Military teargases Kufr Qaddoum following nightly raids and arrests

by Alistair George

9 December 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

The Israeli military fired tear gas canisters directly at demonstrators in Kufr Qaddoum today in an aggressive response to the weekly protest against the closure of the main road linking the village with Nablus.  Many people suffered from severe gas inhalation.

 After midday prayers, over 200 people marched to the edge of Kufr Qaddoum where several people made speeches calling for the road to be re-opened to the village, including officials from the Palestinian Authority and the Chief of the Palestinian District Coordinators Office.  The route to the road was blocked by around 10 Israeli soldiers, supported by armoured vehicles and soldiers on the hill overlooking the village.

Teargassing Kufr Qaddoum – Click here for more images.

Many people returned to Kufr Qaddoum after the speeches, however some Palestinian youths threw stones at the Israeli military, who responded by mounting an aggressive incursion inside the village, firing tear gas canisters directly at protesters and into houses and gardens lining the village’s main street.

Although it is permissible to fire tear gas canisters in an arc to disperse demonstrations, it is forbidden to use them as weapons by firing them directly at protesters. Firing tear gas canisters directly at protesters and at close range turns the canisters into a missile that can maim and endanger life.  According to B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization, “Firing of this kind has already resulted in injuries, some grave, to dozens of Palestinians and Israeli and foreign citizens”.  A Palestinian man was seriously injured at the weekly demonstration in Nabi Saleh today, after reportedly being hit in the face by a tear gas canister fired by Israeli military forces at close range.

The main road linking Kufr Qaddoum to Nablus passes by Qadumim, an illegal Israeli settlement, and was closed to the village by the Israeli military in 2003.  The closure of the road has doubled the length of time that it takes villagers to travel to Nablus.  A report published in September by the Palestinian Ministry of National Economy estimated that restrictions on movement imposed by Israeli forces costs the Palestinian economy $184m a year.

After their appeal to re-open the road failed in the Israeli courts, the village began weekly protests on 1 July 2011.  Since then the response from the Israeli military has grown increasingly violent, mounting incursions deep into the village.  Abu Musub, President of Kufr Qaddoum’s community centre, said that “Every week they fire more gas – they want to stop the demonstrations but we will continue until the open the road.”

 According to Abu Musub, the Israeli military enters Kufr Qaddoum every night, often detonating loud sound bombs in the village’s streets.  They have also arrested many of the village’s men in connection with the protests.  Four men were arrested by the Israeli military on 29 November 2011 – Osama Bram, 22, Abdallah Jumu, 23, Refit Bram, 21, and Abdel Juma, 23.  The arrests were probably made in connection with the demonstrations, however they have been denied contact with their families or a lawyer so no information is available at present.  Abu Musub claims that the Israeli military caused severe damage to the Abdel Juma’s house during his arrest; damaging carpets, smashing furniture and ripping open bags containing food.

 Abu Musub claimed that there are 20-21 people from the village in Israeli custody – eight of whom have been arrested in connection with the weekly protest.

 Alistair George is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Gaza attack: “My uncle died in my arms”

by Ruqaya Izzidien

9 December 2011 | Al Akhbar English

“My uncle was breathing when I found him under the rubble,” said Migdad Elzalaan. “He told me, ‘Look after our family, look after the children. Look after them,’ and then he died, right in my arms.”

Photo: Ruqaya Izzidien, Al Akhbar English – Click here for more images

At around 2am on Thursday night, Israeli forces bombed the area beside the Elzalaan household in northern Gaza City, injuring thirteen members of his family and killing his uncle. Migdad’s 12-year-old cousin, Ramadan, died in hospital from his injuries less than a day after the attack.

As 20-year-old Elzalaan stood recalling the night’s attack, he dislodged blocks of rubble poking through large holes in the roof, fearing that they might fall on our heads. He stumbled through the remains of his home while rubble cracked and snapped underfoot, small pieces of house falling occasionally while a drone buzzed heavily, circling above the ruins of the house.

Elzalaan was sitting at the computer before the first bomb hit.

“I brought my younger sisters, Samaa and Samar into the living room, with my grandmother. I tried to shield them and as the first bomb hit, I was injured in my back and leg by pieces of falling rubble. Afterwards, I took my family out of the house to safety.”

After the second bomb struck, Elzalaan headed to his uncle’s house, which shares a wall with his own. “My uncle, his wife and their baby were under the rubble. My aunt told me to leave her, just to take her baby, Ahmed, to safety. I picked him out of the rubble and handed him to someone.”

As soon the 6-month-old was taken to safety, Israeli forces dropped a third bomb. “I shielded my aunt during the third bomb, and then afterwards helped her out of the house.” Elzalaan then returned for his uncle, Bahjat, who was buried underneath the rubble.

