School in a Cage
From a meeting the headmaster of the coeducational High School in Burin We arrive in the schoolyard, surrounded by big metal fences. Young boys are playing basketball. A loud “How are you? What is your name? Where are you from?”…
Yitzhar Settlers Attack Urif Olive Harvesters
IWPS in Palestine 2017 Urif is a Palestinian village located 13 kilometres south of Nablus. Urif has the bad luck to have an unwanted neighbour; the Yitzhar illegal settlement, with radicalized Jewish Orthodox residents known for their brutality toward all…
The Olives of Beit Furiq
On Saturday 28 October IWPS and ISM joined farmers from the Palestinian village Beit Furiq who were picking olives near the settler road leading to the nearby Itamar illegal settlement. This Orthodox settlement is known for its history of violent…
Olive Harvest: Occupied
Kufr Qalil is one of the most dangerous places to pick olives north of Ramallah. Several years ago fanatical illegal settlers from Bracha descended from the top of a hill and broke a jaw of an elderly olive picker. Ever since the Kufr…
The battles of Burin
People in Burin have a very difficult life surrounded by the illegal settlements Yitzhar and Bracha. What I was not aware of until yesterday, when we again returned to help with the olive harvest, was that there is also an additional, small…
Passover Nightmares in al-Khalil (Hebron)
In Hebron (Al-Khalil), the jewish celebration of Passover sees a huge increase of Israeli occupation forces and settlers. Bus loads of illegal settlers make their way to the city from all over the West Bank and the army tries to…
Unprecedented Settlement Expansion in Salfit
Kufr Dik and Bruqin – an update on the ongoing cycle of water shortages, settler sewage problems, and unprecedented settlement expansion. “This [Netanyahu’s] government has destroyed all hope of peace”, resident of Kufr Dik The water issue The two villages…
Deir Istyia Demands Safe Access to Wadi Qana
Busy Highway 5066 connects parts of the illegal Settlement Bloc of Ariel with Tel Aviv. It also has become a de-facto check point for the farmers of Deir Istyia. Their agricultural land lies on the other side of Hwy 5066,…
Salfit Villagers Harrassed During Jumma Prayers
A peaceful demonstration and prayer took place yesterday, Friday 4 December ’15, on a hilltop between the Salfit’s villages Kafr ad-Dik, Bruqin, Sarta and Biddya. These villages are surrounded by the illegal Israeli settlements and industrial areas. As IWPS readers…
Picking Olives…Picking Hope
Little Mohammed has gone to the field this morning with his father Amjad and two IWPS activist-volunteers to harvest olives. The sun is bright and the air is fresh. Amjad is working hard and fast to pick olives from his…
Kafr Qaddum – Olives, demos and collective punishment
6 November 2015 The village of Kafr Qaddum in the district of Nablus is particularly badly affected by the Israeli occupation and its apartheid system. The illegal Israeli settlement of Qedumin was established nearby in 1974 and its more recent…
No Support From the Second Floor
No Support from Second Floor Hani and Munira Amer still live with 2 of their as yet unmarried children in the home they made for their family in Mas’ha after being driven off their ancestral in al Nakba. They lived…
Deir Istiya Informed of Colonial Land Confiscation from Newspaper
Deir Istya 4 November 2015 Israel notoriously creates and expands settlements all over the occupied West Bank in contravention of international law. Not only is this blatant colonisation of Palestine and land theft from Palestinians legally and morally wrong, it…
Israeli Soldiers and Ytzhar Illegal Settlement Prevent Urif Olive Harvest
Urif families were informed that they were to have a permit to pick olives on 26th and 27th October ´15 on their land in zone B bordering but alongside zone C. Four families arrived at about 8am on 26th and…
Friday Demonstration: Kafr Qaddum, 23 October ´15
IWPS participated in this Friday´s demonstration in Kafr Qaddum. Israeli army began firing tear gas soon after the protest march started and much of it was directed on the nearby houses, which is a usual collective punishment measure employed by…
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