Month: June 2011

Why was Hussam Khader sentenced by an Israeli military court in the West Bank to six months' administrative detention???

Hussam Khader in left front in handcuffs - photo by Maan

Hussam Khader, in left front in handcuffs, carrying his belongings in a bag – photo by Maan News

The story — but not the reason, or the explanation — is published by Maan News Agency, which reported that  “Israel’s Salem military court sentenced Fatah leader Hussam Khader to 6 months of administrative detention in a decision signed Thursday. The brother of the elected official, Ghassan Khader, said the judge who signed the order declined to give a reason for the decision … Administrative detention is allowed under Israeli military rule in the West Bank and Gaza, permitting the detention of Palestinians without charge for a period of up to six months, a term which is indefinitely renewable. It is based on the Law of Emergency Powers, adopted by the Israeli Knesset in 1979“. This is posted here.

UPDATE: Hussam Khader’s family have said that they still have hope. They say that they have been told that the judge in the military court has asked the same question we’ve asked — and has given the military prosecutor 72 hours to explain the reason, to explain why the Army, or the Ministry of Defense, or the security services, want Hussam Khader to be detained and locked away. The judge has asked for an answer on Monday. After he gets the answer, the judge will either confirm the sentence, cut it, or eliminate it entirely and release Hussam Khader. In the meantime, Hussam Khader is in Megiddo Prison in Israel, just on the edge of the northern West Bank.

UPDATE TWO: Maan has updated their story to say that so far, or in effect, Hussam Khader’s detention has only been extended for 72 hours. But, this makes their report unclear, as it doesn’t really explain the fuller picture …

There have been a series of IDF detentions of Hamas-affiliated politicians and elected members of the Palestine Legislative Council in the northern West Bank in recent weeks. Hussam Khader is the only Fatah politician to be arrested. He was an elected member of the PLC when he was last arrested in 2003, and he was still in jail and could not run in the following elections in 2006, so he was not a member of the most-recently-elected Palestinian parliament. He was last released from jail in September 2008, and has now been detained for the 25th time in his life.

Our post on the circumstances [as recounted by his family] of the IDF raid in which Hussam Khader was detained a week ago Thursday is published here.

The newly-laid IDF minefields near Majdal Shams were probably unmarked

The lack of reaction to this story is astonishing.

But, I will continue to pursue it as much as I can.

In the absence of any official confirmation, I can say that an Israeli friend has told me that the newly-laid IDF minefields in the occupied Golan were, and probably still are, unmarked. They were, I was told, laid between two rolls of barbed wire.

The Golan Heights were captured by Israel from Syria in the June 1967 war, and annexed by Israel in 1980, an act deemed “null and void” by the UNSC, though Israelis don’t care about such UN decisions…

No, the IDF was defending Israel’s borders, and its sovereignty, against unarmed demonstrators…

UN Human Rights Commissioner is only UN official to deal with reports that minefields took toll on Golan protesters

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay [of India] is the only UN official to deal with reports that minefields had taken a toll among protestors in the Golan Heights on Sunday.

Pillay’s statement did not take on the question of reports that Israeli Defense Forces had laid new minefields in recent weeks to stop Palestinian and Syrian protestors from infiltrating via the Golan.

A UNHCR spokesperson said Wednesday afternoon that he had been unaware of these reports, which were published earlier in the week in the Israeli media [see yesterday’s post on this blog].

“The Government of Israel has a duty to ensure that its security personnel avoid the use of excessive force”, Pillay said in a statement issued on Tuesday afternoon, and posted here.

The statement, put out in Pillay’s name, also notes that “Reports have suggested that more than 20 civilians were killed and hundreds injured as a result of Israeli gunfire. Other reports suggest some of the casualties may have been caused by the detonation of landmines buried on the Syrian side of the ceasefire line“.

This wording avoids dealing with the possibility, suggested by Israeli media reports this week, that Israeli Defense Forces actually laid new minefields since May 15, when Israeli lines were overrun in the Golan Heights by Palestinian demonstrators from Syria, and some of their supporters, succeeded in entering the town of Majdal Shams.

It is not clear exactly where — assuming that this week’s Israeli media reports, sourced to IDF officials, are true — these reported newly-laid mine fields are actually located.

At a demonstration last Sunday, called to mark the anniversary of the June 1967 war and the start of the Israeli occupation (of the Golan Heights as well as the West Bank and Gaza), an uncertain number of demonstrators died or were wounded from mine explosions.

The first indications of the mine explosions came, in fact, from accounts given by IDF spokespersons themselves.

They said, disingenuously, that in these cases, the Palestinian and Syrian protesters should be held responsible for their own injuries because they failed to heed oral warnings — issued in Arabic, the IDF stressed — and because some protesters supposedly threw Molotov cocktails onto one minefield, thereby setting off one or more explosions.

This avoids the serious question of whether or not the IDF carried out proper notification — both to Syrian authorities and to UN peacekeeping missions working in the Golan — and also whether or not the minefields were properly marked, particularly any minefields which might have been newly-laid, in order to provide adequate warning to the demonstrators themselves.

