Category: Reports

Three days in Nablus: Four Killed, Six Injured, Eight Arrested

by ISM Nablus, October 11th

The funeral of Abdullah Mansour, murdered by Israeli soldiers. Photo credit: AP Photo/Nasser Ishtayeh

The Nablus region is constantly under siege by soldiers from the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF). In the past three days in Nablus alone, IOF soldiers have killed four Palestinians, injured more than six, and seized at least eight.

Around 2am this morning, IOF soldiers carried out four separate military invasions in the Nablus area. IOF soldiers invaded Al-Ain Refugee Camp, Balata Refuge Camp, Askar Refuge Camp as well as the Old City of Nablus. During the incursion into Al-Ain Camp, an IOF sniper shot and killed Abdullah Mansour 29, of Jericho. Mansour was visiting the home of a relative, and was shot in the head while observing the actions of the IOF from a balcony window. Mansour was not immediately killed by the sniper’s bullet and his life might have been saved if he had been given timely medical care, but as often occurs, his ambulance was prevented from reaching the area by IOF soldiers attempting to impose a closure on the area during their operations.

Some Israeli media sources reported that Mansour was a resistance fighter, shot while attempting to plant a bomb, but this account is contradicted by eyewitness reports from neighbors, a nearby photojournalist, as well as medical personnel. Monsour was a civilian, not a fighter, and he was shot from within a relative’s home, not on the street planting a bomb.

On the same night Mansour was murdered, IOF solders invaded the Nablus Al-Qaryoun neighborhood in the Old City, as well as Balata and Askar refugee camps. In the course of the four incursions, five Palestinian males were taken prisoner by IOF soldiers. In Nablus’ Old City, IOF soldiers broke into numerous homes and seized two brothers, Fadi Ziad Galiz 18, and Mohammad Ziad Galiz, 25. During the attack, which lasted from 2am until 4am, IOF soldiers occupied the Afuri building just outside of the Al-Qaryoun square and used the building as on observation position.

The same night, IOF soldiers invaded Balata Refuge Camp and Askar Refuge Camp. In Balata, IOF soldiers seized three men, Azmi Tawfiq Al Serafi, 20, Abu Rish, 20 and another 20 year old man known only as Hussam. The invasion into Askar Refugee camp utilized an armored, American-made Caterpillar D9 bulldozer in addition to the standard armored army jeeps. The Caterpillar trudged through the camp’s narrow streets and alleys destroying water pumps and pipes, as well as causing extensive damage to camp’s the central market.

In total, during the three hours of invasions into four areas, five men were seized and one killed.

This most recent upsurge of violence began early Sunday morning when IOF soldiers shot and killed a man in Balata Refugee camp. In approximately seventy-two hours, IOF soldiers would kill four Palestinian men, injure more than six and arrest many others. On Sunday morning, in a pre-dawn incursion to Balata Camp, IOF soldiers shot and killed Osama Saleh, 22, known locally as Skipper. Skipper was a resistance fighter with the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade (who are linked to the Abu Mazan’s Fatah movement), and was shot twice in the chest as he attempted to prevent IOF soldiers from entering the camp by engaging them in an armed clash. During these clashes, IOF soldiers killed Skipper and injured at least four additional persons.

Approximately twelve hours after the invasion into Balata, IOF soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian civilian at Huwarra checkpoint, the main barrier for Nablus residents seeking to travel south, and for those traveling from the south into Nablus. At 3:20pm on Sunday, Amjad Mohammed El-Haj Tirawi, 23, also from Balata Refugee Camp, was attempting to travel south despite the IOF’s total closure of Huwarra checkpoint because of the Jewish holiday. With the checkpoint closed, and Tirawi left with no other way to reach his home, he traveled in a car on a bypass road. IOF soldiers in an army jeep who happened to be stationed on the bypass road at that time spotted Tirawi’s car when it reached the Al-Sateh area, one kilometer from the village of Til. Rather then arresting the passengers of the car, the soldiers opened fire. Tirawi was shot several times in the head, chest and legs and killed. During the shooting, Ahmed Hazzaa Ramadan, 21, from Til village was also shot in the shoulder and injured. The media response by the IOF to this murder was to deny it had even happened, saying they were “unaware of any shooting incident in the area”. That night IOF soldiers arrested another three men from Nablus.

