Tag: Live Ammunition - Page 43 - International Solidarity Movement

Continued harrassment of the Nasser family in Madama

27 January 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Madama, Occupied Palestine

A month after unprovoked settler and army attacks, the victim of severe violence Mamun Nasser remains in Israeli prison. The arrest of yet another member of the Nasser family, Amir Nasser, shows Israeli army’s continued harassment in Madama.

On December 18th the notorious security guard charged with the protection of the illegal settlement of Yizhar, Jacob, attacked Mamun Nasser while he was tending to his flock of sheep in a hill outside the settlement. Mamun was handcuffed and beaten in front of his entire family, who desperately tried to intervene.

The Israeli army arrived on the scene, who responded by firing live ammunition on the Nasser family and others who tried to help, quickly ending their attempt to stop the vicious assault. One round passed through Mamun’s sisters clothing narrowly missing her while another one hit his brother, Amir, in the leg. His mother told us “They wanted to kill him [Amir]. I heard the officer giving that order. He was lucky that he was only shot in his leg.” Severely beaten, Mamun was then arrested and taken away by the Israeli military into custody. One month later he remains detained in Majdou Prison.

On January 23rd at 4 pm, the Israeli army followed up the harassment by raiding the Nasser family home in Madama, arresting Mamun’s brother Amir who was still recovering from the gunshot wound he received only a month prior. This is another episode in the continued harassment of villagers surrounding Yizhar which is described as the West Bank’s most violent settlement by the United Nations.

Video taken by settlers during the incident on December 18th

The broken truce

21 January 2013 | GazaStories, Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip, Occupied Palestine

A ceasefire was announced on 21st November, ending eight days of horrific bloodshed in Gaza. Has the delicate truce held over the past two months? It depends who you ask. Israelis or Gazans, each going about their daily lives on opposite sides of a border fence.

There has not been a single report of a rocket fired out of Gaza since 21st November. In contrast, four Palestinians have lost their lives and over 80 have been injured by Israeli forces since then. Yet these violations have received little or no coverage in the mainstream media. Palestinian civilians, whose only crime is to live in the border areas, are terrorized on a daily basis by the Israeli army. This is what everyday life under the ceasefire has meant for them.

Beit Lahiya, in the far north of the Gaza Strip is one such place. A week ago it saw the brutal murder of 20 year-old Mustafa Abu Jarad. Today, it was the site of another Israeli violation. Abdullah Marouf, 18, was in the west of Beit Lahiya, near the coast, when he was shot in the right leg by Israeli forces, fracturing both his tibia and fibula.

Abdullah Marouf in hospital. (Photo by Desde Palestina)

At about 9.00 on the morning of 21st January, Abdullah was in an area approximately 250 metres from the border fence, catching birds with his two brothers. A group of five or six Palestinians they were unaquainted with were also in the vicinity, closer to the fence than they were. Abdullah had been under the impression that he would be safe, however he noticed an Israeli soldier in a watchtower on the border and others on the ground. The soldiers began firing live ammunition towards them and Abdullah was shot.

Two local farmers brought him to Kamal Adwan hospital where surgeons performed percutaneous pinning of his lower leg which had sustained damage from an entry wound and a significantly larger exit wound. He requires subsequent surgery in a couple of months to fit internal wires. His recovery is estimated to take at least 12 months.

Abdullah, who is engaged to be married, had been working with his two brothers selling scrap metal. Now they will have to support a family of nine without his help. It is unsurprising that he expressed a lack of faith in the ceasefire agreement.

One can only expect that the Palestinian resistance has also lost faith and is fast losing patience. If a response is provoked it will appear to be in a vacuum – despite this being far from the case – due to the shameful silence maintained by the international community throughout the ongoing Israeli atrocities. It is for people of conscience to protest this injustice and prevent a further escalation of Israel’s attacks on Gaza.

Teenager dies following shooting in Bethlehem

23 January 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Bethlehem, Occupied Palestine

On Friday January 18th at approximately 3.20 pm, fifteen year old Saleh Elamareen was shot in the head by an Israeli soldier in Aida refugee camp, Bethlehem. Today Wednesday 23 January he was pronounced dead.

Salah Elamareen was outside the Lajee Refugee Centre when he was shot through the left forehead. The Centre lies some distance from the wall itself. At the time of the shooting eyewitnesses have said that protests were not happening, and that the people of Aida were simply watching the soldiers from afar. This is supported by video documentation of the incident, which shows a group of youth carrying Elamareen after he was shot.

Two of the doctors who treated Elamareen did not rule out previous rumours that he was shot with a dumdum bullet, due to the fragmentation of the bullet within his head. Another doctor has claimed it was definitely a dumdum bullet in his opinion.

Dumdum bullets expand after impact and are designed to cause maximum damage and pain. Due to the brutality of these bullets they are illegal under international law. Article 8 at the Review Conference of the Rome Statute in Kampala made the use of expanding bullets in non-international armed conflict a war crime. The Hague Convention also prohibits there use in international warfare. If the doctors are correct and a dumdum bullet was in-fact used, this would be another serious violation of international laws and standards by Israel.

The head of the department under which he was treated at the government hospital said he was hit with the bullet in the left frontal section of the head, around the eye, causing large intracranial hemorrhaging. A number of doctors who looked at the patient concluded that the bullet exploded in the brain. The CT scan shows the shrapnel inside his skull. The entry wound shows significant impact to the skull, and there is no exit wound.

