The conditional freedom of Hafez Huraini – Now is the time to intensify pressure
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The conditional freedom of Hafez Huraini – Now is the time to intensify pressure

Hafez Huraini, his family, and friends can celebrate his temporary release from Israeli jails – yet, his trial and persecution continue. We want to thank all those that have joined the campaign #FreeHafezHuraini and helped put pressure on the Israeli occupation courts. Our battle is far from over and we ask you to intensify your efforts. We need further pressure until Hafez is truly free.  

After being detained for 10 days under investigation, Hafez Huraini has been temporarily released with a bail of 10,000 Shekels to guarantee his appearance in court for further hearings. The apartheid courts set also a condition that Hafez has to stay from his land, where he was attacked, for 30 days.

In occupied Palestine, being released from Israeli jail’s does not mean one received justice. Huraini was assaulted, injured, detained, punished, had to pay bail, and is now forced to stay away from his land. The settlers, who attacked him, instead, are free to enjoy their illegal existence on his ancestral land, attacking the residents, and stealing and damaging Palestinian resources. The Israeli apartheid regime’s court did not even attempt to interrogate or detain the brutal settlers, despite the unquestionable evidence of the aggression which had taken place on Huraini’s land.

Such unfair proceedings, ensuring full impunity for the settlers, legalizes these practices and gives the green light to criminal settlers to attack Palestinians and encourages them to continue their ethnic cleansing strategy. The Israeli occupation is utilizing its illegal settlers to serve their war crime of ethnic cleansing.

Sami Huraini, a Palestinian Human rights defender and grassroots organizer, stated in response to the assault and arrest of his father Hafez: “ What happened to my father, happens to the entire Palestinian population. We have been subjected to ethnic cleansing policies and systematic human rights abuse for 74 years. We Palestinians believe that we have a fundamentally just cause. What is happening is a war crime and the international community has the responsibility to stop these practices and hold Israel accountable for its brutal crimes against our Palestinian people”. 

Within the structure of the Israeli military occupation,  illegal settlers support the state’s ethnic cleansing policy in order to impose Jewish dominance. Eight villages in Masafer Yatta are to be forcibly displaced and the land to be taken over by the state and its illegal settlers. . According to UN OCHA, 63 incidents of settler violence were documented in Masaffer Yatta between 2017 and 2020. In 2021 OCHA documented nearly 500 attacks resulting in the murder of 4 Palestinians and 175 injuries in addition to the extreme damage of properties. These statistics indicate that violations increased by 40 and 50 % in the years 2019 and 2020 respectively. 

Since the beginning of 2022, the Israeli Occupation authorities have been launching large-scale and brutal attacks against Palestinians and human rights activists in Masafer Yatta. As the colonizing power believes that attacking activists will weaken popular resistance, it also considers this a core element in its strategic plan to displace Palestinians by putting pressure on them for the purpose of ethnic cleansing.

Yet the steadfastness of the Palestinian people in their land will lead the occupation to the conclusion that Palestinians are rooted in the land and the uprooting will never happen as long as they are alive.

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