Palestinian children in Wadi Tiran in Masafer Yatta, threatened with murder by extremist settlers if they don’t leave their village
I am still perpetually on the verge of crying or crying most of the time. Throughout my travels in Palestine, I have learned from the wisdom of children. Children everywhere know when they are very young that their tears are not something to repress, but rather their crying out helps bring about what they are needing.
Where my Arabic and their English are inadequate to be able to communicate, playing together is a way to speak a deeper language of companionship and encounter. Our smiles and laughter together is a defiant blossoming of life surrounded by the threat of life’s extinction.
Last week a young child kissed my hand and put it to their head. I didn’t know the most appropriate way to respond.
But forty miles away, a new acronym has had to be created for children just like her, WCNSF, wounded child, no surviving family. Everything I do, even if I stay up through the night to keep watch so a family can sleep more soundly, still feels so inadequate in the midst of such catastrophe.
More than 10,000 children have been killed in Gaza in these last 100 days. Surrounding Gaza there is a fence, and armed guards ready to shoot anybody who comes near it, keeping them from coming to me and me from going to them. UNICEF warns “All children under five in the Gaza Strip—335,000—are at high risk of severe malnutrition and preventable death as the risk of famine conditions continues to increase. UNICEF estimates that in the coming weeks, at least 10,000 children under five years will suffer the most life-threatening form of malnutrition, known as severe wasting, and will need therapeutic foods.”
Ceasefire Now Gaza by Sanya Hyland
In Florida, where I am from, when a hurricane hit and I knew of children suffering from dehydration, I could empty every pharmacy in my vicinity of pedialyte and drive it to them in a matter of hours. But there is an army, supported and financed by my government and tax dollars, keeping me from doing the same for these children.
I learned a new Arabic phrase since I’ve been here and have used it often. People in Palestine are so heartbreakingly welcoming. There is rarely a “hello (marhaba)” in Arabic, just “welcome and welcome again” (ahlan wa sahlan). The implied longer meaning, that ahlan wa sahlan is a shortened version of, communicates: “You left your own people, but you are among family, and you are safe here.” But when a Palestinian asks me where I am from, I always tell the truth. “I am from America (Ana min Amrika).” I have seen people shake with the deepest hurt and speak about what the United States of America has done to their family. And saying “I am sorry (assif)” in Arabic is much too little. To me, it implies that I am expecting Palestinians’ understanding, forgiveness, or ablution. I am not. So I have learned to say “I seek forgiveness from God (astaghfirullah)” as the second part of responding about where I am from.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was put in a concentration camp during the holocaust and later hanged by the Nazis, warned, “Silence in the face of evil is evil itself: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
Amid such horrors and one’s inability to stop them, I think I understand how to be imprisoned, to be beaten, to be killed even, would be a balm for one’s soul, knowing that others weren’t suffering alone, and when people were thrown into a furnace, there was another in the fire.
I have 109 prayer beads on my wrist. This about matches the amount of children killed each day in Gaza. What I have done and am doing has not been enough for 10,000 children. And 10,000 more. I don’t know what will be enough. But I will seek it.
In the Aftermath of the Killing of infant Mohammad Tamimi the occupying forces invaded the sleeping village of Nabi Saleh again early Friday morning and aressted Wissam Tamimi, who had just turned seventeen, and twenty-two-year-old Mohammed Fadel Tamimi, from their homes. Both suffer from severe head injuries. The Israeli military blew up the doors of the family homes of two youths who are suffering from head injuries after being shot in the head by the occupying forces. Wissam who is still a highschool student and Mohammed who is now twenty two but still suffers from the sever injuries he sustained when he was shot in the head as a child, were both arrested from their homes by the military this morning.
Mohammed Fadel Tamimi surrounded by occupiying soldiers as he is taken from his home. Friday 6/9/23
Wissam Tamimi was shot last week on June 1, 2023, the same day infant Mohammed Tamimi was also shot in the head and fatally wounded. Wissam, who was still sixteen at the time, was standing behind his uncle Bilal Tamimi, who was filming the military’s attack on their village. Bilal was wearing a vest and a helmet marked “PRESS.” Wissam was shot with a projectile that had a condensed hardened foam tip, which fractured his skull and caused a concussion. Bilal filmed the entire incident and aired it live on Facebook. In the footage, Wissam’s injury can be seen starting at minute 22. Bilal continued to film and broadcast until he himself was wounded, with his hand fractured by the same kind of projectile that wounded Wissam.
