Amid destruction, school resumes

Posted on the ISM webpage: January 27, 2009

“We have no bathroom, how can we wash ourselves? How can we go to school looking like this?”, implored 13 year-old Shaima al Samouni. It’s a pertinent question, given that schools reopened two days ago for the first time since the Israeli attacks on Gaza started.

With 29 family members killed during the attacks on the Zaytoun neighbourhood in Gaza city, however, it seems a strange concern. But life marches on, and the other children have gone back to school. Tugging at the clothes they were wearing, the children explain that, now, three weeks after their homes were destroyed, what they’re wearing is all they have. And, it seems, they’re not going to school wearing that.

They take us across the dirt, to a half-bombed house. On the way, we walk over the foundations of what used to be the house of Majid al Samouni and his family. The children stop to show us a drum of olives (zaytoun) that was destroyed. We pass by the carcass of a large sheep. Shot by the Israeli army. They show us their two pretty donkeys. “Donkeys quais”, I say in broken Arabic, relieved that they’re not taking us to more animal corpses. There used to be nine donkeys, they explain. But the Israeli soldiers shot seven of them. Then my colleague points out the gaping hole in the shoulder of the brown donkey - also shot by the Israeli army. Donkey mish quais.

One of the young girls, who is nine years old, is desperate for me to understand the extent to which their lives were destroyed. Not in terms of life lost, but livelihood. “Bas al shugul - al ard. Bas” (The land is the only work we have), and the land is totally destroyed. The children catalogue the types of fruit trees they had - lemon, guava, orange, mandarin, and the ubiquitous olive. They don’t talk about the battery-chicken shed that is crushed, chickens still in cages. When i finally ask just how many chickens there were, I find it difficult to believe the answer - two thousand chickens.

Her older cousin goes to great lengths to tell me repeatedly, at every opportunity, that they were just farmers, not Hamas. I know, I reply.

Inside the half-destroyed house, there is a clamour to show all of the atrocities crowded into one small space. Some of the children explain that their mother had given birth during the bombing, how they had to burn a knife over a candle to cut the umbilical cord. And about how their two-year-old sister was wounded on her face - lacerations from her eye across and down her cheek. Others point to where shells entered the house, some still stuck in the walls. They tell us how the soldiers had occupied the house, after the family had evacuated it. How they came back to find everything on the ground, including the Qu’ran. Then, worse, how one Qu’ran had been defecated on. Haram, was all I could say. I took photos somewhat helplessly, of everything they showed me. I’m well-practiced at documenting damage Israeli soldiers have done to Palestinian homes. And the families always seem to feel better if you take photos of everything. But the ridiculousness of what I was doing - taking photos of small holes in walls when half of the house was missing - hit, and I put the camera down.

A couple of the children - the ones who had been telling me that they were all farmers, and just farmers - led me around the corner to a house they said belonged to Arafat al Samouni. The house was leveled, just a small tarp erected in the middle of the debris. “Sleep here” one of the children informed. 10 people killed in that house. Just one left, seemingly. Haram.

I wanted to ask the children about their parents. I know at least some of them have surviving parents, saw them with their mother. Heard them talk about her. But I’m too scared to ask. I don’t want to hear a small child have to tell me that its parent or parents are dead. There’s so much I can’t bring myself to ask. I’ve taken a lot of reports in Palestine. I know how it goes. What you need to ask. What information is vital. I know it so well I don’t even need to think about it. I can ask with sympathy about how Israeli soldiers invaded a family home; beat people; abducted their children. But this is something else entirely. Here and now, such questions seem vile. I just want to hang out with the children. Let them show me what they want to show me. Listen to them talk.

While we’re hanging out with these kids, our friends encounter one of their cousins who watched both of her parents die when Israeli soldiers bombed a house that they had told everyone from neighbouring houses to shelter in. Later, watching the video they took, we’re all shocked by the confident way Mona talks about the night when so many from her extended family were killed. About how she watched her parents die, before the rest of the family ran from the house, in all directions, whilst they were being fired upon by the soldiers. How composed she is as she recalls how they ran to her school, which she had previously believed was a long way from here house. How she couldn’t believe she had walked all that way. How it didn’t seem like a long distance. And about how here grandparents told her that it was because they were scared and running that she didn’t notice the distance.

