25 aug 2019
ISM volunteers join Palestinian farming communities each year to harvest olives, in areas where Palestinians face settler and military violence when working their land. Your presence can make a big difference, with Palestinian communities stating that the presence of international volunteers reduces the risk of extreme violence from Israeli settlers and the Israeli army.
We support Palestinians’ assertion of their right to earn their livelihoods and be present on their lands. International solidarity activists engage in non-violent intervention and documentation as practical support which enables many families to pick their olives.
The harvest will begin in early October and run until mid-November. We request a minimum 2 week commitment but we ask that if possible, volunteers could stay as long as they can. Our work is dependent on relationships with the Palestinian communities in which we work, and a long term presence is a massive help towards that end. We kindly ask volunteers to start arriving in the first week of October, so we are prepared when the harvest begins.
In addition to the harvest, there will be opportunities to participate in grass-roots, non-violent resistance in Palestine. ISM activists will receive training, normally held on Wednesdays and Thursdays at the beginning of each month with information on what to expect and how to act in what can be intense situations. Our other actions include:
The School Year:
Sunday the 25th of August marks the beginning of the school year, and with it increased threats for Palestinian teachers and children. Therefore, in the coming months, it is vital that we have volunteers who are able to walk with the children on school runs, to document and serve as a protective presence against Israeli Occupation Forces and settler harassment, which includes checkpoint delays. It is hoped that the presence of internationals may prevent settler attacks, or at least promote intervention by the soldiers where they otherwise would not.
Beyond the school runs, ISM maintains a constant presence in Hebron (Al-Khalil), where settler harassment and violence is a regular occurrence. Lately, Israeli army violence has escalated for Palestinians living close to the illegal inner-city settlement. Israeli forces have used the Palestinian neighbourhoods for military training, and heavily repress any form of resistance, responding with collective punishment as they lob dozens of teargas canisters and stun grenades onto Al-Khalil’s population. Through documentation and non-violent resistance, ISM attempts to relieve some of the pressure placed on Al-Khalil’s residents.
Protective presence at protests and police raids:
In addition to these activities, we participate in the weekly demonstrations in Kafr Qaddum, and others where our presence is requested and protesters face excessive force by the IOF. Recently the Jerusalem police have been targeting the East Jerusalem town of Issawiya, invading the area every night and arresting children as young as 5. Evening patrols are needed by internationals to document these human rights abuses and have a mediating effect on the notoriously brutal units that operate in occupied East Jerusalem.
Experiencing the situation for yourself is vital to fully understand, and ultimately convey, the reality of life in Palestine to your home communities and to re-frame the debate in a way that will expose Israel’s apartheid policies; creeping ethnic cleansing in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem as well as collective punishment and genocidal practices in Gaza.
How to apply:
Please send an email to ismtraining@riseup.net outlining what dates you are able to come, any experience you have with this type of work and why you want to volunteer in Palestine.
Other options to help:
Donate — for those who cannot make it on this period and want to help, you can donate or help in fundraising money which will be used to fund ISM’s ongoing campaigns.
In Solidarity,
ISM Palestine
We support Palestinians’ assertion of their right to earn their livelihoods and be present on their lands. International solidarity activists engage in non-violent intervention and documentation as practical support which enables many families to pick their olives.
The harvest will begin in early October and run until mid-November. We request a minimum 2 week commitment but we ask that if possible, volunteers could stay as long as they can. Our work is dependent on relationships with the Palestinian communities in which we work, and a long term presence is a massive help towards that end. We kindly ask volunteers to start arriving in the first week of October, so we are prepared when the harvest begins.