Twenty four hours after the killing of Tirawi, IOF soldiers at Huwarra checkpoint murdered yet another Palestinian man. According to reports from local media, medical volunteers and eyewitnesses, Mohammed Waleed Mustafa Sa’ada, 20, also from Til village was shot and killed without provocation. Sa’ada had approached the checkpoint, heading towards a taxi that was being searched by IOF soldiers. When he was approximately ten meters from the taxi, without warning, Sa’ada was shot once and wounded, forcing him to fall to the ground. While kneeling on the ground, a second IOF soldier opened fired on Sa’ada, hitting him three times. Palestinian bystanders were prevented from aiding Sa’ada after he was shot. An ambulance with the Palestinian Red Crescent arrived soon after, and once again, bystanders were prevented from aiding the medics in their attempts to transport the wounded man to the ambulance stretcher. Sa’ada later died from his wounds.

Official IOF accounts of the incident diverge strongly from the numerous eyewitness testimonies. An IOF spokesperson said that Sa’ada was shot while “attempting to assault a solider with a knife” though no knife was recovered, and all accounts indicate that Sa’ada was nearly ten meters from the closest soldier when he was shot four times.

The following day, Huwarra checkpoint was closed to all Palestinian males under 45 years old. Soldiers at the checkpoint also beat an unnamed youth from the village of Almasharik. After the assault, the young man was taken into detention.

The last three days in Nablus have shown a dangerous upsurge in the use of deadly force by IOF soldiers. With two shot dead at a checkpoint and at least eight shot in the refugee camps, the Nablus region is under siege. There are daily incursions into the Nablus refugee camps and city center, and on an average day, soldiers invade and occupy homes, fire at buildings and arrest unarmed citizens. The recent killings have alarmed the local residents, though the regularity of violence in the area is not new. Residents of Nablus, like Azzem Hroub, 42, call on the international community to speak out against the use of violence against civilians and the frequent closures of the city. Hroub, a local shop keeper in Nablus’ Old City commented on the events of the last three days and said, “They just keep killing as every day. They could use arrests but they just kill and kill. When they close checkpoints for their [Jewish] special days, what are we to do? We must try to move around, and if we do this, we are killed. What are we to do? What can the US or the UN do for us in this time? Our situation is very difficult.”

In total during this the time discussed, occupation forces have arrested at least forty-two Palestinian males in military raids throughout the West Bank.

Sources:

BBC (English news source, online)

CNN (American news source, online)

Associated Press (American news source, online)

Ma’an News Agency (Palestinian news source, online)

WAFA News Agency (Palestinian news source, online)

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) (Palestinian Human Right group based in Gaza)

Ha’aretz (Israeli newspaper, online)

Ynet (Israeli newspaper, online)

Israeli Defense Force [sic] (press statements, online)

Israeli Soldiers Start to Use Checkpoint to Extort Money from a Palestinian Child

by Tel Rumeida Project

Tuesday, 10 October 2006

At approximately 2pm two Human Rights Workers (HRWs) at the top of Tel Rumeida Street noticed that a small group of Palestinian boys were talking to the soldiers stationed at the guard post there. Shortly afterwards, a Palestinian HRW arrived and asked the boys what the matter was, and one boy, aged approximately 9, said that the soldier at checkpoint 56 (which controls the main entrance between the H2 area, which is controlled by the Israeli army, and the H1 area which is -at least theoretically- controlled by the Palestinian Authority) had shortly before demanded money from him as he passed through the checkpoint, taken one Shekel from him and then slapped him on the back of the neck. As the soldiers at the checkpoint change shifts at 2pm, the boys and the Palestinian HRW waited for the solider in question to come up Tel Rumeida hill to return to the IOF (Israeli Occupation Force) base. When questioned, the solider claimed that he had joked with the boy about taking money from him, but that it had been only a joke and that he had not hit the child. Two of the HRWs offered to give the boy a Shekel but the boy insisted he only wanted his money back from the soldier. The soldier refused to give the boy one Shekel and left the scene.