We’re not the only foreigners visiting this area - the al Samouni family have become famous for the tragedy they’ve endured. Teams of international journalists traipse around the dirt mounds and debris, making it seem like a macabre tourist attraction. “This is why the children don’t seem sad”, a local friend suggests later, while we watch Mona’s video. “When all the journalists leave, then they will feel sad”.

Driving back down the road towards Gaza city, we pass building after building bearing signs of shelling and bombing. Metre-wide holes punched through walls - some covered in plastic; a few already bricked in; most still open wounds in the masonry. It looks to me as though tanks drove down the street we now drive on, pausing to shell every apartment block and house they passed. As though for fun. It’s an idea I can’t get out of my mind. The possibility, that a large proportion of what the al Samounis and other families in Gaza have endured over the past month was done for kicks, haunts me.

Tara Jensen is an Australian Human Rights Volunteer in Gaza.

More dead and injured Palestinians in the border areas despite the ceasefire

Extract from the PCHR weekly report No. 03/2009 15- 21 January 2009

Sunday, 18 January 2009

At approximately 10:40, IOF troops positioned at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel opened fire at Palestinian civilians who were checking their homes and agricultural land following the declaration of the ceasefire. As a result, Maher 'Abdul 'Azim Abu Rjaila, 23, was killed by a gunshot to the chest and shrapnel to the limbs.

At approximately 08:30, an IOF drone fired two missiles at a number of Palestinian civilians in al-Amal quarter in the east of Beit Hanoun. As a result, a woman and a child were seriously wounded. The child, 11-year-old Angham Ra'fat al-Masri, died of her wound later. The woman's leg was amputated.

Tuesday, 20 January 2009

· At approximately 13:00, IOF troops positioned at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, east of Khan Yunis, opened fired at Palestinian houses in al-Qarara village. As a result, Waleed 'Abdul Rahim al-Astal, 42, was wounded by a gunshot to the right foot.

· At approximately 14:25, Adam Mahmoud al-Najjar, 7, was admitted into Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis. He was wounded by shrapnel throughout the body from a suspicious object left by IOF that had moved into al-Najjar area in Khuza'a village, east of Khan Yunis, on 13 January 2009.

“It was the hardest day of our lives”

Posted on the ISM webpage: January 16, 2009

Wednesday 14th January, 2009

In an escalation of the ground offensive in the south of Gaza, Israeli forces terrorised the population of Khoza’a, a small rural community east of Khan Younis. They entered the area at about 3.00am on the morning of Tuesday 13th January in an incursion lasting until Tuesday evening. This follows heavy missile strikes on Khoza’a in recent days, notably on Saturday 10th January.

According to a local municipality official, approximately 50 homes were bulldozed along with farmland, olive and citrus groves. The scent of lemons could faintly be determined whilst navigating the wreckage, emanating from so many mangled trees. A family explained how their home was demolished with them inside it. They sheltered in the basement as the upper storeys were destroyed. Later they realized the basement itself was being attacked and narrowly missed being crushed to death by escaping through a small hole in the debris.

Iman Al-Najar was with her family in their home when military D-9 bulldozers began to demolish it. They managed to escape and Iman then encouraged some of her neighbours to try to leave the vicinity. The group of women were instructed by Israeli soldiers to leave by a particular street. They had children with them and carried white flags, yet when they reached the street Israeli special forces concealed in a building opened fire on them and shot 50 year-old Rowhiya Al-Najar. The other women desperately tried to rescue her but the gunfire was too heavy and they had to flee for their lives. An ambulance was also prevented from reaching her and she bled to death in the street.

Meanwhile Iman and about 200 other residents whose homes had been destroyed had gathered near her uncle’s house which was protecting them to some degree from the shooting. However, this area in turn was also attacked. Iman described how the bulldozers began piling debris up around them, effectively creating a giant hole that they were standing in. They were literally about to be buried alive. By some miracle they managed to also escape from this situation by crawling on their hands and knees for about 150 metres. It was extremely difficult for them to move, especially with the injured and the elderly.

