14th March 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine
On Friday, 11th March 2016, Israeli forces again attacked the non-violent protest in Ni’lin in the occupied West Bank, showering the village, including a public park and playground, in tear gas.
Tear gas cloud in the fields of Ni’lin
For years the villagers of Ni’lin have been protesting the illegal theft of land and the apartheid wall that separates the village from the majority of their land. This stolen land has been used to erect the illegal settlement of Modi’in Illit.
Israeli forces violently attacked the peaceful demonstration that started after the noon prayer, shooting endless rounds of tear gas, not only towards the demonstrators, but also directly at a public park and playground. Last week, several children in the park suffered from tear gas inhalation during an attack on civilians who were completely uninvolved in the demonstration. Because of this, fortunately this week no children were on the playground. But this is also gross violation of a child’s right to play – leaving children restricted to their homes where they are still at risk of being tear-gassed by Israeli forces.
13th March 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil Team | Ni’lin, Occupied Palestine
On the 13th March 2009 around 4:30pm, Tristan Anderson, an ISM volunteer from the US was critically wounded by the occupying Israeli forces while peacefully demonstrating against the ongoing occupation of the West Bank village of Ni’lin. The wounds he sustained were from a high velocity/long range tear gas canister that was used against him at a distance of around 50-60 meters.
Tristan Anderson
Sunday the 13th of March will mark 7 years since his wounding and represents the ongoing struggle for justice that Tristan, his family & friends and the people of Palestine face against the occupying forces and their tactics to perverse the course of justice.
Tristan was 38 years old in 2009 when he was severely injured. Tristan’s girlfriend, Gabrielle Silverman, an American-Israeli who witnessed the ordeal was quoted as saying:
“We were at a demonstration against the wall, against the Israeli apartheid wall in the West Bank village of Ni’lin, which is about twenty-six kilometers west of Ramallah. I was very close to him when he was shot. I was only a few feet away. The demonstration had been going for several hours. It was wrapping up; it was almost over. Most people had already gone home. We were standing on some grass nearby a village mosque, and Tristan was taking pictures [when] he was shot in the head with the extended range tear gas canister.”
Protesters hold up a sign for Tristan
Jonathan Pollack, an Israeli activist with the group “Anarchists against the Wall” who was also at the demonstration in Ni’lin said Tristan was hit at around 4.30pm inside the village, at least 1km from the barrier. However, as is often the case at many of the protests, there had been stone-throwing. He said Tristan had never thrown any stones or taken any violent action towards the soldiers {engaging in any form of violence is strictly forbidden within the codes of conduct for ISM volunteers}.
It is reported that for hours before he was shot, Tristan was nowhere near the annexation wall. The weapon at the time used on Anderson had only recently began being used by Israeli forces against West Bank demonstrators. It comes in a black canister labelled in Hebrew “40mm bullet special/long range”, and is silent when fired, according to demonstrators. The instructions of use for tear-gas is to be fired in a bow above – and not directly at – protestors. It is reported that Anderson was hit from a distance of around 60 meters, well short of the parameters for ‘long range’, which has the capacity to be fired around 400 meters.
The type of canister used on Tristan
Tristan was rushed to the Tel Hashomer hospital in Israel. The injuries that he sustained caused the loss of sight in Anderson’s right eye whilst doctors had to remove portions of his frontal lobe and shattered bone from the skull. At the time it was not clear if Anderson would survive or how much brain damage he would incur from the large scale of injuries that he sustained from the attack.
Tristan in hospital after his shooting
Years later Tristan continues to require around the clock care because of cognitive impairment and physical disability. He is also paralyzed on half his body and uses a wheelchair.
Whilst initially there were no charges laid against Israeli military, new evidence emerged showing the officer responsible for incident. “Sergeant Jackie” is named as the border patrol officer who shot Anderson in the clip filmed by a Palestinian activist from Ni’lin. An Israeli state attorney was then able to identify Jackie, whose face is not clear in the clip, by applying facial recognition software.
Just as important as identifying Anderson’s shooter, the video also shows that the border patrol unit Sgt. Jackie was at a distance much less than the distance stated in the testimony given during the military investigation. The video also displays a clear example, showing how far the Israeli military is willing to go to lie, cover up and try to protect their story.
