A military judge has criticized the military prosecutor’s office for relying on the testimony of a mentally challenged young man who referred to events that never took place. In doing so, the witness put a resident of the Palestinian West Bank village of Na’alin behind bars for nine months for a crime he did not commit.
The judge, Maj. Amir Dahan, acquitted Ahmed Nafa, a 29-year-old high school teacher, of all charges against him. The indictment accused Nafa of throwing stones and Molotov cocktails and rolling an Israeli car into a canal late last year. He was also indicted for being one of a group that later threw rocks, Molotov cocktails and gas canisters at an Israel Defense Forces jeep.
The indictment also said Nafa took part in an incident in which Molotov cocktails and gas canisters were thrown at an Israeli infantry unit “in or around July 2009.”
The prosecution, however, failed to give evidence that these high-profile events took place. The prosecution and police investigators did not provide the court with any independent evidence other than the testimony of a mentally disabled young man, Mustafa Amira. Amira testified to the Shin Bet security service and police after several days speaking with an informer.
Amira contradicted himself during questioning several times and later said he had admitted to acts he did not commit to bring his interrogation to an end.
28 arrested
Nafa was one of 28 Na’alin residents whom the IDF arrested in January, based on Amira’s testimony, in an effort to halt demonstrations in the area against the construction of the separation barrier.
Most of the detainees struck a plea agreement in the belief that their detention before trial would exceed any jail time they might receive.
Nafa, however, demanded an evidentiary hearing. In his opinion acquitting Nafa, Judge Dahan said he was surprised that despite the precision of the accusation, “the investigators did not make any effort to identify the victims or soldiers” to gather additional information.
In the cases of Nafa and three defendants accused of membership in a local village committee, the prosecution called another witness, Hamed Sarur, but Dahan discounted his testimony after finding that Sarur was promised release from detention if he “came to a mutual agreement with” his interrogators.
Dahan said such improper methods cast a shadow over the investigation. In acquitting Nafa, Dahan wrote: “It is not possible that this court would fail to employ the same minimum standards of proof of harm to persons or property that is customary in Israel even in civil cases.”
Two military judges had decided to leave Nafa in custody until the end of proceedings. Nafa’s lawyer, Nery Ramati, said Dahan’s criticism of the prosecution and police that resulted in Nafa’s acquittal was also relevant to the cases of the other defendants implicated by Amira.
22 October 2010 | International Solidarity Movement
Nabi Saleh
Today in the village of An-Nabi Salah, the weekly non-violent demonstration took place against the illegal settlement Hamish. Unlike other villages taking part in non-violent resistance, many women, young girls and children participate in the protest. Today, there was a child demonstration. A commemoration also took place in order to remember the massacre during the second Intifada in a village where the children went to school.
The soldiers and border police started out by shooting teargas into the village to prevent people from going to the demonstration. They also entered the village and shot at the child demonstration.
Every Thursday the soldiers walk around the village in preparation for the Friday demonstration. Yesterday they looked for one house which they occupied today, because it’s a good location for watching what’s going on in the village and shoot easily. The people asked the soldiers not to enter the house, and eventually they agreed not to enter. However, a teargas canister was shot into another house, starting a fire. Thankfully, nobody was in the house.
They also shot some gas into a houses in the middle of the village. One woman was made to vomit and could only move her arms and legs in a strange way, . Afterwards, people resumed the demonstration and started singing and shouting slogans against the Israeli occupation. When the demonstrators went back into the village, teenage boys started to throw stones . Teenage boys started a riot and the army proceeded to throw an excessive amount of tear gas. Some people were injured by the gas and had problems with breathing. Three Palestinians were arrested for some hours but then released.
Al Ma’asara
The demonstration held today in Al Ma’asara marked four years of weekly protests as part of the popular struggle against the Israeli occupation, the confiscation of land through construction of settlements and the Apartheid wall. Hundreds of participants from France, Italy, Spain, England and other countries stood alongside Palestinians peacefully protesting Israel’s failure to comply with international law. Also present were Israeli activists from Anarchists Against the Wall, Active Stills and Ta’ayush as well as Luisa Morgantini, former vice President of European Parliament.
The Israeli forces stopped the demonstration long before reaching its destination and immediately made use of sound bombs and tear gas in an attempt to disperse the activists, despite the peaceful nature of the demonstration. An older French activist was injured when a high velocity tear gas canister shot into the air by the Israeli forces struck him in the head.
Two Israeli activists were detained after crossing the line formed by the soldiers. The demonstrators held fast and refused to leave for another hour until the two activists were released.