In addition to the harvest, there will be opportunities to participate in grass-roots, non-violent resistance in Palestine. ISM activists will receive training, normally held on Wednesdays and Thursdays at the beginning of each month with information on what to expect and how to act in what can be intense situations. Our other actions include:
The School Year:
Sunday the 25th of August marks the beginning of the school year, and with it increased threats for Palestinian teachers and children. Therefore, in the coming months, it is vital that we have volunteers who are able to walk with the children on school runs, to document and serve as a protective presence against Israeli Occupation Forces and settler harassment, which includes checkpoint delays. It is hoped that the presence of internationals may prevent settler attacks, or at least promote intervention by the soldiers where they otherwise would not.
Beyond the school runs, ISM maintains a constant presence in Hebron (Al-Khalil), where settler harassment and violence is a regular occurrence. Lately, Israeli army violence has escalated for Palestinians living close to the illegal inner-city settlement. Israeli forces have used the Palestinian neighbourhoods for military training, and heavily repress any form of resistance, responding with collective punishment as they lob dozens of teargas canisters and stun grenades onto Al-Khalil’s population. Through documentation and non-violent resistance, ISM attempts to relieve some of the pressure placed on Al-Khalil’s residents.
Protective presence at protests and police raids:
In addition to these activities, we participate in the weekly demonstrations in Kafr Qaddum, and others where our presence is requested and protesters face excessive force by the IOF. Recently the Jerusalem police have been targeting the East Jerusalem town of Issawiya, invading the area every night and arresting children as young as 5. Evening patrols are needed by internationals to document these human rights abuses and have a mediating effect on the notoriously brutal units that operate in occupied East Jerusalem.
Experiencing the situation for yourself is vital to fully understand, and ultimately convey, the reality of life in Palestine to your home communities and to re-frame the debate in a way that will expose Israel’s apartheid policies; creeping ethnic cleansing in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem as well as collective punishment and genocidal practices in Gaza.
How to apply:
Please send an email to ismtraining@riseup.net outlining what dates you are able to come, any experience you have with this type of work and why you want to volunteer in Palestine.
Other options to help:
Donate — for those who cannot make it on this period and want to help, you can donate or help in fundraising money which will be used to fund ISM’s ongoing campaigns.
In Solidarity,
ISM Palestine
21 aug 2019
Jewish settlers planted forest trees on Palestinian land to south of Bethlehem, as a prelude for taking it over, said Diab Mashaleh, head of Jabah village council where the targeted land it located, today.
Mashaleh told WAFA that residents of the village were surprised to see the settlers, and under army protection, planting forest trees in a hilly area about 300 meters away from the nearest home in the village, and without any prior notice.
He said that the land amounts to thousands of dunams, and that part of it has been planted with olive trees for decades.
Mashaleh explained that the army had closed most of that area and would often prevent local farmers from reaching their land to cultivate it, even after coordinating their visit to their land with the army.
He said Israel’s intentions in taking over the land were clear when they would not allow farmers to reach it, and after closing a road to the nearby town of Sourif with dirt, since the year 2000, which was later replaced by a metal gate, making movement of Jabah villagers, mainly high school students seeking to reach their schools in Sourif, very difficult and arduous.
Mashaleh told WAFA that residents of the village were surprised to see the settlers, and under army protection, planting forest trees in a hilly area about 300 meters away from the nearest home in the village, and without any prior notice.
He said that the land amounts to thousands of dunams, and that part of it has been planted with olive trees for decades.
Mashaleh explained that the army had closed most of that area and would often prevent local farmers from reaching their land to cultivate it, even after coordinating their visit to their land with the army.
He said Israel’s intentions in taking over the land were clear when they would not allow farmers to reach it, and after closing a road to the nearby town of Sourif with dirt, since the year 2000, which was later replaced by a metal gate, making movement of Jabah villagers, mainly high school students seeking to reach their schools in Sourif, very difficult and arduous.
12 aug 2019
The Israeli occupation army on Monday notified the mayor of Umm Safa village in northwestern Ramallah of its intent to block the agricultural road, which his council and local residents reopened about two months ago with support from the Palestinian ministry of agriculture.
