3rd April, 2015 | Miguel Hernández | Khuza’a, Gaza, Occupied Palestine
As soon as we arrived at the land where the farmers wanted to work, about 80 meters from the zionist fence which borders and cuts of the Gaza Strip, an Israeli occupation military jeep stopped in front of us. A group of soldiers left the car and started shooting while cowardly hiding behind a sand mound. From the first moment we used our speaker to let the soldiers know that there were just farmers working, that we were all civilians. After staying there for a few minutes shooting and shouting bad words to the farmers, such as “sharmuta” (bitch), they jumped again on the jeep and left.
Some people from the village came to ask the farmers to go home; they said it was too dangerous. The farmers didn’t listen and luckily they could finish their work without more trouble.
When we were almost done another family approached us and asked if one of us could go with them to a piece of land they have near where we were, at about 50 meters from the fence. We said yes and one of us left with them. The family were terrified the entire time, repeatedly asking us if there would be no problems. We could only tell, that hopefully not.
Israeli Zionist military tower overlooking the farm fields of Khuza’a – photo by Rina Andolini
Once all the work was done and we were leaving the land, two of the youngest farmers explained to us how the father of one of them was killed in the last aggression, along with the brother of the other. They were killed by a rocket along with 4 other people.
During all the journey we could see, on the far side of the fence, the farmers from the nearby kibbutz working peacefully with their modern vehicles, tractors and even airplanes, while the Palestinian farmers locked in Gaza have to work only with their hands, almost lying in the ground, hiding from the zionist bullets and wondering if they will get killed today.
In less than two months the harvest season will commence, and hundreds of peasants will leave their homes ready to risk their lives in their attempts to harvest the crops that are supposed to feed their families. This year they are more afraid than ever, due to the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip by Israel and Egypt. It has been impossible to enter Gaza for most of the international activists that would accompany them and serve as witnesses and protective presence.
Farmlands early in the morning in Khuza’a, Gaza – photo by Rina Andolini
31st March | Rina Andolini | Khuza’a, Occupied Palestine
This is what conversations in Gaza consist of: I asked, “When they are shooting, what’s the best thing to do?”
“Get down on the ground,” he answered, “and move away quick as you can.”
It was a stupid question; I knew the answer. I guess I was hoping for a response that would ensure 100% safety for the farmers, and for myself, but of course no such answer exists.
I am not an expert bullet dodger, if such a thing even exists. If you are a farmer here in Gaza, it is a good idea to become one, as the Israeli military is always shooting. Yet how do you actually avoid bullets? The truth is, you cannot. You just hope for the best.
On Saturday, March 28, the Israeli forces shot a lot at the farmers in Khuza’a. No one could know exactly where the shots were coming from; no one knew where they were aiming, or whether anyone would be hit. Thankfully, that day no one was hurt.
The Israeli military jeeps are clear to be seen, but many soldiers were also hiding in the watch towers and shooting from there. Israeli forces fired at least 25 to 30 shots in a span of two hours.
When the first shots were fired, the farmers moved back as much as possible; as soon the shooting stopped, they returned to the lands where they were working. Then you get used to it, and continue. Where in the world do you have to get used to being shot at while farming?
There were three of us: Miguel, Valeria, and myself. It is not enough. In twenty days, full farming season will begin in Gaza, and we will need to go out every morning. The farmers need more than just three internationals to document the violations committed by the Israeli occupation military at the borders.
What the farmers really need is to be able to work on their land in peace, without feeling threatened. They need to be able to work without risking losing their lives.
We were 50 meters away from the border when they shot at us that morning. The Israeli military can clearly see everything that is happening – farming, and nothing more. So why do they still shoot?
Gazan farmer going about his work in Khuza’a – photo by Rina Andolini
Does the man in this photo look like he is doing anything but farming?
30th March 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah team | Nabi Saleh, Occupied Palestine
On the 28th of March 2015, close to 200 protesters from all over the West Bank gathered in Nabi Saleh to protest the occupation in commemoration of Land Day. The protest was met with extreme violence as the Army and Border Police fired large amounts of tear gas and rubber-coated metal bullets as well as several rounds of M16 live ammunition at the protesters.
