On 24 November Israeli occupation forces demolished two homes, a mosque and a barn, killing livestock, and arrested two young women in the village of Umm Fagarah, in the South Hebron Hills in the occupied West Bank.

The incident was caught on video by Operation Dove, an Italian organization that has maintained a presence in the area since 2004.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILiVe1WPafA

The description of the video states:

At 10 am two bulldozers arrived in the village, escorted by five military vehicles. Without showing any demolition order, the army demolished two houses, a mosque, a barn and a structure containing the generator.

Forced to kneel

During the video, two young Palestinian women can be seen being forced to kneel on the ground by Israeli occupation forces. The heavily-armed soldiers then take the women away in an armored vehicle as observers attempt to question the soldiers. The soldiers respond by demanding to see the observers’ passports and warning other observers to back away.

The description adds that people from neighboring villages rushed to the scene and,

Ignoring the request of the Palestinians to be able to rescue the rabbits, the Israeli army tore down the barn injuring and killing the animals. After the demolitions, the army took away the two girls without providing any explanation on the charges.

The Bedouin village of Umm Fagarah is near the village of al-Tuwani in the area of Hebron, an area where Palestinians, especially schoolchildren, face routine violent attacks by Israeli settlers.

Ethnic cleansing under pretext of lack of “building permits”

As elsewhere in the occupied territories, such as in Beit Hanina north of Jerusalem on the very same day, Israel routinely demolishes Palestinian homes on the pretext that they are built “without permits.” Israel rarely grants such permits to Palestinians to build on their own land. Israel’s home demolitions are crimes under the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Meanwhile, as part of its colonization policy, Israel routinely grants retroactive permission for Jewish-only settlements built on occupied land in violation of international law.

27,000 Bedouins in West Bank a target of Israeli ethnic cleansing

The latest demolitions in Umm Fagarah are part of a longstanding effort by Israel to rid the area of its indigenous population. Earlier this month, Israel destroyed the electricity network in the area, as also documented by Operation Dove.

Umm Fagarah is in “Area C” – most of the West Bank – which under the 1993 Oslo Accords remains under full Israeli military control with no role for the Palestinian Authority. Some 27,000 Palestinian Bedouins in Area C are currently targets of forced removal.

http://electronicintifada.net/blog/ali-abunimah/video-israeli-occupation-forces-demolish-homes-and-mosque-arrest-girls-near-hebron#.TtReXGfCuqA

Last night, PSP joined thousands of Palestinians on the streets of Hebron to watch Mahmoud Abbas’ speech at the UN general assembly. Large crowds congregated along al-Quds street, where several big screens had been erected.

There was an expectant and celebratory atmosphere as the crowd watched musical and cultural performances that were being staged in Beirut and Nablus in the build up to the speech, which began at approximately 7pm local time.

The crowd applauded, cheered, and chanted as the speech was given a standing ovation in the UN general assembly, and a great cheer erupted at Abbas’ ringing words; “Enough! Enough! Enough!”

Celebrations continued after the speech had ended, until the crowd dispersed around an hour later.

Wednesday 21st September: PSP today joined tens of thousands of demonstrators on the streets of Hebron to show support for the Palestinian bid for statehood at the UN this week.

With all local schools closed for the day, children and youths from across the Hebron district descended on the city, joined by thousands of other demonstrators, and numerous youth organisations, including the Palestinian Boy Scouts.

Major streets in the center of the city were packed for the colorful and vibrant march, while demonstrators danced, sang, and chanted for an end to the occupation, and in support of a Palestinian state.

Amongst the crowds, PSP saw at least one human pyramid, and a clown making balloon animals for passing children.

Protests of a similar size took place across the West Bank today, as Palestinians prepare for their bid for statehood at the UN.

Soon, many more Israeli soldiers came from behind the demonstrators. The soldiers told the demonstrators to leave and in response, the demonstrators sat down on the side of the road. The soldiers then attempted to arrest a Palestinian activist, but were prevented from doing so because several international activists jumped on the Palestinian activist, putting themselves between him and the soldiers. The soldiers began dragging demonstrators off the Palestinian activist and then shot highly potent, military pepper spray in the faces of the protesters.

Most of the demonstrators were able to get away, but two international activists were arrested. An ambulance needed to be called to tend to the two international activists because of pepper spray exposure and inhalation. The two international activists are still in detention.

After the demonstrators dispersed, Israeli soldiers were seen on the main road inside Beit Ommar.

The demonstration held today was in a different location from where the weekly protests usually occur outside of the Israeli Karmei Tsur settlement. The Beit Ommar Committee Against the Wall and Settlements chose to protest on Route 60 in response to last week’s Israeli military demolition of Palestinian farmers’ fruit stands on Route 60.

