29 July 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah team | Ni’lin village, occupied Palestine
On Friday afternoon, a group of Palestinian residents of Ni’lin village along with internationals and Israelis, tried to walk to the apartheid wall that cuts off many of the villagers from their farmland. The Israeli settlers on the other side of the wall are living on illegally confiscated land. The purpose of the demonstration was to protest against the wall, but also the march was in memory of Ahmed Musa, a ten year old Palestinian boy who was murdered eight years ago in this village by Israeli military forces. The march was also in memory of Saad, Reham and Ali Dawabsheh, who were burned alive by Israeli settler extremists last summer.
The demonstration started off peacefully as the people tried walking down the road to get to the wall. They were blocked by six Israeli Border Police officers and two jeeps, including one armed with long range teargas cannister missiles. The Border Police pointed their guns and teargas cannisters at the demonstrators, and refused to let them pass.
Soon afterwards, clashes started with the shebab- young Palestinian men and teenage boys who challenged their blockage of the path and disruption of a peaceful demonstration, by throwing rocks. The Israeli Border Police fired teargas and rubber coated as well as well as “foam tipped” bullets. They shot a 22 year old man in the hand, breaking it. In addition, they also shot teargas at people who were not throwing rocks.
The demonstration and resulting clashes lasted approximately two hours. The villagers continue their fight against the ongoing theft of their land.
The Israeli Border Police threatened peaceful demonstrators, and did not allow the march to the wall to continueIsraeli Border Police prepare to attack Palestinian teenagers and young men.With rocks and slingshots, Palestinian teenage boys confront the Israeli Border PoliceIsraeli Border Police shot teargas also towards those demonstrators who were not involved in the clashes
5th June 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine
7 years ago today, Aqil Srour was murdered by an Israeli sniper in the occupied West Bank village of Ni’lin, near Ramallah.
He was shot straight in the heart when coming to the rescue of a 16-year old boy that was shot with live ammunition in the stomach just minutes before. Aqil was shot straight in the heart, leading to his immediate death.
Even though 7 years have passed, the villagers won’t forget the cold-blooded murder of Aqil Srour.
Watch this video in remembrance of Aqil: https://www.facebook.com/Saeed.Amireh/videos/vb.575279446/10154903102244447/?type=2&theater
“There was a single Israeli army jeep that invaded the village late at night. This was very strange, as usually if the army come, they would come with 10 or more jeeps…“
This is what we were told when we visited Ni’ilin on Friday 6 May, referring to the start of the terrible Israeli incursion into the village a night earlier in the week – where a seven day old baby suffered tear gas inhalation and had to be taken to hospital.
The village of Ni’ilin. Photo credit ISM
The village children, concerned and curious about the invasion of the village, had followed the jeep and blocked the road which meant the jeep could not get out. The soldiers then called for back up and four more jeeps came into the village on a rescue mission. This is when the occupation forces started indiscriminately firing vast amounts of teargas. No one is clear about the reasons why the first jeep decided to invade the village nor why they felt the need to use so much teargas.
The army often come at night to arrest youg people accusing them of partaking in the weekly demonstrations, but no arrests were made that night even after all the violence. However in the last six months, five boys aged 16 and 17 have been arrested and are still in prison without any charges being made against them.
We had come to the village to establish what had happened on that night and to show solidarity by joining their weekly demonstration against the apartheid wall. Apart from a committed group of Israeli protesters, the demonstration no longer attracts many international activist or media attention.
However, as the paramedics from the Red Crescent told us, the Israeli occupation forces are far more aggressive when there is no international and/or media presence to record their actions and monitor their behaviour. The villagers would therefore welcome any support international activists can offer. For a relatively small demonstration, that has only been going for eight years, there have been a significantly high percentage of deaths. Five people have been killed since it started, most by live ammunition, and notable as well as heartbreaking for our organisation, an ISM activist was severely injured by a tear gas canister here in 2009 and has sadly not recovered.
The village of Ni’lin is located only about three kilometres from the Green line (which marks the pre-1967 border) and has suffered extensive land theft and settlement expansion. Our guide pointed out one of the many illegal settlements encircling the village: Hashmonaim, which was built in 1985, and is located next to the apartheid wall and is one of the reason it was built where it is.
Hashmonaim settlement and the apartheid wall. Photo credit: ISM
The village, being so close to the Green line mean the apartheid wall (which for the most part does not follow the agreed border anyway), has been routed through land belonging to the village. By positioning the wall well into Palestinian territory and thereby stealing large areas of land in the process, Israel ensures the further expansion of the illegal settlement. The Israeli supreme court judged it unlawful at one point but eventually the build went ahead, and since then residents have been protesting and campaigning against it.
The weekly demonstration has been ongoing since 2008 with the villagers of Ni’lin non violently protesting against the apartheid wall and the annexation of their lands. When the wall was first erected, some of the young boys in the village manage to cut through what was then a wire fence. The army responded by erecting the very high concrete wall now standing there, resulting in even more of Ni’ilins lands being lost. Many villagers are farmers and with the loss of their land, have also lost their main form of income. Many others used to work in ’48 (Israel proper) but because of the wall and the impossibility of gaining permits to enter Israel, they can now not continue to do so and have also lost their source of income.
