Category: Reports

UPDATE: Boy critically injured by Israeli Forces in An Nabi Saleh in a coma

International Solidarity Movement
8 March 2010

IOF Occupies Building
IOF Occupies Building

UPDATE: Ehab Fadel Beir Ghouthi, who was shot by Israeli Occupation Forces on Friday during the weekly demonstration has been in intensive care since reaching the hospital in Ramallah. On Monday 8 March, after a few days of slow improvement he was reported to have gone into a coma. Doctors have not been able to give precise information about his condition.

Report from 5 March 2010:

Demonstrators in An Nabi Salih were met with tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets and sound bombs. The IOF also fired skunk, a putrid-smelling chemical spray. One international was hit with a metal tear gas canister in the arm. Four Palestinians were injured, including a young man Ehab Fadel Beir Ghouthi, 14, from Beit Rima, who was hit with a rubber-coated steel bullet in the head. He was taken to a hospital where he underwent emergency surgery. He is listed in critical but stable condition.

An expectant air hung over the village of An Nabi Salih. This feeling was heightened as IOF soldiers gathered on a hilltop near the edge of the village. Despite this sentiment, An Nabi Salih decided to celebrate International Women’s Day. The popular committee of An Nabi Salih invited the mothers, daughters and sisters of the surrounding villages to join their demonstration for unfettered access to their farmlands and spring.

The march began in its normal fashion, but today the men’s voices, which demanded justice, were punctuated by the unusual and melodic accompaniment of women. An Nabi Salih’s weekly demonstration was halted by Israeli Occupation Force’s (IOF) use of copious amounts of tear gas in the opening minutes. The demonstration was pushed in disarray shortly after it began by the violent actions of the IOF. This disarray was short-lived as the demonstrators collected themselves.

The demonstrators quickly reconvened. Many women took the lead in defending the village from the IOF through non-violent tactics of organized community resistance. These efforts were successful for over an hour until IOF soldiers drove a large vehicle, which blasted skunk, through the demonstration. While shooting skunk, the IOF threw sound bombs and shot tear gas. The demonstrators were made to reassemble after this. In the interim, IOF soldiers took control of a building under construction and used its roof as a vantage point to take better aim the Palestinians who traipsed through their fields.

Ehab just after being shot by Israeli Occupation Forces
Ehab just after being shot by Israeli Occupation Forces

The IOF shot at the youth of the village from this building for nearly 40 min. Their targets were only 50 meters away from the soldier’s position. Yet, they still used rubber-coated steel bullets. The decision to use these weapons led to the critical injury of Ehab Fadel Beir Ghouthi of Beit Rima, a village close to An Nabi Salih.

He was shot just above his left eye. He maintained consciousness for only a few minutes. He was driven to Salfit Hospital and then transferred to Ramallah Main Hospital. Ehab underwent emergency surgery to remove either bone fragments from his brain or the rubber-coated steel bullet from his skull. It was unclear which, but the surgery was successful. Ehab was moved to an Intensive Care Unit and is listed in critical but stable condition.

The hilltop village of An Nabi Salih has a population of approximately 500 residents and is located 30 kilometers northeast of Ramallah along highway 465. The demonstration protested the illegal seizure of valuable agricultural land and the January 9th 2010 uprooting of hundreds of the village resident’s olive trees by the Hallamish (Neve Zuf) settlement located on highway 465, opposite An Nabi Salih. Conflict between the settlement and villagers reawakened in the past month due to the settler’s attempt to re-annex An Nabi Salih land despite the December 2009 Israeli court case that ruled the property rights of the land to the An Nabi Salih residents. The confiscated land of An Nabi Salih is located on the Hallamish side of highway 465 and is just unfortunately one of many expansions of the settlement since it’s establishment in 1977.

Israeli Forces Critically Injure Boy in An Nabi Saleh

International Solidarity Movement

5 March 2010

Demonstrators in An Nabi Salih were met with tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets and sound bombs. The IOF also fired skunk, a putrid-smelling chemical spray. One international was hit with a metal tear gas canister in the arm. Four Palestinians were injured, including a young man Ehab Fadel Beir Ghouthi, 14, from Beit Rima, who was hit with a rubber-coated steel bullet in the head. He was taken to a hospital where he underwent emergency surgery. He is listed in critical but stable condition.

