Medics carry an injured protester during clashes between protesters and Israeli forces at a demonstration marking Land Day, at Qalandiya checkpoint Ramallah on March 30. (Reuters/Darren Whiteside)
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The Palestinian Red Crescent treated 339 protesters on Friday at protests around the West Bank to mark Land Day, a spokesman said.
Muhammad Ayyad told Ma’an that five people were seriously injured and 55 hospitalized as protesters commemorated six Palestinians who were killed by Israeli forces in 1976 at demonstrations against Israel’s land confiscation in the Galilee.
Three people in Bethlehem were critically injured, one of whom was hit in the face by a tear gas canister. A protester in Jerusalem was hit in the jaw by a rubber bullet and in Kafr Qaddum, near Qalqiliya, a protester was hit in the pelvis by a tear gas grenade, Ayyad said.
The largest rally took place in Qalandiya, a checkpoint near Ramallah, where 249 were treated for injuries and 20 hospitalized.
Ayyad said Israeli forces injured nine medics and damaged three ambulances at the protest.
An Israeli military spokesman said forces fired rubber bullets, tear gas and foul-smelling chemical water at protesters who were throwing rocks.
Similar confrontations broke out at a checkpoint in Bethlehem, where Ayyad said medics treated 38 people including 11 who were hospitalized.
In Jerusalem, medics treated 35 people, 19 of whom were transferred to hospital. Four people were hospitalized in Iraq Burin, near Nablus and 13 were injured in Kafr Qaddum at simultaneous protests.
8 March 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
On International Women’s day, March 8th, hundreds of demonstrators rallied in Qalandia in solidarity with hunger striker Hana Shalabi and calling for Israel to end the occupation.
The demonstrators marched marched down the street next to the separation wall to Qalandia checkpoint, carrying placards and chanting slogans . In the crowd empowered women were carrying Palestinian flags and placards saying “Women break barriers,” “Raise your voices against all oppression,” and “Feminist resistance against the occupation.”
Close to the checkpoint the non-violent demonstrators were greeted by the Israeli army with sound bombs and skunk water before trying to disperse the crowd by excessive use of the American made LRAD device, “The Scream,” which projects a high pitched siren that can cause dizziness and disorientation. Finally tear gas was canisters were fired at demonstrators.
Currently seven palestinian women are detained in Israel including Hana Shalabi, who is being detained without a charge or trial and has been on hunger strike since 16 February.
Satu is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
During a violent protest in which the IOF used live bullets, tear gas and rubber bullets, twenty five year old Talat Ramia, was shot in the shoulder and died later from his injuries. According to medics, five other protesters were injured.
An Israeli army spokesman said the incident was under investigation. The official said initial indications showed that one of the protesters had “fired fireworks at IDF soldiers from several meters away, putting the soldiers’ lives in danger”. The soldiers “responded by firing, injuring the Palestinian in his shoulder.”
Funeral procession for Talat Ramia, 25, who died on Friday after he was shot by Israeli forces at a protest near Qalandiya checkpoint. (Maan Images)
The demonstration was held in response to rumours of a possible raid by Israeli settlers of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem today. Consequently there were violent clashes at Al-Aqsa mosque, in which four Palestinian people were arrested and more than fifteen sustained injuries from riot police.
This followed a week of unrest in Jerusalem, as the extreme Israeli group Likud threatened to break into the mosque last Sunday.
Al Aqsa Mosque is considered to be one of the most sensitive places in the Middle East and is considered the third holiest place in Islam, while it is considered by the Jewish as Temple Mount and is revered as one of the most sacred sights.
Witnesses stated that the police fired tear gas, forcing people to run inside for cover.
“We were praying when they started shooting tear gas towards us,” 58-year-old Umm Mohammad told AFP by telephone from inside the Dome of the Rock.
“At first, they were shooting at the Al-Aqsa mosque but we hid in the Dome of the Rock, and now they have started firing tear gas and sound bombs towards the gates,” she said.
Clashes continue this evening in Al-Rum, a town near Jerusalem city. Medical sources state that there are many injuries as the IOF are currently shooting live rounds.
16 December 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
Today, Israeli soldiers once again denied the Palestinians’ right to assemble and protest against the construction of the illegal separation wall.
Seeds to Apartheid sewn by Zionists - Click here for more images
About fifty villagers of Qalandia gathered after the Friday prayer and went to the construction site in a peaceful demonstration. They were not more than halfway before the Israeli occupation forces shot a large number of tear gas canisters towards the demonstrators, most of them minors, and then started to fire rubber bullets straight into the crowd.
“You know, they will continue this occupation”, one demonstrator said. “But at least we must be able to say that we did something.”
For two weeks, the villagers of Qalandia, north of Ramallah, have organized their struggle to stop the illegal construction of the wall. The Israeli government issued a map that shows the new tracing of the wall. According to this map the wall would confiscate more of the Palestinian land, 500 dunams in total. On the 7th of December, in the town of Qalandia, Palestinian and International solidarity activists, after several meetings with members of the Qalandia community, organizers, and Palestinian Authority members, organized their first action in order to stop the construction of the wall.
The International Court of Justice stated in 2004 in an important advisory opinion noted that construction of the separation barrier is illegal under the international conventions that Israel itself ratified.
Jenna Bereld and Meriem are volunteers with International Solidarity Movement (names have been changed).
9 December 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
Peaceful protesters came face to face with Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) in Qalandia on Friday before soldiers began to fire tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets at the civilian group including children, women, and elders. Qalandia village is protesting the construction of the apartheid wall that will cut through their land.
Following the Friday prayer, a procession marched down a dirt path flattened by Israeli bulldozers to a fenced in area where the bulldozers were parked. Two jeeps full of soldiers were quick to arrive and met the march at the fence.
Qalandia refuses the desecration of Palestinian land - Click here for more images
“We resist with peace, as we learned from Bil’in!” chanted the demonstration, among other slogans that criticized results of Israel’s occupation such as the wall. “We are here to resist against the settlements and the wall that steal our land and divide us,” said one of the protest leaders. The procession was joined by activists from Israel, France, America, Canada, and Switzerland.
Although protesters were peacefully chanting, and not advancing, the Israeli military began showing aggressive movements such as pointing guns directly at protesters and pulling out tear gas and sound bombs, hinting at the assault to come. Some soldiers also began to snap photographs of protesters’ faces, despite that they had not committed any crime.
A protester hung the Palestinian flag onto the fence surrounding the bulldozers and the flag easily stuck onto the barbed wire. At this point, a couple IOF soldiers became enraged and began to push and strike protesters, including at least three women. Chaos broke out as the IOF unleashed sound bombs, causing demonstrators to try to distance themselves from soldiers. Before people could get away, tear gas began to fly through the air. Soldiers continued to shoot tear gas at the people: a procession including many women, children, and elders who were visibly unarmed and had not committed any crime.
The cloudy white sky made the high-velocity tear gas canisters almost impossible to see until they landed among the crowd – an incredibly dangerous situation to fire in, which could have ended lethally as was the case in An Nabi Saleh when Mustafa Tamimi was killed after being shot in the head.
Soon after, soldiers began to fire rubber-coated steel bullets as well.
Despite the obvious danger of facing these weapons, protesters continued to attempt to re-gather themselves and continue chanting for almost one hour. Young boys stood unabashedly in the front lines, dodging rubber-coated bullets and gas.
Eventually, protest leaders called the group back to the village and the demonstration ended.
Rana H. is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement.