The Israeli military described the protest as a “violent riot”, saying that “approximately 400 rioters threw a massive number of rocks at security forces”.
“Israel regrets that the Israeli and foreign nationals co-operate with violent rioters against the building of the security fence, whose purpose is saving the lives of Israeli citizens,” it said. “As such, any Israeli, Palestinian, or foreign national who illegally participates in a violent demonstration takes upon himself the risk of personal harm during the dispersal of these disturbances.”
Supporters of Anderson hope the new evidence will be instrumental to both his current civil suit, as well as re-opening a criminal investigation against the Israeli military. “Both sides,” said Silverman (Anderson’s girlfriend), “have a political point to make in the courtroom,” explaining the case is in part about negligence, and in part about Israeli’s systematic use of violence against Palestinians.
Just one month after the shooting of Tristan Anderson, 30 year old Bassem Abu Rahme was killed from a tear gas canister that was shot directly at his chest at close range by an Israeli soldier. The Israeli military insists on not indicting the security officer who killed Bassem Abu Rahmen, despite being provided with enough details to find him.
The silence that ensues the actions and lack of justice brought upon the Israeli forces, the so called ‘most moral army in the world’, is defeaning. One must question the international communities role in negligence and ponder why the excessive use of force, the continuous cover ups and the criminal actions of the Israeli military’s actions remain unquestioned on an international level and are being allowed to continue without serious investigation or global condemnation.
12th March 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil Team |Ma’an, Occupied Gaza
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Update
Isra Abu Khosa, 6 year old sister of Yassin Abu Khusa, has died from the injuries she sustained in the bombing raid on Gaza by Israeli forces on Friday.
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Children were the latest victims of last nights continued assault on besieged Gaza by Israel. The young boy who was killed in the attacks has been identified as Yassin Abu Khusa, 10 years old. His sister Isra Abu Khusa, 6 years old, was wounded in the same attack, suffering severe head injuries and is in critical condition while another brother, Ayub Abu Khusa, 13 years old, is also seriously injured.
A young boy amidst the damage of the home in which a young child was killed
A Ma’an reporter based in Gaza said the children were in their house at the time the strike happened, located in northwestern Beit Lahiya. The family was still living in their home that was partially destroyed during the most recent offensive on the strip by the zionist regime in 2014.
Rubble and a blood soaked mattress from the attack
The Israeli army claims the Israeli air force targeted four Hamas sites in the northern Gaza Strip after four rockets were reportedly fired from the strip on Friday evening.
The family home after the attack
Several rockets were fired from the blockaded coastal territory into southern Israel last year, with the Israeli military launching retaliatory air strikes in virtually every case with signature excessive force and more often than not leading to the deaths of many innocent civilians.
Children in the war torn buildings left by Israeli forces
Although the majority of last years’ rocket fire was attributed to small, rather insignificant militant groups operating in Gaza, Israel consistently holds the territory’s de facto leaders Hamas responsible, targeting the group’s military infrastructure in response.
6th March 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Nabi Saleh, occupied Palestine
The residents of Nabi Saleh have been holding weekly demonstrations since 2009 in protest of the zionist regimes illegal occupation of the village’s land along with the takeover of the village’s spring located near the illegal Israeli settlement of Halamish. The Israeli authorities ordered that certain ammenities that have since been placed by the illegal settlers be demolished, however this order has not been carried out.
A woman receives medical assistance in Nabi Saleh
In December 2011 at one of the weekly protests in Nabi Saleh, a soldier fired a high velocity tear gas canister to the chest of Mustafa Tamimi from close range. Mustafa was killed from the injuries that he sustained.
Nabi Saleh has recently faced more intense targeting from the Israeli army after a video was published of an Israeli soldier wrestling 12 year old boy Muhammad Tamimi who was beaten by the soldier and jammed between rocks whilst his mother and sister tried wrestling him away from the soldier. The video has since become a symbol of the excessive force used on Palestinian children by the occupying forces.
As the weekly protests continue the local Palestinians continue to fight and stand together against land expropriations, extrajudicial killings and the ongoing occupation of their land.
