Tag: Ni’lin

Arrest of Palestinian children on the rise

Mel Frykberg | The Electronic Intifada

25 September 2009

BILIN, occupied West Bank (IPS) – Eight children between the ages of 10 and 17 were arrested and detained by Israeli soldiers during military raids Monday night and Tuesday morning in the northern West Bank cities Nablus and Qalqiliya.

Defence for Children International- Palestine Section (DCI) has released a statement that the number of children detained in Israeli jails and temporary Israeli army detention centers this year has risen by 17.5 percent compared with 2008.

“The average number of Palestinian children held in Israeli detention in 2009 remains high, at 375 per month compared with an average of 319 in 2008,” says DCI.

“Disturbingly, 39 young children between the ages of 12 and 15 were detained in August 2009. This is up 85 percent compared to the corresponding period in 2008 of 21 children.”

Israel is a signatory to the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child which states that “the arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time.”

Nashmi Muhammad Abu Rahme, 14, from the West Bank village of Bilin near Ramallah was arrested and dragged from his bed at 3 am on 15 August after Israeli soldiers raided his home.

The village of Bilin has been involved in a protracted campaign of nonviolent civil disobedience against Israel’s building of a wall which cuts through village land, separating villagers and farmers from their agricultural fields.

The villagers successfully petitioned an Israeli court to have the wall re-routed several years ago, but the Israeli army has failed to comply with the court’s orders.

“My family was awoken by the sounds of Israeli soldiers yelling and starting to smash down the door. I was blindfolded and tightly handcuffed by the soldiers and then thrown into the back of a jeep,” recalls Abu Rahme.

“During the journey to the military base I was repeatedly slapped, beaten and kicked until I was bleeding. I was very scared,” Abu Rahme told IPS.

Israeli medics treated Abu Rahme for bleeding and contusions before he was brought before an interrogator, again blindfolded and handcuffed. His interrogation lasted three hours, during which he was accused of throwing stones at soldiers near the wall on Bilin’s agricultural land.

Abu Rahme was kept in jail for a week before he was brought before a military prosecutor. He was fined 5,000 shekels ($1,340) and released.

“We have had about 12 children from our village arrested and detained by the Israelis,” Hassan Moussa, a schoolteacher from the neighboring village of Nilin told IPS.

Under Israeli administrative detention, Palestinians can be held for six months without trial, and this can be renewed at the end of that period for another six months.

“It interrupts their education when they are detained for weeks and months without being brought to trial,” says Moussa.

Most Palestinian children are held for stone-throwing. Israeli Military Order 378 carries a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment for this, five years less than the average murder sentence in Israel.

“During interrogation, children as young as 12 years are denied access to a lawyer and visits from their families,” says DCI.

“While under interrogation children are subjected to a number of prohibited techniques. These include the excessive use of blindfolds and handcuffs, slapping and kicking, painful position abuse for long periods of time, solitary confinement, sleep deprivation, and a combination of physical and psychological threats,” says DCI.

Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem describes the tiny cells where Palestinian children are often held in solitary confinement.

These include the “lock-up,” a dark cell of 1.5 by 1.5 meters. The “closet” is a narrow cell the height of a person that one can stand in but not sit or move. The “grave” is a box closed by a door from the top and measuring approximately one meter by 60 cm with a depth of about 80 cm.

DCI has documented at least seven cases during Israel’s war on Gaza at the beginning of the year where Gazan children were used as human shields by Israeli soldiers.

“There is a big difference in the way Palestinian and Israeli minors are treated by Israeli law,” Khaled Quzmar from DCI Palestine told IPS.

Palestinian children as young as 12 years are prosecuted in the Israeli military courts and are treated as adults as soon as they turn 16, in contrast to the situation under Israeli domestic law, whereby majority is attained at 18.

The Israeli army announced in July that it would be setting up a separate military court for juveniles. Hitherto both Palestinian adults and children had been tried together.

“The good news is that after 42 years of occupation the Israelis have recognized that their legal treatment of Palestinian children has been morally indefensible,” says Quzmar.

“The bad news is that the changes are merely semantic. Children will continue to be tried by the same judges in the same jails. The only difference is juveniles will be tried at separate times,” Quzmar told IPS.

Previously, according to military law, there was no statute of limitations on offenses by Palestinians, even if the suspect committed the offense when he or she was a minor.

“While the new order ostensibly sets a two-year statute of limitations for offenses committed by minors, it also allows the military prosecutor to overrule this. The prosecution will generally be given the benefit of the doubt,” added Quzmar.

Three arrested in Ni’lin while filming demonstration

25th September 2009

In this week’s Friday demonstration, three persons – Swedish, French and Israeli – were taken away by the Israeli armed forces while filming the protest against the Wall. They were taken to the police station in the illegal settlement of Geva Binyamin and released later that night with the condition not to return to Ni’lin or Bil’in for 15 days.

