Category: Press Releases - Page 83 - International Solidarity Movement

Corrie trial resumes in Haifa court with testimony of bulldozer unit commander

29 March 2010 | Rachel Corrie Foundation

After a five month recess, the Haifa District Court will resume hearings Sunday, April 3, in the civil lawsuit filed by Rachel Corrie’s family against the State of Israel for her unlawful killing in Rafah, Gaza on March 16, 2003. Rachel was an American student activist and human rights defender who was crushed by a Caterpillar D9R bulldozer while nonviolently protesting the demolition of Palestinian homes.

The commander of the unit that killed Rachel is scheduled to testify. Known to the court as S.R., he oversaw the bulldozer work from an armored personnel carrier at the scene. While numerous military witnesses in the case have been permitted to testify behind a screen to protect their identity – a highly unusual security measure – S.R. is expected to do so in the open because his identity is already known to the public.

The civil trial began over a year ago in March 2010 with testimony from four of Rachel’s colleagues from the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), who witnessed her killing. In a second phase that began on September 5, the government presented nine witnesses who included the lead military police investigator in the case and the driver and commander of the bulldozer that struck and killed Rachel.

Trial Judge Oded Gershon granted the government’s motion to shield the identities of several witnesses, allowing them to testify behind a screen. The Corrie family argued that the highly unusual protective measures infringe upon their right to an open, fair and transparent trial, but their appeal to the Israeli Supreme Court has been denied.

“As we now witness young people in the Middle East protesting non-violently and struggling for their freedoms and human rights, this trial seems ever more relevant,” said Rachel’s mother, Cindy Corrie. “While our family continues to seek accountability from the Israeli Government for their response to Rachel’s nonviolent action, we insist that all governments and militaries respect the right of people to peaceably assemble and protest, that they respond nonviolently to such protests, and that they be accountable for their actions.”

The lawsuit charges that Rachel’s killing was intentional or, alternately, that the Israeli government was negligent for allowing Israeli soldiers and military commanders to act recklessly using an armored military bulldozer without due regard for the presence of unarmed, nonviolent civilians in Rafah. It also alleges that the Israeli military failed to take appropriate and necessary measures to protect Rachel’s life, in violation of obligations under Israeli and international law.

The government of Israel argues that Rachel’s killing took place in the course of armed conflict in a closed military zone and should be considered an “Act of War,” and “Act of State,” absolving the government and military of any responsibility.

On November 4, the final court date before a lengthy recess, the commander of the bulldozer that struck Rachel testified about the location of her body immediately following the incident. His version dramatically contradicted earlier testimony from the bulldozer driver, who sat next to him in the cab. The commander, who is charged with being a second set of eyes and directs the movement of the bulldozer, testified that Rachel’s body was beyond a large mound of earth. The D-9R driver testified that Rachel’s body was between the bulldozer and the mound of earth (corroborating testimony of Rachel’s ISM colleagues and, also, photographic evidence). When presented with the discrepancies between their statements, both soldiers stuck to their version of events. “He’s saying what he saw. I’m saying what I saw,” the bulldozer commander said.

“I find it beyond incompetence that the Military Advocate General closed this case with no further investigation,” said Craig Corrie, Rachel’s father, after the last session in November. “Did the investigators even try to reconcile conflicting testimony between their own soldiers? Stunning contradictions and revelations support the U.S. Government view and ours that there was no credible investigation in this case.”

The proceedings have been attended by representatives of the US Embassy and numerous local and international human rights organizations.

Trial hearings are currently scheduled for April 3 and 6 between the hours of 9:00-16:00 before Judge Oded Gershon at the Haifa, District Court, 12 Palyam St., Haifa, Israel. One or more additional trial sessions are anticipated.

Please visit the Trial Update page of the Rachel Corrie Foundation website for updates, changes to the court schedule, and related information.

Nabi Saleh protest organizer, Bassem Tamimi, to remain under arrest

31 March 2011 | Popular Struggle Coordination Committee

Tamimi’s arrest was extended by an Israeli military judge after the prosecution filed a grievous indictment. The hearing took place in front of a courtroom packed with Tamimi’s family, supporters, European diplomats and Israeli intellectuals.

Bassem Tamimi, 44, a protest organizer from Nabi Saleh and the coordinator of the village’s popular committee, was indicted at the Ofer Military Court today. Tamimi is charged with incitement, organizing unpermitted marches, solicitation to throw stones, disobeying the duty to report to questioning, and a scandalous obstruction of justice charge, for allegedly giving youth advice on how to act under interrogation by the police in the event that they are arrested.

