Author: ISM Media Group

Demonstration against the Apartheid Wall in Ni’lin

15th January 2009

After the women and children demonstration the protest against the Wall continued. The demonstration was attacked with teargas and sound bombs. The soldiers entered the village and kidnapped and brutally beat an international man who was later released.

The demonstrators were halted before they reached the olive fields on the outskirts of the town. Around 50 Palestinians, International and Israeli activists were fired upon with teargas including the new teargas. The army was so close that the teargas was falling into the centre of town. Many people suffered from teargas inhalation and two people were hit with the canisters requiring medical treatment.

This continued until after a large barrage of teargas and sound bombs the army entered the town from the olive fields. The army on foot ran down the streets pointing their rifles around corners and into doorways and shooting teargas down the streets.

An International activist was left stranded when the army fired a concentration of teargas and sound bombs as they made a rapid approach into the village causing the demonstrators to flee back to the town centre. The activist had stayed behind a house when he was suffering from teargas inhalation and when the army advanced he was trapped behind them. A following group of soldiers to the ones who entered the town found the activist who immediately put his hands up. The army responded by beating him with their rifle buts along with kicking and hitting him as they led him into the olive fields using a dirt road. Along with beating the activist they also stuck the firing end of their rifle into his neck and pushed him up against a wall. After kidnapping the international activist the soldiers withdrew form the town and when they were leaving though the olive fields they released the international hostage.

I was here when they murdered Arafat and Mohamed, the way the army were acting when they came into the town made me think they were going to do something similar. I was afraid for my life when they would find me and I feel if I was Palestinian they would have just shot me.

Women and children in Ni’lin protest against Israel’s war crimes

15th January 2009

On 15th of January women and children in Ni’lin protested against Israel’s war crimes against the Palestinian people. They were accompanied by international and Israeli human rights activists. The demonstration with approximately 100 participants took place inside the town and was good in expressing the mood of the village.

The demonstration started at the girls school. The girls wore t-shirts they printed themselves displaying the Palestinian nation and the names of Ni’lin and Gaza confirming their solidarity with the plight of the people who are suffering from Israeli brutality. They also carried balloons saying “Stop the wall”, “Stop the killing” and other slogans expressing their outrage.

They shouted slogans as they marched. They went to the graves of the four shaheeds (martyrs) from the village. First they went to the graves of Arafat al Khawadja, 22, and Mohammed al Khawadja , 19, where Arafat’s brother gave a speech. After they continued to the places where Ahmed Moussa, 10, and Yousef Amira, 17 are buried.

Media listened to the speeches and opinions of women and children participating in the demonstration.

This demonstration is a continuation of the struggle of Ni’lin against the construction of the Apartheid Wall since may 2008.

Israeli snipers shooting at families seeking refuge in Al-Quds hospital

Israeli snipers are shooting at families who are attempting to seek refuge in Al-Quds hospital, Gaza City. Palestinian and international volunteers are now on the streets outside the hospital to try and get the families inside the hospital.

Australian Human Rights Activist Sharon Lock is assisting medical teams at the hospital,

Israeli snipers are shooting at families attempting to get to the hospital. They are frightened and have no where to go. At least two families have been shot at now, children have been wounded.

Al-Quds hospital, Gaza City, located in the Tel al Huwa neighbourhood of Gaza, has been under attack by the Israeli army since 1:30 AM. According to International volunteers at the hospital it has been hit by shells four times.

“The hospital has received over 150 calls for help from people including many children in the surrounding area who have been wounded and are in desperate need of medical care. The Israeli army has surrounded the hospital and no one is able to get in or out.” – Sharon Lock (Australia) International Solidarity Movement

No one is able to get to these children.

Israeli snipers using new ammunition in Ni’lin

On Friday the 9th of January at 11.30am the weekly prayer demonstration was carried out in Ni’lin. Approximately 100 citizens of Ni’lin together with international and Israeli human right activists took part in the demonstration. During the demonstration the Israeli army used snipers to shoot the new ‘0.22’ caliber bullet, injuring two people.

