Any one wishing to join the ISM can do a recommended day of training in
Manchester, details below:
ISM Training in the UK
DATE: SATURDAY 27 January 2018
TIME 1030- 17 30
Please confirm your place and loction by mailing: training.ismlondon@riseup.net
20th of December 2017 | Samidoun, Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network | Occupied Palestine
UPDATE: Bassem Tamimi, Ahed’s father, has also been arrested by Israeli occupation forces as he went to the court where his daughter and wife are held. Samidoun are updating the alert below and urge people to join the call to free Ahed and Nariman!
UPDATE: Nariman Tamimi, Ahed’s mother, has also been arrested by Israeli occupation forces as she went to the Benjamin occupation police station to support her daughter, reported Bassem Tamimi on Facebook. We are updating our alert below and urge people to join the call to free Ahed and Nariman!
Ahed Tamimi, 16 years old and a prominent activist in the occupied Palestinian village of Nabi Saleh, whosecourage along with that of her family in standing up to armed Israeli soldiers, land confiscation and settlement construction stealing the resources and even the well of their village has become world-renowned, was seized by occupation soldiers who invaded the Tamimi family home on the morning of 19 December 2017.
Ahed’s father, Bassem, posted on Facebook that Ahed was targeted for arrest after she was attacked by Israeli media after she protested occupation soldiers in Nabi Saleh who shot a 14-year-old boy in the head with a rubber-coated metal bullet; the boy, Mohammed Tamimi, is in a medically-induced coma. Tamimi reported that the soldiers violently invaded the home, hitting Ahed’s mother, Nariman Tamimi, and siblings, and confiscating phones, cameras, laptop and other electronics. Ahed was taken away by the occupation soldiers to an unknown location.
Ahed’s visa to the United States in early 2017 was put under “administrative review,” when she was to participate in a tour across the U.S. with writer and activist Nadya Tannous and Black liberation activist and minister Amanda Weatherspoon on Palestinian-Black solidarity and joint struggle. The lengthy delay and effective visa denial meant that Ahed was unable to join the tour live.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network denounces the arrest of Ahed Tamimi and Nariman Tamimi, the latest of over 450 Palestinians arrested by Israeli occupation forces following U.S. President Donald Trump’s declaration of recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Issa Qaraqe of the Palestinian Prisoners Affairs Commission stated that approximately half of those detained, like Ahed, Abdul-Khalik Burnat and Fawzi al-Junaidi, are children. There are hundreds of Palestinian children jailed by Israel and frequently subject to beatings, abuse, and interrogations without parents or lawyers present in violation of the law. We urge people of conscience around the world to take action to demand freedom for Ahed and her fellow detained and jailed Palestinian children in occupation detention centers, interrogation centers and prisons – and for Nariman Tamimi and all detained and imprisoned Palestinians.
The resistance of the Palestinian people has never been quelled by arrests or repression, and it must be clear that we, around the world, stand alongside the Palestinian people as they defend Jerusalem and their entire land and people under attack. This includes standing with detained and jailed Palestinian prisoners in their struggle for liberation for themselves, their people, and their occupied homeland.
TAKE ACTION:
December 19th 2017 International Solidarity Movement, Nablus team | International Womens Peace Struggle | Occupied Palestine
UPDATE: Bassem Tamimi, Ahed’s father, has also been arrested by Israeli occupation forces as he went to the court where his daughter and wife are held.
No break for the kid-targeted repressive operation of the Israeli forces. Tonight soldiers raided Nabi Saleh and arrested Ahed Tamimi. Since years, the village has been the scene for many protests against Halamish illegal settlement, whichs’ construction led to land confiscation and theft of water from the local spring belonging to the Palestinians. During the years this little village echoed the Palestinian struggle all over the world.
16-year old Ahed has often appeared in videos where she is seen facing Israeli military during protests. On the 18th of december, when soldiers shot 14-year old Mohammed Tamimi, in the face with a rubber coated steel bullet (still treated in a medically-induced coma in the hospital), she stood in front of the entrance pushing the Israeli soldiers back trying to keep them out. The video has been used by the Zionist press as a mean of propaganda to show the kindness and the courtesy of the soldiers as a contrary to the ‘violence’ of Ahed. Of course, the blocking action costed her the arrest. This morning at 4 the Israeli armed forces stole the families cameras and telephone, beat the son up, and arrested Ahed. No explanation has been provided about the case.
Furthermore, later in the morning, when her
mother Nariman went to Benjamin police station to ask for the daughter and the charges, the Israeli army reponse was to arrest her. The family still do not know anything about the evolution of the situation.
