Tag: Injury - Page 4 - International Solidarity Movement

UPDATED: 22-year-old man shot with live ammunition and 10-year-old boy shot with rubber coated steel bullet in Nabi Saleh

17th July 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah Team | Nabi Saleh, Occupied Palestine

Update 21th July: Mahmoud Tamimi was released from hospital and needs to stay at home to complete his recovery.

Update 19th July: Mahmoud Tamimi is still recovering at the hospital. The injury in his leg is still open due to artery bleeding and will require stitches today.

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On Tuesday, clashes between residents of Nabi Saleh and Israeli forces resulted in one boy injured with a rubber coated steel bullet in the leg and a man injured with live ammunition, also in the leg. The latter underwent surgery and is still recovering at Ramallah hospital.

Mahmoud Tamimi being carried away after he was shot (Photo by Tamimi Press)

Yesterday in the evening, just before Iftar (breaking of the fast), confrontations between Israeli forces and Palestinian youths from Nabi Saleh erupted. Israeli forces shot tear gas canisters, rubber coated steel bullets and live ammunition at villagers, resulting in two people injured.

Mahmoud Tamimi, 22 years old, was shot with a live ammunition bullet in the leg when he was trying to help Mohammad Tamimi, 10 years old, who had been shot with a rubber coated steel bullet in the leg while standing on the hill side where the confrontations were taking place.

After he was shot, Israeli soldiers prevented villagers from aiding Mahmoud and evacuating him to hospital. Bilal Tamimi, a villager who went to the scene to document what was happening, was beaten up and had his camera broken by Israeli soldiers.

Mohammad and Mahmoud were eventually taken to Ramallah hospital. Mahmoud underwent surgery and is still at the hospital while Mohammad was released yesterday and is currently recovering at home.

The village of Nabi Saleh has been demonstrating against the theft of their natural spring and the occupation since December 2009. Israeli forces violently suppress the weekly Friday protests by shooting tear gas canisters, skunk water, sound bombs, rubber coated steel bullets and even live ammunition at protesters. Two people have been killed, Mustafa and Rushdi Tamimi, and many others severely injured. Bassem Tamimi, Mohammad’s father, has spent 17 months in Israeli jails, merely for being a prominent activist at the protests. Nariman Tamimi, his wife and Mohammad’s mother, was arrested at a demonstration on the 28^th of June. She spent three days in jail and was accused of entering a closed military zone. Nariman is currently on partial house arrest on Fridays and has the next military court hearing in September.

Israeli soldiers preventing people from aiding Mohammad Tamimi after he was shot (Photo by Tamimi Press) — Israeli soldiers preventing people from aiding Mahmoud Tamimi after he was shot (Photo by Tamimi Press)

Mahmoud Tamimi receiving medical aid before he was evacuated by ambulance (Photo by Tamimi Press) — Mahmoud Tamimi receiving medical aid before being evacuated by ambulance (Photo by Tamimi Press)

Photo essay: Israeli activist injured with a rubber-coated steel bullet at Nabi Saleh demonstration

19th July 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah Team | Nabi Saleh, Occupied Palestine

Today, around fifty Palestinians together with Israeli and international activists marched from the centre of Nabi Saleh down the main road towards the stolen spring.

Protesters made barricades of burning tyres to prevent Israeli forces from raiding the village.

Soon after that, several Israeli border police officers appeared behind a house on the right side of the main road and started shooting rubber coated steel bullets at protesters.

More Israeli border police then arrived at the bottom of the main road, running towards protesters and shooting more rubber coated steel bullets.

An Israeli woman activist was shot in her upper thigh with a rubber coated steel bullet from close range and had to be taken to hospital in Tel Aviv. She underwent a very minor surgery to get the bullet removed and will remain in hospital until Sunday.

Israeli forces continued shooting rubber coated steel bullets and tear gas canisters from various locations inside the village.

According to a resident of Nabi Saleh, yesterday night at around 3am, an Israeli bulldozer was working in the spring. Settlers from Halamish also went to the spring to talk to the soldiers. Palestinian youths went to the hilltop in front of this area to see what was happening and verbal confrontations between settlers and them erupted. Israeli forces, defending the settlers as usual, shot several tear gas canisters at Palestinians.

Previously this week, on Tuesday, clashes between residents of Nabi Saleh and Israeli forces erupted in the same spot where Rushdi Tamimi was shot last November. Israeli forces shot rubber coated steel bullets and injured Mohammed Tamimi (10) in the leg. Mahmoud Tamimi (22) was then shot with live ammunition also in the leg. Read the full report here.

