Tag: Nablus

Palestinian Youth Shot by Israeli Troops

From The Associated Press

NABLUS, West Bank – Israeli soldiers holed up in a home in this West Bank city on Monday opened fire on stone-throwing protesters outside the building, wounding two people, including a 13-year-old boy, Palestinian officials and witnesses said.

Associated Press photographers and cameramen witnessed the exchange.

“When he was wounded in the neck, he ran toward me before collapsing and the blood gushed from his neck,” said Ana Maria Espinoza, a pro-Palestinian volunteer from Chile. She said more than 100 protesting youths were gathered behind a wall about 100 yards from the house, which is located in a residential neighborhood near a school.

It was unclear what the army was doing in the area, though troops frequently conduct arrest raids in Nablus, a stronghold of Palestinian militants.

Journalists, medical volunteers and bystanders targeted, Palestinian bystander shot in the neck by Israeli sniper

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Israeli snipers shot live ammunition at journalists, international medical volunteers and unarmed Palestinians gathered outside of a house occupied by the army. A crowd of over a hundred was gathered in protest of this house occupation. Palestinian youth threw stones at wooden planks that the soldiers placed on the window of the house.

According to international medical volunteers from the United States, England, Germany, Chile, and Denmark, eighteen year old Islam Aktshot was shot with live ammunition in the neck while he was watching the events at 11:45 Monday morning. “He was standing next to the wall doing nothing when suddenly he put his hands to his neck. When he put his hand down large amounts of blood poured out,” said Danish volunteer Anamaria. “We, the medical volunteers and the journalists were standing together when the soldiers fired in our direction. A bullet whistled five centimeters away from me. ”

At 12:05pm Basam Balbali 15 years old with shot with live ammunition in the leg.

The house, which is situated on the eastern edge of the old city of Nablus, was occupied Sunday night. The Israeli military is currently occupying at least five homes in Nablus.

The practice of occupying a tactically important home and holding the occupants incommunicado is known in the Israeli Army as a “Straw Widow” operation. The army uses the occupied home as an observation post and sniper position. Such homes are often reoccupied several times.

For more information call:
In Nablus, Mohammad : 0522 223 374
Ism media office 02-2971824

Interview with Dr. Ghassan Hamdan of Palestinian Medical Relief Services

Listen to an interview with Dr. Ghassan Hamdan of the PMRS as he tries to gain acess to two families of 15 people in Nablus imprisoned and held captive by the Israeli army as they use their home for a sniper base.

Audio Interview with Dr. Ghassan Hamdan of Palestinian Medical Relief Services. – mp3 10M

Devlish May, IMEMC

http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/04/338134.html

Three Non-violent Actions Friday

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Villagers in Bil’in, Beit Sira, and Salem will continue to protest against the annexation of their land this Friday, despite threats of collective punishment by the Israeli Civil Administration.

Bil’in villagers, joined by Israeli and international activists and a Tibetan monk, will hold their weekly demonstration against the wall, which annexes village land into the illegal Modi’in Elite settlement.

Beit Sira villagers, Israeli and international activists, will hold their weekly demonstration against the annexation barrier that illegally seizes land for the Makabim settlement.

Both Bil’in and Beit Sira demonstrations will start after midday prayers (around noon,) heading off from the villages’ mosques.

Salem villagers will be joined by Israeli and international human rights workers as they farm their land. They are trying to protect villagers from the heavy settler violence that has been occurring recently.

Last week a 68 year-old Salem villager, Saber Shtaya, was brutally attacked by settlers. He has been in the hospital since the attack and just today woke up from a coma.

Salem farmers and their supporters will set out from the village at 8:00am.

For more information call:

Beit Sira -Mansur 0545420464
Bil’in – Abdullah 0547-258-210
Salem –Arik Ascherman (Rabbis for Human Rights) 050-5607034
ISM media office at 02-2971824

Farmers in Nablus Prevented from Working their Land by Both Settlers and Military

Farmers in Salem, near Nablus, were joined on Friday the 7th of April by Israeli and international human rights workers to protect against further settler violence. Earlier in the week a 68 year-old villager was beaten by settlers and required hospitalization. Rabbis for Human Rights, members of the Kibbutzim movement, and internationals accompanied the farmers in an effort to enable the farmers to plow their land, tend to their olive trees and graze their sheep free from harm.

Fifty farmers and human rights workers took to the hills mid morning and were met almost immediately by a settler security truck. Two settlers blocked a Palestinian tractor from accessing a nearby field by parking their van on the track. The settlers were refusing to move when about five army vehicles and an Israeli police car arrived (further blocking the road and supporting the settlers). A second tractor arrived and was similarly blocked. When some villagers tried to circumvent the army and settler van in their tractor one of the settlers stood in front of it. Despite the repeated efforts of villagers and their supporters we were unable to get tractor access to the field in order to plow. The two settlers generally harrased the farmers driving through flocks of grazing sheep and continuously arguing. After a few hours (approx 1:30pm) we heard word of house occupations in Nablus and left. Some of the Israeli demonstrators were planning to stay as long as possible to observe army and settlers and help with farm work.