THE ELECTRONIC INTIFADA
Hebron activist showed Israel's crimes to the world
Ryan Rodrick Beiler The Electronic Intifada 23 October 2015
Hashem al-Azzeh harvests his family's olives directly beneath the Israeli
settlement of Tel Rumeida in the West Bank city of Hebron in October 2012.
Ryan Rodrick Beiler ActiveStills
Hebron resident and anti-occupation activist Hashem al-Azzeh died Wednesday
after inhaling tear gas fired by Israeli forces.
According to Palestinian media reports, al-Azzeh, who suffered from a heart
condition, began feeling chest pains while in his home in the
Israeli-controlled Tel Rumeida neighborhood of the occupied West Bank city.
"There was no chance to get an ambulance there," Hisham Sharabati,
coordinator of the Hebron Defense Committee and a field worker for the
Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq, told The Electronic Intifada.
Israeli forces do not allow Palestinian vehicles to drive on the streets
near his home, which are reserved for Jewish motorists.
Neighbors had to carry al-Azzeh down the hill to the nearest military
checkpoint, where there were clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian
youth.
"There was tear gas there and the army kept them [al-Azzeh and his
neighbors] for 10 minutes," said Sharabati. "He had heart problems from
before, but his situation deteriorated because the tear gas made it worse
and then the checkpoint delay."
When al-Azzeh was eventually brought to a hospital, he was pronounced dead
upon arrival. He leaves behind his wife Nisreen and four children, the
oldest of whom is 16.
Pregnant wife assaulted
Al-Azzeh lived in a part of Hebron that was frequently attacked by Israeli
settlers.
"Hashem lived in a hilly area where the settlers' homes are higher than
his," said Sharabati.
Like all Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, the Tel Rumeida
settlement is illegal under international law. But this particular enclave,
comprised of stacks of trailers flanked by Israeli army checkpoints, houses
some of the most fanatical and violent settlers in the West Bank.
Al-Azzeh and his family endured sustained harassment from these extremists,
including an attack in which settlers assaulted his nephew, then aged 9. The
settlers forced a rock into the boy's mouth to crush his teeth, al-Azzeh had
said in a video recording:
In another incident, al-Azzeh's own teeth were smashed when settlers
attacked his home, ransacking it and destroying the furniture. Al-Azzeh's
wife was assaulted by settlers twice while she was pregnant in her first and
second trimesters. She miscarried both times.
Fanatic settlers
"Hashem had a big role in showing the world, showing the press, showing
solidarity groups, showing any visitor the details of the harassment by the
Israeli colonizers in the city of Hebron," said Sharabati. "The settlers
practice all these crimes in the presence of the Israeli army who do not do
anything to stop them."
"Everybody who knew him loved him for his method of giving the point of view
of the Palestinian residents of Tel Rumeida and Hebron who are suffering
from the settlements," said journalist and Hebron Defense Committee member
Bassam Shweiki.
"The settlers of Hebron are the most fanatic settlers in the West Bank," he
added.
One of the Tel Rumeida settlement's founding residents is the US-born Baruch
Marzel, who has been arrested dozens of times by the Israeli authorities and
whose criminal record includes acts of violence against Palestinians and
Israeli police. Marzel has told The Times of Israel, "We need to remove from
here all our enemies."
Graffiti spray-painted on the side of a Palestinian school near the al-Azzeh
home reads "Gas the Arabs/JDL."
"Gas the Arabs! JDL" spray-painted on an exterior wall of the Cordoba School
near Shuhada Street in Hebron, October 2012.
Ryan Rodrick Beiler ActiveStills
JDL is the acronym for the Jewish Defense League, which was founded by the
right-wing settler Meir Kahane. Kahane founded Kach - an organization so
racist and extreme that even in Israel it was outlawed and classified as a
terrorist group.
Baruch Marzel, who joined the JDL during his teenage years, is a vociferous
supporter of Kahane.
Another infamous JDL member was Brooklyn, New York-born settler Baruch
Goldstein. In 1994, Goldstein killed 29 Palestinians and injured 125 inside
Hebron's Ibrahimi mosque before he was beaten to death by survivors.
Following the massacre, the Israeli authorities divided the mosque into
Muslim and Jewish sections. The killings also precipitated the closure of
Shuhada Street and other areas of Hebron's Old City - collectively punishing
Palestinian residents for the actions of an extremist settler.
Harassed during harvest
For al-Azzeh, simply remaining in his home was an act of resistance. While
many of his immediate neighbors left as closures choked off virtually all
economic activity in the area, he and his family stayed, often hosting
international visitors and sharing his stories of struggle with them.