Wissam Tamimi being treated in the Ramallah hospital for a fractured skull and concussion
Wissam was released from the hospital on June 5, a day before his 17th birthday. However, he still needs to return to the hospital for further evaluation. Due to his injuries, he was unable to complete his final exams, which took place this week. This morning, the occupying forces blew up the door of his house and arrested him from his home.
At the same time, Israeli forces stormed the house of Muhammad Fadel Tamimi, 22, and arrested him after blowing up the door. Muhammad has been repeatedly arrested since the age of 13, enduring months of imprisonment. He has survived being shot in the head twice, once in 20017 at the age of fifteen and then again last year. Like Wissam, he has been targeted, arrested, and intimidated while suffering from a fractured skull. Muhammad suffered severe damage and lost almost a third of his skull. He has undergone a series of complex reconstructive surgeries and had customized skull implants inserted. He still relies on medication to prevent seizures.
Mohaamed Fadel Tamimi Before his skull reconstruction surgery
In a media statement, South African MP Nkosi ZMD Mandela demanded the immediate release of Muhammad Fadel Tamimi and his cousin Wissam. This follows a statment in which, MP Mandela called on the International Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant against Bibi Netanyahu.
Manal Tamimi, a human rights defender from Nabi Salah, expressed the following: “On Tuesday, Wissam was supposed to celebrate his seventeenth birthday, a milestone that marks the transition from adolescence to young adulthood. However, instead of celebrating, he spent the day recovering from his injury and participating in the funeral of his relative Mohammad. And now, he has to endure imprisonment while still in pain. The village is going through difficult days with the arrest of Muhammad and Wissam, the death of Muhammad, and the injury of six members of our family. We call upon the international community to ensure the protection of this small village, which has a population of fewer than 650 people and has already lost six members of our family and community to occupation-related incidents in the last decade.”
Mohammed Fadel Tamimi after recieving skull implants in South Africa
Today, the people of the village of Nabi Saleh bid farewell to the slain infant Muhammad Tamimi, who tragically died after being shot in the head by an Israeli soldier.
Slain infant Mohammad Tamimi’s funeral Photo by Diana Khwaelid
The villagers of Nabi Saleh welcomed the child with flowers as they paid their respects. His mother, brother, sister, and father shared a final farewell look with baby Muhammad, and his mother embraced him, kissing him for the last time. “I want justice for my son, and for every person who shot at my husband and son to be held accountable,” she said.
The mother of salin infant Mohammed Tamimi Kisses her son for the last time Photo by Diana Khwaelid
According to the Israeli human rights organization B’tselem, two-and-a-half-year-old Mohammed is the 150th Palestinian killed by Israel since the beginning of 2023. Documentation collected by Defense for Children International Palestine shows that 27 Palestinian children have been killed this year.
The brother of Maohhamed Tamimi Kissing his brother for the last time, Picture by Diana Khwaelid
During the funeral, confrontations broke out between the village youth and the occupying military that surrounded the village. Later that afternoon, while mourners were gathered at the grandparents’ home, the occupation forces invaded the village for the third time since Mohammad was shot, beating and shooting villagers, injuring six people.
The video below was taken by Neriman tamimi before she was beaten and injured by Israeli soldiers invading her village after leathaly wounding toddler Mohammad tamimi
Among the injured is Maher Tamimi, whose brother Qusai was tragically shot dead by the occupation forces last September. Maher sustained a gunshot wound in the pelvis, with the bullet entering his intestines. Renowned human rights defender Neriman Tamimi was targeted by a soldier, who struck her in the face with a rifle, and another mourner was hit in the face with a rubber-coated steel bullet.
Reknown human rights defender Neriman Tamimi hospitilized after being hit in the face with a rifle by an Israeli soilder
Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP, stated: “Unlawful killings of Palestinian children have become the norm as Israeli forces become increasingly empowered to use intentional lethal force in situations that are not justified. This is a war crime with no consequences.”
