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Breaking the Silence Profile picture
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2 Feb, 4 tweets, 2 min read
"It's one of the ways to enhance [our] governance and our grip on the open space, and to enforce law and order." This was the message the Hebron Hills Regional Council sent to the settlers it represents on the large-scale IDF training exercise taking place in the area today.
The Council appears to be delighted that armored vehicles, artillery units and hundreds of soldiers will be simulating a war in their neighborhood. Why? Because it sends a clear message to the Palestinian communities in the area: you're not wanted here. The Israeli military trains next to the Palestinian village
It's been years since the IDF used this area known as 'Firing Zone 918' for training. But now that the Supreme Court verdict is expected on the Palestinian residents' impending eviction, it seems the authorities are keen to create facts on the ground.
~1,200 Palestinians live under constant threat of eviction in FZ918. Many of the communities, where the homes are carved into the rock, predate the State of Israel. But that means nothing when their very presence is considered a threat to the occupation.
haaretz.com/opinion/.premi…

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More from @BtSIsrael

Breaking the Silence Profile picture
3 Feb
Last October, Israelis were rightly horrified to hear that ~400 acres of forest burned down as a direct result of an IDF training exercise carried out in a nature reserve,despite warnings.
Now look at what happened when the IDF insisted on training in a Palestinian village today: Image
This is Jinba, a village in Firing Zone 918. Large-scale artillery forces arrived there this AM w/ armored vehicles. In response to @acri_online who reminded them of the damage caused last time, the IDF promised to avoid damaging residents' property. But somehow, this happened: Image
And this is what some of the agricultural lands looked like this morning, after the heavy armored vehicles flattened them. The residents depend on this land for their livelihood. Several months of hard work can be destroyed in a matter of minutes. (Video: Guy Botavia)
Read 11 tweets
Breaking the Silence Profile picture
21 Jan
The extreme right wing pro-occupation group Ad Kan are at it again. Yesterday they filed a defamation suit against us and a former soldier, shamelessly claiming that testimonies we published in our booklet on Gaza (bit.ly/3a6XWR5) amount to 'libel'.
You may remember our previous posts about Ad Kan (see below). Every one of their suits against us has been thrown out: no court could find anything wrong with what we do. And we have no doubt, not an ounce, that this time will be no different.
But they'll continue trying. Because from their point of view, every utterance against Israel's continued control over the occupied territories amounts to blasphemy. Anyone who speaks out is a danger. And they'll do whatever it takes to smear us.
Read 8 tweets
Breaking the Silence Profile picture
11 Jan
Late Friday night, soldiers invaded the home of Sami Hureini in the S. Hebron Hills, arresting him for "attacking a soldier & disturbing public order" at a nonviolent protest that afternoon. Despite the 'attack', none of the 150 protesters was arrested at the demo itself.
Reminded us of this:
"The evening before the demonstration [...] where the demonstrators gather, [we would] throw a few stun grenades into Bil'in [...] I believe the goal was to deter people from joining the demonstration the next day."
breakingthesilence.org.il/testimonies/da…
Sami has been organizing non-violent protests in the territories for years; this isn't his first arrest and probably won't be his last. That's the price you pay for protesting in the oPt, if you're Palestinian. The demo on Friday was to protest this:
Read 5 tweets
Breaking the Silence Profile picture
3 Jan
1/ On Friday, IDF forces arrived at a Palestinian village in the South Hebron Hills and confiscated a generator. Harun Abu Aram was shot in the neck by the soldiers—not for attacking or threatening them; he was simply trying to prevent them from taking it.
2/ Abu Aram probably understood the consequences of intervening. He knew the soldiers wouldn't just let him take the generator back. But they depended on the generator; getting by without it would be hard at the best of times, let alone at the height of winter.
3/ In November soldiers demolished Abu Aram's house. He lives in 'Firing Zone 918', an area that has been designated for IDF training—meaning Palestinian residents, many of whom have lived there since before Israel even existed, are on the verge of eviction. A house in the South Hebron Hills demolished on the orders o
Read 8 tweets
Breaking the Silence Profile picture
8 Dec 20
Infrastructure policy sounds like the most boring topic to read about. But it's not. It's simply the pro-occupation Israeli right's new way of making the occupation palatable. Read this AP article about a vital new report, 'Highway to Annexation' by @YehudaShaul & Maya Rosen:
There's a connection between road building & annexation, and it's more important than people think. Roads are a fundamental part of the govt-backed settlement enterprise's attempt to create facts on the ground & fortify Israel's control of the oPt, at the Palestinians' expense.
“Israel is continuing at full speed ahead down the road to annexation of the West Bank by developing infrastructure that will help double the number of settlers, and in doing so, to entrench our control over the Palestinian people for eternity,” says BtS co-founder Yehuda Shaul.
Read 7 tweets
Breaking the Silence Profile picture
2 Dec 20
Almost every IDF combat soldier who serves in the oPt knows what the inside of a Palestinian home looks like. Because they invade them all too frequently. But for everyone else, the subject remains a mystery. So let's set the record straight on IDF invasions of Palestinian homes:
Myth: Invasions are 'surgical operations' to take terrorists out of the picture.
Fact: According to UN figures, in 2017/18 they took place on average 267 times a month. Almost nine times every night. That's not 'surgical'. That's what's called 'routine'.
Myth: You need a court order/warrant to invade a home.
Fact: No court order or warrant necessary. In fact, even a 20-year-old squad commander can decide to invade a home for a whole host of reasons, and doesn't need the approval of a more senior commander to do so.
Read 9 tweets

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