The terrified residents then sought sanctuary at a local UNRWA school. But when they got there missiles were being fired around it and they had to retreat. Finally they managed to leave the area entirely and walked several kilometres to where friends were able to pick them up. Iman’s 14 year-old brother Mohammed was missing for 12 hours and she feared he was dead. He had been detained by soldiers in a house along with a neighbour who had begged to be let out to find her children but was not allowed to do so. When the soldiers had shot Rowhiya Al-Najar, Mohammed said they had been singing and dancing and forced him to do the same. When he refused, they threatened to shoot him too.

“It was the hardest day of our lives,” repeated Iman over and over again. She had nothing left in the world but the clothes she was standing up in, but under the circumstances she was lucky to escape with her life. As in so many other parts of the Gaza Strip, the atrocities committed against civilians in Khoza’a amount to war crimes.

Missiles believed to contain white phosphor were deployed by the Israeli military during this attack. ISM volunteers photographed a fist-sized lump of flaming material found on the ground next to a burnt-out home. It was still burning from the previous day. The only way to extinguish it was to bury it, but it would instantly re-ignite if uncovered. It was giving off a thick grey smoke with a foul stench. Doctors at the Al Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, which received 50 casualties that day from Khoza’a, described serious chemical burns and victims being covered in a white powder which continued to burn them. Many people were also suffering from serious breathing difficulties after inhaling smoke emitted by this weapon.

Dr. Ahmed Almi, a member of the delegation of Egyptian doctors who finally gained entry to the strip to support Gazan hospitals during the crisis, outlined some of the most serious cases. Four of them died in the hospital after doctors battled to save them. He commented that some of the injuries were so horrific they must have been inflicted by abnormal munitions. He gave the example of a man who had been shot and sustained a small entry wound but massive exit wound, 40-50 cm wide. 13 people were killed overall during this incursion according to medical sources.

Before the Israeli war on Gaza began, the ISM team here had been working with the farming community in Khoza’a, accompanying local farmers as they succeeded to access their land to plant winter wheat. The IOF had prevented them from reaching their fields, in some cases for over five years. Israeli soldiers shot at them, even during the ceasefire. The same ceasefire which Israel claims was broken by Palestinians.

Journal: Tuesday by the sea

Posted on the ISM webpage on: December 31, 2008

By Sharon in Gaza

To view Sharon’s blog please click here

Last night was a hectic scramble to get to our Jabaliya house soon after dark; the further into the night, the greater the danger. On Sunday night, other commitments had delayed us, and then over the phone the family said any car on the road late would for sure be hit and they couldn’t bear any more loss, even new friends like us. So we arrived at about 6 yesterday evening, and F told us they hadn’t spent more than brief moments up from the basement that day, since heavy bombing had begun at 5am.

The night was manageable; an Apache helicopter seemed perched above the house for a lot of it, but that meant it was firing rockets away from us. Nearer to morning we had some hours of it being the other way round and the explosions being pretty loud. During the night, the Islamic University was bombed for a second time, and the port continued to receive attacks - as did pretty much all Gaza.

In the morning we went to document some of the attacks of the preceding 48 hours about which F had told us. Fairly soon after we’d left, we heard the “whoosh” of a rocket (gives you long enough to worry but not long enough to get away), heard the impact and saw smoke rise, from the direction of the house we’d just left. E phoned F and found it had fallen beside the one from Saturday night, everyone was alright, but upset and scared.

Continuing along the road, we saw the destroyed truck in which the father and five sons of the Samoor family were killed at 4pm Monday afternoon, as they went to pick up metal for repairs to damaged buildings. An eyewitness described how seeing this event from their nearby house had affected his children.

We continued on to the bombed out shell of a washing machine shop and a carpentry workshop, the rockets had destroyed some of the next door home furnishings shop, as well as blown holes in at least 3 neighbouring houses. The Abdul Hakim Eid and Eid Said Eid families’ children of 4 months, 4 and 6, were injured in the attack. In the Akram Al Kanwa’s family of 10 children, 7 were injured; 2 remain in hospital. An acrid aroma was in the air from the resulting chemical fire which had taken 13 hours to put out.

