Volunteers Sundus and Aysha Azza tell their story in Brussels
In late April, Sundus and Aysha Azza traveled to Brussels, Belgium, on a speaking tour about their lives and volunteer work under Israeli occupation.
The Aysha sisters spoke at the opening of a photo exhibition for the new publication of photos by Palestinian women in Tel Rumeida, Hebron. Titled 'Om or "Mother," this book features photos by local Palestinian women on their everyday resistance to Israeli occupation and the peaceful struggle for their land and freedom. The photos show these women's love for their families, houses and gardens that drive them to stand up to extremist settlers every day and tell them that "We will stay. We will never leave and we will never give up." Aysha was able to share her work with the world and explain her life and thoughts behind the project.
Sundus and Aysha also met with Belgian and European policy makers to tell them about the oppressive situation in occupied Hebron since October 7th.
Where is the Palestinian Gandhi – New York Times Magazine
On May 1st, the New York Times Magazine published a feature article on the story of Issa Amro, UN-recognized Human Rights Defender and Executive Director of Friends of Hebron.
“Welcome to the daily life of all my neighbors,” said Amro, who was waiting on the other side of the barrier for us. No sooner had we started to walk toward Amro’s home than we ran into another checkpoint, an impromptu roadblock manned by a pair of soldiers. One asked Amro where he was going.
Read the full article here: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/01/magazine/issa-amro-palestinian-nonviolent-activist
Friends of Hebron helps nearly 600 struggling families
Friends of Hebron imparted on a successful campaign to provide relief to hundreds of struggling families in Hebron. Through crowdfunding and grassroots outreach, Friends of Hebron successfully provided relief to close to 600 families in Hebron. The aid provided ranges from food supplies, medicine, gas, toys for the children as well as Ramadan lights and cash support handed directly to mothers. Furthermore, the efforts of Friends of Hebron include helping certain families install fences to protect their houses from vandalism or break-ins by extremist Israeli settlers.
"In dark times like this, we need to ensure the basic survival of our community," said Friends of Hebron Director Issa Amro, who have coordinated efforts on the ground. "Even here in Hebron, people have been going hungry due to the severe restrictions and economic conditions imposed on us by the Israeli occupation. Our volunteers on the ground have done amazing work surpassing these conditions and bringing supplies and relief directly to families through the checkpoints. We thank our supporters for making it possible and are proud to have helped families to support themselves during this time."
Update: Israeli soldier steals cameras from Hebron house
On November 6th, 2023, an Israeli soldier walked into the yard of Issa Amro's house, which doubles as a community center for nonviolent resistance in the neighborhood of Tel Rumeida, Hebron. Caught on a security camera, the soldier is seen approaching the front door, reaching up and removing a Go Pro camera from the above the door. Then, he walks over and takes security cameras lying on top a sack of olives. He is seen handing these cameras to a colleague behind the house.
The break-in and theft comes after Issa Amro's sudden eviction on October 20th, where a group of soldier demanded that he leave the house without any notice or written order. Amro has been unable to access the house since, despite his personal belongings being left inside and unfinished work left in his yard. He is now homeless. The eviction itself followed harassment campaigning beginning with Amro's abduction and torture on October 7th.
Sign the petition here to get Issa home.
Israeli Forces Evict Human Rights Defender Issa Amro From His House in Occupied Hebron
(Hebron, West Bank) On Friday afternoon, Israeli forces evicted UN-recognized Human Rights Defender Issa Amro from his home in occupied Hebron. A group of soldiers showed up at Amro’s home in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood and demanded that he leave along with Yehuda Shaul from Breaking the Silence and an Australian journalist. The soldiers did not present a written order of eviction. Both visitors were permitted by law to be in the area. Amro’s home doubles as the center for the direct action group Youth Against Settlements.
“I was thrown out of my home for no good reason,” Amro stated. “I am being targeted as a Human Rights Defender. Israeli settlers have long wanted to take over my house, and the occupation wants to ban me from the area as part of their quiet transfer policy. Evicting me is against Israel’s own laws.” Amro described experiencing fever and shock since the eviction. He is uncertain where to go. “This is my home,” he stated. “I even have a cat with three young kittens. How will I feed them?”
The eviction comes after Israeli soldiers raided Amro’s yard four times over the course of one week and stole a sign with the text “Free Palestine.” On Sunday, Israeli settlers took over a Palestinian factory building, closed by military order for more than twenty years. On October 7th, Amro was abducted and tortured for ten hours by Israeli soldiers and settlers in army uniform. Israeli forces have imposed a strict curfew on Palestinian residents in Hebron since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas.
Amro’s house also serves as the media center for Youth Against Settlements (YAS), a Hebron-based grassroots group for nonviolent community resistance. The house is located a few meters from an Israeli settlement and army base. Israeli soldiers had shut down the house, using it as a military outpost and prevented the Palestinian owner from accessing it in the early 2000s. In 2006, Israeli settlers began an illegal process of turning it into a new settlement unit. In response, Amro rented the house from the Palestinian owner and undertook six months of sit-in protests, media attention and legal action until the house was finally turned back to Palestinian use and became Amro’s own home. In 2015, Israeli forces closed the house for six months until YAS successfully campaigned to reopen it.
Issa Amro is formally recognized as a Human Rights Defender by the U.S. State Department, the European Union, and the United Nations. Hebron has Israeli settlements located in its center protected by Israeli soldiers. The resulting military closures and coercive environment have led to more than streets, markets, 1000 apartment units and 1800 stores closed.