This reporter witnessed a typical episode of Israeli repression three years
ago during the olive harvest. It was the first time al-Azzeh had been able
to harvest his olives in five years.
Accompanied by a handful of International Solidarity Movement volunteers,
al-Azzeh made relatively short work of his few trees as many of the olives
had already been picked by the settlers.
Israeli settlers, among them Baruch Marzel, stand at the entrance to Tel
Rumeida neighborhood in April 2014.
Keren Manor ActiveStills
As the work was finishing, settlers barged into the small grove, claiming
that not only were the olive trees theirs, but that the entire land had been
given to them by God. When soldiers arrived on the scene, they separated the
two groups and in the process arrested a volunteer and two Palestinians -
one al-Azzeh's next-door neighbor and the other a videographer for the
Israeli human rights group B'Tselem.
Even though an Israeli officer eventually acknowledged al-Azzeh's ownership
of the land, the officer ordered him and his supporters to leave the area
for the rest of the day. Baruch Marzel stood among the settlers watching the
scene unfold from above.
Pattern of abuse
That incident of settler belligerence facilitated by the Israeli army is
typical of the harassment and abuse endured by the al-Azzeh family and many
other Palestinians in Hebron.
More than 50 Palestinians have been killed in shootings and clashes with
Israeli forces since the beginning of October, during which time 10 Israelis
have been killed by Palestinians.
"There are many Palestinians who are involved in resisting the occupation,"
said Sharabati. "It's true that maybe some try to stab an Israeli settler or
an Israeli soldier. But we believe that in many other cases the soldiers and
the settlers just invented these excuses after shooting."
A Palestinian woman passes an Israeli checkpoint off Shuhada Street in
February 2015.
Ahmad Al-Bazz ActiveStills
Hashem al-Azzeh's form of resistance was "social struggle," according to
Shweiki: "Struggle by words - by giving every moment of his time whenever
possible to explain what's happening."
"He was a simple man in his character, but he was solid," Shweiki added. "He
called for peace all over the world. He didn't call for any violence. But he
wanted to live in peace in his own land in his home."
Ryan Rodrick Beiler is a freelance photojournalist and member of the
ActiveStills collective who lives in Oslo, Norway.
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Hebron activist showed Israel's crimes to the world
Ryan Rodrick Beiler The Electronic Intifada 23 October 2015
Hashem al-Azzeh harvests his family's olives directly beneath the Israeli
settlement of Tel Rumeida in the West Bank city of Hebron in October 2012.
Ryan Rodrick Beiler ActiveStills
Hebron resident and anti-occupation activist Hashem al-Azzeh died Wednesday
after inhaling tear gas fired by Israeli forces.
According to Palestinian media reports, al-Azzeh, who suffered from a heart
condition, began feeling chest pains while in his home in the
Israeli-controlled Tel Rumeida neighborhood of the occupied West Bank city.
"There was no chance to get an ambulance there," Hisham Sharabati,
coordinator of the Hebron Defense Committee and a field worker for the
Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq, told The Electronic Intifada.
Israeli forces do not allow Palestinian vehicles to drive on the streets
near his home, which are reserved for Jewish motorists.
Neighbors had to carry al-Azzeh down the hill to the nearest military
checkpoint, where there were clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian
youth.
"There was tear gas there and the army kept them [al-Azzeh and his
neighbors] for 10 minutes," said Sharabati. "He had heart problems from
before, but his situation deteriorated because the tear gas made it worse
and then the checkpoint delay."
When al-Azzeh was eventually brought to a hospital, he was pronounced dead
upon arrival. He leaves behind his wife Nisreen and four children, the
oldest of whom is 16.
Pregnant wife assaulted
Al-Azzeh lived in a part of Hebron that was frequently attacked by Israeli
settlers.
"Hashem lived in a hilly area where the settlers' homes are higher than
his," said Sharabati.
Like all Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, the Tel Rumeida
settlement is illegal under international law. But this particular enclave,
comprised of stacks of trailers flanked by Israeli army checkpoints, houses
some of the most fanatical and violent settlers in the West Bank.
Al-Azzeh and his family endured sustained harassment from these extremists,
including an attack in which settlers assaulted his nephew, then aged 9. The
settlers forced a rock into the boy's mouth to crush his teeth, al-Azzeh had
said in a video recording:
In another incident, al-Azzeh's own teeth were smashed when settlers
attacked his home, ransacking it and destroying the furniture. Al-Azzeh's
wife was assaulted by settlers twice while she was pregnant in her first and
second trimesters. She miscarried both times.
