On February 8, Palestinian activist Mohammad Mansour made his 11th court appearance relating to “crimes” committed at a demonstration in 2004. For over a year-and-a-half, Mohammad Mansour has been repeatedly required to appear before Judge Ron Alexander of the Israeli “peace” court in Jerusalem. He has been accused of throwing stones, encouraging others to throw stones and being involved in “illegal demonstrations” inside the West Bank.
Each time the judge has deferred the case. The prosecution has repeatedly asked for more time to gather evidence against Mohammad Mansour, yet despite constant harassment they have find any evidence to support their claims.
At Mohammad Mansour’s previous appearance on February 15, his court hearing was postponed until March 21. On his way home from Jerusalem, Mohammad Mansour’s bus was stopped and he was detained for an hour before receiving two invitations to visit Israeli intelligence. The last time Mohammad Mansour declined such an invitation, intelligence officers went to his father’s house and threatened him with arrest.
Mohammad Mansour attended the interview but no-one spoke to him. They simply kept him waiting for several hours in a small room.
Without reason, the court date was changed from March 21 to March 8. Attending was difficult for Mohaamad Mansour, as his Palestinian ID does not authorise him to be in Jerusalem, forcing him to avoid checkpoints in order to reach the court. The prosecution requested still more time and was granted a deferral until September 10.
Send messages of support to Mansour at mohammad_pal68@yahoo.com
Harrison Healy is a member of the Australian socialist youth organisation Resistance, and is currently working with the ISM in Palestine.
Since January 2005, there have been regular demonstrations in Bil’in against the apartheid wall being constructed in the West Bank. The wall has divided Palestinian towns, destroyed homes, removed access to fertile land and imprisoned the Palestinian people.
The town of Biddu was one of the villages that succeeded in Its campaign to divert the route of the wall, but five Palestinians lost their lives in that campaign. Four of those killed were shot during the first demonstration, yet the town kept on fighting. Actions in villages like Budrus and Biddu also helped get many locals involved in anti-wall demonstrations in other villages. Nine Palestinians in total have been killed in anti-wall demonstrations.
There are rallies every week after Friday afternoon prayers in Bil’in, Abud and Beit Sira, and since March 4, weekly Saturday demonstrations are organised in Tulkarem, where the wall has cut off nearby villages such as Jubara. The rallies are organised by popular committees in each village and are supported by international solidarity activists and Israelis.
In Beit Sira, people have planted olive trees to replace those the army tore down and in Abud the demonstrations have involved burning army blankets used to flatten the road. In Bil’in, the villagers have organised mock lynchings on the wall, international conferences attracting hundreds of participants and soccer games across the wall. They also use mirrors to reflect messages like “Stop the wall” onto soldiers’ flack jackets.
Bil’in villagers have also constructed two outposts on the other side of the wall, facing multiple illegal Israeli settlements. The army would like to destroy these small rooms. Every night, Palestinians and international activists camp out at the outposts to have fun together and express their solidarity.
The number of villages wanting to take action is growing. The ISM, the International Women’s Peace Service and Operation Dove have all contributed to the success of the demonstrations, along with Israeli activists ho commute to the West Bank each week to support their Palestinian comrades. The impact of the Israeli presence at the demonstrations is significant – an Israeli border police officer admitted in court that police are given different shooting instructions if there are Israelis in protest crowds.
Yet injuries and deaths have still occurred and even Israelis aren’t safe from being harmed. On February 24, 17-year-old Israeli activist Matan Cohen was shot in the eye by a “rubber” bullet (metal coated with a millimetre of plastic) at a demonstration in Beit Sira. He may lose much, if not all, of his sight in that eye. Palestinian demonstrator Hussni Rayan was also shot at close range with a steel rubber coated bullet that entered 8cm into his body during the protest.
Harrison Healy is a member of the Australian socialist youth organisation Resistance. He is currently working with the ISM in Palestine.