Video- Journalists’ protest violently supressed by Israeli forces at Qalandiya checkpoint

18th July 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah Team | Qalandiya, Occupied Palestine

Yesterday, around 150 Palestinian journalists protested at Qalandiya checkpoint demanding freedom of movement for journalists. Israeli forces violently suppressed the demonstration by throwing sound bombs and shooting rubber coated steel bullets at journalists, resulting in five people injured.

At 12am, journalists arrived on buses from across the West Bank, gathering at Qalandiya checkpoint to protest against the restriction of movement and the lack of recognition of their international press cards by Israel.

Palestinian journalists showing their International press cards (Photo by ISM)

More participants gradually arrived at the roundabout where the rally was taking place. Journalists sang chants demanding freedom of movement for journalists. One journalist said: “we are journalists recognized by the International Federation of Journalists and hold international press cards but we cannot exercise our job freely. Israel does not allow us to work in Jerusalem or Haifa while Israeli journalists can work everywhere”.

Israeli border police officers soon arrived at the roundabout and started to violently push protesters backwards, throwing sound bombs directly at demonstrators. Although the crowd dispersed, the journalists soon rallied again, continuing chanting and protesting. Once again, Israeli border police, now joined by soldiers, pushed back the crowd throwing more sound bombs and then shooting rubber coated steel bullets from a short distance.

Steadfast demonstrators remained at the roundabout for ten more minutes until at around 12:45pm, the protest was finished. Five people suffered minor injuries from sound bombs thrown at their feet and were treated by medical personnel at the scene.

Palestinian journalists are constantly targeted by Israeli forces. According to the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms, during the first six months of 2013, there were 78 occasions where Israeli forces attacked Palestinian media in the form of physical abuse, arrest, detention, prevention from coverage, and prosecution.

Mousa Rimawi, general director of MADA, stated at a MADA press conference in Ramallah two days ago:

“Media freedoms status in Occupied Palestine still raises concerns in terms of the numbers and types of violations committed against Palestinian journalists. Violations against Palestinian journalists are one of the highest globally, and are life-threatening, where the Palestinian journalists are concerned for their life and safety, especially those who cover peaceful demonstrations and the popular resistance activities against the occupation, settlement, and the apartheid wall. Regardless of the threat, Palestinian journalists never back down and continue to exercise their profession and duty, and they have earned many appreciations and awards”

“The Israeli Occupation insistence to continue its attacks on media freedoms is due to its desire to blur the truth and hide its constant attacks on the Palestinian people’s rights is a main reason for the increase of its violations against media freedoms during the past years. Another reason for this increase is the official International community forgiving attitude towards the continues and rising Israeli violations against media freedoms”

Israeli Border Police officer pushing back a journalist (Photo by ISM)

Israeli forces throwing sound bombs at journalists (Photo by ISM)

High Court orders state: Reopen probe of U.S. citizen wounded in West Bank protest

10th July 2013 | Haaretz | Jerusalem

Court responding to petition charging that nobody questioned the Border Police soldier who fired the tear-gas canister that cracked Tristan Anderson’s skull in 2009.

Israel’s High Court of Justice on Wednesday ordered investigators to reopen their probe into the incident of a Border Police officer who shot a tear-gas canister at an American citizen in the West Bank in 2009, after the state acceded to a petition on the matter.

The court was responding to a petition purporting to uncover flaws in the West Bank district police’s probe of the incident, which occurred during a protest at the West Bank village of Na’alin.

The petition states that investigators never visited the village and questioned only a small number of the Border Police troops who were involved. It also claims that it is not clear whether the police officer who fired the tear gas canister was ever questioned.

The incident took place on March 13, 2009. After Friday prayers, residents of Na’alin began a protest march against construction of a section of the separation barrier on the village’s land. Also participating in the march were Israeli and foreign citizens – including Tristan Anderson, 38, an American citizen.

Anderson, a left-wing activist and photographer who has published reports of his travels throughout the world, was documenting the demonstration in Na’alin.
When the marchers reached the separation barrier, a clash developed with Israeli forces. Border Police troops used crowd-control methods, including tear-gas grenades.

As far as is known, Anderson was not among the demonstrators. But as he stood in the rear courtyard of the village mosque, observing what was happening, he was struck in the head by a tear-gas canister that smashed his skull, causing severe brain damage that affects him to this day, the petition claims.

The description of the event suggests that the canister was fired against regulations. Under the regulations in effect at the time – and today as well – security troops may not fire tear-gas canisters directly at demonstrators.

