Year: 2012

Campaign: A message from Moira Jilani

By Moira Jilani

22 May 2012 | Killing Without Consequence

My beloved husband, Ziad Jilani, was executed by Israeli Border Policeman, Maxim Vinogradov on June 11, 2010. There is undeniable evidence that my husband was lying unarmed and wounded on the ground, posing no threat when Israeli Border Policeman Maxim Vinogradov shot him point blank in the head. Despite the multiple contradictions, revisions and blatant lies in the testimony of the soldier who killed him, exposed by the autopsy, the Israeli authorities have closed the case against Maxim Vinogradov and his commander Shadi Kheir Al-Din.

The closing of the case against Ziad’s killer is a clear message to Israeli soldiers: simply claim that you suspect a Palestinian is a terrorist and you will not be held accountable if you execute him or her. My daughters and I have appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court to demand Israel’s state prosecutor bring criminal charges against Ziad’s killer and his commander. We seek international support, not only to get justice for Ziad but also to save the lives of future potential victims by sending Israeli soldiers the message that they can be held accountable for killing innocent people. Help us change this message.

Sign the petition demanding that Israel’s state prosecuter press charges against Ziad’s killer!

Email killingwithoutconsequence@gmail.com if you can organize a memorial for Ziad in your city on June 11th.

June 11, 2010 started off like almost any other day, except that before Ziad left he mentioned to me that we had not taken our three girls anywhere since they finished their exams. He thought that they deserved an outing of their choice. After kissing me goodbye, he turned one last time to remind me to speak with them and decide where they thought they would want to go. Ziad told me to make sure that we be packed and ready when he honked his horn to signal us to grab our gear and head down stairs to his pick-up truck.

Unfortunately, he never made it home. That was the last time I ever saw my husband.

We had to conduct our own investigation to find out how my husband died. The alternative was the propaganda that he was a “terrorist.” We set off not only to prove my husband’s innocence, but also to unravel the lies that were being conveyed to the media.We appealed to an Israeli judge to exhume Ziad’s body, three weeks after we buried him. After the judge granted our request for an autopsy Maxim Vinogradov and Shadi Kheir Al-Din abruptly changed their testimonies, “remembering” more damning facts. As the Israeli police had not chosen to interrogate any eyewitness other than the soldiers involved, we requested independent eyewitness go to the police.

The subsequent investigation concluded that Ziad was driving home from the Friday prayers at al Aqsa Mosque. In Wadi Jouz, a neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem. The lane to the Al Aqsa Mosque was closed by the Israeli Army and Border Police, while the lane from the mosque was cramped by cars, bumper-to-bumper. A stone, possibly from a nearby demonstration, hit Ziad’s windshield and he pulled into the empty lane, where a group of Border Patrolmen were walking on the road. The pickup truck apparently hit some of the soldiers causing light injuries. Only one soldier was hospitalized with scrapes. The Border Policemen immediately opened massive fire at and into Ziad’s truck. The shooting hit other vehicles and injured a little girl sitting in a nearby car. Ziad fled from the bullets, seeking shelter in a nearby dead-end alleyway where his uncle lives. Three Border policemen ran forward firing into the alley.

Ziad leapt out of the truck and ran in the direction his uncle’s house. He was shot in the back and fell injured to the pavement. Border Policeman Maxim Vinogradov then walked up to my husband, put his M16 to Ziad’s head, and fired three shots. According to an eyewitness, Maxim Vinogradov had his boot on my husband’s neck and was screaming at him in Hebrew when he shot him.

Twelve days before Maxim Vinogradov executed my husband, Israeli commandos had raided the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish ship carrying aid to Gaza, while in international waters, shooting dead nine of its passengers. On that day, Vinogradov responded to a Facebook post of his friend, Avi Yaacobov, which said in Hebrew “Exterminate Turkey and all the Arabs from the world.” Vinogradov replied: ” I am with you my brother and I with God’s help will begin this.” His friend replied, ”And you, knock on wood, are capable of it.” This is just one of many similar posts where Maxim expresses opinions calling for death to Arabs. Maxim is being supported in acting on his racist convictions by the impunity granted him by the Israeli authorities.

My husband loved life and enjoyed it to it’s fullest, he loved people and animals and he loved us, his family, with a passion. He was not a terrorist. My American citizenship has meant nothing to the Israeli authorities and far too little to the American government. I would like answers and to see to it that trigger-happy soldiers and police men serving in the Israeli military and border police are not allowed to kill more innocent people.