Peaceful protester at the demonstration. Photo credit: ISM
During the weekly demonstration, protesters walk from the village towards the wall with the aim of reaching it. However, the army now enter into the olive groves in the village preventing any chance of protesters reaching their goal. This means there are often clashes with the army firing teargas, rubber bullets and live ammunition. But on Friday we were fortunate that the army used no violence at all – instead they spent their time filming the protesters to be able to identify them, presumably for later arrests. This may be a worrying sign- since it was a repetition from the previous week’s demonstration which was also quiet- that further night raids may occur. The villagers, however, are not deterred and will continue to assert their rights and peacefully protest the illegal appropriation of their lands the, the apartheid wall and the injustices they face. I dearly hope to be able to join them soon again as they deserve all the support they can get.
3rd May 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil Team | Ni’lin, occupied Palestine
During nighttime on the 1st of May, Israeli Forces raided the village of Ni’lin in the West Bank in occupied Palestine without any reason.
First, with the arrival of one military jeep, villagers were already aguishly awaiting why the Israeli army is invading the village, fearing arrests. Later on, several armored military jeeps invaded the village and immediately started shooting tear gas towards the houses in an act of collective punishment, targeting civilians that were mainly still asleep. Additionally, the Israeli forces fired rubber coated steel bullets and live ammunition towards the house. Ni’lin in the last weeks has repeatedly seen army attacks on civilians entirely uninvolved even in the weekly Friday demonstrations.
Photo from demonstration in Ni’lin. Photo credit: Palestine Solidarity Campaign
This night, a 17-year old young man was shot in the head with a rubber coated steel bullet, but luckily did not sustain any major injuries. Additionally, a newborn, only 7 days old baby, had to be taken to hospital for tear gas inhalation. This is a result of the Israeli forces tactic of deliberately targeting civilians and all the villagers in acts of collective punishment. In the recent weeks, several children and elderly had to be treated for excessive tear gas inhalation as Israeli Forces targeted a public park with a playground, showering it in tear gas; and shooting the potentially deadly long-range tear gas canisters straight into the village. As this long-range tear gas canister can not be heard and has an extremely hard metal tip, it is not only potenitally deadly – an international solidarity activist Tristan Anderson was critically injured with this kind of tear gas canister in the head in 2009 in Ni’lin and now requires 24-hour care – but it also easily breaks through windows and even walls. This is just another proof of how dangerous it is. Thus, tear gas can easily, and has already, trapped civilians inside their own homes, causing excessive tear gas inhalation.
During the last weekly Friday demonstration in Ni’lin against the illegal Israeli apartheid wall and the theft of the majority of the villages agricultural lands (the majority still located and theoretically accessible on the villages’ side of the wall has arbitrarily been declared a ‘closed military zone’ thus denying the villagers access), Israeli forces, surprisingly did not use the violence against the peaceful protestors, the villagers were forced to get used to.
The nightly raid on Monday, thus, appears to the villagers to be an even more twisted act of revenge by the Israeli forces.
2nd May 2016 | International Solidarity Movement, al-Khalil team | Deir Istiya, Kafr Qaddum, Ni’lin; occupied Palestine
Last week, as every week, Israeli forces attacked demonstrations in the West Bank against the illegal Israeli land-theft, the apartheid-wall and illegal Israeli settlements.
In Deir Istiya, near Nablus in northern occupied West Bank, farmers continued their protest against the closure of agricultural roads that are essential for them to reach their land and thus ensure their own and their families income. The protest, as during the last few weeks, started with a prayer close to the settler road that cuts the farmers off from their land and prevents their access.
Farmers in Deir Istiya protesting the closure of their agricultural roads
In Kafr Qaddum village, demonstrators went out in their weekly march to protest against the closure of their main access road to the closest nearby village, Nablus. With the closure of the main road, the once 10-minute drive to nearby Nablus now takes at least half an hour – time that can be essential in case of emergencies and can thus cost the essential time an ambulance needs to reach a hospital on time. This closure clearly illustrates the Israeli apartheid policies as the only reason is to facilitate movement for the illegal settlement of Kedumim.
Israeli forces fired rubber coated metal bullets, stun grenades and excessive amounts of tear gas at the demonstrators. Three Palestinians were injured, one had his hand burned when hit with a hot tear gas canister, and two were injured when hit with rubber coated metal bullets in the stomach and back. Several suffered from excessive tear gas inhalation, as the Israeli forces deliberately attacked the whole village in an act of collective punishment.
Israeli forces chasing demonstrators, illegal settlement can be seen in the back
In the West Bank village of Ni’lin, Israeli forces this week, unlike before, did not invade the village before the start of the demonstration. The demonstrators therefore marched up to the soldiers. Surprisingly – and in contrast to years of demonstrations, Israeli forces last Friday did not target civilian homes with tear gas or use any other means of supposedly ‘less-lethal’ ‘crowd-control’ weapons. Israeli forces did shoot some tear gas, but not the amounts the villagers have become used to in the years of struggle against the illegal apartheid wall separating them from the majority of their farming land. The villagers are now hoping, that the collective punishment of the whole village, the targeting of civilians and the use of excessive force has come to an end.
