Tag: Tear-Gas Canister - Page 34 - International Solidarity Movement

Photo essay: Gas, frisbees and the Apartheid Wall in Ni’lin

24th May 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Team Nablus | Ni’lin, Occupied Palestine

Friday demonstrations continue in the village of Ni’lin in protest against the Occupation and Apartheid Wall which runs through the village’s land. Background on the effects of the Occupation in Ni’lin is here.

During this particular demonstration on the 24th May 2013, there were no injuries and those who were climbing the wall (as pictured below) were able to cover one of the Israeli Military Skunk Trucks in red paint. The paint enveloped the front and side windows, putting the Skunk truck out of use for this particular demonstration.

The Apartheid Wall separating the village of Ni’lin from its land, 90% of which has been lost to Israel.

Quote by Martin Luther King on the Apartheid Wall.

Demonstrator climbing the Wall.

Fires are set by demonstrators to damage the Wall.

Damage to the Apartheid Wall after the efforts of the villagers of Ni’lin during demonstrations every Friday.

A protester writes a message to Israeli soldiers on a frisbee.

The frisbee is thrown over the Wall to the soldiers, with a letter attached imploring them to challenge their government.

Soldiers respond with multiple volleys of teargas. In recent weeks, fires set by teargas has damaged hundreds of olive trees and Ni’lin’s agricultural land.

Red Crescent paramedic on the scene in case of injury – five people have been killed by the Israeli occupation forces since demonstrations started in Ni’lin five years ago.

Photo essay: Israeli soldiers sing “We wish your whole village would burn down” to residents of Nabi Saleh

17th May 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Team Ramallah | Nabi Saleh, Occupied Palestine

Today Palestinian, international and Israeli activists marched towards a well that was stolen from the village of Nabi Saleh by the establishment of Halamish illegal settlement. As activists walked down the hill towards the well, Israeli soldiers shot tear gas at them which set fire to the ground around them. As they did so , soldiers sang “we wish your whole village would burn down”. Activists were then blocked from reaching the spring by a large group of Israeli soldiers. At the same time, a skunk water truck entered the village spraying several of the homes in the village with the putrid smelling liquid. Eight international and Israeli activists were detained by Israeli soldiers who confiscated their passports. They were released within 30 minutes. Long after the demonstration was over, two Israeli military vehicles and several Border Policemen entered the village and drove slowly around the neighbourhood in a bid to intimidate its residents.

Residents of Nabi Saleh and Israeli activists argue with Israeli soldiers blocking the stolen well

Residents of Nabi Saleh confront soldiers blocking them from reaching their stolen well

Israeli soldiers block residents of Nabi Saleh from reaching their stolen well

Israeli border police patrol village long after demonstration has ended

Live ammunition fired at Deir Jarir demonstration against land grab and settler violence

17th May 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Team Nablus | Deir Jarir, Occupied Palestine

Bulldozer working Palestinian land accompanied by peaceful protesters. Illegal settlement outpost visible on hill

The village of Deir Jarir today, 17th May, held its fourth consecutive weekly demonstration to protest Israeli land grab and settler violence against its villagers. The rally was violently suppressed by Israeli forces, who shot large amounts of tear gas and rubber coated steel bullets at demonstrators. Live ammunition was also fired.

At 12am, around two hundred people gathered on a hilltop near the village where they held a long and emotive speech, followed by midday prayers. Soon after that, participants started to march, accompanied by a bulldozer, which was being used to work the land, along the road constructed the week before. Israeli forces located on the opposite hilltop, begun shooting tear gas at protesters, starting multiple fires in the valley.

Palestinian youth then confronted Israeli soldiers and border police officers as they continued shooting tear gas and rubber coated steel bullets at them. Over the course of the demonstration, the fire spread through the whole valley, damaging crops and olive trees on the land. A Palestinian fire brigade truck arrived at the scene, but was prevented by the Israeli forces to put out fires on the Palestinian land.

Israeli forces, who were spread across the hill in groups of five or six, continued to shoot tear gas canisters, rubber coated steel bullets – occasionally live ammunition shots were also heard by Palestinian and international activists. Despite the extreme levels of violence, no one was injured.

The protest finished at around 3.30pm when Israeli forces were driven from the scene by Palestinian protesters. Unarmed protesters from Deir Jarir began to hold weekly demonstrations a month ago, as violence and land grabs by settlers of the nearby Israeli settlement and outpost. Several weeks ago, settlers established a new outpost on a hilltop situated on Deir Jarir and Silwad’s land but Palestinians dismantled it after a Silwad villager was severely attacked by settlers. The village of Deir Jarir was also raided by settlers who set fire to ten of the resident’s cars. Previous demonstrations where villagers have tried to work their land have also been violently suppressed.

Tear gas being fired at demonstrators setting fires in the valley

A Steadfast Prelude to the Nakba: Duheisha resists

15th May 2013 | International Solidarity Movement | Hebron, Occupied Palestine

By Team Khalil

On the 14th May 2013 , a day before the Nakba, on the edge of Bethlehem, a demonstration to remember the day of the catastrophe in 1948 marched from Duheisha refugee camp to the entrance of the village of Al-Khader. Demonstrators then clashed with the Israeli military between 11am and 1pm.

Al-Khader was the chosen site of the demonstration as the villagers there have recently had one of their agricultural roads closed by the Israeli military.

Hundreds of Palestinians of all ages (7 to 18+) from Duheisha and surrounding areas came out carrying right of return flags and chanting for freedom and an end to the occupation. Israeli troops fired numerous tear gas canisters and rubber coated steel bullets at the unarmed demonstrators. Some of the young Palestinian children spoke of their martyred fathers as they were resisting the soldiers of occupation.

During the demonstration, female school children were passing through the area to get home were also indiscriminately fired upon with tear gas canisters causing one student to collapse who had to be evacuated in an ambulance.

Israeli tear gas canisters set fire to Palestinian land and when the fire brigade showed up to tackle the blaze, they too were pelted with tear gas canisters .

Duheisha refugee camp was originally set up as a temporary humantarian solution to the Nakba, where 750,000 Palestinians were forcefully expelled as their villages were ethnically cleansed and destroyed. Duheisha houses Palestinians from over 45 different villages that are west of Jerusalem and Hebron.

Beit Ommar: steadfastness and non-stop resistance against Israeli occupation

12th May 2013 | Beit Ommar Popular Movement, Beit Ommar, Occupied Palestine

On Friday 10th of April, tens of heavily armed Israeli occupation troops clashed with Beit Ommar’s defenseless youth, armed only with eagerness for freedom. Israeli forces shot countless tear gas canisters towards the young people, other civilians’ homes and shot numerous rubber-coated steel bullets, in addition to targeting citizens’ property. More than 50 people were injured, including 12 from rubber-coated metal bullets injuries and the rest due to tear gas suffocation. Two of the injured were hit in the head and urgently taken to al-Alia hospital in Hebron. Many cars, house windows and water tanks were damaged by the soldiers.

Israeli border police officer loads canisters into a tear gas launcher (Photo by Beit Ommar Popular Movement)

Tear gas canisters shot at the fields (Photo by Beit Ommar Popular Movement)

Protester injured from rubber coated steel bullets (Photo by Beit Ommar Popular Movement)

Injured protester being taken away (Photo by Beit Ommar Popular Movement)