Tag: Demonstration - Page 174 - International Solidarity Movement

Israeli soldiers open fire on Hebron demonstrators, injuring 17

Hebron – Ma’an – Seventeen Palestinians were injured when Israeli soldiers opened fire on Palestinian demonstrators in Israeli-occupied Hebron on Friday.

Confrontations between Israeli troops and stone-throwing Palestinian youths took place on Tareq-Ibin Ziad Street, which is in a section of Hebron under the full control of the Israeli military. Medical sources said that the soldiers used live ammunition.

Medics at Muhammad Ali Hospital in Hebron said that eight children were among the 17 treated for bullet and shrapnel wounds. Most of the injuries were on the demonstrators’ lower bodies, except for two people who were wounded above the waist. Three people were shot with rubber-coated metal bullets.

Massive demonstrations have taken place in Hebron after prayer every Friday since the beginning of the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip. In mid-January one demonstrator was killed by Israeli fire.

The demonstrations have also seen the largest number of Hamas supporters openly showing their presence in the West Bank, which is ruled by the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority (PA). The PA however has no authority in the Israeli-controlled H2 section of Hebron, which is where the demonstrations have been.

Young Palestinian man and Swedish activist shot with live ammunition during Ni’lin demonstration

5pm, 30th January 2009, Ramallah: On Friday, January 30th, two people were shot by Israeli forces with live ammunition in the West Bank village of Ni’lin.

Ulrika Andersson, 31, was shot in the leg with live ammunition during the weekly demonstration against the construction of the annexation wall in the village of Ni’lin, occupied West Bank.

Ms Andersson, from the Swedish town of Gothemburg, was taking part in the non-violent demonstration when an Israeli soldier shot her from approximately 50 metres with a new 0.22 bullet. The bullet entered and exited through her lower right leg.

Witnesses have reported that the demonstration was in fact finished when the two people were shot, with Israeli forces opening fire as demonstrators were returning home.

A nineteen year old male demonstrator was also shot by a 0.22 bullet in the foot. Fragments of the bullet are still lodged within his foot. He is currently being operated on.

Both demonstrators shot has been taken to Sheikh Zaid hospital in Ramallah for emergency treatment.

Ulrika Andersson said when in Sheikh Zaid hospital;

“I am lucky, I was hit in the calf. Many residents in Ni’lin have not been so lucky resulting in many injuries from the Israeli aggression against the demonstrations in Ni’lin, including four deaths. The soldiers were aware of an international presence within the demonstration and clearly saw me.”

Since the start of the massacre on Gaza (27 December 2009), the Israeli army has been testing new types of weapons in several villages around West Bank. One of these new weapons is the 0.22 caliber bullet.

The small bullet, known by its caliber size as “0.22″, does not make a sound when fired. The low caliber allows the bullet to easily enter the body and causes internal bleeding.

Since the introduction of this new weapon, eight people have now been shot with the “0.22″ in the villages of Bi’lin, Ni’lin, and Budrus. Several people from Bi’lin and Ni’lin have this bullet lodged in their knees, one bullet went through a demonstrator’s leg and another demonstrator was shot in the stomach (causing internal bleeding).

International activists have joined the demonstrations against the construction of the annexation wall in Ni’lin since the village started it’s regular protests in May of 2008. According to the Israeli daily Maariv, in March 2008 the Israeli authorities issued a new directive enabling Israeli forces to open fire directly on Palestinians who try to demonstrate near the wall, unless internationals or Israelis are amongst demonstrators.

The construction of the annexation wall and Israeli only roads around Ni’lin will separate the village from 40% of it’s land and see a total loss of 85% of the village’s land since 1948.

Family resists house occupation during demonstration in Jayyous

The residents of Jayyous march towards the site of the Apartheid Wall.

On January 23rd, a demonstration against Israel’s apartheid wall in the village of Jayyous, was once again met with repression from the Israeli Army. Israeli soldiers and border police shot tear gas, rubber and live bullets at villagers during the weekly demonstration. At least four people, including a pregnant woman, were treated for tear gas inhalation. The army occupied two homes and used the roofs to shoot at youth. However, a family in a third home, supported by international solidarity activists, successfully prevented the army from entering the building.

Army jeeps entered Jayyous several hours before the demonstration began. The mayor of the village also received a phone call from the area commander, who him that if villagers marched to the south gate in the wall, they would be shot with live ammunition. Despite this intimidation, several hundred Jayyous residents, supported by Israeli and international solidarity activists, marched towards the gate waving Palestinian flags and chanting slogans against the occupation.