For more information see: http://killingwithoutconsequence.com/

Volunteer in Gaza with the ISM

21 May 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza

The International Solidarity Movement is appealing for activists to join our team in the besieged Gaza Strip.  After being barred from Gaza in 2003 following the murders of Rachel Corrie and Tom Hurndall, ISM Gaza was reinstated in August 2008 when ISM and other volunteers traveled aboard the historic, siege-breaking voyage of the first Free Gaza Movement boat. ISM has maintained a constant presence in Gaza since that time, for over three years of Israel’s crippling siege.

ISM volunteers refused to leave when Israel began bombing Gaza in December 2008. During the devastating 23-day assault, activists accompanied ambulances and provided vital testimony to the international media.

Daily life in Gaza is a harrowing struggle. In stark violation of international law, Israel enforces a three-nautical-mile fishing blockade. The Israeli-imposed ‘buffer zone’ swallows up a third of Gaza’s farmland, which lies along the Israeli border. Farmers are routinely shot and killed simply for working their land well inside Gaza’s borders.

ISM Gaza volunteers accompany farmers and demonstrators in the ‘buffer zone’, as well as fishermen routinely harassed by the Israeli navy. Visit https://www.palsolidarity.org/category/gaza/ to watch videos and read reports by ISM Gaza.

Those interested in joining the ISM Gaza team are required to attend a preliminary training in their home country and must communicate with the volunteers in Gaza prior to arrival. Entering Gaza is an arduous process that may require some time to be spent in Egypt. All ISM volunteers in Gaza must agree to ISM principles as delineated on palsolidarity.org.

Also recommended:

  • Previous experience in the West Bank with the ISM strongly encouraged; if not, experience with nonviolent direct action, preferably elsewhere in the Middle East
  • A historical understanding of Palestine and some knowledge of the current political situation
  • Arabic language skills highly recommended; if not English is necessary
  • Cultural sensitivity
  • Ability to stay in Gaza for an extended period of time (over a month)
  • High degree of independence and self-sufficiency
  • Ability to do deal with protracted stressful situations
  • Experience with consensus-based decision-making

For more information about where to attend a preliminary training or other questions, please email gazaism@gmail.com.

Occupied Palestine: farce, tragedy, travesty

By Patrick Keddie

20 May 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

The three snapshots below are composed from interviews conducted whilst working for the International Solidarity Movement in the West Bank from September to December 2011.

FARCE

Rodni Jaber is a Palestinian woman who lives and works as a farmer in Al-Baqa’a, a windswept valley situated a few kilometers East of Hebron in the West Bank. Her family is regularly attacked by Israeli settlers and harassed by the Israeli military.

In 1998 Rodni’s son Raja was born. A few days after his birth, settlers attacked the house; one settler made a complaint to the police that someone named ‘Raja’ had put a knife to his chest, threatening to kill him.

Rodni: “Several days later the soldiers came to arrest my son. So I showed them my son who was 40 days old and I showed them his birth certificate because they didn’t believe he was Raja.”

The soldiers left but they contacted the family shortly afterward with a demand.

Rodni: “They said that Raja should come to the court and at the age of 50 days I had to take him. They said, ‘where is the defendant Raja’ and I showed them my son”.

OK, so that was the end of it then?

Rodni: “No – the judge ruled that when he reaches 16 years old he will have to come to back to court!”

Surely when the case comes to court and it becomes apparent that Raja could not even sit up or support the weight of his own head at that time of the incident, let alone threaten to harm anyone, the situation will go beyond parody?

Rodni (laughs): “Of course!”

But the ruling still stands; Raja is 12 years old now and in four years’ time he will have to go to court and explain his role in the incident.

TRAGEDY

Mustafa Tamimi, 28, was fatally injured during a protest in Nabi Saleh in December 2011. The protests began after the village’s Ein al-Qaws spring was taken over by residents of Halamish, a nearby illegal Israeli settlement, in 2009. Hundreds of protesters have been injured in Nabi Saleh but Tamimi was the first fatality during the village’s demonstrations.

Ibrahim Bornat, a 28 year-old artist and activist from Bil’in was with Mustafa when he was fatally injured.

Ibrahim: “We were alone, with the rest of the protest quite far behind. We were chasing after the [Israeli military] jeeps, telling them to leave the village.”

One jeep slowed, opened its rear door a fraction and fired two tear gas canisters directly at them, from a distance of around three meters. As the first tear gas canister was fired…

Ibrahim: “Mustafa pushed me so it went over my head, the second one hit him.”

