Author: ISM Media - Page 393 - International Solidarity Movement

Updated: Nabi Saleh demonstration violently suppressed by Israeli forces; activist shot three times

UPDATE 13th April 2013: The injured Spanish activist returned to hospital Saturday morning, after experiencing continued pain, dizziness and fatigue. She had been shot three times with plastic coated steel bullets at Nabi Saleh demonstration the day before. She is currently under observation at the Rafidia Hospital in Nablus, being treated with antibiotics.

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12th April 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nabi Saleh, Occupied Palestine

Around one hundred Palestinians, joined by a handful of Israeli and international activists, participated in today’s demonstration in Nabi Saleh. After midday prayers, protesters marched from the centre of the village, deviating from their usual route and walking across the main road and up the hill, trying to reach the water spring stolen by settlers from Halamish settlement more than three years ago.

By the time protesters reached the hilltop, several Israeli Border Police officers waiting and immediately started to shoot tear gas canisters and rubber coated steel bullets at them. One Spanish international activist was hit by a rubber coated bullet in the right leg. As people retreated from the hilltop back to the main road, Israeli forces continued shooting tear gas canisters.

As protesters walked chanting and clapping towards a large group of Israeli military personnel and jeeps blocking the road, they were ambushed. Border police officers who had invaded the village shot multiple volleys of rubber coated steel bullets directly at unarmed protesters from a vantage point on top of the hill, as protesters retreated.
The same international activist who had previously been shot was again shot with two bullets; one in the ribs on the back and the other on the stomach. This breaks the Israeli forces’ own rules of engagement which state that rubber coated bullets should be fired at the legs. Despite the fact that officers clearly saw that the activist was injured, they continued shooting rubber coated steel bullets along the road. The activist was immediately assisted by Red Crescent personnel and taken to hospital by ambulance. She is in good health condition, recovering from the injuries at home.

Activist's injury by rubber coated steel bullets — Activist’s injury by rubber coated steel bullets

Israeli forces continued shooting tear gas canisters and rubber coated steel bullets at protesters until three in the afternoon, when the demonstration finished.

The village of Nabi Saleh has been demonstrating against the theft of the natural spring and the occupation 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. Bassem Tamimi, from Nabi Saleh, has spent 16 months in Israeli jails, merely for being a prominent activist at the protests. After more than three year and despite the repression, Nabi Saleh continues to fight against the injustices of a brutal military Israeli occupation.

In memory of Tom Hurndall, shot in the head by Israeli sniper 10 years ago today

11th April 2013 | Occupied Palestine

The International Solidarity Movement today remember Tom Hurndall, ISM volunteer who 10 years ago on 11th April 2003 was shot in the head by an Israeli sniper.

The Israeli army were invading the city of Rafah, in the Gaza Strip when Tom and other ISM volunteers saw a group of children in a street where snipers were firing. Witnesses say that bullets were shot around the children, who were paralysed by fear and unable to move – Tom pulled one child to safety, but as he was returning for a second, he was shot in the head by a sniper.

He went into a coma and died nine months later on 13th January 2004. He was 22 years old. Today, on the day he was shot, we pay tribute to Tom’s bravery. Our thoughts are with his family and friends. We continue to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people, as we think Tom would have wished.

“What do I want from this life? What makes you happy is not enough. All the things that satisfy our instincts only satisfy the animal in us. I want to be proud of myself. I want more. I want to look up to myself and when I die, I want to smile because of the things I have done, not cry for the things I haven’t done.” – Tom Hurndall

Youth Against Settlements Co-ordinator Issa Amro arrested

10th of April 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Hebron, Occupied Palestine

By Team Khalil

The co-ordinator of Youth Against Settlements Issa Amro was arrested yesterday at the Qiryat Araba settlement in Hebron. He was summoned to the police station at which point he was interrogated and arrested. He is being charged with “Incitement of terrorism” and is being tried today at Ofer prison in Ramallah.
Issawi Amro Co-ordinator of Youth Against Settlements

Issa is a prominent activist and organiser of non violent demonstrations in actions in Hebron. He was also arrested several weeks ago along with three internationals and two Palestinians for taking part in a demonstration on Shuhada street where activists walked down the road wearing Martin Luther King and Barack Obama masks to mark the visit of the US president to the West Bank. After his release he was banned from walking in the area of Tel Rumeida for two weeks.

