Thirty Days in the Nablus Region

by ISM Nablus, October 19, 2006

The Nablus region, with its three refugee camps, many villages, Old City and sprawling city center has been a scene of consistent Israeli violence. Such violence has accelerated since the beginning of the Palestinian Intifada in September 2000. Nablus has become synonymous with nightly invasions, targeted assassinations, home demolitions and other acts of violence by the occupation forces.

This report combines the reporting of eight Palestinian and Israeli news sources to document the violence perpetuated by the Israeli Occupation Force (IOF) in the Nablus region. The various news sources were used to generate an accurate and complete report, and the factual differences in reporting were taken into account and investigated. Sometimes it was not possible to locate arrestees names, or places of birth, though this information was recorded whenever available.

The invasions of villages of the Nablus region were noted, though the invasions of the refugee camps and city were not because of the regularity. Nablus Old City, Balata Refugee Camp, Askar Refugee Camp and Ein Beit el Ma Refugee Camp (known simply as Ein) are invaded nearly every night. The Old City as well as Askar and Balata Refugee Camps have rarely gone 24 hours without the presence of IOF soldiers firing at citizens. Because of the regularity of these invasions, and the presumption that they are occurring each and every day, invasions are only noted when they involve significant property destruction, arrests, injuries or deaths.

In thirty days in the Nablus region:

• 6 Palestinians were killed by Israeli military personal.
• At least 18 Palestinians were injured by IOF attacks.
• At least 63 Palestinians were arrested.

Below you will find a day by day account of incidents of arrests, injuries, killings, village invasions and other such incidents of occupation violence. See also the previous ISM Nablus report “Three days in Nablus: Four Killed, Six Injured, Eight Arrested“.

September

Tuesday 19th

IOF stormed Askar refugee camp, invaded houses in Nablus city, and invaded homes in Osarin village, southeast of Nablus city. In total, seven people were arrested:

• Rashad Yassein, 16, from Askar camp
• Fadi Abu Koshik, 18, from Askar camp
• Bara’a Abu Ja’far, 21, from Nablus city
• Amin Qdili, 20, from Osarin village
• Turki Adili, 20, from Osarin village
• Salim Azimah, 19, from Osarin village
• Haitham Adili, 20, from Osarin village

Wednesday 20th

IOF invaded Beit Furik village, east of Nablus city, and arrested Firas Mlitat, 26. Later that day, another unnamed Palestinian male was arrested at Jit checkpoint.

Thursday 21st

During an incursion into Nablus city nine Palestinians were arrested:

• Ferass Militat, 30
• Nafeth Ahmad Al Faqeeh, 23, from the Hebron region
• Mohammed Ahmad Al Faqeeh, 21, from the Hebron region
• Yousef Ahmad Ayed Al Faqeeh, 20, from the Hebron region
• Nassem Al Khzari, 32
• One unnamed woman from Balata Refugee Camp
• Two unnamed resistance fighters, from Nablus city

Sunday 24th

IOF fired at a Palestinians taxi approaching Nablus from Ramallah, injuring four people:

• Ali Mohammed Al-Aqra, from Qabalan village, suffered a head injury
• Maged Snuber, 33, from Qabalan village, was shot in the left hand
• Jamil Abdur-Rahman, from Qabalan village, was wounded in the hand and back
• Mohammed Al-Aqra, from Qabalan village, shot in the back and suffered hand injuries

Tuesday 26th

IOF invaded Nablus Old City and shot Amjad Anabtawi, 22, from Nablus Old City. Anabtawi was shot in the chest and critically injured.

Wednesday 27th

IOF invaded Balata Refugee Camp, and injured three unnamed Palestinian males. Soldiers attacked the Qattaui building, arresting three people:

• Ala’ Shary’ah, 21
• Jihad Yusef Shamah Dukan, 17
• Abdullah Khaled Mahmod Qatari, 17

Three unnamed Palestinian males from Nablus Old City were also arrested that night.

Thursday 28th

IOF invaded Rujeib village, south of Nablus, and Assira Al-Shamalila village, north of Nablus. Homes were invaded and searched and private property was destroyed.

IOF invaded Balata refugee camp, and destroyed a number of shops with an armored Caterpillar D9 bulldozer. Two Palestinians were arrested:

• Du’a Hussin, 20 (female)
• One unnamed Palestinian male.

Friday 29th

IOF invaded Ein and Balata Refugee Camps, as well as Nablus Old City, searching shops and destroying private property.

October

Sunday 1st

IOF closed the line for senior citizens at Huwwara checkpoint, south of Nablus city center. Palestinian demonstrators threw stones in protest, and were shot with tear gas and rubber-coated metal bullets.

Wednesday 4th

Nablus city and Balata Refugee Camp were invaded in the night and two Palestinian males were arrested:

• Muhammad Abu Halimah, 17, from Nablus city
• Ammar Hassanain, 26, from Nablus city.
• Nasir Hasan Mansur, 40, from Kafr Qallil village, south of Nablus, was shot in his foot by IOF soldiers stationed at Beit Ur checkpoint, while he was sitting in front of his house.