This Friday around 100 persons gathered in Ni’lin to protest against the Wall Israel has built on the village land. The protesters walked together down to the Wall where they last week successfully managed to remove one of its blocks. The Wall was now repaired. The soldiers were waiting on a high earth mound they built behind the Wall to be able to see and attacked the protesters from there.

The protesters moved to the small part of the Wall where it is constructed as a fence and were attacked with tear gas, sound bombs and ‘skunk’ water. Several times the army used the multiple tear gas (32 canisters at the same time) that they fired from their jeeps.

Around 3.30pm, soldiers and border police entered running through the gate towards the protesters. Three persons were standing filming the soldiers and were brutally grabbed and taken away without any explanation. They were taken to the jeeps and later on to the settlement Geva Binyamin. At night they were released with the condition not to be in Ni’lin or Bil’in for 15 days.

Demonstrators displace part of Apartheid Wall in Ni’lin

18 September 2009

Around 150 protesters gathered in Ni’lin to protest against the Apartheid Wall. A month ago, the concrete Wall was put up in Ni’lin and this Friday was the first time the demonstrators managed to displace a part of it.

The Friday prayer during Ramadan took place in the olive groves of Ni’lin. The residents of Ni’lin were joined by international and Israeli solidarity activist in the demonstration against the Wall Israeli authorities have built on the village land. The protesters walked carrying Palestinian flags and chanting against the Occupation. Tires were lit on fire and places next to the illegal Wall, whilst a Palestinian flag was placed on top of the Wall.

The Israeli armed forces used a severe amount of tear gas against the protesters and many of them had to receive help from the medical team due to respiratory problems. On several occasions, the soldiers aimed directly at the demonstrations and one international activist and two Palestinians were hit by the tear gas canisters. The army also brought a tanker truck spraying people with stinky chemical water. Some local boys responded to the military violence by throwing stones.

Another group of demonstrators tried to tear down a part of the Wall. With a small pulley system, that was tied to an olive tree. A strong action showing that the Wall can be moved and hopefully one day will not be on the land of Ni’lin or anywhere in Palestine.

Around 3.30pm the Israeli army entered through the Wall, shooting tear gas and chasing some of the protesters back towards the village. The demonstration concluded at 4pm.

Israeli forces commonly use tear-gas canisters, rubber coated steel bullets and live ammunition against demonstrators.

To date, Israeli occupation forces have murdered 5 Palestinian residents and critically injured 1 international solidarity activist during unarmed demonstrations in Ni’lin. In total, 19 people have been killed during demonstrations against the Wall.

  • 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.

In total, 40 people have been shot by Israeli forces with live ammunition in Ni’lin: 11 were shot with 5.56mm caliber live ammunition and 29 were shot with 0.22 caliber live ammunition.

Additionally, Israeli arrest and intimidation campaigns on West Bank villages that demonstrate against the Wall, have led to the arrests of over 76 Palestinians in Ni’lin alone as of June 2009.

Since May 2008, residents of Ni’lin have been organizing and participating in unarmed demonstrations against construction of the Apartheid Wall. Despite being deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2004, the Occupation continues to build the Wall, further annexing Palestinian land.

Ni’lin will lose approximately 2,500 dunums of agricultural land when construction of the Wall is completed. Israel annexed 40,000 of Ni’lin’s 58,000 dunums in 1948. After the occupation of the West Bank in 1967, the illegal settlements and infrastructure of Kiryat Sefer, Mattityahu and Maccabim were built on village lands and Ni’lin lost another 8,000 dunums. Of the remaining 10,000 dunums, the Occupation will confiscate 2,500 for the Wall and 200 for a tunnel to be built under the segregated settler-only road 446. Ni’lin will be left with 7,300 dunums.

The current entrance to the village will be closed and replaced by a tunnel to be built under Road 446. This tunnel will allow for the closure of the road to Palestinian vehicles, turning road 446 into a segregated settler-only road . Ni’lin will be effectively split into 2 parts (upper Ni’lin and lower Ni’lin), as road 446 runs between the village. The tunnel is designed to give Israeli occupation forces control of movement over Ni’lin residents, as it can be blocked with a single military vehicle.

Oakland man to sue for injury in Israel protest

Bob Egelko | The San Francisco Chronicle

14 September 2009

An Oakland man who was seriously wounded by a tear gas projectile fired by Israeli police during a West Bank protest will file suit despite a military report concluding that he was engaged in an “act of war,” his lawyers said Sunday.

The case of Tristan Anderson, who remains hospitalized with brain damage and a fractured skull six months after he was injured, may test Israel’s efforts to shield itself from lawsuits for harm it causes during wartime, said attorney Michael Sfard.

Anderson’s lawyers said Israel’s Ministry of Defense has told them the demonstrators threw stones and other objects at police, who acted in self-defense.

