time, the IOF stole three bodies from Red Crescent
ambulances, saying the dead men were wanted. The army also shot
tear gas into the neighbourhood next to the Red Crescent, and
used the facility's lot as a staging and firing area for tanks
and other military equipment.
N5
The Red Crescent building is atop a hill that
overlooks the Muqata so after documenting the Muqata, ISM activists
visited with the Red Crescent and spoke with a worker. He showed
the damage to the observers who photographed and recorded. During
the blasting of the Muqata, doors, windows and window frames were
destroyed scattering glass and metal across areas where patients
were being cared for. The room that was most directly facing the
blasts, normally used as a rehabilitation centre for disabled
children, was heavily damaged, but luckily no children were present
at the time. In most of the rooms facing the blast, all of the
windows were destroyed.
N6 The ISM condemns these attacks on the
democratically elected Palestinian government and on the civilian
institutions providing much needed medical relief.
N7 For more information on the attacks,
please read these reports:
N8 Ma'an News: "Israel delivers remains
of three killed in Nablus Wednesday, continues siege of Al Muqata'ah",
20 July 2006
N9 IMEMC: "Israeli military pulls out
of Nablus after 4-day siege, leaving PA government complex destroyed",
23 July 2006
N10 The Corner Report blog: "9/11 in
Nablus", 22 July 2006.
N11 PCHR: "IOF Attack El-Maghazi Refugee
Camp in Gaza and Raid Nablus", 19 July 2006.
N12 ICRC: "ICRC calls on Israeli army
to immediately leave Palestine Red Crescent premises in Nablus",
20 July 2006.
N13 PRCS: "PRCS condemns attacks on
health organizations and PRCS staff", 19 July 2006.
APPENDIX O
FORGETTING THE OCCUPATION, ALMOST
9 September 2006
By Daniela
O1 I was staring out the window of my office
today, looking down from the seventh floor of this building that
is also a shopping mall in the middle of Ramallah. I was watching
a group of cab drivers sitting on stools in front of their cars,
sipping tea and blasting music. All the stores were open, and
it seemed as though the entire city had decided to go shopping
on their lunch break. If I leaned far out the window I could probably
see the "Stars and Bucks Cafe" down the road, but I
wasn't going to risk it from this height.
O2 Staring down at the roofs of apartments
I noticed that they all had satellite TV attachments along with
the black tanks that hold each family's water. Two girls were
goofing around in the middle of the street, clearly trying to
get the attention of the fifteen-year-old boy that was trailing
behind. They looked like any teenager: low rise jeans, trendy
t-shirts, hoop earrings, and purses that were far too adult for
them to be holding. I glanced back at my tea-drinking cab drivers
just as one of them was standing up to stretch. His angle changed,
revealing one missing leg and a limp hanging arm. My mind flashed
back to pictures I had seen of this city, only a few years back
when it was under 24-hour curfew and saturated with Israeli tanks.
It's hard to believe it, looking down on the busy streets now
with its citizens dancing around in the daily business of life.
Every time I begin to feel comfortable in this city, every time
I being to forget that I'm living in an occupied land, all the
pain of Palestine that Ramallah's glitter and glisten manages
to conceal comes seeping up to the surface.
O3 I am living in "Area A" of
Palestine, where tanks and soldiers do not frolic about as they
do in the villages. These days most of Palestine is going hungry,
but it seems as though the country has pumped all the money it
has into the city of Ramallah. It's been leaving me with the false
impression that Palestinians could live their lives free of oppression
if they isolate themselves only to the cities.
O4 The other day I was talking with my friend
about Bethlehem and how long the journey is from Ramallah, even
though it's very nearby. He said to me, "I love Bethlehem,
but no way will I go there now. Why would I want to travel through
all of those checkpoints and have a [seeming] 15-year-old point
his gun in my face and decided if I can pass. I'd rather stay
here." I guess the reality of the occupation is unavoidable,
no matter where you hide.
O5 For two days now, I have come to the
office and immersed myself in reading about the intricacies of
the Israeli military court system, and the life that Palestinian
prisoners must endure. So much of what I read seems miles away,
but in reality it's right in front of my face. Two days ago, the
mother of one of our organization's clients died. He has been
imprisoned for a number of years and the lawyers petitioned for
his release to attend the funeral. Unsurprisingly, their request
was denied. While Israeli prisoners are permitted to speak with
their families, receive visitors on a regular basis, and even
take a "vacation" to attend weddings and funerals, this
man was not even permitted to call his family's home in order
to give his condolences.
O6 Last night my friends and I drove outside
the city center to spend a nice evening at an outdoor cafe. We
drove up to the top of the hill and looked out over all of Ramallah.
Our friend pointed to the large highway down below where only
Israeli settlers are permitted to drive and then directed my attention
to Ofer Military Camp. This is one of 27 detention centers where
Palestinian prisoners are being held, five of which are located
in the West Bank. I had just read that afternoon that prisoners
in Ofer sleep in oil soaked hangers that were once used to store
Israeli military vehicles.