Thursday 5th

One unnamed Palestinian male arrested in southern Nablus city.

Friday 6th

Six unnamed Palestinian males arrested in Nablus city.

Saturday 7th

IOF invaded Askar Refugee Camp. Two unnamed Palestinian males arrested:

• One unnamed man arrested south of Nablus city center.
• One unnamed man arrested in Salim village, east of Nablus.

IOF, stationed near the Apartheid wall, shot Farid Tu’amah in his abdomen, and left him bleeding for 20 minutes while the ambulance was banned from reaching the scene of the shooting.

Sunday 8th

IOF invaded Balata Refugee Camp and killed one Palestinian male:

• Usama Saleh, 23, known locally as “Skipper,” shot twice in the chest.
• Four additional unnamed Palestinian males were injured during the invasion.

Mohammed El-Haj Tirawi, 23, from Balata Camp shot dead while attempting to pass Huwwara checkpoint, south of Nablus city center, via a bypass road. The checkpoint was closed because of the Jewish holiday. During the attack by IOF soldiers, Ahmed Hazzaa Ramadan, 21, from Til village was shot in the shoulder and injured.

IOF arrested three unnamed Palestinian males from Nablus city.

Monday 9th

IOF invaded Nablus city, targeting a number of houses in Jabal Al- Shamali, and Wad Al-Toffah areas. Three unnamed Palestinian males were arrested.

Wednesday 11th

IOF raided Nablus Old City, as well as Ein, Balata and Askar Refugee Camps. Armored Caterpillar D9 bulldozers destroyed water pumps and pipes, and also causing damage to the central market in Askar Camp.

During the invasion into Ein Camp, one man was shot and killed: Abdullah Mansour, 29, from Jericho city, was shot and killed while looking out the window of a relative’s house.

Five Palestinian males were arrested in Nablus Old City and Balata Refugee Camp:

• Fadi Ziad Galiz, 18, from Nablus Old City
• Mohammad Ziad Galiz, 25, from Nablus Old City
• Azmi Tawfiq Al Serafi, 20, from Balata Refugee Camp
• Abu Rish, 20, from Balata Refugee Camp
• Hussam, 20, from Balata Refugee Camp

Two unnamed Palestinian males were arrested near Huwwara checkpoint, south of Nablus city center, during the night.

IOF established additional closure barriers at Yitzhar checkpoint, south of Nablus, forcing Palestinians to use bypass roads.

Thursday 12th

IOF at Huwwara checkpoint, south of Nablus city center, shot and killed Mohammed Waleed Mustafa Sa’ada, 20, from Til village, as he approached soldiers searching a taxi.

Two unnamed Palestinian males were arrested, one from Nablus city and one from Ein Refugee Camp.

Friday 13th

IOF raided Beit Furik village, east of Nablus. Military vehicles entered the village, imposing curfew.

All men under the age of 45 were denied passage through Huwwara checkpoint, south of Nablus city center. One unnamed Palestinian male was beaten and thereafter arrested.

Sunday 15th

A number of Palestinians were arrested under suspicion of possessing a pistol or knife in their car.

Mohamed Rabai’a, 28, from Nablus city was arrested under unclear circumstances, while his brother was detained for over one hour.

Monday 16th

IOF invaded Nablus city and Balata Refugee Camp and arrested three Palestinian males:

• Motaz Affouri, 23, from Nablus city
• Iyad Tirawi, 22, from Balata Refugee Camp.
• An unnamed Palestinian male from Nablus city.

Tuesday 17th

Two Palestinian brothers killed in Ein Refugee Camp, west of Nablus, by IOF Special Forces:

• Adel Abu Al-Rish, 24, shot with ten bullets in chest and head.
• Firas Al-Rish, 22

Several people were also injured. Soon after the assassination IOF reinforcements carried out a full invasion of the camp.

Wednesday 18th

IOF invaded Beit Iba village, north of Nablus, and Nablus Old City arresting five Palestinian males:

• Khalid Ismael Ramadan, from Beit Iba village (brother of Mohammed)
• Mohammed Ismael Ramadan, from Beit Iba village (brother of Khalid)
• Fuad Safwan, 25, from Nablus city
• Ihaab Mahmad As’ad Karhash, 22, from Taluza village
• Ahassan Ali Hussein Vah, 25, from Nablus city

Sources

• Ma’an News Agency (Palestinian news source, online)
• WAFA News Agency (Palestinian news source, online)
• Independent Middle East Media Center (Palestinian-Israeli news source, online)
• Al-Jazeera News (Arab news network, online)
• Ha’aretz (Israeli newspaper, online)
• Jerusalem Post (Israeli newspaper, online)
• Ynet News (Israeli newspaper, online)
• Israeli Defense Force (military press statements, online)