In an investigative report that ran in Haaretz’s weekend supplement after the incident, a Border Police soldier said that often, the Border Police troops “don’t fire the tear gas at the proper range” and that their training is “not serious”. Indeed, in recent years, several demonstrators have been struck by tear-gas canisters. Two of them, Bassem Ibrahim Abu Rahma of Bil’in and Mustafa Tamimi of Nebi Sallah, died as a result.

The West Bank district police investigated the events of that day. But the petition, which was submitted by Anderson’s parents and the non-governmental organization Yesh Din, states that the police questioned only the commander and three members of the Border Police company that operated in the village — even though the company commander testified explicitly that at least three teams, deployed in various locations, had been operating in the village that day.

This is a significant issue since the troops who were questioned had been deployed in a certain position which, according to various testimonies, was not the position from which Anderson was struck.

The Border Police troops’ testimony indicates that had struck a demonstrator – but from their description and the place where they were deployed, it seems the demonstrator they struck was not Anderson. It was someone else who was wounded that day.

According to the petition, that other injury of a demonstrator was never investigated by the police.

In addition, material in the investigation file indicates that the detectives of the West Bank district police never went to the village to examine the location first-hand.

In December 2009, the State Prosecutor’s Office announced that the investigation of the West Bank district police was over and the case would be closed. Two appeals subsequently filed did lead to some supplemental work on the case, but in February 2012, a decision was made once more to close it.

The current petition was submitted in response to that decision.

No comment has yet been received from the West Bank district police.

Parents of Tristan Anderson, US activist critically wounded following West Bank protest, appeal to High Court of Israel

9th July 2013 | Justice for Tristan | Jerusalem

Parents of US Activist Critically Wounded Following West Bank Protest Appeal to High Court of Israel: The Police Investigation was Shockingly Negligent – Demand a Serious, Professional Investigation into the Shooting of their Son.

Tristan Anderson (41, of Oakland, CA) was severely wounded after having been shot in the head with a high velocity tear gas grenade* (made in the USA) fired by Israeli Border Police following a protest in the West Bank Village of Ni’lin, resulting in severe permanent brain damage and paralysis to half his body.

Attorneys for Anderson’s family, along with Israeli NGO Yesh Din, will appear before the Israeli High Court of Justice on Wednesday, JULY 10. The petition challenges the investigation that they claim was blatantly inadequate, with the identity of the shooter still being actively withheld to this day.

“Tristan will live the rest of his life with serious mental and physical limitations and chronic pain. This has devastated his life and profoundly affected our family forever,” said Nancy Anderson, Tristan’s mother.

No criminal charges have been brought against any police or military personnel involved in the 2009 shooting of their son. Video evidence uncovered during the course of an ongoing civil lawsuit (trial begins November 10, 2013 in Jerusalem for the civil suit) raises further questions on the credibility of State witnesses, who in contradiction to sworn testimony, are clearly seen shooting tear gas directly at protesters from close range in the video, which was taken earlier that day. The video also raises serious questions relating to the true locations of the various squads of Border Police present at the time of the shooting, with investigators opting only to question those squads that were on the other side of the town at the time the shooting occurred, while failing to question the squad that was stationed on the nearby hill where activist witnesses say the shots came from. As well, investigators failed to visit the scene of the shooting and made no attempts to collect physical evidence.

See “Perpetrators of the Shooting of Tristan Anderson”.

See “Aftermath of the shooting of Tristan Anderson Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 for further video.

Michael Sfard and Emily Schaeffer, attorneys for the Anderson family commented:

“The astonishing negligence of this investigation and of the prosecutorial team that monitored its outcome is unacceptable, but it epitomizes Israel’s culture of impunity. Tristan’s case is actually not rare; it represents hundreds of other cases of Palestinian victims whose investigations have also failed.”

Tristan joined the ranks of scores of other protesters who have been seriously injured or killed during demonstrations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories in recent years. On March 13, 2009 he was in Ni’alin demonstrating against the annexation of village lands to build the controversial “Separation Wall” when he was shot. Witnesses insist there was no stone throwing in his immediate surroundings at the time when he was shot, and that the shooting was “unexpected and unprovoked”.

“Tristan’s shooting is part of a pattern of deadly violence being used against protesters in the Occupied Territories, who are not recognized as having a fundamental right to political self-determination,” said Gabrielle Silverman, Tristan’s girlfriend, and a witness to his shooting. “We need real accountability and a high standard of human rights, but instead what we get is the military running cover for their soldiers.”

The family of Tristan Anderson is calling the investigation “a cover up and a sham”.

*Tristan Anderson was shot with a High Velocity Tear Gas grenade- sometimes also called “Extended Range Tear Gas”- which is manufactured by Combined Systems Inc in Jamestown, Pennsylvania.