<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[ei: Village remains under siege weeks after settlement&nbsp;murders]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p><span class="text14">Charlotte Silver, <em>The Electronic Intifada,</em> 8 April 2011</p>
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<td><span class="text11">Israeli soldiers stop a Palestinian driver on the outskirts of Awarta village, 22 March. (Jafar Ashtiyeh/AFP)</span></td>
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<p><span class="text14"><span class="content"><br />
Awarta is a poor, sprawling village in the northern occupied West Bank.  Surrounded by land that is now a vivid green from the winter rains,  trails of cactus plants grow between the houses of the village. Two  weeks ago, however, Israel designated Awarta a closed military zone,  sealing the village off from the outside world for five days. During  this time, no ambulances, groceries or fresh produce were permitted in,  and no one was allowed to leave to work or even visit the hospital. For  these five days, Awarta was inaccessible to any media; if residents  snapped a photo, their phones and cameras would be confiscated  immediately.</p>
<p>Awarta was subjected to this siege because of the murder of five members  of the Fogel family in the neighboring illegal settlement outpost,  Itamar. Under the guise of an investigation, Israel applied this severe  punishment to the entire village though the identity of the perpetrator  of the attack is unknown.</p>
<p>Israel&#8217;s use of collective punishment in the occupied West Bank and Gaza  &#8212; which is prohibited under international law &#8212; dates to the  beginning of the occupation after the June 1967 War and was originally  used by the British army during the mandate era (1922-1948). The use of  such tactics suggests an intention other than the pursuit of justice for  the Fogel family.</p>
<p>While no media was able to witness the closure while it was in place,  after the lockdown was lifted the stories of what the Israeli military  unleashed on the village began to emerge.</p>
<p>Gesturing desperately, Samira Zaqah, a 70-year-old woman who has lived  in Awarta her whole life, displayed her bruises from the soldiers&#8217;  beatings. Zaqah also had a red mark the size of a quarter near her  elbow, where a soldier had shoved her with the muzzle of his gun. But  what Zaqah spent at length describing were not her own wounds, which on  the sturdy yet fragile woman were gruesome to see, but how the soldiers  beat her grandson, Mahmoud Zaqah.</p>
<p>&#8220;First they blindfolded me so that I wouldn&#8217;t see what they did to him,&#8221; Zaqah said.</p>
<p>Mahmoud is 27 years old and his brother has been in an Israeli prison  for 11 years. According to Zaqah, after the soldiers beat Mahmoud to the  point that he needed urgent medical attention, the family called the  Palestinian Authority to request that an ambulance be sent to Awarta.  However, the Israeli military did not allow any ambulances into the  village until they lifted the five-day closure.</p>
<p>While Awarta technically lies in Area &#8220;B&#8221; of the West Bank (meaning that  the PA has shared security coordination with Israel), once the village  was deemed a security threat the Israeli military assumed full  authority. Under the Oslo accords, the occupied West Bank is divided  into three areas. The PA has limited autonomy in Area &#8220;A,&#8221; while Israel  is solely responsible for administering Area &#8220;C,&#8221; which accounts for 60  percent of the occupied West Bank, including the settlements. As  demonstrated in Awarta, the differences between the three areas are  negligible as Israel has authority over the entire territory.</p>
<p>During the closure everyone in the village was confined to their homes  &#8212; even peering out the window could elicit the firing of a deafening  sound bomb. Soldiers let loose dogs on houses they searched, defiling  the homes of the entirely Muslim community. Most businesses, like the  small market owned by Ahmed Abu Jawwal, were ordered closed by Israeli  soldiers during the curfew.</p>
<p>Less than a week after the Israeli army lifted the first closure, they  returned on 22 March to impose another curfew that kept residents in  their homes from 4am to 6pm, again preventing residents from working.  Since the second curfew ended, troops have returned for spontaneous  searches. On 6 April, Israeli police and soldiers entered Awarta,  arresting 200 residents, 100 of whom were women. After bringing those  arrested to the Huwwara military base to take saliva samples,  fingerprints and photos, nearly all returned to Awarta by 8:00am the  next day. Residents continue to brace themselves for further raids and  arrests.</p>