On March 30th 1976 a general strike and marches were arranged all over Palestinian cities within present-day Israel from the Naqab to the Galilee. The actions were a response to the Israeli Government’s expropriation of thousands of dunums of Palestinian land. During the actions six unarmed Palestinian citizens of Israel were killed, 100 wounded and hundreds more arrested. It was the first time since 1948 that the Palestinians within the borders Israel declared 1948 organised as a Palestinian national collective and the date is commemorated yearly with a series of protest all over Palestine. This year the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh marked Land Day on Saturday, the 28th of March.
Around 12 pm on Saturday, protesters from all over the West Bank, from Hebron to Kafr Qaddum, gathered in the village of Nabi Saleh. The demonstration was a local protest in commemoration of Land Day and of the two villagers Mustafa Tamimi and Rushdi Tamimi, who were murdered by the Israeli occupation soldiers.
Poster displayed at the rally before the march, showing the two residents of Nabi Saleh who have been killed by Israeli forces since protests in the village began – photo by Tamimi Press https://www.facebook.com/Tamimipresspage
After midday prayer protesters made their way down a main road of Nabi Saleh chanting and singing. On the outskirts of the village nine army and border police jeeps was gathered and as the demonstrators approached the road the about 60 soldiers and police rained tear gas on the unarmed protesters. Several people suffered from severe tear gas inhalation as the military pushed them back into the village.
Protesters chanting slogans against the occupation and marching down the road in Nabi Saleh, before the Israeli military opened fire with tear gas – photo by Tamimi Press
Undeterred by the initial choking barrage of tear gas, protesters marched towards the military once again, this time cutting across the farmland and fields outside the village. Many youths remaining on the hillside and threw stones and tear gas back towards the military.
Palestinian youth standing behind a wall of tear gas in Nabi Saleh. The illegal Israeli settlement of Hallamish is visible beyond the tear gas – photo by ISM
Israeli forces overpowered and arrested one unarmed Palestinian activist, as they continued to shoot tear gas up the into the hills. Israeli forces also threw stun grenades at unarmed Palestinians, international and Israeli activists. “They attacked me twice with stun grenades for no reason,” recalled one Palestinian photographer at the scene.
As the protest continued in the hills around Nabi Saleh protesters gathered again and threw back a large number of the tear gas canisters still being rained down on them by the army and border police. By resisting the tear gas and throwing the canisters back towards the military themselves the protesters managed to push the soldiers and police back down the hills towards the village gate. Here they took cover behind their jeeps, unable to disperse the demonstration.
Photo by Tamimi Press
As the protest continued the soldiers began firing rubber coated metal bullets at the protesters who took cover behind stones and trees as the bullets jumped off the road between them. The bullets came repeatedly and several protesters were hit and carried from the scene.
As demonstrators ducked from the rubber coated steel bullets the sound of M16’s began to fill the air as soldiers fired towards Palestinian protesters, children, internationals and journalists on the hill with live ammunition. However, the protest continued for about half an our longer until the military got back in their jeeps and moved back towards the checkpoint at the outskirts of the village.
After most of the demonstrators had returned to the village, some gathered and continued the protest on a hillside in Nabi Saleh, above the valley where several soldiers had stood watching the protest. The Israeli forces once again opened fire with live ammunition. Fifteen M16 bullets ricocheted of the stones on the ground very close to the protesters, landing near children, women and a photographer but fortunately not hitting anyone.
The Land Day protests continue all over the West Bank throughout the week.
23th March 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah Team | Ni’lin, Occupied Palestine
On the 20th of March, during Ni’lin’s weekly Friday demonstration, Israeli occupation forces attacked protestors with about 20 rounds of tear gas canisters shot with the ‘venom’ tear gas launcher mounted on a military jeep (which can launch up to thirty rounds of tear gas before needing to be reloaded), countless rubber-coated steel bullets and approximately one hundred rounds of live ammunition. One Israeli activist was shot in the ankle and one Palestinian boy was injured in the leg, both with rubber-coated steel bullets. Many protestors suffered from tear gas inhalation.