The weekly non-violent protests against the Israeli Apartheid wall continued this Friday in Bil’in, with Palestinians from the village uniting once again with Internationals and Israelis in a display of resistance to the ongoing theft of their village’s land. Today’s demonstration featured a large tomb which symbolized all the people and villages that are being killed by the wall. Written on it was “RIP, Victims; Villages who’s land was stolen, Reason; The Wall and the Occupation, Year 2006.”
The demonstrators proceeded to the wall site, where the soldiers quickly destroyed the tomb, using sound bombs at very close range to the crowd. The Israeli, International and Palestinian demonstrators refused to leave the area and resisted much violence by the Border Police and soldiers in doing so.
Israeli Military seen destroying the tomb
Within an hour’s time, two Israeli protesters were detained, and the Popular Committee Members asked everyone to begin returning to the village, where another group of soldiers were advancing into the village, firing tear gas and rubber bullets.
By forming a line between the Palestinians, the Internationals and Israelis were able to help prevent a Border Policeman (who was using the retreating people as cover) from arresting a young Palestinian child. The crowd then returned to the wall site in defiance of the Israeli Military forces, extending the protest.
When the demo by the wall finally ended, the activists were able to use their presence to help remove the soldiers from the village, where they were inciting stone-throwing by the village youth, but only after firing over 20 tear gas canisters in rapid succession.
Abdullah Abu Rahma, coordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Wall, states “the presence of the army is provocation, their checkpoints, wall, settlement activities and land grab are direct violations to our rights, and the international law”, Abu Rahma added, “We have a protest center behind the Wall, we always protest peacefully there, we have the right to resist the occupation and to resist the land expropriation policy practiced against us”.
The people of Bil’in are using the symbols and language employed by Israel for the theft of Palestinian land in a bid to hold onto village land that Israel is attempting to annex for the Wall and settlements. The Israeli government’s efforts to remove the Palestinian outpost contrast starkly with Israeli government’s support for the establishment of hundreds of illegal Israeli settlements and outposts throughout the West Bank. Approximately half of Bil’in’s lands are being isolated from the village by the Wall. The village will lose at least 1,950 dunams if the Wall is not removed.
The struggle of Bil’in has been going on for over a year, and their will to resist the Occupation and the Apartheid Wall has not diminished. The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) is calling for volunteers to come to Palestine and continue our support of Bil’in’s non-violent resistance during ISM’s Spring and Summer Campaigns.
On Wednesday, March 8th, I experienced International Womens Day (IWD) near Jerusalem. 120 women gathered at Ar Ram checkpoint. We marched from Ar Ram checkpoint to Qalandiya checkpoint which isn’t too far away. It is staggering how close together these two permanent checkpoints are. The rally was a fairly quiet one. Mid march the women stood lined up against the Apartheid wall. When we marched to Qalandiya we recieved a very possitive reaction from all the Palestinians women and men walking out of the check point.
Amongst the women there appeared to be a fair mix of Israeli’s and Palestinian women, as well as internationals. The proportions difficult to calculate give the number of Palestinian women without head coverings that could have been Israeli’s (and vice versa). Needless to say that it was a real melting pot of women, old, young, alternative and conservative appearances. Apparently many of the Israeli activists who would have liked to attend were participating in another IWD demonstration in Nazareth.
The rally was organised by the Jerusalem Centre for Women (JCW). There were placards throughout the rally in Hebrew, Arabic and English with slogans like ‘War means unemployment,’ ‘Dismantle the settlments NOW,’ ‘House Demolitions Violate Women,’ etc. The rally also had many placards particularly reflecting the politics of the Jerusalem Centre For women with the words “Jerusalem two capitals for two states.’
