In the Shadows: A 'Mystery' for Mrs. General

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Video footage showed the moment after an Israeli settler shot dead a Palestinian youth in Hebron: image via YouTube/ Al Jazeera, 17 October 2015

Palestinians killed after alleged Hebron stabbings: Shootings by Israeli forces and settler in West Bank city and East Jerusalem leave three people dead, including a girl: Al Jazeera, 17 October 2015

Three Palestinians have been shot dead in separate attacks after they allegedly tried to stab Israelis in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, the latest incidents in a wave of violence that has escalated this month.

In Hebron, a Jewish settler killed a Palestinian man early on Saturday after the Palestinian allegedly tried to stab him. Israeli police said the man was shot dead before he could harm the Israeli.

Witnesses disputed the Israeli police version of the event, saying the incident looked more like an attack by the settler on the Palestinian.

Video circulated by Palestinian activists showed a young man wearing a kippa brandishing a pistol as shots rang out before Israeli soldiers moved in to pull him away from a body lying on the ground.

 

Palestinian security sources identified the Palestinian as 18-year-old Fadel al-Kawasmeh.

In the second attack, a 16-year-old Palestinian girl was shot dead by Israeli forces after she allegedly attempted to stab a female soldier guarding an illegal Jewish settlement in Hebron.

The soldier suffered minor injuries to her hand, according to an Israeli police spokesperson.

Palestinian media identified the Palestinian girl as Bayan Ahmad Aseeleh.

Israeli police sealed off the city by blocking road access after violent clashes broke out between Palestinian protesters and Israeli forces following the killings.

Israeli soldiers violently disperse marchers in Hebron: image via AJE News Verified account @AJENews, 18 October 2015

Tit-for-tat attacks

In East Jerusalem, a 16-year-old Palestinian allegedly tried to stab a soldier at a checkpoint at East Talpiot settlement near Jabal al-Mukaber neighbourhood but was shot dead by other soldiers.

The boy was identified as Moutaz Oweisat.

Jabal al-Mukaber was home to three Palestinians who were killed earlier this week after alleged attacks against Israelis.

Amid tit-for-tat attacks between Israelis and Palestinians, the ongoing streak of violence has left dead at least 42 Palestinians -- including suspected attackers, as well as unarmed protesters and bystanders -- and seven Israelis.

Israeli security forces have deployed massively in Jerusalem and on Wednesday began setting up checkpoints in parts of East Jerusalem, including Jabel Mukaber. But it has failed to stop the violence.

The mounting death toll has prompted speculation about a new Palestinian intifada, or uprising, like those of 1987-93 and 2000-2005, when thousands were killed in near-daily violence.

Palestinian plea rejected

Saturday's killings came a day after Israel rejected a Palestinian plea to the United Nations for an international force to police the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem.

Tensions boiled over into violence earlier this month as Israeli incursions into the al-Aqsa complex -- the third holiest site in Islam -- gave way to protests and clashes that have consumed much of the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.

"An international presence on the Temple Mount [al-Aqsa Mosque compound] would violate the status quo of the last several decades," Israeli ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said on Friday.

"Israel does not think international intervention [in] the Temple Mount would be helpful or contribute to stability," Danon added.

Israeli border guards check Palestinian men heading to the Friday prayers in Jerusalem. #AFP @gharabli_ahmad: image via Aurelia BAILLY @AureliaBAILLY, 16 October 2015

Questions over Hebron 'attack' (troubling the sleep of Mrs. General)

"Mrs General had no opinions.  Her way of forming a mind was to prevent it from forming opinions.  She had a little circular set of mental grooves or rails, on which she started little trains of other people's opinions, which never overtook one another, and never got anywhere.  Even her propriety could not dispute that there was impropriety in the world; but Mrs General's way of getting rid of it was to put it out of sight, and make believe that there was no such thing.  This was another of her ways of forming a mind -- to cram all articles of difficulty into cupboards, lock them up, and say they had no existence.  It was the easiest way, and, beyond all comparison, the properest." 

-- Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit, 1857

Video image captured by Youth Against Settlements shortly after settler murder of Palestinian youth in al-Khalil (Hebron), 17 October 2015: image via Ma'an News Agency

Video footage raises questions over Hebron 'attack': Ma'an News Agency, 17 October 2015

HEBRON (Ma'an) -- A Palestinian activist group on Saturday released video footage that may show Israeli soldiers planting a knife next to the body of an 18-year-old Palestinian shot dead by a settler in Hebron earlier in the day. The footage -- released by Youth Against Settlements -- shows an Israeli soldier handing an unidentified object to another soldier, who then bends forward, possibly placing the object next to the Palestinian's body. An Israeli army spokesperson earlier claimed that the Palestinian, identified as Fadil Qawasmi, had attempted to stab the Israeli settler, who then "opened live fire on the assailant," killing him. The settler was not injured during the incident.

 

Shuhada Street lies at the heart of tensions in Hebron's Old City where Israeli forces have severely restricted Palestinian access for more than two decades.

 

Local Palestinians are prevented from accessing most of the street in order to "secure" the area for around 600 Jewish settlers who have taken over homes and evicted residents in the area.

 

Palestinians may only access the street by passing through an Israeli military checkpoint with a metal detector, causing locals to question whether Qawasmi could have been carrying a knife at the time of the alleged attack. Sources told Ma'an that Israeli authorities had agreed to investigate the shooting following a request from the Palestinian liaison department. The liaison department reportedly made the request after they saw the footage. Israeli forces have meanwhile detained the media coordinator for Youth Against Settlements, Ahmad Amr, as well as a Palestinian who witnessed the shooting. On Wednesday, Israeli human rights organizations released a statement arguing that recent calls by Israeli politicians to shoot Palestinian attackers rather than arrest them effectively endorses the killing of Palestinians. The statement added that "in instances when Jews have been suspected of attacks, none of the suspects has been shot."  An investigation from Israeli rights group B'Tselem has meanwhile found that two Palestinians shot dead after alleged attacks, Fadi Alloun and Basel Sidr, "were shot while no longer posing danger."

Erasing the footage

Israeli forces detain media coordinator of Youth Against Settlements: photo via MaanImages, 17 October 2015

Israeli forces detain activist over video footage of Hebron shooting: Ma'an News Agency, 17 October 2015

HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces on Saturday detained and briefly held the media coordinator of a Palestinian activist group after it released video footage that they say contradicts the Israeli army's version of events.

A spokesperson for Youth Against Settlements told Ma'an that Israeli forces held Ahmad Amr for nearly five hours, and confiscated his filming equipment and laptop.

Youth Against Settlements earlier released video footage taken after an Israeli settler shot dead 18-year-old Fadil Qawasmi, who the settler claimed attempted to stab him.

The activist group said the footage showed the soldiers planting a knife on Qawasmi, although due to its low resolution it is not conclusive.

The group's spokesperson said that Israeli forces had "humiliated" their media coordinator, Amr, during his detention, and threatened to arrest him again if he filmed or published any more video footage.

They erased large amounts footage from his equipment and damaged his laptop, the group's spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces also threatened another resident of Hebron and a volunteer with Youth Against Settlements, Mufeed Sharbati, who earlier spoke with Ma'an after witnessing the shooting of Qawasami.

Israeli forces told Sharbati that they would come back later in the night and he would see "what they would do."

"We're used to that," the group's spokesperson said. "We're not afraid."

He said that Israeli forces had repeatedly targeted and "incited" against them.

An Israeli army spokesperson said she was looking into the reports.

Youth Against Settlements often documents incidents on Shuhada Street, where the attack took place. The street lies at the heart of tensions in Hebron's Old City where Israeli forces have severely restricted Palestinian access since 1994. On Friday, Israeli forces also detained Palestinian photojournalist Bilal al-Taweel who captured a photo of a Palestinian man before he stabbed an Israeli soldier in Hebron.

Taweel's brother told Ma'an that Israeli authorities had notified him that Taweel had been taken to the Etzion detention center. After the stabbing attack, Israeli forces reportedly detained a number of other Palestinian journalists for questioning who were later released, except for Jamil Salhab, who captured footage of the Palestinian stabbing the Israeli soldier.