We were then taken to a chicken farm, which was simply a ground area underneath a building, open to the outside, with sawdust laid down, quite a nice place for chickens under normal circumstances, but that was no longer what they had. Either from shock or a physical effect of a nearby explosion 3 days ago, 11,000 were dead. The remaining 1,000 wandered about among the bodies, which the farmer was raking up and putting into bags to remove. Vegans look away - that’s 11,000 less dinners for Gaza families, not even counting the eggs.

Jameel Abdullah, with his sons Faisal and Abdullah, aged 5 and 2, showed us the huge crater in a field next to their house from a Sunday attack, which probably by design had destroyed a drinking water pipe. Other local people told us of the deaths of 12 teenagers during the day as they foraged for wood to burn. And while we were listening to this, EJ called from Beit Hanoun hospital. She, A and M had witnessed the arrival of 10 year old Ismail, Lamer aged 4, and Haya aged 12, from the Hamadan family, bombed that morning as they went to put out the rubbish. They recorded as the doctors tried, and failed, to get Haya breathing again. Lamer died later in the hospital, and Ismail survived.

(I will not put the picture that goes with this story here until later, because it will appear first on the front of a major Spanish newspaper, contributing to a Palestinian friend’s meager income.) Incidentally, they said they could only accept for publication a picture of someone dead if their eyes are closed. We talked a little about that this evening. E and I think, if a child’s parents have to see her dead without “sanitization”, then so should we all.

At Al Shifa hospital today, Dr Halid gave us a crash course in first aid, for if we are riding in ambulances or on the scene of an attack before one, and we got to stick cannulas in each other. As is traditional in such trainings, the biggest and strongest person - V - turned the faintest. Dr Halid told us they now had 29 ventilators in the ICU. Normally they have 12, but as the hospital worst-injured people are transfered to, they’ve grabbed more from other hospitals, and now there are only a handful anywhere else. So basically only about 35 patients in all of Gaza (1.5 million people, remember) can be kept alive if they arrive unconscious and need ventilators. Even if someone only needs a day for her body to regain its basic functions, if there is no ventilator free, that is a day too much.

He told us also that yesterday, someone purporting to be from the “Israeli Defence Forces” rang Al Shifa to say it must be evacuated as it would be bombed. Al Shifa refused out of principle and of necessity. There is no-where else to evacuate patients to. Sometimes these are hoaxes. Sometimes not - the same threat by phone was made in the last days to people in their homes. They left. The homes were bombed.

Today has felt quite strained. I find by the afternoon, I greatly need to download all the experiences and information I have gathered from evening, night, and morning. Otherwise there is no room in my head. But today, one cafe with net didn’t have net. And then I got to the next one and the phone didn’t stop ringing for an hour for long enough for me to even order food, let alone begin to type. And then when I got back there after hospital training, the cafe (perhaps because it is usually occupied by a handful of journalists) had its own bomb threat and we all got unceremoniously chucked out. Our other two net cafe places have given up altogether and closed.

This morning also, we heard that the Dignity - which I forgot to tell you yesterday was attempting an emergency run to Gaza for today - had been confronted by 11 Israeli gun ships in international waters at 5am today, 90 miles from Gaza and 45 miles off the coat of Israel. The gun boats told them that they had to go back to Cyprus or Israel would stop them because “they were carrying terrorists”. (You can see the passenger list at www.freegaza.org). Dignity folks replied they would not be stopping, and gun boats responding by opening fire on them and ramming them.

This damaged the engine and breached the hull, causing the Dignity to start taking on water, so they put out an SOS call. Cyprus FreeGaza folks lost contact with them for a while, but later heard that they had fixed the engine to some extent and were limping towards Lebanon port, welcomed by the authorities there, and now we understand they have arrived safe. And bless them, plan to find a new boat and try again asap.

Right now, we are working in a seafront apartment, which appears to be the only place in all of Gaza tonight with both electricity and internet.

8.40pm as I type. Whistling of shell from the sea. Phone check - prime minister’s office totally destroyed.

5 minutes ago. Another whistle. I duck this time. (yeah, like that would help.)

Just now; much closer - we hear the crack of the explosion. After some thought, we move out of the front room.

