Tag: Nablus

‘When they took us… they did not even look at our IDs.’

my day in Huwwara by J.

On Wednesday I was in an Israeli prison for one day. As you know, Nablus, and the old city mainly, is now undergoing the Israeli operation of ‘The Hot Winter’. The operation started on Sunday, continued on Monday, stopped just for Tuesday and was resumed yesterday. Yesterday was the turn of our area (Al-qariown area) in the old city. They started at 3:00 at night, told all the families to leave their houses, including women, babies and old people.

After standing for more than 6 hours without being allowed to get any food or even chairs they told all the women, children and those over 30 to go back home, and kept just us, the youth They put some blindfolds on our eyes, and tied our hands behind our backs with some very painful plastic cuffs.

After that, we were moved to some stores in the street, which were opened, destroyed and converted to prisons. We were there for half an hour, after that we had to go up a lot of stairs and through passages to a very dirty unused room, full of dirt that is not suitable even for animals to sit inside. When we were moving, I was the last one of the prisoners, I was grabbed by one soldier who led me as I could not see anything, then another two soldiers came and started to beat me using thier weapons on my back! note that we still had our hands cuffed and the masks on our eyes. We were kept there for 7 hours (untill 10:00 am), not allowed to go to WC , and when we requested some food, they brought some bread, threw it to the ground, and said that this is food, eat it as you want, they demanded that we eat like animals, but we refused that, and continued without food.

We were there until 4:00pm, then we were taken to an Israeli military vehicle, big enough just for 4 people (inside it one of the prisoners who could remove the mask was able to read in Hebrew, that the maximum number of people is 6) but we were 22!!!!!! we sat one on top of the other, which was the worst period of the day, we were taken through different streets until they decided to take us to Huwwara military base. We arrived there at 5:30 pm and after a while they decided to keep us inside a room. The room had 6 beds, but we were 28. When we really were hungry, we told the army that we were really hungry, and after 3 hours they brought us some meals that are suitable for 3 prisoners. Every 4 people shared a small piece of bread, and for the rice-meal, every one had a little – we had to eat rice with our hands, not spoons)

At 9:00pm we decided to sleep, because we did not expect to be released that night. Three people slept in every bed, two top to toe and the third in the rest of the bed, and the other three had to sleep on the ground – there was no proper floor. Every one had a blanket but there were no pillows so we used our shoes.

It is not possible for 28 people to be silent immediately, and we continued chatting. I was the last to get to sleep at 10:00pm. At 10:30pm a soldier knocked on the door loudly and told us we were going to the “intelligence” (I am not sure of the word but it’s some military intelligence like CIA) They again blindfolded and handcuffed us, put us in a military vehicle and drove us for a short distance, then let us out.

Here we met some very bad soldiers who asked us to sit down on the rough,very cold ground for about 30 minutes before one of the human rights workers asked the soldiers to remove the masks and untie our hands, when we discovered that we were in a large area of ground, surrounded by razor wire. At 12:30am they started taking us one by one to the intelligence colonel, during the waiting period we asked for some blankets or anything to cover ourselves but they refused.

When it was my turn to meet the colonel, I was searched, even my shoes and socks were searched with high-tech machines!

When I entered the office, it was just ordinary questions and they tried to persuade everyone to spy for them. But the thing that made me most angry was that while we were suffering with temperature less than 8 degrees, the colonel’s room was supplied with an LG air conditioner.

After that and as expected as I had done nothing against them, they sent me back to the same vehicle to send us to some place, don’t know where (again masked and handcuffed), the vehicle moved for 3 minutes and they ordered us to get out, removed the masks, cut the ties and said, this is Huwwara check point (I think you know it well) it was about 1:30am. We passed the checkpoint , some of my friends said – this is the only time you come to Huwwara and pass it quickly.

We knocked on the door of the first house after the checkpoint to call the Palestinian emergency services who came with two buses and took us home. I arrived home at 2:00am to find my parents waiting and my little brothers Ahmad(12 years) and Abdulqader(5 years) still crying, and my sister was staying with our neighbours.

I just want to tell you, that when they took us from the street, they did not even look at our ID cards to check if we were wanted or not.

I just Pray to God to take us away from this situation.

Video: The Israeli military in Nablus

The Israeli military invaded Nablus on February 25 in an operation called “Hot Winter.” The following videos were jointly produced by the Research Journalism Initiative (RJI) and the “a-films” film collective.


“Hot Winter” Day One


“Hot Winter” Day Two


“Hot Winter” Day Four

For more videos, visit: http://www.youtube.com/afilmspalestine

IOF detain medical volunteers delivering medicine, aid during curfew

by IWPS, February 28th

Yesterday at midnight, Israeli jeeps and soldiers re-invaded Nablus’ old city and re-imposed curfew on its residents. Throughout today, the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees (UPMRC) emergency medical volunteers and IWPS accompaniers delivered medicine, food and supplies to families unable to leave homes due to curfew.

At 1:00pm, three medics and two IWPS volunteers were stopped by four soldiers in a jeep and were asked to give their identification cards. Soldiers held their IDs for about one hour before releasing the medics.