Inside the destroyed house of Mohammad Amar Abu Hamis, 32, where he and two other fighters of the al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades, Hammoudeh Ishtawi, 32, and Hassan Hajaj, 21, were killed by the IOF
Sunday 19th of February
At approximately 1:30 a.m. of the 19th of February, the Israeli army started an operation named “Northern Glory.” The IDF invaded Balata with helicopters and drones as well as about 50 army vehicles, including four armored personnel carriers (APCs) and two bulldozers, starting to block of the camp with its 30 000 residents from its surrounding and from Nablus City. The UNRWA schools of the camp were turned into a military base and a number of civilian houses were occupied.
In the early morning, the army surrounded the house of the Hamami family in search of Ahmad Abu Ras, 28, and arrested him and another person. In an act of collective punishment they then destroyed the house.
The army declared a curfew on the refugee camp the following morning and enforced it for 64 hours, until leaving Balata in the evening of the 21st of February. An unknown number of houses were occupied and used as sniper position, while holding the families inside and restricting them to one room. In some areas of the camp house to house searches were conducted, causing property damages to varying degrees.
Children and youth inside the camp and in its surrounding started resisting the invasion by throwing stones, bottles with paint etc. on the armored army vehicles and building barricades. The army responded with excessive use of rubber coated steal bullets and live ammunition, resulting in about 35 injuries, most of them youth, on the first day of the invasion. IWPS volunteers also witnessed soldiers in a Jeep with the number 611 338 inciting youth by cursing their parents and threatening the youth to make them martyrs.
Around 2 p.m. Mohammed Ahmad Natur and Ibrahim Ahmad Sheikh Issa, both 17 years old, were killed by a sniper shooting from an occupied house while being on the roof of one of their houses, watching the confrontation. One boy was hit by a live bullet in his neck, the other in the chest. The brother of one of the boys was shot in the thigh when he tried to come to their help. The army later clamed they were planting bombs. However, while the army tried to block the fatally injured boys from being carried to the ambulance, no attempts were made to enter the house and no bomb squad were brought to either the house or the streets around it.
Monday 20th of February
The operation continued throughout Monday and Tuesday, the 20th and 21st of February, with the army using tear gas, sound bombs, rubber bullets – often shot with a device that spray shoots several bullets at once – and live ammunition against youth throwing stones, resulting in more injuries.
Between 2.30 a.m. and 4 a.m. on the 20th of February the army searched the house of the Kitawi family, looking for their wanted son. The whole family, including children, were forced on the street, while the army destroyed much of the family belongings. Food and clothing were thrown on the floor and furniture damaged, a fridge, TV, electronic equipment smashed. Sound bombs were exploded inside the house. The father of the family reports being cursed by soldiers and threatened that his wanted son would be killed unless he turned himself in. He also reports that 4500 Shekel and 550 Dinar were stolen from the house.
In the same night the army also entered the old city of Nablus and killed Islamic Jihad militant Ahmad Mohammad Nayef Abu Sharkh, 29.
Around 17.00 p.m., when the situation had quieted down, international and medical volunteers sitting outside a field clinic in the Balata Market Street witnessed two shots being fired from an occupied house on the house across the street. A 22 year old man, who was standing at the window of his room, was hit in the chest and seriously injured. Army jeeps drove up to the house, but did not interfere as the injured youth and his heavily pregnant sister, who went into labor due to the shock, were evacuated by ambulances. Shortly afterwards the soldiers forced the rest of the family, including two small children and two babies, into the street, while searching the house and shooting live ammunition inside. They later threatened the ambulances on the scene and the family with shooting and throwing tear gas to make them leave the area. An explosion was set in front of the house.
Late Tuesday afternoon the army pulled out of the camp, injuring more youth in the process. Many people had taken to the streets thinking the army had left, when some jeeps came back to evacuate an occupied house.
Wednesday 22nd of February
On Wednesday 22nd, the army conducted an arrest operation in Kufr Kalil, a village on the outskirts of Balata Refugee Camp, lasting from the early afternoon till after midnight. The Amer family house, where four fighters from the al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades were hiding, was surrounded and the two resident families, about 22 persons including children, were called to leave the house and kept under the trees in the area. Four surrounding houses, each home to 2-3 families with many children and babies, were occupied by the army and the families were kept inside, forbidden to turn on the light or to use their phones to contact family members outside the house. The operation ended with the arrest of the four fighters.
Thursday 23rd of February
Thursday around 3 a.m. the refugee camp was re-invaded and army bulldozers again blocked most of the entrances.
Thursday morning Ibrahim Saideh, 19, was killed in ad-Dahiyyeh, a neighborhood overlooking Balata Refugee Camp. The youth was hit by two live bullets in the abdomen and back, damaging his liver, intestines and one of the main veins.
At 1.30 p.m. on Thursday, Naim Abu Saris, 29, was killed by a live bullet in the heart, shot by a sniper from an occupied house, while being on the roof of his house. The army claimed he was armed, but eye witnesses deny this. No confrontations were going on in the area of his house at that time.
During the morning an area close to the Balata Camp cemetery was sealed off and house to house searches were conducted. The Israeli Army surrounded the house of Mohammad Amar Abu Hamis, 32, where he and two other fighters of the al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades, Hammoudeh Ishtawi, 32, and Hassan Hajaj, 21, where hiding. Around 11.45 a.m. the army set of an explosion in the house, without prior warning to the civilians in the area, which caused a fire. The smoke also affected the families in neighboring houses, two of whom had to be evacuated with the help of medical volunteers. The army forbid the medical team from checking on the residents of other affected houses and prevented the Palestinian firemen who arrived to the area shortly afterwards from approaching the house, attempting instead to put out the fire with water brought in cooking pots and buckets by women from the neighboring houses.
At 12.30 more explosions were set of. Reportedly, there was an exchange of fire between the army and the surrounded militants, resulting in the injury of two Israeli soldiers.
At about 2 p.m., after a quiet period, an explosion followed by live fire hit a group of medical workers, international volunteers and journalists who where observing the events around the house from the end of the narrow alleyway next to the cemetery. Palestinian Medical Relief Committees (PMRC) ambulance driver Jareer Candola was hit by shrapnel in the hand and the leg, cutting nerves and veins under the knee. Ihab Mansour, a medical volunteer with the Scientific Medical Society, was hit by either shrapnel or a live bullet in the head and lost consciousness. Another PMRC volunteer was lightly injured by shrapnel in the chest and two IWPS volunteers from Holland and the United States also suffered light injuries by shrapnel, one in the shoulder and the thigh, the other in her arm. The army blocked the rescue efforts, causing a delay of at least 30 minutes. The ambulance transporting Ihab Mansour was then stopped again on its way to the hospital and Mansour was arrested from the ambulance. At the time of writing he is reported to be under arrest in critical condition in Beilinson Hospital inside Israel.
At around 3.30 p.m. the army evacuated the area and the camp after dragging the bodies of the three militants out to confirm their death. As the army left, residents and medical teams rushed to the scene to recover the bodies, which were all severely mutilated by the explosions.
Throughout the invasion at least 12 persons were arrested, two of them from ambulances.
Number of injuries during the invasion
Dr. Samir Abu Zaroor from Rafidia hospital gives the following data on the injuries throughout the invasion. These numbers are not complete; due to the large number of casualties some cases were transferred directly to other hospitals in Nablus.
About 100 people were injured during the invasion. Their ages range from 12 to 63, though the majority of casualties were young boys and men between 15 and 25.
Injuries included:
14 cases of severe bruises and fractures caused by jeeps driving into people
28 cases of injuries by beating
4 cases of injuries caused when people fell while running away from the army
37 injuries caused by plastic coated steel bullets (so called rubber bullets)
21 cases of live bullets
Severe cases included:
a 17 year old boy shot with a live bullet at short range into his left shoulder, breaking his shoulder and damaging a main artery, which caused heavy bleeding;
a youth, who suffered multiple fractures in his thigh by a live bullet and will be permanently disabled;
a man, 26 year old, hit by live bullets in the throat and the head, who was transferred to Ihloff Hospital in Tel Aviv in critical condition;
a 63 year old taxi driver, who was injured by bullet fragments in his left shoulder and a live bullet in his head;
a youth who was transferred to Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem who was shot in the throat.