It avoids directly dealing with reports that the IDF laid new minefields in the past three weeks specifically to stop infiltration by protestors.

And, it does seem to put more blame on Syrian authorities than on Israel, by saying that “Pillay also expressed concern over allegations that civilians were encouraged by the Syrian authorities to protest in areas where landmines are located”.

That is a very serious accusation indeed.

Continue reading UN Human Rights Commissioner is only UN official to deal with reports that minefields took toll on Golan protesters

IDF reportedly laid new minefields in Golan ahead of Sunday demonstrations

There were several Israeli media reports published yesterday (in English) and today (in Hebrew) that the IDF has, in recent weeks, laid new minefields in the Golan — as part of the military preparations against continuing demonstrations at the “border”.

According to these reports, new minefields were laid in the weeks between the May 15 Nakba Day demonstrations [marking the expulsion of some 750,000 Palestinians in the fighting that surrounded the creation of the State of Israel in 1948] and the June 5 demonstrations held on Sunday [to mark the 1967 war and the start of the occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, and Golan].

On May 15, Israeli officials were surprised by an infiltration of Palestinians and their supporters who managed to cross the lines and enter the Golan town of Majdal Shams. One of these infiltrators even managed to get as far as Yaffa, the birthplace and home town of his parents, where he went for a meal, looked around, and then turned himself in to Israeli police.

The Syrian Golan Heights was occupied by Israel in the June 1967 war — and annexed by Israel in 1980, a move that UN members said was “null and void”.

The well-informed Defense Correspondent for the Jerusalem Post, Yaakov Katz, wrote in an article published last night [06/06/2011 22:01] that “In general, the army was pleased with the way it handled the protests on Sunday … In the weeks before, the IDF prepared extensively, laying down new minefields, digging trenches and installing new barbed-wire fences … At least eight of the dead, IDF sources said on Monday, were killed by mines that exploded after the protesters threw Molotov cocktails in fields near the border, causing their premature detonation”. This was posted here.

Laying new minefields in the Golan raises serious questions — including whether proper notification was made, particularly to the Syrian authorities (also to the UN, which has peacekeeping missions there).

It also raises questions about whether such military measures — normally intended to address grave dangers and prevent invasions — are also intended as the Israeli response to protest demonstrations and civilian infiltration.

Continue reading IDF reportedly laid new minefields in Golan ahead of Sunday demonstrations

Large quantities of tear gas used on cars in traffic jam, in populated area, at Qalandia protest Sunday

The tear gas was fired in volleys, and hung in the air even after the white clouds disappeared.

It affected everyone.

Here is one of the photos posted on Facebook by Tamar Fleishman of Machsom [Checkpoint] Watch:

Clouds of tear gas fired at Qalandia protest on 5 June 2011
Tamar Fleishman photo of clouds of tear gas fired at Qalandia on 5 June 2011

Qalandia is a stressful, ugly, terrible cul-de-sac where one road, with one lane in each direction, heading towards or around the Qalandia military checkpoint (which itself is located at the end of an airstrip built during the British-administered Mandate of Palestine, then used as a civilian airport for Palestinian travel during the period of Jordanian rule, until June 1967.) There is no way to adequately describe the stress, tension, frustration, and anxiety that anyone feels passing though Qalandia. You simply never know what will happen. And, it could be bad. That’s on a normal day.

By my own eyewitness estimate, there were not more than 150 protesters — probably half were traditional Palestinian politicians from leftist groups or their own organizations, and a small sprinkling of Hamas, while the rest from the loose coalition of Manara Youth and some Israeli and international activists, who marched down from a gathering point to the Qalandia Checkpoint. I am told that one busload of people from Hebron and another few groups from other areas assembled just to the south of the Qalandia checkpoint and met up with those who left from the Yaffa supermarket. That makes at most, at the very generous most, some 300 demonstrators who were there because they intended to join the protest. [There were at least as many onlookers, and there were a few ad hoc participants who joined in doing what they know best — throwing stones, despite the extensive efforts of the organizers to stop this…]

This is what happened when the original group arrived down at the checkpoint just before noon – video by Omar Robert Hamilton:

And, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society reported, 120 people were treated for injuries from tear gas, pepper spray, “sewage water” or “skunk spray” and rubber bullets…

Many dozens of others recovered without medical attention.

Continue reading Large quantities of tear gas used on cars in traffic jam, in populated area, at Qalandia protest Sunday

Tiananmen Square Moment – A new form of non-violent protest at Qalandia today: Standing up to the skunk spray machine

A small group of protesters in today’s protest at Qalandia marking the outbreak of the June 1967 war stood up in front of — and blocked — the “skunk spray” or “sewage water” machine that was hosing demonstrators with a revolting and persistently-smelly blue-colored water.

Photo by courtesy of the photographer, Mohamed Jaradat

Fadi Quran, one of coordinators of Manara Youth group protests
since the beginning of 2011 stands (with colleagues) with his hands raised
in front of IDF skunk spray machine

 

It was the first time the “skunk spray” machine was used at Qalandia.  [It was used on Friday for the first time in a Friday protest against the Wall at Nabi Saleh… It sprayed some protesters, then it went into the center of the village and sprayed the streets and the homes, requiring a massive clean-up campaign.]