Death of a schoolgirl

Israeli Forces executed the Palestinian girl Bayan Esaili 16 y/o in cold blood in Hebron today. #ThirdIntifada: omage via Said - Palestine @saidshouib, 17 October 2015

3rd Palestinian shot dead after alleged attacks in Hebron, Jerusalem: Ma'an News Agency, 17 October 2015

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- A Palestinian teenager was shot dead Saturday by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron after allegedly stabbing an Israeli border police officer in the third alleged attack of the day.

Palestinian locals said that Israeli forces opened fire at the woman close to the the Wadi al-Ghrus area near the illegal Kiryat Arba settlement.

She was identified as 17-year-old Bayan Ayman Abd al-Hadi al-Esseili.

Her family told Ma'an they were informed by Israeli authorities that their daughter had been killed after she stabbed a soldier.

 

A border police woman sustained light injuries to her hand, according to Israeli police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld, who reported that a "female terrorist was shot at the scene."

Fadil Qawasmi, 18, was shot dead by an Israeli settler earlier Saturday morning on Shuhada Street in Hebron's Old City, hours before a 16-year-old Palestinian was shot dead in occupied East Jerusalem.

Both teens are accused of carrying out stabbing attacks, although no Israelis were injured in either incident.

A 17-year-old Palestinian girl shot dead after alleged attack in Hebron: photo via MaanImages, 17 October 2015 

Saturday's events bring the total number of Palestinians killed to 40 since the beginning of the month. Seven Israelis have been killed by Palestinians in the same period.

On Friday three Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli forces during demonstrations in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, and one was killed after stabbing an Israeli soldier in East Jerusalem.

Another Palestinian succumbed to wounds sustained during a Gaza demonstration the week before.

A group of prominent Israeli and international human rights organizations on Wednesday released a joint statement arguing that recent calls by Israeli politicians to shoot Palestinian attackers rather than arrest them effectively endorses the killing of Palestinians.

The statement, which was signed by nine groups including B'Tselem and Amnesty International, added that "in instances when Jews have been suspected of attacks, none of the suspects has been shot."

"Politicians and senior police officers have not only failed to act to calm the public climate of incitement, but on the contrary have openly called for the extrajudicial killing of (Palestinian) suspects," the groups said.

PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat announced last week that the Palestinian leadership would be contacting the High Commissioner for Human Rights to request an investigation into the recent killing of Palestinians by Israeli forces.

Classmates remember her as girl killed in cold blood by #Israel forces in #Hebron - colleagues of 16-y Bayan Assileh in classroom today: image via Fadi Al-Qadi @fqadi, 18 October 2015

Tear gas and tea

Israeli soldiers fire tear gas at young school students in #Hebron - Palestine: image via From Palestine. @M7madSmiry, 18 October 2015

Ruthless killing of Palestinian youths in al-Khalil (Hebron): International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine, 17 October 2015

UPDATE 9pm:

No stop to violence, settlers are taking over the streets

The Tel Rumeida neighbourhood of al-Khalil is on lockdown for Palestinians. Palestinian residents and internationals are not allowed to be on the streets, on their own roofs or at the windows of their houses. Israeli forces on the street are yelling and pointing guns at them if they see anyone. Settlers on the other hand are allowed to freely roam the streets.

Hundreds of settlers came to the spot of the killing of 18-year old Fadel al-Qawasmeh, executed by settlers this morning, to celebrate his death. The settlers, armed with machine guns, are intimidating Palestinians living nearby, blocking the streets. Soldiers are not able to protect anyone anymore, a small group of Palestinians wanting to go home from a visit had to run back and lock the door behind them in order not get harmed by the settlers. Two internationals were first stopped by soldiers and ordered not to move and then yelled at to leave as fast as possible as settlers were approaching.

An Israeli ambulance with the dying Palestinian youth shot at Shuhada checkpoint by Israeli forces for allegedly attacking a soldier with a knife, was blocked by the group of settlers. An elderly Palestinian, suffering breathing difficulties had to wait for over an hour to be allowed to be carried away towards an ambulance, as the ambulance was not allowed to pass on segregated Shuhada street.

