23 January 2011 | International Solidarity Movement
Last night, two military jeeps full of soldiers invaded the village of An Nabi Saleh. At around 1.30am they entered a house and immediately arrested 14 year old Islam Tamimi. He had been arrested only two weeks before and was detained in the illegal settlement of Halamish, and was asked to identify people from pictures of the weekly demonstration, held every Friday in the village.
At the same time, the soldiers detained his older brother Omar Tamimi, but released him after massive protest from his family and neighbors. None of the soldiers spoke Arabic, except for one who was masked, and refused to cooperate when a woman from B’Tselem tried to take a picture of him. During the detention of the older brother the army punished him in front of his family, and released him without cutting the hand-cuffs.
When asked why they were doing this, one of the soldiers said “because I have a weapon.” This is the reality which the Palestinians face under the occupation by the “democratic” state of Israel.