And, it was the first time Palestinian protesters in the West Bank used this tactic of non-violent resistance.

They stood there and took it.

They planned for it, they trained for weeks for this, and they did not run away as they were sprayed with the very foul-smelling liquid.

They stood there and allowed themselves to be coated, covered, with this notoriously disgusting stuff.

They blocked the machine from moving up the street, which is bordered with small businesses and small apartment buildings — and schools —  and which cuts through the heavily-populated Qalandia Refugee Camp.

And, they won a small victory on an otherwise confusing and disappointing day: the “skunk spray” machine was ordered to retreat back into the protected military zone at the terrible Qalandia Checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem.

It was a revolutionary change in the way checkpoint protests have been conducted until today.

Continue reading Tiananmen Square Moment – A new form of non-violent protest at Qalandia today: Standing up to the skunk spray machine

What is the occupation like? Aftermath of a 2 a.m. raid in Nablus + arrest of Hussam Khader

Amira, the 17-year-old daughter of Hussam Khader, said she had been studying for her final exams until midnight, then went to sleep, and was in a deep stage of sleep when she was awakened just two hours later to find a man in her bedroom, next to her bed, with a black mask over his face. He told her, in Arabic, to be quiet and not make any noise — he held his finger up to his mouth in a sign to hush. She realized it was an Israeli soldier in an olive green uniform and a big black weapon.

Then, she realized there were many men in her bedroom… She said she could not get up out of bed, at first, as she felt such fright her legs would not move, and she could not stand up.

She was brought downstairs, where her grandmother and her younger brother were sitting where they were told to stay, in the salon. Her father was being questioned by soldiers in the kitchen. She begged the soldiers not to take her father away again — his most recent imprisonment was from 2003 until 2008. For her, it was terrible to see her father being taken away,again…

She remembered all the jails she had visited him in, during his last imprisonment, and the humiliating and brutal treatment even the visitors received.

It was her laptop which was taken away — along with two desktop computers, and a number of flash drives.

She had her economics exam a few hours later. She said she did not think she did very well.

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Ma’an News Agency reported Thursday morning that “Fatah lawmaker Hussam Khader, a long-time proponent of reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah, was taken from his home at 2am, officials said. Witnesses said 50 Israeli military jeeps had arrived in the Balata refugee camp, surrounded the home and searched its contents before taking Khader to an unknown location. [UPDATE: Hussam Khader was still in detention in the Huwwara holding center on Thursday evening] An Israeli military spokesman said he could confirm three detentions in Nablus overnight, but said he was not aware that any were PLC members. All three were taken for security questioning, he said. Palestinian security sources told Ma’an that An-Najah University professor Ghassan Thoqan was taken from his house in Nablus, as was Yasser Badersawi, the director of the Right of Return and Refugee Affairs Center. The spokesman confirmed, however, that Hamas lawmaker Abdul Rahmad Zeidan, also elected to the legislature in 2006, was detained from his home in Tulkarem. The spokesman said he could not yet comment on why the man was taken. Tayseer Nasrallah, member of the Palestinian National Council, said the detentions were an attempt by Israel to disrupt the Palestinian reconciliation process, pointing in particular at Khader’s detention and his historic support for unity”. This Maan News Agency report was published here.

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Hussam Khader has been jailed 25 times since he was 16.

Once, he was deported to Lebanon.  Of all the bad things that happened to him, that was the worst, he once said.

When Hussam was taken away before dawn on Thursday morning, he was concerned about his family. He told them they had been through it before, and they must now be strong again.  In September 2008, when he was released a year early from his last imprisonment, he promised his family that he would make up for the time he had lost with them by being in jail

Continue reading What is the occupation like? Aftermath of a 2 a.m. raid in Nablus + arrest of Hussam Khader

Rumors about imminent Israeli-Hamas prisoner swap deal are premature

Despite a spate of leaks this morning, all indications are, now, that the reports of an imminent prisoner swap involving a deal to free IDF Corporal Gilad Shalit — held somewhere in Gaza since late June 2006 — are completely premature.

One good source in Ramallah says maybe next week something will happen… An answer is awaited from Israel, he says.

There is still a debate over 125 to 150 of the 450 names that Hamas has submitted, in an exchange that is supposed to involve the release of 1,000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

Hamas has not specified the names of the other 550 prisoners who must be released. Israel can decide who they will be — out of the more-than-6000 prisoners Israel is holding — but they must be in categories chosen by Hamas, such as children, oldest or longest-held prisoners, and women etc.

Of the 125 or 150 names under active debate, a “small number” (it is not clear if it would be as many as 40) will probably be deported.

Hamas is trying to limit the number of those to be deported, but it apparently agrees in principle — even though deportation [carried out by Israel] is a specific violation of Phase One of the Road Map.

In this case, it is very convenient that Hamas is not yet a member of the PLO and not bound by its prior agreements, so it is not bound by the Road Map…

Continue reading Rumors about imminent Israeli-Hamas prisoner swap deal are premature