Palestine

I have been expelled from the country.
Israel decided that I was unwelcome, and they sent me packing.
The Ministry of the Interior declared that I did nothing illegal, I have not broken the law, yet “we do not want you in the country, you must go”.
Why? Because Israeli settlers, who live in illegal settlements, who attack and commit atrocities every day against people who simply try to lead a normal life, have written a report on me and they have sent it to the immigration office.
At the airport they were waiting for me.
“You have breached an unwritten law and got the attention of the wrong people”, these are the words they told me.
Soon before leaving, a Palestinian – a dear one for me – told me “Sooner or later everyone pays the price of their choices”.
Indeed, and I have paid the price for mine. Choices that I would make again, regardless of the pain I feel daily.
But I don’t want to talk about me, I want to talk about those who pay the price every day.
Because three hours by plane from Milan there is an entire community who fight every day to keep living in their homeland; to farm their lands; to build a road, a house, or a bathroom; to gather olives; to go to school.
They fight for living.

 These words are written by Mohammed Hureini, a Palestinian activist from Masafer Yatta (South Hebron Hills), after he was unjustly arrested on August 5th, 2023, while grazing on his land.

I was grazing our sheep when a group of illegal Israeli settlers invaded our land and started harassing me. They also had some sheep that they unleashed to graze in our land. When I tried to stop them, they called the Israeli army, who immediately came. The army had already prepared a military order entailing that our private land is a closed military area before they joined the settlers. To enforce the military order, which only applies to us, the Israeli commander notified us that we have to leave the land within a few minutes.
I refused and insisted that the settlers should leave our land first. Israeli soldiers responded by handcuffing and blindfolding me. The Israeli commander tightened the handcuffs to hurt me and tried to humiliate and provoke me. I shouted at him and said, “What are you doing? I am not a toy in your hands to treat me like this.” He replied, “Shut up!”
At around 8.00 PM they took me to the military base near the village of Susiya. I could find out about this through a hole that was in the piece of cloth covering my eyes. When we arrived in the military base, they threw me in a yard, where there was a soldier watching me.

Yesterday Haj Suleiman, man, father, activist, "wise elder" from the village of Umm al Khair, passed away. We were told that he was sick, in critical condition, after an Israeli police truck had run over him and dragged him for meters. What always struck us about Haj Suleiman was that during the actions in defense of his land, his village, his people, he was always in the front line. We saw him stand in front of soldiers, police, bulldozers with his arm raised to be the first to defend others from the violence of the occupation, we heard his voice calling for respect, rights and humanity. Unaware that he would surely be beaten and arrested, he was always ready to pay the price himself. Today in that "front line" he leaves a void. "Haj, wherever you are, wherever we are, give us the strength to fill that void and continue the fight for justice as you did!"
To Eid, Tarek, all his family members and his community a big hug

The volunteers from Operazione Colomba (Operation Dove)

Ali Awad and Awdah Hathaleen - 11 January 2022
Article: https://www.972mag.com/haj-suleiman-masafer-yatta-police/

Jerusalem – Denied city

Sumaya looked at the way to go, once past the checkpoint. In about 15 minutes, she would arrive at the U.S. Embassy to apply for the visa. A taxi was waiting for her outside the checkpoint, everything had been planned in detail. She had received a permit to enter Jerusalem for three hours, not a minute more. She had to manage it!
At 9 am she had to be at checkpoint 300 in Bethlehem. She had left her home in the South three hours earlier, well in advance. As expected, the Israeli controls had detained her so much so that it had taken almost two hours to go past the checkpoint instead of half an hour. But at last, Sumaya was passing through the controls. She watched the Israeli officials look at her permit, scrutinize it. Behind them, a clock ticked away the minutes - the time she would not have used to enjoy Jerusalem.