IOF seeking to empty the sea of Palestinian fishermen, PGFTU

PNN/ Gaza

Head of The Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions, Sami Al-Umsi on Monday said that the Israeli occupation’s naval forces are seeking to empty the sea of Palestinian fishermen through the policy of daily ongoing attacks.

In a statement, Al-Umsi denounced Israeli naval forces opening heavy fire on fishermen boats off the Khan Younis shores southern Gaza strip, adding that the attacks have been escalating through the past months.

According to Al-Umsi, IOF have kidnapped over 60 Palestinian fishermen, three of them are still detained under charge of possessing Fiber glass material. IOF have also confiscated about 30 boats since the beginning of the ceasefire in August last year between the Israeli occupation authorities and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in Gaza.

Al-Umsi stressed that fishing and navigation is a legitimate right for all Palestinian fishermen, adding that the occupation’s crimes of damaging this profession should not pass.

Israeli Naval Forces Wound Two Fishers and Arrest Five Others, including Child in Gaza Sea

 PCHR

Tuesday, 02 June 2015 00:00

Ref: 26/2015

On Tuesday, 02 June 2015, Israeli naval gunboats chased and opened fire at a Palestinian fishing boat sailing off northern Gaza shore wounding two fishers.  On Monday morning, 01 June 2015, Israeli naval forces also arrested five Palestinian fishers, including a child, while fishing off Gaza shore.  The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns these attacks against Palestinian fishers that deny them their right to freely practice fishing in the Gaza sea.  PCHR also expresses its concern over the continued Israeli policy of targeting fishers' livelihoods in light of the illegal naval blockade imposed on Gaza sea and in conjunction with the sardine season as well.

 

According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 06:00 on Tuesday, 02 June 2015, Israeli gunboats opened fire at a Palestinian fishing boat sailing within four nautical miles off al-Soudaniya shore, north of Gaza City, wounding two fishers.

Moheeb Ahed Baker said to a PCHR fieldworker that at approximately 06:00 on Tuesday, 01 June 2015, he and five other fishers went together for sailing on a fishing boat belonging to Bahjat Baker. He added that they started fishing four nautical miles off al-Sudaniya shore. They had fished for an hour and a half, but suddenly an Israeli gunboat that was around opened fire at them. Baker pointed that they tried to flee after they heard the gunfire, but Israeli gunboats chased and directly fired at them. As a result, he sustained five bullet wounds to the legs and Mohammed Mahmoud al-Louh sustained two bullet wounds to the left leg.

On Monday, 01 June 2015, Israeli forces arrested five fishers, including a child, while fishing about four nautical miles off Gaza City shore. These fishers were identified as: Adel Sa'id Abu Reyala (42), Yusef Adel Abu Reyala (19), Mohammed Ibrahim al-Najjar (35), Rami Ibrahim al-Najjar (30) and Ibrahim Hani al-Najjar (11). Four of them were released on Monday midnight, while Rami al-Najjar has remained in custody.

PCHR condemns the violations committed by the Israeli navy forces against Palestinian fishers in the Gaza Strip, and calls upon Israeli forces to:

1. Immediately stop its policy of chasing and arresting Palestinian fishers, to allow them to sail and fish freely, and to return confiscated fishing boats and tools;

2. Pay compensation to the victims of Israel’s violations for the physical and material damage caused to fishers and their property;

3. Release Palestinian fishermen who have been under the Israeli custody; and

4. Calls upon the international community, including the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention 1949, to intervene in order to stop Israeli violation against Palestinian fishermen and allow them to fish freely in the Gaza Strip sea.

Press Release: UFree Network denounces the Egyptian military courts sentences against Palestinian fishermen

Oslo | UFree Network Media Centre 

UFree Network strongly condemns the Egyptian military court sentences against Palestinian fishermen who were given a one-year prison sentence and a penalty fine for fishing in Egyptian waters near the Gaza Strip.

The five Palestinian fishermen were arrested by the Egyptian sea border 
police on 30th of August claiming they broke through the sea borders with Egypt. 

