A visit with YAS

July 16, 2016

YAS stands for Youth Against Settlements. It is a Palestinian group in Hebron, led by a man named Issa Amro, who became YAS' leader in 2012.

YAS organizes and carries out activities of peaceful resistance against the settlers in Hebron, and the Israeli military that allows them to steal from and abuse the city's Palestinian inhabitants.

YAS activists organize protests against the Army, and do what they can to get the word out to the outside world about what is taking place. They along with other Palestinian groups work to re-open Shuhada Street, a street in the city of Hebron that Palestinians are banned to walk on. Youth Against Settlements work with other Palestinians, as well as international and Israeli activists.

Although Issa never used violence against Israelis or anyone else, he had been arrested 20 times in 2012, and six times in 2013.

During his arrest in July 2013, the soldiers handcuffed Issa and beat him until he collapsed. They took him to a hospital five hours later, where he needed treatment.

The intimidation continues since then, the YAS house has been raided by soldiers several times, and they seem to still be determined to either shut the group down or at least terrorize it into silence.

This evening, after the settler tour, some ISMers came to the YAS House for a birthday party organized by Issa, for a young European women who had been volunteering at the centre for several months. Issa publicly thanked her for her hard work and dedication, and also the other international activists who were present. 

Afterwards, we were treated to birthday cake, followed by a traditional Palestinian barbecue... chicken hot off the grill, along of course with pita bread and hummus. After we had our cake and chicken (in that order), another dessert was served. It was knefe, which is fried cheese topped with phylo that is drenched in sugar and syrup. Probably not very healthy, but certainly delicious.

I got to hang out with my fellow ISMers, as well as meet activists working for other groups. It was a great evening, for the most part.

We did have some unexected visitors. Seeing that Issa and his guests were enjoying themselves, two soldiers walked into the garden and demanded from Issa that he make his guests provide their IDs. He refused, and told them he wants to see a police order, as well as talk to the local commander. With several cameras and phones pointed at them, the two soldiers retreated, but came back in a few minutes with two others, one of whom must have been a superior rank. He spoke to Issa, who again reiterated there is nothing wrong with having a get-together in one's yard, and that he wants to see a police order. Probably wanting to avoid a scene that would show how unreasonable his request of Issa was, the commanding officer ordered the soldiers to leave.

The party continued into the late night.

*** Unfortunately, due to a computer problem, photos are not available for this post. God willing they will be in the future.