Report: February 2018 – Human Rights Violations and Popular Struggle in South Hebron Hills

marzo 23, 2018 at 2:43 pm

A new report and interactive map on “Human Rights violations and Popular Struggle in South Hebron Hills” covering the period February 2018 have been released.

READ FULL REPORT [PDF]

PSCC Statement and Call to the International Solidarity Movement all over the world

ottobre 11, 2015 at 2:10 pm

10th October, 2015 | Popular Struggle Coordination Committee | Ramallah, Occupied Palestine

Hundreds of Palestinians were injured in the past ten days, around 450 arrests from all over the West bank were reported. Israeli settlers and occupation forces have murdered 17 Palestinians since the beginning of October 2015, including 5 children, eleven year old Abdelrahman Ebeidallah, fifteen year old Muhamad Hisham, sixteen year old Is-haq Badran, seventeen year old Amjad Hatem, and Huthayfa Sulayman age eighteen.
The roads are not safe for Palestinians. The settlers are armed with guns, knives, stones, and the support of the occupation forces-one of the most heavily armed militaries in the world- ready to shoot and kill Palestinians on our own land.
Jerusalemites do not feel safe walking in the streets. In the last week alone Palestinian women were beaten and thrown on the ground by Israeli settlers in the old city of Jerusalem, and at least one instance of this was captured on video.
The Israeli occupation forces not only protect the settlers and their illegal attacks on Palestinians, they also use different kinds of rubber and live bullets to maim Palestinians. In the last several days of attacks against Palestinians in the West bank, the injuries seen at Ramallah Hospital’s Emergency Room are on the arms, chests, and heads of Palestinian journalists, frontline defenders, and youth- these injuries indicates that the barrel of Israeli guns are aiming to kill.
Undercover occupation agents, the “mustaribeen”, with kaffiyah’s covering their faces wearing t-shirts tucked out of their pants to hide their guns, infiltrated a march held by students from Birzeit University. The mustaribeen got close to the Palestinian protesters, kidnapped three of the young men, after shooting them from a point of zero distance. Till the moment no one knows the destiny of the three kidnapped young men, with and assumption of the death of at least one of them according to eye witnesses.
The Israeli settlers and the occupation forces should be held accountable for their actions against the Palestinian people, and since the settlers, the army that serves them , and the occupation they exist within, are all protected by international impunity, regardless to the fact that the existence of the Israeli settlers within the 67 borders is considered illegal according to International Law . We call for the international community to organize demonstrations, and to take serious actions to support the international BDS campaign against Israel, and to put pressure over their governments to take actions towards the Israeli government and settlers’ violations.
in the time that Palestinian children, men, youth and women are all united in resisting the occupation, risking their lives in face to face encounters with the occupation army, demonstrating in Gaza City, Jerusalem, Haifa, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Yaffa, and Hebron. United from all over Palestine.
As long as the occupation continues, we will keep resisting for a life of freedom and dignity.
We the people need to scream out for Muhanad Halabi’s family who are threatened to have their house demolished at any minute, after having their son murdered. And it is not only Muhanad’s family who are mourning, thousands of people across Palestine are grieving the loss of loved ones murdered by the occupation.
We the people have a voice, that neither the Israeli government, Zionist entities, nor members of the international community complicit with Israel’s
crimes against Palestinians, can ever silence.

UPDATE: Ongoing threats by Israeli settlers and authorities in the South Hebron Hills Palestinian communities

agosto 12, 2015 at 7:58 am

On August 10, in the morning, two israeli settlers coming from Avigayil illegal outpost, accompanied with a dog, entered the Palestinian village of At Tuwani with the excuse of doing jogging. Palestinian inhabitants and International volunteers tried to prevent them on their way in, but the settlers claimed their right to do jogging and passed through the village. Since Israeli settlers living in the area of the South Hebron Hills represent a serious threat for the people and their assets, Palestinians got immediately scared and nervous.