UFree Chairman, Mohammad Hamdan, considered the Egyptian military sentences as a serious precedent action against Palestinian civilians which reminded us of the brutal Israeli practices especially that the courts were held in illegal and mysterious conditions.

The Oslo based Network called for the immediate release of the five fishermen and all Palestinian detainees in Egyptian jails who were arrested without legal justification. UFree Network also called on Egyptian authorities to stop targeting Palestinians in Egypt and to put an end to the escalated incitement against them.

In one Week, IOF Arrests 7 Fishermen, PCHR Condemns the Continued Israeli Violations Against Palestinian Fishermen in the Gaza Strip

PCHR

Sunday, 08 January 2012 14:00

Ref: 01/2012

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns the continued Israeli violations against the Palestinian fishermen in the Gaza Strip and is strongly concerned over the escalation of such violations.  The violations resulted in the arrest of seven fishermen in two separate incidents, confiscation of two fishing boats, subjecting the fishermen to questioning and cruel and degrading treatment in addition to preventing them from sailing and fishing freely.

According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 10:00 on Saturday, 07 January 2012, the Israeli Navy Forces arrested four fishermen off the Rafah shore while they were practicing their work.  The Israeli soldiers fired at the fishing boat and forced the fishermen to stop, take their clothes off and swim towards the Israeli gunboat while the weather was very cold.  The Israeli soldiers took the four fishermen to Ashdod seaport to be questioned, after the were blindfolded and handcuffed.  At approximately 00:30 on Sunday, 08 January 2012, the fishermen were released and taken to Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing.  The four fishermen are: 1) Rani Sami Baker, 29; 2) Tal'at Othman Baker, 46; 3) Jad Othman Baker, 35; and 4) Mahmoud Yahya Baker, 26, all from Gaza City.

At approximately 13:47 on Thursday, 29 December 2011, the Israeli Navy Forces intercepted a fishing boat with three fishermen on board, including two brothers, who were fishing off the Khan Yunis shore.  The Israeli soldiers arrested the three fishermen after they ordered them to take their clothes off, jump into the water and swim towards the Israeli gunboat. The fishermen were handcuffed and blindfolded with bags over their heads, while their boat was confiscated by the Israeli Navy Forces.  The fishermen are: 1) Nabeel Ahmed al-Henawwi, 34; 2) Mahmoud Ahmed al-Henawwi, 43; and 3) Monther Mosa Sehweil, 38, all from Khan Yunis.

In his testimony to PCHR, Nabeel Ahmed Mahmoud al-Henawwi, 34, from Khan Yunis, said that he and the two other fishermen had stayed naked for 20 minutes in the water.  They were shivering because of the extreme cold.  He added that the Israeli Navy Forces transported them to the Israeli shores and subjected them to questioning while they were handcuffed and blindfolded.  The two al-Henawwi brothers were released, but the third fisherman was transferred to Ashkelon prison.

It should be noted that the Israeli Navy has imposed restrictions on fishermen at sea, including denying them the right to sail and fish since 2000. The Israeli Navy also minimized the area allowed for fishing in Gaza waters from 20 to 6 nautical miles in 2008; however, the Israeli naval troops keep preventing Palestinian fishermen from going beyond three nautical miles in Gaza waters since 2009, and sometimes chase them in this area as well. As a result, Palestinian fishermen are denied access to areas beyond the three miles, due to which they have lost 85% of their subsistence.

In light of the above, PCHR condemns the recurrence of such attacks against the Palestinian fishermen, and believes that they are part of the escalation of collective punishment against civilians.  Besides, they have been carried out in the context of attacking civilians in their livelihood, which is prohibited under the international humanitarian law and international human rights law.  PCHR calls upon the Israeli Navy to:

1. Immediately stop the policy of chasing and arresting Palestinian fishermen and to allow them to sail and fish freely;

2. Calls for reparations to the victims for the physical and material damages caused to fishermen and their property; and

3. Immediately return the confiscated fishing boats to their owners and to compensate them for the material damage and psychological effects.

