Tag: Ni’lin

AATW: 23 arrested in protest outside army officer’s home following Ni’lin killings

Press release from Anarchists Against the Wall

23 demonstrators were violently arrested in front of the house of Colonel Aviv Reshef, who is the army commander of the regiment stationed in the Ni’ilin region.

The demonstrators were arrested while protesting the murder of two minors in Ni’ilin last week. The two – Ahmed Mousa, 10 years old, and Youssef Amireh, 17 years old, were shot by the Israeli border police.

The demonstrators, who were standing on the sidewalk at the time of their arrest, were violently arrested even though no law was broken in any way. The policemen even continued beating some of the arrested demonstrators once inside the police car. The 23 will remain in custody for the night and be brought in front of a judge tomorrow.

Ten year old Ahmed Mousa was murdered by a border policeman in Ni’ilin on Tuesday, July 29th. He was shot in the forehead from a short distance, while on his lands and posing absolutely no threat. The shot killed him on the spot, and two of his brothers had to carry his lifeless body back to the village, about a kilometer away, leaving a thick trail of blood behind them.

On Wednesday, July 30th, only hours after Mousa was buried, Youssef Amireh, was shot in the head by a border policeman sitting inside an armored jeep. He was shot despite the fact he was standing in a yard in his own village, and did not take part in clashes. Two rubber coated bullets, shot from a distance of ten meters, penetrated his skull and left him brain dead. After five days in a vegetative state, Amireh succumbed to his wounds and passed away.

Amireh is the twelfth Palestinian and seventh minor to be killed protesting the wall; thousands of others have been wounded and many seriously. From its inception, the popular struggle was met with severe military violence, despite its civilian and unarmed nature.

Anarchists Against the Wall said that: “In a place where an army allows itself to kill unarmed demonstrators day after day, we are not surprised that demonstrators protesting this acts are beaten up and arrested. Reshef is directly and morally responsible for the murders in Ni’ilin, and we will continue to demand his accountability, as well as continue to stand together with the people of Ni’ilin”.

For more details: Jonathan Pollak 0546327736

Israeli army attacks Yusef Amira’s funeral in Ni’lin

On the 4th of August Yusuf Ahmad Amira was buried in Ni’lin. He was killed by Israeli soldiers, shot on 29th of July in Ni’lin after the funeral of Ahmed Mousa.

Video courtesy of Israel Putermam

The procession of the funeral was attacked by the army using tear gas, sound grenades and rubber bullets against the people who had come to pay their respects to Yusuf. The funeral gathered thousands of people.

On 29th of July Yusuf Ahmad Amira was shot twice in the head at short distance by rubber-coated steel bullets by soldiers inside an Israeli military jeep. It was the same day as the ten-year-old boy Ahmad from Ni’lin was buried. Yusuf was declared brain-dead that night, but remained on a respirator for several days. On Monday 4th August he died.

His body was taken from the Ramallah hospital in the afternoon and brought to Ni’lin to be buried. The caravan was stopped by Palestinian police that arrested eight people for carrying Hamas flags. They were soon released.

Once the caravan that consisted of about sixty cars reached the second checkpoint at the entrance of the village of Ni’lin the army attacked it with sound grenades, tear gas and rubber bullets. The army had also occupied a rooftop at the entrance of the village. The shooting caused panic as the crowd tried to avoid the attack and reach the village. One man was hit in the head by tear-gas cannister and was taken to hospital in Ramallah.

The funeral gathered thousands of people from Ni’lin and neighbouring villages. The body was carried to the family house on to the mosque and then to the graveyard where it was buried. Ni’lin has now lost two boys in less than a week due to Israeli military violence.

Yousef Amira, shot in the head by Israeli forces in Ni’lin, has died

A Palestinian teenager, aged 17, who was left brain-dead on the 30th July after being shot in the head by Israeli forces, died this morning. His funeral will be held in Ni’lin later this afternoon.

Photos courtesy of Activestills

Israeli forces shot Yousef Ahmad Younis Amera with two rubber coated steel bullets from close range, leaving him brain dead. Actual death occurred at approximately 10am today. Yousef is the second child killed in the village over the past week. On Tuesday (29th July) 10 year old Ahmed Husan Yousef Mousa was shot dead by an Israeli border policeman.

According to ISM volunteers staying in the village, confrontations broke out hours after Ahmed’s funeral. Villagers built five barricades of rubble and stones that blocked the main road into Ni’lin preventing Israeli forces entering the village. At about 5:30pm an Israeli bulldozer attempted to clear a path through the barricades.

About 50 Israeli soldiers then attacked with sound bombs, rubber coated steel bullets and tear gas. They shot Yousef twice in the head at close range at approximately 7:30pm. Two other men suffered head injuries from a rubber coated steel bullets, but these injuries were not life threatening. A total of 17 people were injured.