Palestinian communities in the South Hebron Hills are under continuos threat of eviction by the Israeli Administration of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. In these days the policy of demolitions is targeting the Beduin village of Umm al Kheir, where Palestinians are frightened of remaining once again without a shelter as it happened last autumn. In the meanwhile the adjacent Israeli settlement of Karmel keeps expanding, reducing the living space of Palestininas who rebuilt  new structures in the same place of the demolished ones. This is what gives the DCO the excuse for demolish them once again.

According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Hague Regulations, the International Court of Justice, and several United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements and outposts in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Most settlement outposts, are considered illegal also under Israeli law.

Continue minacce da parte dei coloni e delle autorità israeliane alle comunità palestinesi nelle colline a Sud di Hebron

La mattina del 10 agosto, due coloni israeliani accompagnati da un cane, provenienti dall’avamposto illegale di Avigayil, sono entrati nel villaggio palestinese di At Tuwani con il pretesto di fare jogging. Gli abitanti palestinesi e i volontari internazionali hanno tentato di impedire loro l’ingresso ma i coloni hanno reclamato il loro diritto a fare jogging liberamente e hanno attraversato il villaggio. Poiché i coloni israeliani che vivono nell’area delle colline a sud di Hebron rappresentano una forte minaccia per le persone e i loro beni, i palestinesi si sono subito spaventati ed innervositi.

Nelle colline a sud di Hebron le comunità palestinesi vivono sotto continua minaccia di espulsione da parte dell’amministrazione civile dei Territori Palestinesi Occupati. Negli ultimi giorni la politica israeliana di demolizioni sta colpendo il villaggio beduino di Umm al Kheir, dove i palestinesi rischiano di trovarsi nuovamente senza un riparo, come è già successo lo scorso autunno. Nel frattempo l’adiacente colonia israeliana di Karmel continua ad espandersi, riducendo lo spazio vitale dei palestinesi che hanno ricostruito nuove strutture sulle macerie di quelle demolite. Questo dà alla DCO (Disctrict Coordination Office) il pretesto per demolirle di nuovo.

Secondo la IV Convenzione di Ginevra, la II Convenzione dell’Aja, la Corte Internazionale di Giustizia e numerose risoluzioni ONU, tutti gli insediamenti israeliani nei Territori Palestinesi Occupati sono illegali. Gli avamposti sono considerati illegali anche secondo la legge israeliana.

Umm al Kheir : One of the plated structeres, used as homes, built after the demolitions of last autumn.

Umm al Kheir : One of the plated structeres, used as homes, built after the demolitions of last autumn.

Ongoing expansion works in Karmel Israeli settlement.

Ongoing expansion works in Karmel Israeli settlement.

One of the new houses under construction in Karmel Israeli settlement.

One of the new houses under construction in Karmel Isareli settlement.

P/R: 4 Palestinians arrested during an action in the South Hebron Hills

gennaio 24, 2015 at 1:02 pm

Israeli forces attacked the participants by stun grenades, tear gas, water cannon and physical violence

(Italian follows)

January 24, 2015

Susiya – South Hebron Hills, West Bank

On January 23, during an action organized by the Al Mubadara party and the South Hebron Hills Popular Resistance Committee, claiming the right of Palestinians to access their own land near Susiya village, Israeli forces attacked Palestinians and Internationals activists by stun grenades, tear gas, water cannon and physical and verbal violence. During the action, the Israeli forces arrested four Palestinians.