*******

Today, 17^th October, 2015, Israeli forces and Israeli settlers in occupied al-Khalil (Hebron) murdered two Palestinian youth within three hours.

In the morning, Israeli settlers from the illegal settlements within al-Khalil, walked past the 18-year old Palestinian youth Fadel al-Qawasmeh in segregated Shuhada street, cursing him as an ‘Arab’ and then pulled a gun shooting him from point blank range. The settler fired four shots at the Palestinian youth from his pistol, one shot directly in the head. This execution was entirely unprovoked. Israeli soldiers rushed to the scene, but prevented a Palestinian ambulance from treating the critically injured Palestinian youth who was lying on the ground bleeding. Whereas the area around the execution was immediately closed for Palestinians and international observers by the Israeli forces, settlers at all times were allowed to freely stroll alongside the scene of the murder, with soldiers taking pictures with their private phones.

Israeli settlers standing next to the scene of the execution of Fadel al-Qawasmeh in Shuhada street, al-Khalil (Hebron): photo via ISM, 17 October 2015

Later on, Israeli forces blocked all entrances to a Palestinian house nearby where activists where trying to document. In the meantime, settlers from the nearby illegal settlement of Beit Hadassah, watching from down on the street close by a checkpoint where enjoying tea and biscuits, brought from the settlement, with the soldiers and the police. After Israeli forces washed off the blood from the street, they broke into the house where Palestinians were filming before, with 11 children, the youngest only a year old, present. Heavily armed Israeli soldiers searched the house and confiscated all phones and cameras. Once they left the house, they were checking all the photos and videos taken after the execution of Fadel, and showed them to the settlers nearby.

Israeli settlers and soldiers sharing tea at the scene of the execution of Fadel al-Qawasmeh: photo via ISM, 17 October 2015

Palestinians and international human rights observers trying to document this violent attack on a family home were repeatedly forced by Israeli forces to move away from the incident, whereas the settlers were allowed to freely walk around and curse and hurl insults at them, even threatening them that they will be the next to be killed. One Palestinian man was forced by Israeli soldiers to pass through a checkpoint even though soldiers were throwing stun grenades right outside the checkpoint. 23-year old Abed al-Salaymeh was detained in Tel Rumeida for one and a half hours, after soldiers prevented him from going back to his home in segregated Shuhada Street. Different soldiers repeatedly ordered him and internationals to either move up the hill from the checkpoint, or when further up to move back down, all the time prohibiting him from going back to his house. Once up the hill, he was detained for one and a half hours, with soldiers freely admitting that this is because he ‘annoyed’ them before. Settlers passing by were threatening him and internationals that ‘tomorrow they would be the ones to be killed’.

Israeli soldiers having tea brought by settlers at the scene of the execution in al-Khalil: photo via ISM, 17 October 2015

Later on, Israeli forces blocked all entrances to a Palestinian house nearby where activists where trying to document. In the meantime, settlers from the nearby illegal settlement of Beit Hadassah, watching from down on the street close by a checkpoint where enjoying tea and biscuits, brought from the settlement, with the soldiers and the police. After Israeli forces washed off the blood from the street, they broke into the house where Palestinians were filming before, with 11 children, the youngest only a year old, present. Heavily armed Israeli soldiers searched the house and confiscated all phones and cameras. Once they left the house, they were checking all the photos and videos taken after the execution of Fadel, and showed them to the settlers nearby.

Only three hours later, Israeli forces shot and killed 16-year old Palestinian teenager Bayan Eiseleh at the Ibrahimi mosque. Her parents, rushing to the scene of her killing, were brutally attacked and beaten by Israeli forces. International human rights observers trying to document this senseless killing were detained by Israeli forces and then one of them was arrested for ‘taking pictures and posting them online’. She is still being held at the police station in the illegal settlement of Kiryat Arba.

The Graves of Hebron

 

The Graves of #Hebron: image via Mario Kaiser @MarioKaiserNYC, 18 October 2015

Fifth Palestinian shot dead by Israel in alleged stabbing incident, in Hebron in occupied WB: image via AJE News Verified account @AJENews, 18 October 2015

 

At least 43 Palestinians and seven Israelis have been killed in this month's unrest: photo by Oded Balilty/AP via Al Jazeera, 18 October 2015

Palestinians clash with Israeli forces across West Bank: Soldiers violently disperse marchers in Hebron, day after three Palestinians were killed in the city: Patrick Strickland, Al Jazeera, 18 October 2015

 

Palestinians have clashed with Israeli forces and settlers across the West Bank as violence continued to grip the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel.

