Slaughter of a family: the Israeli Occupation of Qarawat Bani Zeid village

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Slaughter of a family the Israeli Occupation
of Qarawat Bani Zeid village
as told by villagers to
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• Qarawat Bani Zeid is a village of 7 800 people in
  the Ramallah district of the West Bank, Occupied
  Palestine.
• In 1982 the Israeli Occupation Forces tried to
  buy two kilometers of land on Haraek mountain
  which overlooks the village, in order to build a
  settlement.

• The village resisted the construction - a wise
  decision since the settlement, Ariel, eventually
  built on the other side of Salfit, grew
  enormously and now houses 30 000 settlers!
• During the first intifada, 4 villagers were
  killed 2 by the Israeli Occupation Forces, 1 by
  a settler, and one in Poland by Mossad (Bassad
  Arar who had just qualified 3 days earlier as a
  doctor).

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• Before the second intifada (Al Aqsa intifada) a
  lot of the residents had jobs, exploitative
  though they were, in Israel. Now unemployment is
  very high.
• The village faces daily invasions from soldiers
  who enter on this main road. The soldiers live
  just 6 kilometres away in Halamiesh a military
  post founded in 1978 that also houses 200 Israeli
  settlers.

The story of this small Palestinian village
reflects the horrors of occupation in all other
small Palestinian villages horrors that remain
untold.
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Qarawat Bani Zeid
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Life in Qarawat Bani Zeid
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But the Israeli military occupation continually
interrupts peaceful village life
10 women, boys and men have been slain by the
Israeli Occupation Forces since the beginning of
the second intifada, their names immortalised on
this martyrs wall
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Three youth assassinated in 2001 and 2002 by the
Israeli Occupation Forces
Ala el Malooh (19)
Mohseen Arar (17)
Abdelmati Zawawi (21)
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Four boys and one woman assassinated in 2003 by
the Israeli Occupation Forces
Tamer Arar (11)
Ramez Ayed Arar (25)
Rasmeyeh Arar (35)
Osama Arar (23)
Faker Aziz Arar (17)
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A woman dies at a checkpoint in 2003 and another
man assassinated so far in 2004

• Um Adnan Arar (70) was on her way to hospital in
  October 2003 and the soldiers would not let her
  through Beit Hanina checkpoint. They told her she
  would have to sing and dance for them first. She
  died while waiting to get through the checkpoint.

• Sameh Arar (27) was assassinated by Israeli
  soldiers outside his house in February 2004.

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The killing of Mohseen Arar (17)

• Mohseen was shot in the head and his shoulder by
  soldiers on 21st September 2001.
• He had gone to Ramallah to a demonstration at
  Surda checkpoint.
• The Israeli army opened fire on all the
  demonstrators with live bullets.
• Mohseen died one week after being shot.

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The killing of Abdelmati Zawawi (21)

• Abdelmati was shot in the heart by Israeli
  Occupation Forces on 24th October 2001. He left
  behind his mother, 8 brothers and 4 sisters. His
  father had died when he was only 10 years old.
• All the village loved this man. After the
  soldiers killed him, the village was nervous and
  depressed for months say local activists.

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The killing of Abdelmati Zawawi (21)

• Abdelmatis family, refugees in Qarawat Bani
  Zeid from 1948 Jaffa, are under constant attack
  from the soldiers who shoot into the bedroom
  where Abdelmatis sisters and mother sleep.
• Soldiers often occupy the house at 2am in the
  morning and shoot down into the village square
  from the second floor.
• In March 2004, three of his brothers were
  kidnapped by Israeli Occupation Forces. One has
  been kept in jail ever since.

Bedroom of sisters and mother Bulletholes in
the window
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The killing of Ala Malooh (19)

• Abdelmatis cousin, Ala was shot in the head by
  Israeli Occupation Forces on March 12th 2002.
• Ala was working as a Palestinian policeman in
  Ramallah, one year after finishing school. He was
  killed in Ramallah during the IOF invasion .
• Ala left behind parents, three brothers and a
  sister.
• Other members of the family have been killed over
  the years by Occupation Forces. Alas
  grandfather, Thaher Malooh, was killed in
  Palestine by a British soldier in 1936. In 1969,
  one of Alas uncles was killed by the Israeli
  Occupation Forces. Some family members fled
  Palestine to Jordan. Another uncle was killed in
  Tel Al Zatar camp in Lebanon by the Syrian
  occupiers in 1976.
• Alas father spent three years in King Husseins
  prisons in Jordan. The family was only allowed to
  return to Palestine in 1996.

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The killing of Faker Arar (17) and Osama Arar
(23)

• On April 24th 2003 Faker Arar (17) and Osama
  Arar (23) were gunned down by the Israeli
  Occupation Forces.
• At 1030am, during the break, soldiers climbed a
  hill which overlooks the playground, and opened
  fire for no reason. The attack lasted one hour.
• Faker Arar was killed inside the schoolyard.
• Osama Arar was shot as he tried to pass through
  an olive grove at the side of the school to avoid
  the shooting.
• Mahdi Ez al-Deen (16) was critically wounded in
  the chest and abdomen in the same attack.