At around 11 a.m. about 150 people, after they got together in the Susiya village, tried to reach a Palestinian-owned land between the Israeli army base and the Israeli settlement of Suseya in order to plant olive trees. Immediately the area was declared a closed military zone by the Israeli army, but nevertheless the demonstrators tried to arrive to the land. After 20 minutes, Israeli soldiers arrested the first Palestinian, only because he removed soldier’s hand from his breast. Few minutes later the soldiers arrested a second Palestinian. The large part of the demonstrators reached the land and started to plant the olive trees. Immediately, Israeli soldiers and policemen pushed the crowd back, in direction to Susiya village. During their charge, the Israeli forces used stun grenades and tear gas, pushing and attacking the people and arrested other two Palestinians.
At around 12.45 p.m. the participants got together on the hill of Susiya village and slowly went away from the Israeli soldiers and policemen while they were throwing tear gas and using the water cannon.

In the last five days in the South Hebron Hills area the violences by the Israeli army increased. Operation Dove registered six episodes of direct violence or harassment to Palestinians. On January 19, the soldiers killed a sheep in the Tuba village area, while they were chasing away a flock owned by Palestinians. On January 20, Israeli soldiers arrested a 14 year-old Palestinian, while he was grazing a flock near Maghayir Al Abeed village. In the same day, the Israeli army demolished 4 structures in the Ar-Rifa’iyya village.

Operation Dove has maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and South Hebron Hills since 2004.

Pictures: http://goo.gl/jCidYm
Video: http://goo.gl/ctjy0N

[Note: According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Hague Regulations, the International Court of Justice, and several United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements and outposts in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Most settlement outposts, including Havat Ma’on (Hill 833), are considered illegal also under Israeli law.]

 

P/R: IDF detains a child and destroys four structures in the South Hebron Hills

gennaio 22, 2015 at 8:52 am

A Palestinian child was detained without their parents being present. Families needed a Municipality aid to keep themselves in a safe place after the demolition.

(Italian follows)

January 21, 2015

At Tuwani – South Hebron Hills, West Bank

On January 20, Israeli forces detained a Palestinian child near the village of Maghayir Al Abeed and demolished four structures in the Palestinian village of Ar-Rifa’iyya in the South Hebron Hills area.

At about 9.00 a.m. IDF bulldozers started to tear down two houses and two animal shelters, belonged to the Palestinian Rabai family in Ar-Rifa’iyya. The demolitions affected a total of twenty-five people, included ten children. The Municipality placed two tents to let the people involved have a place to stay at least during the night. Only twenty days ago, on December 31, in the village of Ad-Deirat, close to Ar-Rifa’iyya, two settlers broke a window and threw a molotov cocktail inside a Palestinian-owned house, trying to burn it (read more).
Ar-Rifa’iyya and Ad-Deirat villages are located in Area C, under Israeli military and administrative control.

In the meanwhile of the Ar-Rifa’iyya demolitions, Israeli army and police jeeps reached the area of Old Havat Ma’on Hill near the Palestinian village of Maghayir Al Abeed, where some young Palestinian shepherds were grazing their flocks. An Israeli soldier run against a Palestinian child, aged 14. The soldier chase away his flock, put him inside the military jeep with one goat and detained him. After one hour, the Israeli Army released him in a seriously dangerous place between the Israeli illegal outpost of Havat Ma’on and the Israeli settlement of Ma’on. In this place several times Palestinians, including children, were attacked by Israeli settlers.
Palestinian Prisoners Center for Studies stated that during 2014 the Israeli soldiers arrested 1200 Palestinian children, an issue that shows a 60% increase comparing to 2013, when the soldiers arrested 750 children.

Despite demolitions and arrests, Palestinians from South Hebron Hills are strongly committed in a nonviolent and popular resistance against the Israeli occupation.

Operation Dove has maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and the South Hebron Hills since 2004.

Pictures of the demolitions: http://goo.gl/MTRntt

[Note: According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Hague Regulations, the International Court of Justice, and several United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements and outposts in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Most settlement outposts, including Havat Ma’on (Hill 833), are considered illegal also under Israeli law.]