Seven days after his arrest, today was the first time Tamimi was brought in front of a judge. In attendance at the hearing were diplomats from Spain, France and the EU, Tamimi’s wife, many of his supporters and notable Israeli intellectuals, among them acclaimed Israeli novelist, Yoram Kanyuk.

Tamimi’s arrest was extended by eleven days to allow his lawyer, Adv. Labib Habib to study the case file and argue against the extension of the arrest until the end of legal procedures. His next hearing will take place on April 10th, 2011.

Tamimi is one of the prominent figures of the Palestinian popular struggle in the West Bank and considered by many as the engine behind Nabi Saleh’s grassroots mobilization against the occupation and for the protection of the village’s lands from settler take over.

The main evidence in Tamimi’s case is the testimony of 14 year-old Islam Dar Ayyoub, also from Nabi Saleh, who was arrested from his bed at gunpoint on the night of January 23rd. In his interrogation the morning after his arrest, Islam alleged that Bassem and Naji Tamimi organized groups of youth into “brigades”, each with its own responsibility during the demonstrations: some are allegedly in charge of stone-throwing, some of blocking roads, etc.

During a trial-within-a-trial procedure in Islam’s trial, motioning for his testimony to be ruled inadmissible, it was proven that his interrogation was fundamentally flawed and violated the rights set forth in the Israeli Youth Law in the following:

1. Despite being a minor, he was questioned in the morning following his arrest, without being allowed any sleep.
2. He was denied legal consul even while his lawyer was present at the police station.
3. He was denied his right to have a parent present during his questioning.
4. He was not informed of his right to remain silent, and even told that he is “expected to tell the truth” by his interrogators.
5. It was acknowledged by the interrogators that only one of the four interrogators was qualified as a youth interrogator.

While the trial-within-a-trial procedure has not yet reached conclusion, the evidence already revealed has brought the military court to revise its remand decision and order Islam’s release to house arrest. The military prosecution appealed this decision, and a ruling by the Military Court of Appeals is expected any day now.

Over the past two months, the army has arrested 19 of Nabi Saleh’s residents on protest related suspicions. Half of those arrested are minors, the youngest of whom are merely eleven.

Ever since the beginning of the village’s struggle against settler takeover of their lands in December of 2009, the army has conducted 64 arrests related to protest in the village. As the entire village numbers just over 500 residents, the number constitutes a gross 10% of its population.

Tamimi’s arrest last night corresponds to the systematic arrest of protest leaders all around the West Bank, as in the case of the villages of Bil’in and Ni’ilin.

Only recently the Military Court of Appeals has aggravated the sentence of Abdallah Abu Rahmah from the village of Bilin, sending him to 16 months imprisonment on charges of incitement and organizing illegal demonstrations. Abu Rahmah was released last week.

The arrest and trial of Abu Rahmah has been widely condemned by the international community, most notably by Britain and EU foreign minister, Catherin Ashton. Harsh criticism of the arrest has also been offered by leading human rights organizations in Israel and around the world, among them B’tselem, ACRI, as well as Human Rights Watch, which declared Abu Rahmah’s trial unfair, and Amnesty International, which declared Abu Rahmah a prisoner of conscience.

For more details: Jonathan Pollak +972-54-632-7736

Israeli Soldiers Arrest Bassem Tamimi, Coordinator of Nabi Saleh Popular Committee

24 March 2011 | Popular Struggle Coordination Committee

Bassem Tamimi, coordinator of the Nabi Saleh popular committee, was arrested when dozens of soldiers raided his house at noon today beating his wife and daughter in the process. Only yesterday the military court had ordered the indefinite remand of Naji Tamimi, another member of the Nabi Saleh population committee.

Minutes after Bassem Tamimi entered his home to prepare for a meeting with foreign diplomats, dozens of Israeli soldiers stormed his house at the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh and arrested him. The soldiers tried to prevent Tamimi’s wife, Nariman Tamimi, from filming the arrest, hitting her and trying to grab the camera from her. When she passed the camera to her 10 year-old daughter, the soldiers grabbed it from her using violence and threw it outside in the mud.

Just yesterday, another leading protest organizer from Nabi Saleh, Naji Tamimi, was indicted on charges of incitement and organizing illegal demonstrations. The court extended his arrest until the end of legal proceedings. Bassem Tamimi is expected to face the same charges.