The residents of Al Ma’asara together with international supporters declared their intentions to continue the struggle to defend their rights.
Bil’in
Bil'in
Three protesters were injured from tear gas inhalation today at the weekly Bil’in demonstration against the Apartheid wall. The march, called for by the Popular Committee Against the Wall in Bil’in, included dozens of Palestinian villagers, alongside Israeli and international solidarity activists.
The participants in the march waved Palestinian flags, and held pictures of prisoners of the popular resistance, whilst chanting slogans condemning the Israeli policies of occupation, settlement and the repression of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. The demonstrators also chanted in condemnation of Israel’s policy of ethnic cleansing Palestinians from Jerusalem, as can be seen in Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah, as well as calling for the siege on Gaza to be lifted.
The Popular Committee Against the Wall in Bil’in also denounced the persecution of its activists, led by Abdullah Abo Rahma and Adeeb Abo Rahma. It considers the trials against them biased as they are defenders of their land which was illegally annexed by the Apartheid wall. The Popular Committee considers the struggle against the wall a legitimate and legal one and calls upon the international community and international human rights organizations to stand next to the leaders and activists of the Popular resistance.
The march headed towards the wall, where the Israeli Occupation Forces were waiting. When protesters attempted to cross to the land behind the wall, which belongs to the villagers of Bi’lin, the Israeli army fired sound bombs, tear gas and rubber coated steel bullets at the crowd. This led to the wounding of three marchers, including 8-year old Lama Abdullah Abo Rahma who suffered from severe difficulty in breathing. Mohammed Shawkat Al-Khateeb,17, and Ahmed Abdel Fattah Bernat ,17, were among the worst affected of dozens of others suffering from tear gas inhalation.
Before the march delegations from Spain, France and Britain met with the members of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and settlement at the headquarters of the International Solidarity Movement in Bil’in. The delegations listened to a detailed explanation by the Popular Committee about the experience in Bil’in of non-violent popular resistance in the past five and a half years and the role of international solidarity in the popular resistance in Bil’in.
Tonight, around 2 am, the Israeli army entered the West Bank village of Ni`lin and arrested four Palestinians: Muhammed Ahmed Younis Amireh, Othman Risiqe Rasheed Amireh, Tarik Hassan Tawfeeq Mesleh and Asad Muhammed Abdulfattah Nafi.
Israeli soldiers on foot arrived from the gate in the illegal apartheid wall and from the fields around Ni’lin. As they do very often, they surrounded the village and snipers from different positions made sure that nobody could leave their houses.
About 50 soldiers went to arrest Muhammed Ahmed Amireh, 17 years old. In 2008 his brother Yousuf got shot with 3 rubber bullets in his head during a demonstration against the apartheid wall and died after 4 days. Yesterday night the soldiers entered forcefully Muhammed’s house, destroying furniture and everything they could reach and took him outside. After that he was handcuffed and tied up, the Israeli soldiers started beating and kicking him very hard while his mother was screaming and trying in vain to stop them. He was bleeding when they took him to the fields, where they had parked their military jeeps.
After that, about 30 soldiers brutally arrested Othman Risiqe Rasheed Amireh, 45 years old. They cuffed and blindfolded him in front of his wife. She is suffering from a late stage cancer and Othman was the only one that could take care of her. The Israeli army already went to visit their house about six weeks ago, destroying furniture and objects and taking pictures in order to intimidate Othman.
After a bit, seven military jeeps entered the village and the soldiers went to arrest two University students: Asad Muhammed Abdulfattah Nafi, 20 years old, and Tarik Hassan Tawfeeq Mesleh, 18. Tarik regularly takes part in the anti-wall demos as a volunteer of the Red Crescent.
Background
Israel began construction of the Wall on Ni’lin’s land in 2004, but stopped after an injunction order issued by the Israeli Supreme Court (ISC). Despite the previous order and a 2004 ruling from the International Court of Justice declaring the Wall illegal, construction of the Wall began again in May 2008. Following the return of Israeli bulldozers to their lands, residents of Ni’lin have launched a grassroots campaign to protest the massive land theft, including demonstrations and direct actions.
The original route of the Wall, which Israel began constructing in 2004, was ruled illegal by the ISC, as was a second, marginally less obtrusive proposed route. The most recent path, now completed, still cuts deep into Ni’lin’s land. The Wall has been built to include plans, not yet approved by the Army’s planning authority, for a cemetery and an industrial zone for the illegal settlement Modi’in Ilit.