Meanwhile, this afternoon, Israeli soldiers kept on shooting tear gas and rubber coated steel bullets at people protesting at the checkpoint at the entrance of the village.
Nabi Saleh, is a village in the occupied West Bank of only 530 residents, the villagers have protested since 2009 against the occupation and the illegal settlements on their land. 2 protesters were killed during these protests. One of them is Neriman’s brother Rushdi whi was lethally shot by Israeli soldiers on the 17th November 2012, he died from his wounds. The other Mustafa Tamimi was Neriman’s cousin was murdered on December 201114 year old Mohammed Tamimi was shot from close range in the face on the December 2017 and , remains in critical condition. Aljazeera.com
On the 21 November 2014 Nariman Tamimi was shot with live ammunition her femor was shattered and reconstructed in surgery. palsolidarity.org
Nariman Tamimi is a mother of four studied international law. Her daughter Ahed Tamimi has become a known face because of her courage standing up against soldiers. On Friday 28/08/2015 during another one of the protest marches in the village, a soldiers got hold of 12 year old Mohamed Tamimi who was treated for an injury to his wrist just 2 days before. Nariman Tamimi and Ahed managed to get him out of the hold of the soldier. Miri Regev said that the unarmed protesters should have been shot. mondowiess.net
Arrests of children as young of 12 by the occupation are no exception. More than 700 Palestinian children are imprisoned in Israeli jails each year, this number does not include children who are arrested for a few hours. Stone throwing charges often lead to jail sentences between 2 and 6 months with lawyers advising children to plead guilty since release on bail is hardly ever allowed and the time for the appeal often exceeds 6 months. Arrest is always a frightening experience for children of any age and even more so because during arrest and interrogation they are not accompanied by their parents or even a lawyer and even while serving prison sentences their parents are not allowed to visit.
18th December 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus team | Occupied Palestine
During the past weeks an increasing number of children have been arrested and injured all around the West Bank. ISM met with Iyad Burnat from Bil’in who is witnessing how the second generation of activist, including his own children, are being targeted through made up charges and torture-like interrogation techniques. Right now five youth from Bil’in are being held in Ofar prison. But Ofar is filling up, and more kids are being moved to Meggido outside occupied territory.
Abdul-Khaliq, Iyad’s second son, was in the car with two friends, Hamzah Al-Khatib and Malik Radhi, driving in Bil’in to have pizza, when the soldiers stopped the car. Now they are under arrest, charged for cutting the apartheid fence. No videos, nor witnesses can prove it. But this is not a problem for the Israeli army as soldiers have been proven lying in court when called as a witness.
This is not Abduls’ first direct experience with the Israeli military repression, as he has been already injured in the head by a rubber coated steel bullet. Now the Israeli army focus on him since they have targeted him as a leader inducing other young people to join protests. Iyad Burnat tells the ISM that the Israeli intelligence has been interrogating his son for the last days. The Ofar judge ordered the boys to be released on a bail of thousands of shekel, but despite that the persecution is not over. During the interrogation, the soldiers claimed that they had many secret files have not yet been used by the court.
These last events reflect the general ongoing situation in Bil’in since the settlers’ colonization started in 2005. The construction of the Modi’in Illit settlement brought up the well-known military abuses that Palestinians always suffer from in situations like this. The daily confrontation with the massive Israeli military presence have forced the people from the small village of Billin to elaborate a strategy to respond.
Over the last decade, the non-violent protest, including fence-cutting and the blocking of the road to the settlements, has become a pivotal aspect of the anti-settlement resistance. The Israeli court charges people who cut and damage the fences of settlements as criminals, but the state of Israel never mention that all the settlements are illegal according to international law and some of them according to Israel law itself.
The non-violent method of resistance thus haven’t changed the Israeli violent methods of repression. Since many years, Iyad and his family represent a special target. Already known outside of Palestine from the Cannes-awarded film ‘Five Broken Cameras’, in 2015 he received the James Lawson Award for Achievement in the Practice, Study or Reporting of Nonviolent Conflict presented annually by the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict. Iyad is constantly involved in the reporting and spreading of the activities of the Palestinian struggle around the world.
This year he met with the English Labour Party and invited them to visit Palestine. He also tries to focus on talking to and meeting Jewish associations outside of Israel, and together they are stressing how the anti-zionism and the fight against the occupation are not a religious matters. This year Iyad was also invited to talk at the UN conference ’50 years of Occupation’. He tells ISM that the first piece of news he read when he landed in the US was that soldiers went to his house to arrest his third son Mohammed.