At about 2:30pm, five soldiers interrupted a medical delivery by seven medics (including a doctor and nurse) and internationals by detaining the group for over ten minutes.

In another instance that afternoon, a group of 7 medics, including one doctor and volunteers attempted to reach a heart-condition patient in his home and were stopped by four soldiers. More soldiers arrived, detaining a total of 17 medics plus volunteers for over half an hour. The doctor was released after 40 minutes.

As of 5:30pm, UPMRC workers reported they had assisted approximately 60 people and there were 30 ambulance cases. Numerous houses are still occupied by soldiers, with the residents trapped inside.

***********************

Here is some video footage of the first three days of the invasion. It’s a co-production by the Research Journalism Initiative (RJI) and the anarchist film collective “a-films”.

Day 1 – good quality
Day 1 – low quality

Day 2 – good quality
Day 2 – low quality

Day 3 – good quality
Day 3 – low quality

Nablus Old City siege by IOF: Turkish bath invaded, human shield updates, hospital restriction, man in coma from tear gas

by IWPS, February 27th

1. Invasion of Turkish Bath, February 25

Israeli forces broke into the Turkish Bath in the Old City of Nablus at 11:00pm and used it as a military base for two days. The soldiers broke the door to the entrance of the baths and searched through everything. Soldiers left one room of the baths in ruins, with broken tiles, open lockers, soap, towels, and sheets thrown on the ground, and light fixtures ripped out of the wall. The stained glass on the ceiling was damaged, the water pipes were taken apart, the wooden ceiling was ripped apart, and the mirror was cracked.

The Turkish bath is 400 years old and holds great economic and cultural significance for the people of Nablus. Many people use the baths everyday and several families depend on it economically.

2. Human Shield Update, February 25 and 26

On February 25, at 3 am in the Old City of Nablus, Israeli soldiers invaded the home of a local vegetable vendor from the Yasmin quarter. The soldiers took him out of his home to accompany them while walking around the Old City. The soldiers forced him walk in front of them as a human shield.

On February 26, soldiers returned to the same man’s house and interrogated him about his children. The soldiers ordered the man to help negotiate their way to the location where another local man was recently killed. They took him to another building and interrogated him about two families. The soldiers exploded a bomb in the wall next to him, separating two rooms. Soldiers also used the same man’s home as a base and consumed his food.

3. Hospital Blockade and Restriction, February 25 and 26

On February 25 at 3:30am, Israeli forces invaded Al-Watani Hospital in Nablus. The director arrived at 7am and met the army commander and more than 10 soldiers with their jeeps parked inside the hospital area. The director stated to the army that their presence was illegal according to international law. Soldiers remained at the hospital for two days, checking IDs of all patients, doctors, visitors, and staff in addition to searching every car, handbag, and package. The hospital services remained open, but many patients and staff were afraid to go near the building.

On February 26, soldiers threw tear gas near the hospital, which entered the building.

4. Man in Coma From Tear Gas, February 26

A 47-year-old tailor and father of seven is in critical condition at the Nablus Hospital after going into cardiac arrest. The man inhaled tear gas in his home, which thrown by Israeli soldiers after a confrontation with Palestinian youth. According to a family member, the man told his wife he could not breathe and the family immediately called for medical help. Israeli soldiers prevented an ambulance from reaching the man for one hour. At the same time, IOF forces were detaining twenty-five UPMRC emergency medical volunteers so they could not respond to the call. By the time the man reached the hospital, his condition was severe. According to his doctor, he has no chance of recovery.


a window of the Yasmin hotel

Nablus man critical after denial of medical treatment

by the ISM media team, February 26th

Residents in the Old City of Nablus woke up this morning to find their city under curfew for the second day with dozens of military vehicles and hundreds of soldiers with dogs on their streets.

Like citizens all over the West Bank, most Nabulsi face a daily struggle to feed themselves and their families due to the economic embargo imposed by the international community last year for exercising their democratic rights. Unlike in previous sieges residents can’t now afford to stock up on provisions even if they are able to break curfew.

At around noon IOF shot in the neck and murdered 41-year old Anan al-Teibi and seriously wounded his 24-year old son Ashraf in the elbow whilst the pair were on the roof of their house. When the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees (UPMRC) tried to evacuate Ashraf they found him in shock and tried to escort him down the stairs. Their path was blocked by soldiers, who beat up one UPMRC volunteeer. The volunteer was detained together with a doctor. The doctor was released but the UPMRC volunteer remains in detention.

International volunteers are accompanying UPMRC volunteers in getting basic food and medical supplies to families although the IOF often prevent this. According to UPMRC sources, since the invasion started they have been unable to get insulin to 8 people who have requested it.

Around 25 houses are still occupied in central Nablus. In one four-storey house belonging to the Dilal family 20 people, including 8 babies and a pregnant woman have been locked into one room, while the other storeys are being used as a prison, for intelligence and for interrogation purposes.

Ghareb Abdel Ghani Selhab is in a critical condition in Watani hospital after tear gas was fired into his house. The 47-year old asthma sufferer had a severe attack and, according to witnesses, an ambulance was prevented from reaching him for two hours.

International volunteers heard local men being beaten and witnessed them being humiliated on the streets by being forced to undress.