Unprovoked Israeli Army Raid & Destruction of Equipment in the Tanweer Social Centre

Below is a story which speaks volumes about the nature of the Israeli occupation.  Its violence has nothing to do with ‘terrorism’ but in destroying the capacity of the Palestinians to live their lives and therefore resist.

Night raid in Tanweer Center in Nablus. Photo credit : Ziad Ameireh.

What we see is Israeli state terrorism in the wanton destruction of the property of a cultural centre.  Nablus is in Area C, which is supposed to be immune to the Israeli military but of course Israel’s terrorist army has carte blanche to invade anywhere Palestinians live.  Needless to say the role of Abbas’s PA is to protect the Israeli security state, not to protect Palestinians from that state.

Tony Greenstein

Tanweer cultural centre in Nablus raided at night, equipment stolen and damaged

15th of December, 2015 

International Solidarity Movement, Nablus team | Nablus, occupied Palestine

On the night of the 10th of December, the Israeli forces raided the Palestinian cultural Centre Tanweer, near the old city of Nablus, and stole hardwares, wifi keys and a laptop after searching the whole centre. The organisation lost all of their data from the raid.

Night raid in Tanweer Center in Nablus. Photo credit : Ziad Ameireh.

When the volunteers arrived at 11 am the next day, they found the door broken and everything spread on the floor. Volunteers from the centre have been working on getting the place back into shape since then, but much of the furniture and computer equipment have been severely damaged. The Rachel Corrie computer room, established in 2011, was as well raided and the computers are at the moment unusable. The team is thinking of launching a fundraising campaign to help replace the lost equipment.

Night raid in Tanweer Center in Nablus. Photo credit : Ziad Ameireh.

The volunteers’ coordinator has been arrested around three weeks ago during a night raid, as well as about seven of the organisation’s volunteers. Tanweer is not involved in any political activism; it’s a cultural center working to educate the youth from the old city of Nablus and therefore the volunteers don’t understand the reason for this targeting of their work.

Night raid in Tanweer Center in Nablus. Photo credit : Ziad Ameireh.

The coordinators, along with Palestinian volunteers, organise activities, support classes, computer courses and any cultural events. “You attack a cultural center, it means that you don’t want people to be enlightened”, said Mustafa Azizi, one of the volunteers.

Night raid in Tanweer Center in Nablus. Photo credit : Ziad Ameireh.

TANWEER PRESS RELEASE

The civil society association ‘Tanweer, Palestinian Cultural Enlightenment Forum’ in Nablus, West Bank, occupied Palestine was raided by the Apartheid Israel occupation, (AIO) military forces on the 9th of December 2015. The AIO military’s targets were a public access computer facility named the ‘Rachel Corrie Room’ in memorial, established in 2011, in addition to the written courses for educating youth and the furnishings of Tanweer.  

During the AIO military operation at Tanweer - besides turning everything inside-out - the internal hard drives of all nine computers were confiscated, together with the WiFi keys, a laptop, a 1Tb USB key, as well as a server computer.

Night raid in Tanweer Center in Nablus. Photo credit : Ziad Ameireh.

It is noteworthy that the policy of AIO towards this Palestinian civil association is seeking to tighten the noose on their activity by raiding them and arresting their board members, so as to prevent cultural development for the minds of Palestinian youth. For Tanweer, the AIO military forces arrested 3 of its board members during the last 3 years, the most recent being Wael Faqeh, the coordinator of voluntary work, including the international solidarity friends in Tanweer, who was detained October 25^th at the AIO military check-point near Ramallah, while travelling for a workshop. His tribunal hearing is to take place December 30^th by military tribunal, as Palestinians are still under AIO military laws despite the Oslo accord and its Palestinian authority.

Night raid in Tanweer Center in Nablus. Photo credit : Ziad Ameireh.

The Tanweer Internet radio program ‘Enlightened Voice For A Free Palestine’, which was initiated in cooperation with  Italian radio ‘Nurvo Resistance Radio’, on September 1, 2015 was able to reach a half million listeners in Italy, Spain, the USA and France. Its purpose is to educate the world about the reality of the occupation in Nablus and is likely the foremost reason why the military raid took place.

Night raid in Tanweer Center in Nablus. Photo credit : Ziad Ameireh.

As a result, this notice is being launched to rebuild the Rachel Corrie computer room by an appeal for funds to the Tanweer Forum. The nine hard drives, WiFi keys and laptop will amount to 5,500 NIS ($3,000 USD).

Additional funding would set up a new server to host the Tanweer website, as well as generate revenue by hosting web site services.

Night raid in Tanweer Center in Nablus. Photo credit : Ziad Ameireh.

Donations may be deposited with the Montréal, Canada Caisse Desjardins account here following.       

Account for donations :         Account # 815-92166-006957-5

Caisse Desjardins Portugaise – Siège social
4244, boulevard St-Laurent,
Montréal (Québec), H2W 1Z3
514 842-8077

- Languages spoken :français, English, Spanish, portugais

Please don't hesitate to contact us for any additional information through the following email:

tanwirenlight@gmail.com

see also Tanweer's Facebook Page 

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1059798097385522&id=232780910087249&fref=nf