The army was already present at three different spots close to the clinic long before the prayer had started. After the prayer the demonstrators marched from the clinic towards the construction site of the Apartheid Wall. Even before the demonstrators entered the olive fields the army shot both the old type of tear gas canister and the new type which is much heavier and explodes on impact making it impossible to see. They also shot rubber-coated steel bullets. The demonstration was held back with much tear gas and so remained at the site of the clinic throughout the whole demonstration. There were many more soldiers and border police than usual.

The army was more dispersed and came very close to the clinic. They had snipers using 0.22 calibre bullets as well as border police firing the new type of gas canister from close range. Three people were shot with the 0.22 calibre, one international was hit in the foot, another broke a lower leg bone and the other was shot through the outer thigh. Two were taken to Sheikh Zaid hospital in Ramallah, neither injury was severe, and both men returned to their homes that evening. Another was shot in the hand by the new gas canister and 8 more were hit by rubber coated steel bullets. Many others suffered asphyxiation by tear gas. The teargas was also fired far into the village away from any demonstrators effecting people in their homes. Firing teargas far into the village risks hitting people in the streets, entering homes and increasing the chance of children being injured.

The protest ended at sunset around 5.00 pm.  The people of Ni’lin have been demonstrating against the illegal Apartheid Wall since May 2008.

UNRWA emergency shelters and bombed schools

UNRWA school
UNRWA school
Across Gaza, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) is setting up emergency shelters in its schools. Despite two such shelters being cynically targeted by Israeli shelling in northern Gaza last week, many families still seek refuge in UNRWA schools simply because they have nowhere else to go. The massacre on 6th January at the Al Fakhoura School and a second school in the Jabaliya refugee camp north-east of Gaza City killed nearly 50 and injured dozens more.

Two UNRWA schools in Rafah, the ‘A’ and ‘B’ Boys Preparatory Schools close to Rafah city centre, have become temporary homes for nearly 2,000 people. These emergency shelters were set up as thousands of people in Rafah fled their homes following threats by the Israeli Occupation Forces to target entire neighbourhoods lying close to border strip with Egypt. The families in one of the schools were evacuated from communities near the defunct airport on the edge of Rafah city where Israeli ground forces have been basing themselves since invading Gaza on 3rd January. Members of ISM Gaza visited the schools today and met UN staff and some of the families seeking refuge there, such as the Amsi family who have about 15 members of their extended family living together in one classroom.

They also visited the UNRWA warehouse in Rafah, where they spoke to the Area Operations Officer. He confirmed that the supplies currently getting in are not nearly enough to cope with the crisis. Approximately 200 tons of aid per day is being allowed in compared to the 2,000 tons usually brought in daily by the UNRWA. He explained that UN stocks were exhausted a while ago and that the only food people now have comes from this trickle of aid entering the strip. Anything that does get in is distributed immediately.

Destroyed mosque and orphans school
Destroyed mosque and orphans school
At approximately 3.00am on Sunday 11th January, Israeli F-16 fighter jets bombed the buildings of the Dar al-Fadila Association for Orphans, which included a school, a college, a computer centre and a mosque, on Taha Hussein Street in the Kherbat al-‘Adas neighbourhood in the north-east of Rafah. Parts of the buildings were totally destroyed and others were structurally damaged. The school had been assisting about 500 children disadvantaged children. Nearly 20 mosques have now been destroyed or severely damaged by the Israeli military since 27th December. ISM Gaza documented the devastation.

The Rafah Red Crescent ambulance station is now relocating from its base in the Tel Zorob neighbourhood close to the border with Egypt, to Kherbet Al Adas on the other side of the city centre. Tel Zorob is in the area now being targeted so a planned move to the new premises was brought forward ahead of time. Numerous ambulances have been attacked by the Israeli military during the ongoing war on Gaza and 13 paramedics have been killed.