Perched on a south Hebron hill, at first glance Mufaqara seems like a small quiet village sheltered from the troubles of its more famous neighboring city. But the settlers in the region have transformed the shepherds’ tranquil agricultural life into a hellish struggle against politics. Since the Havat Ma’on outpost was erected in 1998, daily life in what used to be an unknown and quiet fellahin village of the West Bank has become increasingly nightmarish. Villagers have the feeling that the settlers, as well as the Israeli army, are trying to “clear out” the area of Palestinian villages. Settler and army jeeps regularly drive back and forth in the area to intimidate the shepherds and make them move further from the settlement’s limits. Read more about Life under constant harassment
In the southernmost West Bank, some one thousand Palestinians have maintained the way of life of their ancestors: living in caves and earning a living from farming and livestock. In the 1970s, the Israeli military commander declared the area a “closed military area,” and for the past five years, Israel has been trying to expel them from the area. In a new report, B’Tselem shows that Israel has continually sought to annex the area and expand the nearby settlements. The cave residents are victims of violence and property damage from the residents of nearby settlements. Due to the intensity of this violence, the residents of two villages to abandon their villages in 2000. Read more about Means of Expulsion: Violence, Harassment and Lawlessness Toward Palestinians in the Southern Hebron Hills
Scores of Israeli army vehicles invaded Nablus today. Surely there can be no claims of a ceasefire on the Israeli side now. Since the Sharm Al Sheikh talks Israel has claimed to be maintaining a ceasefire. Human rights organizations document their breaches weekly. An inestimable number of Israeli armed vehicles entered Nablus town before 1pm, speeding around the city and firing randomly. Newly arrived international visitors, unused to the thunderous echoes from Nablus ‘s rocky hillsides thought they were in the midst of a full scale military attack. Apache helicopters whirred overheard, their conspicuous presence preparing residents for an assassination. F-16 fighter jets scorched across the sky. Read more about Israeli army invades Nablus again
The Israeli human rights organisation, B’tselem, has accused the Israeli occupation army of whitewashing the murders of hundreds of innocent Palestinian civilians. The organisation, which monitors Israeli human rights violations in the occupied territories, described Monday’s conviction of an Israeli soldier for the killing of British photographer and activist Tom Hurndall as an “exception than the norm”. “It is obvious that the prosecution and conviction of Tom Hurndall’s killer represents the exception, not the norm, as it is amply clear that the Israeli army refrains from investigating most cases involving the killing of Palestinians civilians by the Israeli army,” said a report released by B’tselem on Monday. Read more about Israel accused of covering up murders
This week the Israeli soldier who shot and killed Tom Hurndall, a 22-year-old British peace activist, in Rafah in the Gaza Strip was convicted by an Israeli court of manslaughter. The judgment was a belated and incomplete victory for Tom’s parents. Journalist Jonathan Cook investigated a much earlier killing of a British citizen by an Israeli soldier, who has gone unpunished to this day. Iain Hook, a 54-year-old United Nations worker in Jenin refugee camp, was killed in cold blood by an Israeli marksman in November 2002. Both the Israeli army and the United Nations investigated the killing but the matter was quietly dropped by both sides. Read more about The Killing of Iain Hook: Why the Time for Justice is Now
Members of the Israeli Knesset are debating a bill that would prohibit residents in the Occupied Palestinian Territories from seeking compensation for death or injury at the hands of Israeli soldiers, even if the soldiers are found to have acted unlawfully. Human Rights Watch said that Israel has not upheld its obligation under international law to provide an effective remedy to victims of human rights abuses in the Territories, and this bill is yet further evidence of that. The bill would give the minister of defense the authority to define all of the Occupied Palestinian Territories as a “conflict zone,” thus precluding compensation for all Palestinians but it will exclude settlements, thus preserving compensation rights for Israeli citizens. Read more about New Israeli bill would deny compensation for death or injury caused by Israeli soldiers
In a dry-run for the disengagement plan Israeli forces moved into the al Mawasi area of the Gaza Strip and demolished 11 Palestinian buildings. Israeli settlers destroyed near-by farm-land and closed down a local health clinic. They established a new settlement called Tam Yam. Early in the morning of Sunday June 26, a number of Israeli settlers moved into two buildings, which belonged to Khan Yunis municipality, close to a small pier for Palestinian fishermen in the Khan Yunis part of al Mawasi. In the recent past settlers have been locating themselves in these buildings at certain times before again evacuating the buildings. Read more about Disengagement begins with destruction of Palestinian buildings
On Monday 27 June 2005 a military court convicted Israeli Sergeant Taysir Wahid of the “manslaughter” of British peace activist and photographer Tom Hurndall. On April 11, 2003, Hurndall was shot in the head and suffered irreversible brain damage, dying from his wound a year later. Wahid was convicted of a total of six charges, including obstructing justice and providing false testimony as well as conduct unbecoming a soldier. A sentencing hearing is to be held on July 5. The court found that Taysir shot Hurndall with a sniper rifle using a telescopic sight, adding that the soldier gave a “confused and even pathetic” version of events. Read more about Israeli soldier convicted for killing Tom Hurndall
Tami Goldshmidt and Aya KanyukKalandia, Palestine28 June 2005
Kalandia checkpoint, few vendors. As has been reported, every few hours they go over to the peddlers, and either they beat them or they turn over their carts with all their merchandise, or they both beat them and turn over their carts. Its seems that the favorite sport among soldiers at Kalandia during the last three years, hunting down and shooting at children from the Kalandia refugee camp, has been replaced with the abuse of vendors. Bulldozers, with their protruding teeth, are overturning the earth in the area that is now known as “the Quarry,” and is about to become a veritable Apartheid terminal. Read more about Another Wednesday at Kalandia checkpoint
The realities that Palestinians experience in West Bank villages contradict hopes for peace and instead signal a deepening of Israel’s occupation. The Israeli army recently delivered a seizure order to Wadi Foquin and three neighboring villages about 12 miles southwest of Bethlehem for 189 acres of our land. The army justifies this seizure as necessary to prevent terrorist attacks and to build a security wall. The order has left our small village in crisis, its very existence threatened. Wadi Foquin lost 80 percent of its original land when Israel was established in 1948. Later, the creation of the Israeli settlement of Betar Illit consumed about 175 acres of village land. The army now wants to seize the remaining property. Read more about Israeli land seizures undercut hopes for peace
