Five Palestinians were arrested in Nabi Saleh today, as soldiers stormed village houses without warrants.
Israeli soldiers and Border Police officers implemented extremely violent measures in the dispersal of the weekly demonstration in Nabi Saleh. In an attempt to prevent the army from taking over the village, residents set up a barricade at the entrance to the village before the beginning of the demonstration, to which the army quickly responded with a massive volley of tear-gas projectiles.
After the midday prayers, as residents and their supporters attempted once again to march down to their lands, Border Police officers fired immense amounts of tear-gas into the village. Shortly after, and for no apparent reason, soldiers launched a full-scale raid on the village, conducting a house-to-house search without presenting any warrants. Soldiers also took over one house without a seizure warrant. One of the soldiers was seen patrolling the village with a MAG machine gun.
During the house raids, five arrests took place inside houses, including that of a Palestinian paramedic, released a few hours later. In another incident fifteen soldiers stormed a house with their weapons drawn. One of the soldiers, holding a handgun, pointed it at the people in the room – including an Israeli paramedic – threatening to shoot them. The soldiers then left the house taking with them one of the young man present at gun point.
Background
Late in 2009, settlers began gradually taking over Ein al-Qaws (the Arch 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’lin 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 uninvolved 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.
20 July 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
Today, Friday 15 of July, the Israeli army violently repressed the weekly non-violent demonstration of the Palestinian city of Nabi Saleh. During the repeated attacks on the peaceful demonstrators four activists were arrested: two Palestinians, one Italian and one Israeli. The following is the testimony of the Italian activist.
The main demonstration lasted under 3 minutes. Three Palestinians blindfolded themselves behind a wooden structure covered in barbed wire, to symbolise the imprisonment of all the Palestinians in Israeli prisons which is illegal under international law. As soon as the demonstrators appeared in the soldiers view, a barrage of tear gas hit them and they were dispersed. The first Palestinian was arrested in the course of the morning (not sure about the second Palestinian and the Israeli). Around five in the afternoon they attacked a group of people that took part in the demonstration in the morning but that at that moment was just standing by. I was sitting a little further away from the group. The soldiers were out to get anyone who participated in the demonstration, regardless of whether they did anything illegal, so I did not have any other choice but to run. A soldier came after me. I stepped on a wrong spot and fell down, injuring my right leg.
Marks of aggression are left upon the wrists of an Italian volunteer, illegally arrested and beaten.
The soldier caught me and put his knee over me to prevent me from running. After a few moments I was surrounded by soldiers. One of them took my left hand and twisted it for no apparent reason other than to intimidate me since I was already incapable of fleeing. They handcuffed me using a plastic zip lock, pulled me on my feet and asked me why I was running. I answered that I know that they routinely arrest people for doing nothing illegal and I did not want to be taken. They started leading me to their jeep and at that point I started asking where I would be taken. They were not answering me so I decided to resist what was an arbitrary and unjustified arrest. I shouted that I am an Italian citizen and I have the right to know where I am going to be taken.
They continued refusing to give me an answer so I resisted being put into the Jeep. There were many of them trying to force me into the vehicle and they started using violence on me. They were hitting me on the legs and the soldier next to me first showered me with water using the little water pipe coming out of his helmet, then he elbowed my groin. Another soldier put his fingers on my throat, trying to prevent me from talking. He then threatened to pepper spray my face, if I wouldn’t tuck my legs in the vehicle. But it was an empty threat he did not carry out. They couldn’t manage to place me in the jeep fully, so they began to move the vehicle with the back door open and my legs dangling out. They brought me to the junction or entrance of the village, where the rest of the troops were gathered and loaded me on another military jeep. A man with a camera filmed everything and from the second jeep I managed to describe to him what they did to me during the arrest, stressing that I was a peaceful demonstrator and I did nothing illegal. The soldiers did not like that and as soon as the jeep moved and they closed the backdoor the physical abuse began.
The soldier next to me, the one who previously elbowed my groin, started punching me in my face, and gestured me to shut up; another two soldiers joined the gratuitous display of power, hitting me on the arm and the head using a helmet. One of the punches in the face left me without glasses, when I asked for it back, I received another punch landing on my nose. They brought me to the army base in the settlement next to Nabi Saleh, although I discovered this only later.
