Category: Features - Page 127 - International Solidarity Movement

Israeli forces attacks demonstration in Kafr Qaddum

10th October 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus team | Kafr Qaddum, occupied Palestine

In the afternoon of October 9th 2015 in Kafr Qaddum, Israeli forces preempted a peaceful demonstration with an ovewhelming display of military power by shooting an unarmed man with live ammunition in the thigh and abdomen. This man is Moayad Shtaiwi, 61, and when he was shot just after midday. He was dressed in professional clothing, face uncovered, standing three hundred metres from the Israeli bulldozer, waving the Palestinian flag in one hand and making a peace sign with the other. He was carried to medical assistance by several others on the scene, during which he lost enough blood to necessitate a transfusion and emergency surgery. The shrapnel created by the bullet lacerated his themoral artery and colon, and put him in critical condition.

Moayyad Shtaiwi carried off to an ambulance after being shot

Though a peaceful demonstration was planned for later that day, at the time that forces began to advance just a few people were loosely gathered and nothing had begun. Before the sniper shot Mr Shtaiwi, Israeli forces were moving down the residential street toward the demonstrators with a bulldozer, a jeep, a truck-mounted cannon used for spraying skunk water, and around thirty soldiers, while at least two rubber-coasted steel bullets had been fired at Palestinian children. Soldiers attacked the children and private Palestinian homes on the street and hillside with noxious skunk water chemicals, and continued to shoot live rounds into the crowd. Children scattered into the surrounding hillside where the Israeli forces circled around them and mounted several snipers atop the hill from which they shot endless rounds of both live and rubber-coated steel bullets and rained down several blasts of tear gas. What was left of the peaceful demonstrators began to disperse shortly after 3pm.

Moayad Shtaiwi waving the Palestinian flag

Moayad Shtaiwi was shot and critically injured by Israeli forces

Beit El demonstration under attack by Israeli forces after Martyr laid to rest

10th October 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Ramallah, occupied Palestine

Less than one hour after the Halabi family laid their son, martyr Mohannad al-Halabi, to rest in a cemetery in Ramallah, violent confrontations broke out in the nearby Beit El area. In a continuation of the sharp escalation in violence seen across the occupied Palestinian territories and Jerusalem, demonstrations across the West Bank today were met with an unleashing of brutality by Israeli forces that left hundreds injured and two dead.

After withholding the body of 19 year old Mohannad al-Halabi for seven days, his family received him at 2am Friday morning at a hospital in Ramallah. Thousands gathered Friday afternoon at the Abd al Nasser Mosque for prayers before bringing his body to a nearby cemetery where he was laid to rest near his grandfather.

As Palestinians filled the streets in the Beit El area for demonstration, Israeli forces began showering the crowd with rapid live ammunition fire, hitting 23 and seriously wounding at least 2. 44 others sustained injuries by rubber-coated bullets, stun grenades and clouds of tear gas which were fired in rapid succession by venom trucks. Water cannons filled the streets with foul smelling organic or chemical composition fluid.

Confrontations raged on during a demonstration near the Beit El settlement

A Palestinian youth was unharmed after being run over at the demonstration by an Israeli military jeep.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unRWEnqmbm0

Video credit: Maan News

In Gaza City, where West Bank and Jerusalem solidarity demonstrations were held, 7 young Palestinians were martyred in similarly brutal Israeli military attacks that utilized exploding bullets aimed at Palestinian children’s heads and chests. 145 others were reportedly injured as Israeli military forces opened fire at the demonstration held by the border fence east of Gaza City, near Khan Younis on Friday, medics and the Ministry of Health confirmed.

Two Palestinians have been confirmed killed by Israeli occupation forces as of today, bringing the toll of Palestinians murdered in a week of sharply escalated violence in the West Bank to 16 martyred. Over 1,000 have been injured during the escalation. Tensions were sparked after the Israeli government, again, imposed restrictions and refused Muslims entry into al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

An Israeli governmental official in Jerusalem, days ago, made inflammatory statements in calling for Israeli’s to arm themselves amidst the conflict. These statements sharply conflict with other Israeli official’s statements claiming to want to calm tensions raging throughout the West Bank where Palestinians are undergoing not just Israeli military violence but brutal attacks by settlers which include attacks on Palestinian cars, homes and random attacks in the streets.

Days ago in the Tel Rumeida section of al-Khalil, (Hebron) nearly two hundred settlers marched, burning Palestinian flags, chanting ‘death to Arabs,’ and attacking Palestinians and human rights monitors with stones and physical violence.

Today, the 22 year old Palestinian man shot to death near the Kiryat Arba illegal settlement in al-Khalil will be laid to rest after funeral services. In the occupied Palestinian territories, violent escalation continues.

Israeli army prevents farmers to pick olives in Burin

9th October 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Burin, Occupied Palestine

This Friday morning, at approximately 10:30 am, a group of 6 soldiers came down the mountain from the illegal Israeli settlement, Arousa, in the village of Burin, to prevent the family of Ahmad Mustafa Najjar from picking their olives.

Israeli soldiers prevent Ahmad's family from picking their olives — Israeli soldiers prevent Ahmad’s family from picking their olives

Early in the morning, a group of illegal Israeli settlers from Arousa came to the farm and began threatening and intimidating Ahmad’s family. Ahmad’s uncle, Salah Najjar, telephoned Abu Mursi, from the District Coordination Office, to ask for help and managed to make settlers go away. Soon afterwards, a group of six soldiers arrived shouting aggressively and demanding the family to stop working. The family protested and the commander argued they were not authorized to pick olives, despite the fact that the family owns the land and trees and, therefore, does not need to have a permit. International activists asked the commander and soldiers what was the reason to stop them from picking olives from their own trees inside their privately owned land, and the commander and soldiers would not give an answer.