IOF Occupies Building
IOF Occupies Building

An expectant air hung over the village of An Nabi Salih. This feeling was heightened as IOF soldiers gathered on a hilltop near the edge of the village. Despite this sentiment, An Nabi Salih decided to celebrate International Women’s Day. The popular committee of An Nabi Salih invited the mothers, daughters and sisters of the surrounding villages to join their demonstration for unfettered access to their farmlands and spring.

The march began in its normal fashion, but today the men’s voices, which demanded justice, were punctuated by the unusual and melodic accompaniment of women. An Nabi Salih’s weekly demonstration was halted by Israeli Occupation Force’s (IOF) use of copious amounts of tear gas in the opening minutes. The demonstration was pushed in disarray shortly after it began by the violent actions of the IOF. This disarray was short-lived as the demonstrators collected themselves.

Ehab
Ehab

The demonstrators quickly reconvened. Many women took the lead in defending the village from the IOF through non-violent tactics of organized community resistance. These efforts were successful for over an hour until IOF soldiers drove a large vehicle, which blasted skunk, through the demonstration. While shooting skunk, the IOF threw sound bombs and shot tear gas. The demonstrators were made to reassemble after this. In the interim, IOF soldiers took control of a building under construction and used its roof as a vantage point to take better aim the Palestinians who traipsed through their fields.

The IOF shot at the youth of the village from this building for nearly 40 min. Their targets were only 50 meters away from the soldier’s position. Yet, they still used rubber-coated steel bullets. The decision to use these weapons led to the critical injury of Ehab Fadel Beir Ghouthi of Beit Rima, a village close to An Nabi Salih.

He was shot just above his left eye. He maintained consciousness for only a few minutes. He was driven to Salfit Hospital and then transferred to Ramallah Main Hospital. Ehab underwent emergency surgery to remove either bone fragments from his brain or the rubber-coated steel bullet from his skull. It was unclear which, but the surgery was successful. Ehab was moved to an Intensive Care Unit and is listed in critical but stable condition.

The hilltop village of An Nabi Salih has a population of approximately 500 residents and is located 30 kilometers northeast of Ramallah along highway 465. The demonstration protested the illegal seizure of valuable agricultural land and the January 9th 2010 uprooting of hundreds of the village resident’s olive trees by the Hallamish (Neve Zuf) settlement located on highway 465, opposite An Nabi Salih. Conflict between the settlement and villagers reawakened in the past month due to the settler’s attempt to re-annex An Nabi Salih land despite the December 2009 Israeli court case that ruled the property rights of the land to the An Nabi Salih residents. The confiscated land of An Nabi Salih is located on the Hallamish side of highway 465 and is just unfortunately one of many expansions of the settlement since it’s establishment in 1977.

Activists work to stop wall construction and uprooting of olive trees in Beit Jala

Beit Jala Popular Committee

4 March 2010

In the early morning on March 2, 2010, Israeli bulldozers started uprooting ancient olive trees in the garden of a Palestinian family in the town of Beit Jala, North-West of Bethlehem, in order to make room for the construction of yet another section of the Apartheid Wall. Wednesday morning, the family, which had already lost a significant portion of its lands when Israel seized them to build the “by-pass road” 60 that connects the equally illegal settlements, found the little playground for the children in the garden destroyed and three olive trees directly in front of the house chopped off. A red cross was painted two meters away from the front door to signal where the Wall is designed to pass. The remaining olive trees had been marked with yellow-tags, to be uprooted another day.

More markings on remaining trees and on the ground announce that soon, the family might lose the rest of its remaining land including the sight of its destroyed playground, and live immediately facing the massive grey concrete Wall.

Between March 2 and March 3, the bulldozers uprooted an overall of 70 olive trees on the lands of the family and their neighbors, rapidly creating facts on the ground before lawyers could challenge the most recent of a series of confusing orders designed to “legalize” the ongoing land theft under Israeli law. According to Israel’s most recent plan, this section of the Wall would seize another 280,9 dunums of Palestinian land on the property of 35 families.

On March 3, the al-Ma’sara Popular Committee and the Holy Land Trust in Bethlehem mobilized a group of Palestinian, international and Israeli activists to attempt to physically stop the bulldozers from continuing their work. Dozens of soldiers, security personal and border police officers spend two hours pushing and dragging the activists up the hill and away from the operating bulldozers, and finally produced an order to arrest anyone remaining on the family’s land after 9a.m.

Today, on March 4, a group of activists was again mobilized to arrive in the early morning hours to protect the remaining olive trees. One activist chained himself to an ancient tree marked for removal, while others formed clusters around this and other trees. As soldiers and police officers gathered on the scene, activists chanted slogans against the Wall and the occupation and replanted two uprooted trees.