 

P/R: Israeli settlers destroyed 200 olive trees in the South Hebron Hills

gennaio 10, 2015 at 2:06 pm

This is the second Israeli settler’s “price tag” in the last 10 days in the area

(Italian follows)

img_0749_800

January 10, 2015

At-Tuwani – South Hebron Hills, West Bank

On January 9, in the morning, Palestinians found 40 olive trees and 3 almond trees seriously damaged probably by Israeli settlers. In the afternoon, other inhabitants of the South Hebron Hills discovered about 150 olive trees cut and seriously damaged.

At about 10 a.m. some Palestinians from the Awad and Abu ‘Aram families discovered on their properties several 32 year-old olive trees and three almond trees cut. These trees were located near the village of Qawawis, in the South Hebron Hills area, between the Israeli illegal outpost of Mitzpe Yair and the Israeli settlement of Suseya, beside the Bypass road 317.

At about 2:35 p.m. another oversized destruction was discovered in the same area, between the Bypass road 317 and Suseya settlement. Due to bad weather conditions, neither the Israeli police nor the Palestinian owners have been able to verify the exact number of olive trees damaged. One of the 16 Palestinian owners, all from the Shatat family, estimated in about 150 the number of olive trees damaged.

This is the second Israeli settler’s ‘price tag’ against the Palestinian inhabitants of the South Hebron Hills in the last 10 days. On December 31, as witnessed by Palestinians, at about 3:00 am two settlers wrote with black spray near the front door of a Palestinian’s house in the village of Ad-Deirat this sentence: “Revenge of Jewish Kingdom“. Then, settlers broke a window and threw a molotov cocktail inside the house (read more).

Palestinians in South Hebron hills have suffered the Israeli settlers’ presence since the 70s. The settlers, occupying Palestinian-owned lands and destroying their properties, deprive the Palestinians of their main livelihood. Moreover the settlers, with their ongoing violence, prevent Palestinians from having a regular daily life and restrict their freedom of movement, thus forcing them to leave the South Hebron hills area.

Nevertheless the Palestinian communities of the South Hebron Hills area are still strongly committed to nonviolent popular resistance against the Israeli occupation.

Operation Dove has maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and South Hebron Hills since 2004.

Pictures of the damaged trees: http://goo.gl/aLQia2

[Note: According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Hague Regulations, the International Court of Justice, and several United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements and outposts in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Most settlement outposts, including Havat Ma’on (Hill 833), are considered illegal also under Israeli law.]

 

P/R: The Israeli military escort doesn’t fulfill his duty: Palestinian schoolchildren of South Hebron Hills still forced to wait, to lose hours of school and exposed to danger

gennaio 6, 2015 at 11:53 pm

(Italian follows)

January 6, 2015

At-Tuwani – South Hebron Hills, West Bank

During the last school-week, the Israeli military escort failed three times in accompanying the schoolchildren from the South Hebron hills villages of Tuba and Maghayir Al Abeed.

In order to reach the school of At-Tuwani, the Palestinian children, aged between 6 and 17 years, usually walk, accompanied by an Israeli military escort, through the shortest route (about 20 minutes) that passes between the Israeli settlement of Ma’on and the outpost of Havat Ma’on (Hill 833). This route is the main road linking their villages and At-Tuwani and it is dangerous for the children since they frequently suffer from the attacks and harassment of the settlers.

On January 4, the schoolchildren waited for the escort until 7:53 a.m. but the soldiers didn’t show up. The children had to attend an exam at 8:00 so, in order to not lose additional time, chose to go through an other longer path, in which they were attacked several times in the past. International volunteers accompanied them in place of the Israeli soldiers.

On December 31, the children arrived at the designated escort meeting place at 10.30 am in order to be accompanied from At Tuwani to Tuba, but the Israeli military escort wasn’t there. The children waited in the winter morning for the army until 11.45 a.m. The children chose to go through the very dangerous shortest route between Ma’on settlement and Havat Ma’on outpost without any escort.

