Sunday, May 24, 2009
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Announcement of farmers accompaniment action
On Sunday 24th of May at 7.00am, human rights observers from ISM Gaza Strip will be accompanying farmers in Khoza'a, east of Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza strip, as they harvest crops in the land of Hamdan and Suileman Abu Rok about 300 hundred meters from the Green Line.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Israel destroying Gaza's farmlands
Eva Bartlett, The Electronic Intifada, 22 May 2009
On the morning of 4 May 2009, Israeli troops set fire to Palestinian crops along Gaza's eastern border with Israel. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) reported that 200,000 square meters of crops were destroyed, including wheat and barley ready for harvest, as well as vegetables, olive and pomegranate trees.
Local farmers report that the blaze carried over a four-kilometer stretch on the Palestinian side of the eastern border land. Ibrahim Hassan Safadi, 49, from one of the farming families whose crops were destroyed by the blaze, said that the fires were smoldering until early evening, despite efforts by the fire brigades to extinguish them.
Safadi says he was present when Israeli soldiers fired small bombs into his field, which soon after caught ablaze. He explained that "The Israeli soldiers fired from their jeeps, causing a fire to break out on the land. They burned the wheat, burned the pomegranate trees ... The fire spread across the valley. We called the fire brigades. They came to the area and put out the fire. But in some places the fire started again." According to Safadi, he lost 30,000 square meters to the blaze, including 300 pomegranate trees, 150 olive trees, and wheat.
In the border areas it has long since become nearly impossible to work on the land due to almost daily shooting from the Israeli soldiers. The crops that were burned on 4 May were dried and ready to harvest, meaning that they were extremely flammable.
"It took only three minutes for the fire to destroy 65,000 square meters," said Nahed Jaber Abu Said, whose farmland lies a few kilometers down the road from Safadi. He added that "It was nearly 9am. I was here when the Israeli jeeps came. An Israeli soldier at the fence shot an explosive into our field of wheat. It went up in flames immediately."
Safadi said that the arson attack was the third major time his farm has suffered from an Israeli attack. In previous attacks over the last decade, he explained, Israeli soldiers bulldozed his land, razing his lemon, olive and clementine trees as well as demolishing greenhouses.
"We've suffered great losses. The Israeli soldiers have destroyed so much of our land, trees and equipment. They've cost us a lot of money," he said, citing cumulative losses of $330,000 since 2000 when the heightened invasions began. In the last attack, Safadi said that $130,000 worth of crops, trees and irrigation piping was destroyed.
On top of the destruction, Safadi complains of not being able to replace destroyed items like the plastic hosing used to irrigate his fields. These, along with fertilizers and machinery replacement parts, are banned from entering Gaza due to the Israeli-led and internationally-backed whole-scale siege of the territory.
Abu Said reports losses of $2,000 on one patch of his land alone. "This isn't including the land closest to the border fence," he said. "I'm so sad now, what can I do?"
His experiences also extend beyond the 4 May attacks, and beyond the loss of land. In 2008, Israeli soldiers shot and killed 11 of his sheep and seriously injured a 15-year-old cousin, Jaber, by shooting him in the mouth.
Attacks by Israeli soldiers occur on a near-daily basis along Gaza's borders with Israel. Nearly a decade ago, Israel unilaterally imposed a "buffer" or "no-go" zone solely on the Gaza side of their shared borders. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee, the initial 100-meter "off-limits" area has now extended to one kilometer across much of Gaza's eastern border and two kilometers along the Strip's northern border. FAO further reports that roughly one-third of Gaza's agricultural land lies within the confines of the "buffer zone."
Since the 18 January ceasefire, three Palestinian civilians, including one child, have been killed in the "buffer zone" area from shooting and shelling by Israeli forces. Another 12 Palestinians have been injured, including three children and two women, due to Israeli fire along the border.
