Year: 2013 - Page 34 - International Solidarity Movement

Video- Soldiers assault a twelve-year-old Palestinian while settlers invade family rooftop in Hebron

3rd August 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

Saturday August 3rd was not a peaceful Saturday for the Palestinians in Hebron. At approximately 16.30 two settlers invaded the roof of the Abu Shamsiya family in Tel Rumeida, whilst three soldiers attacked a twelve year old boy in the street nearby.

When the settlers on the roof were approached by internationals and told that they were on private property and therefore had to leave, they refused and said they came there every week. The fact that they had entered a private home without consent of the family did not concern them, on the contrary they expressed that they felt it was their right. When asked to leave the settlers behaved aggressively by yelling and continuously refusing to do so. After having argued with internationals one of the settlers threatened to lie to the soldiers and say that they had been hit by the internationals. He argued that even though it was not true, the soldiers would believe him over the international activists.

As seen in the video below, in the meantime three Israeli soldiers assaulted three young boys just down the street. The soldiers started by harshly pushing one boy, afterwards they grabbed a second boy, Islam by the hair and kicked him. Thereafter a third boy ran to his house chased by the soldiers. When internationals asked why the military was chasing the boy, they lied and said the boys had been throwing stones. The boy said that he had simply ran because he was scared after having seen his twelve-year-old friend, Islam being brutally attacked by soldiers for no apparent reason.

These are not unusual events. The Abu Shamsiya family is often victim of settler and military harassment, the family’s roof is on street level and settlers often go there to throw stones, harass the family and break their property. Saturdays are particularly violent in Hebron, only last week both Abu Shamsiya and his son Muhammed were attacked by settlers whilst the military was watching, with Abu Shamsiya then being arrested on false charges while the settlers were freed without charges.

Hebron has large settlements in the middle of the city housing approximately 500 settlers some of whom are extremely aggressive and violent. Additionally there are 2500 Israeli occupation soldiers stationed in the city.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZrlKo_PGMI

UPDATED: Four arrested at Nabi Saleh’s weekly protest

3rd August 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah Team | Nabi Saleh, Occupied Palestine

Update 3th August: The fourth Israeli activist was released this morning at 5am.

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On Friday August 2, Israeli Border Police aggressively attacked protesters marching in Nabi Saleh’s weekly demonstration, shooting rubber-coated steel bullets and sound bombs at very short distances while arresting protesters and covering them in skunk water. The attack was initiated without any previous action from the demonstrators and resulted in the arrest of four Israeli activist.

Protesters marching down the road towards the spring (Photo By Tamimi Press)

After midday prayer, around forty people, Palestinians together with Israeli and international activists, gathered in the village’s square, marched through Nabi Saleh’s streets and down the hill towards the stolen water spring. Israeli occupation forces were heavily present from the beginning and quickly charged at the demonstrators.

Invading the village, Israeli Border Police surrounded the protesters and without warning began firing rubber-coated steel bullets, sound bombs and skunk water at them. Though illegal by Israeli law, the rubber and plastic coated steel bullets were shot from distances down to 10meters, barely missing the heads of fleeing international activists.

Despite the peaceful vibe of the protest, Israeli Border Police officers arrested four Israeli demonstrators and took them to the settlement nearby. One activist was humiliatingly handcuffed and blindfolded as he was taken away, in spite of him offering no resistance to the arrest. Three of the four activists were later released.

The village of Nabi Saleh has demonstrated against the theft of their natural spring by the nearby Halamish settlement and the occupation in general since December 2009. Israeli forces violently suppress the weekly Friday protests by shooting tear gas canisters, skunk water, sound bombs, rubber-coated steel bullets and even live ammunition at protesters. Two people have been killed, Mustafa and Rushdi Tamimi, and many others severely injured.

Photo Essay: Ongoing resistance in Bil’in

2nd August 2013 | Friends of Freedom and Justice | Bil’in, Occupied Palestine

Dozens of Palestinian, international and Israeli activists participated at today’s demonstration against the apartheid wall and land annexation organised by the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Bil’in. The demonstration was dedicated to the Palestinian Bedouins in Al Nakab and to the international day of Jerusalem.

The march began after Friday midday prayers from the center of the village towards the apartheid wall.

The participants raised Palestinian flags and chanted slogans calling for the end of the occupation, the demolition of the apartheid wall and freedom for all Palestinian political prisoners.

Upon arrival to the area of the wall, Israeli soldiers, located behind the wall, fired rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas canisters and sound grenades at the demonstrators.

Many suffered from tear gas inhalation and were treated on the spot.