Over the past two months, the army has arrested eighteen of Nabi Saleh’s residents on protests related suspicions. Half of those arrested are minors, the youngest of whom merely eleven.

The majority of recent Nabi Saleh arrested are made based on incriminations extracted from a fourteen year-old boy from the village, recently arrested at gun-point during a military night raid. The boy was then subjected to verbal and emotional pressure during his interrogation, denied his fundamental right to legal consul and interrogated in absence of his parents, albeit obliged by law. The interrogators have also never bothered informing the boy of his right to remain silent.

Ever since the beginning of the village’s struggle against settler takeover of their lands, in December of 2009, the army has conducted 64 arrests related to protest in the village. As the entire village numbers just over 500 residents, the number constitutes a gross 10% of its population.

Tamimi’s arrest last night corresponds to the systematic arrest of protest leaders all around the West Bank, as in the case of the villages of Bil’in and Ni’ilin.

Two Palestinians injured as settler opens fire on funeral procession in Beit Ommar

21 March 2011 | Center for Freedom and Justice in Beit Ommar

Around 12pm on Monday, March 21st, 2011, two Palestinian residents from the village of Beit Ommar in the southern West Bank were shot with live ammunition by an Israeli settler. The settler stopped his car on Route 60 as a funeral procession was moving towards the village cemetery and started firing indiscriminately into the crowd of mourners.

59-year-old Mohammad Ali Abu Safiyya was hit in the chest and is in critical condition in a Hebron hospital. 32-year-old Eyad Bassem Za’qiq was shot in his right thigh. The settler who shot the two men was not arrested.

Israeli Forces arrived on the scene and used sound bombs and tear gas to disperse the gathered crowd as medical teams evacuated the wounded. Several international human rights activists, as well as members of the Palestine Solidarity Project, a Palestinian group which organizes against the occupation in Beit Ommar, were on hand to witness these events.

The attack came hours after Mahmoud Ibrahim Ali Awad was stabbed in the chest by settlers from Ma’on, south of the city of Hebron. His wounds were considered moderate.

For more information, please contact:

Ahmed Oudeh, Center for Freedom and Justice in Beit Ommar +972 598 519 887 or +972 548 838 369

In a New Crime, IOF Kills Two Children in Central Gaza

21 March 2011 | Palestinian Centre for Human Rights

On Saturday evening, 19 March 2011, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) used excessive and lethal force which resulted in the death of two Palestinian children who were nearly 300 meters from the border east of Juhr Addik village in the central Gaza Strip. It should be noted that on Thursday morning, 17 March 2011, IOF warplanes dropped leaflets on border areas in the different parts of the Gaza Strip warning Palestinians to avoid coming within 300 meters of the border fence with Israel.

According to an investigation conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) and statements made by eyewitnesses, at approximately 21:30 on 19 March 2011, IOF stationed along the border line east of Juhr Addik village in central the Gaza Strip fired several artillery shells at two Palestinian children who were nearly 300 meters from the border. As a result the two children were immediately killed. IOF continued firing until late in the evening. Today morning, 20 March 2011, IOF moved approximately 400 meters into the area and conducted surveillance in the area. After coordination was made with IOF through the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), at approximately 11:30 this morning, an ambulance from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society managed to access the two bodies which were approximately 300 meters from the border. The two bodies were then transferred to al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza city. The two children were identified as:

1. Imad Mohammed Issa Faraj Allah, 16, from Nuseirat refugee camp; and

2. Qasem Salah Abu Uteiwi, 16, from Nuseirat refugee camp.

PCHR condemns this crime and is gravely concerned. PCHR also:

1. Asserts that these crimes are part of a series of war crimes committed by IOF in the oPt, which reflect total disregard for the lives of Palestinian civilians.

2. Warns of the escalation of war crimes against Palestinian civilians in view of the statements and threats expressed by Israeli political and military officials who have vowed more casualties in the Gaza Strip.

3. Calls upon the international community to take immediate action in order to put an end to such crimes. PCHR further renews its demand for the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to fulfill their obligation under Article 1 which stipulates “the High Contracting Parties undertake to respect and to ensure respect for the present Convention in all circumstances,” as well as their obligations under Article 146 which requires that the Contracting Parties prosecute persons alleged to commit grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention. These grave breaches constitute war crimes under Article 147 of the same Convention and under Protocol I Additional to Geneva Conventions.