They took me out of the Jeep and put me on my feet. I asked for my glasses and hat. One of the soldiers slapped the hat on my head and the other put my glasses in my bag. Still handcuffed I was taken upstairs, in what looked like the prisoners’ room. On the way they asked my religion and I answered that I am an atheist, the soldier did not understand so I said I was educated as a Christian Catholic. Two Palestinians were sitting blindfolded and handcuffed at the left corners of the room.
One soldier told me “You are a terrorist” and I replied “what makes me a terrorist?” He remained silent. They then cut the plastic zip lock and took my backpack. They replaced a new zip lock around my wrists and one around my thumbs, blind folding me again. They offered me water and I drank. They then started playing with me saying contradictory things like “turn around” and when I did they went “don’t move.” They invited me to sit down on the floor in one corner of the room. They started asking how long had I been in Israel, which day I came in, and when I was planning to leave. This question was repeated several times.
The second time he asked this question, this was the exchange:
“I’m flying back on Tuesday”
“Maybe you will stay with us in jail”
“I didn’t do anything illegal”
“Maybe we’ll find something”
“Yeah, I’m sure”.
They went through my things and found pills, I explained they are for my light narcolepsya and the soldier asked me whether I needed one now.
Some 10-15 minutes of silence followed. They probably wanted to wait until I was a little scared before starting the interrogation. At a point I heard a very loud sound, but could not figure out what it was. I asked about it and was given no answer. Later they sparked the loud sound again, and I think they obtain it hitting a wooden chair in that closed empty environment. I then heard them playing with their rifles, probably to scare me into thinking they were about to shoot me. Then the questioning began.
The soldiers asked where I was from, I answered Italy. The same soldier then asked me if my car was a Maserati or a Ferrari.
“Do I look that rich?”
“You look very poor. What car do you have ?”
“I have a fiat marea”
“That’s a piece of shit!”
He asked me what I am doing in Israel and I answered I am here for tourism and I stay in Jerusalem.
“Which hostel?’
“I don’t remember the name”
“How do you get back there then?”
“I know how to walk there”. I spent my first week in the country travelling around so I had in my bag a list of tourist locations and a map of Jerusalem, which gave strength to my story. Another soldier asked me “Do you love Arabs?”
“I have no particular feelings towards any ethnicity”
“Have you got any relation to the conflict?”
“No, I’m here just for tourism. You probably asked this because I look Arab. That is because my father is from Sicily, which was under
Arab domination, so I have some Arab features, but no actual relation to the conflict.”
“Have you been to Syria?”
“No, this is my first time outside Europe”
“Did you do tourism in any other conflict area?”
“As I said this is my first outside Europe, and there are no armed conflict in Europe”.
They wanted to know who pays for my trip, I answered that I pay for myself and my last job was in a coffee shop, they also asked if they pay was good in which I answer it was the minimum wage.A soldier said “I saw your pictures” (soldiers using tear gas on demonstrators)
“You are a bad guy.”
“They show you, aren’t you proud of what you do?”
“I’m very proud of what I do.”
“Then you should like my pictures.”
After a little while the blindfold was taken away and there were five soldiers in front of me. They wanted to know why did I run if I was doing nothing wrong.
I answered again “I ran because I know you arrest people for no reason to make sense of your job, and I did not want to be taken.”
“We only arrest people that throw stones.”
“Look, you have your incentive structure and I understand it, you have to get someone,” and then repeated I was not doing anything illegal.
I told the group the amount of violence that was used against me and indicated the soldier that did most of the beating. He apologised and I said, “If you wanna make me happy don’t do it again to anybody”. They blindfolded me again and played the trick “Turn Around Don’t Move”.
One soldier said “So he hit your balls, did you like it?”
“I might like it when my girlfriend touches me, I certainly don’t like a man hitting me there with his elbow.”
“Well, you know, some people like it rough” and he said to another soldier, “We have a gay here’” and they had a laugh, and turned to me to say “Just joking.”
I replied “Don’t worry”
“What, do I look worried?”
“I don’t know how you look like, I’m blindfolded, remember?”
“Then why did you say don’t worry?”
“You said just joking, and in English when someone says something like that you reply don’t worry.”
A third soldier intervened with a sentence in Hebrew that finished with the word ‘intellectual.’
After some silence he smugly said “So you won’t have children, that’s good”
“I don’t want children”
“Why?”