In response to Mohammed Tamimi’s killing, South African MO Nkosi ZMD Mandela, the grandson of the late Nelson Mandela, released a statement demanding accountability. He stated, “We are appalled by this level of inhumanity and the ongoing crimes against humanity, and we call for immediate charges to be brought by the International Criminal Court against Netanyahu.”
August 11 | International Solidarity Movement | Hebron, occupied Palestine
Whilst continuing my work with ISM this year, I spent four weeks working at the Hebron/al-Khalil office of Defence for Children International focussing on the way that the occupation has compromised the access to education in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza.
It is believed that Abraham of the Bible/Ibrahim of the Quran is buried in this city. Thus, Hebron is entwined with the relgions of Islam, Christianity and Judaism. The tombs of Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, Jacon and Leah, who are deeply revered in all religions are also believed to be buried there.Due to its religious significance, Hebron has become a stronghold for Jewish extremists and is the only city in the occupied West Bank with internal illegal Jewish settlements. Red-roofed have been built in and around the Old City, which traditionally served as the commercial centre for the entire southern West Bank, on private Palestinian land. Hebron’s fundamentalist settlers are united in their belief that the whole of Palestine is Jewish by divine right. They are united in their objective of expanding Israel through establishing settlements. These are illegal according to Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which states that, ‘the Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies’. These settlers are united in their wish to expel Palestinians by demolishing their homes. Article 53 provides that ‘any destruction by the Occupying Power of real or personal property belonging individually or collectively to private persons… is prohibited, except where such destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations.’ Hebron is a stark symbol of how Palestinians are affected by the creeping policies of Israeli occupation.
Freedom of movement does not exist in this city that has 59 checkpoints, sporadic and endless barriers, closures, military zones and Jewish-only streets. A policy of separation is in place between Palestinians and Jewish settlers. Hebron is emblematic of the structural inequality of a land where one ethnic group lives under oppressive military rule, and another under democratic, civilian authority. Shuhada Street is one of the most stark examples of this apatheid system in Hebron. It was once among the busiest streets in this ancient city. In 1994, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) welded shut the street-facing doors of all the shops and the homes of the merchants who typically lived upstairs. By the time of the Second Intifada in 2000, no Palestinian was permitted to set foot on the once teeming market street. What compelled the IOF to close Shuhada Street was a tragedy that took place in 1994. Unarmed Palestinians at the nearby Ibrahimi Mosque were massacred as they prayed. This mass murder was carried out by Baruch Goldstein, an American-born Jewish zealot with Israeli military training and an assault rifle, who stopped firing only when he was killed by survivors of his attack. Shuhada Street, and the vibrant urban life it once sustained and symbolised, can be added to the list of Goldstein’s victims. Today, Goldstein is memorialised in his settlement of Kiryat Arba, where his shrine is revered. The few Palestinians who remain living on Shuhada Street have been barred from the street where they live. If they want to enter their homes, they must do so through back doors, which in many cases involves clambering over rooftops. Their homes are often vandalised; their water tanks are often poisoned. Continuing to live there peacefully is the ultimate form of nonviolent resistance.
In 2018, the UN documented 111 different cases of interference to education in the West Bank affecting more than 19,000 children. Movement restrictions such as the checkpoints and the apartheid wall limit access to education as the army or border police are likely to conduct ID checks, body searches, bag checks, and restrict children and teachers’ ability to get to school. Education is disrupted by Israeli Occupation Forces lobbing stun grenades, firing tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets, and live ammunition into schools. In less than a month (between the 4th and 27th of November 2018), Christian Peacemaking Team Palestine documented 228 rounds of tear gas canisters and 51 rounds of sound grenades fired by the Israeli military when Palestinian children were leaving school. As well as their safe passage being restricted by the military, Palestinian school children’s access to education is also at risk from settler violence. A particularly malicious attack by 12 masked settlers in the South Hebron Hills against a group of children and international volunteers in 2004 precipitated implementation of a military escort. Lax execution of the military escort still leaves children vulnerable to harassment, intimidation and violence. The negative psychosocial impact of the occupation on the children affect their well-being, performance and completion rates. In one workshop, we collected data on how the students felt when they were at school. The overwhelming response was ‘scared’. It is not just the children who are endangered but the school buildings themselves. The shortage of physical infrastructure because of building restrictions and demolition orders often render schools unusable. Moreover, access to education is undermined by the unrelenting detention of children.