Wednesday, 11 October 2006

An “average” day in Tel Rumeida right now. The Jewish holiday of Succot is still running, and that meant quite a few tourist buses and a lot of Jewish tourists walking between the Tel Rumeida and Beit Hadassah settlements. It seems as if the tourists are routinely given misleading information as to why the HRWs are on the streets as the tourists have often tried to either interrogate the HRWs or else they gather round and insult them. Today a small group called two HRWs “Nazis” and “anti-Semites” and another group asked if the HRWs were checking to see whether they were behaving themselves and claimed that the HRWs “harbour terrorists”.

At 4.35pm a Christian Peacemakers Teams (CPT) patrol consisting of an elderly man and woman was attacked by settler children while walking in front of the Beit Hadassah settlement. Four children kicked and punched them and one child threw stones at them, while telling them to “go home”. The adults nearby did nothing to stop or discourage the attack. CPT also reported that the IOF were doing ID checks on Palestinian men at the checkpoint near the Ibrahim Mosque and that, as the ID checks were taking up to an hour each, there were a lot of men being detained there.

The close relationship between the settlers and the soldiers was also illustrated once again as two IOF soldiers stopped a settler car on Shuhada Street and was given a lift up the street to the Tel Rumeida settlement. The settler driving the car gave an obscene finger gesture to a HRW as he drove past with the soldiers in his car.

Israeli army invades Ramallah, captures 4 Palestinians

by Iman

On Tuesday October 10th at 6:30 pm, Israeli Occupation Forces entered Lower Ramallah shooting their way through the city. One ISM volunteer on the scene reported having witnessed at least 9 Army Jeeps as well as a bulldozer. The ISM volunteer was not allowed near where the soldiers were trying to detain Palestinians. Israeli Jeeps glared their spotlight directly at her warning her to not approach any further. The scene was near the Arab Bank in Lower Ramallah. She reported hearing endless rounds of ammunition fire, sound grenades and single sniper shots apparently aimed at intended targets. Palestinian boys chanted nationalistic songs near the scene but remained well hidden and out of harm’s way. There were no reports of fatalities, but one Palestinian man has been injured. The seriousness of the injury is not yet known.

Palestinians gathered in the streets as well as on their balconies and rooftops, occasionally ducking or hiding from nearby shooting. The scene was very dangerous and Ramallah was left littered with rubble and empty bullet shells, a scene Ramallah has not witnessed since Israel invaded on September the 8th, kidnapping an entire family.

At 7:25 pm the Army jeeps began to retreat and hundreds began following the jeeps deeper into the buildings in order to reach the families whose sons were taken. The ISM volunteer reached the house that 3 brothers were aggressively dragged out of and into Israeli custody. The scene left a mother wailing and sisters sobbing. Other women present were screaming that “We will not let Israel win, we will not surrender”. One women of the family needed medical assistance as she was severely exhausted from crying. Television crews were filming the grieving families whose son’s fate has yet to be known.

The bulldozer was reportedly not used to demolish any buildings. Israeli Border Police were present which leads us to believe that their presence had no purpose other than to be prepared for an international presence (the ISM Media office is in Lower Ramallah, near the Arab Bank). While retreating, Israeli Hummers and Jeeps shone their spotlights all around them.

The approximate hour long Israeli shooting in Ramallah left one Palestinian injured and 4 in Israeli prisons, including Assam Bahdadi who was “wanted” by the Israelis. Fortunately no one was killed, at least this time around.

For more information:
Iman 054 786 7142
ISM Office 02 297 1824

Soldiers Disrupt Medical Work in Tubas

by Tom Hayes

We had gone to meet Red Crescent workers in the hope of establishing links between the branch and grassroots groups in Brighton. The paramedics at the branch told us of how Israeli checkpoints and closures made it impossible to give their patients proper care. The road from Tubas to Nablus has recently been closed once again by the Israeli army, lenghtening the 20 minute journey to up to an hour and a half.

The paramedics also work shifts in the Jordan Valley. Israeli closures mean that the Jordan Valley has very little medical care because of the limits on numbers of Palestinians with permits to enter the valley.

In the picture below the detained man has been moved out of the shade into the direct sun by Israeli soldiers.

