Due to matters beyond our control we were unable to provide regular updates through the month of January. We shall now be releasing regular updates on a weekly basis.
Summary of Events:
1. Sunday 21 January - Thursday 1 February
2. Report on the effects of closure on Kherebtha Bani Hareth (a village west of Ramallah)
3. Updates to the Addameer website
1. Summary of Events: Sunday 21 January - Thursday 1 February
Sunday 21 January 2001
Mohammad Al Sharif, 15 years old from Sheikh Rasawan, Gaza, died of injuries sustained from live ammunition shot to his chest at Al Mintar crossing by Israeli military forces.
An Israeli military patrol intentionally hit four school female pupils on their way to school in Huwwara village near Nablus. The girls were Bisan Al Suweiti, Maysoon Al Haj Ibrahim, and Shurooq Muhareb. Israeli military forces delayed medical care to them and prevented Palestinian ambulances from transferring them to hospital.
Monday 22 January 2001
The funeral of school child Muhammad Al Sharif took place in Gaza.
Israeli military forces arrested three Palestinians from Shufat Refugee camp. During the last week, ten Palestinians were arrested from the camp some of whom were minors.
Al Rashid street in the middle of Jerusalem was shut and the direction of traffic changed.
A complete closure on the village of Silwad near Ramallah continues. A provocative search campaign was conducted in the village where many houses have been raided.
The secondary industrial school in the village of Sealat Ath Thaher near Jenin was raided by scores of Israeli military soldiers who fired tear gas canisters inside the school.
Tuesday 23 January 2001
Settlers from Halamish settlement, built on confiscated lands from Palestinian villages, closed down Attara-Birzeit road and attacked Palestinian cars.
Israeli military forces raided and attacked the village of Seilat Ath Thaher near Jenin, firing tear gas canisters and sound bombs and forcing all schools in the village to halt classes.
The closure of all schools in Bani Zeid villages and the villages of Deir Nitham, Ras Karkar and Al Janeih continues for the third week in a row.
Wednesday 24 January 2001
The closure on Salfit area was tightened and increased military enforcements were brought to all roadblocks in the area.
Tulkarem area was subject to tight closure and Palestinians from 1948 occupied areas were prevented from entering the city.
'Eisheh Haji Mohammad Nassar, a Palestinian woman from Al Janieh village near Ramallah, died late last night at an Israeli military roadblock as she was being transferred to a hospital in Ramallah. The car she was travelling in was held at the checkpoint.
Palestinian residential areas around Nitzarim settlement were shelled during the early morning hours.
Thursday 25 January 2001
Khalil Samir Al Hindi, 22 years old, and Safwat Issam Qishtah from Rafah were shot dead by Israeli military forces. The bodies were found during the day and Palestinian medical sources stated that the two were shot with several rounds of live ammunitions to the legs. According to eyewitnesses, the bodies were then dragged into an Israeli military base. Bruises and swellings were obvious all over their bodies implying that they were subject to torture after being injured, and then left to bleed to death before their bodies were dragged outside the military base to be found during the day.
The closure on Ramallah was tightened and all entries leading to the city were closed. Palestinians were unable to use unpaved alternative roads because of the heavy rain.
Saturday 27 January 2001
Israeli soldiers at a roadblock in the middle of the village of Seilat Ath Thaher near Jenin, severely beat and tortured 21 year old Mahmoud Ahmad Hasan Khatoumi last night after they had handcuffed him and covered his eyes with a blindfold. Several soldiers participated in kicking him and beating him with the butts of their guns.
The closure on the Palestinian areas continues and is tightened every day. In a new measure, Israeli military soldiers at a roadblock on Attara-Birzeit road fined every Palestinian travelling on that road NIS 500 (USD $125) and then sent them back in the direction they came from. Those who didn't have that amount of money were required to leave their ID cards with the soldiers until they returned with the money.
Sunday 28 January 2001
A crew from Wattan TV, a local Ramallah station, was subject to an aggressive attack by Israeli military soldiers at the entrance of the village of 'Ein Kenia near Ramallah. Cameraman Ashraf Kutkut and two female reporters Mas'adah 'Uthman and Duha Al Shami were stopped and their camera confiscated. During an argument with the soldiers Duha Al Shami was beaten and Ashraf Kutkut was given a letter requiring him to appear at the Israeli General Intelligence Service (GIS) headquarters in the area.
Monday 29 January 2001
Mohammad Nafiz Mohammad Abu Mousa, 24 years old from Khan Younis, died as a result of injuries sustained from live ammunition to his chest 300 meters far from Attufah crossing. No clashes were occurring in the area but Israeli military sources claimed that Mohammad was armed.
Settlers from the settlement of Ariel that is built on land confiscated from villagers in Salfit area, bulldozed tens of dunums of agricultural land and moved the wire fence around the settlement to enclose the land. The land is owned by Palestinians from the village of Iskaka east of Salfit.
Tuesday 30 January 2001
Israeli military forces attacked a school in the village of Silwad near Ramallah with tear gas. The headmaster of the school, Usama Hammad, told reporters that three Israeli army patrols arrived at the gateway to the school in the morning while pupils were waiting for the morning bell in the schoolyard. The administration of the school immediately asked the children to go to their classes but an hour after the first class the Israeli military patrols came back and started firing tear gas canisters at the school and into classrooms.
