Category: Reports

IWPS: Killing Salfit

16 year old boy killed in Salfit following assassination of two men by Apache helicopters; 9 people injured by gunshots, rubber bullets, and tear gas inhalation; Army raids hospital and fires tear gas at entrance; ambulances blocked and doctor beaten.

Date of incident: July 15, 2005
Place: Salfit, West Bank
Witness/es: Dr. Naim Sabna, director of Salfit Emergency Medical Hospital, Salfit residents including 12 year old boy who witnessed shooting of Moath

At approximately 2:30 p.m. on Friday, July 15 two Apache helicopters fired rockets and opened fire on three men in an olive grove east of the town of Salfit. Two men, Samer Abdulhadi Dawhqa and Mohammad Ahmed Marri, were killed instantly. The third man, Mohammad Yusef A’yash, was gravely injured with multiple injuries to the chest and head. He was taken to the Emergency Medical Hospital in Salfit, where he was given emergency treatment and sent by ambulance to the hospital in Ramallah. On the way to the hospital, the ambulance was stopped by Israeli soldiers. The soldiers took the keys to the ambulance and beat the doctor on his shoulder and foot with the butt of their gun. Mr. A’yash was taken away by an Israeli military ambulance. His location and condition are not known at the time of this writing.

At about 3 p.m. army jeeps entered the town shooting gas and declared a curfew. The people ran inside their houses and closed their shops, but there were some young men and boys on the main street who threw stones at the jeeps. The soldiers fired at them and they ran away, scattering in different directions.

Between 3:30 and 4:00 p.m., a soldier in a jeep shot at two boys who were in an alley near the main street, approximately 15 meters from the jeep. One boy escaped, but the bullet hit Moath Jamal Sulieme, 16 years old, in the forehead above the left eye and exited from the back of his head. A small group of young boys (ages 12-14) saw the soldiers fire at Moath and ran over to help him. The soldiers fired rubber bullets at them so they ran away and called an ambulance.

The ambulance picked up Moath and took him to the Salfit Emergency Hospital, where he was given emergency treatment. Moath was sent by ambulance to the hospital in Nablus. On the way to the hospital, the ambulance was detained by Israeli soldiers at the Zatara checkpoint until an Israeli military ambulance arrived. He was transferred to the Israeli military ambulance and taken to a hospital in Israel. At 10:30 p.m. the hospital informed the DCL that Moath had died.

At approximately 5 p.m. about 20 jeeps and more than 50 soldiers surrounded the Salfit Emergency Hospital and demanded to enter. When the hospital director refused, the soldiers threw tear gas into the courtyard of the hospital which filled the inside of it with gas. The army entered the hospital by force, searching all of the rooms, including the operating room and delivery room. Around 10:00 p.m. the army left the hospital and Salfit.

Injured Persons treated by the Salfit Emergency Hospital:

  • Mohamad Al Masri, 22: bullet injury, right shoulder
  • Anas Fatash, 16: bullet injury, hand
  • Mahmoud Asad Yunis, 16: rubber bullet injury, left thigh
  • Dia Madee, 18: rubber bullet injury, right knee
  • Mahamad Shahir Darweesh: Bullet injury, right loin
  • Jalal Abdall, 30: multiple traumas, right shoulder
  • Jalila Jammal, 49: tear gas inhalation
  • Ahmed Darweesh, 15: rubber bullet injury to the head
  • Said Shtaeh, 30: anxiety attack
  • Ramee Mraita, 18: rubber bullet, right elbow
  • Martha Jlal: anxiety attack

Is the World Blind: Two more families lose their homes in East Jerusalem today

Merijn De Jong, Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD)
www.icahd.org/eng/news.asp?menu==5&submenu==1&item=$6

Two more families in East-Jerusalem lost their homes today and another two families had their belongings thrown out into the street as a new wave of house demolitions swept through Dahiat Al-Salaam and Silwan.

In Dahiat Al-Salaam in East-Jerusalem, the Hannafiya family’s home was demolished at 9:30 this morning. Eight people were made homeless by the demolition because their house did not have a building permit. The Jerusalem municipality makes it nearly impossible for most Palestinians in East Jerusalem to receive building permits.