“It’s a waste of time.”At that point my story was: I’m Italian, I’m an atheist educated as a Christian Catholic, I’m here for tourism. And they began playing their tricks to verify it. He asked me if I wanted to eat something, not knowing when the next meal would have been, I accepted. He said we have chicken, turkey and another variety of meat that I can’t remember, probably pork. I said I’m vegetarian and he said they have broccoli. Broccoli and bread will do I said in which he shouted “One broccoli please!” As it was a restaurant. At that point I realised he was not actually offering me food, but probably, trying to check if I was Muslim offering me a variety of meats. Israel’s wine industry was mentioned and from there he asked me which wine I like, I replied that although I’m Italian I don’t drink wine and generally speaking I don’t drink alcohol, puzzled he asked, “Why, are you Muslim?”
“No, I’m just a healthy person.”
“Are you traveling alone?”
“Yes, I travel by myself”
“Are you part of any peace organisation?”
“No, I’m by myself”
“Come on, you can tell me, I’m not the Shin Bet!”
“What’s the Shin Bet?”
“Like the Mossad… What is it called… like the Israeli FBI.”
“You asked me a question and I gave you an answer, I have no reason to lie to you.”
They then brought a female soldier into the room that supposedly was planning to move to Italy, and knew some Italian. That was probably to verify that I was actually Italian. She spoke some Italian words and I checked if they were correct. The male soldier who had done most of the talking asked me whether I had been arrested before, “This is the first time.”
“You look like you’ve been in this situation before”
“People are afraid of what they don’t know”.
The female soldier had a brief conversation with me and asked me what I was doing in Israel, I replied I studied history at University, and I was a tourist interested in the historical sights. She asked me what kind of history I studied and I said modern and contemporary. She asked which cities I visited and I listed a few, she then asked if I like the country and I said I did like it. To further check they called someone that probably knew Italian and passed me the phone. The other person did not speak back so I only kept asking in Italian who was it.
They then said they were willing to release me, but needed my full name and some ID. I told them my name and said I don’t have my passport with me, but I can call someone who can bring it here. They asked me to tell them my passport number and I said I don’t remember it. He got upset about it and said, “They say they want to release you, but you want to spend the night with us. Come on, everybody remembers their passport number” and kicked my foot lightly.
“Well, I don’t. Do you remember yours?”
“Yes, of course I do!’
“I’m happy for you then, but I don’t. Let me call someone and they will bring my passport.”
“Can you call and ask them to tell your passport number?”
“Yes, let’s do this.”
After they checked the passport number they released me within 10 minutes. The Israeli activist was released with me, the Palestinians remained in the room.
13 July 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
On the 12th of July 2011, 4 ISM members with a group of international activists, including Israeli, French, Belgian, Portuguese and a 5 Palestinians attempted to enter the illegally, occupied farmland of a Palestinian landowner in Beit Ommar. The initial plan was to try to farm and clean the land of litter near the military placed fence, which separates the remaining Palestinian land because of an illegal settlement. We attempted to enter the area through the road path leading to the farmland but we were blocked by 20 military men from the Israeli army. The following actions involved heavy discussions between an Israeli activist and what seemed to be the official of the military Israeli unit. We tried to attempt another route but we were blocked again by the same military Israeli unit. The group was then shown a document in Hebrew from the commander of the unit that this was a closed military zone and that we had 10 minutes to leave the area before they arrested any of us. The collective decision was then to back-off and set up a plan to start cleaning the nearest farmland.
The ISM team decided to accompany the civil disobedience action remaining between other activists. When the 10 minutes were over, the Israeli army pushed us backwards physically, and as we moved backwards, I saw one Belgian activist getting grabbed from the back and getting arrested. There were other activists who were arrested at this time but which I couldn’t see since the Israeli army began to throw sound bombs at us. After the first wave of arrests, the Israeli army began throwing more sound bombs at the activists that still remained on the farmland. At this time I managed to observe one Israeli activist getting arrested in the front area. We moved backwards slowly while a number of soldiers commanded us to leave the area. I didn’t witness any further arrests.
Later at a debriefing at the Palestine Solidarity Project center/ Friends for Freedom and Justice Center we were told that 2 international activists and an Israeli activist had been arrested.