Settlers from the settlements of Ma'ale Shemron and Geinat Shemron, built on Palestinian land confiscated from Palestinians in the area of Salfit, started to construct a new settlement on land belonging to Palestinians from Kufur Thulth near Salfit. Hasan Al Seifi, mayor of the village, said that villagers of Kufur Thulth were surprised in the early morning hours when settlers armed with guns brought bulldozers and started bulldozing Al 'Uyoon area on village land. They erected prefabricated houses and began to open new roads to link the new settlement with the other two settlements.
Israeli bulldozers under the protection of Israeli soldiers started to bulldoze an area of 3500 dunums of land belonging to 43 families from Al Libban Al Gharbi village between Ramallah and Nablus. The bulldozed land includes olive orchards. In 1993 these lands were threatened with confiscation but the owner of the land filed an appeal to the Israeli military court in Beit El. The military court never ruled on the matter.
Wednesday 31 January 2001
Ismail Ahmad Al Talbani, 50 years old from Maghazi refugee camp died today of injuries sustained from live ammunition shot to his chest at Nitzarim junction as he was returning home. No clashes or incidents were happening in the area when he was shot.
Israeli military forces stopped male and female school children in Al Khader village near Bethlehem on their way to school. The children were questioned and then chased around the roads of the village. Israeli military forces attacked the village with tear gas during the incident and many of the children suffered from respiratory complications due to the gas. Schools were closed in the village due to the incident.
Thursday 1 February 2001
The Israeli army broke into the secondary boys school in the village of Seilat Ath Thaher near Jenin, forcing school children to evacuate as they fired live ammunition towards the school and the houses of the village. Tear gas and sound bombs were shot at school children as they were pursued around the roads of the village. Ragheb Abu Shbak, Mayor of the village, stated that Israeli attacks are becoming a daily routine that prevent the normal functioning of schools.
Israeli military forces blocked Jenin-Nablus main road with cement blocks at two points - one near Arrabeh junction close to the Israeli military base Dotan, and the other outside the village of Seilat Ath Thaher close to the settlement of Houmesh that was built on land confiscated Palestinian land.
Tens of children suffered from respiratory complications as a result of tear gas inhalation when Israeli military forces fired gas canisters at Palestinian houses in the residential area of Silwad Housing Estate outside the village of Silwad near Ramallah. In the village of Silwad itself, the Israeli military imposed a curfew and clashes erupted between villagers and Israeli military forces as a result.
Villager from Silwad stated that the Israeli military positioned heavy machine guns and military forces on two sides of the village in lands they had earlier confiscated. Olive groves were bulldozed in the area. Palestinian medical teams were prevented from entering the village or providing medical and first aid to those in need.
2. The effects of closure on Kherebtha Bani Hareth (a village west of Ramallah)
Since the start of the clashes that began at the end of September, Israeli occupation forces have implemented a policy of collective punishment against the Palestinian population. Imposing tight closure on Palestinian villages and towns was one of these policies. These measures have had disastrous effects on the lives of Palestinians, particularly those living in villages that are heavily dependent on their connection to towns.
Kherebtha Bani Hareth to the west of Ramallah has been suffering under closure for more than four months. Since the beginning of the clashes, Israeli military forces blocked all the entrances to the village including both paved and unpaved roads. This has isolated the village not only from the town of Ramallah but also from surrounding villages. The village is located on the edge of the 1948 areas and more than half of its residents previously worked in the area. Thirty-five stores in the village were forced to close as they depend on trade from the 1948 areas.
The long period of closure has forced the villagers to attempt to open alternative roads but the hilly nature of the area made it impossible to do so. The villagers are now required to use a 4-km long road, passing through hills and a deep valley, in order to reach the closest village of Ni'lin. This road can be used only on foot or on the back of animals, mainly donkeys. As not everyone owns a donkey, villagers are often forced to bring supplies from the village of Ni'lin on their backs. It is almost impossible to take someone out for medical care or treatment.
Villagers state that it is especially difficult to carry pregnant women on their shoulders through the valley in order to take them to Ni'lin and then to Ramallah. Many women have given birth in the valley itself while attempting to reach Ni'lin.
Dr. Mahmoud Daraghmeh from Ni'lin village, who has a long experience with the medical and health situation in Kherebtha and the other surrounding villages, underlined that the most difficult problem is to get patients outside the village of Kherebtha since the Israeli military forces are banning ambulances from reaching the village. Dr. Mahmoud said that isolated villages to the west of Ramallah are facing an extremely difficult situation as a result of the lack of medical equipment and staff.
The closure on this village has disrupted the education process since teachers cannot reach the village and its two schools. It is estimated that the schools are at least two months behind the emergency schedule of the educational year.
The extremely difficult situation in this village is not an isolated example and many other Palestinian villages like Ras Karkar, Deir Nitham, Deir Ibzi, Silwad and Rantis in Ramallah area are facing similar conditions due to the Israeli-imposed closure and policy of collective punishment.
3. Updates to Addameer's Website (http://www.addameer.org/september2000)
4 February:
Press releases for January updated
Opinion Pieces from Akram Haniyya and Edward Said added to the Opinions section
Reports from the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Al Haq and LAW added