Nabil Al-Kurd, head of the Al-Kurd family was arrested last night at midnight. He went with police to file a report against a settler who threatened his life and was violating previous release agreements by coming to the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and was arrested. Two settlers are also being held. At the police station both settlers and international and Israeli activists came to give statements. Settlers were allowed to enter the police station and give statements. International and Israeli activists waited for three hours with video footage but were not allowed to speak to police. Police arrive to arrest Nabil as settlers destroy Al-Kurd property
Settlers began gathering around sundown at the entrance to the Al-Kurd home. The door to the home was malfunctioning, angering and embarrassing the group of 15 young men. The fence, erected two weeks ago through a garden-beautification project organized by East Jerusalem youth, has been a source of contention since the beginning. While waiting to enter their stolen home, settler boys began dismantling the fence with their hands, and by jumping on it.
Settlers claim that the fence violates their “property rights” while legal documents state that only the home, not the yard can be occupied by settlers. The Al-Kurd home was built without a permit, providing legal grounds for eviction. The yard is not unpermitted and therefore transfer to settlers is illegal.
The fence was completely removed at 4am by three settler boys. Four ISM volunteers were present for the destruction; one was physically assaulted while filming. The family will begin the
After a night in jail, Nabil Al-Kurd and the two settlers (despite parole violations) were released after a judge dropped all charges. Nabil Al-Kurds arrest continues the trend of arresting Sheikh Jarrah residents in an attempt to instill fear in the community about resisting the ethnic cleansing of their neighborhood and the occupation of Palestine.
This demonstration, which took place on the 6 April, is one of several weekly demonstrations happening in different places alongside Gaza’s border with Israel.
They are held in protest against the arbitrary decision by Israel to instate a 300 metre buffer zone as no-go area for Palestinians where shoot to kill policy is implemented. In fact, people have been shot with worrying regularity as far as 2 kilometres away from the border. Demonstrators march to the wall in Gaza
The organisers of the demonstrations are an association of residents activists of Beit Hanoun called the ‘Local Initiative’ and an umbrella called ‘Popular Campaign Against the Buffer Zone’, encompassing farmers and residents living near the border and a number of leftwing political parties.
About 200 participants gathered at noon at Al Atatra, near Beit Lahiya and marched towards the border. While the bulk of the participants headed by a group of local women stopped about 150 metres away, a group of about 50 marched to less than 10 metres form the border fence, where they placed Palestinian flags.
After 10 minutes three army jeeps arrived and about 10 heavily armed soldiers took firing positions at the raised area overseeing the demonstrators. A heavy firing of live ammunition ensued for about 20 minutes scattering demonstrators who run for cover showered by the bullets fired perilously close.
A small group of activists, which included the ISMers, held ground waving flags and showing V signs. The demonstrators did enter deeply into the buffer zone which is on the Palestinian land ,but it was obvious that demonstrators were no threat to the soldiers armed to their teeth.
The disproportionate use of force is therefore very worrying but not unexpected. Only less than a week ago a teenager collecting concrete for recycling from many demolished houses in this area, was shot in a leg for no apparent reason.
Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) used tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets, skunk, and percussion grenades to suppress the popular struggle in An Nabi Salih. Despite the repression, over 100 villagers joined by 30-40 Israelis and internationals demonstrated for over seven hours against Halamish settlement expansion and it’s usurpation of farmland and An Nabi Salih’s freshwater spring. IOF injured over fifteen people. The injuries included the following: severe tear gas inhalation, a lacerated scalp, a broken arm and various rubber-coated steel bullet wounds. An Nabi Salih resident struck by rubber-coated steel bullet
The usual and jovial pre-demonstration atmosphere was experienced in the radiant sun; a welcomed respite for those who frequent An Nabi Salih on Friday afternoons. After 3 months of weekly demonstration, the zeal for and dedication to justice has not left the villagers and the outsiders who join the residents of An Nabi Salih. Their cries for unity in Palestine rang off the walls in village. Although, the zeal thrives in this village, the repression of their struggle has slowly intensified.
As the demonstrators rounded the familiar corner on their march to their lands, two IOF jeeps awaited about 70 meters down the road. Fear seemed not to grip the hearts of the villagers. They marched towards the jeeps, ignoring them as a threat. A tempest of tear gas rained down on the demonstration. 30-40 canisters, shot from apparatus attached to the hood of a jeep, fell in a space of about ten meters by ten meters. Demonstrators had to watch the sky, so as not to be struck by the heavy aluminum canisters, while at the same time moving from the area so as not to suffer severe tear gas inhalation. Live round either dropped or misfired by IOF in An Nabi Salih
One minute after the mass tear gassing, a large white truck came through the jeep blockade and stopped at the space where myriad of tear gas canisters had just fallen. It began shooting skunk from a water cannon attached to the top of its cab. As the turret pivoted, it sprayed skunk in a 70 meter radius around the truck.