In addition to the physical threat and the destruction of agricultural land and equipment, Gaza's farming sector is further devastated by the destruction of what is believed to be hundreds of wells and sources of water and the contamination of farmland due to Israel's invasion of Gaza at the beginning of the year. As reported by the Guardian newspaper in February 2009, these attacks have left nearly 60 percent of Gaza's agricultural land useless.
The consequences of the active destruction of Gaza's farming sector are amplified within the context of Israel's siege and the stagnant state of rebuilding efforts since the ceasefire. With only a trickle of aid entering Gaza and poverty and malnutrition rates soaring, the ability to produce food is all the more vital to Palestinians in Gaza.
All images by Eva Bartlett.
Eva Bartlett is a Canadian human rights advocate and freelancer who arrived in Gaza in November 2008 on the third Free Gaza Movement boat. She has been volunteering with the International Solidarity Movement and documenting Israel's ongoing attacks on Palestinians in Gaza. During Israel's recent assault on Gaza, she and other ISM volunteers accompanied ambulances and documenting the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.
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| A farmer holds crops destroyed by Israeli troops. |
On the morning of 4 May 2009, Israeli troops set fire to Palestinian crops along Gaza's eastern border with Israel. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) reported that 200,000 square meters of crops were destroyed, including wheat and barley ready for harvest, as well as vegetables, olive and pomegranate trees.
Local farmers report that the blaze carried over a four-kilometer stretch on the Palestinian side of the eastern border land. Ibrahim Hassan Safadi, 49, from one of the farming families whose crops were destroyed by the blaze, said that the fires were smoldering until early evening, despite efforts by the fire brigades to extinguish them.
Safadi says he was present when Israeli soldiers fired small bombs into his field, which soon after caught ablaze. He explained that "The Israeli soldiers fired from their jeeps, causing a fire to break out on the land. They burned the wheat, burned the pomegranate trees ... The fire spread across the valley. We called the fire brigades. They came to the area and put out the fire. But in some places the fire started again." According to Safadi, he lost 30,000 square meters to the blaze, including 300 pomegranate trees, 150 olive trees, and wheat.
In the border areas it has long since become nearly impossible to work on the land due to almost daily shooting from the Israeli soldiers. The crops that were burned on 4 May were dried and ready to harvest, meaning that they were extremely flammable.
"It took only three minutes for the fire to destroy 65,000 square meters," said Nahed Jaber Abu Said, whose farmland lies a few kilometers down the road from Safadi. He added that "It was nearly 9am. I was here when the Israeli jeeps came. An Israeli soldier at the fence shot an explosive into our field of wheat. It went up in flames immediately."
Safadi said that the arson attack was the third major time his farm has suffered from an Israeli attack. In previous attacks over the last decade, he explained, Israeli soldiers bulldozed his land, razing his lemon, olive and clementine trees as well as demolishing greenhouses.
"We've suffered great losses. The Israeli soldiers have destroyed so much of our land, trees and equipment. They've cost us a lot of money," he said, citing cumulative losses of $330,000 since 2000 when the heightened invasions began. In the last attack, Safadi said that $130,000 worth of crops, trees and irrigation piping was destroyed.
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| A wheat field destroyed by fire. |
Abu Said reports losses of $2,000 on one patch of his land alone. "This isn't including the land closest to the border fence," he said. "I'm so sad now, what can I do?"
His experiences also extend beyond the 4 May attacks, and beyond the loss of land. In 2008, Israeli soldiers shot and killed 11 of his sheep and seriously injured a 15-year-old cousin, Jaber, by shooting him in the mouth.
Attacks by Israeli soldiers occur on a near-daily basis along Gaza's borders with Israel. Nearly a decade ago, Israel unilaterally imposed a "buffer" or "no-go" zone solely on the Gaza side of their shared borders. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee, the initial 100-meter "off-limits" area has now extended to one kilometer across much of Gaza's eastern border and two kilometers along the Strip's northern border. FAO further reports that roughly one-third of Gaza's agricultural land lies within the confines of the "buffer zone."
