Christian Peacemaker Teams Incident Report January - June 2019 Contact Us At Find Us At [email protected] www.cpt.org Contents Arrests and Detentions Arrests and Detentions 3 Settler Violence 4 Home Demolitions 6 Use of Force 7 Restricion of Movement 9 South Hebron Hills 12 Arrests and Detentions The Israeli Occupation Forces regularly carry out arrests of Palestinian adults and children as a part of their general policies of repression and collective intimidation. Arrests occur as arbitrary actions that deny Palestinians the liberty and securi- ty of person that is outlined in Article 9 of the International Convention on Polit- ical and Civil Rights. Palestinian children are also subject to arbitrary arrest and detention. While Israel is a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Israeli Occupation Forces regularly take advantage of a loophole in Article 1, which states “... a child means every human being below the age of eighteen years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier”. The State of Israel treats all Palestin- During the January - June 2019 reporting period, ian children in the occupied territo- CPT documented the following arrests in H2 Hebron: ries over the age of twelve as adults Adult arrests: 11 men within the court system. Conversely, Child arrests: 4 boys settler children who also live in the occu- pied territories are not considered adults 17 February until they are eighteen years old. Bab al-Baladiyeh During the late afternoon, occupation forces that had entered the Old City arrested a 14 year-old boy at Bab al-Baladiyeh. The boy’s parents were present at the arrest. A soldier at the gate informed the human rights observers present that a report was filed with them by a settler that this boy threw a stone at him while he was in the bathroom, and for this, occupation soldiers arrested him. The child was blindfolded by the soldiers during the arrest. 10 May Tel Rumeida Occupation soldiers had arrested three Palestinians in the Tel Rumeida Neighborhood; Mohammad, Aouni, and Tarek, 18, 21 and 20 years old. The family of one of the arrested told human rights observers that the three Palestinians were sitting in front of Emad’s house in Tel Rumeida when a group of soldiers accosted them and dragged them to the checkpoint located close to the house. Emad and his wife tried to alleviate the situation by attempting to de-arrest the Palestinians, but the Israeli soldiers pushed them away. After about an hour, the Israeli soldiers released the three that they had arrested. Settler Violence There are five main settlements within and around the Old City of al-Khalil (Hebron), with more than 600 settlers who live there and more than 2,000 Israeli occupation soldiers stationed there to provide them protection. Tel Rumeida Neighborhood Tel Rumeida is a neighborhood connected to the Old City in al-Khalil (Hebron), bordering Shuhada Street in the Old City that is closed to Palestinians. The situation within the neighborhood of Tel Rumeida is abnormal and highly restrictive; the Palestinian residents are surrounded by three checkpoints, and passing through any of them will involve the military checking their IDs to make sure that they are residents. In practicality, this restriction means that they are isolated from the world outside. Tel Rumeida was invaded by Israeli settlers in the way that many Palestinian neighborhoods have been, but unlike others, its citizens have refused to vacate it for the settlers; it is because of this that the people of Tel Rumeida suffer at the hands of the military and the settlers. Emad from Human Rights Defenders, a human rights moni- tor group based in al-Khalil (Hebron), has told CPT that the people of Tel Rumeida endure “nearly daily attacks either from soldiers or settlers, homes being raided and [soldiers] arresting family members”. Rima is a 45 year-old woman who lives in Tel Ru- meida and told CPT: “Years ago, I was pregnant with twins. When labor time came, it was one of the hardest times. My husband called the am- bulance to take me to the hospital as soon as possible. When the ambulance finally arrived, the military didn’t let them in. I had to walk through the main checkpoint to get to the ambulance. When I arrived at the hospital, I was given two choices, give up my life or one of the babies. I thank God I have Haitham [the surviving child]”. On 23 May, Israeli settlers attacked the Sharabati family house in Tel Rumeida. The family went out to stop them, and they got attacked by the set- tlers. Human Rights Defenders, who were there with the family, told CPT that the military only began to engage in the situation after the Palestin- ians started to react. The soldiers had beaten two boys. Mufeed, an elderly man, was also injured; he was brought out in a wheel chair with sustained injuries to his right knee. Soldiers then attempt- ed to block Mufeed from getting to the ambu- lance until a group of Palestinian men pushed the soldiers in order to let them get out with the Mufeed. 