When the skunk truck retreated, the demonstrators came to the junction where the mayhem had ensued. They continued their demonstration here demanding their right to march to their lands. The sharp and eerie twang of rubber-coated steel bullets bouncing off the street sign were slightly off-putting to some. This sound solidified the notion that the rubber-coated steel bullets were coming within centimeters of the demonstrator’s heads.
Press attempted to conduct interviews with villagers, but the IOF disregarded the freedom that the press is supposed to enjoy. Tear gas canisters were shot directly at cameramen and reporters. The media representatives were forced to take refuge in a bus stop.
The residents continued their demonstration until the IOF soldiers ran out of rubber-coated steel bullets and tear gas rounds. The soldiers were forced to retreat to re-supply. In this time, residents of An Nabi Salih accompanied by Israelis and Internationals engaged in organized and non-violent tactics to ensure the IOF would not be able to gain access to the village again. Despite their efforts, IOF soldiers ran through the fields of the village and shot tear gas through windows of homes resulting in severe tear gas inhalation of several children and elderly women.
The demonstrators succeeded in going alongside the soldiers and thus scaring them to retreat. As the demonstrators retook their fields, the soldiers watched at a cautious distance. The villagers held their position for about an hour until nearly 25 soldiers and border police sprinted across the fields shooting rubber-coated steel bullets. One youth was shot three times; once in the leg, once in the arm and once in the head. He suffered a lacerated scalp and a broken arm.
The IOF invaded the village again and used, what most demonstrators described as, a stronger version of tear gas. Another house was gassed causing a pregnant woman to be taken away in a Red Crescent ambulance. Young demonstrators laid down in the road trying to overcome the effects of this seemingly concentrated form of CS gas.
Despite this repression, An Nabi Salih had no plans to halt their demonstration, nor do they plan to call-off their weekly non-violent expressions of collective anger.
The hilltop village of An Nabi Saleh has a population of approximately 500 residents and is located 30 kilometers northeast of Ramallah along highway 465. The demonstrations protest the illegal seizure of valuable agricultural land and the uprooting in January 2010 of hundreds of the village resident’s olive trees by the Hallamish (Neve Zuf) settlement located opposite An Nabi Saleh. Conflict between the settlement and villagers reawakened in the past month due to the settlers’ attempt to re-annex An Nabi Saleh land despite an Israeli court decision in December 2009 that awarded the property rights of the land to the An Nabi Saleh residents. The confiscated land of An Nabi Saleh is located on the Hallamish side of Highway 465 and is just one of many expansions of the illegal settlement since it’s establishment in 1977.
Facing tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets and live ammunition, roughly sixty Palestinians gathered outside of Ni’lin today. Joined by 15 Israeli and International activists, the demonstrators protested the Israeli occupation which has claimed over 40% of the village’s land. Villagers march to the wall in Nil'in
After congregating in nearby olive groves for midday prayers, demonstrators marched towards the illegal annexation wall with flags and chants led by village youth. Upon reaching the wall, demonstrators were met with a violent military response. Claiming nearly 30% of remaining village land, the wall annexes Ni’lin farmland for use by the nearby illegal settlement Modi’in Ilit. Soldiers fired tear gas and percussion grenades over the wall at nonviolent demonstrators, who were not deterred and continued a spirited protest.
Soldiers then invaded the village’s olive groves, firing live ammunition, rubber-coated steel bullets and tear gas. The use of live ammunition has claimed the lives of five Ni’lin residents since May 2008. No injuries were reported today.
Background on Nil’in:
Israel began construction of the Wall on Ni’lin’s land in 2004, but stopped after an injunction order issued by the Israeli Supreme Court (ISC). Despite the previous order and a 2004 ruling from the International Court of Justice declaring the Wall illegal, construction of the Wall began again in May 2008. Following the return of Israeli bulldozers to their lands, residents of Ni’lin have launched a grassroots campaign to protest the massive land theft, including demonstrations and direct actions.
The original route of the Wall, which Israel began constructing in 2004, was ruled illegal by the ISC, as was a second, marginally less obtrusive proposed route (http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/view.php?recordID=622). The most recent path, now completed, still cuts deep into Ni’lin’s land. The Wall has been built to include plans, not yet approved by the Army’s planning authority, for a cemetery and an industrial zone for the illegal settlement Modi’in Ilit.
Since the Wall was built to annex more land to the nearby settlements rather than in a militarily strategic manner, demonstrators have been able to repeatedly dismantle parts of the electronic fence and razor-wire surrounding it. Consequently, the army has erected a 15-25 feet tall concrete wall, in addition to the electronic fence. The section of the Wall in Ni’lin is the only part of the route where a concrete wall has been erected in response to civilian, unarmed protest.