Contact: Issa Amro | +972 59-934-0549 | Email: [email protected]
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Israeli Forces Torture and Arrest UN-Recognized Human Rights Defender Issa Amro
(Hebron, West Bank) Today at noon, UN-recognized Palestinian Human Rights Defender Issa Amro was brutally beaten, tortured and detained by Israeli forces near his home in Tel Rumeida, Hebron. Amro was detained and tortured for ten hours in an Israeli army base while being denied access to medical care and communication with his lawyer, who was not told of his whereabouts. No reason was given for his detention. The detention came hours after Israel declared a state of war.
Amro was arrested outside his home in the neighborhood of Tel Rumeida, Hebron, which also serves as a community center for nonviolent methods of resistance. Mohammad Natsheh, a volunteer with Youth Against Settlements, witnessed the arrest. Less than three hours after reporting the incident, Natsheh similarly disappeared.
“Today, settlers in army uniform prevented me from reaching my house,” Issa Amro stated. “The settlers in their army uniforms jumped on me and arrested me. I was handcuffed very, very tightly and made to sit for hours on a small chair. They blindfolded and even gagged me because I was asking for help. I was kicked and hit many, many times by the soldiers. They rejoiced and tortured other Palestinian detainees in the Israeli military base.”
“Israel is not defending itself,” Issa Amro stated. “It’s occupation, it’s apartheid, it’s Jewish supremacy. I saw that today with the soldiers. They don’t distinguish between anybody. They see us all as their enemy. But we will never give up.”
In February, Amro was filmed being brutally assaulted by an Israeli soldier in front of a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist in a video that garnered more than 16 million views on Twitter. A few months earlier, Israel forces had beaten and arrested Amro for filming a video of a soldier beating up a left-wing Israeli activist.
Issa Amro is a Human Rights Defender recognized by the United Nations, the European Union and the U.S. State Department. He is the founder of the grassroots group Youth Against Settlements and the Executive Director of the American NGO Working for Peace and Justice. In 2016, Amro was indicted by Israel on 18 charges condemned by Amnesty International as “baseless” and “politically-motivated.” A 2017 letter from numerous U.S. Representatives to the Secretary of State encouraged Israel to reconsider the charges. In 2021, Amro met with U.S. Secretary Blinken.
Contact: Issa Amro | +972 59-934-0549 | Email: [email protected]
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Issa Amro recounting his torture in Israeli detention. Watch his whole statement here.
Update: Settlers Break Into Palestinian Stores, Steal Wood
In preparation for the Jewish religious holiday Lag Baomer, Israeli settlers broke into Palestinian shops to steal wooden items for burning. Settlers stole wooden decorations from Palestinian stores that have been forced closed by military order. The holiday traditionally involves the lighting of bonfires, however Israeli settlers in Hebron yearly creates these bonfires from stolen Palestinian furniture taken from homes or shops that have been forcefully closed by military order, or left empty due to the Israeli closure policy in the city. The bonfire is then held on streets closed to Palestinians.
Same day, Israeli settlers threw rocks at Palestinian houses and broke windows, and sprayed the houses with water as part of a pattern of harassment and vandalism to pressure people out of their homes to make room for settlement expansion.
Update: Israelis demolish Palestinian shops in Hebron
Six Palestinian stores in the heart of Hebron's old city and former vegetable market were demolished by an Israeli-manned bulldozer at night. Friends of Hebron believes that the demolition will pave the way for Israeli settlement expansion. The stores have been forcefully closed by Israeli military for nearly three decades for alleged security reasons. The stores were initially forced closed after the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre in 1994—an act of punishing the Palestinian victims—after which they were briefly reopened and then re-closed in 2000. Around 500 Palestinian shops were similarly forced closed during this time. Another approximately 1000 shops had to close down due to the Israeli practice of creating coercive environments that pressure Palestinian families to leave their homes and owners to abandon their businesses.
This incident violates international and Israeli laws and plays part of an increasingly aggressive and expansionist military presence and settlement strategy in Hebron. It follows the process of forcing closed civilian areas, militarizing and depopulating them, and then allowing Israeli settlements to take them over. The incident also exposes the arbitrariness of Israeli security measures, acting as mere excuses for depopulating Palestinian areas to facilitate settlement expansion.
Update: Freedom Iftar/Seder at the Hebron House
We had a succesful joint Freedom Iftar & Seder in our Hebron House inspired by the 1969 Freedom Seder of the civil rights movement.
People gathered for an evening against apartheid in our activist center, located directly next to a fanatic illegal settlement & Israeli army base. We served food and drinks and speeches of solidarity and sumud.
The Iftar/Seder celebrated the breaking of the fast at nightfall during Ramadan as well as the celebrations of Passover with people coming together in their joint call for peace and opposition to Israeli apartheid.
Update: Friends of Hebron at Amnesty USA AGM
Friends of Hebron speaks at Amnesty USA AGM
Saturday March 4th
Friends of Hebron’s advocacy team was represented at the Amnesty International USA Annual General meeting in San Diego, California. They were hosted both in person and virtually by the acclaimed human rights organization at the session: Witness to Apartheid in Palestine and Israel: Observations from the Field.
The room was packed as staffers and members attended the session, including Amnesty USA’s executive director.
Friends of Hebron Executive Director, Human Rights Defender Issa Amro, spoke of the significance of Amnesty’s 2022 report accusing Israel of the crime of apartheid. He spoke of the nature of apartheid in the city of Hebron and the danger of the “Hebronization” of other places within Israel’s 1948 territory as well as the West Bank.
The AGM lasted from March 3rd to 5th.
