Category: In the Media

Video: Soldiers attack children in Nabi Saleh and forcibly separate them from their detained mother

August 25 2012 | Popular Struggle Coordination Committee, Occupied Palestine

Army held six detainees over eight hours, raided houses in the village, injuring several residents and using live ammunition

Pictures: see here, here, here, and here

During the weekly demonstration in the village of Nabi Saleh, yesterday, Friday, dedicated to support the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, some of the villagers of Nabi Saleh, along with other activists managed to get to the entrance of village’s spring “Alqaws” which was taken over by the settlers three years ago. Soldiers forcibly prevented them to approach the spring at the same time settlers were swimming in.

Soldiers detained three Palestinian women, one Israeli activist and one American journalist. Among the detainees was Nariman Tamimi (36), a resident of the village and a Popular Resistance activist. Her Daughter, A’hd Tamimi (11) and two nephews, Marah (11) and Wiaam (11), were attacked brutally by soldiers preventing them from reaching the spring, and separating them from Nariman during her detention.

Soldiers arrest Nariman Tamimi as her children try to de-arrest her (Photo courtesy of Oren Ziv – Activestills.org)

After the arrests, the army raided the village, sprayed “skunk” water and threw stun grenades and tear gas at houses, and used live ammunition through the clashes with the residents. During the raids on the houses, several residents were injured, including: Azmi Tamimi (70), injured in his finger from a rubber bullet shot from point blank range, Martyr Mustafa Tamimi’s grandmother (90), injured in her leg from two rubber bullets, as she sat at her house door, Halla Tamimi (48), injured from a stun grenade thrown into her house and Ahmed Shaker (11), injured in his chin from rubber-coated steel bullet, in addition to several injuries from rubber-coated steel bullets. During the raid, the army arrested another Israeli activist from one of the houses.

The six detainees were held for more than eight hours, in violation of the law, which only permits holding detainees for a maximum of three hours (or six hours in extreme cases), before they are arrested. At 9pm, soldiers put detainees on an army vehicle and drove them for an hour though different settlements roads then drove back to Nabi Saleh entrance where they were dropped off and released.

Israel soldiers holding back Nariman Tamimi’s children as she is being arrested (Photo Courtesy of Oren Ziv – Activestills.org

Background

Late in 2009, settlers began gradually taking over Ein al-Qaws (the Bow Spring), which rests on lands belonging to Bashir Tamimi, the head of the Nabi Saleh village council. The settlers, abetted by the army, erected a shed over the spring, renamed it Maayan Meir, after a late settler, and began driving away Palestinians who came to use the spring by force – at times throwing stones or even pointing guns at them, threatening to shoot.

While residents of Nabi Saleh have already endured decades of continuous land grab and expulsion to allow for the ever continuing expansion of the Halamish settlement, the takeover of the spring served as the last straw that lead to the beginning of the village’s grassroots protest campaign of weekly demonstrations in demand for the return of their lands.

Protest in the tiny village enjoys the regular support of Palestinians from surrounding areas, as well as that of Israeli and international activists. Demonstrations in Nabi Saleh are also unique in the level of women participation in them, and the role they hold in all their aspects, including organizing. Such participation, which often also includes the participation of children reflects the village’s commitment to a truly popular grassroots mobilization, encompassing all segments of the community.

The response of the Israeli military to the protests has been especially brutal and includes regularly laying complete siege on village every Friday, accompanied by the declaration of the entire village, including the built up area, as a closed military zone. Prior and during the demonstrations themselves, the army often completely occupies the village, in effect enforcing an undeclared curfew. Military nighttime raids and arrest operations are also a common tactic in the army’s strategy of intimidation, often targeting minors.

In order to prevent the villagers and their supporters from exercising their fundamental right to demonstrate and march to their lands, soldiers regularly use disproportional force against the unarmed protesters. The means utilized by the army to hinder demonstrations include, but are not limited to, the use of tear-gas projectiles, banned high-velocity tear-gas projectiles, rubber-coated bullets and, at times, even live ammunition. The use of banned 0.22″ munitions by snipers has also been recorded in Nabi Saleh.