Anyway, I’ll - hmm, that one shook the building.

In the interviews I’ve been doing, they keep asking me - so are you in a safe place right now? And I answer - right now, there is no such place in the whole of Gaza.

ISM Gaza Strip: IOF bulldozers and tank on Gazan land east of Khan Younis

Posted on the ISM webpage on: November 30, 2008

On Thursday the 27th of November a group of ISM volunteers who were accompanying farmers and monitoring the situation in Khouza’a east of Khan Younis, observed a concentration of IOF (Israeli Occupation Forces) behind the Green Line. At about 10.15 a.m. two D-9 armoured bulldozers and a tank crossed the fence and entered the Gaza Strip. Farmers in Khouza’a stopped working in their fields and started to return home. ISM volunteers accompanied them and in the same time were taking footage proving the incident.

The IOF forces entered for about 100 to 150 metres and started to move northbound along the Green Line towards Al Faraheen, whilst approaching Palestinian houses and the school in Khouza’a. The Israeli bulldozers were destroying whatever lay in their path along this stretch of Palestinian land, although most of it is not worked by Palestinian farmers as they are prevented from reaching it by IOF shooting.

By the time the two bulldozers and the tank reached Al Faraheen, they were supported by at least two more tanks behind the fence. Together they continued their operation towards Al Qerrara. According to Palestinian residents, this type of military activity inside the Gaza Strip is not unusual, even in the time of ceasefire; however this was the third consecutive day that it was repeated in the area east of Khan Younis.

ISM Gaza Strip: Shots against farmers and internationals in Al Faraheen

Posted on the ISM webpage on: November 25, 2008

In the morning of Sunday the 23rd of November, several international human rights observers accompanied Palestinian farmers to plough their field close to the green line, in the village of Al Faraheen, east of Khan Younis. At about 10 o’ clock Israeli soldiers behind the fence started to shoot. A tank could also be seen moving in the area behind the fence. The international HROs used their megaphones to communicate the international presence and to demand that the shooting cease immediately.

The Palestinian farmers decided to postpone the work. The international HROs remained in their positions till the moment that it seemed that the shooting has stopped. Then they accompanied the Palestinian farmers towards their houses. At some point there was some more shots, probably against one of the Palestinian residents who had left the group, following the path to his house, cross the field. The international HROs immediately positioned themselves between him and the green line, from were the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) soldiers were shooting, until he left the area. Despite the fact that the agricultural work was not concluded, the international presence may have prevented a more serious attack like the ones that often occur all along the Green Line, leaving Palestinian civilians injured or even dead. (An incident like that was reported on the 24th of November, at the northern border of Gaza strip, where a Palestinian civilian was shot in the leg by Israeli troops).

The internationals remained in Al Faraheen and accompanied another Palestinian family who lives near the Green Line and has repeatedly suffered attacks from the IOF before. For a while, they accompanied the family and their friends during their work in the vegetable garden right beside the house, where they have been attacked by the Israeli army many times in the past. Some of the internationals continued the accompaniment for the rest of the day and throughout the night, until the next morning. No other incidents were reported.

Weed pulling threatens armed Israeli soldiers

Posted on the ISM webpage on: November 17, 2008

By Donna Wallach

Al-Faraheen, Abasan Al-Kabeera, Gaza Strip, Palestine, 12th November 2008

On Wednesday 12th November, five international volunteer Human Rights Observers, most of them members of ISM Gaza Strip, went to Al-Faraheen, east of Khan Younis to pull weeds in the radish garden at the farm of Jaber Abu-Rageliyah and Leila Abu-Daga and their five children, and to establish an international presence. They live on a farm just 700 meters from the fence which separates Gaza Strip, Palestine from Israel. It is a very dangerous area for them to live and farm.