The 33-year-old father-of-five told Migdad to look after his family before dying in his nephew’s arms.

“I carried my uncle out of the building and then we brought a jeep to take everyone to hospital, because no ambulances came. By the dawn call to prayer, we were on our way to hospital.”

“During the bombing I was yelling and pulling my hair out,” Elzalaan explained, “Absolutely everyone was injured – thirteen members of my family. My two cousins are still in hospital, they are critically wounded. They are ten and twelve years old.” Hours later, Ramadan, the elder of Elzalaan’s cousins, died of his injuries.

Elzalaan’s neighbor passed through the house, pointed to the rubble and yelled, “This is what Israel does. There were no fighters here, just children and a family. This isn’t a home anymore.”

Migdad Elzalaan’s home was also badly damaged in an Israeli airstrike during the 2008-2009 war and repaired by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.

Dozens teargased in the village of Bil’in west of Ramallah

by Sameer Bornat

9 December 2011 | Friends of Freedom and Justice-Bilin

Dozens were wounded by poison gas suffocation in the weekly march organized by the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Bil’in, with the participation of a delegation from Belgium, dozens of Palestinians, and international and Israeli peace activists.

Israeli Occupation Forces gas Bil'in - Click here for more images

The march began after Friday prayers from the center of the village heading to the land which was liberated five months ago from Israeli occupiers. Participants raised Palestinian flags and banners painted with the image of the imprisoned leader Marwan Barghouti. They chanted national slogans calling for the departure of the occupation and the demolition of the apartheid wall, and also they called on Palestinians to remain faithful and call for freedom for all Palestinian prisoners.

Upon their arrival to the Abu Lemon area, activists removed some of the barbed wire that cuts through the land. Then Israeli soldiers who were situated behind the concrete wall shot rubber coated steel bullets, stun grenades, tear gas canisters, and sprayed skunk water towards the participants, which caused the injury of dozens from severe asphyxia. Ambulance crews treated the wounded in the field, during while some of the participants threw stones at the soldiers.

Palestinian protester severely injured in Nabi Saleh

by Jonathan Pollack

9 December 2011 | Popular Struggle Coordination Committee

Mustafa Tamimi, a 28 year old resident of Nabi Saleh, was shot in the face today, during the weekly protest in the village of Nabi Saleh. He sustained a severe injury to his head, under his right eye, and was evacuated to the Belinson hospital in Petah Tikwa. He is currently anesthetized, breathing through tubes, and his condition is described as serious. Tamimi is undergoing treatment in the trauma ward of the hospital, and is expected to undergo surgery later tonight.

A photo of the incident shows Tamimi at a distance of less than 10 meters behind the semi-open door of an army jeep with the gun aimed directly at him. Clearly visible in the photo is also the tear-gas projectile flying in his direction.

Mustafa Tamimi (left) a moment before his injury. Circled in red are the barrel of the gun and the projectile that hit him. Picture credit: Haim Scwarczenberg

The incident took place in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh today, when dozens gathered for the weekly demonstration in the village, protesting the theft of village lands by the adjacent Jewish-only settlement of Nabi Saleh. After the army dispersed the peaceful march, minor clashes erupted followed by a severe response by Israeli forces. Several people were hit with rubber-coated bullets and directly shot tear gas projectiles. Three were evacuated to the Ramallah hospital for further treatment. One protester was arrested.

The demonstrations, which have been held regularly for the past two years have seen hundreds of injuries to protesters by Israeli forces as well as dozens of arrests carried out with the aim of suppressing dissent.

Background

Late in 2009, settlers began gradually taking over Ein al-Qaws (the Bow Spring), which personally belongs to Bashir Tamimi, the head of the Nabi Saleh village council. The settlers, abetted by the army, erected a shed over the spring, renamed it Maayan Meir, after a late settler, and began driving away Palestinians who came to use the spring by force – at times throwing stones or even pointing guns at them, threatening to shoot.

While residents of Nabi Saleh have already endured decades of continuous land grab and expulsion to allow for the ever continuing expansion of the Halamish settlement, the takeover of the spring served as the last straw that lead to the beginning of the village’s grassroots protest campaign of weekly demonstrations in demand for the return of their lands.

While the model of regularly held protests around the construction of Israel’s Separation Barrier became a common one in recent years, the protests in Nabi Saleh mark a significant break from that tradition, in that protest there is entirely unrelated to the Barrier. This expansion of the popular resistance model symbolizes the growing support the model enjoys among Palestinians, and the growing positive discourse around it across the Palestinian political spectrum.

Protest in the tiny village enjoys the regular support of International and Israeli activists, as well as that of Palestinians from the surrounding areas. Demonstrations in Nabi Saleh are also unique in the level of women participation in them, and the role they hold in all their aspects, including organizing. Such participation, which often also includes the participation of children mirrors the village’s commitment to a truly popular grassroots mobilization, encompassing all segments of the community.