According to Israeli Human Rights organisation B’Tselem, “the minimum range for firing ‘rubber’ bullets is 40m… the regulations emphasise that the bullets must be fired only at the individuals legs and they are not to be fired at children…”.

For several months protests have been held at Nil’in against the illegal Apartheid wall that annexes approximately 2,500 Dunums of agricultural land. The people fear this latest land grab will make their village economically untenable.

Yousef is the 8th child and the 13th Palestinian killed protesting against the Apartheid Wall. The other 12 are:

Ahmed Husan Yousef Mousa, aged 10.

Mohammad Fadel Hashem Rayan, age 25.

Zakaria MaHmud Salem, age 28.

Abdal Rahman Abu Eid, age 62.

Mohammad Daud Badwan, age 21.

Diaa Abdel Karim Abu Eid, age 24.

Hussain mahmud Awwad Aliyan, age 17.

Islam Hashem Rizik Zhahran, age 14.

Alaa Mohammad Abdel Rahman Khalil, age 14.

Jamal Jaber Ibrahim Assi, age 15.

Odai Mofeed Mahmud Assi, age 14.

Mahayub Nimer Assi, age 15.

To date, no soldiers or border police have been prosecuted for killing demonstrators.

Seven injured as Ni’lin continues its struggle against the construction of the apartheid wall

On the 1st August, Palestinian protesters, joined by Israeli and international solidarity activists, marched to the construction site of the apartheid wall in Ni’lin.

Photos courtesy of Activestills

Well over 100 meters of barbed wire at the site was eventually removed from the construction site and placed in front of the bulldozers so as to delay planned work on the wall the following day. This action was similar to the one that saw 10 year old Ahmed Mousa killed by Israeli forces on the 29th July.

Five Palestinians and two internationals were then injured by rubber-coated steel bullets as Israeli forces attacked the demonstration. and invaded the village. As the Israeli army withdrew from the village, protesters regathered and marched back to the construction site and finished moving the barbed-wire so as to hinder the building of a wall that will seize over 2500 Dunums of Ni’lin’s land.

This action came in the aftermath of the killing of Ahmed Ussam Yusef Mousa, 10 years old, who was shot with live ammunition through the head from close range by Israeli Border Police. Yousef Ahmad Younis Amira, 17, was then shot in the head with a rubber-coated steel bullet in a protest after the funeral of Ahmed. He was declared brain-dead by doctors in Ramallah that night. He is still in Ramallah hospital, but is not expected to survive the next few days.

Today, a memorial was built where Ahmed Mousa was killed. A Palestinian flag flies from the top.

Demonstrations have been held almost every day for the past few weeks in Ni’lin against Israel’s annexation barrier, declared illegal by the International Court in the Hague in 2004.

On the day of Ahmed’s funeral, Israeli army leave 17 year old brain-dead

On the 30th July, the villagers of Ni’lin said goodbye to of ten year old Ahmed, taking his body from Ramallah to his funeral in Ni’lin.

Photos courtesy of Activestills

Later that afternoon about 200 villagers gathered near the checkpoint in Ni’lin and many of them confronted the seven jeeps, with about 50 soldiers, who had taken position there. Seventeen people were injured, three of them in the head by rubber bullets. Late in the evening one of them, Yousef Ahmad Youkis Amira, was declared brain dead.

Ahmed Hosam Mousa, who was killed in Ni’lin the 29th of July, was taken out of the hospital in Ramallah at about 10 am Wednesday the 30th of July. His ambulance came to Ni’lin together with a long procession of cars around midday. About 40 cars joined in the caravan and thousands of people had gathered in Ni’lin to meet them. The people went out of the cars in the settler road and walked by foot through the checkpoint where about 10 soldiers were watching them.

When parts of the crowd had passed the soldiers shot teargas and rubber bullets and some stones were thrown. The crowd scattered for a while, but rejoined and most people walked to the village center. The body was carried into the house for a last goodbye and after that to the mosque where more people could say goodbye. The procession then marched to the ground where Ahmed was buried.

About 4.30 in the afternoon about 200 villagers went up to the checkpoint where the Israeli army met them by throwing teargas canisters and sound bombs, as well as shooting rubber bullets. The clash kept on until about nine o’clock in the evening when it had turn dark and the army ended it by pointing searchlights at the Palestinians from a bulldozer at the same time as they were throwing teargas. The Palestinians then went back into the village.

The Israeli army used several times their jeep which can shoot sixteen teargas-canisters at the same time and they aimed at peoples heads when they were shooting rubber bullets. Eight people were hurt by rubber bullets. Three of them in the head. The three who were hurt in the head were sent to Ramallah hospital. One of them, Yousef Ahmad Youkis Amera was declared brain-dead in the evening, but kept alive in a respirator. He is not expected to survive. He is seventeen years old.

At about midnight 45 jeeps are blocking the entrance to Nileen with roadblocks.