Tag: 0.22 bullets

UPDATED: Palestinians continue the struggle against the Adei Ad outpost

20th December 2014 | International Solidarity Movement | Turmusaya, Occupied Palestine

Update 22 December:

Palestinian activists Mohammed Khatib and Jaffar Hamayel, both arrested on December 19 while peacefully demonstrating in Turmusaya, were released today, December 22, on bail of 7500 shekel each.

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Hundreds of Palestinian children, women, and men gathered at Turmusaya on Friday December 19th to complete the tree planting began by Palestinian Authority minister Ziad Abu Ein, who was killed by Israeli soldiers on Wednesday December 10th.

“Ziad was planning to plant olive trees on private Palestinian land near the illegal outpost of Adei Ad, but was violently prevented from reaching the site by the Israeli military who assaulted and killed him. We thought that after killing the minister, yesterday the military would allow us to plant trees peacefully but we found the same soldiers prepared to use even more violence against us,” Said human rights defender Abdullah Abu Rahmah.

“Despite the occupation forces’ violence, we planted trees in the place where Ziad had planned to plant them. Despite their violence, we will continue to struggle with the farmers whose land is stolen and the farmers who are prevented from cultivating their land by the occupation. ” Abu Rahmah was injured by a stun grenade that was thrown directly at him while he was planting an olive tree.

After praying near the spot where the minister was stopped by the army, protesters with olive trees climbed the hill to the site where Abu Ein had intended to plant trees. They began planting under a barrage of tear gas, stun grenades, and beatings by Israeli border police.

Two Palestinian activists, Mohammed Khatib and Jaffar Hamayel, Israeli citizen and ISM co-founder Neta Golan, and US citizen and activist Danika Padilla, were all violently arrested.

Danika Padilla, to the left, and Neta Golan as they are arrested.

In another area of the protest, youths responded to the military assault with stones as the army sprayed demonstrators with putrid water known as “skunk”, fired rubber-coated steel bullets and .22 caliber live ammunition. Many demonstrators suffered severe tear gas inhalation and two Palestinians sustained leg injuries from the .22 bullets.

The four arrested activists were taken to the Binyamin settlement police station. Neta and Danika were released in the early hours of this morning. Mohammed and Jaffar have been charged with assaulting and disturbing the border police and rioting after being told to disperse. They were taken to the Russian Compound police station in West Jerusalem where they remained in detention until their court date at Ofer military court.

Jaffar Hamayel

More Palestinian protesters shot with .22 live ammunition

6th December 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah team | Nabi Saleh, Occupied Palestine

Yesterday, Israeli soldiers invaded Nabi Saleh during the Palestinian village’s weekly Friday demonstration and shot one young Palestinian in the leg with .22 caliber live ammunition. The soldiers also fired tear gas canisters at demonstrators, along with more rounds of the .22 live caliber bullets.

Screen shot 2014-12-06 at 21.44.20 — http://schwarczenberg.com/

“At one point, after the boy had been shot, a soldier fired three tear gas canisters straight at internationals and Palestinians who were just standing there, trying to see what was going on up the road,” recalled one ISM activist present at the scene. “He [the soldier] was quite close to us, and could easily see that no one was throwing any stones. The canisters landed no more than a few meters away.”

The young Palestinian who was shot is between seventeen and eighteen years old; he was rushed away from the scene and taken to a hospital for treatment. Nabi Saleh has been suffering from a spate of violence recently at the hands of Israeli forces, who shot three Palestinians including 38-year-old Nariman Tamimi at a demonstration two weeks ago and 14-year-old Ahmed Barghouti last Friday.

The Kufr Qaddum weekly demonstrations have been met with similar violence. Last week a Palestinian youth and an Italian ISM volunteer were both shot with .22 live ammunition in the chest. During yesterday’s protest a Palestinian journalist was shot in the leg with a .22 live bullet.

https://www.facebook.com/AlMasira.KufurKaddom

UPDATED: 18-year-old Palestinian and ISM volunteer both shot in the chest with .22 live ammunition

28th November 2014 | International Solidarity Movement | Kufr Qaddum, Occupied Palestine

Update 12th December:

The Italian activist know as Patrick is returning today to demonstrate in Kufr Qaddum.

Patrick at Kufr Qaddum shortly before he was shot.

Last Friday, while Patrick was still hospitalised, the residents of Kufr Qaddum flew Palestinian and Italian flags in solidarity.

Photo from Kufr Qaddum facebook page: http://tinyurl.com/olqb4sk

Patrick required surgery to remove the bullet from his chest and was released from hospital several days ago. Since his release, he attended an olive tree planting demonstration at Turmusaya on the 10th of December where Palestinian Authority Minister Ziad Abu Ein was killed by an Israeli soldier.

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During the weekly Kufr Qaddum protest today, an 18-year-old Palestinian demonstrator, and an ISM volunteer, were both shot in the chest with .22 live ammunition.

Olmo receiving treatment from paramedics in the ambulance on the way to hospital. — Patrick receiving treatment from paramedics in the ambulance on the way to hospital.