The Israeli military’s response to the protests has been especially brutal and includes regularly laying complete siege on village every Friday, accompanied by the declaration of the entire village, including the built up area, as a closed military zone. Prior and during the demonstrations themselves, the army often completely occupies the village, in effect enforcing an undeclared curfew of sort. Military nighttime raids and arrest operations are also a common tactic in the army’s strategy of intimidation, often targeting minors.

In order to prevent the villagers and their supporters from exercising their fundamental right to demonstrate and march to their lands, soldiers regularly use disproportional force against the unarmed protesters. The means utilized by the army to hinder demonstrations include, but are not limited to, the use of tear-gas projectiles, banned high-velocity tear-gas projectiles, rubber-coated bullets and, at times, even live ammunition.

The use of such practices have already caused countless injuries, several of them serious, including those of children – the most serious of which is that of 14 year-old Ehab Barghouthi, who was shot in the head with a rubber-coated bullet from short range on March 5th, 2010 and laid comatose in the hospital for three weeks.

In complete disregard to the army’s own open fire regulations, soldiers often shoot tear-gas projectiles directly at groups of protesters or individuals and rubber bullets are indiscriminately shot at protesters from short distances. The army has also resumed using high velocity tear-gas projectiles in Nabi Saleh, despite the fact that they have declared banned for use after causing the death of Bassem Abu Rahmah in Bil’in in April 2009, and the critical injury of American protester Tristan Anderson in Ni’ilin in March of the same year.

Tear-gas, as well as a foul liquid called “The Skunk”, which is shot from a water cannon, is often used inside the built up area of the village, or even directly pointed into houses, in a way that allows no refuge for the un-involved residents of the village, including children and the elderly. The interior of at least one house caught fire and was severely damaged after soldiers shot a tear-gas projectile through its windows.

Since December 2009, when protest in the village was sparked, hundreds of demonstration-related injuries caused by disproportionate military violence have been recorded in Nabi Saleh.

Between January 2010 and June 2011, the Israeli Army has carried 76 arrests of people detained for 24 hours or more on suspicions related to protest in the village of Nabi Saleh, including those of women and of children as young as 11 years old. Of the 76, 18 were minors. Dozens more were detained for shorter periods.

Still casting lead: Israeli air force attack kills 2, injures 12 in single family

by Radhika Sainath

9 December 2011 | Notes from Behind the Blockade

Midhad El Zalaan in his home after Israel’s bombing (Photo: Radhika Sainath, Notes from Behind the Blockade) – Click here for more images

Update: Midgdad’s 12-year-old cousin died yesterday.

“This is the occupation,” a neighbor mumbled as we stepped into what remained of twenty-year-old Migdad El Zalaan’s cement-block home in the north of Gaza City this afternoon.  The Israeli Air Force dropped the first of three bombs near Zalaan’s home at approximately 2 a.m. this morning killing his uncle, wounding El Zalaan and the rest of his twelve family members, and destroying his home.

In one corner of the living room a baby doll lay on a mattress buried under shards of tin roof.  Cement blocks squashed plastic party hats and red stuffed bears, and  El Zalaan family’s modest possessions lay buried under layers of dust and rubble.  El Zalaan was on his computer right before Israel attacked.

“After the Israelis dropped the first bomb, I took my family and left my home,” explained El Zalaan, periodically looking up at the sky, where the ceiling once was. “Then the second bomb dropped and I went to my uncle’s home to find out if they were okay. My uncle’s wife [Saada El Zalaan] called me from under the rubble. She was holding her baby, I took the baby and then Israel dropped the third bomb.”  El Zalaan then helped his aunt out of her house despite her pleas to get her son out and leave her.

“I kept digging, looking for my uncle, then I found him, buried, but still breathing. He told me ‘take care of my family, take care of my wife and my children’ and then he died in my arms.”  Bahjat El Zalaan was 33-years-old and the father of 5 when he died.

El Zalaan described how during the bombing he was screaming and pulling his hair out, and how he was trying to protect his mother, father, grandmother and siblings from the shrapnel by holding them in his arms. “I got rubble in my leg and back,” he explained, wincing in pain throughout the interview.

He took his family to Al Shifa hospital in Gaza City. Two of his siblings, ages 8 and 10, remain in critical condition.  Israel had destroyed the roof of his home before, during Operation Cast Lead in 2008-2009.  On the outside of the home, a small plaque hung near the broken window, “This shelter was repaired by UNRWA through a generous fund from the Federal Republic of Germany.”

Before leaving, El Zalaan asked if he could take a photograph with us and his cousin, who snapped a photo on his cell phone. As we left I asked him if he worked, and he said no, “we stay at home because there’s no work.”