25th September 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Kafr Qaddum, occupied Palestine
Palestinians in the village Kafr Qaddum in the occupied West Bank endured an hours-long siege by Israeli forces earlier while demonstrating against occupation, ending in a 3 year old Palestinian girl and daughter of Nablus police chief, Colonel Abd al-Latif al-Qaddumi being shot in the face with a rubber coated steel bullet as she stood on the balcony of her family home.
3-year old girl shot with rubber-coated steel bullet by Israeli forces
Both the girl, Maram Abed al-Latif al-Qaddumi, and her father who was subsequently also shot in the head with a rubber-coated steel bullet as he rushed to aid his heavily bleeding daughter, were treated at Rafidia Hospital and released.
For three hours, Israeli forces and Israeli border police had Palestinians, journalists and international human rights monitors trapped along a village road in several houses along with a local Mosque, as every time a Palestinian stepped into the road, rapid fire rubber coated steel bullets, foam bullet projectiles, live ammunition, sound bombs and teargas canisters fired from venom trucks were showered into the street.
Palestinians marching against occupation
Three times the Israeli military skunk truck entered the village road spraying organic waste water at homes where Palestinians were taking cover from the violent assault. For several hours after the dousing of the foul smelling composition in the village, Palestinian families were seen scrubbing the streets in front of their homes to remove the smell that lasts for up to ten days.
Instances of extreme violence against Palestinians have circulated throughout the West Bank this week after Israeli forces murdere 18 year old unarmed female Palestinian student, Hadeel al-Hashlamon, at an al-Khalil checkpoint near segregated Shuhada Street and Ahmad Izzat Khatatbeh, 26, died from his wounds after being shot three times in the shoulder, chest and abdomen at the Beit Furik checkpoint last Friday. These murders accompany a sharp rise in house raids, street harassment and settlers attacks including on a Palestinian shop in al-Khalil and settler machine gun fire on Palestinian homes in the Qeitun neighborhood.
23rd September 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Al-Khalil team | Hebron, occupied Palestine
Today, 23rd September 2015, thousands of mourners gathered for the funeral of murdered teenager Hadil Salah Hashlamoun. The teenager was brutally gunned down in cold blood by an Israeli soldier at a military check point.
Mourners on their way to the cemetry
Tensions were high as Hadil’s body was taken from Al Hussein Mosque, through the streets of al-Khalil. Thousands paid their respects to the fallen martyr, and joined her final journey as she was taken to her final resting place.
The promising student who had been passing peacefully through a checkpoint early on Tuesday morning is believed to have been shot several times. Eye witnesses state that an Israeli soldier approached her and began shouting at her in Hebrew, which she was unable to understand, it is at this point that she was shot dead.
The teenagers funeral passed off peacefully, as per the wishes of her devastated family. After the funeral, a demonstration was organised later in the day at Bab iz-Zawwiya and attacked by occupying Israeli military firing hundreds of stun-grenades, tear gas and rubber coated steel bullets into the crowd. Several injuries were reported.
12th June 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Al Khalil Team | Al Khalil, Occupied Palestine
At Kafr Qaddum’s weekly demonstration yesterday, 12th June 2015, Israeli occupation forces invaded the village hours before the protest was set to start. Five Palestinians were shot with live ammunition. Two were shot in the leg, one was shot in the arm and two were shot in the abdomen. One of the men shot in the abdomen was in a critical condition for some hours after being transferred to hospital.
Blood stained shirt in the streets of Kafr Qaddum
The 35 year old underwent surgery to remove part of his intestines that had been damaged by the bullet. Following the operation the man’s condition stabilized. The man was not participating in the protest, he was shot while in his home standing next to the window. His injury highlights the collective punishment of the entire village for their efforts to resist the restriction of their right to freedom of movement. The local villagers said that the Israeli forces’ new tactic of extreme violence was an attempt to scare the residents into ending their weekly demonstration.
Muhammed Mhaid being carried from his home to the ambulance by protesters
After the occupation forces invaded the village they used the ‘Skunk truck’ to spray protesters and homes with foul smelling liquid. Palestinian youth began to throw stones and reflect sunlight into the eyes of the military and police by using mirrors. These actions were met with immediate use of live ammunition.