Since the 18 January ceasefire, three Palestinian civilians, including one child, have been killed in the "buffer zone" area from shooting and shelling by Israeli forces. Another 12 Palestinians have been injured, including three children and two women, due to Israeli fire along the border.
In addition to the physical threat and the destruction of agricultural land and equipment, Gaza's farming sector is further devastated by the destruction of what is believed to be hundreds of wells and sources of water and the contamination of farmland due to Israel's invasion of Gaza at the beginning of the year. As reported by the Guardian newspaper in February 2009, these attacks have left nearly 60 percent of Gaza's agricultural land useless.
The consequences of the active destruction of Gaza's farming sector are amplified within the context of Israel's siege and the stagnant state of rebuilding efforts since the ceasefire. With only a trickle of aid entering Gaza and poverty and malnutrition rates soaring, the ability to produce food is all the more vital to Palestinians in Gaza.
All images by Eva Bartlett.
Eva Bartlett is a Canadian human rights advocate and freelancer who arrived in Gaza in November 2008 on the third Free Gaza Movement boat. She has been volunteering with the International Solidarity Movement and documenting Israel's ongoing attacks on Palestinians in Gaza. During Israel's recent assault on Gaza, she and other ISM volunteers accompanied ambulances and documenting the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Harvest in the Automated Kill Zone, Part 1 - Khoza'a 21/05/2009
Khoza'a, East of Khan Younis, The Gaza Strip, Palestine, 21st May 2009
Farmers from Khoza'a in the southern Gaza Strip and human rights workers from the International Solidarity Movement harvest wheat in the "buffer zone".
Israeli soldiers, as a matter of policy and from positions on their side of the Green Line, shoot at anyone within this area of the strip. The border area in Khoza'a - like much of the Gaza Strip's boundaries - is further blighted by the presence of automated sentry-guns mounted in huge pill boxes. The guns are fitted with cameras and are remotely controlled by Israeli operators at computer terminals miles away.
The sentry guns and their placement are designed to create an automated kill zone running along the border.
Farmers from Khoza'a in the southern Gaza Strip and human rights workers from the International Solidarity Movement harvest wheat in the "buffer zone".
Israeli soldiers, as a matter of policy and from positions on their side of the Green Line, shoot at anyone within this area of the strip. The border area in Khoza'a - like much of the Gaza Strip's boundaries - is further blighted by the presence of automated sentry-guns mounted in huge pill boxes. The guns are fitted with cameras and are remotely controlled by Israeli operators at computer terminals miles away.
The sentry guns and their placement are designed to create an automated kill zone running along the border.
IOF Injures Farmer in eastern Beit Hanoun
20-5-2009
Al Mezan
At app. 9.40am on 20 May 2009, the IOF opened fire at Palestinian farmers in eastern Beit Hanoun town, injuring Ziad Salem abu Hadayid, 23, with live bullets to his legs. Abu Hadayid was reported to have sustained moderate injuries according to Kamal Odwan hospital.
1 Palestinian wounded, one Israeli rocket hit Gaza
Beit Lahia , north of Gaza
Al Mezan
At app. 9.40am on 20 May 2009, the IOF opened fire at Palestinian farmers in eastern Beit Hanoun town, injuring Ziad Salem abu Hadayid, 23, with live bullets to his legs. Abu Hadayid was reported to have sustained moderate injuries according to Kamal Odwan hospital.
Beit Hanoun man injured by Israeli fire | |||
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1 Palestinian wounded, one Israeli rocket hit Gaza
Gaza, May 20, 2009, (Ramattan)- Israeli troops launched a surface-to-surface rocket east of Gaza while a Palestinian medicals sources said that a Palestinian farmer was wounded by Israeli troops in the north.
Security sources said that the Israeli troops stationed near the borderline with
Palestinian farmer injured by military fire in northern Gaza
Wednesday May 20, 2009 17:02 by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News & Agencies
One Palestinian farmer was reported injured on Wednesday morning by Israeli army fire in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza Strip.
