International Solidarity Movement - Page 187 - Nonviolence. Justice. Freedom.

22 Palestinians injured by Israeli Forces in Silwad village

On Friday the 11th of December, hundreds of protesters gathered in the village of Silwad, Ramallah area, in a demonstration demanding the return of the body of Anas Bassam Hammad who was killed on December 4th by Israeli soldiers. After the Friday prayer, the protesters marched towards the eastern entrance of the village near road 60 when Israeli forces attacked the demonstration using tear gas, live ammunition, rubber-coated steel bullets, hollow point bullets and foam tipped bullets.

Protesters marching towards the eastern entrance of Silwad village.

22 Palestinians were injured according to International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC), seven of them injured with hollow point bullets – also known as “dum dum” – which detonates on impact causing severe damage and therefore are declared illegal under international law.

A young man was seriously wounded when shot in his abdomen having his liver penetrated by bullet fragments which afterwards came out through his back. Another young man suffered a moderate injure after being shot in his abdomen.

Injured youth carried towards ambulance by locals.

In addition, sources state that fifteen Palestinians at the demonstration were shot with rubber-coated steel bullets and many suffocated after tear gas inhalation.

In the village, a family of five suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation, after having a gas bomb fired by Israeli forces into the home of the family. A young female family member was severely injured in the retina of her eye as a consequence of the tear gas.

Demonstration attacked with tear gas shot by Israeli forces.

Furthermore, medics were targeted as Israeli soldiers opened fire towards a Red Crescent ambulance, damaging its windshield. Another ambulance was searched by Israeli forces while taking a wounded Palestinian to the hospital.

Palestinian journalists were also targeted with the wide range of weaponry, wounding a Palestine TV-reporter. In addition, many journalists suffered from tear gas inhalation.

Soldiers preparing to shoot at protesters in the village of Silwad.

The refusal of the Israeli government to return the dead body of Anas Hammad to his family follows a common pattern of violating both Israeli and international humanitarian law. Israel continues to evade it’s obligation to return the bodies of dead Palestinians to their respective families.

DCIM100GOPROGOPR8347. — Locals gathering in the Friday prayer before the demonstration.

Israeli border police walking towards protesters.

Israeli forces take a next step in threatening 3 families from Deir Istyia.

December 9th, 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Huwwara team | Deir Istyia, occupied Palestine

In the end of November we told the story of three families, living in the outskirts of Deir Istyia who were under daily threats and harassment from the Israeli forces. Now the threatening from the IOF has reached another level for these 3 families. Last week the soldiers cut both the electrity ground cable to the house and a couple of days later the powerline, one of the families was therefore without electricity for 7 hours. The family waited an hour and a half before they dared going out, see what happened and why the electrity went off. When they went out, the soldiers started shooting teargas towards them and their house, while shouting that they should leave the area. The Israeli forces also threw stones at the houses.

We visited the families twice last week. Both parents and children were traumatized after repeated attacks. We realized how Israeli Defence Forces are threatening vulnerable families to take over their houses and land that have been theirs for decades. One of the families who used to live there moved into the village of Deir Istyia last year. Now the army is trying to make these three families’ lives so unbearable that they too would decide to move out.

UN delegation visits H2-area of Hebron

December 12th, 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, al Khalil team | al Khalil, occupied Palestine

On Tuesday, 8^th December 2015, a delegation from the United Nations visited the H2 area of occupied al-Khalil (Hebron), ahead of the international Human Rights Day on 10th December.

The UN-delegation visited the H2 area, under full Israeli control, to understand the situation and get first-hand accounts of the life under Israeli occupation and the daily fight of Palestinian residents and human rights defenders. During their visit, they talked to various local and international human rights defenders and visited flashpoint areas in al-Khalil, such as the ‘closed military zone‘ in the Tel Rumeida neighbourhood. The delegation also went to two areas where school-children have to struggle each day to get to school past checkpoints, the Israeli army shooting tear gas, illegal settlers attacking them; trying to take their right to education.

