These emails are from a Brighton based activist spending April in occupied Palestine with the International Solidarity Movement, a network of international activists set up to support Palestinian non violent resistance agaisnst Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. In these emails I will be writing short accounts of aspects of the occupation and resistance.
Apartheid in Tel Rumeida
I have been working with the ISM in Tel Rumeida for the past week, tensions are high as the settlers youth are on holiday for the passover period. Yesterday was the first Shabbat of the holidays and we saw increased violence from settlers in Tel Rumeida.
Settlers in Occupied Palestine are bound by Israeli law whereas Palestinians are bound by military law. This means that, in Tel Rumeida, settlers who commit crimes against Palestinians are treated very differently to their Palestinian neighbours. For example, a Palestinian convicted of manslaughter can receive life imprisonment whereas a settler, in the same circumstances will receive a maximum of twenty years. Similarly, Palestinians may be detained for longer periods without charge than their settler neighbours.
The internationals in Tel Rumeida live down the street from Han'a Abu Haykal who lives in close proximity to the Tel Rumeida settlement. In 2003 settlers attacked his house and injured his son while the IDF watched and did nothing. In the past days I have watched settler youths stoning Palestinians in full view of the army. Today I watched as a settler child threw stones and then walked over to sit in a soldiers lap.
The complicity of the IDF in settler violence in Hebron means that not only are settlers subject to a different legal system to Palestinians but that even the laws which can be applied to them are not. The IDF is happy to turn a blind eye to settler violence and intimidation.
What the settlers of Hebron are attempting is the ethnic cleansing of Tel Rumeida and the Old City of Hebron through the seizure of Palestinian proerty and the intimidation of the population. However, they have not succeeded yet. Today, for the first time, I saw Palestinian children playing for a few minutes in Schohada Street. Schohada Street is often deserted, save for families accessing their houses, because of its proximity to the illegal settlement of Beit Hadassa. A few kids playing football there was, in my view, a brave act of resistance to Israeli apartheid policies
Boycott Racist Israel, The wall Must Fall
I have been working with the ISM in Tel Rumeida for the past week, tensions are high as the settlers youth are on holiday for the passover period. Yesterday was the first Shabbat of the holidays and we saw increased violence from settlers in Tel Rumeida.
Settlers in Occupied Palestine are bound by Israeli law whereas Palestinians are bound by military law. This means that, in Tel Rumeida, settlers who commit crimes against Palestinians are treated very differently to their Palestinian neighbours. For example, a Palestinian convicted of manslaughter can receive life imprisonment whereas a settler, in the same circumstances will receive a maximum of twenty years. Similarly, Palestinians may be detained for longer periods without charge than their settler neighbours.
The internationals in Tel Rumeida live down the street from Han'a Abu Haykal who lives in close proximity to the Tel Rumeida settlement. In 2003 settlers attacked his house and injured his son while the IDF watched and did nothing. In the past days I have watched settler youths stoning Palestinians in full view of the army. Today I watched as a settler child threw stones and then walked over to sit in a soldiers lap.
The complicity of the IDF in settler violence in Hebron means that not only are settlers subject to a different legal system to Palestinians but that even the laws which can be applied to them are not. The IDF is happy to turn a blind eye to settler violence and intimidation.
What the settlers of Hebron are attempting is the ethnic cleansing of Tel Rumeida and the Old City of Hebron through the seizure of Palestinian proerty and the intimidation of the population. However, they have not succeeded yet. Today, for the first time, I saw Palestinian children playing for a few minutes in Schohada Street. Schohada Street is often deserted, save for families accessing their houses, because of its proximity to the illegal settlement of Beit Hadassa. A few kids playing football there was, in my view, a brave act of resistance to Israeli apartheid policies
Boycott Racist Israel, The wall Must Fall
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