Since the Wall was built to annex more land to the nearby settlements rather than in a militarily strategic manner, demonstrators have been able to repeatedly dismantle parts of the electronic fence and razor-wire surrounding it. Consequently, the army has erected a 15-25 feet tall concrete wall, in addition to the electronic fence. The section of the Wall in Ni’lin is the only part of the route where a concrete wall has been erected in response to civilian, unarmed protest.
As a result of the Wall construction, Ni’lin has lost 3,920 dunams, roughly 30% of its remaining lands. Originally, Ni’lin consisted of 15,898 dunams (3928 acres). Post 1948, Ni’lin was left with 14,794 dunams (3656 acres). After the occupation of the West Bank in 1967, the illegal settlements and infrastructure of Modi’in Ilit, Mattityahu and Hashmonaim were built on village lands, and Ni’lin lost another 1,973 dunams. With the completion of the Wall, Ni’lin has a remaining 8911 dunams (2201 acres), 56% of it’s original size.
Ni’lin is effectively split into 2 parts (upper and lower) by Road 446, which was built directly through the village. According to the publicized plan of the Israeli government, a tunnel will be built under road 446 to connect the upper and lower parts of Ni’lin, allowing Israel to turn Road 446 into a segregated-setter only road. Subsequently, access for Palestinian vehicles to this road and to the main entrances of upper and lower Ni’lin will be closed. Additionally, since the tunnel will be the only entryway to Ni’lin, Israel will have control over the movement of Palestinian residents.
Israel commonly uses tear-gas projectiles, rubber coated steel bullets and live ammunition against demonstrators.
Since May, 2008, five of Ni’lin’s residents were killed and one American solidarity activist was critically injured from Israeli fire during grassroots demonstrations in Ni’lin.
5 June 2009: Yousef Akil Srour (36) was shot in the chest with 0.22 caliber live ammunition and pronounced dead upon arrival at a Ramallah hospital.
13 March 2009: Tristan Anderson (37), an American citizen, was shot in the head with a high velocity tear gas projectile. He is currently at Tel Hashomer hospital near Tel Aviv with uncertain prospects for his recovery.
28 December 2008: Mohammed Khawaje (20) was shot in the head with 5.56mm caliber live ammunition. He died in a Ramallah hospital 3 days later on 31 December 2008.
28 December 2008: Arafat Rateb Khawaje (22) was shot in the back with 5.56mm caliber live ammunition and pronounced dead upon arrival at a Ramallah hospital.
30 July 2008: Yousef Amira (17) was shot in the head with two rubber coated steel bullets. He died in a Ramallah hospital 5 days later on 4 August 2008.
29 July 2008: Ahmed Mousa (10) was shot in the forehead with 5.56mm caliber live ammunition and pronounced dead upon arrival at a Ramallah hospital.
Israeli armed forces have shot 40 demonstrators with live ammunition in Ni’lin. Of them, 11 were shot with 5.56mm caliber live ammunition and 29 were shot with 0.22 caliber live ammunition.
Since May 2008, over 112 arrests of Ni’lin residents have been made in relation to anti-Wall protest in the village. The protesters arrested by the army constitute roughly 9% of the village’s male residents aged between 12 and 55. The arrests are part of a broad politically motivated Israeli campaign to suppress grassroots resistance to the Occupation.
Brutal suppression of the Palestinian popular struggle continues: A Palestinian man was shot in the leg with live ammunition in Bil`in, while live rounds were also fired in Ni`lin and An-Nabi Saleh, where rubber-coated steel bullets were fired at children. In Beit Ummar a Palestinian man was beaten unconscious by Israeli forces yet only an innocent French peace activist was arrested for assault. Demonstrators marched around the Old City in Hebron, and burned settlement goods in Al-Ma`sara, showing their support and solidarity to the people of Silwan where a Palestinian man was killed by a private settler guard on Wednesday.
Friday demonstrations
Palestinian and international demonstrators carry Ashraf after he is shot in the leg
Bil`in
On Friday, Bil`in resident Ashraf Al-Khatib was shot in the leg with a 0.22” caliber live bullet at the weekly demonstration against the illegal apartheid wall. An international nonviolent activist was also hit in the shoulder with a low-flying tear gas canister, and the hundreds of other participants were attacked with huge quantities of tear gas.
The weekly protest is against land theft by the illegal apartheid wall and the Israeli occupation in general. This week, the marchers also expressed solidarity with Palestinians in East Jerusalem (al-Quds) where a Silwan resident was shot dead by an Israeli settler security guard on Wednesday morning.