Umm Safa mayor Marwan Sabah stated that the Israeli army handed him a notice about its decision to reclose a 2.5-kilometer road serving local farmers who owns about 2,000 dunums of olive trees.
Mayor Sabah pointed out that the village’s land is entirely located in Area C of the occupied West Bank, where agricultural and development projects are prohibited by the Israeli occupation state.
Umm Safa mayor Marwan Sabah stated that the Israeli army handed him a notice about its decision to reclose a 2.5-kilometer road serving local farmers who owns about 2,000 dunums of olive trees.
Mayor Sabah pointed out that the village’s land is entirely located in Area C of the occupied West Bank, where agricultural and development projects are prohibited by the Israeli occupation state.
27 july 2019
Israeli settlers chopped 80 olive trees for Palestinian farmers in the village of Yasouf, east of the northern West Bank city of Salfit, today reported Yasouf mayor, Khaled Abbieh.
He told WAFA that the land where the trees were cut down is located near the illegal Israeli settlement of Rahalim and it is owned by two brothers who are residents of the village.
The trees’ arson came as Palestinian farmer prepare for the olive picking season, which is done in the autumn. Thousands of families live off harvesting olives.
He told WAFA that the land where the trees were cut down is located near the illegal Israeli settlement of Rahalim and it is owned by two brothers who are residents of the village.
The trees’ arson came as Palestinian farmer prepare for the olive picking season, which is done in the autumn. Thousands of families live off harvesting olives.
25 july 2019
Israeli forces invaded Khirbet Umm al-Khair in Masafer Yatta, near Hebron in the southern West Bank Thursday, and destroyed dozens of olive trees, water irrigation systems and four water wells used by Palestinian Bedouin farmers. tweet
This comes two weeks after Israeli forces invaded the same village and destroyed a children’s park, nine water wells and uprooted a forest of trees in Umm al-Khair’s nature reserve area under the pretext that the area is now an Israeli military training zone.
Rateb Jabour, coordinator of the national and popular committees in the south of the West Bank, told the Palestinian Wafa News Agency that the residents of Umm al-Khair and area villages, who are mainly herders, depend on the water for irrigating their land and for their cattle.
Jabour stressed that Israel is trying to displace these residents as a precursor to taking over their land.
The village of Umm al-Khair is located on land that Israeli authorities are attempting to annex into the settlement of Carmel, which was constructed on stolen village land.
Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times wrote in 2010 that Carmel is “a lovely green oasis that looks like an American suburb. It has lush gardens, kids riding bikes and air-conditioned homes. It also has a gleaming, electrified poultry barn that it runs as a business.
Beyond its barbed wire fencing, the Bedouins of Umm al-Kheir in shanties are denied connection to the electricity grid, barns for their livestock and toilets, and all attempts to build permanent dwellings are demolished.
Elad Orian, an Israeli human rights activist, noted that the chickens of Carmel’s poultry farm get more electricity and water than the Palestinian Bedouin nearby.”
Awda Mohammad, a resident of the village, wrote in a 2017 article for the Israeli leftist +972Mag entitled, My village is under threat. I’m not giving up hope, “I believe, like my father did, that we have the right to live without the constant threat of demolition, to have enough clean water, to have good houses that we can live in during all seasons, to have a community center for our children, and for all of us to continue learning and growing, to live without fear, and to do what we want as autonomous humans.”
Umm al-Khair is home to around 70 Palestinian Bedouins who have faced multiple demolitions of their homes by Israeli forces.
This comes two weeks after Israeli forces invaded the same village and destroyed a children’s park, nine water wells and uprooted a forest of trees in Umm al-Khair’s nature reserve area under the pretext that the area is now an Israeli military training zone.
Rateb Jabour, coordinator of the national and popular committees in the south of the West Bank, told the Palestinian Wafa News Agency that the residents of Umm al-Khair and area villages, who are mainly herders, depend on the water for irrigating their land and for their cattle.
Jabour stressed that Israel is trying to displace these residents as a precursor to taking over their land.