After a few hours, the activists learned that a legal decision had been reached that effectively prohibits any further uprooting until the next court order is ruled. Expecting this impending order, activists continue to prepare for further intervention in case that the bulldozers resume their work.

Hebron’s women march in protest to the Judaization of the Ibrahimi mosque

3 March 2010

Today over a 100 Palestinian women marched Hebron’s streets to resist Ibrahim’s mosque becoming an Israeli Heritage Site. The Women’s Empowerment Project gathered women from Hebron district to march from Hebron’s Muncipality down to the mosque. The exclusively female crowd chanted and held banners while peacefully, but decisively demonstrating. At the checkpoint, the women had to wait for approximately 20 minutes before being allowed entrance into the mosque. An overall elated atmosphere affirmed this was a powerful demonstration, illuminating the power of women, while simultaneously empowering women to take resistance out on the streets.

On 21 February 2010, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced the Israeli government’s intention to designate the Ibrahimi Mosque in Al-Khalil (Hebron) to become an Israeli Heritage Site. The shrine, located in the ancient city of Hebron, is considered to be sacred by Moslims, Jews and Christians. Supposedly it is the burial place for three Biblical couples: Abraham and Sara, Isaac and Rebekah and Jacob and Leah.

Netanyahu’s statement has caused increased tensity in Hebron. The Palestinian population fears that this entails a “Judaization of the Ibrahimi mosque” with restricted access to the Mosque for Muslims. In the past ten days several demonstrations and clashes between the Palestinian population of Al-Khalil and the Israeli army have taken place. In contrast to these previous demonstrations, today’s march was not met with IOF violence, nor were there any arrests made.

Palestinian Organizer Assaulted at an Israeli Checkpoint

Popular Struggle Co-ordination Committee

2 March 2010

Mahmoud Zwahre, a prominent member of the alMaasara Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, was brutally assaulted at the Israeli Container Checkpoint near Bethlehem this morning. Zwahre was on his way to a Ramallah meeting when his car was stopped. He was held for nearly two hours, during which he was kicked, punched and beaten using a rifle butt.

Mahmoud Zwahre of the alMa’sara Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements was detained at the Container Checkpoint near Bethlehem this morning on his way to a meeting in Ramallah. Zwahre was detained after a Border Police officer positioned at the checkpoint recognized him from the weekly demonstrations held in alMa’sara for the past 3.5 years. He was held for almost two hours, during which he was subjected to an aggressive search through his possessions and his car, and then detained in an interrogation room for no apparent reason.

In the interrogation room, with no witnesses around, Zwahre was punched, kicked and beaten with a rifle butt by the officer for over 10 minutes. During the rampage, the officer explained that the beating was intended to “teach Mahmoud a lesson”, because he recognized him from the demonstrations. He also threatened to order his arrest. Zwahre was eventually released, suffering minor injuries and bruises, and intends to file a complaint against the officer.

Zwahre’s abuse at the checkpoint today is part of a larger campaign Israel is waging in an attempt to suppress the Palestinian popular struggle. Recent months have seen the arrest of dozens of individuals connected to anti-Wall and settlement protest, often on questionable grounds or without any charge at all.

In the village of alMaasara alone, where Zwahre is from, the Army and Shin Bet have made clear threats against members of the popular committee on five different occasions between December 29th, 2009, and January 15th, 2010. The threats, mostly conveyed during night-time raids on the village, included warnings that popular committee members would be beaten and arrested should they continue to mobilize people and organize demonstrations.

During a January 15th night-time raid into the houses of both Mahmoud and Mohammad Breija, soldiers warned the two that repercussions would follow if they did not stop organizing protests in the village. Zwahre was even threatened that a child may end up dead as a result, implying that the responsibility for the repression and its cost will lie with the Popular Committee

Last Friday, the army conducted a pre-dawn raid on Brejia’s house once more, in a prelude to a siege soldiers held on the village the entire day in order to prevent the weekly demonstration from taking place. As the demonstration set out from the village’s mosque towards the walled off lands, it was attacked by soldiers who took over rooftops at the entrance to the village.

Weekly demonstrations have been held in the village of alMaasara since November 2006, in protest of the ongoing land theft of farmland belonging to alMa’sara and the eight surrounding villages in the South of Bethlehem district. Demonstrations began when Israel started constructing the Wall in the area, and a way that will allow the expansion of the Gush Etzion settlement block.