Category: Features

Funeral held in Nabi Saleh for Izz al-Deen Tamimi, shot dead by Israeli soldiers

 

Mourners carrying the body of Izz Tamimi, 21 years, yesterday in Nabi Saleh

The funeral of 21 year old Izz al-Deen Tamimi was held yesterday afternoon on Wednesday 6th June in Nabi Saleh, a village north of Ramallah. Israeli soldiers shot the young man with three live bullets in the early morning, hitting his neck and chest. Israeli undercover agents and soldiers had entered the neighbouring village of Beit Rima in the early hours of Wednesday morning and arrested a Palestinian man. They also shot and wounded one other man using rubber coated steel bullets. As they were leaving the village of Beit Rima and passing through Nabi Saleh to exit to the south, young men from the village gathered to protest the Israeli army’s aggression. Izz al-Deen Tamimi was shot three times with live ammunition. Watch a video here of the aftermath of Izz’s shooting, as family and neighbours in Nabi Saleh rush to Izz and try to ensure his medical treatment.

The IDF released a statement on Twitter that a Palestinian man threw a ‘large rock’ at Israeli soldiers during an arrest, and that ‘in response, the soldier who was hit by the rock fired towards the suspect, who was injured and given medical treatment at the scene. Despite this, the suspect died. No IDF troops were injured.’ However, this conflicts with eyewitness accounts that after shooting Izz the Israeli soldiers took him and laid him down for thirty minutes before they allowed an ambulance to attend. During this time Izz reportedly lost a great deal of blood, and was later pronounced dead at the hospital in Ramallah. A local man told ISM that he went to the soldiers surrounding Izz and asked them ‘why did you have to shoot him in the neck? Why did you have to kill him?’ It should be asked whether shooting a man with live ammunition is a legitimate and proportionate response to a stone being thrown at heavily armed soldiers, none of whom was injured.

Izz al-Deen Tamimi’s funeral procession left Ramallah hospital and passed through the city centre, with hundreds of people in attendance. After leaving the city centre, cars of family and other funeral attendees were stopped at ’Atara checkpoint north of Ramallah by Israeli military in an apparent effort to halt mourners from attending the funeral in Nabi Saleh. The Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) released this video showing Israeli soldiers harassing and intimidating mourners trying to reach Nabi Saleh. After this provocation, mourners were allowed to pass through. Hundreds of attendees joined the funeral in Nabi Saleh as men walked with Izz’s body up to the cemetery at the top of the village. Meanwhile, many Israeli military vehicles and heavily armed Israeli soldiers gathered at the checkpoint to the south of the village.

After the funeral, men look on as Israeli soldiers gather on the road below.
Several Israeli military vehicles arrive and gather near the road below Nabi Saleh
Israeli soldiers stand behind concrete blocks and point their gun towards the village of Nabi Saleh after the funeral of Izz Tamimi

ISM spoke with Bassem Tamimi, from the Popular Committee of Nabi Saleh and prominent anti-occupation activist. He said, ‘what will the world do now? Will the occupation end? … The international community may produce another report, another human rights report, but today it will have Izz’s name on it, but then what will happen?’ He seemed frustrated that the brutal occupation and the disproportionate violence that goes with it continues despite periodic media attention when there is a ‘flare-up’ such as has marked the recent Great Return March and Nabka 70 demonstrations. Nabi Saleh has been an ongoing site of struggle against the occupation and the policy of illegal settlement expansion in the West Bank. To find out more about the resistance to the occupation in Nabi Saleh read this interview with Manal Tamimi published today which reveals the extent of Israeli army violence, repression and harassment the people of the village face.

Protestors in Ramallah honor Razan Al Najjer, young medic executed by Israeli forces in Gaza

3rd June, 2018 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah team | Ramallah, occupied Palestine

Yesterday at midday, hundreds of protestors marched through the streets of Ramallah to mourn the execution of Razan Al Najjer, the 21-year-old medic who was executed by Israeli forces in Gaza on Friday.

Members of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society from across the West Bank, largely students, marched with portraits of Razan. Protestors held signs calling for #JusticeForRazan and end to Israeli war crimes and the seige in Gaza.

Hundreds of protestors march through the streets of Ramallah to mourn the execution of Razan Al Najjer, the 21-year-old medic who was executed by Israeli forces in Gaza on Friday (photo by ISM)

“Razan was providing first aid for people in the Gaza area and she was killed by live ammunition by Israeli soldiers,” says Dr. Muhammed Scafe, of PMRS. Dr. Scaafi emphasized that the murder of medical personel is a war crime and a breach of international law. “In accordance with the Geneva international code, medical teams have the right to provide first aid.”