The village of Umm al-Khair is located on land that Israeli authorities are attempting to annex into the settlement of Carmel, which was constructed on stolen village land.
Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times wrote in 2010 that Carmel is “a lovely green oasis that looks like an American suburb. It has lush gardens, kids riding bikes and air-conditioned homes. It also has a gleaming, electrified poultry barn that it runs as a business.
Beyond its barbed wire fencing, the Bedouins of Umm al-Kheir in shanties are denied connection to the electricity grid, barns for their livestock and toilets, and all attempts to build permanent dwellings are demolished.
Elad Orian, an Israeli human rights activist, noted that the chickens of Carmel’s poultry farm get more electricity and water than the Palestinian Bedouin nearby.”
Awda Mohammad, a resident of the village, wrote in a 2017 article for the Israeli leftist +972Mag entitled, My village is under threat. I’m not giving up hope, “I believe, like my father did, that we have the right to live without the constant threat of demolition, to have enough clean water, to have good houses that we can live in during all seasons, to have a community center for our children, and for all of us to continue learning and growing, to live without fear, and to do what we want as autonomous humans.”
Umm al-Khair is home to around 70 Palestinian Bedouins who have faced multiple demolitions of their homes by Israeli forces.
10 july 2019
Israeli settlers, today, set fire to hundreds of olive trees in the northern West Bank village of Burin, reported Ghassan Daghlas, a local official.
He told WAFA that settlers from the illegal settlement of Yitzhar snuck into a plot of Burin farmland and set fire to hundreds of olive trees, in the southern parts of the village, located to the south of Nablus.
He also said that the Israeli army prevented Palestinian firetrucks from reaching the area to put out the fire, which then spread and resulted in heavy losses to the farmers.
He told WAFA that settlers from the illegal settlement of Yitzhar snuck into a plot of Burin farmland and set fire to hundreds of olive trees, in the southern parts of the village, located to the south of Nablus.
He also said that the Israeli army prevented Palestinian firetrucks from reaching the area to put out the fire, which then spread and resulted in heavy losses to the farmers.
29 june 2019
Israeli soldiers attacked, Friday, the weekly nonviolent procession against the Annexation Wall and Colonies, in Bil’in village, west of the central West Bank city of Ramallah, causing many injuries, and burning several olive trees.
The Palestinians, accompanied by international peace activists, marched from the center of the village and headed towards the Annexation Wall, built on their lands in Abu Lemon area.
They carried Palestinian flags while chanting against the ongoing Israeli occupation and its colonies, and in condemnation of the so-called “Deal of the Century,” and the Manama Conference.”
The protesters also chanted for national unity, the Right of Return of the refugees, the release of all political prisoners, liberation and independence.
The soldiers fired a barrage of gas bombs and concussion grenades at the nonviolent protesters, causing many to suffer the effects of teargas inhalation, and leading to fire in olive orchards, burning many trees.
The Palestinians, accompanied by international peace activists, marched from the center of the village and headed towards the Annexation Wall, built on their lands in Abu Lemon area.
They carried Palestinian flags while chanting against the ongoing Israeli occupation and its colonies, and in condemnation of the so-called “Deal of the Century,” and the Manama Conference.”
The protesters also chanted for national unity, the Right of Return of the refugees, the release of all political prisoners, liberation and independence.
The soldiers fired a barrage of gas bombs and concussion grenades at the nonviolent protesters, causing many to suffer the effects of teargas inhalation, and leading to fire in olive orchards, burning many trees.
18 june 2019
A horde of Jewish settlers on Monday set fire to cultivated lands in the villages of Beitin and Burqa, east of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
The arson attack led to the destruction of about 30 olive and fig trees and grapevines as well as other crops in the villages.
According to local sources, a number of local residents were able to rush to the burning area and embarked on extinguishing the flames until civil defense crews arrived and controlled the fires.
