When Issa Amro was a child, he remembers Shuhada Street in Hebron being so crowded his father had to hold his hand tightly to keep him from getting lost. Today, the street is a ghost town, due to Israeli military control to protect illegal settlers. And Amro calls for international protests for the 9th annual Open Shuhada Street day on February 25, to demand an end to apartheid

Youth Against Settlement’s Issa Amro writes about signs settlers have posted inside of Hebron, “At the front of Shuhada street in the old city of Hebron is a street sign pointing multiple directions: Chabad Cemetery, Old Jewish Cemetery, Ancient Tel Hebron. The words are in Hebrew and English only. The purpose of the sign is not to provide directions but to erase Palestinian identity, and even the Arabic language, from the area. For more than a decade Israeli settlers have been installing these types of signs throughout Hebron. Over the past two years, the installation of these signs has increased exponentially.”

Today, the Israeli military attacked the annual Open Shuhada Street protest of around 1,000 people, organized by Youth Against Settlements. Hundreds of fully-armed army and border patrol troops opened fire as soon as eye contact was made with the protesters.

The 2017 International Open Shuhada Street Campaign will take place February 19-26. In Hebron there will be film showings, children’s activities, art projects, teach-in’s, and community gatherings. Internationally the campaign will be targeting the Hebron Fund, an American organization with 501c3 charity tax status that raises money to support the illegal settlements in Hebron, and Goldman Sachs for donating to the Hebron Fund. Activists in Hebron ask solidarity partners to hold protests outside the Hebron Fund in Brooklyn and at Goldman Sachs offices across the world.

Ariel Gold and Isso Amro write, “As a Jewish American and a Palestinian human rights activist, we stand united in our opposition to President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of bankruptcy attorney David Friedman to be the next US Ambassador to Israel. Friedman, who has no diplomatic experience, is aligned not with American Jewish positions, but with Israel’s illegal settler movement. He is hostile to the two-state solution and refers to the West Bank as Judea and Sumeria, a biblical name used by settlers and Israel’s extreme right. Friedman’s reference to the West Bank by this name reflects his support for Israeli annexation of the West Bank, which would force the Palestinian population either to leave or be contained in enclaves, not unlike South African apartheid era bantustans”