Two hundred Palestinians accompanied by around thirty international and Israeli activists assembled at the village’s Mosque after noon and marched towards the apartheid wall, chanting “no, no, to the wall” and “Free! Free! Palestine.” Around forty Israeli soldiers ran out of the gate to the settlement as they saw the march approaching, blockading the road.
Protesters marched up to the soldiers and confronted them, demanding to be allowed to walk on the village’s land, which even the Israeli High Court conceded was Palestinian in 2007. The soldiers did not allow anyone through, using their shields to aggressively push back the peaceful demonstrators. One Palestinian activist tried to fasten a poster to a soldier’s shield saying “Free Adeeb Abu Rahma,” referring to one of Bil`in’s four political prisoners held by Israel for organizing the weekly protests. The commander was seen indicating to his soldiers that he wants them to target Ashraf Al-Khatib.
A Palestinian demonstrator holds a poster against a soldier’s shield.
The group remonstrated with the soldiers for thirty minutes until a youth threw a stone and the soldiers responded by firing huge quantities of tear gas at the peaceful crowd, many of whom proceeded to suffer breathing difficulties. One international activist was hit in the shoulder with a low-flying tear gas canister. A group of youths began throwing stones towards the soldiers, and three photographers stood next to the soldiers were hit.
Ashraf Al-Khatib, a Bil`in resident aged 31, was shot with 0.22” caliber live bullet which hit him in the lower leg. No warning shots were heard beforehand. Unable to stand, he was hurriedly carried by Palestinian and international demonstrators towards the village as he bled heavily from his calf. When Al-Khatib first fell, all of the soldiers ran forwards in an attempt to arrest him, but the demonstrators were able to successfully load him into a car before the soldiers caught them. As the car drove away the soldiers retreated, and the demonstrators walked back to the village, the demonstration lasting around one hour in total.
Upon Al-Khatib’s arrival at hospital, it was found the 0.22” caliber round had smashed the bone in his leg.
An-Nabi Saleh
An-Nabi Saleh’s weekly demonstration was yet again met with violent repression from the Israeli armed forces. The protestors numbered around 100, including internationals and Israeli activists.
The demonstration began slightly earlier this week – directly after noon prayers – and as such the Israeli military had not arrived by the time the protestors began to march. Due to this, the majority of the villagers managed to reach much further down the main road of their village than would normally be permitted. Some protestors managed to reach the spot which is the aim of the demonstration – the village’s natural spring, which has been confiscated by the nearby illegal Halamish settlement.
Shortly after soldiers blocked the remaining protesters’ path, many of the younger children began throwing stones at the military’s armoured jeeps in a symbolic act of resistance against the Israeli army’s continuous invasion of their village and their increasing violence towards its residents.
The soldiers from the five or six jeeps which had entered the village at this point then began to shoot tear gas projectiles and percussion grenades directly at the children, and also fired several rounds of rubber-coated steel bullets both as warning shots and directly at the children. Many of those involved in the demonstration also report that the soldiers fired 0.22” calibre live ammunition at this point, again both as a warning and straight at the children, many of whom were under 13 years old.
The demonstration was then suspended for some time as the jeeps retreated, but returned after roughly half an hour, when the soldiers positioned themselves at the three main entrances to the village, and resumed shooting the aforementioned weapons at any visible children upon the slightest sight of a stone.
This continued for several hours, and the demonstration ended at approximately 6pm, when the military finally retreated from the village. One Israeli activist was detained at around 2pm, but was released before the end of the demonstration. None obtained serious injuries, although many children were badly bruised due to the military’s use of the weapons noted above, and countless protestors suffered severe tear gas inhalation.
The weekly demonstrations in An-Nabi Saleh have been taking place since 2009 in protest against Halamish settlement’s annexation of large amounts of the village’s land. Despite the violence used by the Israeli armed forces in order to repress these protests, Friday’s demonstration will be followed by an additional action on Saturday. The villagers, along with Israeli and international activists, will all attempt to reach the spring which was stolen from the village. Upon reaching the spring, they plan to reclaim it and rename it ‘Emily’s Spring’. This is in honour of Emily Henochowicz, the ISM volunteer who lost an eye after being shot in the face by an Israeli soldier with a tear gas projectile aimed directly at her. This occurred at a peaceful protest at Qalandiya checkpoint, held in response to the Israeli ‘Defense’ Force’s murder of nine civilians aboard the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in May. Many of those who helped Emily after she was hit were villagers from An-Nabi Saleh, and thus the action will be made in solidarity with an activist who lost an eye through standing in solidarity with Palestinians.
Ni`lin
Ni`lin protestors face live ammunition and heavy tear gas from the Israeli Army.