4 On the 22 June, Israeli settlers threw glass bottles and trash bags in the direction of a Palestinian shop on Old Shalala Street in the Old City of al-Khalil (Hebron). The shopkeeper’s daughter was injured; her fingers were cut on a piece of broken glass. Shop- keeper Shadi told observers that some settlers were taken into custody by Israeli police. Commenting on the seeming arrest, Montaser, an 11 year-old boy, said “Yes, they will take them back to their houses, safely” after talking with him about Israeli settlers attacking him. According to B’tSelem, there is a legal basis for the military to arrest the settlers but in reality they are not willing to. About 85% of investigations into such cases ended with no fur- ther action taken, and that the odds of a police complaint filed by a Palestinian resulting in the conviction of an Israeli civilian were a mere 1.9%. Given the futility of this effort, many Palestin- ians choose to forgo filing a complaint altogether. The residents of Tel Rumeida are trying to devise ways to defend themselves and their families. Zaid, a 12 year-old Pales- tinian boy says: “Every time I went the direct way to my home I got harassed by settlers, so now I have to go the round-about way which takes 15 minutes more”. Some community members 12 February, Qurtoba have taken proactive measures to defend their homes, but even Israeli settlers bussed in from Kiryat these actions are subject to the decisions of the settlers. On Arba tried to enter Palestinian homes 30 April, a Palestinian family was ordered to tear down a fence next to Qurtuba School. When they that they had just started building to protect themselves from couldn’t enter, they stoned the homes settlers attacks. Armed Israeli settlers were also at the scene, and the school. Then attacked Palestin- as they had originally complained to the authorities about the ians in the cemetery near the school. family’s recent home renovation. It was later confirmed that the fence mentioned in the initial call was in fact going to be a small wall in front of their property, which they had gotten permission 5 May, Shuhada Street from the Israeli civil administration to build. Eventually, the po- A group of 15 young settler boys were lice forced the Palestinian homeowners to cut about four feet occupying the roof of what used to be from the rebar foundation of the wall using their own tools. a Palestinian home. In order to get up there, the boys apparently vandalized a Hani, a resident of Tel Rumeida, shared how the community is door, physically breaking it in order to strongly attached to each other and that individual issues are gain access to the roof. While on the community issues. “We stick together for better and worse,” he roof, they littered and and began making said. “These attacks mainly to make us leave our home for them, noise and shouting. Their presence there but that won’t happen, staying here is our way of resistance “ attracted the attention of the Israeli sol- diers and police officers in the area. The Israeli police eventually ordered the set- tlers to get down from the roof. 5 Home Demolitions ome demolitions violate universal human rights and attack the most basic necessity of any family – the need to have shelter and a place to call one’s own. Israeli Occupying Forces have a practice of not only demol- ishingH family dwellings, but also the surrounding infrastructure, such as schools, water cisterns, and community centres. In the morning of the 11th of June, the Israeli Civil Administration, along with the Israeli army, demolished a Palestinian home in Jabal Johar neighborhood in al-Khalil (Hebron), in an area that is considered part of Area C. The house that was demolished belonged to brothers Bara’ and Lafe, who had finished building it. After completion of the construction, the Israeli Civil Administration came and said to stop building. They gave the family a paper and said it was from the Israeli courts. This happened 20 days before Ramadan began, which did not give enough time for the Palestinian family to finish the necessary paperwork. On the morning of the demolition, the Israeli military surprised the Palestinian family with bulldozers at 7:00am. Bara’ said to the Israeli military commander, “Why are you here today? I haven’t finished the paperwork yet.” The commander replied that they were instructed by the court to come and demolish the house.