Faker Arar
Osama Arar
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Qarawat Bani Zeid Boys Secondary School
killing ground of the Israeli Occupation Forces
Bullet holes in the school gate
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Soldiers enter the village using this road
Soldiers take up sniper positions behind these
trees opposite the boys secondary school
Faker and Osama were killed by soldiers here and
here
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The children love their school although it is a
dangerous place for them
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The killing of Rasmeyeh Arar (35) and Ramez Arar
(25)

• On May 22nd 2003, Osamas cousin, Ramez Arar,
  was shot dead by an IOF sniper
• Ramez Arar left behind his pregnant wife, and a
  child aged only two years old.
• Just minutes later, Osamas sister, Rasmeyeh,
  was killed by another sniper bullet as she ran
  out of her house to Ramez who was lying in a pool
  of blood.
• Rasmeyeh, a thirty-five year old mother, left
  behind a husband and 7 daughters (the youngest
  one and a half and the oldest 15 years old),

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Rasmeyehs husband and 5 of her 7 daughters
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Rasmeyeh and Ramez Arars funeral
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Rasmeyeh and Ramez Arars funeral
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The killing of Tamer Arar (11)

• On May 26th 2003, Rasmeyeh and Osamas nephew
  Tamer was killed.
• 14 soldiers in two army jeeps entered the village
  at 530pm, drove around and then assassinated the
  young boy, leaving the village directly after.
• A sniper hiding 500 metres away behind a stone
  wall near the town center and mosque shot Tamer
  in the head, killing him instantly.
• Tamer was sitting outside in his garden eating
  bread and cucumber when he was shot. Because the
  soldiers were so far away, Tamer did not hide
  when he saw them entering the village.
• Villagers say that Tamer was killed simply
  because the army was looking for someone to shoot.

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Tamer Arar was killed as he sat under this tree

• Tamers father It is an awful unexpected
  crisis. I lost my sister Rasmeyeh and my brother
  Osama and now I lost my son. I expected him to be
  one of the best village men but now I lost him
  forever.
• Tamer, in the sixth grade, was described by
  colleagues and teachers as a very bright student.
  He left behind parents, three sisters and one
  brother.

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June 2003 Memorial for the martyrs
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• Attacks in 2003
• February 2003 The soldiers captured Hamada
  Arar and took him back to Halamiesh military base
  and beat him very badly for several hours. At
  midnight, they dumped Hamadas body near the
  school. He was discovered in the morning by
  teachers and rushed to hospital.
• 11 October 2003 IOF soldiers beat and detained
  Khaled Arar, a QBZ Ambulance Driver at a
  checkpoint.When he complained to soldiers that a
  small boy who had fallen from a roof needed to
  get to hospital, they grabbed his throat and hit
  him with the butts of their guns.

• 16 October 2003 - 2 men were shot while walking
  on the main street by a jeep that drove through
  firing rubber bullets from close range. One man
  was shot in the back. The other man, who is in
  his 60s, was taking his olives to the press. He
  was shot three times, and has wounds in the backs
  of both legs. After the shootings, both were
  taken in ambulances, but the ambulances were held
  at the checkpoint and not allowed to reach the
  hospital. After waiting over an hour at the
  checkpoint, the men returned to Qarawat Bani Zeid
  and were seen by the doctor in town.

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The killing of Sameh Arar (27)

• On February 12th 2004, Sameh Arar was hunted
  down and killed by the Israeli Occupation Forces
  as he was eating breakfast.
• 14 soldiers arrived, not in military jeeps, but
  in two ordinary Palestinian style transit taxis.
• They chased Sameh outside, shot him several
  times and stood over his body to prevent medical
  help. Sameh bled to death on the ground.
• The soldiers arrested the friend who was eating
  breakfast with him the Imam of the village. The
  next night the IOF returned to Sameh's house at
  3am, shouting "we killed Sameh" over a megaphone.
  

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Sameh was left to bleed to death on the spot
marked here by roses
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Attacks in 2004 March 2004 - At 715am
soldiers drove to the centre of the village and
opened fire with rubber bullets on schoolboys.
Mohammed Arar (14) was shot five times at close
range outside his front door twice on the
shoulder, in both hands, and on the leg. At the
bottom of the main road, near the school, the
soldiers opened fire again, hitting Majdy Arar
(19), a university student, twice in the chest.  
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• A village living under extreme stress
• The village social worker says that the school
  children are under extreme stress. Some did not
  write exams after the slaying of Faker and Osama
  in the school.
• Villagers on their way home from Ramallah are
  often threatened by soldiers at the Halmiesh
  roadblock who say that one day something
  unimaginable will happen to them. The soldiers
  say that the land is theirs.
• The children of the village all whistle loudly
  when they see soldiers approaching. Soldiers
  often detain parents outside the village and warn
  them to tell the children not to whistle or they
  will kill them.
• Soldiers come and go in the village, as often as
  three times a day. They drive through shooting at
  houses and water tanks. They have gassed people
  inside their homes.
• Soldiers have bombed nearby caves, causing panic
  and fear to the Palestinian shepherds who graze
  their animals on the surrounding land. Israeli
  settlers have tried to seize plots of land and
  have prevented farmers from picking olives.

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• A village living under extreme stress
• Israeli soldiers have set up roadblocks and shot
  from behind them, injuring as many as 10
  villagers at one time.

• The army has been entering the village late at
  night, between 11pm and 1am, going from door to
  door, forcing people onto the street and entering
  homes to break household items and round men up
  into groups.
• 10 villagers are in prison, four of them youth.
  16 year old Dhaker Arar (Fakers brother) has
  been in prison since 14th December 2002, charged
  with throwing stones. (He has been transferred to
  three different prisons since his arrest and now
  seems to be in administrative detention in a jail
  in the Negev desert).

Photographs of martyrs are pasted all over
Qarawat Bani Zeid a constant reminder of the
threat the village lives under
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Just two of the young villagers in prison
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• International solidarity with Qarawat Bani Zeid
• The army is targeting people during the period
  before and after school when many people are out
  in the streets, and especially targeting
  students.
• IWPS is working with other international groups
  to ensure a permanent international presence at
  the school every day
• For more information, see www.iwps.info or email
  iwps_at_palnet.com