On December 28, the schoolchildren arrived at the designated escort meeting place at 11.08 am, but the army wasn’t there. The children waited for the army until 11.45 am. After that the children chose to go home through an other longer path, but not less dangerous, accompanied by International volunteers in place of the Israeli escort.

In this half school year (from 24 August 2014 to 4 January 2015) Operation Dove volunteers, who monitor the Israeli military escort, collected the following data: on a total of 170 cases, six times the children were not escorted on their trip from and to school. In contravention of the protective mandate of the escort, in this half school year on 98,53% of the cases (on 136 of 170 recorded cases in which the volunteers monitored the military escort) the Israeli soldiers failed to fully complete the escort, not walking until the end of the settlement. Furthermore in this period on 23% of the cases the escort refused to walk with the children, as establish the agreement between the DCO and At-Tuwani major. On 49,4% of the mornings, the children were late to school by more than 5 minutes due to escort delay. The children lost 9 hours because of late or missing military escorts. On 54,1% of their school days, the children had to wait more than 5 minutes after school for the military escort. In the afternoons, the children waited it a total of 22 hours.

Operation Dove has maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and South Hebron Hills since 2004.

Pictures: http://goo.gl/F9Y2VA

[Note: According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Hague Regulations, the International Court of Justice, and several United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements and outposts in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Most settlement outposts, including Havat Ma’on (Hill 833), are considered illegal also under Israeli law.]

 

P/R: Settlers “price tag” attack and IDF demolitions in the South Hebron Hills

dicembre 31, 2014 at 10:00 pm

Israeli settlers burn a house in Ad-Deirat. Israeli forces demolish a tent in Al-Mufaqarah.

(Italian follows)

December 31, 2014

At-Tuwani – On December 31, at about 3:00 am, Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian house in the South Hebron hills village of Ad-Deirat. In the same day, at about 12:50 pm, Israeli forces demolished a tent in the village of Al-Mufaqarah.

As witnessed by Palestinians, at about 3:00 am two settlers wrote with black spray near the front door of a Palestinian’s house in the village of Ad-Deirat a sentence, in which is recognizable only the word: “revenge“. Then, settlers broke a window and threw a molotov cocktail inside the house. The molotov cocktail damaged furniture and the television, but didn’t injure any Palestinian living in the house as they were all sleeping in another room.

In the same day, at about 12:50 pm, Israeli forces demolished a tent and a cement base for a tent, both belonging to a Palestinian family, in the village of Al-Mufaqarah. The tent was a storage of food for the sheep and for the wood used by the family to protect itself from the winter cold.

Palestinians in South Hebron hills have suffered the Israeli settlers’ presence since the 70s. The settlers, occupying Palestinian-owned lands, deprive the Palestinians of their main livelihood. Moreover the settlers, with their ongoing violence, prevent Palestinians from having a regular daily life and restrict their freedom of movement, thus forcing them to leave the South Hebron hills area.

Ad-Deirat and Al-Mufaqarah villages are located in Area C, under Israeli military and administrative control. That means that all the constructions must be approved by the Israeli administration. Israel denies Palestinians the right to build on the 70 percent of Area C, which is about the 44 percent of all the West Bank, while within the remaining 30 percent a series of restrictions are applied in order to prevent Palestinians from obtaining building permits (source: OCHA oPt).

Nevertheless the Palestinian communities of the South Hebron Hills area are still strongly committed to nonviolent popular resistance against the Israeli occupation.

Operation Dove has maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and the South Hebron Hills since 2004.

Pictures of the settlers ’price tag’ attack in Ad-Deirat: http://goo.gl/hrU4RJ

Video of the demolition in Al-Mufaqarah: http://youtu.be/Veht8zZuCfY

[Note: According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Hague Regulations, the International Court of Justice, and several United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements and outposts in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Most settlement outposts, including Havat Ma’on (Hill 833), are considered illegal also under Israeli law.]