O7 Prisoners are often required to buy their
own food, or to rely on their families to bring meals when they
come to visit. However, most prisoners can't afford to purchase
food, and all family members have been forbidden to visit their
sons and daughters since the capture of one Israeli soldier in
Gaza several months back. My new employers explained to me that
forcing detainees to buy their own food from the prison canteens
is only one of many ways that the Israeli government profits off
of the thousands of Palestinians that they have captured in recent
years. Apparently prisoners are also forced to pay a fine for
any small infractions that they commit, such as breaking a chair
or yelling too loud in their cell. Palestinian prisoners have
paid over 3 million dollars in fines just last year. I had always
wondered how Israel could afford to carry out these arbitrary
mass arrest campaigns. Now I know.
O8 After a beautiful night at the cafe,
I returned home to sip more tea on my balcony. Through a window,
I could see my neighbour's son watching TV and his mother washing
dishes in the sink. The young kids in Ramallah were still out
in the streets, undoubtedly heading off to a party or a bar. A
large spotlight drifted across the city, following cars and shining
into the windows of each home. I followed the beam to the top
of the hill in the distance. There sits the Israeli settlement
of Psgot, with its cluster of identically designed tan condominiums.
Every night this week the police station inside the settlement
has shined a spotlight down on Ramallah, and I'm sure it will
continue every night that I am here. One more reminder that the
fate of Ramallah does not belong to its citizens, or even to its
municipality. Every time I trip over tank tracks while walking
to work, I am forced out of my haze of normalcy. Every time I
meet a new colleague only to be confronted with the bullet scars
up and down his arms, I remember what it means to be Palestinian.
O9 And every time I head off to the beautiful
city of Jerusalem for the weekend while my new friends are forced
to remain home, I remember what drove me to come here.
APPENDIX P
SETTLERS BURN FARMER'S LAND
26 July 2006
By Harry Pockets
On Wednesday, 19 July, 4 volunteers from then
International Solidarity Movement accompanied a farmer from the
village of Al Jab'a whose fields had been burned by settlers.
Al Jab'a is a small farming village located in the shadow of the
Gush Etzion settlement bloc. The settlers from a settlement outpost,
Beit Aien, are responsible for starting two fires in recent months
to farmers' land in Al Jab'a that have burned olive trees and
other arable land.
In addition to burning land, the settlers drain
waste water from the settlement, that sits on top of a small mountain,
to the farmers' land in the vally. This water has poisoned many
trees so that many are brown and dying.
The farmer needed to cut dead limbs off the
trees in order for new branches to grow, but feared harassment
from settlers. The settlers of Beit Aien live a short distance
from his land and have threatened him and his workers with guns
on several prior occasions. The day was successful, nevertheless,
with no appearances by the settlers and a large amount of work
completed by the farmer and his workers.
On 24 July, people from Beit Ummar, Halhul and
Hebron, and internationals marched against the ongoing war in
Lebanon and Gaza. About 400 people were gathered of Halhul in
protest of the disequilibrial war between Israel and Hezbollah.
APPENDIX Q
SETTLER VANDALISM CAUGHT ON TAPE
29 July 2006
By B.B.
On Wednesday, 26 July, at approximately 1.30
pm, a group of internationals went with the farmer Abu Jabber
Soleiby to document the most recent damage to his land by settlers
from the nearby settlement Beit `Ain. The settlers from Beit `Ain
have been bringing their sheep down the steep hill to graze from
the settlement onto Soleiby's land. As the group of three internationals
and two Palestinians including Abu Jabber and his brother approached
Soleiby's land, they noticed at first one sheep among the trees.
It was then observed that an entire flock of approximately 15-20
sheep were on Soleiby's land and were clearly destroying the trees
and grape vines.
The sheep were accompanied by two male settlers,
one of whom was armed with a large automatic rifle. The group
approached the settlers and demanded that they take the sheep
off the land immediately. Internationals took pictures and filmed
as the Palestinian men herded the sheep—and the settlers—back
towards the settlement. As one international woman was taking
pictures of the armed settler, he turned and raised his gun to
her head from 12-18 inches away. Other than this particular show
of force, the settlers were clearly outnumbered by internationals
and Palestinians and allowed themselves to be escorted off of
the land with little direct confrontation.
In the past, settlers from Beit `Ain have beaten
and shot at Abu Jabber and his family, cut down limbs of trees,
burned trees, and dammed up the small stream that provided the
irrigation for his land by rolling large boulders down the hill
from the settlement into the water. The nearby larger settlement,
Gush Etzion also controls the piped water to the area (including
some Palestinian homes in Beit Ummar) and had cut the water off
for the previous three days.
Abu Jabber attempted to file a complaint with
the Israeli police stationed in Gush Etzion the next day, but
when he arrived he was told that the settlers were free to do
whatever they want and refused to take his statement (this would
have been the ninth complaint filed by the Soleiby family about
the actions of settlers from Beit `Ain).
October 2006
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