The targeted lands are located near the illegal settlement of Givat Assaf, and the Israeli occupation army prevents local farmers from going to their lands there without prior coordination.
The arson attack led to the destruction of about 30 olive and fig trees and grapevines as well as other crops in the villages.
According to local sources, a number of local residents were able to rush to the burning area and embarked on extinguishing the flames until civil defense crews arrived and controlled the fires.
The targeted lands are located near the illegal settlement of Givat Assaf, and the Israeli occupation army prevents local farmers from going to their lands there without prior coordination.
Israeli soldiers invaded, Tuesday, the village of Qosra, southeast of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, demolished an agricultural shed, and uprooted several olive trees.
Resident Mousa Ahmad Hasan told the WAFA Palestinian News Agency that the soldiers invaded the Shu’ab al-Khasab area, and demolished an agricultural of 42 square/meters.
He added that the soldiers also uprooted many olive trees in the same area, before withdrawing.
It is worth mentioning that this is the second time the army demolishes this room since November of 2018, and the family managed to rebuild it with funding from international relief groups.
Resident Mousa Ahmad Hasan told the WAFA Palestinian News Agency that the soldiers invaded the Shu’ab al-Khasab area, and demolished an agricultural of 42 square/meters.
He added that the soldiers also uprooted many olive trees in the same area, before withdrawing.
It is worth mentioning that this is the second time the army demolishes this room since November of 2018, and the family managed to rebuild it with funding from international relief groups.
17 june 2019
Israeli soldiers uprooted, Monday, dozens of Palestinian olive trees in the western area of the al-‘Isawiya town, south of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem, reportedly “obscuring the view of surveillance cameras in the area.” video
Mohammad Abu al-Hummus, a member of the Follow-Up Committee in al-‘Isawiya said the soldiers invaded the town since morning hours, and were extensively deployed in various roads and neighborhoods.
He added that Israeli police officers also ticketed several Palestinian cars, and searched them, in addition to examining the ID cards of many Palestinians.
Abu al-Hummus also said the uprooting of the trees was made under false pretenses, especially since it came shortly after the army distributed demolition and eviction orders of Palestinian property, as part of the so-called “National Gardens.”
Mohammad Abu al-Hummus, a member of the Follow-Up Committee in al-‘Isawiya said the soldiers invaded the town since morning hours, and were extensively deployed in various roads and neighborhoods.
He added that Israeli police officers also ticketed several Palestinian cars, and searched them, in addition to examining the ID cards of many Palestinians.
Abu al-Hummus also said the uprooting of the trees was made under false pretenses, especially since it came shortly after the army distributed demolition and eviction orders of Palestinian property, as part of the so-called “National Gardens.”
Israeli settlers on Sunday chopped off dozens of Palestinian-owned olive trees in Bani Na'im town, east of al-Khalil city.
Anti-settlement activist Rateb al-Jabour said that groups of Israeli settlers uprooted olive trees planted in Palestinian lands that were seized by the Israeli authorities last month in Bani Na'im town.
The Israeli occupation authorities last month handed Palestinian citizens notices informing them that 4,800 dunums of their lands in Bani Na'im would be seized.
Al-Jabour said the residents were told to stop any kind of work they were undertaking on these lands and that they have 45 days to object to this order starting 25 May.
He explained that Israel wants to use the targeted lands to expand the Jewish settlement of Bani Haifer which was illegally built on Palestinian land southeast of Bani Na'im.
Anti-settlement activist Rateb al-Jabour said that groups of Israeli settlers uprooted olive trees planted in Palestinian lands that were seized by the Israeli authorities last month in Bani Na'im town.
The Israeli occupation authorities last month handed Palestinian citizens notices informing them that 4,800 dunums of their lands in Bani Na'im would be seized.
Al-Jabour said the residents were told to stop any kind of work they were undertaking on these lands and that they have 45 days to object to this order starting 25 May.