Shatha Sameer Zaydya, a member of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society, says she started volunteering with PMRS when she was a student in university. “I’m from the Sarfit area. We work a lot in Safit, Nablus, and Ramallah when we can. We face a lot of attacks from Israelis, and especially the settlers in the Nablus area, who want to kill and harm [Palestinians] and make us afraid.”

In accordance with the Geneva international code, medical teams have the right to provide first aid (photo by ISM)

Members of PMRS have been active in the West Bank and Gaza for the past 40 years. Today the organization has over 1.5 million volunteers. PMRS has provided urgent medical care to Gazans following Israeli violence 2012, 2014, and now in 2018 during the #GreatReturnMarch.

Yesterday afternoon, Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, president of the PMRS, welcomed mourners into the headquarters in Ramallah. The message, he says, of todays protest is to honor Razan and to show Palestinians in Gaza “that we are one people, that you are not alone, and that you are not going to suffer on your own.”

Peaceful demonstrators march through Ramallah to protest against Israeli forces targeting medical personnel, journalists, children and unarmed civilians during the ongoing Great Return March in Gaza

Settler tourists given weekly armed escort through the streets of Al Khalil

On Saturday May 19th, over twenty soldiers escorted armed settlers through the souq

Every Saturday, Zionist settler tours take place in the narrow alleys of the souq in Al Khalil’s (Hebron). These guided tours usually last for about an hour, and settlers are always accompanied by armed Israeli forces, intimidating local Palestinians who are trying to make a living by selling their goods in the market.

The tours began in 2008. At the moment they are usually made up of 50 or more settlers, accompanied by around 30 armed soldiers and border police.

Palestinians often have to stop and wait as the tour makes its way down the narrow streets of the souq. If they are allowed to pass at all, pedestrians are forced to walk through a crowd of settlers, soldiers and border police. Businesses in the souq are affected, as shopping streets are brought to a standstill.

On recent Saturdays, ISM volunteers have seen small children attempting to get past the tour, but repeatedly being told to wait by the army escort.

Each week international volunteers from ISM, the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme for Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) and Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) walk ahead of and behind the tour, in an attempt to monitor and observe the situation. These observers often face harassment from Israeli forces. For example, on Saturday 5th May, after the tour had finished, six international volunteers were surrounded and detained by 13 paratroopers. The commander of the group demanded IDs from the internationals, and threatened that if they ‘made problems’, they would be imprisoned for one month, barred from Al-Khalil, or from entering Israel in the future. This is one small example of how the Israeli military works to prevent any scrutiny of its illegal occupation.

One shopkeeper in the souq told ISM, “We don’t know the settlers’ intentions in coming into our streets, why do they have to come here? Perhaps they are wanting to take over this area.”

Another shopkeeper told us, “I really feel distressed and unsafe during the tours. Even though they have army units with them, some of the settlers carry shotguns. I think they come here [on the tours] because they think think this is their city. It puts a lot of pressure on us Palestinians. I have even seen the people on the tours spitting at international volunteers.

We never know when they are going to come, sometimes they come late afternoon. Sometimes, when there are hard times here, they even come at night.”

Read more about the settler tours here  and here.

Settlers often carry weapons

 

 

Israeli soldiers fire tear gas and stun grenades into two schools in AlKhalil/Hebron on first day of Ramadan

Israeli paratrooper backup arrives to deal with small boys throwing stones at heavily armed checkpoint in Al Khalil

On the morning of Thursday 17th May, the first morning of Ramadan, at around 7.30, several small boys were seen throwing stones at the Salaymeh checkpoint in the occupied H2 area of Al Khalil/Hebron. One soldier above the checkpoint responded by pointing a live ammunition rifle at a small boy. The soldiers on the checkpoint called for backup to deal with the small boys, and a truck full of paratroopers arrived. At around 8am the soldiers went out through the checkpoint, split into two teams and occupied two rooftops above schools in the Palestinian neighbourhood, then fired tear gas into 2 school playgrounds as children were gathering for the start of the day. Children and teachers were affected by tear gas inhalation.