Note: There are several occurrences of English transcription of the victim’s name: Saleh Elamareen (used here), Saleh al Amareen, Saleh Amareen and Saleh Amarin.

Teenager critically injured in Hebron clashes

by Team Khalil

13 December 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Nasser Sharabati (16) was shot three times by live ammunition on Thursday night during clashes in Hebron. He in Hebron’s hospital and in a critical condition. Around 90 people were injured and had to receive hospital treatment. It is evident that Israeli army snipers were firing to cause maximum injury.

On another day of clashes between the Israeli army and Palestinian youth, Nasser Sharabati was shot in the chest, side and arm with three rounds of live ammunition. The clashes in the city began in the Bab Al-Zawiya area of the city centre around half past one in the afternoon. The Israeli military fired large amounts of tear gas and rubber coated steel bullets into this shopping area causing great distress to many people, the vast majority of whom were not involved in the clashes. Shops and businesses had to hurriedly close as the whole area was disrupted.

Palestinian police in the streets of Hebron

At around half past two the Palestinian police drove inbetween the Israeli military and the Palestinian youth. They got out of their vehicles and a uniformed officer backed up by police in riot gear tried to talk the crowd out of confronting the heavily armed soldiers. Only the previous evening however Mohammad Zaid Awwad Salayme had been murdered in Hebron by the Israeli military. The passionate and indignant Palestinian youth were intent on defending their city from yet another incursion into the Palestinian-controlled H1 area of the city by the Israeli army and the attempt was unsuccessful. The Palestinian police withdrew and the clashes resumed with increased intensity. Massive amounts of tear gas and rubber coated steel bullets were now fired by the soldiers.

In a worrying new development snipers taking up prone positions on the Palestinian streets were deployed by the Israeli military. It was clear that these snipers were firing to cause maximum injury, to maim and even kill the Palestinian teenagers and children that confronted them. Undaunted the Palestinian youth defended their territory and the stuggle continued for several hours into the evening. Sometime between 8 pm and 9 pm Nasser Sharabati was struck by three live rounds, was critically injured and taken to hospital. Reports suggest up to 10 people were injured by live ammunition during the day. Nasser Sharabati was operated on and the hospital issued a call for blood donations on the local radio to which many people responded. Around 90 people suffered injury or problems from tear gas inhilation and had to recieve hospital treatment. Nasser Sharabati remains in a critical condition at the hospital in Hebron.

It is clear that the Israeli army has decided that increased and lethal force against teenagers and children defending their streets is an acceptable way to enforce their illegal occupation of Palestine.

Passionate and indignant Palestinian youth intent on defending their city from yet another incursion into the Palestinian-controlled H1 area

Israeli soldiers taking up prone positions on the streets in Hebron

Team Khalil is a group of volunteers of International Solidarity Movement based in Hebron (al Khalil)

Israeli forces kill teenager on his 17th birthday in Hebron [Updated]

by Team Khalil

12 December 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Palestinian youth Mohammad Ziad Awwad Salayme was shot dead on his 17th birthday in Hebron. Live ammunition was fired injuring another man and several journalists had to be hospitalised after being beaten on the street. Clashes between Palestinians and the Israeli Occupation forces erupted throughout the city and surrounding areas.

At around 7:30 pm on Wednesday 12 December 2012 a soldier of the Israeli army shot dead Mohammad Salayme, killing him with two bullets to the body and head in the Salayme neigbourhood of Hebron near to the Ibrahimi mosque. Mohammad had spent the day in school and was on his way to buy some cake for him and his family to celebrate his birthday, when suddenly his life was cut short. Another Palestinian man was shot with live ammunition and injured, he was taken to a hospital in the city. The Israeli military claimed Mohammad Salayme was carrying a fake gun, therefore shot him. Mohammad’s father who rushed to administer first aid to his son said he saw no fake gun on him. Sound bombs, tear gas and rubber bullets were fired at Palestinians who tried to help the dying teenager.

The Israeli military closed off all the streets around the area where Mohammed was killed to prevent any journalists from reaching the incident. A car carrying four journalists was hit with several rounds of live ammunition and the journalists were stopped and forced from their car. The journalists, two from Youth Against Settlements, one from Reuters and one from Palmedia were forced to strip to their underwear in the cold evening air. The soldiers took their cameras and physically beat up the journalists resulting in them needing hospital treatment. A filmmaker who works for the Israeli peace group Btselem who lives close to the shooting was surrounded by 12 soldiers, beaten up and arrested. Officers from the District Coordination Office For Military Affairs informed local activists the cameras would be returned to them tomorrow after being checked for evidence.

The Israeli military flooded the city with an enormous amount of soldiers who attempted to clear the streets in a very aggressive manner, throwing sound bombs into groups of remonstrating Palestinians, shooting tear gas and rubber coated steel bullets. This behaviour only antagonised the residents of Hebron turning the tense situation into outright confrontation as clashes erupted throughout the city. The areas of Salayme, Bab Al-Zawiya, Qtoun and Dar Al Binzaid all echoed to the sound of live ammunition, concussion grenades, tear gas and rubber coated steel bullets. Clashes were reported in the nearby city of Yatta and in Dura.

Tensions in Hebron are rising as the Israeli occupation forces are using increased levels of violence in the city ever since the recent Israeli assualt on Gaza. Hamdi Alfalah was killed on November 20th and many people have been injured. Hebron will see another funeral on Thursday 13th of December.

Team Khalil is a group of volunteers of International Solidarity Movement based in Hebron (al Khalil)