Tag: Nablus - Page 13 - International Solidarity Movement

12 year old Palestinian killed in Bethlehem as violence explodes across the West Bank

5th October 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | West Bank, occupied Palestine

Abed al-Rahman Shadi Obeidallah, 12 was still in his school uniform when he was rushed in a civilian car to Beit Jala hospital from Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem today. The boy, from from a Al Kahder village, was shot in the heart during confrontations at Aida camp as violence explodes across the West Bank prompting the Red Crescent to declare a level 3 state of emergency across the occupied Palestinian territories. Another boy was shot in leg with live ammunition during the attack.

Abed al-Rahman Shadi Obeidallah, 12, just before being shot to death by Israeli forces in Bethlehem

Denouncing Israeli violations against humanitarian international law, the Palestine Red Crescent Society staff have endured 14 attacks on their emergency vehicles as Israeli forces and settler violence has sharply surged in a bloody three days. Attacks on PRCS have included medics being beaten by soldiers in Jerusalem, Israeli forces beating an ambulance crew with batons in the old city of Jerusalem and after one attack on an emergency crew in Jabal Al Taweel (Al-Bireh), two medics were injured. Israeli forces attacked an ambulance in al-Issawiya village in occupied East Jerusalem, before arresting an injured Palestinian who was being treated inside the ambulance. An ambulance windshield was also shattered by settlers in Burin village in Nablus. Burin underwent a frightening attack by settlers which left much of it in flames.

Reportedly 465 Palestinians have been injured thus far, including 28 shot with live ammunition and 68 injured with rubber coated steel bullets. Hundreds of others have been overcome by teargas that Israeli forces have been showering over villages and in cities where Palestinians have gathered to demonstrate against their murdering of several Palestinian youths since this past Saturday.

Young Palestinians martyrs recently murdered by Israeli forces.

Fadi Samir Mustafa Alloun, 19, from the East Jerusalem village of al-Issawiya, was shot to death by Israeli forces after allegedly attempting to stab a group of Israelis. 18-year-old Huthayfa Othman Suleiman was shot in the chest during clashes and died in the operating room. In a particularly heinous attack, Yousef Bayan al-Tabib, just six years old, was standing on the side of the road when a settler reportedly stopped his car, shot the child in the stomach, and fled the scene.

Across the occupied Palestinian territories, there have been reports of settlers slaughtering Palestinian’s sheep, attacking Palestinian cars with stones on roads and carrying out violent attacks on villages. As for Israeli forces, soldiers disguised as Palestinians assisting an injured Palestinian into a hospital in Ramallah, disabled security cameras and proceeded to arrest a Palestinian undergoing medical treatment. This is similar to other hospital raids in recent days where a variation of this tactic was repeated.

As for the Israeli government, Netanyahu today made an inflammatory statement to wage a “harsh offensive” against Palestinians; Zionist opportunism at its most typical. Collective punishment is the usual expectation when it comes to the illegally occupying force dealing with the civilian population whose land they are occupying. Israel launched three air strikes in the besieged Gaza strip targeting alleged Hamas ‘terror’ sites after two rockets were fired from Gaza, hitting nothing and injuring no one.

News reports of shootings, injuries, murders, arrests and raids continue to flood in as the situation unfolds at a lightning quick pace. For Palestinians enduring the brunt of Israeli incited race hatred and promoted retribution for the shooting of two Israeli settlers last week, the cavalierly imposed restrictions on al Aqsa Mosque, which have sparked outrage and violent confrontations- and the ensuing chaos, are yet another violent incursion into their lives.

Father and 3-year old daughter shot in the head by Israeli forces in Kafr Qaddum

25th September 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Kafr Qaddum, occupied Palestine

Palestinians in the village Kafr Qaddum in the occupied West Bank endured an hours-long siege by Israeli forces earlier while demonstrating against occupation, ending in a 3 year old Palestinian girl and daughter of Nablus police chief, Colonel Abd al-Latif al-Qaddumi being shot in the face with a rubber coated steel bullet as she stood on the balcony of her family home.

3-year old girl shot with rubber-coated steel bullet by Israeli forces

Both the girl, Maram Abed al-Latif al-Qaddumi, and her father who was subsequently also shot in the head with a rubber-coated steel bullet as he rushed to aid his heavily bleeding daughter, were treated at Rafidia Hospital and released.
For three hours, Israeli forces and Israeli border police had Palestinians, journalists and international human rights monitors trapped along a village road in several houses along with a local Mosque, as every time a Palestinian stepped into the road, rapid fire rubber coated steel bullets, foam bullet projectiles, live ammunition, sound bombs and teargas canisters fired from venom trucks were showered into the street.

Palestinians marching against occupation

Three times the Israeli military skunk truck entered the village road spraying organic waste water at homes where Palestinians were taking cover from the violent assault. For several hours after the dousing of the foul smelling composition in the village, Palestinian families were seen scrubbing the streets in front of their homes to remove the smell that lasts for up to ten days.