Narratives Under Siege: A frightening movie

PCHR

Thursday, 01 December 2011 00:00

 

“The bullets made the water splash up in my face. The soldiers shouted at us to take off our shirts and trousers. We had to jump into the water and swim towards them one by one” says 17-year old Mohammed Bakr, as he recounts how Israeli naval forces detained him from his family’s fishing boat, together with his cousin and uncle.

Mohammed Wisam Lutfi Bakr is the oldest of 9 children. He is from a fisherman’s family living in Gaza City’s Remal neighbourhood. He has been helping out on his father’s fishing boat since he was 7 years old. As he explains what happened to him, his cousin, and their uncle on the early morning of 10 November he relives the fear he felt during the initial attack, arrest and subsequent detention.

Like every morning when the weather allows, Mohammed, his cousin Abdul Kader Wael Bakr (17), and their uncle Arafat Lutfi Bakr (28) went out fishing off the shore of Gaza City, leaving at approximately 03.00. At around 03.30, when they were approximately 2 nautical miles off Gaza City’s shore, they were suddenly approached by a large Israeli gunboat. Without warning soldiers started firing shots in the water around them, very close to the boat. “The bullets made the water splash up in my face. The soldiers shouted at us to take off our shirts and trousers. We had to jump into the water and swim towards them one by one” Mohammed recalls. His uncle Arafat went first. Mohammed watched how his uncle was pulled on board of the gunboat by the soldiers. Then his cousin Abdul Kader followed. “I went last” says Mohammed, “they handcuffed us with plastic straps and blindfolded Arafat. There were at least 5 soldiers. They kicked and beat me on my arms and legs. They did the same to my cousin. I’m almost sure they gave our uncle even worse treatment, but I could not see him because they took him out of our sight”. All three of them were taken to a detention facility in Ashdod and held there blindfolded. “It was very dirty. At some point I said I needed to go to the toilet. Then they put me in an open area where everyone could see me. There was not even a toilet.”

Around 12.00h Mohammed and Abdul Kader were transferred to Erez checkpoint, between Israel and the Gaza Strip. There the two cousins were held and questioned until 22.30h. Then the soldiers at the Erez called Mohammed’s father and grandfather to tell them that they released the two cousins. The two men had been waiting for news about the boys since noon, when a fisherman told them they had been taken by soldiers. The father and grandfather had heard shots being fired while they were in the mosque for morning prayers. Later they realized they had heard the attack on Mohammed, Abdul Kader and Arafat.

Mohammed cannot stop thinking about his uncle, who is still being held in Israeli detention; “Arafat and I would go everywhere together and do all the fishing together. I am very worried about him. The soldiers even said; ‘you always go fishing with Arafat’. I am very afraid for how they are treating him.” Arafat is a member of the Palestinian Naval Police.

On the day of the arrest, the family’s fishing boat, including the motor and net, were confiscated. The boat was passed from Mohammed’s grandfather to his father and has been the livelihood of the extended family for as long as Mohammed can remember: “we have no money for a new boat, motor, and net. Altogether it would cost us around 46,000 NIS.” With the confiscation Mohammed and many of his relatives lost their only source of income.

Mohammed is in his last year of high school and is preparing for the final tawjihi exams; “all my classmates take extra classes for the tawjihi but it costs a lot of money, which my family doesn’t have.” Mohammed would like to take the extra classes too but with the loss of the family income, that has become an impossible challenge.

The Israeli army violence against the fishermen has a major impact on Mohammed and his family: “last year my twenty year old cousin, Mohammed Mansour Bakr, was attacked by the Israeli army while fishing. The soldiers shot him and he died. The army is merciless. We stopped fishing for a little while but eventually we had no choice but to get back to our work. We are attacked a lot by the soldiers. They harass us. During this year’s Ramadan they chased and harassed us seven times. It feels like they want to disturb us more during our holy month. At sea the thoughts of risks are constantly in my head. Everyone can feel the same fear at sea. It feels like watching a frightening movie”. However, there is no other option for Mohammed and his family but to continue fishing; “There is no other work for us. Where can we possibly get other work from in Gaza? Even though our work is very dangerous, there is no other choice but to go back to the see because we need the money. If and when we get another boat, I will go again.”