Background information:
In 2006 two fences were built in Beit Ommar confiscating Palestinian land. The Palestinian landowners had to either pass through entrances controlled by the Israeli army or were either prevented at all from entering their farmland. Demonstrations started in 2006 against the fence. Farmers succeeded to work on the land legally but were not allowed to enter or farm by the illegally occupied military zone. 2006-2008 2 Palestinian farmers made it through and in 2008 heavy military occupation began around the zone. A curfew was imposed, mass arrests and hence demonstrations began again. ThevillageofBeit Ommaris surrounded by three settlements, one of them being Karmei Tsur. The way settlements expand is done through the creation of buffer military zones, stating that the Israeli government has the right to “protect” the illegal settlements around the area. With the expansion of areas around settlements many Palestinian farmers and residents have been shot and arrested.
8 July 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
An ISM volunteer was detained and threatened with deportation for participating in a peaceful, nonviolent demonstration in the village of Iraq Burin last week, and was finally released by Israel since there was no justification for her arrest or deportation.
These weekly demonstrations come following the January shooting of a 19 year old Palestinian man, Oday Maher Hamza Qadous, by a member of the same illegal settlement. Saturday’s demonstration also follows an illegal nighttime raid into Iraq Burin on Thursday night–consistent with an ongoing Israeli policy of repeated incursions into the village.
About 30 local villagers, including children, were accompanied by 3 French, 2 Swedish, 2 British, an American, and 1 Brazilian international observer during their weekly demonstration against the illegal Israeli settlement of Bracha. Local villagers and international activists were forced to flee down a steep escarpment into the valley and adjacent village, while under fire from what observers noted to be high velocity tear gas canisters according to their range, as well as rubber coated steel bullets that were shot at head height. During the attempt to escape pursuing Israeli forces, two international activists, who wish to remain anonymous, suffered minor injuries.
At one point Israeli forces were also seen throwing stones at a Palestinian medic after protesting their illegal and unjustified arrest of a nonviolent, international activist.
“She was ahead of us all,” commented a British activist who witnessed the arrest of the woman. “Three soldiers were around her, and a male soldier made the arrest. She went limp while soldiers dragged her away.”
The activist, from Brazil, was arrested and accused of assaulting Israeli police by throwing stones and told she was going to be taken to a court hearing on Sunday, facing possible deportation. The hearing was scheduled to take place at 8:00 Sunday morning, yet she was transported to a deportation center without hearing.
A representative of the State affirmed in an informal meeting with the woman’s lawyers that she had been released around approximately 9:30 AM, while Prison Administration insisted that the activist was still in custody as of 12pm. Lawyers commented that this inconsistency opened a window for deportation police to illegally transport the woman to a deportation center without a hearing or legal consul. Lawyers commented that the woman’s illegal detention facilitated a planned deportation process.
The volunteer remained in custody while lawyers petitioned the state to release her. On July 6th the court answered with a decision that the volunteer may not be deported and that the State has to respond until July 7th at 12:00 PM to the lawyers’ request to release her immediately. After waiting for the state’s response the volunteer was released yesterday without any conditions and her visa was extended for an additional week.
Sheikh Raed Salah, one of the most prominent campaigners within Israel for Palestinian rights, has been arrested in London. The Sheikh was invited by PSC to speak at the launch of ‘Building Peace and Justice in Jerusalem’ Campaign in Parliament tonight, alongside MPs and other prominent speakers. He is the leader of a legitimate political party in Israel, representing Palestinians, and an outspoken champion of Jerusalem. The meeting will still go ahead.
The Sheikh entered the UK openly on 25 June and his schedule was known well in advance by UK authorities. This included a meeting in Parliament on 26 June and a public meeting the same night at Conway Hall, London, organised by PSC and MEMO on the subject of the Arab Spring and its impact on Palestine.
Despite this, the Sheikh was arrested in his hotel room last night under section 3 of the Immigration Act 1971. The Home Secretary, Teresa May, subsequently announced in the House of Commons that he was excluded from entering the UK. The government has not made clear when the ban was issued, and the Sheikh’s legal team had not been contacted.
The Sheikh has appealed against the deportation in court. His team had already begun legal proceedings against Daily Telegraph and Jewish Chronicle journalists for printing false allegations about him last week. Deporting, and subsequently banning, Sheikh Raed from the UK will be a violation of his right to free speech, his right to speak out on behalf of Palestine, and a victory for those who have spread the baseless rumours defaming his reputation.
Call or email the Home Secretary asking her to reconsider the decision. An Israeli court cleared Sheikh Raed of charges of making anti-Semitic comments. The Sheikh has reiterated that charges were dropped because there was no evidence against him. On what basis is he being excluded from the UK?