The use of such practices have already brought about the death of Mustafa Tamimi and caused countless injuries, several of them serious, including those of children – the most serious of which is that of 14 year-old Ehab Barghouthi, who was shot in the head with a rubber-coated bullet from short range on March 5th, 2010 and laid comatose in the hospital for three weeks. Due to the wide-spread nature of the disproportionate use of force, the phenomenon cannot be attributed to the behavior of individual soldiers, and should be viewed as the execution of policy.

Tear-gas, as well as a foul liquid called “The Skunk”, which is shot from a water cannon, is often used inside the built up area of the village, or even directly pointed into houses, in a way that allows no refuge for the uninvolved residents of the village, including children and the elderly. The interior of at least one house caught fire and was severely damaged after soldiers shot a tear-gas projectile through its windows.

Since December 2009, when protest in the village was sparked, hundreds of demonstration-related injuries caused by disproportionate military violence have been recorded in Nabi Saleh.

Between January 2010 to date, the Israeli Army has carried more than 100 arrests of people detained for 24 hours or more on suspicions related to protest in the village of Nabi Saleh, including those of women and of children as young as 11 years old. Dozens more were detained for shorter periods. Two of the village’s protest leaders – Bassem and Naji Tamimi – arrested on protest-organizing related charges, were recognized by the European Union as human rights defenders. Bassem Tamimi was also declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.

Verdict in Rachel Corrie lawsuit to be announced August 28

22 August 2012 | the Rachel Corrie Foundation, Occupied Palestine

The verdict in the civil lawsuit against the State of Israel for the killing of peace activist Rachel Corrie over nine years ago will be announced August 28, 2012, at 9:00 a.m. at the Haifa District Court.

Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old American from Olympia, Washington, was crushed to death March 16, 2003, by an Israeli military Caterpillar D9-R bulldozer while nonviolently protesting demolition of Palestinian civilian homes in Rafah, Gaza.

The lawsuit, filed in 2005 on behalf of the Corrie family by attorney Hussein abu Hussein, charges the State of Israel with responsibility for Rachel’s killing and failure to conduct a full and credible investigation in the case.

The lawsuit is just a small step in our family’s nearly decade-long search for truth and justice,” said Craig Corrie, Rachel’s father. “The mounting evidence presented before the court underscores a broken system of accountability – tolerated by the United States in spite of its conclusions that Israel’s military investigation was not ‘thorough, credible, or transparent.'”

Rachel Corrie protests Israeli policy of home demolitions in Rafah, Gaza, several hours prior to her killing – March 16, 2003

Oral testimony in the case began March 10, 2010. There have been 15 court hearings since with 23 witnesses testifying. The trial has exposed serious chain-of-command failures in relation to civilian killings and indiscriminate destruction of civilian property at the hands of the Israeli military in southern Gaza.

“This trial is an attempt to hold accountable not only those who failed to protect Rachel’s life but also the flawed system of military investigations which is neither impartial nor thorough,” said Hussein abu Hussein, the family’s attorney. “Under international law, Israel is obligated to take all feasible precautions to spare civilians from the dangers of military operations. The Israeli military flagrantly violated this principle in the killing of Rachel Corrie and it must be held accountable.”

Judge Oded Gershon’s reading of the verdict is expected to be brief. The Corrie family will hold a press conference following at the Colony Hotel, a short distance from the courthouse.

The press conference, to begin approximately one hour after the proceedings conclude, is open to media only. Please contact Stacy Sullivan for additional details.

 

WHAT:     Hearing to announce the verdict in the Rachel Corrie wrongful death civil lawsuit against the State of Israel.

WHEN:    Tuesday, August 28, 2012, 9:00 a.m.

WHERE:  Courtroom of Judge Oded Gershon, Haifa District Court, 12 Palyam Street, Haifa, Israel.