For the past two decades the fishing waters of the Gaza Strip have gradually shrunk by access restrictions imposed as a result of the Oslo agreement and more recently by illegal unilateral restrictions imposed by Israel. Even within the currently enforced 3 nautical mile limit, the Israeli navy regularly attacks, arrests, and sometimes even kills fishermen. This year at least 32 fishermen were arrested, 17 in the month of November. Another 5 fishermen were injured and at least 20 boats were confiscated. In conjunction with the restriction on fishing waters, the income of Gaza’s fishing community (8,200 fishermen and workers in the fishing sector) has steadily decreased. By 2010 the fishing catch had decreased by 37% compared to 2008 and this amounted to only half of the 1999 fishing catch. The sardine catch, which makes up 70% of Gaza’s total fishing catch, now only reaches 20% of the sardine catch that existed before the restrictions, representing a loss of $10 million. Finally, according to the Fisherman’s Syndicate, around 60% of the small fishing boats and 22% of trawler boats in the Gaza Strip are not used because of the high risks involved and the limited catch.

Israeli navy kidnaps two Palestinian children and uncle fishing in Gazan waters

by Radhika S.
12 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza

Mohamed and Abdul Qader Baker - Click here for more images

Seventeen-year-old Abdul Qader Baker still has no idea why the Israeli navy surrounded his small fishing boat at 4 a.m. Thursday morning, ordered him, his 17-year-old cousin Mohamed Baker, and his uncle, Arafat Baker, to strip off their clothes, stand shivering in their underwear for an hour and a half and ultimately forced the group to Ashod.  The two high school students were released approximately twelve hours later, but their uncle remains in Israeli detention.
“I was so scared and it was so cold,” Abdul Qader reported.  After the Israeli navy ordered the group to take off their clothes, Abdul Qader stated that “for two hours I had to stand, not moving, while [Israeli] snipers pointed their guns at me.”
Abdul Qader and Mohamed are in the twelfth grade, and often help their families fish when there’s a school holiday, as was the case on Thursday.  According to Abdul Qader,“[w]e went to retrieve the nets we had dropped and then suddenly I saw the Israeli gun boat in front of us, shining a big light into our boat.”
While the Israeli navy forced Mohamed and Arafat to jump into the sea, and swim towards the warship, Abdul Qader was told he could retrieve his fishing net and go home.  “But when I started taking up the net, the Israelis opened fire and told me to leave the net and jump in the water.”
On the gunboat, Mohamed and Abdul Qader reported being blindfolded until they reached the port of Ashdod.   “They took me to the harbor and when they removed my blindfold, I saw 40 soldiers. I was afraid and terrified,” added Mohamed. At Ashod, Mohamed was examined by a doctor, while an Israeli soldier photographed him.
Israeli authorities subsequently placed metal cuffs on the hands and feet of the two boys and eventually transferred them to Erez where they interrogated them for several hours.
At Erez, Israeli soldiers placed Mohamed and Abdul Qader in separate rooms and showed them various maps of Gaza, asking them to identify their houses and the names of their uncles and brothers.  The Israelis also asked both boys to identify Hamas training locations, where Hamas people lived, were asked about a monument to the 9 Turks killed by the Israeli navy on the Mavi Marmara in 2010, whether the prisoners released in the recent exchange were staying at a particular hotel in Gaza City, and about open spaces used for a playground and a fish farm.
Israeli authorities released the boys at around 5 p.m. Their uncle, 28-year-old Arafat Baker, is still detained.  “I have no idea why they arrested me,” said Abdul Qader. “I didn’t cross the 3-mile line,” he added referring to the fishing limit Israel has imposed on Palestinian fishermen in Gaza.  “The Israelis are criminals. This is no way to treat human beings. It took me hours to stand on my feet [because of the cold], I couldn’t move my leg.”  Abdul Qader added,“I don’t know yet if I will go fishing again. I need time to mentally recover from this.”
Abdul Qader’s right side and chest still hurt due to hours of standing in the cold and being forced into the sea. Israeli authorities did not permit the boys to call their families or an attorney, nor did they ever tell the boys why they had been detained or what laws they were alleged to have violated.