Ni’lin continues resisting on the five year anniversary of the killings of Ahmed Mousa and Youssef Amirah killings

2nd August 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah Team | Ni’lin, Occupied Palestine

Israeli army represses demonstration in Ni’lin as it marks the five year anniversary of the murder of ten-year-old Ahmed Mousa and seventeen-year-old Youssef Amirah. Demonstrators remain defiant after five years of stolen land, illegal settlements and brutal killings of five members of the village and countless injuries.

On a hot Friday the 2nd of August during Ramadan, around 40 Palestinian demonstrators accompanied by internationals and Israeli activists gathered for the afternoon prayer in the olive field. At around 1.30pm The demonstration started as people marched towards the illegal annexation wall that steals 2500 dunams of land. The demonstration started in 2008 against the wall’s construction, but have continued unrelentingly after the construction was finished. The demonstrators chanted in Arabic as they approached the wall.
Israeli occupation soldiers hid behind the wall carrying riot shields and weapons as they looked over, ready to fire on the peaceful demonstrators.
Journalists and demonstrators who approached the wall had sound bombs dropped on them, before the army fired barrages of tear gas canisters. Some of the tear gas canisters started fires in the olive field including one tree where the canister got stuck in the branches. Later in the demonstration the amount of tear gas canisters that were fired stopped demonstrators from coming closer to the wall. Rubber and plastic coated steel bullets were also routinely fired.The demonstration finished around 3.00pm when demonstrators decided to withdraw.

This Friday marks the week of the end of July that is the five year anniversary of the murder of Ahmed Mousa and Youssef Amirah. Ahmed was shot in the head with live ammunition on the 29th of July 2008, Youssef was killed the day after when at Ahmed’s funeral he was shot with a rubber-coated steel bullet in the head by Israeli occupation forces. Omri Abu, an Israeli border police officer, was put on trial in a rare case when Palestinians are murdered by the army. He was later acquitted by an Israeli court for ‘causing death by negligence’ on the grounds that there was no proof beyond a reasonable doubt that his bullets were the ones that hit Ahmed in spite of acknowledging that he tried to cover up the evidence by ejecting the cartridges from his rifle and claiming that he did not fire at all.
The complete lack of justice in the trial was expected by the people of Ni’lin who have suffered much pain with the deaths of their five shaheeds and countless injuries, but continue to resist.

Settlers attack farmer, kill sheep in Aqraba

2nd August 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Aqraba, Occupied Palestine

At 530pm on July 30^th three settlers from the illegal settlement of Itamar violently attacked a farmer from the village of Aqraba, south east of Nablus. Four farmers from the village had spent the day grazing their more than 500 sheep on land belonging to the village, near to the settler only road dividing Aqraba.

Ahmed Yousef Banijaber, one of the four farmers, was walking along a narrow dirt road with his sheep when he came face to face with three settlers in an outdoor utility vehicle. The settlers grabbed him and tried to pull him towards the vehicle at which point Ahmed pushed them away. One settler then brandished a gun and began to shoot at Ahmed as he took cover behind an olive tree.

Two of the settlers whom made the attack and the outdoor utility vehicle used to kill the sheep (Aqraba Municipality, March 2013)

The other three farmers nearby hearing the attack then ran to Ahmed’s aid. The settlers then attempted to drive away quickly from the scene and in doing so deliberately ran over some of Ahmed’s sheep, killing two and seriously injuring another.

The settlers had first driven towards the other three farmers but did not approach them and instead choose to attack Ahmed as he was on his own. The land where the attack took place and where the farmers regularly graze their sheep belongs to the village and is classed as Area B therefore under Palestinian civil control and joint Israeli-Palestinian security control. The settlers had no reason for being in this area.

The settlers that attacked Ahmed are well known to the villagers of Aqraba as they have attacked farmers on numerous occasions. When shown a photo of the settlers from the past spring Ahmed confirmed it was two of the settlers that had attacked them and said “they are the troublemakers”.

The Aqraba Municipality are making an official complaint to the Israeli Police against two of the settlers, though they remain skeptical that anything will come of this as settlers have impunity under Israeli law for crimes they commit against Palestinians. A 2012 report by Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din states that “less than nine percent of investigations of violent crimes committed by settlers against Palestinians ended in the filing of an indictment”.

Two weeks prior to this, three farmers from Aqraba were arrested by the Israeli army for working at night on land near the settlement. The farmers had been requested to work on the land by the Israeli owner and were doing so at night because of the heat and Ramadan. The Israeli army found this suspicious and arrested the three farmers and took them to the police station in the illegal settlement of Ariel. The farmers were released a few days later without charge.