The first three photos in this report show a man blindfolded and held in the hot sun at Al Tayasir checkpoint in the northern Jordan valley. Tayasir is notorious for delay on Palestinans travelling through. Only Palestinians who have a house in the Jordan valley can travel through the checkpoint. The number of Palestinians residing in the valley is decreasing as there has been a ban on the building of new structures in all but two areas since 1967, the majority of Palestinians in the valley live in tents or clay structures.


Israeli Soldiers Checking IDs outside the Red Crescent in Tubas

This deliberate depopulation of the valley serves the Israelis well as a majority of the produce from Israeli settlements in the West Bank comes from the valley (60% of one company’s exports reach the UK). Al Tayasir is choking Palestinian agricultire in the valley as farmers have to reload their produce onto new vehicles at either side of the checkpoint. In contrast illegal Israeli settlers can export produce to Europe within 24 hours.


Causing disruption to patients trying to get medical care


In the Occupied West Bank

The second set of pictures show the IOF setting up a checkpoint outside the Red Crescent primary health centre in Tubas. The soldiers checked the IDs of patients attending the centre and delayed them receiving medical care. When the health workers complained the soldiers retorted that they were ‘lucky’ that they were standing outside the centre grounds.

e-mail: thewallmustfall@riseup.net
Homepage: http://www.brightonpalestine.org

The photos in this report came from a doctor at the Tubas branch of the Red Crescent.

Armed Israeli Colonists Move Freely While Army Restricts Palestinian Movement

by ISM Hebron and Tel Rumeida Project

For video evidence from this day: click here to view or click here to download. A description of each part of the video is at the end of this report.

At 1.30pm on Sunday 8th October 2006, soldiers closed the main checkpoint into Tel Rumeida, Hebron (checkpoint 56) to all people wanting to enter H1 (the part of Hebron under Palestinian Authority control). Pedestrian traffic in the opposite direction was not restricted. International Human Rights Workers (HRWs) approached the soldiers who would not give a reason for the closure other than “it is Succot” (a Jewish holiday). Palestinians wishing to pass through the checkpoint were told to climb the steep hill of Tel Rumeida and enter H1 via another checkpoint instead, regardless of the lengthy detour that this would involve. Soldiers also informed Palestinians that the checkpoint would remain closed until 7pm.

Twenty-four soldiers then passed through the checkpoint into H1 where they ordered the closure of shops, diverted traffic (causing gridlock in Hebron for much of the afternoon) and took a sniffer dog around parts of the city centre. Soldiers roamed around in H1 for no apparent reason and would not make any comments about why they were in parts of the city that had not been ordered closed.

At 3.30pm a large group of settlers and pro-settler tourists came to the H2 (the area of Hebron formally controlled by the Israeli army and police) side of the checkpoint and deliberately obstructed the path of Palestinians entering H2 for several minutes, refusing to stand aside when asked. This group were then allowed to pass through the checkpoint without being searched, while throughout the day Palestinians had been subject to unusually rigorous bag checks. Despite having their own private armed guards, the settlers and tourists were accompanied by over 30 soldiers and police officers. Soldiers later informed HRWs that the tourists had come to Hebron to visit the Cave of Otniel Ben-Knaz, which is located within the ground floor of a private Palestinian house in H1. Meanwhile in H1, HRWs witnessed the tourists making “victory” signs to the Palestinians they passed.

At 4pm the tourists and soldiers returned to checkpoint 56 and most continued along Al Shuhada Street to the Beit Hadassah settlement. Shortly afterwards, soldiers fired tear gas at Palestinians on the H1 side of the checkpoint after a small crowd had begun throwing stones and letting off fireworks. The checkpoint was then reopened and remained open for the rest of the afternoon. A small group of tourists later came to the checkpoint to take photographs of the HRWs and to tell them to “get the fuck out of Israel”.

* The video shows the following: First section: Palestinians are denied access through a checkpoint because Israeli settlers are present. Second section: border policeman drops a tear gas canister. Third section: soldiers emerge from a street they have closed off and invade the rest of the city. Fourth section: soldiers give no reason for what they are doing in the city center.

11th October. The video links to this post previously pointed to the wrong video. This has now been fixed.