Protesters using mirrors and slingshots
Israeli police snipers targeted anyone who passed within range and which resulted in the previously mentioned injuries. The two men that were shot in the arm and leg are both still in hospital and awaiting surgery after the bullets penetrated the bone and inflicted serious damage. Two other villagers were taken away by ambulance after suffering severe tear gas inhalation. However, many of the injured protesters were forced to travel in civilian cars to the hospital because of a lack of ambulances at hand to deal with the quick succession of injuries.
People caught in one round of tear gas amongst many fired in the village
The locals of Kafr Qaddum said that it was the first time in years that the Israeli forces had so aggressively invaded the village before the Friday demonstration had begun. In 2011 the village had had a similar response when they had organised the first demonstrations in protest against the closure of the main road connecting Kafr Qaddum with the neighboring villages and the city of Nablus. The road had been blocked because it ran through the illegal Israeli settlement named Qedumim.
Rubber tires set alight on the road leading to Qedumim
The village has seen an increase in such restrictions over the last few months. On the morning of 12th June the main entrance was blocked off by military jeeps and Israeli soldiers, who were denying people access into Kafr Qaddum, claiming it was a closed military zone. Locals stated that this was a daily occurrence in recent weeks. And that not only have the occupation forces been blocking the entrance but that they have been raiding the village in the early morning.
Protesters using slingshots to throw back tear gas canisters
Kafr Qaddum’s residents are undeterred by the excessive violence they face on a daily basis. Following the harsh suppression of the demonstration on Friday, local villagers declared they will hold another demonstration on Saturday 13th June in protest against the regular early morning military incursions into their village.
15th May 2015 | Karam (Muhannad) | Ofer military prison, Occupied Palestine
The following post is written by the medic that was present on the scene on May 15th 2014, during the killing of Mohammad Odeh and Nadeem Nuwwarah as protesters commemorated al-Nakba near Ofer Military Prison.
During Nakba day commemoration, Birzeit’s student council were trying to gather students to go to Ofer, but it seemed that no one was interested. I decided to go by myself, so I gathered some friends and went to Ramallah and then to Ofer.
En route to Ofer, I received a call saying “a kid got shot with live [ammunition]..it’s bad.” I then asked the driver to hurry. We arrived to Ofer and there were many people. Three Israeli soldiers were standing up the hill 120 meters away with the rest of them standing 500 meters away in the field across. There was teargas and rubber bullets, which was normal. Nothing I’m not used to.
Two kids were going back and forth throwing stones at the three soldiers, even though they kept missing the soldiers they continued to try because they are kids. I went down to open my bag and I looked back to see if it’s safe and I could see the two kids coming back.
I can still remember the two kids, and two flags. One green and the other black, one was for Hamas and the other was the Nakba flag.
Medic pressing against Mohammad Odeh’s chest after he was shot with live ammunition. May 15th, 2014 – photo by AP
I searched inside my bag to find something that to this day I can’t remember what it was I was looking for. Suddenly I heard a shot. One shot and it was live ammunition. I jumped to the left and went down even though I know it was live and live travels faster than the sound it projects. But it was the natural accustomed reaction. Two seconds is all the time it takes for the sound to disappear. I look to my left and he was falling. Mohammad was falling to the ground. I ran to him as he was two meters away.
I was able to reach him before he hit the ground. I looked at him, checking his body. I saw a hole in his chest and I put my hand on it to apply pressure and stop the bleeding, basic first aid training.
He held my hand and looked at me trying to say something but he didn’t have the time. I screamed for an ambulance and asked for help. Two people came to help me carry him. The ambulance was 10 meters away, the man next to me was saying “Mohammad stay with us.” That’s how I knew his name.
We put him in the ambulance and returned to where we were.
I began to tell myself he is alive and he was shot in the lung and fainted, that’s why there was no blood only a hole. Only one spot of blood was on my hand. I tried to convince myself that he is alive. He is alive.
I knew though. I knew something was wrong. I became a ghost walking in Ofer back and forth towards the soldiers. News started to arrive about two martyrs. Nadeem and Mohammad. I started asking about Mohammad Abu Al Dhaher and the other Mohammad who was shot before I arrived. I started calling my friends at the hospital asking them to confirm the name.