The Italian activist, known as Patrick, was wearing a yellow high visibility jacket when he was shot.

11 Palestinian demonstrators were wounded at the Kufr Qaddum protest. 18-year-old Sami Jumma was shot twice with live ammunition, once in the hand and once in the chest. He required surgery and is now in a stable condition. The remaining 10 injured protesters were shot with rubber-coated steel bullets and four required hospital treatment. One of whom was a 10-year-old child, although all four have now been discharged.

“We were standing with a group of Palestinian demonstrators when Patrick was shot. The military had fired three rounds of tear gas, and then a shot rang out an Patrick stumbled back. There was between five and ten minutes from the last tear gas canister fired and the bullet that shot Patrick. He was just standing there, peacefully protesting, wearing a hi-viz jacket, he wasn’t doing anything and they just decided to shoot him.” Stated an ISM activist present at Kufr Qaddum.

Patrick is currently stable, the bullet entered through his chest and it is now lodged in his chest cavity, he remains in hospital under observation.

In 2003, Israeli forces closed the road connecting Kufr Qaddum with the city of Nablus, and since then at least three people have died due to the increased travel time to the closest hospital. A journey that used to take 10 minutes now takes over 30. In 2011, Kufr Qaddum began their weekly demonstrations.

Ally Cohen, ISM media coordinator said, “The bullet entered Patrick’s chest near a main blood vessel, but thankfully did not puncture it. If God forbid it had, the lengthened journey to the hospital because of the closed road could have cost Patrick his life.”

Three shot with live ammunition during Nabi Saleh protest

22nd November 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah team | Nabi Saleh, Occupied Palestine

Israeli forces shot and injured three Palestinians participating in a weekly Friday demonstration in the village of Nabi Saleh. Soldiers fired .22 caliber bullets, a form of live ammunition which has maimed and killed multiple Palestinians, even as Israel continues to claim it as a “less lethal” way of assaulting demonstrators.

Yesterday at noon between forty and fifty Palestinians, Israelis, international activists and journalists marched down from the center of Nabi Saleh towards a water spring stolen by a nearby illegal settlement. The Israeli forces awaited them down the road with two military jeeps and a police jeep. Some youth threw stones towards the military vehicles. Soldiers and police fired tear gas canisters and rubber-coated steel bullets at demonstrators as the group walked down the road.

After a brief period of calm, a police jeep equipped with a tear gas dispenser drove up and down the road, firing tear gas at protesters. A few suffered from excessive tear gas inhalation, including a boy under the age
of ten.

In addition to continuing to fire rubber coated steel bullets and tear gas, soldiers also began to shoot .22 live ammunition. Two seventeen-year-old boys were shot while throwing stones, one in the thigh
and one in both the hand and foot. One Israeli soldier fired at a child under the age of twelve as the boy was running away up the hill beside the road.

Nariman Tamimi, a thirty-eight-year-old woman from the village, was shot in the thigh at close range with a .22 bullet. Israeli soldiers shot her in front of her children and family, driving away and leaving her in the
road. She was taken away for medical treatment, where she underwent surgery, and currently remains in hospital.

Violence in Ni’lin

14th June 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah team | Ni’lin, Occupied Palestine

A Red Crescent paramedic, present at the Ni’lin demonstration last week, spoke to ISM about the protest last Friday, 6th June. He explained that the demonstration began as the protesters marched towards the apartheid wall, with Israeli soldiers firing tear gas canisters and rubber-coated steel bullets.

After just 15 minutes, a 41-year-old Palestinian protester was shot in the leg with a 0.22 live ammunition bullet. The soldiers had been hiding in the olive trees next to the apartheid wall and were unseen by the demonstrators. When a Red Crescent volunteer tried to give the wounded protester medical treatment, after placing a bandage on the bleeding wound, he was attacked by the Israeli soldiers. The soldiers kicked the volunteer and used their guns to beat his face, after the demonstration he was taken to the hospital to receive treatment.

The 41-year-old who was shot by the Israeli military was then arrested and held for two hours, before being ‘handed back’ to the Red Crescent ambulance at the Ni’lin checkpoint. He had received some medical treatment from the Israeli paramedics, but this wasn’t immediate, and he also had wounds, including a cut on his head that required one stitch, where the Israeli forces had beaten him while he was arrested.

The protester is now slowly recovering, the 0.22 bullet fractured his tibia [a bone in his lower leg], and it will be another month before he is healed.

The demonstration yesterday was fortunately less violent, there were no injuries or arrests. However, before the protest could begin, the military moved a long way out from the apartheid wall, pushing the demonstrators deep into their own olive trees. The military fired many tear gas grenades and canisters and some of the protesters suffered from tear gas inhalation, requiring support from Red Crescent paramedics. At least twice during the demonstration, Israeli forces fired tear gas canisters directly at protesters, both highly dangerous and in contravention to Israeli military procedure, which is shooting them up into an arch to lower the impacted velocity.

Ni’lin began demonstrating in 2008, against the apartheid wall’s construction. The protests continued after the wall was completed, and since 2008, five villagers from Ni’lin have been murdered by Israeli forces.