9 August 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
The demonstrations in Nabi Saleh started the 21 of November 2009, after the illegal settlement of Halamish expanded, costing locals in land and their source of water for home and agricultural use, a spring declared holy by the settlers.
Since the beginning of the demonstrations the village faced outstanding repression from the army and the Israeli government, who declared 10 house demolition orders. The Israeli army tried to negotiate with or blackmail members of the village, promising to withhold the demolition orders if they stop the demonstrations.
More then 220 people have been injured since the beginning of their peaceful resistance to illegal Israeli occupation of their land. Some of the injured include an 11 year old boy who was shot with a rubber coated steel bullet in his head and is still paralyzed. Another example is man who was hit by a high velocity tear gas canister, illegal because unlike usual tear-gas canisters, it is made to be capable of breaking through walls, can fly long distances without sound, does not emit a smoke tail, and has a propeller to accelerate the weapon mid-air.
At the moment there are around 90 Nabi Saleh locals still held in Israeli jails.
We met Manal Tamimi, one of the most active women in the village, who made the point that their resistance is not just for her children in Nabi Saleh, but it is a resistance that involves all Palestine.
In this featured interview with ISM, Tamimi stated, “You can plan things for maximum 10 minutes, I’m not able to decide in which school to send my kids, you can’t decide anything about the future. Children shouldn’t live in fear, they shouldn’t pay this price.”