An international activist shields himself from tear gas canisters in Ni`lin
Following the Friday midday prayers about 50 protestors including international and Israeli activists marched to the apartheid wall where it penetrates the village on Ni`lin as part of a weekly demonstration against the building of the Wall and the annexation of Palestinian land for illegal settlement building. In addition to this the protestors were also condemning the killing of a 32 year old Palestinian man by a settler security guard in the Silwan neighbourhood in East Jerusalem two days before.
The protestors marched to the Apartheid Wall chanting Palestinian slogans and waving Palestinian flags. As the protestors arrived at the Wall they chanted through the loudspeakers and some of the Palestinian youth started symbolically throwing stones and banging on the apartheid wall. This was abruptly met by teargas from the Israeli army within the first ten minutes of the demonstration. As the tear gas was heavily fired in all directions from the other side of the wall the soldiers soon began chasing the demonstrators who then started to retreat towards the village across the rocky and tricky terrain. Amidst the chase a number of the protestors suffered from heavy tear gas inhalation and required assistance from the Red Crescent which was accompanying the protestors. The quantity of tear gas fired was so great it even affected the soldiers themselves.
Although the protestors were already retreating there were reports of live ammunition being fired at the non-violent protestors by the Israeli army in complete violation of international law. There were no reports of injuries or casualties. This would not be the first time live ammunition has been used against peaceful demonstrators in Ni’lin: Four Ni`lin residents have been murdered by the Israeli occupation forces, including a ten-year-old boy, and around 70 more people have been shot non-fatally with live ammunition. since the demonstrations began in 2004.
The village of Ni’lin continues to suffer daily from the disproportionate use of violence by the Israeli Army and the catastrophic economic situation following the building of the Apartheid Wall.
Al-Ma`sara
Demonstrators burn settlement produce in al-Ma`sara
On Friday in al-Ma’asara in the southern West Bank, around fifteen villagers were joined by around fifteen Israeli and international solidarity activists after noon prayers. Together, the demonstrators marched towards the entrance of al-Ma`asara, where their path was blocked by around a dozen Israeli soldiers and border police and three army jeeps. Villagers wore T-shirts reading, “Stop supporting Rami Levi, Stop Supporting Settlements” and carried cardboard boxes representing settlement products.
When the demonstrators moved to set the boxes on fire, Israeli forces threw sound bombs and at least one tear gas canister at the crowd. The sound bombs themselves set the boxes on fire, after which the protesters dispersed back to the village. The demonstration lasted about twenty minutes in total.
Saturday demonstrations
Beit Ummar
The regular weekly demonstration in the town of Beit Ummar near Hebron protests against the Israeli occupation, and against the theft of Beit its land by the illegal Israeli settlement of Karmei Tzur in particular. This Saturday the march also demonstrated against Rami Levy, an Israeli supermarket chain selling settlement produce, and commemorated the twenty-eighth anniversary of the massacre in the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut. Activists showed solidarity with the people of Silwan, the East Jerusalem neighbourhood where a man was shot dead by a settler security guard on Wednesday, and with Palestinian political prisoners – in particular 17-year-old Beit Ummar resident Yousef Abu Maria who has a serious medical condition.
The demonstration was attended by around 60 Palestinians accompanied by 15 international and Israeli activists. Setting off at 1 p.m., the march proceeded through the Palestinians’ land in the direction of the illegal settlement, where their path was blocked by Israeli soldiers who put a rope across the path and threatened to arrest anyone who crossed it. Some youths were not deterred and crossed the rope, at which point the soldiers fired tear gas and stun grenades at all of the protesters. Several tear gas canisters were fired directly at the demonstrators, in defiance of the Israeli army’s own regulations.
The protesters burned cardboard boxes representing settlement produce in the path leading towards Karmei Tzur. The soldiers attempted to arrest one Palestinian campaigner but international activists managed successfully to shield him. He was beaten badly enough to lose consciousness. It was at this point that innocent French activist Bruno de Ginestet-Puivert was arrested, and later told he was being held on suspicion of assaulting an officer. Eyewitnesses from the demonstration say this was not true and that de Ginestet-Puivert was targeted arbitrarily. An Associated Press photographer was also detained but released before the demonstration ended.
Hebron
The weekly protest in Hebron against the illegal settlements and the closure of Shuhada street began at 3 p.m. at the entrance to the Old City. This week the protesters were also there to condemn the killing of a 32 year old Palestinian man and the subsequent death of a 14 month old Palestinian child that had taken place in East Jerusalem.