The crowd’s path was soon blocked by two jeeps and more than a dozen soldiers and border police. After a ten minute

Confrontation between non-violent protesters and the Israeli army

stand-off, several youth began to throw stones. The army then began firing rubber bullets, tear gas, and live ammunition at the boys. The clashes continued in the village for several hours after soldiers entered the village from three different areas.

During this time, the army occupied the roofs of two houses, from which they fired at the demonstrators below. Residents of the occupied houses were prevented from leaving the buildings. Soldiers also attempted to enter a third house, but the family refused to let them in, and told the army to leave their property. The army withdrew from the village at around 7:30pm.

Israeli army occupy a Palestinian house to shoot at protesters

Two shot with live ammunition at Ni´lin prayer demonstration

January 23, 2009

On Friday, 23 January 2009, the residents of Ni’lin gathered with international and Israeli solidarity activists in their continued resistance against construction of the Apartheid Wall. Around 100 demonstrators participated in the weekly Friday prayer demonstration, a gesture of protest to the annexation of Ni’lin’s land and apartheid policies towards the Palestinian people. The Israeli army responded to the non-violent manifestation by invading the village and injuring 15 people, two with live ammunition.

Around 12.00, residents prayed next to the clinic. Immediately afterwards, the demonstrators marched through the olive grove, towards the site where the Occupation is building the Apartheid wall. Protesters were attacked by Israeli soldiers with tear gas, rubber and plastic coated steel bullets. After 20 minutes of shooting at the demonstrators in the olive groves, the army invaded the village.

The soldiers invaded the village from the main road and the olive groves taking up several positions in the town. Soldiers were stationed at the clinic and main street, marching to the town centre. They fired tear gas, rubber-coated steal bullets, sound bombs and live ammunition from inside the village, endangering the community. Two were shot in the leg with live ammunition and required medical attention.

The whole town was affected by the military incursion, forcing people to take shelter from the attack in their homes and shops. Teargas landed in many places in the town away from any demonstrators and one person by a tear gas canister that hit his head. Soldiers were targeting houses and nearly created a catastrophe by shooting next to the petrol station. Soldiers in the main street used speakers to make a high pitched alarm, known as the ‘scream’, to panic and disorientate the demonstrators and later they played classical music as they shot at people. Additionally, soldiers occupied the medical centre and removed the Palestinian flags at Arafat and Mohamed al Khawadja’s graves (two youths murdered by the occupation forces during a solidarity with Gaza demonstration in Ni’lin).

The demonstration ended around 4:30pm when the army withdrew from the town after injuring over 15 people. This is the fourth consecutive occasion where the army has aggressively occupied the town of Ni’lin during the demonstration: a means of collective punishment on the entire village of Ni’lin for the resistance to the Apartheid Wall.

Huge demonstration in Hebron in solidarity with Gaza

Another massive demonstration occurred in the Abu Sneineh neighborhood of Hebron on Friday. This marked the third consecutive weekly demonstration protesting the Israeli occupation and the atrocities in Gaza. The crowd numbered around 2500 people, somewhat smaller than the two previous weeks when the Israeli attack on Gaza was in progress.

The demonstration began after the Friday prayers at the Wasaya mosque in the Abu Sneineh neighborhood. Israeli police and soldiers had erected roadblocks around the area prior to the demonstration in an attempt to limit access to the protestors.

Seven Palestinians were arrested including two directly charged with stone throwing. Israeli soldiers entered several Palestinian residences and took up positions on rooftops to shoot at the demonstrators.

There were 20 injuries reported requiring medical intervention including 15 people suffering from tear gas inhalation, 4 people shot with rubber coated steel bullets, and one man seriously injured by a dum dum (exploding) live bullet. This man was shot in the upper leg, fragmenting the bone in several places and destroying all of the muscle tissue in the area of the wound. He was transferred from the local hospital to Al-Mizaan Hospital in Hebron.

Despite the lower numbers of protestors this week, the demonstration was successful in forcing a retreat of the Israeli forces in several instances, including the stopping of an advance of Israeli jeeps with a massive barrage of stones thrown from the street and from the surrounding rooftops.

Israeli forces fired large amounts of tear gas and rubber coated bullets and some live ammunition. Some of the tear gas canisters were of the type that have been used in recent weeks at Ni’lin village and other locations. These canisters are much heavier and of a much higher velocity than the normal canisters, posing a risk of serious injury or death to anyone hit directly by a canister.

On the previous Friday, a 17 year old man was killed by Israeli soldiers during the demonstration in the Abu Sneineh area of Hebron.