The Ministry of Defense, Sfard said in an e-mail message, “is trying to apply the (act of war) doctrine to every (case of) damage caused in the occupied Palestinian territories by Israeli forces.”

Anderson, 38, was among a group of about 400 Palestinian and international demonstrators who gathered March 13 in the town of Naalin, near the wall Israel is building along its border to keep Palestinians out.

The wall cuts off parts of the West Bank, including a portion of Naalin, and is the site of frequent protests.

Anderson was struck in the head by a tear gas canister fired from about 65 yards away by a border police officer, according to some fellow demonstrators. He had brain surgery at Tel Hashomer hospital in Tel Aviv and is no longer in critical condition, but is blind in his right eye, friends say.

His parents, Nancy and Michael Anderson of Grass Valley (Nevada County), report that he has regained consciousness and they are optimistic about his recovery, said Lea Tsemel, an Israeli civil rights lawyer who represents the family.

However, she said she believes Tristan Anderson will be permanently disabled.

Before going to Israel, Anderson was one of the tree-sitters who until last September occupied a grove next to UC Berkeley’s Memorial Stadium in an unsuccessful bid to stop the university from clearing the trees to make room for an athletic center.

This summer, Anderson’s lawyers received a letter from Israel’s Ministry of Defense saying its preliminary investigation had cleared government forces of wrongdoing.

“The border police force was attacked massively by about 400 demonstrators who threw blocks, stones and gas rockets,” the letter said, according to Tsemel’s translation. “The police sincerely feared that they would be hurt. … In these circumstances, we are talking about an act of war. Accordingly, the state is not responsible for any damages.”

Tsemel said numerous witnesses contradict the ministry’s report.

“He was demonstrating. He didn’t have any weapon. He was a peacenik. … Nothing was endangering the soldiers,” the attorney said in a telephone interview from her home in Israel.

While some demonstrators have thrown stones at soldiers, Tsemel said, there was no evidence of any violent activity by Anderson.

Sfard, who also represents Anderson, said the Ministry of Defense was trying to extend the “act of war” defense from armed conflicts to police responses against civilian demonstrators.

Tsemel said Anderson and his family would file suit shortly in either Jerusalem or Tel Aviv. In addition to compensation, she said, “we want the army to investigate the event and bring to trial the border police person who shot at him and those who gave him the orders.”

Join the 2009 Olive Harvest Campaign

9 September 2009

With rapidly escalating levels of settler violence in the West Bank, the International Solidarity Movement is issuing an urgent call for volunteers to participate in the 2009 Olive Harvest Campaign.

The olive tree is a national symbol for Palestinians. As thousands of olive trees have been bulldozed, uprooted and burned by the Israeli military and settlers, harvesting has become more than a source of livelihood; it has become a form of resistance. The olive harvest is an annual affirmation of Palestinians’ historical, spiritual and economic connection to their land, and a rejection of Israeli efforts to seize it.

Palestinian communities are inviting internationals to support and show solidarity with this resistance by working in the olive groves with them. By doing so, activists can reduce the risk of extreme violence from Israeli settlers or army through non-violent intervention and documentation.

The campaign will begin on the 3rd of October and run for approximately 6-8 weeks, depending on the size of the harvest. We request a 2 week commitment from volunteers.

Training:

The ISM will be holding mandatory two day training sessions every Saturday and Sunday. Please contact palreports@gmail.com for further information.

Ongoing campaigns:

In addition to the olive harvest, there will also be other opportunities to participate in grass-roots, non-violent resistance in Palestine.
In occupied East Jerusalem, ISM activists have been staying with the Hanoun and Ghawe families, prior and post their evictions. We will continue to support the initiatives of the families who face evictions or demolitions in Sheikh Jarrah, Silwan and other Palestinian neighborhoods in resisting the ethnic cleansing of occupied East Jerusalem.

ISM has been active in the village of Ni’lin, supporting its non-violent resistance to construction of the Apartheid Wall that annexes much of its land. Since May 2008, Ni’lin has been demonstrating and the Israeli military suppression of their unarmed protests has led to the death of 5 Palestinians and critical injury of an ISM activist.

In Bil’in, ISM has once again taken an apartment to participate in prevention of arrests and the ongoing night raids. Since the beginning of the summer, Israeli forces have been invading and arresting in the village of Bil’in, known for its creative resistance to the Apartheid Wall and construction of settlements on village lands.

Additionally, ISM maintains a presence in Hebron and Susiya. Work in these areas includes solidarity visits, farmer accompaniment and response to settler violence.

Come! Bear witness to the suffering, courage and generosity of the Palestinian people under Israeli occupation. Experiencing the situation for yourself is vital to adequately convey the reality of life in Palestine to your home communities and to re-frame the debate in a way that will expose Israel’s apartheid policies; creeping ethnic cleansing in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem as well as collective punishment and genocidal practices in Gaza.