In the southern West Bank city of Hebron, Palestinian demonstrators marched from a local university to an Israeli settlement, where they were confronted by the army on Sunday afternoon.

More protests were held across the West Bank, including in the city of Nablus, and in the Gaza Strip.

"The soldiers [in Hebron] are firing tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets," Issa Amro, director of the Youth Against Settlements group, told Al Jazeera, adding that at least ten Palestinians have been arrested.

The clashes come just a day after five Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli forces or settlers during alleged stabbing attacks -- three of them in Hebron.

Triggered by Israeli incursions into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound last month, protests against Israel's occupation have increased in frequency across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.

Israeli forces have responded with a crackdown on protesters, using tear gas, stun grenades, rubber-coated steel bullets and live ammunition.

At least 43 Palestinians -- including suspected attackers, unarmed protesters and bystanders -- have been killed by Israel since October 1.

Seven Israelis have been killed in attacks by Palestinians this month.

In one incident in Hebron, 18-year-old Fadel al-Kawasmeh was killed by a settler on Saturday afternoon. Palestinians dispute the accusation that the teen had tried to stab the settler.

"The situation is very tense after Kawasmeh was assassinated by the settler," Amro said. 

"Hundreds of settlers attacked Palestinian homes near the Kiryat Arba settlement overnight. People defended their homes with rocks and molotov cocktails.

"People are very scared here. Parents aren't sending their kids to school and a lot of people aren't going to work," he added. "The settlers are even more violent than the soldiers."

About 500 Jewish settlers live in a heavily guarded enclave in the city centre surrounded by nearly 200,000 Palestinians.

Israeli settlers were extracted by the army in Nablus on Sunday after clashing with local Palestinian residents near the Joseph's Tomb, a Jewish holy site that Palestinian youths set fire to on Friday.

After the Fire #Qalandia #Palestine #Israel: image via Mario Kaiser @MarioKaiserNYC, 18 October 2015

 

Punitive measures

 

Israeli soldiers also clashed with armed Palestinians in the Qalandiya refugee camp and delivered a home demolition order to the family of Tareq al-Dweik, a 22-year-old Palestinian who was arrested after allegedly stabbing four Israelis last week.

Soldiers were forced to withdraw from the camp during confrontations with locals, who prevented them from delivering more home demolition orders.

An army spokesperson said they were "still looking into" the incident.

Last week, Israeli ministers approved a package of security measures, including home demolitions as a punitive move against the families of suspected Palestinian attackers.

Since the latest wave of unrest broke out, Israel has delivered a slew of home demolition orders to Palestinian families.

Rights groups have decried Israel's recent measures.

The uptick in punitive home demolitions is "a sort of collective punishment which, according to the Fourth Geneva Convention is strictly forbidden", according to Al-Haq, a Ramallah-based human rights group.

Several Israeli leaders, including the mayor of Jerusalem, have urged Israeli citizens to carry guns. Last month, the government relaxed live fire rules against Palestinian protesters.

Nur Arafeh, a policy fellow at Al-Shabaka policy network, said that the harsh measures "lead to increased Palestinian resistance".

"Israeli measures to legalise the killing of Palestinians or quell their protests fail to suppress a population revolting against injustice," Arafeh told Al Jazeera.

Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, a member of the ultra-nationalist Jewish Home party, announced last week that the government will also begin banishing alleged Palestinian attackers and their relatives from Jerusalem.

With neither Israeli nor Palestinian citizenship, Palestinian Jerusalemites carry Israeli-issued residency papers. Shaked said that attackers and their families will be stripped of their residency rights and social security.

Israeli troops have also been deployed across the city throughout the last week and have sealed off Palestinian neighbourhoods with additional road blocks and checkpoints.