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<td><span class="text11">The Qarawiq family&#8217;s living room after it was ransacked by Israeli soldiers. (<a href="http://stmcneil.com/">ST McNeil</a>)</p>
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<p><span class="text14"><span class="content"><br />
<strong>Terrified population</strong></p>
<p>This is not Awarta&#8217;s introduction to the brutal fist of Israel&#8217;s  occupation. On 21 March 2010, two members of the Qarawiq family &#8212;  Salah, 18, and Muhammad, 19 &#8212; were killed while working their farmland.</p>
<p>Regularly, settlers from Itamar enter Awarta&#8217;s surrounding fields and  olive groves, preventing villagers from feeling safe while working on  their land.</p>
<p>&#8220;It is not safe for man, child or donkey to go into the olive groves,&#8221;  Zaqah said. Her husband, son and grandson all earn their income from the  town&#8217;s land.</p>
<p>Since the closure, many are not willing to come forth to tell their  stories. One man, who had just been released from detention, refused to  speak to reporters out of fear.</p>
<p><strong>It&#8217;s about control</strong></p>
<p>To label what has occurred in Awarta simply as collective punishment  would be misleading. The town is not being punished for the crime of one  of its residents, as it is entirely unclear who committed the savage  killing of the Fogel family.</p>
<p>&#8220;There is no evidence that it&#8217;s a Palestinian, let alone a Palestinian  from that village,&#8221; said Valentina Azarov, a lawyer from the Palestinian  human rights organization Al-Haq.</p>
<p>Azarov added &#8220;If the Israeli military was carrying out an investigation  &#8212; as it is within their rights to do &#8212; they have in any case violated  basic international humanitarian law.&#8221;</p>
<p>Amongst the tactics Israel is using against the village are mass and  baseless arrests &#8212; approximately forty residents are still sitting in  Israeli detention &#8212; and nearly every family has been subjected to  similar experiences as the Zaqah household. Residents have also been  subjected to unlawful interrogation measures.</p>
<p>&#8220;This is like the barbaric invasions. These are the types of things that  the laws of war were meant to eradicate &#8212; indiscriminate attacks  against civilians that cause mental and physical suffering,&#8221; Azarov  said.</p>
<p>The provision in the Fourth Geneva Convention that prohibits any form of  collective punishment by an occupying power also specifies that the  occupier may not employ any measures of intimidation that terrorize a  population and suppress resistance.</p>
<p>Notably, the Geneva Convention explains this stipulation as based on the  principle of human rights as well as on the rationale of effective  military operations: ferocious military incursions tend to exacerbate a  population&#8217;s desire to resist.</p>
<p>As the Geneva Convention attests, such forms of collective punishment  are counterproductive to achieving genuine security. For Azarov this  reveals the punitive rather than investigative purpose of the policy.  &#8220;To one extent these measures are punitive because there is no security  rationale to treat an investigation in this way,&#8221; she said.</p>
<p>Azarov added &#8220;And if they are punitive, they are prohibited by  international humanitarian law because they are subjecting the entire  village to groundless measures.&#8221;</p>
<p>Yet punishing a village, a family or an entire apartment complex because  one individual is under suspicion is not only the norm for Israel, it  is sanctioned by the Israeli high court.</p>
<p>In 2009, a high court decision affirmed that Israel&#8217;s policies of  demolishing homes of individuals suspected of &#8220;terrorism&#8221; were a  legitimate means of deterrence and therefore did not qualify as punitive  (or collective punishment) measures.</p>
<p>This form of punishment (as international law sees it) and deterrence  (as Israel sees it) is perhaps best understood as fulfilling a third  function: to maintain a grip of control over a population.</p>
<p>&#8220;If you try to relate this to other military incursions, such as  Operation Cast Lead [Israel&#8217;s 2008-09 assault on Gaza] or even the &#8216;War  on Terror,&#8217; it&#8217;s the same type of rationale: to profile and label  certain groups as targetable,&#8221; said Azarov.</p>