The protest began with the chanting of Palestinian songs and the waving of Palestinian flags and the locals were joined by international and Israeli peace activists. As the demonstrators began to move further on the soldiers in their usual
manner quickly blockaded them and began pushing the non-violent demonstrators back. Many of the younger protesters, some as young as 5 years old, were caught between the armed soldiers and the rest of the protesters. The soldiers made no attempt restrain themselves when pushing back demonstrators much smaller and less strong than themselves. As the soldiers began moving forward the demonstrators sat down steadfastly and chanted ‘Free Free Palestine’ accompanied by drumming from the Israeli activists. The march then continued towards another Shuhada street entrance, making a stop below some of the illegal settlements built on top of the Palestinian buildings. These shops face daily harassment by the settlers living above them, including the throwing of garbage and dirty water on them, and many of these shopkeepers are now barely able to support themselves financially. The settlers began showering the demonstrators with dirty water and despite the determined chanting and drumming the demonstrators were soon met by soldiers pushing them out of the market. They used sound bombs and used excessive physical force against the demonstrators to push them away from the settlements.
The demonstration came to an end as the soldiers blockaded the entrance to the Old City but not without a last word from a few determined Palestinian children who symbolically threw stones towards the heavily armed soldiers.
An international activist from the Christian Peacemaker Team remonstrates with soldiers who’ve blocked a road in Hebron.
An-Nabi Saleh
In addition to the weekly protest against the theft of the village’s natural spring and surrounding land by the nearby illegally-built settlement Halamish, An-Nabi Saleh held a second demonstration this Saturday. This action was planned in order to reach the aforementioned spring, plant trees there, and rename it ‘Emily’s spring’ in honour of Emily Henochowicz, the ISM volunteer who lost an eye at a protest in May after being shot with a tear gas projectile aimed directly at her.
Despite the entirely peaceful nature of this action, the participants – numbering between 100 and 150 including internationals, Israeli activists and many Palestinian children – were met with a huge (and violent) military presence.
All entrances to the village were blocked by Israeli jeeps and armed soldiers, as were many of the checkpoints further away, in order to prevent the march from taking place. Many of those planning to attend the event were therefore unable to reach the village as a consequence, although some managed by climbing over hills and walking through valleys in order to avoid checkpoints. As a consequence, the events of the day, which were planned to start at 9am, did not begin until after 1pm.
The action began with speeches and Palestinian music, which were held in a giant tent, erected specifically for this occasion. Before the end of the speeches, however, several Israeli activists and a few Palestinians had been detained by the soldiers whilst attempting to take water to a family in the village whose path was blocked by the
military.
After the speeches finished, the group visited An-Nabi Saleh’s cultural centre, in where they viewed photographs taken from previous demonstrations, all of which were met with disproportionate violence by the Israeli armed forces.
The march to the spring began approximately half an hour after later, but the group passed by the demonstrators whose paths had been blocked by soldiers in order to join them on the march. After numerous attempted arrests, the soldiers seized four Israelis and one international without reason or explanation, who were taken to Halamish settlement’s military base in order to be interrogated. The group were held for roughly four hours, and were made to walk to the base over mountainous land for almost an hour despite their hands being tied together with plastic handcuffs. Two of those
arrested had their hands (illegally) tied behind their backs whilst being forced to climb hills. The two were thrown over soldiers’ shoulders and carried down the extremely steep and rocky terrain after requesting that their handcuffs be removed in order for them to be able support themselves should they fall.
In spite of attempts by the military to prevent the event in this way, the remaining marchers continued walking towards the spring, but were once again blocked by the military at the bottom of the main road up to the centre of the village. The group sat on the ground in front of the soldiers, singing and chanting for over an hour before returning back to the tent for traditional Dabka dancing, singing and speeches about the importance of the day’s events and those to come.
The methods used by the soldiers in order to stop this planned march attempted to prevent international support for and solidarity with the villagers of An Nabi Saleh and their protest against the illegal annexation of their land. Despite the demonstrators being unsuccessful in reaching the spring, however, it is clear that the demonstrations, along with international solidarity with the villagers and their cause, will not be crushed. The demonstrations will continue as usual next Friday.
Palestinian youths open the gate in Bil`in. Photo credit: Hamde Abu Rahma
Bil`in
On Friday, 17 September 2010, the people of Bil’in were joined by Israelis and Internationals to protest against the theft of land and the imprisonment by Abdullah and Adeeb Abu Rahma, Ibrahim Burnat and other political prisoners from Bil’in. The demonstration went on for one and a half hours and was met with large amounts of tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets. After initially firing tear gas from the military base and road, soldiers came through the gate and chased the protesters back towards the village.