On 1st May 2008 Israeli occupation force soldiers invaded Al-Faraheen Abasan Al-Kabeera and destroyed all the trees, crops and chickens on Jaber’s farm – ruining his livelihood and denying him and his family the healthy organically homegrown food they eat. Israeli occupation force soldiers have been destroying farms all along the eastern border of the Gaza Strip, 300 – 500 meters deep, to enforce an arbitrarily declared “Buffer Zone”. Every tree, every crop, every chicken farm, every sheep farm and every hot house within this area bulldozed, demolished destroyed – this agriculturally rich soil made into a desert for hundreds, if not thousands, of Palestinian farmers. They are still denied their right to farm their lands and are often shot at when attempting to. Jaber has been shot at numerous times in the past weeks for weeding his now tiny garden just 100 meters from his farmhouse.

On this warm autumn day, a few volunteers arrived early and met Jaber waiting at the gate outside the temporary house where his wife and daughters spend the night. The windows to the farmhouse have been shot out and it is now too cold for them to sleep there. Jaber and his young son sleep in the farmhouse each night to establish their presence and to protect it from possible demolition.

Leila and the two youngest daughters greeted their guests and in traditional Palestinian hospitality invited them to a delicious breakfast of yogurt, olives, babaganooz, homemade bread, hawayig (a special Palestinian jam) and of course very sweet tea. Finally it was time to go to work, pulling weeds in the radish garden.

As soon as the volunteers began pulling weeds they witnessed at least three jeeps driven by Israeli occupation force soldiers on the road along the border fence. The soldiers often stop their jeeps, get out and lie on the ground and shoot at unarmed Palestinian farmers who have come to their fields to work. All the farmers are struggling to return to their farms to provide a livelihood and sustenance for their families. There are also towers built every 5 kilometers along this fence and armed Israeli occupation force soldiers sit in these towers and shoot at and spy on Palestinians who live in the area.

Very soon more HRO volunteers arrived and joined the weed pullers. After a while amidst the chatter, the newer volunteers wanted to see the banner hung on the destroyed chicken-house, next to the radish garden, it says “International Presence” in big black letters. The banner is hung each time the volunteers come to the farm. This day, as the volunteers stood looking out towards the destroyed fields and the border fence, they noticed that soldiers had gotten out of the jeeps. Almost immediately the soldiers opened fire. One of the volunteers quickly went to get the bright yellow reflective vests that some of them wear when they work in the fields in the “Buffer Zone”. Two volunteers used the bullhorns they had brought and were yelling to the Israeli soldiers: “Stop shooting!” “We are unarmed!” “Palestinian farmers have the right to farm their land!” This time the shooting only lasted a few minutes.

Soon-after the HRO volunteers noticed lots of gunfire and explosions in El-Gerrara, another small farming community to the north of Al-Faraheen. Then they heard and saw two helicopters in the sky. A quick phone call revealed that special forces of the Israeli occupation force army had invaded El-Gerrara and the resistance fighters were battling against the invasion, to protect the people and the land from this illegal incursion. Later on the volunteers learned that four young Palestinian men had lost their lives defending the lives and the land of El-Gerrara – all were deeply loved by their families and friends who are now mourning over this very big loss and sacrifice. All the men were 30 years old and younger and were married with young children at home.

As soon as the shooting and explosions were over, all the volunteers, Jaber, and his friends resumed pulling weeds, but much time had passed and soon the Human Rights Observer volunteers had to leave. Only half of the radish garden had been weeded. There were enough volunteers to have finished the weeding that day, but too much time was wasted during the shooting. Such is the every day existence of the Palestinians, life is always interrupted by the Israeli occupation force soldiers, the occupation and the siege.

ISM Gaza: Resistance is plowing the fields of Fukharee

Posted on the ISM webpage on: November 12, 2008

Fukharee, Gaza Strip, Palestine, 11th November 2008

By Donna Wallach

On Tuesday 11th November 2008, four international Human Rights Observers accompanied some farmers to plow their fields for wheat, rye and lentils. The day started out with a long walk to the field. As in previous accompaniments to the “Buffer Zone”, the fields waiting to be plowed were close to the fence separating Palestinians farm lands from Israel.The farm lands of the Gaza Strip located on the eastern border have been turned into a desert by the Israeli occupation force army - destroying all the crops, trees and hot houses that existed 300 – 500 meters inside.