Salfit’s rich agriculture threatened by factory development and settlers’ sewage

3th April 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Salfit, Occupied Palestine

By Team Nablus

Illegal Israeli factory settlements in Salfit are threatening to damage the rich agricultural land of the surrounding villages and are adding a health risk already escalating due to sewage flow from illegal Israeli settlements in Salfit.

Salfit municipality representatives said that some of the illegal factory developments in Salfit are banned from existing in 1948 Palestine by Israeli environmental law; however, on Palestinian land in the West Bank, the factories can run without regard to the same environmental risks. Palestinian farmers in Salfit also say that trees are threatened and dying due to the factory development.

The two largest illegal settlements in Salfit are Ariel and Barkan. Both settlements have industrial and domestic establishments. Sewage from those settlements and others in Salfit run sewage rivers in the 18 Salfit villages. Winter rains earlier this year had the sewage flooding roads, forcing village municipalities to bulldoze river trails for the sewage.

Municipality representatives in Salfit also noted that the smell and insects from the sewage streams are causing stomach and skin illnesses for Palestinians, illnesses which have in some cases not been seen for 10 years in the population. Covering the sewage is also prohibited as some Salfit villages exist under Area C, under full Israeli civil and security control.

Additionally, Salfit Palestinians are restricted by road closures and sometimes threatened by vandalism from nearby settlers. Last year, settlers set fire to a mosque in Burqeen, a village that suffers severely from the sewage overflow from illegal settlements in addition to agricultural damage from settlement factory development.

Another ongoing issue in Salfit concerns the Wadi Kana valley near Dir Istya. The 7 km rich agricultural valley is surrounded by five illegal Israeli settlements whose residents frequently use the valley for recreational visits protected by Israeli soldiers. The valley is a land cultivated by farmers in Dir Istya. During settler visits, Palestinians say they cannot be in the valley.

Salfit district is about 25 miles north of Jerusalem with about 24 illegal Israeli settlements in and around its villages. It is said to hold three tombs of prophets, making it a destination for large groups of Israeli visitors that often disrupt residents and are a source of vandalism in the area. Visits by these large groups, Israeli soldier protected, and the illegal development of settlements and factories causes constant concern for the health of the district’s agriculture and the ability of Salfit Palestinians to live peacefully on their land.

Tree planting met by tear gas and settlers’ death threats

27th March 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Qaryut, Occupied Palestine

By Team Nablus

In commemoration of Land Day, five hundred villagers planted trees on land banned from cultivation for 17 years in the Palestinian village of Qaryut. The action was met by tear gas by Israeli soldiers and threats from Israeli settlers.

On 27 March, this action took place with a relatively large group of about 30 Palestinians including all of the owners of the land, near the illegal Israeli settlement of Eli.

The Palestinian tree planters were met at first by verbal harassment from the nearby settlers and death threats if the planters continued their action. Following, Israeli soldiers attempted to disband the group using tear gas on the gathering. The Palestinians tree planters remained to complete their action before leaving the site.

The nearest illegal Israeli settlements to Qaryut, which impose on Qaryut land as well as some surrounding Palestinian villages, include Eli, Shiloh and Shivot Rahil. Settlements surrounding Qaryut have made Palestinian olive tree burning common vandalism by settlers during summer months.
In addition, Israeli army soldiers enforce key roads closures on roads leading to Nablus and Ramallah.
A local municipality representative and UNICEF coordinator for youth events, said that Qaryut villagers filed an appeal to the Israeli government regarding these closures, but are awaiting response. In the meantime, Qaryut villagers hold regular peaceful demonstrations to open the roads, succeeding in this effort sometimes, the representative said, only for the road to be closed after the Palestinian demonstrators leave.
Nearby Israeli settlers also hold demonstrations claiming Qaryut as their land. Israeli school children arrive for field trips to Qaryut as part of the Israeli attempt to claim the land illegally and some ruins that exist on Qaryut land.
Qaryut is a village of 14000 dunum of which 78% has been illegally taken as Israeli land for settlements and agriculture. However, even the 9800 dunum left for the ownership of the native Palestinians is threatened often by bans on cultivation of land, olive tree damage by settlers , and further difficulty provided by key road closures enforced by the Israeli army.