According to Rima Awwad, a member of the Coalition for Jerusalem, a Palestinian rights group, the ongoing crackdown "shows the level of desperation".

"Israeli leaders are trying to appease the Israeli public ... by inciting against Palestinians," she told Al Jazeera. "But it will only add to the frustrations of Palestinians living in Jerusalem."

Eastern Hebron: settler terror: firebombing the villages

A Palestinian stands next to a graffiti reading in Hebrew "Revenge" as he looks at the damage after a house was set on fire by suspected Jewish settlers in the West Bank village of Duma: photo by Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP,  31 July 2015

200 Israeli settlers attack Palestinian villages with firebombs: Ma'an News Agency, 18 October 2015

HEBRON (Ma’an) -- More than 200 Israeli settlers attacked the Palestinian villages of Wad al-Haseen and Wad al-Nasara near the illegal Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba overnight in the eastern Hebron district of the occupied southern West Bank, locals and medics said.
 

During the attack, Israeli settlers threw stones and firebombs at Palestinian homes and injured at least three people, two of which were minors, while Israeli forces later shot and injured one Palestinian with live fire.
An Israeli army spokesperson said she did not have reports of any injuries with live fire.
 

The spokesperson said clashes between Palestinians and Israelis broke out in the area, after which Israeli forces "arrived at the scene and dispersed the clashes using riot dispersal means."
 

Kayed Daana, one of the residents whose home was attacked, told Ma’an that dozens of Israeli settlers attacked her neighborhood and injured at least three of her neighbors who have been identified as 40-year-old Imad and two minors, Abdullah, 13, and Muhammad, 17.
 

Muhammad's injuries were the most serious of the three, as he was hit in the chest with one of the fire bombs, medics said.
 

Daana told Ma'an that she would like to urge the International Red Cross and others in the international community intervene against Israeli violations and attacks on Palestinians. Bassam al-Jabri, one of the residents, said he saw the attacking Israeli settlers cutting the blockade fence that separates the illegal Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arab from nearby Palestinian homes, while under the protection of the Israeli troops before they attacked his neighborhood with fire bombs.
 

Al-Jabri said his house was one of those set ablaze, but that he and his neighbors were able to put the fire out before the fire was able to damage his whole home.
 

During the attacks, Palestinian villagers fled to their local mosques and used the mosque amplifier to call for help from neighboring Palestinian villages and communities, who responded to their calls. 

 

Israeli forces then got involved, shooting tear gas at Palestinians who showed up to help.
 

Community member Farid al-Razim told Ma’an that villagers in his area were attacked by Israeli settlers with firebombs, while Israeli forces were shooting tear gas, and that one of the Palestinians from a neighboring village who had come to help was shot and injured with live fire.
 

While relations between Palestinian residents and Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank are normally tense, the situation has been significantly deteriorating since settlers set fire to home belonging to the Duwabsha family in Nablus on July 31. An 18-month-old toddler was burned alive during the attack, while his mother and father succumbed to their burn wounds while being treated at separate hospitals. The family's four-year-old son is the only remaining survivor of the attack.
 

On Oct. 1, suspected Palestinians shot and killed Eitam and Naama Henkin, two settlers who were driving between the illegal settlements of Itamar and Elon More in an area near Huwwara in Nablus.
 

Their four children, aged between four months and nine years, were found unharmed in the back of the car.
It is speculated that the shootings were a revenge attack on Israeli settlers, following months of increased restrictions at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and calls from right-wing Jewish groups, urging their supporters to visit the compound, which is venerated by Jews as the Temple Mount.
 

Following the shooting, hundreds of Israeli settlers rioted across the occupied West Bank, with multiple attacks reported on Palestinian homes and vehicles.
 

Palestinian towns and villages in the Nablus area are surrounded by Israeli settlements and outposts, many of which are protected by the Israeli military and have gained notoriety for being comprised of the most extremist settlers.
 

The Palestinian government has no jurisdiction over Israelis in the West Bank, and violent acts carried out by Israeli settlers often occur in the presence of Israeli military forces who rarely act to protect Palestinian residents.
 

Palestinians are therefore left to fend for themselves as few options for their personal security remain.
While Israeli forces will detain a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank for possessing a knife or gun, Israelis living in the same area are legally able to carry such weapons.
 