International Human Rights Day is celebrated every year on the 10^th of December, commemorating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that was passed on this day in 1948. The Declaration declared fundamental human rights that enjoy universal protection. But still, to this day, these fundamental human rights need to be fought for.

After the visit, the UN-delegation came up with a statement stressing the importance and praising the work of human rights defenders that are non-violently struggling to achieve the universal human rights for Palestinians, particularly in the environment of Israeli occupation. They are voicing their great concern about the Israeli forces crackdown on human rights defenders work and their attempts to silence them completely.

Read the full UN-statement.

UN delegation in the Tel Rumeida neighbourhood of Hebron

Demonstrator injured last week in Gaza undergoing two surgeries

December 11th, 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza team | Karni border crossing, Gaza, occupied Palestine

Ahmad has to undergo a second surgery soon

Last week, during the demonstration at Karni Border Crossing, Ahmad Nabil El-Akhsham (28 years old) was shot in the leg. He was there, as he had been every Friday since the beginning of October. At some point he and the other protestors saw a female IOF soldier pointing her gun at them and immediately he felt a very intense pain in his leg, “it was as if I was receiving a 1000V electric shock”.

The next thing he remembers is that the other demonstrators where carrying him towards the road where the ambulances were waiting. The ambulance couldn’t reach them because the soldiers were shooting towards the medics if they approached the demonstrators.

He arrived unconscious to the hospital, due to the heavy loss of blood. After a first surgery, the doctors explained that the way ha was carried to the ambulance highly aggravated the injury, as he was carried by a group of unexperienced youth who were mostly trying not to get shot.

The shot blew away all of his calf and broke his bone in many small pieces. During the first surgery, they put 5 metal bars in order to try to save his leg. Next time the doctors will try to perform a graft in order to reconstruct the calf.

We asked Ahmad why he kept on going to the demonstrations, and this what he said: “We must show that the people in Gaza, West Bank and the 48 lands are all the same, we are all Palestinians and we are united. We fight together for our land. I’m not afraid of dying for my land”.

School children denied their right to education in Hebron

December 10th, 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, al Khalil team | al Khalil, occupied Palestine

Soldiers blocked the way to the Cordoba school in al Khalil

Today, on International Human Rights Day, school children as well as teachers were denied access to the Cordoba school in Al-Khalil (Hebron). The mixed primary school is located in the neighborhood of Tel Rumeida at the end of the small strip of Shuhada Street that Palestinians are still able to access.

Students and teachers waited for two hours

Since the declaration of the ‘closed military zone’, effective since the 1^st of November in Tel Rumeida and Shuhada Street, the children and teachers have been registered as numbers in order to pass checkpoint 56 and checkpoint 55 on their way to school. On Monday the 7^th of December 2015, the checkpoint 56 has been closed for an indefinite period of time. The children and teachers that need to cross checkpoint 56 – which marks the border between the H2 area of Al-Khalil, under full Israeli control, and the H1 area, supposedly under full Palestinian control – have had to argue with the Israeli forces every morning since then, in order to pass the checkpoint and reach the school.

Settler came to harass children and teachers while they were waiting

After a Palestinian was killed on Wednesday, 9^th of December at checkpoint 55 on Shuhada Street, the children and teachers found the access to the school blocked by barbed wire and countless Israeli soldiers. The Israeli forces have completely locked the way to the school for the majority of children and teachers. The only other way to the school is through a cemetery on the other side of Al-Khalil. The Israeli forces simply ignore the pleas from both school children and teachers to let them pass and get to the school, and don’t give any indication as to when the barbed wire will be removed.

While school children and teachers were waiting in hopes of passing, infamous illegal settler Anat Cohen arrived at the scene and openly, without any apprehension, verbally and physically harassed them. The Israeli forces failed to prevent her from doing so, yet again turning a blind eye on increasing settler violence. Two hours after school was supposed to begin, the children and teachers gave up and the school was forced to remain closed for the day, the childrens’ right to education being simply denied to them.

Watch these two videos of Anat Cohen attacking and intimidating the school-children.