<p>Israel&#8217;s control over the occupied West Bank is not only asserted  through spreading settlement blocs, sprouting outposts and permitting  the actions of roving vigilante settlers. Collective punishment is one  more manifestation of Israeli apartheid.</p>
<p>Huda Qawariq, 43, the mother of the slain boys, has had nine visits from  the Israeli army since the first closure. Standing in front of a room  ransacked during the latest wave of mass arrests on 6 April, Qawariq  said &#8220;The army has dogs and guns, but we have God.&#8221;</p>
<p><em>Charlotte Silver is a journalist based in the West Bank. She can be reached at charlottesilver A T gmail D O T com.</em></span></span></p>
<p><a href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11901.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29">Source</a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><strong>Related</strong></h2>
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<h2>Video &amp; resources</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://wp.me/p16sn9-4AT">‘Awarta after Israeli Incursions | 1 – صحافة المواطن -راديو طريق المحبة</a></li>
<li><a href="http://wp.me/p16sn9-4AX">‘Awarta after Israeli Incursions | 2  – </a></li>
<li><a href="http://wp.me/p16sn9-4B2" target="_blank">‘Awarta after Israeli Incursions 3 – المستوطنين يقتحمون قرية عورتا ويعتدون على أهلها</a><a href="http://wp.me/p16sn9-4AX">صحافة المواطن -راديو طريق المحبة</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://wp.me/p16sn9-Bu">Al Nakba Video | 1</a></li>
<li><a href="http://wp.me/p16sn9-Bs">Al Nakba Video | 2</a></li>
<li><a href="https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2011/03/12/2011/02/27/hebron-a-massacre-remembered-we-will-never-forgive-or-forget/">Hebron: A Massacre Remembered</a></li>
<li><a href="https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2011/03/12/2011/01/07/in-ajami-and-mas%E2%80%99ha-evidence-of-the-continuing-nakba/">In Ajami &amp; Mas’ha evidence of continuing Nakba</a></li>
<li><a href="https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2011/03/12/2010/10/29/remembering-the-54th-anniversary-of-the-israeli-massacre-in-kafr-qasim/">Kafr Qasim Massacre</a></li>
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<li><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gazafreedommarch/sets/72157624029629218/">Pictures of Al Nakba</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFEcbI2dWUo" target="_blank">Sabra &amp; Shatilla |1</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8Kj4UgIRvQ" target="_blank">Sabra &amp; Shatilla |2</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oflcK6u6HfI" target="_blank">Sabra &amp; Shatilla |3</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.deiryassin.org/orphanshome.html">The Children of Deir Yassin</a></li>
<li><a href="http://therealholocaust.org/">The Real Holocaust</a></li>
<li><a href="http://wp.me/p16sn9-zd">Tracing all that Remains Since Nakba | Videos</a></li>
<li><a href="https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2011/03/12/2011/01/17/when-christians-become-targets/">When Christians become Targets</a></li>
<li><a title="Permanent Link: Even Israel Project Concedes Gaza a Disaster for Israeli Hasbara" rel="bookmark" href="http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2010/06/17/even-israel-project-concedes-gaza-a-disaster-for-israeli-hasbara/">Even Israel Project Concedes Gaza a Disaster for Israeli Hasbara</a></li>
<li><a title="Permanent Link: Israeli Deputy Prime Minister: Arab Democracy Threatens Israel" rel="bookmark" href="http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2011/01/30/israeli-deputy-prime-minister-arab-democracy-threatens-israel/">Israeli Deputy Prime Minister: Arab Democracy Threatens Israel</a></li>
<li><a title="Permanent Link: Lieberman Privatizing Hasbara" rel="bookmark" href="http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2010/06/01/lieberman-privatizing-hasbara/">Lieberman Privatizing Hasbara</a></li>
<li><a title="Permanent Link: Israeli Settler Peace Rabbi Froman Ill With Cancer" rel="bookmark" href="http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2011/01/04/israeli-settler-peace-rabbi-ill-with-cancer/">Israeli Settler Peace Rabbi Froman Ill With Cancer</a></li>
<li><a title="Permanent Link: Anat Kamm Gag Order Published for First Time" rel="bookmark" href="http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2010/04/06/anat-kam-gag-order/">Anat Kamm Gag Order Published for First Time</a></li>
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