Instances of extreme violence against Palestinians have circulated throughout the West Bank this week after Israeli forces murdere 18 year old unarmed female Palestinian student, Hadeel al-Hashlamon, at an al-Khalil checkpoint near segregated Shuhada Street and Ahmad Izzat Khatatbeh, 26, died from his wounds after being shot three times in the shoulder, chest and abdomen at the Beit Furik checkpoint last Friday. These murders accompany a sharp rise in house raids, street harassment and settlers attacks including on a Palestinian shop in al-Khalil and settler machine gun fire on Palestinian homes in the Qeitun neighborhood.

UN report: 3 Palestinians killed, 92 displaced in a week

22nd August | The Palestinian Information Center | Occupied East Jerusalem

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– A report issued by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) showed the escalation of Israeli violations against Palestinian civilians in their occupied territories during 11-17 August, 2015.

Photo credit: The Palestinian Information Center

OCHA revealed that Israeli forces shot and killed two Palestinians, 21 and 22 years old, in two separate incidents on 15 and 17 August respectively, reportedly following the stabbing of Israeli soldiers near Beita village and at the Z’atara checkpoint, both in the Nablus governorate.

The UN office pointed out that a Palestinian woman died from wounds sustained the previous week, when unexploded ordnance (UXO) detonated in a house in Rafah, bringing to five the number of fatalities from the incident, and injuries to over 50, according to medical sources. Since the cease-fire of August 2014, 16 Palestinians, including one child, have been killed in UXO incidents, and over 170, including 22 children, injured.

During the week, 27 Palestinians, including five children, were injured across the West Bank, during clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian stone-throwers, it pointed out.

The majority of injuries (21) took place during the weekly demonstration in Kafr Qaddum (Qalqiliya) against the closure of the village’s main entrance. In one incident, a 52-year-old man and land owner participating in a demonstration against the construction of the Barrier in Beit Jala (Bethlehem) was hospitalized due to heart failure complications, following an altercation with an Israeli soldier, OCHA added.

It documented that the Israeli forces arrested 78 Palestinians across the occupied Palestinian territories, the vast majority in the West Bank. In the Gaza Strip, one Palestinian was arrested as he arrived at Erez Crossing, after he had received a permit to travel into the West Bank. “Four other Palestinians were arrested near the fence surrounding Gaza, after crossing into Israel without Israeli authorization.”

Three Israeli settler attacks resulting in injury to Palestinians and their property were recorded. These include the physical assault of two Palestinians, 16 and 18 years old, in ‘Azzun ‘Atma (Qalqiliya) and a 31-year-old Palestinian was physically assaulted while working in the settlement of Pisgat Ze’ev located in the Jerusalem governorate. An arson attack was recorded in the Bedouin community of ‘Ein Samiya (Ramallah), resulting in damage to a residential tent, it highlighted.

Additionally (not included in the count), a ten-year-old child was injured when run over by an Israeli-plated vehicle near Yatma (Nablus); and clashes erupted between Palestinians and around 15 Israeli settlers after the latter raided the village of Awarta (Nablus), and reportedly attempted to kidnap two Palestinians, the UN report pointed out.

According to Israeli media, one Israeli settler was injured as a result of Palestinian stone-throwing at Israeli-plated vehicles near Beit Ummar (Hebron), it stated.

OCHA mentioned, in its report, that the Israeli authorities demolished 35 Palestinian-owned structures, including six donor-funded and 16 residential structures across the West Bank, for lack of Israeli-issued building permits, displacing a total of 92 Palestinians, including 55 children, and otherwise affecting 81 Palestinians.

Of the total, 78 Palestinians, including 49 children, were displaced in the communities of Az Za’ayyem Bedouin, Khan al Ahmar Abu Falah, Bir Miskoob and Wadi Sneysel on 17 August, the largest number of people displaced in the West Bank in a single day since October 2012, it underlined.

The report said these are among the 46 Area C Bedouin communities in the central West Bank at risk of forcible transfer due to a plan advanced by the Israeli authorities to relocate the residents to one of three designated sites.

The remaining 14 Palestinians were displaced in Al-Jiftlik Abu al ‘Ajaj community (Jericho governorate) in the Jordan Valley on 11 August. This is the 15th time the residents of Al-Jiftlik Abu al ‘Ajaj have experienced demolition incidents since 2014, it highlighted.

OCHA’s report stated that in the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces opened fire towards civilians in the Access Restricted Areas (ARA) on land and at sea, on at least nine occasions. No casualties were reported. On four occasions Israeli forces entered and leveled land inside Gaza.

Also in the Gaza Strip, Palestinians held 29 demonstrations, primarily in protest against a possible reduction in UNRWA services due to the Agency’s financial crisis, and in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli detention centers, namely, Mohammed Allan who has been on hunger strike for over 60 days in protest at his administrative detention without charge or trial since November 2014, it added.

The UN report pointed out that the Egyptian authorities exceptionally opened the Rafah crossing on 17 August in both directions, for the first time since 25 June, allowing 949 Palestinians into Gaza, and 474 Palestinians, mainly patients, students and dual nationals to exit Gaza. The Egyptian-controlled Rafah crossing has been continuously closed, including for humanitarian assistance, since 24 October 2014, except for 26 days of partial openings.