More than half of the children arrested by Israeli forces whose cases DCIP documented reported experiencing verbal abuse, threats, humiliation or intimidation. The vast majority, over 75 percent, said they were physically abused during the course of their detention. While under pre-trial detention, Israeli forces placed 22 children in isolation for a period of 48 hours or more. The longest period of isolation of a child that DCIP documented in 2018 was 30 days. Since 1967, Israel has operated two separate legal systems in the same territory. In the occupied West Bank, Jewish settlers are subject to the civilian and criminal legal system whereas Palestinians live under military law. No Israeli child comes into contact with the military courts. Israel has the dubious distinction of being the only country in the world that systematically prosecutes approximately 700 children each year in military courts lacking fundamental fair trial rights. So far, in 2019, there have been 210 child ‘security’ detainees, 14 of whom were or are currently subject to solitary confinement.
Palestinian children’s right to life is consistently undermined by the occupation. In 2018, more than one child was killed per week. At the bitter close of 52 weeks, 57 Palestinian children had been martyred by Israeli forces. So far in 2019, there have been 19 child fatalities. Abdul Rahman Shteiwi, 10, is currently fighting for his life after having been shot in the head by a sniper in Kafr Qadum while he was playing at the entrance of a home, posing no danger to anybody. Israel has denied using any live ammunition despite doctors finding an expanding live bullet that had exploded into more than 100 fragments after it lodged in his head.
Military fixtures such as checkpoints and watchtowers in the West Bank and the heavily surveilled ‘buffer zone’ along the border of Gaza represent significant risks of death, injury and arrest to children who live or pass near them frequently. Since 2014, DCIP documentation and analysis show that Israeli forces have increasingly targetted Palestinian children with intentional lethal force. Under international law, lethal force such as live ammunition may only be used as a last resort and when a direct threat to life or of serious injury exists. The latest child fatality occurred when occupation forces opened fire against 15-year-old Abdallah Ghaith near a Bethlehem checkpoint. Abdallah and his cousin were attempting to get over Israel’s apartheid wall to reach East Jerusalem for the last Friday prayers of Ramadan. He was posing no imminent threat. They killed him with a bullet in his chest that penetrated his heart. This killing is just the latest in an ever-lengthening list of child fatalities at the hands of the Israeli forces which the state has failed to fully and impartially investigate. On July 16, Tariq Zebania, a 7-year-old Palestinian child was riding his bicycle near Adhoura settlement in Hebron. He was struck by a car driven by a Jewish settler who headed into the settlement after hitting the boy. Eyewitnesses called the Israeli security forces. Tariq was pronounced dead upon reaching the hospital. No efforts were made by the Israeli authorities to apprehend the driver who killed the boy. The people responsible for these unlawful and deliberate killings of children should be prosecuted.
10th November 2017 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, Occupied Palestine
Yesterday in the Palestinian city Al-Khalil(Hebron) there was a large military presence in the area due to the coming Jewish holiday, The feast of Sarah. Solders from the Israeli military detained Palestinians, prevented children from getting to their schools, and shot rounds of tear gas and sound bombs at school children.
Two teachers are turned back from the checkpoint at Ziad Jaber School. They were prevented from accessing the school for a good 15 minutes.
Israeli Military forces prevent teachers from getting to work
At around 9 am this morning, a group of 100 soldiers and 9 military vehicles moved from the area of the Ibrahimi Mosque, gathering at the checkpoint by the Ziad Jaber Elementary school. There, Israeli soldiers blocked two Palestinian teachers from moving through the checkpoint to get to work for 10-15 minutes. Students were slowly allowed to find their way through the large group of soldiers to the school. A group of soldiers then attempted to intimidate ISM activists monitoring the situation.
Large groups of soldiers were observed searching streets around the school and looking over the school walls with their weapons. One of the soldiers justified the excessive military presence with the claim that a child had thrown some stones. During the blockade and search of the area local people were prevented from passing for over half an hour.
A pregnant Palestinian woman maintains her dignity with occupations soldiers who have invaded the H1 Palestinian area of the Salaymeh neighbourhood. Her request to pass was finally granted after a 10 minute delay.