Updated on November 13, 2011

ISM Gaza Strip: 4 Rafah fishermen abducted, fishing boat stolen by Israeli Navy

On Wednesday 25 March 2009 at 8 a.m., about 2 km from Egypt and 1,5 km from the Rafah shore, a Palestinian "shanshula" fishing boat, No 67, was intercepted by an Israeli gunboat that opened fire. The Israeli Navy forced 3 of the Palestinian fishermen to take off their clothes, jump in the sea and swim to the Israeli gunboat, where they were handcuffed, blindfolded and beaten. The fourth fisherman was forced to take the fishing boat to Ashdod port. The 4 Palestinian fishermen from Rafah are the brothers:

- Mohammed Abdullah Halil Al Najar

- Youssef Abdullah Halil Al Najar

- Halil Abdullah Halil Al Najar

And their cousin Ali Hassan Halil Al Najar. The fishermen were held for 12 hours. They were given only trousers, and they remained without other clothes till their return to the Gaza Strip. Before entering, the soldiers destroyed the trousers of one of the fishermen. One of the brothers, Youssef, was also beaten during the interrogation. The Israelis didn't give any explanation for the abduction. At the question "Why you took us?" they replied "We arrest whoever we want, we injure whoever we want, we kill whoever we want." They also said that "this fishing boat will not be returned". Their 7,5 m long "shanshula" fishing boat is worth 5,000$ (US dollars) and is equipped with the following:

- fish finder 1,600 $

- 40 HP motor 4,500 $

- Nets 3,500 $

- Batteries 200 $

- Motor for the nets 1,800 $

That means a total of 16,600 $ is being stolen by the Israeli Navy.

About 6 or 7 years ago the same boat, along with a smaller one, had suffered a similar act of piracy by the Israeli Navy. The boats were returned but not the equipment - among other things the motors (25 and 15 thousands shekels each), and the nets of both boats (a total of 15 thousands shekels). On that occasion there were 5 fishermen abducted and among them was Mohammed. One of the abducted fishermen was Mohamed's uncle Hassan Halil Abdullah Al Najar (44). He was released a week later, but then arrested again on March 19^th 2007. He has been sentenced to 8 years and he is imprisoned in Nafha prison. He was never allowed to receive visits from his relatives, as have been all the prisoners from Gaza Strip, for the past 2 years.

Another 2 members of the same family are prisoners. Mohammed's brother Said Abdullah Halil Al Najar (33) was arrested on November 30^th 2005. He has been sentenced to 13 years and he is imprisoned in Ramon. Initially he was allowed to be visited by his mother and wife, but he too has been deprived of this right for 2 years now. During the recent abduction, his brothers were told by the Israelis in a sarcastic tone: "Your brother is our guest".

The cousin of the brothers, Ahmed Abdel Hadi Hamad Algoun has been sentenced to 11 years and he is in Nafha prison.

Their relatives say that all of them have been tortured while in custody.

Four fishermen detained by Israeli navy released after interrogation

Date: 26 / 03 / 2009 Time: 20:51

[Ma'anImages]

Gaza- Ma’an – The Israeli army released four fishermen detained off the Rafah coast Wednesday, said the de facto Ministry of Prisoners Thursday.

The four men, ordered off their fishing vessel in the early hours of the morning, were members of the An-Najjar family, identified as Khalil, Muhammad, Yousif and Abd Allah.

The men say they were within the 2o nautical mile fishing limit imposed by Israeli warships, but were surrounded and ordered off their ship. They were handcuffed and taken to an unknown location, then released after eight hours of interrogation.

The ship has not been returned.

The ministry noted that the number of the fishermen detained since the Israeli disengagement in September 2005 is now more than 150. Most of the men were later released, but more than a dozen others were sentenced to terms for 5-15 years.