He saw Mustafa lying prone on the floor but did not realize exactly what had happened.

Ibrahim: “I thought maybe he had passed out from the gas. I went to him and turned him over and took the cloth off his face. The side of his face was blown off, the eye was hanging out and I pushed it back but I could see the inside of his head.”

There were no ambulances around, so they put Tamimi in a service [communal taxi] but the Israeli military stopped it and tried to arrest Tamimi, until they realized how seriously injured he was.

Mustafa lay on the ground for half an hour, receiving ‘treatment’ by the Israelis. He was not allowed to leave until his ID card was found, wasting valuable time.

Although Mustafa’s heart may have been revived later temporarily, Ibrahim knew he was dead.

Ibrahim: “When I was holding him, I’m sure that he died in my arms. He let out a gasp and his soul left.”

Ibrahim was not surprised at the actions of the Israeli military.

Ibrahim: “The occupation maintains itself through killing.”

TRAVESTY

Khowla Wazwaz from Hebron in the West Bank recounts the night in 2005 when her son Moussa, then 23 years-old, was arrested by the Israeli military.

Khowla: “It was around 6pm and it was raining. The soldiers surrounded the house and started to throw sound bombs. When Moussa went outside – every gun has a laser – it was like there were hundreds of laser dots on his body.”

The soldiers told Moussa to remove all his clothes and threw him a white jumpsuit, he took it and they separated him from his family.

Khowla: “After that they started to interrogate me – [the interrogator] asked me ‘where does Moussa go, when does he come back,’ all these questions. I told him everything I knew but he told me, ‘look, the soldiers are beating him, so tell me where the gun is’. I said, ‘he doesn’t have any gun.’”

She was interrogated for three or four hours but she did not know anything. As she was interrogated, she could hear awful sounds from the next room.

Khowla: “I heard someone screaming ‘mother, mother!’. I do not know if they were beating Moussa or not, I think that perhaps it was someone acting.”

Once the interrogations had ended, Moussa was arrested and taken away. The soldiers then turned their attention to the house.

Khowla: “They destroyed the inside of the house. We have a library and they started to open fire [with live ammunition] at the books, they destroyed the computer and took the hard drive.”

Khowla was denied permission to speak to or visit her son for a year after this arrest. Moussa was given 8 life sentences for participating in the resistance – a total of 792 years. He has consistently denied any wrongdoing and was released on 18 October 2011 in the first wave of the deal to exchange Palestinian prisoners for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

But Moussa was not released home to his family in Hebron. He was exiled to the Gaza Strip against his wishes, which Palestinian prisoners’ group Addameer describes as “a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention and qualifies as one of the most serious war crimes.” At the time of the interview (November 2011) the family had not been able to visit him.

[This piece is part of an exhibition in creative journalism at the Nolias Gallery, London running from 19-23 May 2012, which features work by a range of journalists and photojournalists, including a selection of David Shaw’s photography from Palestine.]

Settler Attack: Palestinian man shot in head in Asira al-Qibliya

By Maria Erdely

20 May 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Asira al-Qibliya, a village located south-west of Nablus, was attacked by illegal Israeli settlers yesterday. The attack lasted all afternoon leaving 7 Palestinians injured, of which 5 required hospitalization. Settlers fired live ammunition at the Palestinians, and one man was in critical condition after being shot in the head.

Israeli settlers arrived at Asira in the afternoon and before any Palestinians or Israeli soldiers came they began the attack by setting fire to the land. The people of Asira arrived and responded by throwing stones towards the settlers, attempting to force them off the land they were destroying. 3 of the 60 settlers were carrying weapons with live ammunition. They began to fire at the Palestinians and 20 year old Nemer Fathir Asaira was shot in the head.

Palestinians carry an injured man who was shot during an attack by illegal Israeli settlers | AP Photo/Nasser Ishtayeh

Paramedics were prohibited from entering the street so a private car had to evacuate Nemer to an ambulance. 4 more Palestinians were seriously injured by stones that were thrown by the Israeli settlers, including an elderly woman, who was hit in the head, Ahmed Jaber Saleh, whose nose and cheekbone were shattered, and his brother whose leg was broken.

All victims of the attack were taken to Rafidia hospital in Nablus. A lot of minor traumas were treated at the scene of the attack, amongst them 13 year old Mohammed Dawood Salah, whose upper arm was hit by a stone.

Shortly after the attack began, the illegal settlers were joined by the Israeli Army. Approximately 30 soldiers arrived at the scene. They watched without intervening as the attack by settlers intensified and increasingly more Palestinians were injured.