Restrictions on medical access
Apart from the injuries directly inflicted by the Israeli army, the several day long siege and curfew of the camp and its population of about 30 000 people created a more general humanitarian crisis. Families were running out of bread and milk for the children and some patients out of medicine. Women in labor, sick children and chronically ill people, suffering from Asthma, Diabetes, high blood pressure or needing dialysis, were all cut of from the normal medical infrastructure, the army often preventing or delaying their access to medical treatment. In addition, severe restrictions were imposed on the movement of ambulances and medical volunteers. Ambulances, medical teams and the UN clinic in the camp were attacked several times. The most severe case, resulting in the injury of two medical workers on Thursday 23rd, is described above. Following are other cases of preventing or delaying access to medical care and attacks on medical workers that where witnessed by IWPS volunteers or reported to them by Palestinian medical workers. More cases may have occurred.
Sunday 19th of February
At around 11.30 two injured, Mahmoud Rajeh and Saleh Abu Alfa were arrested out of Ambulances on their way to the hospital. A PMRC ambulance was later called to Huwara Military base to pick up Rajeh, while Abu Alfa was arrested and transferred to Beilinson hospital inside Israel.
At around 12.30 two jeeps cornered an ambulance carrying an injured person and a women with labor complications. The jeeps pushed the ambulance from the front and the back, fired a shot in its direction and forced it to stand between the jeeps for about half an hour, while youth were throwing stones at them.
At around 1:00 pm two ambulances were held stopped by several jeeps outside Balata camp. According to the ambulance team they were detained for about 40 minutes and a young man with a bullet wound in the shoulder was beaten inside one of the ambulances. The soldiers forced the ambulance personnel to undress his wound to prove he is injured, making the wound start bleeding again. The ambulance was held until the family, with the help of the ambulance team and the IWPS volunteers, brought his ID card. After his ID was checked, the ambulance continued its way, only to be stopped again by the next jeep on the road.
At around 1:30 pm two boys, aged between 11 and 14 years, were injured in their legs with live ammunition. One had a flesh wound, while the other had his femur crushed by the bullet. The soldiers did not allow the ambulance to reach the injured, who had to be carried about two kilometers out of the camp by medical volunteers using a stretcher and a mattress.
Around 6 p.m. a boy hit by a plastic coated bullet in the head also had to be carried out of the camp to reach the ambulance.
Monday 20th of February
At approximately 7:15 am, a military jeep shot in the direction of the ambulance from a distance of about 200m preventing it from approaching the area close to the main entrance of the camp.
At approximately 11:15 the army attempted to close the UN medical clinic by shooting warning shots and percussion grenades. They also prevented patients from entering the clinic.
At approximately 11.35 a team of medical and international volunteers was shot at with tear gas.
At approximately 15:40 Israeli soldiers denied entry to a medical team attempting to deliver food and medicine into the camp. The Israeli soldiers also threatened to shoot them.
Tuesday 21st of February
Around 1 p.m. soldiers in a Jeep with the number 611 323 shot tear gas at an ambulance delivering medical supplies and pointed their guns at a team of medical and international volunteers accompanying patients including a small child to the UN clinic.
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Witness/es: IWPS and Palestinian Medical Relief workers.
Report written by: Clara and Vera
Edited by: Grace
Contact details: IWPS withholds this information as a courtesy to those involved – we will do our best to furnish you with all the relevant information you might need to begin action.
For the photos please see the report on our web site.
The International Women’s Peace Service, Haris, Salfit, Palestine.
Tel:- (09)-2516-644. Mobile:- 067-870-198
Email:- iwps@palnet.com Website:- www.iwps.info