Tuesday’s accompaniment enabled a few Palestinian farmers to plow their lands – something they haven’t been able to do for at least 5 years! If they go by themselves to their fields they are shot at and face imminent death or permanent injury. When international HRO volunteers are out in the fields alongside the Palestinian farmers, the Israeli occupation force soldiers seem to be more reluctant to shoot to kill or to wound and maim.

The work began at 09:30 and by around 10:30 the Israeli occupation force soldiers drove up to the fence in three jeeps. After about 15 minutes of standing the soldiers started shooting their rifles, at first a few shots into the air and then above the heads of the volunteers – it was only a few shots. The tractor driver immediately left the field when the shooting started, to make sure the tractor wouldn’t be damaged. The volunteers and the farmers stood together in defiance of the soldiers shooting at unarmed civilians. Soon the tractor came back to the field and the driver accompanied by the Human Rights Observer resumed plowing.

At around 11:40 the volunteers walked to a nearby field and accompanied another farmer to plow 12 dunams of his land.This time without the soldiers or the gunshots.

The next field was the largest, 50 dunams, and took the longest. At around 14:15, when most of the field had been plowed, three jeeps again drove up to the fence and soldiers got out with their guns and shot a few shots. The volunteers yelled at the soldiers “Stop shooting!” “We are unarmed” “We are on Palestinian land.” “The Palestinians have the right to farm on their land.” The shooting didn’t last long and soon the soldiers got into their jeeps and drove away. The Israeli occupation force soldiers had been watching all day, from before their first attack in the morning. It was a rather ridiculous action on their part to drive up in three jeeps and open fire again when it was so clear that all were unarmed and were just farming.

The loud outcry of outrage at denying farmers to farm their lands and provide a livelihood for their families and to feed the people is overwhelmingly silent! The time is now to roar at the injustice. It is an act of terrorism to shoot at a farmer holding a pail of seeds as he or she sows the fields or at a tractor driver plowing the earth so that the seeds can bury themselves into the dirt and become the food of sustenance.

It was a major victory for the farmers of Fukharee – 72 dunams of land were plowed. The lentils will be ready for harvest in a month and a half, the rye soon after in three months, and the wheat will be ready in the spring, five months from now. What a difference to look out into the fields and see freshly plowed rows and no longer the desert-like fields of weeds and sticker bushes.

ISM Gaza Strip: Sowing lentils, reaping bullets, in Khouza’a, Gaza Strip

Posted on the ISM webpage: November 7, 2008

Khouza’a, Gaza Strip, Palestine, 6th November 2008:

By Donna Wallach

A number of Palestinian farmers went to their fields yesterday (6th November) to sow seeds for crops of wheat, lentils and rye to be harvested in the spring. Some internationals, volunteering with ISM Gaza, accompanied the farmers as they worked – the first time in five years for most, if not all of these, farmers.

The Palestinian farmers brought buckets filled with seeds, and the ISM volunteers walked with them up and down and across the land, sowing the seeds. Once the first plot of land had been sown a farmer with a tractor came and plowed the seeds into the land. Of course it wasn’t the way they would plant their crops if they could have the best circumstances. The land was full of weeds and thorns and not really prepared for sowing seeds – however, considering that the farmers are shot at whenever they go to their land, they need to plant their crops in the quickest way possible.

Soon after the farmers started sowing their seeds, two Israeli occupation force jeeps drove to the fence and across from the field that was being worked soldiers got out of the jeeps and lay down on the ground aiming their guns. The Palestinian farmers saw the jeeps and the soldiers and continued to work their land. After these farmers finished sowing seeds another farmer came with his tractor and started plowing the field. It wasn’t long before the Israeli occupation force soldiers started shooting. At first their shots were in the air, but very quickly the soldiers were shooting directly at the Palestinian farmers and at the ISM volunteers. The farmers quickly left the field. The ISM volunteers remained with their arms raised and yelled to the soldiers to stop shooting – bullets were landing within two to three feet where the volunteers were standing and some heard bullets
whistling past their ears.