One new threat has emerged since the video was released and the 6 months of popular uprising that ensued. Palestinians and protesters from around the world who stand together in solidarity with the people of Nabi Saleh claim that the Israeli army is now using a newer, more lethal type of tear gas canisters. The canisters are heavier than previous gas used, whilst being undetectable during their flight path as they don’t leave a trail of smoke which makes them much harder to spot along with a much longer range, they’re designed to do as much damage as possible.
The new tear gas projectiles that are being used in the west bank
6th March 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine
Since the 1994 Ibrahimi Mosque Massacre, the majority of Shuhada Street – once the thriving Palestinian market and main thoroughfare connecting north and south al-Khalil (Hebron) – has been closed to Palestinians. They are completely barred from accessing it, except for a small stretch in the Tel Rumeida neighbourhood.
Photos of the same portion of Shuhada street – a thriving market before 1994, now an empty street where no Palestinians are allowed to enter (published by B’Tselem)
This tiny strip that is legally still accessible for Palestinians is restricted by the recently ‘renovated’ Shuhada checkpoint at the beginning of the street and ends where the street begins to border the illegal settlement of Beit Hadassah, beyond which Israeli forces assure that no Palestinians exist. Further down Shuhada street, clearly marked with yet another military post barring anyone who might attempt to enter the street, are even more Israeli settlements – all illegal under international law – located directly in the city center of al-Khalil.
The settlements on Shuhada Street are connected via a settler-only road to the much larger settlement of Kiryat Arba on the outskirts of al-Khalil; settlers can also reach the illegal Tel Rumeida settlement easily by traversing the tiny stretch of Shuhada Street still open to some Palestinians and the road leading up into Tel Rumeida from Shuhada checkpoint, now encompassed within the closed military zone. While Palestinians are allowed to walk on this part of Shuhada Street, Palestinian vehicles, including ambulances, are forbidden from driving there. Since Israeli authorities declared the area part of a closed military zone on 1st November 2015, the already barely existent access has been further restricted – Isreali forces only allow entry to Palestinians registered with them residents, while any Israeli settler, regardless of whether they are residents or not, can pass freely and without ever being harassed, stopped, detained, arrested, or threatened by the ever-present military forces.
Map of the city center of al-Khalil including Shuhada Street (the longest street marked in red) by B’Tselem
At the line demarcated by Daboya checkpoint (Checkpoint 55), where the illegal settlements on the street begin and Palestinians are no longer allowed, a steep flight of stairs leads up to Qurtuba school and into the Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. These stairs, the only way for Palestinians to continue traveling in the same direction above the street as they are not allowed to continue down Shuhada Street itself, have been closed by the Israeli forces with a metal gate since November 2015.
Stairs with the closed gate leading down to Shuhada Street
Even though this gate is currently not locked, Israeli forces deny any Palestinian, except for the students and teachers of Qurtuba school during school-time, to use these stairs. As a result Palestinian residents of this neighbourhood, once they have passed Shuhada checkpoint – an ordeal that can take several hours – have been denied to reach their homes by walking down Shuhada Street and the stairs leading up to Qurtuba school, forcing them instead to take a much longer detour around. With yet another way denied for Palestinans, navigating the maze of Israeli military-enforced checkpoints, complete bans on travel, roads where Palestinians cannot drive, settler-only roads, closed military zones and new arbitrary closures has become even more arduous.
Israeli forces are thereby also clearly working to minimise the number of Palestinians who will actually use this last portion of Shuhada Street – now a complete dead-end – as they bar Palestinians not only from going farther down the closed street but also declare the stairs, formerly an alternate route, yet another closed zone. This illustrates the Israeli attempts to rid Shuhada Street entirely of Palestinians. Ethnic cleansing in al-Khalil, and all across Israeli-occupied Palestinian lands is not a sudden, headline-grabbing event; it progresses gradually as Palestinians are restricted in certain areas, barred from driving there, prohibited from even being there, forced out to facilitate the expansion of the illegal settlements. Ethnic cleansing happens slowly, by erecting new and ‘fortifying’ existing checkpoints, advancing one more closure at a time.