Though the school has suffered many difficulties for years as a result of the occupation a teacher commented, “We have never had anything like this before.” When the situation had dissipated, the ISM activists followed a large group of soldiers down prayer road through the Salayme checkpoint to the Tareq Bin Ziad shopping centre. Soldiers randomly stopped Palestinians who were with younger children sometimes holding their passport at least for 15 minutes and restricted movement of cars and pedestrians through the area. Soldiers entered at least four buildings around the intersection and were seen on roofs and in upstairs windows with their weapons as others patrolled side streets sometimes letting off sound bombs for no observable reason. After approximately half an hour the soldiers began to retreat into the H2 Israeli controlled area. As they retreated Palestinians emerged from their houses and young people began to protest the invasion of their neighbourhood and the suppression of their commemoration of Yasser Arafat’s death. The retreating soldiers responded with sound bombs and tear gas.
A Palestinian school declared a closed Military zone
During this time, another ISM team were at the other end of the neighbourhood down the street from the Qeitun checkpoint. Students from the Tareq Bin Ziad School had been prevented by the Israeli army from doing the annual parade by their scout group to commemorate Yasser Arafat’s death. Many soldiers blocked the area around the school and declared it a military zone. A teacher told the activists that the army tried to enter Hajirriya School, where students had found refuge to, arrest some of them. Luckily, teachers managed to stop the soldiers who still blocked off the street forbidding anybody to pass. Some soldiers took up positions on a neighbour’s roof here too.
Soldiers positioned on a roofs in Salaymeh.
From the outset, the soldiers made it clear that the parade was out of question. After the initial attempt to enter the school, they kept blocking the entrance as many more soldiers showed up. After more than half an hour of negotiation between the soldiers and the school Principle, other teachers and some observers from the organization TIPH, the commander authorised the passage of Tareq Bin Ziad Secondary School teachers and their respective pupils. They eventually reached the Tareq Bin Ziad school under the strict surveillance of soldiers to start their school day.
Meanwhile, back in the Hajirriya School, the daily activities started as normally as possible. “We’re used to that” said a teacher in the Headmaster’s office, while he poured the coffee for one of the ISMers who was there.
Soldiers and armoured Vehiciles at the Jaber Junction checkpoint.
Soldiers throw sound bombs into groups of children
At roughly 12:00 PM, following the clashes in the Salaymeh neighbourhood the younger half of the students were leaving the Zaid Jaber School for the day. Another ISM activist witnessed the detention of the headmaster of the school, Muhanned Azam. The soldiers at the checkpoint near the school kept him in the sun for over half an hour without any reason or charges against him. As the older half of the students were leaving, many gathered around him in support, sitting with peace signs raised and singing Palestinian songs. As they sang more soldiers arrived to suppress their nonviolent protest.
The Headmaster of Ziad Jaber School is detained by Israeli occupation forces.
At roughly 12:35, two teachers who were leaving for the day, Ibrahim Zahida and Rashad Irziqat were pulled aside, arbitrarily detained, and ultimately arrested on the pretence that they were interfering with the soldiers’ operations. They were taken to the Jabara Police Station in H2 for questioning. The soldiers also threw a sound bomb into a crowd of children, teachers, and journalists who had gathered to observe and document the scene.
Student from the school gather in solidarity with the detained headmaster.
Later that afternoon groups of settlers from nearby illegal settlements were seen peeing on the streets and filming Palestinian children aggressively. Two settlers were spotted in a window yelling at young Palestinian children “Porn, Pornography” and other sexual references. When confronted about it by Palestinians, the settlers just laughed. “We were just sitting there drinking coffee when they came out of the windows yelling dirty words at the kids. They have no respect,” an nearby ISMer said. A few minutes after that incident a 30-year-old Palestinian man was arrested by the Ibrahimi mosque after being detained for over three hours.
Soldiers from the Israeli military pose in front of a Palestinian house in H2.
The situation in Hebron is tense at the moment due to the Jewish holiday, The Feast of Sarah. The Israeli Military has, from this afternoon, prevented Palestinians from entering the Ibrahimi mosque. The large military presence and the restrictions of Palestinian daily life are expected to continue over the weekend.
Teachers negotiating with soldiers to reach the school with their students.