Mohammad Odeh being carried to a nearby ambulance. Ofer military prison, May 15th, 2014 – photo by AP
Twenty minutes later, my friend who worked at the hospital called and said “it was Mohamad Abu al Dhaher. The last one you put in the ambulance.”
I stayed in Ofer. I didn’t know what to do, I wrote their names on the wall and stayed there, but I wasn’t really there. I was a ghost.
Two hours later I went to the hospital, I’m not even sure if it was two hours later. I had lost track of time at that pont. I couldn’t feel it anymore. It’s as though the whole world had stopped at that moment. I arrived to the hospital and entered inside. There were tons of people gathering. Friends, journalists..but I couldn’t look at any of them.
Afterwards, a group of protesters had marched to the hospital coming from Ramallah after they closed down the shops in honor of the martyrs. I stood in the middle of the street as they all passed by me. I didn’t know where to go, or what to do. Journalists that were asking for interviews were saying “we heard you were the last one next to the martyr.” I went away. I couldn’t say anything. I tried to find a place where I can’t see anyone, so I went behind a car and stopped for a few minutes trying to understand but I couldn’t. Everything began to flash but I couldn’t remember. I began to breathe fast and wasn’t able to move my face. People gathered around me in attempt to take me inside the hospital but I resisted and began to call out the name of a friend that can take me out. Someone knew her and after a while she arrived and tried to take me inside the hospital. I asked her to take me out of there and she did.
That’s when my trip began.
I still remember his masked face, I never remembered his face because I only saw his face on posters, a week later.
3 minutes. 3 minutes is the time we had. They always told us that our job as medics is to keep the patient alive until the ambulance arrives. But this time, even 3 minutes weren’t enough.
It has been a year now but it still feels like yesterday. Everyone has forgotten and it’s only his family that is living in torment. Today I realize that he is gone and nothing that we could have done would have stopped it. Nothing.
The only thing that we should do is keep fighting for them and for ourselves, until we find justice. Until every soldier is held accountable for their crimes.
15th May 2015 | International Solidarity Movement, Al Khalil Team | Ni’lin, Occupied Palestine
On Friday 15th May 2015, hundreds of Palestinians from all over the West Bank traveled to Ni’lin for a mass protest commemorating the 1948 Nakba (‘catastrophe’). The local villagers were joined by a large amount of other Palestinian protesters, as well as Israeli and international solidarity activists. There was a high level of media presence. The Israeli occupation forces responded to the peaceful protesters by firing hundreds of tear gas canisters and an excessive number of rubber coated steel bullets. Roughly 12 people were injured, as well as many suffering from tear gas inhalation. Protesters, as well as journalists, were continuously targeted with rubber coated steel bullets.
Protestors in Ni’lin running away from tear gas – photo by Haytham Khatib
After arriving in Ni’lin, ISM activists joined Palestinian, Israeli and other international protesters to mark the 67th anniversary of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine that started in 1948. The group of roughly 500 people was made up of all ages, including three generations of one local family who have all been active in supporting their community against the Israeli annexation of their land.
The march began after the midday prayer, which took place in the olive groves at the edge of the village, overlooking the segregation wall. Protesters marched towards the wall chanting loudly and waving Palestine and Nakba Day flags. The completely peaceful march was soon halted by Israeli forces who fired tens of tear gas canisters over the entire group using the ‘venom’ (a machine that can shoot 30 canisters at once). The group was forced to disperse but continued to chant and attempted to reach the wall. The occupation forces responded by continuously firing tear gas over the olive groves, reaching hundreds of canisters. The heat from the metal canisters set the dry grass a light, which quickly spread around the olive trees.
Midday prayer in Ni’lin
For local Palestinians, marching towards the wall is a symbolic protest against the annexation of their land. Construction of the wall began in 2008 and cut off Ni’lin residents from a large portion of their agricultural land. However, protesters have previously faced extreme violence from the Israeli forces resulting in serious injuries and death. The death of a 9 year old child from Ni’lin being one of the most brutal outcomes of Israeli violence towards the local villagers.
The protest continued for three hours in which time tear gas and rubber coated steel bullets were continuously fired at protesters. One journalist was shot in the shoulder, a young Palestinian was shot in the arm, and many more were carried away and treated for excessive tear gas inhalation by the Red Crescent first aiders.