Fanatic settlers
"Hashem had a big role in showing the world, showing the press, showing
solidarity groups, showing any visitor the details of the harassment by the
Israeli colonizers in the city of Hebron," said Sharabati. "The settlers
practice all these crimes in the presence of the Israeli army who do not do
anything to stop them."
"Everybody who knew him loved him for his method of giving the point of view
of the Palestinian residents of Tel Rumeida and Hebron who are suffering
from the settlements," said journalist and Hebron Defense Committee member
Bassam Shweiki.
"The settlers of Hebron are the most fanatic settlers in the West Bank," he
added.
One of the Tel Rumeida settlement's founding residents is the US-born Baruch
Marzel, who has been arrested dozens of times by the Israeli authorities and
whose criminal record includes acts of violence against Palestinians and
Israeli police. Marzel has told The Times of Israel, "We need to remove from
here all our enemies."
Graffiti spray-painted on the side of a Palestinian school near the al-Azzeh
home reads "Gas the Arabs/JDL."
"Gas the Arabs! JDL" spray-painted on an exterior wall of the Cordoba School
near Shuhada Street in Hebron, October 2012.
Ryan Rodrick Beiler ActiveStills
JDL is the acronym for the Jewish Defense League, which was founded by the
right-wing settler Meir Kahane. Kahane founded Kach - an organization so
racist and extreme that even in Israel it was outlawed and classified as a
terrorist group.
Baruch Marzel, who joined the JDL during his teenage years, is a vociferous
supporter of Kahane.
Another infamous JDL member was Brooklyn, New York-born settler Baruch
Goldstein. In 1994, Goldstein killed 29 Palestinians and injured 125 inside
Hebron's Ibrahimi mosque before he was beaten to death by survivors.
Following the massacre, the Israeli authorities divided the mosque into
Muslim and Jewish sections. The killings also precipitated the closure of
Shuhada Street and other areas of Hebron's Old City - collectively punishing
Palestinian residents for the actions of an extremist settler.
Harassed during harvest
For al-Azzeh, simply remaining in his home was an act of resistance. While
many of his immediate neighbors left as closures choked off virtually all
economic activity in the area, he and his family stayed, often hosting
international visitors and sharing his stories of struggle with them.
This reporter witnessed a typical episode of Israeli repression three years
ago during the olive harvest. It was the first time al-Azzeh had been able
to harvest his olives in five years.
Accompanied by a handful of International Solidarity Movement volunteers,
al-Azzeh made relatively short work of his few trees as many of the olives
had already been picked by the settlers.
Israeli settlers, among them Baruch Marzel, stand at the entrance to Tel
Rumeida neighborhood in April 2014.
Keren Manor ActiveStills
As the work was finishing, settlers barged into the small grove, claiming
that not only were the olive trees theirs, but that the entire land had been
given to them by God. When soldiers arrived on the scene, they separated the
two groups and in the process arrested a volunteer and two Palestinians -
one al-Azzeh's next-door neighbor and the other a videographer for the
Israeli human rights group B'Tselem.
Even though an Israeli officer eventually acknowledged al-Azzeh's ownership
of the land, the officer ordered him and his supporters to leave the area
for the rest of the day. Baruch Marzel stood among the settlers watching the
scene unfold from above.
Pattern of abuse
That incident of settler belligerence facilitated by the Israeli army is
typical of the harassment and abuse endured by the al-Azzeh family and many
other Palestinians in Hebron.
More than 50 Palestinians have been killed in shootings and clashes with
Israeli forces since the beginning of October, during which time 10 Israelis
have been killed by Palestinians.
"There are many Palestinians who are involved in resisting the occupation,"
said Sharabati. "It's true that maybe some try to stab an Israeli settler or
an Israeli soldier. But we believe that in many other cases the soldiers and
the settlers just invented these excuses after shooting."
A Palestinian woman passes an Israeli checkpoint off Shuhada Street in
February 2015.
Ahmad Al-Bazz ActiveStills
Hashem al-Azzeh's form of resistance was "social struggle," according to
Shweiki: "Struggle by words - by giving every moment of his time whenever
possible to explain what's happening."
"He was a simple man in his character, but he was solid," Shweiki added. "He
called for peace all over the world. He didn't call for any violence. But he
wanted to live in peace in his own land in his home."
Ryan Rodrick Beiler is a freelance photojournalist and member of the
ActiveStills collective who lives in Oslo, Norway.