Even before the demonstration started, Israeli occupation forces shot several rounds of tear gas grenades boys in the fields close to the village’s school. An Israeli activist documenting this aggression was shot in the ankle with a rubber-coated steel bullet and was treated at the scene by paramedics.
After the noon prayer, the protestors started their peaceful march in the direction of the apartheid wall and the illegal settlement of Hashmon’im, but were violently stopped by Israeli forces – initially with four rounds of tear gas shot with the venom, each round simultaneously shooting 10 tear gas canisters. In order to stop protestors from regathering and continuing their march after the thick clouds of tear gas had disappeared, Israeli forces used more rounds of the venom alongside rubber-coated steel bullets, pushing the demonstration back towards the village. One round of the venom was fired in close proximity to the village’s residential area. Most of the protestors suffered from tear gas inhalation. A 15-year old boy was shot with a close-range rubber-coated steel bullet that penetrated his leg. He was evacuated to a hospital, treated and released the same evening. The Israeli military continued shooting tear gas grenades towards the village even after the protestors had left.
At the same time a group of Palestinian youth approached the fence that forms part of the Apartheid barrier separating Ni’lin from lands belonging to the village, close to the illegal Hashmon’im settlement built on Ni’lin’s lands. Without being noticed by the Israeli forces at first, the group cut a big hole into the fence, before they were attacked by countless rounds of live ammunition shot at them by the Israeli military. The shooting of tear gas grenades and live ammunition at the group of youngsters continued until they returned to the village.
21st March 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah Team | Nabi Saleh, Occupied Palestine
Israeli forces arrested three women in Nabi Saleh and injured several protesters, one with live ammunition, during the village’s weekly Friday protest on March 13.
The demonstration was met with the usual military violence as Israeli forces threw stun grenades and fired live ammunition at unarmed and peaceful protesters. After Friday prayers about forty Palestinian protesters together with international and Israeli activists marched down the main road towards the military tower and checkpoint at the entrance to the village, which Israeli forces had closed before the protest. Within less than five minutes the Israeli military fired the first of many rounds of tear gas canisters. The protesters continued regardless and were meet by a line of Israeli soldiers whose use of unnecessary physical violence and many stun grenades resulted in multiple injuries.
Israeli forces threw stun grenades at nonviolent demonstrators gathered in the streetThis young girl from Nabi Saleh faced an Israeli border policeman after being hit in the head in a confrontation with Israeli forces. Behind her illegal an illegal Israeli settlement occupied the hill beside Nabi Saleh.
Israeli forces threatened Nabi Saleh children, who walked down the road nearer to the closed gate. One young girl was hit with a rifle in the stomach and the head; she went to the hospital for treatment. Two Palestinian women – Bushra Tamimi and Shireen al-Araj – and Israeli activist Tali Shapiro were arrested and dragged away by Israeli forces.
Girls from Nabi Saleh confronted heavily armed Israeli soldiersIsraeli forces pursuing the children in Nabi SalehIsraeli forces arrested protesters after they sat down across the street
The violence escalated near the end of the protest; Israeli forces used live .22 caliber ammunition and shot a young Palestinian in the lower leg. The bullet missed the bone, and he will likely recover soon.
Israeli forces shot a young protester in Nabi Saleh in the leg with live ammunition.
The village of Nabi Saleh has been demonstrating against the theft of its natural spring by the occupation since 2009. Israeli authorities have violently suppressed the weekly Friday protests since their inception – in the last few months alone, several villagers have been shot in the leg with live ammunition. Since the actions began, two people have been killed in the village – Mustafa Tamimi and Rushdi Tamimi; many others have been seriously injured. Despite the Israeli forces’ severe repression, the people of Nabi Saleh continue to fight against the brutal military occupation.
Israeli forces released Tali Shapiro on the night of March 13, and Shireen al-Araj the following day. Bushra Tamimi was released on the evening of March 15 after paying 2000 NIS bail.