As a result of the Wall construction, Ni’lin has lost 3,920 dunams, roughly 30% of its remaining lands. Originally, Ni’lin consisted of 15,898 dunams (3928 acres). Post 1948, Ni’lin was left with 14,794 dunams (3656 acres). After the occupation of the West Bank in 1967, the illegal settlements and infrastructure of Modi’in Ilit, Mattityahu and Hashmonaim were built on village lands, and Ni’lin lost another 1,973 dunams. With the completion of the Wall, Ni’lin has a remaining 8911 dunams (2201 acres), 56% of it’s original size (http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/view.php?recordID=1366).
Ni’lin is effectively split into 2 parts (upper and lower) by Road 446, which was built directly through the village. According to the publicized plan of the Israeli government (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/819633.html), a tunnel will be built under road 446 to connect the upper and lower parts of Ni’lin, allowing Israel to turn Road 446 into a segregated-setter only road. Subsequently, access for Palestinian vehicles to this road and to the main entrances of upper and lower Ni’lin will be closed. Additionally, since the tunnel will be the only entryway to Ni’lin, Israel will have control over the movement of Palestinian residents.
Israel commonly uses tear-gas projectiles, rubber coated steel bullets and live ammunition against demonstrators.
Since May, 2008, five of Ni’lin’s residents were killed and one American solidarity activist was critically injured from Israeli fire during grassroots demonstrations in Ni’lin.
* 5 June 2009: Yousef Akil Srour (36) was shot in the chest with 0.22 caliber live ammunition and pronounced dead upon arrival at a Ramallah hospital (https://palsolidarity.org/2009/06/7023).
* 13 March 2009: Tristan Anderson (37), an American citizen, was shot in the head with a high velocity tear gas projectile. He is currently at Tel Hashomer hospital near Tel Aviv with uncertain prospects for his recovery (https://palsolidarity.org/2009/03/5324).
* 28 December 2008: Mohammed Khawaje (20) was shot in the head with 5.56mm caliber live ammunition. He died in a Ramallah hospital 3 days later on 31 December 2008 (https://palsolidarity.org/2008/12/3742).
* 28 December 2008: Arafat Rateb Khawaje (22) was shot in the back with 5.56mm caliber live ammunition and pronounced dead upon arrival at a Ramallah hospital (https://palsolidarity.org/2008/12/3714).
* 30 July 2008: Yousef Amira (17) was shot in the head with two rubber coated steel bullets. He died in a Ramallah hospital 5 days later on 4 August 2008 (https://palsolidarity.org/2008/08/3346).
* 29 July 2008: Ahmed Mousa (10) was shot in the forehead with 5.56mm caliber live ammunition and pronounced dead upon arrival at a Ramallah hospital (https://palsolidarity.org/2008/07/3329).
In total, 20 people have been killed during demonstrations against the Wall (https://palsolidarity.org/2009/06/7647).
Israeli armed forces have shot 40 demonstrators with live ammunition in Ni’lin. Of them, 11 were shot with 5.56mm caliber live ammunition and 29 were shot with 0.22 caliber live ammunition.
Since May 2008, 112 arrests of Ni’lin residents have been made in relation to anti-Wall protest in the village. The protesters arrested by the army constitute roughly 9% of the village’s male residents aged between 12 and 55. The arrests are part of a broad politically motivated Israeli campaign to suppress grassroots resistance to the Occupation.
At two o’clock this morning, the Israeli Occupation Army forcefully entered a house in Huwara town, south of Nablus. The house, which was empty at the time, is used as an office for the MICHIGAN PEACE TEAM.
According to some neighbors, who were watching the scene from their windows during the raid, tens of Israeli soldiers forcefully broke the garden gate and the main door and entered the house using sound bombs. The soldiers caused damage to the furniture of the house and confiscated pro-Palestinian banners and posters.
The raid tonight follows the recent Israeli campaign to end Palestinian nonviolent popular resistance, which takes the form of raids, arrest of local activists and organizers, such as Adeeb and Abdullah Abu Rahmah, as well as arrest and deportation of international activists, involved with Palestinian popular resistance, such as the recent unlawful detention/deportation of Eva Nováková, a Czech citizen, Ariadna Jove Marti, a Spanish journalist, and Bridget Chappell, an Australian student in the Beir Zeit university.
Nael Al-Ahmad, a resident of Huwara, described the unjustified raid as a failed attempt to crash the grassroots movement against the Occupation and to hide and bar access to information from the international community about the Israeli inexplicable crimes against the Palestinian people.