 

P/R: Ongoing expansion works in Havat Ma’on illegal Israeli outpost, South Hebron Hills.

novembre 24, 2014 at 8:36 am

On November 23 Israeli settlers hammered in the ground three meters high iron pylons at the edge of the wood inside of which the illegal Israeli outpost is located.

(Italian follows)

At-Tuwani, November 23, 2014

On November 23 Israeli settlers from Havat Ma’on hammered in the ground three meters high iron pylons at the edge of the wood inside of which the illegal Israeli outpost is located, keeping on the ongoing expansion.
Some days before, on November 13, the same settlers (equipped with a white jeep carrying an electricity generator, a drill and cement) had already dug 10 cm diameter holes in the surrounding boundary.

In both occasions South Hebron Hills Popular Committee members and B’tselem operators called the DCO to denounce the illegal works, but Israeli forces didn’t show up.

During the last month in the South Hebron Hills area, Israeli forces carried out several demolitions in the Palestinian village of Um Al Kher and seized materials in the Palestinian village of Susiya. In the meanwhile they have not taken any measure to stop an illegal expansion of an illegal Israeli outpost.

Nevertheless the Palestinian communities of the South Hebron Hills area are still strongly committed to nonviolent popular resistance against the Israeli occupation.

Operation Dove has maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and the South Hebron Hills since 2004.

Pictures of the incident: http://goo.gl/iTnWri

[Note: According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Hague Regulations, the International Court of Justice, and several United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements and outposts in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Most settlement outposts, including Havat Ma’on (Hill 833), are considered illegal also under Israeli law.]

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P/R: Israeli forces seize tractor and new water tanks in the Palestinian village of Susiya, South Hebron Hills.

novembre 21, 2014 at 2:03 pm

New water tanks were needed to provide Palestinian inhabitants drinkable water.

(Italian follows)

November 21, 2014
At Tuwani – On November 20, the Israeli forces seized a tractor, its truck, four water tanks and three tanks’ bases from the Palestinian village of Susiya.
In the early morning DCO officers approached the Palestinian village to take pictures of the ongoing works to install four new water tanks. In the early afternoon DCO officers returned with Israeli army, police, two trucks, one of which with a mechanical arm.

The tractor and its truck, that carried water cisterns and their bases, were seized with the accuse of being used for illegal works, since Palestinians didn’t have permissions to install new water tanks. Tanks and bases were seized without any previous issued demolition order under the pretext that they were not yet installed on the ground.
Water tanks were geared of filters to provide drinkable water and were donated to the Palestinian village because of the lack of drinkable water that effects all the South Hebron Hills area.

The Palestinian village of Susiya is located in area C, under Israeli military and civil administration, and it is surrounded by the Israeli settlement of Suseya, the outpost of Suseya’s Ancient Synagogue and the military base of Suseya North. Around the settlement and the military base there are 26 wells and water cisterns that Palestinians are forbidden to use even if they are on Palestinian private proprieties. Even more, DCO doesn’t allow Palestinian residents of Susiya to connect to Israeli Makorot Company’s water pipes that run right through the Palestinian village and bring water from the settlement of Suseya to the outpost of Ancient Synagogue.

Palestinian residents of Susiya pay 35 NIS per cubic meter of tanked water, six times more than the nearby settlement, which is served by the network. Water consumption of Palestinians in Susiya is 28 liters/capita/day, significantly less than the 70 l/c/d consumed by an average Palestinian and well below the World Health Organization standard of 100 l/c/d. (source OCHA OPT)

The Palestinian inhabitants of Susiya are struggling through the nonviolent popular resistance in order to gain the right to access their own lands and to live a dignified life.
Operation Dove has maintained an international presence in At Tuwani and the South Hebron Hills since 2004.

Pictures of the incident: http://goo.gl/AUCv8x

[Note: According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Hague Regulations, the International Court of Justice, and several United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements and outposts in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Most settlement outposts, including Havat Ma’on (Hill 833), are considered illegal also under Israeli law.]