Farmers in northern Gaza (photo courtesy axisoflogic)
Ziyad Haddad, 23, was working on his land when Israeli troops from a nearby military post opened fire at him, witnesses told media. Medical sources announced that Haddad sustained moderate wounds after being hit with multiple rounds in his legs.
The attack came a day after a number of Israeli airstrikes in northern Gaza, which Israeli authorities claim were in response to Palestinian homemade shells fired across the border between Gaza and Israel, although no Palestinian resistance groups would confirm that any shells had been fired.
Beit Hanoun was one of the hardest-hit areas of Israel's January invasion into Gaza, with whole neighborhoods flattened by Israeli air and ground strikes. Palestinian farmers, trying to recover some of their lost crops, have been repeatedly targeted by Israeli forces while working their land.
Israeli military attack on Beit Hanoun wounds Palestinian citizen |
| [ 20/05/2009 - 02:01 PM ] |
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RAFAH, (PIC)-- A Palestinian medical source told the PIC reporter on Wednesday that a Palestinian citizen was moderately wounded when IOF troops bombed his house east of Beit Hanoun town in the Gaza Strip. Israel had been carrying out a series of air raid since last night on different areas in Gaza which led to the injury of four citizens. Israeli air raids were also carried out at night Tuesday on the Palestinian-Egyptian borders, south of Gaza, without any reported injuries and there are expectations that there will be more aerial attacks. In retaliation to these Israeli military attacks, Al-Aqsa Brigades and the popular resistance committees claimed responsibility for firing three mortar shells on the Israeli Moghain military post, east of Al-Maghazi refugee camp. |
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Announcement of farmers accompaniment action
On Thursday 21st of May at 7.00am, human rights observers from ISM Gaza Strip will be accompanying about 10 farmers in Khoza'a, east of Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza strip, as they harvest crops in the land of Hamdan and Suileman Abu Rok about 300 hundred meters from the Green Line. The group will be accompanied by an American photojournalist.
Monday, May 18, 2009
injured Palestinian woman Randa Shalouf interview 9/5/2009
ISM Gaza Strip video. Interview in Abou Yousef An Najar Hospital in Rafah with Randa Shalouf, a palestinian woman from the village of Shawka, est of Rafah, injured on the 7th of May by israeli gunfire in her hand and chest. In the video you can aso see the x-ray photos with the bullet.
Shofa destruction
ISM Gaza Strip video. This is the village of Shofa, east from the town of Rafah, Gaza Strip. About 60 houses demolished by the Israeli occupation forces, during the recent war. People living in tents. Part of their agricultural land also destroyed. Palestinian farmers told us that after 5 pm they need to leave their fields because the Israeli troops along the Green Line, start to shoot.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
PCHR report 7/5-13/5/2009: 1 woman injured near the Green Line
extract from PCHR weekly report No 19/2009 ( 7/5-13/5/2009)
Thursday, 07 May 2009
At approximately 09:00, IOF troops positioned along the Green Line to the southeast of al-Shouka village, in the southern Gaza Strip, opened fire at Palestinian houses in the village. As a result, Randa 'Abdullah Shallouf, 32, was moderately wounded by a gunshot to the chest.
Sunday, 10 May 2009
At approximately 20:30, IOF troops positioned at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel opened fire at Palestinian houses in the al-Amal neighborhood, east of the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun. No casualties were reported, but Palestinian civilians were extremely terrified.
Thursday, 07 May 2009
At approximately 09:00, IOF troops positioned along the Green Line to the southeast of al-Shouka village, in the southern Gaza Strip, opened fire at Palestinian houses in the village. As a result, Randa 'Abdullah Shallouf, 32, was moderately wounded by a gunshot to the chest.
Sunday, 10 May 2009
At approximately 20:30, IOF troops positioned at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel opened fire at Palestinian houses in the al-Amal neighborhood, east of the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun. No casualties were reported, but Palestinian civilians were extremely terrified.
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