UNTITLED

Witness statement as given to B’Tselem on Sunday 21 November 2010

At 6am on Friday 19 November 2010 M.A.N., aged 22, went with his grandmother through the agricultural gate at az Zawiye to help her tend the family’s olive trees on the west side of the separation barrier, where they own land.

At 11.30 while the grandmother continued to work on clearing the land, M. came back to the gate intending to go to the mosque to pray. As the gate was not yet open, he sat down on the ground and leant against the gate. He put his pruning saw and his bottle of water on the ground beside him and waited. He was pleased when two jeeps appeared as he thought that they would open the gate early, but the soldiers were verbally aggressive towards him, they then started beating him and kicking him. He asked why they were attacking him and was told that he had caused trouble to the Israeli security by sitting by the gate. It seems he had set off an alarm. They accused him of trying to cut the barbed wire because he had his saw with him.

Another 15 jeeps drove up and the soldiers sent a radio message that they had caught a troublemaker. A female soldier from the last jeep was told to go away when she asked the others why so many were surrounding this man who had no weapon. Most of the soldiers realised this was a false alarm and they drove off leaving two jeeps.

The officer remaining said, ‘You are alone now, I can do anything.’ M. tried to shout for help but they tied a gag around his mouth. The officer told him to take off his shirt and trousers and his underwear, they put his hands behind his back and handcuffed him, they then posed for photographs, one soldier each side of him. He was then blindfolded but he continued to hear the clicks of camera shutters. There were male and female soldiers present. There was some laughter and taunting. Proposals of a sexual nature were made.

Still naked he was put into a jeep and driven to a military camp. There was music, laughter and dancing while they decided what to do with him. They made him sit naked in the hot sun and told him they would put the photos on facebook.

He was then sent to an officer called A. who started crying when he realised that he had several things in common with the victim: they were the same age, both married and both fathers of small daughters. A. said that he had seen M. on the camera at the gate and knew that he was sitting still. He removed the blindfold and the handcuffs and gave M. his clothes. When he heard the other officer coming, he put the handcuffs back on him but this time in front; he also replaced the blindfold, but loosely.

The first officer led him to a small jeep, the sort used by officers, and he drove around for 1 hour 15 minutes accelerating and braking sharply so that M., who was not wearing a seat belt, was thrown suddenly forward and back. When they reached a checkpoint in the separation barrier, the officer kicked M. out of the jeep, and while M. was lying on the ground, he threw out the saw and bottle of water.

A few minutes later a car arrived at the checkpoint. Palestinian workers were being driven by an Israeli. They saw that M. was in handcuffs, and the Palestinians asked the driver to take him towards his home. The driver was suspicious at first and asked what had happened. M. showed him his ID and his previous permit, the current one having been taken by the soldiers. (Because he is a young man he has to reapply for a permit every two months.) The driver was convinced and drove him to the az Zawiya bridge from where he was able to get home.

*The above is an edited version of the statement collected.Source is undisclosed according to publisher concerns.   

"Help us!!! Don't you know we are also humans?"

Women in Black, West Jerusalem

Mouna and Fayez Taneeb, Tulkarem

"WALLS"

School class in Al-Quds

 "SECURITY REASONS"

Fish stand in the Tulkarem Refugee Camp

"IDF OPERATIONS"

Refugee children, Tulkarem

MILITANCY and ACTIVISM

Children playing football, Al-Khalil/ Hebron

SCHOOL CHILDREN

Children waving at the window, Al-Khalil/Hebron

FARMERS

Children and soldier following settler tour, Al-Khalil/Hebron

WORKERS

Nomika Zion, Sderot
 

MOTHERS and FAMILIES

the title is a quote from an email sent by a 14 year old girl from Gaza, during Operation Cast Lead.

According to Nomika Zion from the Other Voice, the root of the Occupation and human rights abuses lies, in part, with a dehumanizing propaganda in which the Other is no longer seen as an Human Being.

this land is their land...

Today I woke up in a village surrounded by settlements, i have been here

for two days now and it seems so pleasant and peaceful that I find myself 

wondering whether I should come for vacation. 

 

The only noises you can hear most of the day are the bleating of the goats, 

the occasional bark of the watchdog, chicken's chuckles and children's voices.

After weeks of morning duty at the checkpoint and agricultural gates 

my spirit is sullied with the daily humiliations, indignities that many 

have suffered here most of their lives.

This countryside calm only in appearance was necessary even vital to

maintain some kind of impartial balanced view of this world,

to transform mounting frustration and resentment into something 

other than hate.

The neighboring house abridges three old women with whom, on account 

of the language barrier, I can only exchange a smile,the customary palm

of the hand to the chest with a gentle bow of my head and : "Salam Aleikum!" 

They sit on their terrace, halfway to a hilltop they no longer are allowed

to reach, not on account of age, but on account of the fears and

violence of their neighbors,settlers, who took over the hilltops all around.

Sit looking at their surrounded village which settlers covet and Israeli 

soldiers slowly yet steadfastly subtract from them for "security reasons".

I feel my throat closing in, a deep sadness from the understanding that 

this womenare someone's mothers, grandmothers and sisters, 

that they too could be my family and that this land, this dignity 

and this humiliations are also my own.

I leave this village behind today, but i leave also a part of my humanity

and yet i hope and know that these three kind old women will somehow

find a way in which to rekindle the fire within which is struggling.

Non violence is an uphill battle - Davids story

"We will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. "

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Umm Al-Khair children at their kindergarden

In my second day visiting Hebron/Al-Khalil, we went to the inauguration of a kindergarden in Umm Al-Khair, a small Bedouin village, in South Hebron Hills, neighboring the Carmel settlement.

Today's inauguration represented a glimpse of hope for the inhabitants of this village and surrounding areas who have persevered despite settler violence and Israeli Army incursions aimed at uprooting them. They have no running water, no access to electrical current(solar panels have been installed recently), because, being Area C, i.e. under full military control with regard to law enforcement, building and planning they are systematically denied permits.So one can easily understand why this was a day of celebration.

Among those celebrating were UNRWA, Villages Group an Israeli-Palestinian partnership, the village council and Australian Leichhardt Municipal Council, together with some of the at least 19 children expected to start there.

Israeli-Palestinian partnership - an untold tale

While celebrating the achievement we met David, a young Israeli and two friends of his. Yesterday, he tells us, while on a visit to some friends of this same village, a soldier had him stopped and required their IDs and passports. They were asked about what they were doing there and where were they aiming to go.

David replied:" I am going to visit my friends in the village", to which the soldier replied:" You are visiting terrorists?". At which point, David explains us, he couldn't contain himself: "How can you make such a generalization?"

The soldier: "Well, they have guns and bombs!" David replied that:" You're the only ones here with guns. You and the settlers!" Discontent with the reply the soldier asked about the contents of the bags only to discover it carried sushi for dinner. He reacted with amazement. David told him that there was no reason for such, after all, he, probably the soldier also, enjoyed a good sushi meal.

Having been allowed to pass, David and his friends were thrown rocks at by the soldier along with the cry: " Go, you'll be safer with your friends!". Not long after, an army sergeant came and told his subordinate to stop. By then, David had already been welcomed by his Palestinian friends at the Camp.

A picture is worth a thousand words

Taybe Checkpoint - Palestinian workers queue to reach their workplace

back from school to the refugee camp- palestinian refugee

Attil Agricultural Gate - The Wall and the farms behind it.

Palestinian farmer - awaiting his turn to access own land