As the children of the family gathered their toys from atop the rubble that was once their home, the homeowner spoke of his son who will soon return from the United States to get married: “How do I explain this to him when he gets back, that the house is not there anymore?”

The two Hamdan brothers, who live with their families down the street from the Hannafiya family, had all of their belongings taken from their homes in preparation for demolition. While the family’s attorney, Sami Arshid, was able to stop the demolitions from taking place through a court order, most of the family’s belongings were severely damaged by the workers who removed them from the home. Needless to say, there will be no compensation from the municipality for the damage; and while the demolitions were postponed today, the homes are still at risk for demolition in the future.

The mother of one of the families, whose belongings were thrown into the street, showed us around her home. “Is the world blind?” she asked, as she displayed the now ruined pictures that had been drawn by her son.

After the demolition of the house in Dahiat Al-Salaam, another home was destroyed in Ein Luze, near the El-Bustan area in Silwan. The recently completed home belonged to the Musa Siam family who had yet to move in. When the bulldozers were unable to reach the house, the municipality sent workers to demolish it by hand.

Village Demolished

Khirbet Tana, near Beit Furik, Nablus

On July 5th, Israeli forces demolished the entire village of Tana, near Beit Furik, Nablus. The residents had received one day’s notice (via a piece of paper left outside one of their dwellings) that their homes were to be demolished. The villagers knew no-one to call; thus, the razing of their homes went ahead unhindered. The UN estimates 170 persons have been “displaced”, the villagers say Tana was home to about 100 families. The villagers intend to protest this destruction and reclaim their land this Thursday 14th July.

Tana is a small farming village in the Jordan valley in one of the longest continually inhabited areas of the world. Residents say the area is mentioned in the holy books and was known 3500 years ago. The village mosque, the only structure not to be demolished, has stood for several hundred years.

The paper announcing the demolition says that the villagers had built their homes without Israeli permission. Their caves and stone constructions are hundreds of years old. In recent years they have added steel and concrete structures to the front of their caves. A school house was built six years ago and, contrary to the UN report, this too was destroyed last week. When the army destroyed the village they demolished not only the steel structures but the caves themselves and even the villagers’ cars.

In 1989 the villagers had a court case in Israel, after which they were told they would be allowed to farm the western portion of their land. In recent years the villagers have also been threatened by settlers from Itamar, who came and swam in their water supply.

The villagers are not defeated and refuse to be intimidated. They intend to go back to their land, rebuild their homes and continue farming. International and Israeli activists supporting this action will assemble in Beit Furik at Beit Furik Municpality at 10am, Thursday 14th July.

For more information on Tana see Beit Furik Village’s website at: www.beitfurik.levillage.org/journal

Update on Ramzi Yassin of Bil’in from Muqassed Hospital

Ramzi Yassin was shot in the head with a rubber-coated steel bullet by an Israeli soldier at a protest in Bil’in on Friday July 8. Ramzi has been unconscious and in serious condition since then. He was transferred from a hospital in Ramallah to Muqassed Hospital in Jerusalem where his family is unable to visit him because Israeli authorities will not issue them a permit.

Today Ramzi has regained consciousness and has even taken a few steps and eaten on his own. He is still groggy and in pain, but the doctors say he should be home within two weeks.

Shop flattening scheduled by illegal expansion

Eight shops next to the Israeli Chemical factory built on land stolen from Tul Karem municipality are scheduled to be destroyed in fourteen days. Built in 1996, and owned by Ali Qasim, the shops have been closed since September 2000 due to IDF operations including gunfire, rendering the village unsafe.

Seventeen propriotors received notices on a piece of paper written in Hebrew and in Arabic that the building would be destroyed. The paper stated that they had three days to respond.

A group of IDF soldiers in Jeeps pronounced on a notice building that the shops would be destroyed. Proprietors were informed that their buildings are illegal because they are not registered with a municipality.

The owners however, have written proof of registration and proof that they have been paying taxes to the Tul Karem Municipality.