Tag: Live Ammunition - Page 27 - International Solidarity Movement

More Palestinian teenagers shot by the Israeli military

12th January 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus team | Burin, Occupied Palestine

On Saturday, January 10th, Palestinian youths went out to play in the snow on Al-Sabeh Mountain in east Burin. A group of Israeli settlers approached the village as if to attack it, and clashes erupted between them and the youth. Israeli soldiers arrived on the scene and protected the attacking settlers. They shot two Palestinian youths, Mohammed Zacharia (15) and Abbas Jamal (18).

Abbas Jamal’s father Jamal Asous, director of the Nur Shams refugee camp through UNRWA, spoke with ISM. He said that Zacharia’s brother, 18, has also been wounded in clashes with settlers twice and now might face three years in an Israeli prison. He also showed where Jamal was injured in his other leg in 2013 and had to have surgery – a large scar remains to testify of the ordeal. Having injuries in both legs is disastrous for Jamal, given he is studying to be a land surveyor.

Abbas Jamal, 18, with his father Jamal Asous (photo by ISM).

Violent attacks on Palestinians have become far too common throughout the West Bank. In the past few weeks, Israeli soldiers have shot several shepherds in Aqraba and fired volumes of tear gas at young schoolchildren in Hebron; settlers also attacked a 12-year-old in Nablus. As Asous conveyed in the hospital, children should be able to play, study and go about their lives freely without the constant threat of violence. It is their right.

UPDATED: Palestinians continue the struggle against the Adei Ad outpost

20th December 2014 | International Solidarity Movement | Turmusaya, Occupied Palestine

Update 22 December:

Palestinian activists Mohammed Khatib and Jaffar Hamayel, both arrested on December 19 while peacefully demonstrating in Turmusaya, were released today, December 22, on bail of 7500 shekel each.

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Hundreds of Palestinian children, women, and men gathered at Turmusaya on Friday December 19th to complete the tree planting began by Palestinian Authority minister Ziad Abu Ein, who was killed by Israeli soldiers on Wednesday December 10th.

“Ziad was planning to plant olive trees on private Palestinian land near the illegal outpost of Adei Ad, but was violently prevented from reaching the site by the Israeli military who assaulted and killed him. We thought that after killing the minister, yesterday the military would allow us to plant trees peacefully but we found the same soldiers prepared to use even more violence against us,” Said human rights defender Abdullah Abu Rahmah.

“Despite the occupation forces’ violence, we planted trees in the place where Ziad had planned to plant them. Despite their violence, we will continue to struggle with the farmers whose land is stolen and the farmers who are prevented from cultivating their land by the occupation. ” Abu Rahmah was injured by a stun grenade that was thrown directly at him while he was planting an olive tree.

After praying near the spot where the minister was stopped by the army, protesters with olive trees climbed the hill to the site where Abu Ein had intended to plant trees. They began planting under a barrage of tear gas, stun grenades, and beatings by Israeli border police.

Two Palestinian activists, Mohammed Khatib and Jaffar Hamayel, Israeli citizen and ISM co-founder Neta Golan, and US citizen and activist Danika Padilla, were all violently arrested.

Danika Padilla, to the left, and Neta Golan as they are arrested.

In another area of the protest, youths responded to the military assault with stones as the army sprayed demonstrators with putrid water known as “skunk”, fired rubber-coated steel bullets and .22 caliber live ammunition. Many demonstrators suffered severe tear gas inhalation and two Palestinians sustained leg injuries from the .22 bullets.

The four arrested activists were taken to the Binyamin settlement police station. Neta and Danika were released in the early hours of this morning. Mohammed and Jaffar have been charged with assaulting and disturbing the border police and rioting after being told to disperse. They were taken to the Russian Compound police station in West Jerusalem where they remained in detention until their court date at Ofer military court.

Jaffar Hamayel

Journalist most recent victim of Israeli military violence at Kufr Qaddum

9th December 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus team | Kufr Qaddum, Occupied Palestine

Bashar, a journalist from Palestine TV, was shot in the left leg at Kufr Qaddum on Friday the 5^th of December 2014.

The weekly demonstration aims to highlight the issue of the road that has been closed to Kafr Qaddum and demands for it to be reopened. The road is closed to Palestinians but connects several illegal Israeli settlements nearby. The road was once the Palestinians’ main route to the villages of Jit and Sarra, and to the city of Nablus. Residents of Kafr Qaddum and nearby villages must now use a 14 kilometer detour on badly paved roads through olive groves. This proves especially problematic in emergency situations when ambulances are trying to get patients to Nablus hospital. Kafr Qaddum villagers state that several people have died because of the longer ambulance trip.

Bashar has been going to the Kafr Qaddum demonstrations since they began four years ago. This particular one was a special demonstration in solidarity with Patrick, an Italian activist who was shot in the chest with a .22 caliber bullet the Friday before. The demonstration began peacefully with people holding Italian and Palestinian flags. A skunk water truck, a renowned demonstration repression technique, sprayed the people who were peacefully holding flags right at the beginning of the protest. Within ten minutes, Bashar had been shot in his left leg by an Israeli sniper.

The bullet used to shoot Bashar was an expanding bullet, often called a “dum-dum”. International law has declared their use illegal in war because they are so destructive. Bashar was shot by a sniper with a weapon that is only supposed to be used when soldiers are at mortal risk and skunk water, tear gas, rubber bullets, rubber coated steel bullets, and other nonlethal weapons have all proved ineffective. This is supposed to be the last weapon soldiers use before they shoot to kill with M16s. Witnesses say that Bashar was filming as he usually did when he was shot. He was no threat to the soldiers at all. Witnesses say that there were no people in front or behind him throwing stones.