PRESS CONFERENCE:  A press conference with the Corrie family and Attorney Hussein abu Hussein to follow court verdict: The Colony Hotel, 28 Ben Gurion Street, Haifa, Israel. http://www.colonyhaifa.com/ Estimated start time: 10:30 AM. Open to media only. Please contact the Corrie team for further information.

 

PRESS CONTACT:

Email: press@rachelcorriefoundation.org

Phone: Stacy Sullivan (in Israel) at +972-52-952-2143 or +972-54-280-7572

TRIAL HISTORY AND BREAKING NEWS: http://rachelcorriefoundation.org/trial

FOLLOW TRIAL NEWS ON TWITTER: @rcfoundation

Thirty olive trees cut nearby the Palestinian village of At-Tuwani

20 August 2012 | Operation Dove, At-Tuwani, South Hebron Hills

Cut olive trees in the South Hebron Hills. Photo by Operation Dove. Click for more pictures

In the afternoon of August 16th some Palestinians discovered that an olive grove situated in Humra valley had been recently destroyed during the night, according to a Palestinian. Thirty olive trees were broken or severely damaged.

The olive grove belongs to a Palestinian family that lives in Yatta, a Palestinian town close to At-Tuwani.

The area in which the olives trees were cut is located in front of Havat Ma’on, an illegal outpost.

The amount of Palestinian trees tore down and damaged since January 2012 rises to 97: a largest number is located in Humra valley.

The olive grove’s destruction represents several problem of subsistence for Palestinians.

Operation Dove has maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and South Hebron Hills since 2004.

[Note: According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Hague Regulations, the International Court of Justice, and several United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements and outposts in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Most settlement outposts, including Havat Ma’on (Hill 833), are considered illegal also under Israeli law.]

Foreign Press Association demands investigation of incident in which soldiers beat journalists

By Emily Greenzweig

20 August 2012 | Haaretz

The Foreign Press Association (FPA) is demanding an investigation of the incident in which soldiers beat journalists.

The FPA contacted the Prime Minister’s Office and the Israeli army following the incident in which journalists were beaten with sticks. Minister of Public Diplomacy: Expresses doubt concerning journalists who compare Israel to a dictatorship.

The Foreign Press Association today contacted the Prime Minister’s Office and the Israeli army, demanding an immediate investigation into the incident last Friday in which foreign and Palestinian journalists who arrived to cover the protest demonstrations against land confiscation in Kufr Kadum, near the settlement of Kedumim in Samaria, were beaten.

In a video documenting the incident, soldiers are seen calling on the journalists to halt, advancing toward them with sticks and then beating several of them. As a result of the soldiers’ violence, the hand of a photographer with AFP was injured and he required medical treatment.

A notice published by the FPA says that it “expects immediate and public action by the self declared ‘only democracy in the Middle East’ following Fridays premeditated beating of clearly marked, identifiable members of the press by the IDF. The ‘soldiers’ shown attacking our colleagues are acting like a bunch of thugs. The images we see here are usually associated with failing dictatorships. Their actions are simply criminal assault and it should be treated that way by the Israeli authorities.”

The head of AFP in Israel told Haaretz that “to our sorrow this is not an isolated incident. The journalists and photographers who arrive are detained and sometimes beaten and this prevents them from doing their job. It is very sad and bad, and is part of the weekly thuggery of the military forces.”

The Israeli army spokesperson said in response that “the event is known by the IDF and is being investigated by the commanders. As a rule, the IDF respects and permits the free activities of journalists in the area in order to ensure ongoing freedom of the press even in areas possessing a confrontational character. On the face of it this appears to be an exceptional event and the investigation continues.”

The Minister of Public Diplomacy responded to the letter of the FPA that “the actions of the IDF as seen in the video were brought to our knowledge and at this stage are being examined by the IDF. I found that the language used by the FPA in its response is worrisome, unprofessional and inappropriate to an organisation representing the media. I cast doubt on the ability of journalists, who cynically compare Israeli democracy with dictatorial regimes and refer to Israeli democracy as “self-declared,” to present an objective picture to their readers.”