He explained that Israel wants to use the targeted lands to expand the Jewish settlement of Bani Haifer which was illegally built on Palestinian land southeast of Bani Na'im.
The plot to destroy 2000 fully mature olive trees near the city of Bethlehem, in southern West Bank, was rubber-stamped by the Israeli occupation authorities, according to WAFA News Agency.
The 2000 trees, extend over a 1600 meter long road connecting two Palestinian villages, Taqou’ town and al-Minya, and take up 80 dunums of land, belonging to Palestinians.
Local activist Hasan Brijiyeh, an anti-settlement, anti-wall activist told WAFA that the Israeli regime has intensified it’s arrest of the youth, theft of land, and road closures in the area.
Article 49 of the 4th Geneva Convention of 1949 states that the occupying force is forbidden from transferring members of its own population onto the land that it occupied.
Israel occupied Palestine in 1948, and regularly demolishes Palestinian homes to make room for Jewish-only settlements across the West Bank.
Today, about 600,000 illegal Israeli settlers reside in the occupied Palestinian Territories, in defiance of International Law.
The 2000 trees, extend over a 1600 meter long road connecting two Palestinian villages, Taqou’ town and al-Minya, and take up 80 dunums of land, belonging to Palestinians.
Local activist Hasan Brijiyeh, an anti-settlement, anti-wall activist told WAFA that the Israeli regime has intensified it’s arrest of the youth, theft of land, and road closures in the area.
Article 49 of the 4th Geneva Convention of 1949 states that the occupying force is forbidden from transferring members of its own population onto the land that it occupied.
Israel occupied Palestine in 1948, and regularly demolishes Palestinian homes to make room for Jewish-only settlements across the West Bank.
Today, about 600,000 illegal Israeli settlers reside in the occupied Palestinian Territories, in defiance of International Law.
11 june 2019
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Tuesday morning destroyed a well and uprooted olive trees belonging to Palestinians in Umm al-Kibash area in the northern Jordan Valley. video
Local sources told a reporter for the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) that Israeli soldiers stormed an agricultural area in Umm al-Kibash belonging to local residents and embarked on destroying a well and uprooting olive trees.
They said that the Israeli army had already threatened to raze the well and olive trees, claiming the area is a nature reserve.
Israeli forces uproot hundreds of olive trees in Tubas
Israeli army bulldozers on Tuesday uprooted hundreds of Palestinian-owned olive trees and destroyed four water wells in Tammoun town, south of Tubas.
Murshid Bani Ouda, one of the farmers affected by the incident, said that the Israeli occupation army chopped off over 530 olive trees and destroyed water wells in Um al-Kbeish area in Tammoun.
Bani Ouda noted that the Israeli army had previously threatened to uproot the trees and demolish the wells under the pretext that the area is a "nature reserve", but the owners managed to thwart the Israeli move after legal efforts.
The term "nature reserve" is usually used by Israel in the West Bank as a tool to seize Palestinian lands for settlement purposes.
Local sources told a reporter for the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) that Israeli soldiers stormed an agricultural area in Umm al-Kibash belonging to local residents and embarked on destroying a well and uprooting olive trees.
They said that the Israeli army had already threatened to raze the well and olive trees, claiming the area is a nature reserve.
Israeli forces uproot hundreds of olive trees in Tubas
Israeli army bulldozers on Tuesday uprooted hundreds of Palestinian-owned olive trees and destroyed four water wells in Tammoun town, south of Tubas.
Murshid Bani Ouda, one of the farmers affected by the incident, said that the Israeli occupation army chopped off over 530 olive trees and destroyed water wells in Um al-Kbeish area in Tammoun.
Bani Ouda noted that the Israeli army had previously threatened to uproot the trees and demolish the wells under the pretext that the area is a "nature reserve", but the owners managed to thwart the Israeli move after legal efforts.
The term "nature reserve" is usually used by Israel in the West Bank as a tool to seize Palestinian lands for settlement purposes.