Tear gas fired by Israeli soldiers on rooftop landing in Al Khalil boy’s basic school
Israeli soldiers on rooftop firing tear gas at two school playgrounds

In total in the next hour, around 15 Israeli soldiers came into the Palestinian neighbourhood outside of Salaymeh checkpoint and continued to fire more tear gas bombs and stun grenades from rooftops into the two school playgrounds. One school was Al Khalil Basic School (UN) for 8th and 9th grades, and the other was a boy’s school next door for grades 1-4. In total around 10 tear gas bombs and around 7-10 stun grenades were fired into the school playgrounds and street outside in the course of an hour, as children continued to walk to other schools in the neighbourhood.

Soldiers in street facing school, after tear gas fired by another team of soldiers on roof

After the soldiers finished firing tear gas and stun grenades at the children, they returned through Salaymeh checkpoint. ISM activists were detained for a short time at a checkpoint because they had been filming the soldiers’ violence. While being detained, they witnessed border police making a Palestinian family wait outside the checkpoint while the border police ate sandwiches in front of them and said “everybody loves Israel… That’s why they moved the embassy,” in an apparent reference to the recent relocation of the US embassy to Jerusalem.

 

Man comes out of building where soldiers have been occupying rooftop

 

Israeli soldiers shoot 3 unarmed Palestinians in Al-Khalil/Hebron protest on Nakba day

Israeli soldiers fire tear gas at protesters, press and medics

On the morning of Tuesday 15th May, protesters in Al-Khalil/Hebron proceeded on two streets in the Bab-Azawiya area towards Checkpoint 56, where Israeli soldiers were occupying a rooftop inside the H1 (Palestinian controlled) area of the city. The protesters were driving cars with Palestinian flags, waving ‘Great Return March’ flags and some were throwing stones towards the soldiers on the rooftop in solidarity with those killed by Israeli soldiers in Gaza the previous day. Protests were also in support of the right of return, and for the 70th year commemoration of the nakba, or catastrophe, when 700,000 Palestinians were made refugees by Zionist militias in 1948.

From their position high on the rooftop in Bab Azawiya, Israeli soldiers fire live ammunition and rubber-coated steel bullets towards protesters below.

From their position on the rooftop, Israeli soldiers fired live ammunition towards protesters, shooting and injuring two boys who were taken to hospital. As protesters retreated and ambulance crews were attending to the injuries, soldiers threw tear gas and stun grenades towards the crowd of protesters, medics and journalists. At this point ISM activists heard that a Palestinian journalist had been arrested by Israeli forces for covering the protest but this remains unconfirmed. Protesters burned tires and rubbish bins to provide cover, making it more difficult for the soldiers to shoot them. Throughout the afternoon, Israeli soldiers remained on the rooftop, firing copious amounts of tear gas and stun grenades towards the protesters, most of whom were under 18. One of the stun grenades thrown hit a passing car which was not involved in the protest. As a man who lives locally was filming the protest, soldiers threw a stun grenade directly at him and it exploded at his feet. He was unhurt and laughed it off. Many were badly affected by tear gas inhalation.

Israeli soldier laughs at protesters after 3 unarmed Palestinians have been shot with live ammunition and rubber-coated steel bullets.

ISM activists observed soldiers on the rooftop clapping, singing, and taunting the protesters with hand gestures and insults throughout the afternoon, between firing rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades and tear gas into Bab-Azawiya. One more protester was hit with a rubber-coated steel bullet and taken to hospital, bringing the total injured to three. Later in the afternoon, six heavily armed soldiers left Checkpoint 56, entering into Bab-Azawiya on foot, and then returned inside. After this, soldiers on the rooftop continued to fire many tear gas bombs and stun grenades into the street. A mother with three very scared small girls walked directly underneath the soldiers to pass through Checkpoint 56 as they were firing tear gas into the street below.

Israeli soldiers fire tear gas and stun grenades towards protesters (in street to left of picture) in Bab Azawiya

At around 1800, Israeli soldiers occupied a rooftop in Tel Rumeida, and fired live ammunition into the city as it was getting dark. At least eleven live bullets were shot into the densely populated Bab-Azawiya area from high up on the hill in Tel Rumeida, along with between 5-10 stun grenades at around 1930. At no point during the day did protesters use any weapons against the Israeli soldiers, or threaten their safety in any way, except throwing stones.

The soldiers were taking pictures of protesters and international observers with a long-lens camera throughout the afternoon.

Israeli soldier takes pictures of protesters throughout the afternoon from rooftop in Bab Azawiya as other soldiers shoot live ammunition, rubber coated steel bullets and tear gas at protesters . Graffiti on wall below reads: Boycott Israel.