AL-KHALIL (HEBRON) A week in photos April 25 – May 1

Sheep Shearing

Pictured here: Sheikh Suleiman shears one of his flock early Tuesday morning. The Bedouin community of Umm al-Khair is a nomadic people from the South Hebron Hills that have been systematically displaced for decades. Over the past few years, the community has suffered dozens of house demolitions by the Israeli forces. The community has expressed on their facebook pagethat “the sad thing about this is that the residents are woken every day with the possibility that the civil administration will demolish their homes. What is even more tragic is that the children of Khirbet Umm al-Khair will be homeless again”.

(April 25, 2017)

Mapping the Occupation

Pictured here: Bilal points to a house on an aerial map of Umm al-Khair, the yellow dots signaling the houses with demolition orders and the black triangles marking the houses that have been demolished previously. The community was able to freeze the demolition order for seven houses but still fear the civil administration may demolish other homes not on the order as they have done in the past.

(April 25, 2017)

General Strike

Pictured here: On Thursday, April 27 Fatah, the governing party of Palestine, called for a general strike across the country in solidarity with the prisoner’s hunger strike. Shops were closed throughout Al-Khalil/Hebron and across Palestine.

(April 27, 2017)

Choking Hazard

Pictured here: Israeli forces fill the streets of the Old City with tear gas. Clashes on Thursday lasted for over 7 hours in response to the general strike, where Israeli soldiers shot 51 sound bombs, 44 tear gas canisters, and 11 live ammunition and rubber bullets. There were three injuries; two from rubber bullets and one live bullet. Many suffered from excessive tear gas inhalation.

(April 27, 2017)

Prayers for Prisoners

Pictured here: Men gather for Friday prayers at the Prisoner’s Tent at Ibn Rushd, in support of the hundreds of Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli prisons since April 17.

(April 28, 2017)

Defiance

Pictured here: Israeli soldiers advanced far into H1 area (under Palestinian control) on Friday, with several tanks and a water cannon. Clashes continued much like the day before with dozens of sound bombs, tear gas, and water cannon use against Palestinians. A woman with her infant were caught in an ATM booth that filled with tear gas, rescued by community members who offered her a ride. This young man sits in defiance opposite the soldiers during a break between tear gas and water cannon fire.

(April 28, 2017)