Source: The Palestinian Information Center

Illegal settlers burn infant alive in attack of a Palestinian house in the village of Duma

1st August 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Duma, Occupied Palestine

Hebrew graffiti that was spray painted on the family home. It reads "revenge." — Hebrew graffiti that was spray painted on the family home. It reads “revenge.”

At 2:30 in the morning, on Friday July 31st, a group of settlers came into the village of Duma to set fire to a family’s home with molotov cocktails while the family was sleeping.

According to the village’s mayor, Abu Alam, the villagers woke up suddenly in the middle of the night by the screams of their neighbors. In 15 minutes, the whole house was set on fire with the family inside. Within 3 minutes, both parents and 4 year old, Ahmad, managed to escape running out the street while they were burning in flames.

One of the rooms in the house, completely destroyed by the fire.

The mother’s first reaction was to rush after her 1 and a half year old baby, Ali Dawabsheh, grab him wrapped between his blankets and run out the house with him in her arms. But to her great shock, in the panic and confusion of this terrible act of violence, only once she was out the house she realized that Ali was not her arms.

The neighbors of the village quickly reacted by trying to turn off the flames with hoses and any means possible and ran into the house to try to rescue the baby, but the flames had gone out of control and their child could not be saved.

In the room of baby Ali, with photos of him.

Both parents and their son Ahmad were immediately taken in a villager’s car to the Hospital of Rafidia in the city of Nablus, while the fire truck arrived from the village of Burin 40 minutes later, as well as an ambulance from the village of Akraba. When the firefighters finally entered the house they found the baby had died burned in his cradle.

What used to be the crib of baby Ali, now completely destroyed.

Because of this the mayor is now discussing with the Palestinian Prime Minister, Rami Hamdallah, the need to create a fire station in Duma since the nearest fire station is in the village of Burin, 40 km away.
Duma is a village surrounded by illegal settlements with a very violent history. Abu Alam explained to ISM that there is a well-known group of terrorists coming from settlements who in many occasions have attacked farmers and shepherds. Furthermore they have attacked the village, burned cars, cut down numerous olive trees and have been writing graffiti in Hebrew. He has no doubt that they are behind last night’s arson attack.

This is not a one-time attack on the village and the Palestinians but a recurring result of the settlers’ violence and harassing against the village. It is a continuous attempt from the terrorist settlers to create fear and insecurity among the villagers as well as throughout the whole Palestine. Being attacked in your own house sends the message to the Palestinian villagers, that there is nowhere they can be safe.

It is important to note that whenever Palestinians go to the Israeli authorities to complain on these abuses, the authority gives no answers. This given the fact that all the settlements and surrounding roads are filled with surveillance cameras, which means Israeli authorities are fully aware of all these incidents of violence. Nevertheless, these authorities never prevent nor give a response to these attacks.

houseeeee — Benjamin Netanyahu’s press release, in which he expresses his sympathies with the attacked family, sounds extremely hollow and hypocritical when the Israeli government openly supports the continuous expansion of illegal settlements. It is created in an attempt to make the attack seem like a one-time incident, when in reality it is a result of the continuous occupation of Palestine.

Nablus family home suffers brutal Israeli night raid

15th July 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Awarta, Occupied Palestine

On Sunday, July 12, at 1:30 am, a group of 40 Israeli soldiers came into the village of Awarta circling and raiding the home of 22 year old Izzat Qawariq right before the family was preparing to go to sleep.

nablus3 — The wreckage left after Israeli forces raided the home.

His cousin told ISM that the soldiers violently kicked the doors open with a gun, demanded the women and men to stay in two separate rooms, while they trashed, broke glass objects and searched through all the belongings of the house. They took both Izzat’s and his mother’s telephones, and Izzat’s medical papers for the eye treatment he was taking in St. John’s hospital of Jerusalem, as well as his permit paper to be able to travel to Jerusalem for his treatment. The soldiers kept the home under siege until 4:00 in the morning, without allowing the family to have their food according to the tradition of Ramadan.

Once the soldiers arrested Izzat, his parents were trying to persuade them to allow him to leave wearing his shoes; the soldiers reacted by hitting Izzat’s father with a gun, injuring his left wrist. His father told ISM that he decided to contain his anger in fear of worse violence and to avoid also being arrested.

nablus — The hand and wrist of Izzat’s father.

Izzat’s family has no idea why they arrested him. He and his father would work with their truck plowing the land next to the illegal settlement of Etamar. Izzat has never been involved in a political party. The family also reported that this unit of soldiers was a new unit, called Dov Dovan, who wear special masks on their faces to scare the people.

That same night, during the same time of Izzat’s arrest, his cousin, Raef Qawariq, who currently lives with his wife in Huwara, was also arrested without charges in his home in similar violent conditions by a large group of Israeli soldiers. Raef, 27 years old, just got married two months ago and works as a designer in Ramallah, and like his cousin, has never been involved in a political party. There is no known reason as to why they were arrested. Both families called the Israeli human rights organization, HaMoked, to ask about them, but they were told to wait for them to call them back.

Awarta is a village in the district of Nablus, which suffers from Israeli soldiers night incursions on an almost daily basis.