Fifty demonstrators, consisting of local Palestinians, Israelis, and international solidarity activists marched from the village and attempted to protest at the nearby settlement fence. The protest was met by dozens of Israeli soldiers who prevented the Palestinians from marching across their own land. The soldiers proceeded to push numerous demonstrators to the ground. One Israeli had his ID taken by the soldiers and was later arrested, while another Israeli activist was detained. The soldiers then declared the area a Closed Military Zone, and forced the protesters back.

Even as the demonstration began to leave the area, around 40 soldiers continued to harass and assault the protesters. The soldiers present were part of a unit whose conduct in the area of Beit Ommar has recently been the subject of complaints by human rights groups. One such example is a video recently released by B’Tselem which shows a soldier cocking a loaded gun and pointing it to the face of an unarmed Palestinian.

Today’s protest was part of Beit Ommar’s long popular struggle against Israeli occupation. Beit Ommar is a Palestinian town located between Bethlehem and Hebron, whose popular committee was recently involved in organizing a three day conference bringing together popular committees from across the West Bank to plan for the future of the popular resistance.

Watch the B’Tselem video of soldier pointing a loaded gun at an unarmed Palestinian here.

For more information contact:
Bekah Wolf- 054 8838 369 (English)
Youssef Abu Maria- 059 813 9599 (Arabic)

The roadblock prevents Palestinians from traveling within the occupied West Bank, and prevents
farmers from transporting their crops from the fields to the markets, it also makes it difficult for local students from attending secondary school. Daily, students from the village of Al’Jab’a must travel to Surif to study. They are forced to make this long journey by foot because the roadblock prevents buses and service taxis from crossing the settler road to the adjacent village. In Al’Jab’a, the school serves students until around age 11. When the students reach twelve years of age, they must go to the older children’s’ school in Surif. With the road block in place, this simple journey is grueling and slow.

Residents of Al’Jab’a and Surif along with Internationals from PSP and Israeli activists met to partially remove this roadblock on 21 September 2006. Recently the concrete and earthen roadblock was replaced by the Israeli military with a gate in preparation for a visit by German officials. The German Consulate funded the building of a boy’s school in Al’Jab’a in 2009. Prior to this visit occurring the Israeli opened the gate briefly allowing the free flow of traffic between the two municipalities. However, the gate has remained closed since shortly after the German delegation departed illustrating continued deception by the Israeli government in regards to the harsh realities of the occupation. For Palestinians, despite the shiny new yellow gate, these two historically integral communities remain cut from one another indefinitely.

59-year-old Mohammad Ali Abu Safiyya was hit in the chest and is in critical condition in a Hebron hospital. 32-year-old Eyad Bassem Za’qiq was shot in his right thigh. The settler who shot the two men was not arrested.

Israeli Forces arrived on the scene and used sound bombs and tear gas to disperse the gathered crowd as medical teams evacuated the wounded. Several international human rights activists, as well as members of the Palestine Solidarity Project, a Palestinian group which organizes against the occupation in Beit Ommar, were on hand to witness these events.

The attack came hours after Mahmoud Ibrahim Ali Awad was stabbed in the chest by settlers from Ma’on, south of the city of Hebron. His wounds were considered moderate.

Additionally, six Israeli settlers began throwing stones at the demonstrators from behind the fence surrounding Karmei Tsur, in plain sight of the soldiers. Yousef Abu Maria, a member of the Palestine Solidarity Project and the National Committee in Beit Ommar, was hit in the leg with a stone thrown by settlers. Azmi Shoyorhi, an activist from the Hebron district who came to support the demonstration, was also injured when a sound bomb exploded on him and a ambulance had to evacuate him as the demonstration was ending. After about an hour, the demonstrators returned to Beit Ommar but vow to rally every week until the occupation of Palestine is ended.

This demonstration was particularly important as Israel, with the support of the United States, has increased settler expansion in the West Bank. The date chosen was also significant because it coincided with the anniversary of the massacre of 29 Palestinians inside the Hebron Ibrahimi Mosque by an Israeli settler in 1994.

During the demonstration, Palestinian Authority police officers blocked several side streets leading to the area and attempted to prevent some people from attending the demonstration. Israeli soldiers stationed themselves on the roofs of Palestinian residences in the area. As the protesters gathered waving Palestinian flags and chanting against the occupation, Israeli soldiers used sound bombs and tear gas in an attempt to disperse the crowd. At least nine people, four of whom are Israeli solidarity activists, were lightly injured. Several demonstrators were also detained by Israeli Forces.