Also the first son, Majd, has been targeted. In 2014, he was shot during a protest. In that occasion he was standing beside his father when an Israeli soldier approached them, gunned him and moved back. A scenario which reminds of a punitive action, more than a security one which is what the Israeli army usually claims. Majs was hospitalised for 10 days in the Ramallah hospital, where doctors indicated the necessity to travel to Jordan for a neurosurgical operation. The Israeli border police stopped and interrogated him for three hours at the border. In Jordan, he was directed back to the Quds Hospital. As the Israel authority did not give him the permission to travel outside the green line, he managed to get there just when two Israeli activists hid him in the trunk of their car.
What could be a simple report of isolated events underlines an ongoing strategy adopted by Israel. The choice of targeting kids reveals two goals. On one side, it’s easy to notice how the kids in question are usually the children of activists. It’s a way to hit the most human and vulnerable nerve.“Israeli authorities have said that we teach our kids hate,”Iyad says,“But who teaches hate to whom? At my return from the US it was my 3-year old son who explained to me what happened when the soldier came in the night to arrest his brother. A 3-year old kid forced to witness handcuffing and beating in his own home.” On the other side, targeting the young generation is an attempt to eradicate the ‘problem’ of the Palestinian resistance from the root, to scare and warn the people who will lead the struggle in the future.
Most of the 430 Palestinians arrested after Trump’s declaration the 6th of December are under 18 years old. ”They want the youth to hate living in this land”Iyad says. When ISM asks him if he believes his son Abdul, the one now under arrest, is scared he answered that Abdul got used to it since he grew up in this environment:“He reminds me of myself at his age.”And he adds: “I resist and started this struggle to give my kids a better future. But now the story is repeating. Freedom has a high cost.”
December 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | al-Khalil, Occupied Palestine
Witness accounts and video footage confirm that the Israeli army has been and is committing war crimes in dealing with the current wave of protests against the occupation, colonization, and ethnic cleansing in Palestine.
On Friday, December 8, 2017 around 4:30 PM, ISM activists clearly witnessed and filmed a unit of of around 40 Israeli soldiers and commanders in the H1 area of Hebron – which, according to the 1997 Hebron agreement, should be fully controlled by the Palestinian Authority – intentionally injuring the backs, shoulders, and heads of two randomly arrested teens. Much of this occurred after they had been handcuffed, blindfolded, and were held in custody.
The incidents took place shortly after the Israeli forces invaded Bab al-Zawiya from the military Checkpoint 56 (Shuhada Street in H2) and stormed more than 300 meters up Adel Street, as well as two other main civilian thoroughfares.
The teens were captured near the Hasona Petrol station. If previous child arrests in that area are any indication, they were likely grabbed at random from the street without having been involved in any form of protest beforehand.
The video evidence below, a combination of 3 different camera positions, shows how cruelly the teens are treated by different soldiers, while and after they were handcuffed, blindfolded, and cooperating with the soldiers in walking to Israeli controlled H2.
The almost-raw video footage of all three cameras is included and viewable with the following hyper-links:
Camera 1: from 4:23:10 PM
Camera 2: from 4:23:30 PM
Camera 3: from 4:23:35 PM and from 4:24:05 PM
Human Rights Watch (HRW), an NGO that is widely acknowledged for its monitoring and determination of human rights abuses, compiled a readable publication based on the 685 page ‘ICRC Customary International Humanitarian Law’ study manual.
In the HRW publication, war crimes are defined as:
“Serious violations of international humanitarian law, including the mistreatment of persons in custody and deliberate attacks on civilians and civilian property, when committed with criminal intent amount to war crimes. Criminal intent requires purposeful or reckless action. Individuals may also be held criminally liable for attempting to commit a war crime, as well as assisting in, facilitating, aiding or abetting a war crime. Responsibility may also fall on persons ordering, planning, or instigating the commission of a war crime. Commanders and civilian leaders may be prosecuted for war crimes as a matter of command responsibility when they knew or should have known about the commission of war crimes and took insufficient measures to prevent them or punish those responsible.” [emphasis added]
Based on this definition, the video depicts a war crime committed by the Israeli army, for which it’s soldiers and commanders bear responsibility.
This isn’t the 1st documented war crime committed by the Israeli state or its armed forces against the Palestinian people. Other examples include:
It is the obligation of all states that have signed the multiple international treaties violated here to stop these Israeli war crimes, and a duty of the people to put pressure on their governments to do so.