Rights groups have criticized Israel for implementing different legal systems for Palestinians and Israeli settlers living in the same area.
 

Such practices, they say, protect the expansion of settlements while systematically removing the ability for Palestinians to move freely throughout the occupied territory.

As the shades of evening come down

Barricades and mannequins. Life in #Hebron. #Palestine #Israel: image via Mario Kaiser @MarioKaiserNYC, 14 October 2015

 

In Al-Khalil (Hebron) the situation grows gravely worse: International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine, 18 October 2015

After a day of intensified violence in al-Khalil the midnight hour brought horrifying screams for help from local mosques, the screaming sirens of ambulances and clouds of teargas drifting through the streets from Bab al-Zawiya.  Three young Palestinians in Khalil lay dead from multiple gunshot wounds; two killed by Israeli forces and the other felled by the machine gun blasts of several settlers who shouted, “Arab! Arab!” before unleashing a stream of bullets into his body. The toll of Palestinian deaths has climbed to 43 in just 18 days, along with over 1900 injured.

Earlier in the day, Palestinian youth Fadel al-Qawasmeh walked in the area on Shuhada Street not segregated for the benefit of Israeli settlers.  Passing settlers as an Arab, was enough of a ‘crime’ for the point-blank, execution style shooting the 18 year old endured, only to be packaged and stamped as another Arab ‘terrorist’ when officials at the scene determined the boy had a knife.

Fadel’s case would have been the latest in a string of Israeli murders of Palestinians who supposedly had attempted knife attacks if it hadn’t happened just a few hours later just down the street from the site.  Also if he actually had a knife, which eye witnesses verified he did not and which video released by the Palestinian organization Youth Against Settlements seemed to corroborate when video taken at the scene shows one Israeli soldier handing something to another soldier standing over the boy’s body and then the soldier placing the object near him.

In the immediate aftermath of the killing, when Israeli forces should have been utilizing photo and video evidence from witnesses at the scene as well as eyewitness testimony, rather, they went on the attack. Palestinians in a home directly near the site of the killing had their home raided, terrifying the families inside and had their phones and computers confiscated only for settlers who were allowed to wander freely on the scene to be given glimpse of the evidence against them.  

And while a member of Youth Against Settlements who was filming was detained while his evidence was confiscated and evaluated, settlers were allowed to photograph the boy’s bleeding body who received no immediate first aid; a common obscenity between settlers and soldiers of humiliating Palestinians as they lay dying. Settlers served tea and snacks on the scene.

Just hours later, near the Ibrahimi Mosque, 16-year old Palestinian teenager Bayan Eiseleh was seen and photographed by a witness as she was being screamed at in Hebrew by Israeli soldiers.  The photograph shows Bayan with her hands up, holding nothing.  The witness reported that Bayan backed away in horror as the shouting continued. Minutes later, she was bleeding on the ground after Israeli forces fired multiple shots into the unarmed woman.  And no matter how much evidence there is to the contrary, Bayan joins the numerous others described in headlines across the world as another Palestinian who attempted a stabbing on an Israeli soldier; and as Netanyahu described their deaths, she committed suicide. These are the post death wounds inflicted by those who already inflicted wounds on them across a lifetime of occupation and subjugation.

Just after the sun went down, on Shuhada Street, Israeli forces shot and killed Tarek an-Natseh after he failed to follow their orders to stop. He jumped on one of the soldiers, unarmed according to an eyewitness at the scene, and was then shot, “again and again and again.”  This brings up an issue that must be looked at in a very real way before the death toll climbs above the already staggering number of 43 where it currently sits. 

Excessive force. Are the countless ways to incapacitate someone you feel is a threat being completely abandoned? Seemingly yes.

Immediately after the shooting, settlers, who were celebrating in a frenzy on Shuhada Street, prevented the ambulance carrying Tarek’s body from leaving the scene. Some even laid on the ground to prevent the emergency vehicle from getting the critically injured and dying man to the hospital. Tarek would die soon after.