Abu Mursi, member of the village council, argues with commander that the family is entitled to pick olives in their field

Abu Mursi, member of the DCO, quickly arrived to the field to insist to the soldiers that the family does not need permission to pick their olives.

The argument continued for one hour, until a second commander arrived and made the decision that the family was not allowed to pick olives from the four highest trees, forcing them to move downwards to pick olives from other trees instead.

According to Ahmad, his family has lost $3.000 shekels because those 4 trees would make 120 liters of olive oil. He adds, “The soldiers violently beat my cousins, Muntasar and Mohammad, and I had to stand between them to stop the soldiers from killing them.”

Burin is a village located south west of the city of Nablus, which suffers from an ongoing harassment from the Israeli army. During the last month, Israeli soldiers have carried out several night raids into the villagers’ homes, waking up families in the middle of the night and searching their houses, with the clear purpose of terrifying the villagers.

Particularly during the olive harvest season, the farmers of Burin are scared of going to their fields to pick olives, especially in the farms located near the illegal settlements, due to the high risk of being attacked by settlers.

Note how one of the soldiers who came today is loaded with tear gas canisters; an unjustified excess of weapons

Gaza – a bloody Friday

9th October 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza team | Gaza, occupied Palestine

UPDATE – 8pm: 8 martyrs and close to 100 persons injured at today’s demonstration in Shijaia

Palestinian man shot in the stomach by Israeli forces

Injured Palestinian carried to an ambulance

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UPDATE – as of 6 pm today: From Osama al Jaro, Public Relations head at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza: 6 dead, 60 injured, 11 injured under the age of 18. Israeli forces are using exploding bullets, fired at the chest and head.

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The situation in Gaza this Friday has taken an even more dramatic turn, when this morning a large group of young people were demonstrating in support of Jerusalem and against the occupation, near the border of the Strip, in Shishaia.

The unarmed rally was cowardly and violently attacked by Israeli snipers, killing at least four people and injuring more than forty. In some cases the gun shots were fired directly at the heads of the demonstrators.

Also in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, another rally was brutally repressed, this time two adolescents, 15 and 19 years old, were killed and the number of injured is around twelve.

This is cruelty towards the unarmed young people, exercising their right to protest against the brutal actions of the illegal Israeli occupation, as the Gaza Strip is surrounded by military turrets, tanks, drones and fences equipped with high technology. Therefore the Israeli soldiers, from their hidden and protected distance, set about to kill unarmed and defenseless Palestinian adolescents in cold blood – just for the pleasure of killing.

Young Palestinian man held in metal box in al-Khalil

10th October 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine

As a part of the recent surge in violence, there has been an escalation in random ID checks and detentions across occupied al-Khalil,(Hebron) In the full Israeli military controlled H-2 section of al-Khalil this afternoon, several young Palestinian men were detained, interrogated and one was beaten during nearly five hours of interrogation.

At the Shuhada Street checkpoint at around 2:oo pm, a 17 year old Palestinian man was put into a small metal box where Israeli forces placed a large stone against the door to trap him inside. There is very little ventilation in the small space where he was contained and the sweltering afternoon sun only exacerbated the issue.

Israeli forces detained a young Palestinian man in a small metal box and trapped him inside by placing a stone against the door.

After approximately 30 minutes, an Israeli military jeep arrived at the checkpoint and half a dozen Israeli soldiers and border police surrounded the box and two went inside, presumably questioning the young man while one studied a laminated poster depicting Israeli forces captured photos of dozens of young Palestinians they wish to arrest before the teenager was finally released.

Israeli forces look over a poster of photos of young Palestinians they wish to arrest while detaining young man in metal box.

Detention of Palestinians occurred several times throughout the day. At around 3pm, also at the Shuhada Street checkpoint, Israeli forces detained, and subsequently marched to the Shuhada Street military base for interrogation, a 19 year old Palestinian man from the Abu Eisheh family. The young man was given the ambiguous explanation that he was being taken for questioning regarding an issue with settlers.

His father, an advocate for Palestinian’s arrested in H-2 Israeli military controlled al-Khalil, came as close as Shuhada Street segregation allowed to speak to Israeli forces across from the military base about his son’s arrest. The elder, who is helpful in communications during Israeli military detention of Palestinians due to his fluency in Hebrew, was told by the soldiers that they “knew him” and asked if he “thought he was the boss or the big king of al-Khalil” due to his concerned interventions during criminal detentions. Israeli forces were heard saying to ignore him because he “is an Arab,” and Israeli police completely disregarded him and international solidarity activists requesting information on the status of his son.

Nearly five hours later, the young man was released and spoke with ISM international human rights monitors about the violent treatment he received during his interrogation, which after five hours ended in his dismissal, another pointless instance of harassment and incursion into the daily lives of the occupied Palestinian people. “The soldiers blindfolded and handcuffed me during the entire five hours they held me. They kicked me again and again and hit me in my face.” Several bruises were visible on the young man who wished only to have his raw and cut wrists photographed.

19 year old Palestinian man detained, handcuffed and blindfolded for five hours shows the injuries to his wrists during Israeli military detention in al-Khalil

Violence continues to sweep like wild fire across the occupied Palestinian territories. Many Palestinians were injured today in demonstrations and confrontations with Israeli forces.