Bashar was taken by ambulance to Nablus hospital. The X-ray showed that the dum-dum bullet did as it was designed to, breaking into many pieces when it entered his leg.

Bashar had an operation on the 6^th of December, the day after he was shot, to take out most of the bullet fragments.

Doctors have decided to leavein some pieces for the time being because they are very close to veins and would be dangerous to remove. Bashar will be bed bound for two weeks until the decision is made, but his condition remains stable.

Within one week at Kufr Qaddum, three people were shot with lethal, live ammunition—two with .22 caliber bullets and one with a dum-dum. One was a journalist, another an international peace activist. None of them were any threat to the soldiers. So why, then, were they shot at? To create fear for all the people who are in solidarity with the Palestinians and who want to tell the world the story of what is happening here? To physically stop peaceful resistance using the most extreme repression techniques?

It will not work. Patrick and many other international, Palestinian and Israeli activists will continue to nonviolently resist the confiscation of their lands in Kufr Qaddum each week. Bashar will continue to report their stories to the world. The unnecessary use of violent repression techniques will only continue to delegitimize the illegal occupation of the Palestinian people.

More Palestinian protesters shot with .22 live ammunition

6th December 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah team | Nabi Saleh, Occupied Palestine

Yesterday, Israeli soldiers invaded Nabi Saleh during the Palestinian village’s weekly Friday demonstration and shot one young Palestinian in the leg with .22 caliber live ammunition. The soldiers also fired tear gas canisters at demonstrators, along with more rounds of the .22 live caliber bullets.

Screen shot 2014-12-06 at 21.44.20 — http://schwarczenberg.com/

“At one point, after the boy had been shot, a soldier fired three tear gas canisters straight at internationals and Palestinians who were just standing there, trying to see what was going on up the road,” recalled one ISM activist present at the scene. “He [the soldier] was quite close to us, and could easily see that no one was throwing any stones. The canisters landed no more than a few meters away.”

The young Palestinian who was shot is between seventeen and eighteen years old; he was rushed away from the scene and taken to a hospital for treatment. Nabi Saleh has been suffering from a spate of violence recently at the hands of Israeli forces, who shot three Palestinians including 38-year-old Nariman Tamimi at a demonstration two weeks ago and 14-year-old Ahmed Barghouti last Friday.

The Kufr Qaddum weekly demonstrations have been met with similar violence. Last week a Palestinian youth and an Italian ISM volunteer were both shot with .22 live ammunition in the chest. During yesterday’s protest a Palestinian journalist was shot in the leg with a .22 live bullet.

https://www.facebook.com/AlMasira.KufurKaddom

UPDATED: 18-year-old Palestinian and ISM volunteer both shot in the chest with .22 live ammunition

28th November 2014 | International Solidarity Movement | Kufr Qaddum, Occupied Palestine

Update 12th December:

The Italian activist know as Patrick is returning today to demonstrate in Kufr Qaddum.

Patrick at Kufr Qaddum shortly before he was shot.

Last Friday, while Patrick was still hospitalised, the residents of Kufr Qaddum flew Palestinian and Italian flags in solidarity.

Photo from Kufr Qaddum facebook page: http://tinyurl.com/olqb4sk

Patrick required surgery to remove the bullet from his chest and was released from hospital several days ago. Since his release, he attended an olive tree planting demonstration at Turmusaya on the 10th of December where Palestinian Authority Minister Ziad Abu Ein was killed by an Israeli soldier.

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During the weekly Kufr Qaddum protest today, an 18-year-old Palestinian demonstrator, and an ISM volunteer, were both shot in the chest with .22 live ammunition.

Olmo receiving treatment from paramedics in the ambulance on the way to hospital. — Patrick receiving treatment from paramedics in the ambulance on the way to hospital.

The Italian activist, known as Patrick, was wearing a yellow high visibility jacket when he was shot.

11 Palestinian demonstrators were wounded at the Kufr Qaddum protest. 18-year-old Sami Jumma was shot twice with live ammunition, once in the hand and once in the chest. He required surgery and is now in a stable condition. The remaining 10 injured protesters were shot with rubber-coated steel bullets and four required hospital treatment. One of whom was a 10-year-old child, although all four have now been discharged.

“We were standing with a group of Palestinian demonstrators when Patrick was shot. The military had fired three rounds of tear gas, and then a shot rang out an Patrick stumbled back. There was between five and ten minutes from the last tear gas canister fired and the bullet that shot Patrick. He was just standing there, peacefully protesting, wearing a hi-viz jacket, he wasn’t doing anything and they just decided to shoot him.” Stated an ISM activist present at Kufr Qaddum.

Patrick is currently stable, the bullet entered through his chest and it is now lodged in his chest cavity, he remains in hospital under observation.

In 2003, Israeli forces closed the road connecting Kufr Qaddum with the city of Nablus, and since then at least three people have died due to the increased travel time to the closest hospital. A journey that used to take 10 minutes now takes over 30. In 2011, Kufr Qaddum began their weekly demonstrations.

Ally Cohen, ISM media coordinator said, “The bullet entered Patrick’s chest near a main blood vessel, but thankfully did not puncture it. If God forbid it had, the lengthened journey to the hospital because of the closed road could have cost Patrick his life.”