This week’s protest called for the release of prisoners, who have been kept in jail under administrative detention (which is to say, without trial) and also the ones who have been victims of false charges and unjust trials in Israeli military courts. People were carrying masks of Abdallah Abu Rahma, who has been held in Ofer Military Prison since November, and is now in the sentencing phase of his trial after being convicted for “incitement”. Other people were wearing masks showing the faces of Gandhi and Martin Luther King. This is to show that Palestinian political prisoners enduring long sentences in Israeli prisons are peaceful activists, who are leading the non-violent struggle against the illegal Israeli occupation.
The soldiers initially fired tear gas from inside a military base near the illegal apartheid wall. One tear gas canister hit an Israeli protester, Tali Shapiro, in her leg, causing pain and bruising. The protesters retreated from the fence due to the tear gas but returned – a process that repeated several times until the soldiers came through the gate. They continued shooting tear gas and also fired rubber-coated steel bullets – shooting one Palestinian youth in the back.
After one and a half hours the demonstration ended and the participants walked back to the village. Abdallah Abu Rahma’s many friends and family are now awaiting the outcome of his sentencing, hoping he will not join the hundreds of political prisoners held in jail many years for taking part in the non violent struggle against the brutal Israeli occupation.
Al-Ma`sara
On Friday, around fifty Palestinians accompanied by thirteen international and Israeli activists assembled in the West Bank village of Al-Ma`sara near Bethlehem. The weekly demonstration is against the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine and against the land theft by the nearby Gush Etzion settlement bloc, and this week there was also commemoration of the anniversary of the 1982 massacre in the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut, Lebanon.
Still within the village and far from the illegal settlement (which is built on Palestinian land anyway), the procession was stopped by the Israeli army. The soldiers showed a paper declaring the area a “closed military zone” and threatened to arrest anyone who had not left in sixty seconds. Immediately they began to throw sound grenades and tear gas canisters directly into the group of demonstrators. The group retreated some metres and then soon returned, repeating this five times. In each instance the soldiers threw many sound grenades and tear gas canisters.
Several Palestinian, Israeli and international activists spoke out at the demonstration for around twenty minutes, condemning the occupation and the apartheid regulations it entails for the Palestinians, before returning to the village.
An-Nabi Saleh
There were approximately 60 Palestinians and 20 international and Israeli activists at this week’s nonviolent protest, which began shortly after the noon prayer in the small village of An-Nabi Saleh. As usual, many children took part in the demonstration, and as usual it was they who bore the brunt of the Israeli military’s violence.
The protestors began by attempting to gain access to the spring which was stolen from the village by settlers from the illegal Halamish (Neve Zuf) settlement. This attempt was blocked by military jeeps and armed soldiers. Despite this difficulty, the demonstrators managed to enter on to the road leading to the spring, but many were prevented from continuing further.
The majority of the women and children then managed to move further down the road, and sat and chanted and sung when they were stopped by the soldiers once again. The rest of the group mirrored this action at the top of the road, and later the two groups united and sat in peaceful protest until they were forcefully removed from the road.
The demonstration then moved back up the hill into the village, at which point some of the children began to throw stones towards the blockade. The military responded by chasing the children up the hill and attempting to make arrests (although many of the children were under the age of 13, and therefore not legally adults in the eyes of the Israeli courts).
Some sound bombs and tear gas canisters were thrown at this point, but the soldiers did not shoot tear gas projectiles until much later on in the demonstration- perhaps due to the presence of media crew from the BBC.
Both soldiers and jeeps then made their way to the centre of the village, where children stood around the soldiers chanting and singing. The soldiers then forcefully entered a house from which they attempted to block access to those protesting, and seized one young female demonstrator who they accused of stone-throwing. She was, however, quickly released when they realised she holds both Palestinian and American citizenship.
The soldiers later chased a teenager (presumably suspected of stone throwing) through the village and attempted to arrest him. Many of the Palestinians and several internationals successfully de-arrested him, but he had already been badly beaten by this point and was taken to hospital after falling unconscious.
Several attempted arrests were made, and one international was violently seized by the soldiers shortly after this, and was detained at Halamish settlement’s military base. The international was kept in a dark room and had his hands tied behind his back at all times, even when bread was thrown on the floor for him to eat. He was given no explanation for this treatment and was released without charge after 6 hours.
The protest continued, whereupon soldiers began firing tear gas projectiles both in an arc (the legal method) and directly at individuals (which is illegal according to both international and Israeli law). Several of the children suffered cuts and heavy bruising as a consequence, and many adults and children suffered extreme tear gas inhalation, although none was severely wounded.