Ambulance carrying dying Palestinian prevented from leaving Shuhada Street by frenzied settlers: photo via ISM, 18 October 2015

 

Into the late night hours, clashes raged in Bab al-Zawiya as the Tel Rumeida neighborhood went on lockdown. No one was allowed to leave their homes and several were threatened at gunpoint to stop looking out of their windows. Meanwhile gunshots blasted periodically outside.

Settlers cut the fence that separates the illegal Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arab from nearby Palestinian homes, and nearly two hundred settlers went on a violent rampage, attacking the Palestinian villages of Wad al-Huseen and Wad al-Nasara with firebombs and stones, prompting the mosques desperate yells for assistance for the Daana family, whose home was attacked by dozens of Israeli settlers who then injured at least three of her neighbors who have been identified as 40-year-old Imad and two minors, Abdullah, 13, and Muhammad, 17.

As morning approached, new ‘security measures’ have been enacted, including the deployment of numerous Israeli forces throughout Khalil, who are, alongside settlers, the main aggressors and instigators of violence against Palestinians.  The security measures have not meant any change for settlers who are privy to wander like tourists across crime scenes where Palestinian bodies lay dying. Nor have they meant the body and bag searches that every single Palestinian passing through al-Khalil streets have been subjected to, nor the humiliation of dropping your belongings on the ground before a group of sneering Israeli soldiers and backing away with your hands up while they search your personal items and then toss them smugly back at you.

A bag search in al-Khalil: photo via ISM, 18 October 2015

These are the new ‘security measures’ that Netanyahu has called for in al-Khalil.  They spell out the furtherance of violence, dehumanization and unbridled terror against an already occupied people.

Palestinian man being body searched this morning in Tel Rumeida as part of new ‘security measures’ in Khalil: photo via ISM, 18 October 2015

As of the writing of this report, Israeli forces have been consistently firing teargas, stun grenades and rubber coated steel bullets for hours from the roofs of Palestinian homes.

Blood in the street

Key witnesses to #Hebron shooting arrested, cameras confiscated via @KhamakarPress: image via paolo for #Gaza @PSogeco, 18 October 2015

 

Key witnesses to Hebron shooting arrested, cameras confiscated: Henny A.J. Kreeft, Khamakar Press, 17 October 2015

At least three witnesses to the fatal shooting of a Palestinian teenager this morning (Saturday) have been arrested by Israeli forces.

Ma’an news agency have reported that Mufeed Sharbati, an eyewitness and an Arab resident of Hebron where the incident took place, has been detained.

Israeli forces raided his home and confiscated a laptop, a video camera, and a stills camera.

Sources on Facebook also revealed that Ahmad Amr, media coordinator of campaign group Youth Against Settlements, was also arrested.

In the shadows: scene of fatal shooting of Fadil al-Qawasm in Hebron: image via Khamakar Press, 17 October 2015

The group had posted online video footage of soldiers and a settler surrounding 18-year old Fadil al-Qawasm, who was killed after the settler shot him.

And Christian Peacemaker Teams, a charity that escorts Palestinian children to school to ensure their safety, also said that a female member of their team was arrested by IOF troops and her camera was confiscated after she posted a photograph on Instagram.

An Israeli spokesman claimed that Fadil had tried to stab the settler, but social media is teeming with speculation that he was unarmed, with many claiming video footage shows a knife was “planted” on him after his death by Israeli troops.

PNN has inspected the footage, which is blurry and taken from some distance. One soldier is seen being handed an object by another soldier who then turns back towards the body. A third soldier then walks near to them, which blocks the view from the video camera. We have concluded it is impossible to tell what the object is from the footage alone.

Both groups often document incidents on Shuhada Street, where the Hebron attack took place.

The street is a hotbed of tension in the Old City.

Most of the residents are Jewish settlers, numbering around 600. They are allowed to walk freely on the street, whereas Palestinians must pass through an Israeli military checkpoint with a metal detector.

Key witnesses to #Hebron shooting arrested, cameras confiscated via @KhamakarPress: image via paolo for #Gaza @PSogeco, 18 October 2015

Back to work on the mural. Photo: @ObeyClothing #ObeyGiant #Obey #JerseyCity: image via Shepard Fairey @OBEYGIANT, 15 September 2015