Another larger jeep type vehicle arrived and at least 10 more Israeli occupation force soldiers got out. Four of them walked towards the border fence and positioned themselves close to it, clearly a sign that they knew there was no danger to them from the Palestinian side. The gunfire continued off and on and the ISM volunteers continued shouting to the soldiers “Stop! Stop shooting!”. The volunteers were also making phone calls to the ISM West Bank media office, journalists, their friends and their consulates. They were also receiving phone calls, one volunteer was called by friend who had heard on the radio that Palestinian farmers and ISM volunteers were being shot at in Khouza’a. Finally, after a few hours had passed, the soldiers got into the jeeps and they left. The ISM volunteers remained in the field for at least ten minutes and then took a short break.

During this entire time, since the morning, Israeli farmers had been farming their land, one was driving his tractor right up against the fence – it was crystal clear there was no danger to the Israeli occupation force soldiers or to the farmers. In fact, the Israeli farmers remained working their land the entire day, even while bullets were flying over the heads of the non-violent ISM activists.

During the first break from the onslaught of Israeli gunfire, other Palestinian farmers came to the field and started sowing seeds in another plot of land in the same field. A farmer brought his tractor and started plowing the seeds into the field. By this time Israeli occupation force soldiers returned in a jeep and again they shot at the Palestinian farmers and the accompanying ISM volunteers. The Palestinian farmers left the fields and the ISM volunteers remained. This time when there was calm, more farmers came to the field and started sowing their seeds in their plots of land and a second tractor came and was plowing. At around 1:40pm the Palestinian farmers had finished working this area of land – 15 dunams had been sown and plowed. All the farmers and ISM Gaza Strip volunteers left the fields satisfied of the work accomplished and the volunteers were invited back the following day to work 45 dunams of land in another field with other farmers. It was a good day of solidarity work.

Updated on November 7, 2008

ISM Gaza reports from the Olive Harvest Campaign 2008 in the ‘buffer zone’

Posted on the ISM webpage: November 5, 2008

This is a compilation of reports of Olive Harvest in Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya, 11th, 13th, 16th & 30th October

Video by Fida Qishta

ISM Gaza Strip volunteers living in the Gaza Strip have been assisting farmers living in the Buffer Zone areas of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya with their olive harvest during the month of October. In 2005, Israeli Occupation forces declared a 500 meter wide area, deep into the rich agricultural land of Gaza Strip, as a “Buffer Zone”. The entire Eastern border of Gaza Strip has become a desert in the past few years, while once it fed and sustained the 1.5 million residents, most of it is now empty fields of dirt, with maybe a lone tree, reminding all that the land was once full of olive, clementines, lemon, orange, date and many other trees and crops.

The morning starts off with lots of vibrant singing of Palestinian folk songs and as the day progresses, there is less singing and more chatting back and forth between the olive harvesters. There is always a strong spirit and of course the very welcoming tradition of offering Arabic coffee and tea throughout the day. If the harvest lasts through the lunch time, food is prepared and brought to the field, plastic is spread out on the ground and everyone sits as delicious Palestinian food is served.

Presently it is still dangerous for the Palestinian farmers to go to their land, even just to stand there, the Israeli occupation force soldiers are still based at the borders and they still shoot at farmers seen in the fields. The idea of planting crops to harvest is a dream for the future to many farmers. Yet some farmers have succeeded to replant their olive trees for the third or forth time, and a few very fortunate farmers still have their older olive trees to harvest. It is these farmers the ISM Gaza Strip volunteers have been harvesting olives with, those farmers who have been steadfast in nonviolently resisting the Israeli Occupation and the Siege by continuing to farm under the imminent threat of having all their crops and irrigation systems destroyed yet again.

Some of the groves have been small, maybe half a dozen or so trees and the trees have been young, just a few years old – replanted for the third or forth time. Two groves have been large, with the lucky older trees that have somehow succeeded to survive the death blows of the Israeli bulldozers and tanks and Israeli occupation force soldiers. Three times the ISM volunteers have traveled from Gaza City to Beit Hanoun (11th, 13th, & 30th) and once to Beit Lahiya (16th October), to join the Local Initiative Group to pick the olives, a vital and locally produced food source for the Palestinian people. Olives, olive oil and olive oil soap are traditions of Palestinian livelihood that go back decades. If the Israeli soldiers are not prevented from continuing the destruction of the olive trees, this tradition could be gone forever.