The demonstration stopped for almost an hour when the jeeps and soldiers left the village, but continued when they entered once again and continued to fire both directly at protestors and into the villagers’ gardens, at which point large amounts of tear gas entered numerous houses, including the houses of those who were not taking part in the protest.
The demonstration ended at approximately 6:30pm, when the soldiers finally left the village after continuing in this vein for several hours. By this point there were over 150 participants.
Since January 2010, peaceful protestors have spent their Fridays attempting to reach the spring, which was confiscated along with almost half of the village’s arable land. Despite confirmation from the District Coordination Office that the spring is on Palestinian land, the villagers continue to be prevented from accessing the area.
An Israeli marksman at the Bil`in demo. Photo credit Hamde Abu Rahma
Ni`lin
On Friday over 100 Palestinians attended noon prayer in the olive groves outside the village of Ni’lin. After the prayer finished at around 12:15, over 70 Palestinians accompanied by ten international and Israeli activists and two journalists marched toward the wall that cuts through the village’s land. As well as being against the illegal apartheid wall, this demonstration was in part a protest against the American pastor Terry Jones who claimed he was going to burn the Qur’an on 11 September. Demonstrators held their copies of the Qur’an towards the sky as they marched and chanted.
Upon reaching the apartheid wall, stones were symbolically thrown at the huge concrete structure by the youths for twenty minutes, before tear gas and sounds bombs were then fired over the wall by the soldiers for about minutes five minutes before they opened the gate and began chasing demonstrators back towards the village, firing tear gas all the way. One man received medical assistance for an injury sustained running to avoid being hit by tear gas canisters.
For some hours most demonstrators and soldiers stood on opposite sides of a small valley. Some youths attempted to sneak back towards the wall while tear gas and sound bombs were fired by the soldiers. Five gunshots were heard and blank cartridges were found which indicate rubber-coated steel bullet use, though no-one was hit. Another group of soldiers came towards the olive groves where the demonstration started, and fired dangerous low-flying tear gas close to the heads of Palestinians and international activists, forbidden even by the army’s own regulations.
Young children symbolically threw stones in the direction of the soldiers who responded with low-flying tear gas until they retreated. The demonstrators ended the demonstration at 3:15 PM. No arrests were made and injuries consisted of two sprained ankles endured running from the potentially lethal tear gas canisters.
Beit Ummar
Around 60 Palestinians were supported by about 15 international activists in the village of Beit Ummar on Saturday in a demonstration against the illegal annexation of land by the neighboring settlement of Karmei Sur. The demonstration took place on the road leading to the fence that surrounds the settlement. Protesters made their way towards the gate in the fence, but were stopped by a group of soldiers who blocked the road, firing and throwing both tear gas and sound grenades.
Three Palestinian demonstrators were detained, including one journalist, along with two internationals. At one point during the protest, soldiers brought the detained journalist back out through the gate and offered to let him go if all of the media would leave the village with him. All parties refused and he was taken back into custody.
One international activist was hit in the back with a tear gas canister as soldiers fired them directly at the group of civilians. Additionally, a Palestinian boy was injured in the same way when soldiers drove an army vehicle through one of the gates onto the village’s farmland, and proceeded to chase the demonstrators through the fields, continuing to fire tear gas at body level. One other international temporarily lost hearing in one ear when a soldier shot a sound grenade directly next to her head, and many suffered from inhaling large quantities of gas.
The demonstration continued for around an hour and a half before protesters were chased back into the village amidst a barrage of tear gas.
The detained international is still being held by Israeli forces 48 hours after his arrest.
Hebron
On Saturday, after stopping for several weeks due to the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, the regular Saturday protests against the illegal settlements in Hebron and the closure of Shuhada Street started again.
Palestinians and internationals gathered in Al Zajed in the centre of Hebron at 3 p.m. and made their way to the gate that closes off Shuhada Street by the Beit Romano settlement at the entrance to the old city, but from the very beginning soldiers and police blocked their passage.
The demonstrators chanted against the occupation and the settlements, and many were carrying posters illustrating the crippling difficulties the Hebron residents suffer under Israeli occupation. This week they were also commemorating the anniversary of the massacres in Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon in 1982. After nearly an hour the protestors turned their backs on the soldiers and slowly made their way back through the old city, coming to another entrance to Shuhada Street, where once again the Israeli army had closed the way. After twenty minutes of singing and chanting the protestors moved back to the starting point of the demonstration.
Palestinian youth dodge tear gas in Bil`in. Photo credit: Hamde Abu Rahma