Some of the Israeli soldiers began filming the crowd of Palestinians who were throwing stones. An elder from Asira commented that they do this because, “they want to feed a certain stereotype to the Western media.” Filming is also used to intimidate and threaten a future arrest.

The settlers retreated in the late afternoon leaving only soldiers behind, who continued to intimidate and attack the villagers by using tear gas and sound bombs. The fires that had been started by the settlers earlier in the day continued into the late afternoon. The Israeli Army preventedthe Palestinian firemen from putting out the flames that were destroying the land.

Following the attack, the Israeli army proceeded to enter the village from its two main roads. The number of soldiers seemed to outnumber that of the Palestinians, of whom many were minors. Many inhabitants of the village feared that the situation would escalate even further. In the evening, the Israeli military retreated, but not without leaving behind several tear gas grenades and sound bombs.

Whilst confronting the soldiers, the residents of Asira chanted, “our land, our streets.”

A middle aged Palestinian man who chose not be named, stated that, “the settlers usually shoot and go. They come prepared to kill.”

Awaiting treatment in hospital

One day after the attack, Nemer Fathir Asaira, the young man shot in the face, remains in hospital. He was released from Intensive Care Unite, but doctors have yet to determine if he requires surgery.

According to Nemer’s father, his family and friends have been by his side day and night and they will continue to be so until he is released from hospital.

33 year old Ahmed Jaber Saleh, whose nose and cheekbone were broken by a stone, was visited by his mother, wife and son today. His brother, whose leg was broken by a stone, had already been released from the hospital. Ahmed and Nemer both remain in anticipation of a decision by the hospital of their treatment plans.

Settlements: a culture of impunity to the law

Approximately 700 Israelis live in the illegal Israeli settlement adjacent to Asira al-Qibliya. This colony, like 250 others throughout the West Bank, is considered illegal under international law as a violation of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. This illegality has been confirmed by the International Court of Justice and the United Nations Security Council.

The recent attack was only one of many in the history of the village. In 2011, similar attacks occurred on a weekly basis. This year, the settlers have attempted attacks on Asira up to 3 times each month. The Israeli settlers participating in these aggressions are not always inhabitants of the area. Nevertheless, they show their unity by wearing similar coloured cloth, on the most recent occasion white t-shirts. This may be an indication of long-term planning behind the attack.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), over 90% of complaints regarding settler violence filed by Palestinians with the Israeli police in recent years have been closed without indictment. OCHA reports that, “ the root cause of the settler violence phenomenon is Israel’s decades-long policy of illegally facilitating the settling of its citizens inside occupied Palestinian territory. This activity has resulted in the progressive takeover of Palestinian land, resources and transportation routes and has created two separate systems of rights and privileges, favoring Israeli citizens at the expense of the over 2.5 million Palestinian residents of the West Bank.”

The residents of Asira al-Qibliya are unable to lead a secure life under the constant threat of harassment, intimidation, and attack by the Israeli Occupation Forces and illegal settlers alike.

Maria Erdely is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Gaza: Harvesting barley at Erez crossing amidst gun fire

By Hama Waqum

19 May 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza

Ten Palestinian volunteers harvested wheat in Gaza’s northern no-go zone on Wednesday, May 16, only 350 meters from where the Israeli Apartheid wall encircles the Gaza Strip. Two weeks ago the barley was cut and gathered and on Wednesday, volunteers loaded the harvest onto donkey carts to transport it for sorting, in the face of Apache helicopters, tanks, and F-16 fighter jets.

Palestinian farmers harvesting barley near the no-go zone in Gaza despite risk of Israeli army attack.

The work began at approximately 8:45am in northern Beit Hanoun, and immediately an Israeli tank became visible on a distant hill. A few minutes later, a helicopter circled above and would remain there for three hours. At 9:10, a number of jeeps patrolled the border and by 11:30, one of the Israeli outposts fired 8 shots at a point slightly further than the farmland. Over the next hour, a total of around 30 shots were fired from the same outpost.

The volunteers offered to help the owner to farm his land, due to its proximity to the Apartheid Wall. A distance of 300 meters to the border is considered the ‘no-go zone’, in which the Israeli Government prohibits farming. Even farmers outside the no-go zone, however, come under regular fire simply for their proximity to the Wall. Volunteers from the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative team farmed for six hours, joined by International Solidarity Movement volunteers.

The team of volunteers successfully finished transporting the barley despite the military presence.

Hama Waqum is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement.