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An Nabi Salih demonstrates in the face of rapacious repression

International Solidarity Movement

10th April 2010

Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) used tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets, skunk, and percussion grenades to suppress the popular struggle in An Nabi Salih. Despite the repression, over 100 villagers joined by 30-40 Israelis and internationals demonstrated for over seven hours against Halamish settlement expansion and it’s usurpation of farmland and An Nabi Salih’s freshwater spring. IOF injured over fifteen people. The injuries included the following: severe tear gas inhalation, a lacerated scalp, a broken arm and various rubber-coated steel bullet wounds.

An Nabi Salih resident struck by rubber-coated steel bullet

The usual and jovial pre-demonstration atmosphere was experienced in the radiant sun; a welcomed respite for those who frequent An Nabi Salih on Friday afternoons. After 3 months of weekly demonstration, the zeal for and dedication to justice has not left the villagers and the outsiders who join the residents of An Nabi Salih. Their cries for unity in Palestine rang off the walls in village. Although, the zeal thrives in this village, the repression of their struggle has slowly intensified.

As the demonstrators rounded the familiar corner on their march to their lands, two IOF jeeps awaited about 70 meters down the road. Fear seemed not to grip the hearts of the villagers. They marched towards the jeeps, ignoring them as a threat. A tempest of tear gas rained down on the demonstration. 30-40 canisters, shot from apparatus attached to the hood of a jeep, fell in a space of about ten meters by ten meters. Demonstrators had to watch the sky, so as not to be struck by the heavy aluminum canisters, while at the same time moving from the area so as not to suffer severe tear gas inhalation.

Live round either dropped or misfired by IOF in An Nabi Salih

One minute after the mass tear gassing, a large white truck came through the jeep blockade and stopped at the space where myriad of tear gas canisters had just fallen. It began shooting skunk from a water cannon attached to the top of its cab. As the turret pivoted, it sprayed skunk in a 70 meter radius around the truck.
When the skunk truck retreated, the demonstrators came to the junction where the mayhem had ensued. They continued their demonstration here demanding their right to march to their lands. The sharp and eerie twang of rubber-coated steel bullets bouncing off the street sign were slightly off-putting to some. This sound solidified the notion that the rubber-coated steel bullets were coming within centimeters of the demonstrator’s heads.

Press attempted to conduct interviews with villagers, but the IOF disregarded the freedom that the press is supposed to enjoy. Tear gas canisters were shot directly at cameramen and reporters. The media representatives were forced to take refuge in a bus stop.

The residents continued their demonstration until the IOF soldiers ran out of rubber-coated steel bullets and tear gas rounds. The soldiers were forced to retreat to re-supply. In this time, residents of An Nabi Salih accompanied by Israelis and Internationals engaged in organized and non-violent tactics to ensure the IOF would not be able to gain access to the village again. Despite their efforts, IOF soldiers ran through the fields of the village and shot tear gas through windows of homes resulting in severe tear gas inhalation of several children and elderly women.

The demonstrators succeeded in going alongside the soldiers and thus scaring them to retreat. As the demonstrators retook their fields, the soldiers watched at a cautious distance. The villagers held their position for about an hour until nearly 25 soldiers and border police sprinted across the fields shooting rubber-coated steel bullets. One youth was shot three times; once in the leg, once in the arm and once in the head. He suffered a lacerated scalp and a broken arm.

The IOF invaded the village again and used, what most demonstrators described as, a stronger version of tear gas. Another house was gassed causing a pregnant woman to be taken away in a Red Crescent ambulance. Young demonstrators laid down in the road trying to overcome the effects of this seemingly concentrated form of CS gas.
Despite this repression, An Nabi Salih had no plans to halt their demonstration, nor do they plan to call-off their weekly non-violent expressions of collective anger.

The hilltop village of An Nabi Saleh has a population of approximately 500 residents and is located 30 kilometers northeast of Ramallah along highway 465. The demonstrations protest the illegal seizure of valuable agricultural land and the uprooting in January 2010 of hundreds of the village resident’s olive trees by the Hallamish (Neve Zuf) settlement located opposite An Nabi Saleh. Conflict between the settlement and villagers reawakened in the past month due to the settlers’ attempt to re-annex An Nabi Saleh land despite an Israeli court decision in December 2009 that awarded the property rights of the land to the An Nabi Saleh residents. The confiscated land of An Nabi Saleh is located on the Hallamish side of Highway 465 and is just one of many expansions of the illegal settlement since it’s establishment in 1977.

Live Ammunition Fired at Nonviolent Demonstrators in Ni’lin

International Solidarity Movement

9 April 2010

Facing tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets and live ammunition, roughly sixty Palestinians gathered outside of Ni’lin today. Joined by 15 Israeli and International activists, the demonstrators protested the Israeli occupation which has claimed over 40% of the village’s land.

nil9-04 — Villagers march to the wall in Nil'in

After congregating in nearby olive groves for midday prayers, demonstrators marched towards the illegal annexation wall with flags and chants led by village youth. Upon reaching the wall, demonstrators were met with a violent military response. Claiming nearly 30% of remaining village land, the wall annexes Ni’lin farmland for use by the nearby illegal settlement Modi’in Ilit. Soldiers fired tear gas and percussion grenades over the wall at nonviolent demonstrators, who were not deterred and continued a spirited protest.

Soldiers then invaded the village’s olive groves, firing live ammunition, rubber-coated steel bullets and tear gas. The use of live ammunition has claimed the lives of five Ni’lin residents since May 2008. No injuries were reported today.

Background on Nil’in:

Israel began construction of the Wall on Ni’lin’s land in 2004, but stopped after an injunction order issued by the Israeli Supreme Court (ISC). Despite the previous order and a 2004 ruling from the International Court of Justice declaring the Wall illegal, construction of the Wall began again in May 2008. Following the return of Israeli bulldozers to their lands, residents of Ni’lin have launched a grassroots campaign to protest the massive land theft, including demonstrations and direct actions.

The original route of the Wall, which Israel began constructing in 2004, was ruled illegal by the ISC, as was a second, marginally less obtrusive proposed route (http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/view.php?recordID=622). The most recent path, now completed, still cuts deep into Ni’lin’s land. The Wall has been built to include plans, not yet approved by the Army’s planning authority, for a cemetery and an industrial zone for the illegal settlement Modi’in Ilit.

Since the Wall was built to annex more land to the nearby settlements rather than in a militarily strategic manner, demonstrators have been able to repeatedly dismantle parts of the electronic fence and razor-wire surrounding it. Consequently, the army has erected a 15-25 feet tall concrete wall, in addition to the electronic fence. The section of the Wall in Ni’lin is the only part of the route where a concrete wall has been erected in response to civilian, unarmed protest.

As a result of the Wall construction, Ni’lin has lost 3,920 dunams, roughly 30% of its remaining lands. Originally, Ni’lin consisted of 15,898 dunams (3928 acres). Post 1948, Ni’lin was left with 14,794 dunams (3656 acres). After the occupation of the West Bank in 1967, the illegal settlements and infrastructure of Modi’in Ilit, Mattityahu and Hashmonaim were built on village lands, and Ni’lin lost another 1,973 dunams. With the completion of the Wall, Ni’lin has a remaining 8911 dunams (2201 acres), 56% of it’s original size (http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/view.php?recordID=1366).

Ni’lin is effectively split into 2 parts (upper and lower) by Road 446, which was built directly through the village. According to the publicized plan of the Israeli government (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/819633.html), a tunnel will be built under road 446 to connect the upper and lower parts of Ni’lin, allowing Israel to turn Road 446 into a segregated-setter only road. Subsequently, access for Palestinian vehicles to this road and to the main entrances of upper and lower Ni’lin will be closed. Additionally, since the tunnel will be the only entryway to Ni’lin, Israel will have control over the movement of Palestinian residents.

Israel commonly uses tear-gas projectiles, rubber coated steel bullets and live ammunition against demonstrators.

Since May, 2008, five of Ni’lin’s residents were killed and one American solidarity activist was critically injured from Israeli fire during grassroots demonstrations in Ni’lin.

* 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 (https://palsolidarity.org/2009/06/7023).
* 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 (https://palsolidarity.org/2009/03/5324).
* 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 (https://palsolidarity.org/2008/12/3742).
* 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 (https://palsolidarity.org/2008/12/3714).
* 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 (https://palsolidarity.org/2008/08/3346).
* 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 (https://palsolidarity.org/2008/07/3329).

In total, 20 people have been killed during demonstrations against the Wall (https://palsolidarity.org/2009/06/7647).

Israeli armed forces have shot 40 demonstrators with live ammunition in Ni’lin. Of them, 11 were shot with 5.56mm caliber live ammunition and 29 were shot with 0.22 caliber live ammunition.

Since May 2008, 112 arrests of Ni’lin residents have been made in relation to anti-Wall protest in the village. The protesters arrested by the army constitute roughly 9% of the village’s male residents aged between 12 and 55. The arrests are part of a broad politically motivated Israeli campaign to suppress grassroots resistance to the Occupation.

Two arrested in Al Ma’asara

International Solidarity Movement

2nd April, 2010

Demonstrators gathered today in Al Masara, near Bethlehem, in commemoration of Land Day, marking the anniversary of mass confiscation of Palestinian land in 1976.

Palestinians, Israelis and internationals marched peacefully towards the village’s land. However, Israeli military, police and border police blocked the road with barbed wire, at which point the demonstrators stopped and began chanting resistance anthems. Speeches were given by representatives of the non-violent popular struggle committee. The soldiers then announced that the area had been declared a Closed Military Zone (CMZ), removed the barbed wire and moved on foot and in jeeps towards the protesters, throwing percussion grenades and tear gas canisters directly at them.

Two protesters were arrested after asking to see a copy of the CMZ order. One was released in Al Masara. The other is being held at Gush Etzion Prison.

Last Sunday, a number of men from the village were arrested in Bethlehem when attempting to retrace Jesus’ Palm Sunday route into Jerusalem. The Israeli and International activists arrested with them were released on the same day, but, in a clear act of racial discrimination, the Palestinians were held in prison until Thursday, when they were released on bail to reappear in court on the 18th April. The judge rebuked the police and prosecution, agreeing that it had been an entirely non-violent demonstration.

Al Masara has held a weekly demonstration since November 2006. The villagers are restricted from accessing their land, as it is the area in which the Israeli authorities are continuing to build the illegal separation barrier. When completed, it will run for a total of over 700 km, the large majority of which runs through and annexes Palestinian land.

Budrus marks Land Day with olive tree planting and nonviolent resistance

International Solidarity Movement

31 March 2010

Nearly 100 residents of Budrus, Israli activist and internationals comemorated Land Day with a nonviolent march and tree planting action. The IOF used tear gas, sound bombs and rubber-coated steel bullets to violently repress the commemoration. Less than ten villagers were hit with rubber-coated steel bullets resulting in no serious injuries. About fifteen demonstrators were treated on-site for severe tear gas inhalation. There were no arrests made.

Demonstrator places flag on Separation Fence

As the IOF soldiers made their hasty retreat, the demonstrators happened upon the remnants of Israel’s vain attempt to suppress the nonviolent popular resistance. Three barrels of tear gas canisters had been left during the soldiers haphazard exit from the village. Each once housed 400 tear gas canisters and the evidence they had been filled to the brim was scatted about the farmfield.

A lone man sat on a rock about two hundred fifty meters from the fence to where the demonstration had pushed at it’s furthest. A crowd of youth began to stand around the man.
“I’m sitting on the Green Line now,” he began, staring at the fence in the not-so-far off distance. “But they won’t let us farm from here to the fence. They’ve place cameras on these high towers that can look into our homes. We want our privacy and we want to farm. Today is Land Day, so we make a demonstration.”
The day had been long and the man had not lied; they had made quite the demonstration.

The demonstration began with exuberance. The shabab were quite elated. Through the heat, they mustered enough energy for a rare jubilance. Their cries for freedom were catapulted out of their jumping bodies. Halfway to the separation fence, olive trees were set beside the street. Demonstrators grabbed them with great zeal and hoisted them above their heads.

As the demonstration reached the fence, a well-organized frenzy erupted. People began planting the trees within a meter of the thin fence that separated the villagers from their land. Those who weren’t planting, chanted with dignified rage and emotion. The IOf soldiers appeared intimidated and surprised.

After ten minutes the military shot low-flying tear gas at the demonstrators. They went the sides of the road for a brief period as the soldiers locked the inner gate. The villagers, cut of from the trees they had just planted, returned to the fence and resumed their soulful demands for justice.

IOF tear gasses nonviolent demonstration

Because the gate had been closed, the IOF was unable to effectively shoot tear gas at the demonstrators so close to the fence and demonstrators seemed to ignore the percussoin grenades that fell near them. Their attempts to disperse the crowd were in vain. The youth of the village were able to hold their ground for over twenty minutes until the IOF began shooting rubber-coated steel bullets. These lethal shots were illegally shot at heads and torsos. Demonstrators recounted hearing the bullets “whiz” past their heads, coming within a meter their persons.

The IOF opened the gate and drove jeeps toward the village, but were unable to reach the center, because of the demonstrators organized nonviolent community resistance.

After two hours the IOF made a hurried retreat from the village, leaving the remnants of 1200 spent tear gas canisters, percussion grenades and rubber-coated steel bullets. The villagers continued to demonstrate as close to the separation fence as possible. The IOF then invade the village again with two of the twelve jeeps that had amassed just outside the fence. The were unable to dissolve the demonstration and left after 20 minutes. They returned into the village after a brief time, but seemed to realize that there violent repression would not quell the nonviolent popular struggle in Budrus.

Through the use of nonviolent resistance Budrus successfuly moved the wall into no-man’s land.

Bil’in and Ni’lin demonstrate in the face of closed military zone orders

International Solidarity Movement

19 March 2010

The smell of tear gas hung over the villages of Ni’lin and Bil’in today. The shouts demanded an end to apartheid and access to farmlands. The odd and surreal status quo was maintained this Friday. The attempts to squash the nonviolent popular resistance have been in vain. Like the rocky, Palestinian landscape, dotted with olive trees, this resistance is fertile. As these olive trees have been uprooted or burned, the state of Israel has attempted to sow these popular demonstrations with salt. It has been to no avail.

Last week’s orders posted in Bil’in and Ni’lin declaring the villages closed military zones for all of Friday had no effect on the demonstrators or village-life in general. Butchers displayed their wares, children laughed and kicked their footballs about and the cries for freedom echoed off the walls. The midnight raids did nothing to deter the groundswell of the popular struggle.

The West Bank village of Bil’in is located 12 kilometers west of Ramallah and 4 km east of the Green Line. It is an agricultural village, around 4,000 dunams (988 acres) in size, and populated by approximately 1,800 residents.

Starting in the early 1980’s, and more significantly in 1991, approximately 56% of Bil’in’s agricultural land was declared ‘State Land’ for the construction of the settlement bloc, Modi’in Illit. Modi’in Illit holds the largest settler population of any settlement bloc, with over 42,000 residents and plans to achieve a population of 150,000 by 2020.

In 2004, the International Court of Justice ruled that the Wall in its entirety is illegal under international law, particularly under International Humanitarian Law. The Court went on to rule that Israel’s settlements are illegal under the same laws, noting that the Wall’s route is intimately connected to the settlements adjacent to the Green Line, further annexing 16% of the West Bank to Israel.

• Despite the advisory opinion, early in 2005, Israel began constructing the separation Wall on Bil’in’s land, cutting the village in half in order to place Modi’in Illit and its future growth on the “Israeli side” of the Wall.

• In March 2005, Bil’in residents began to organize almost daily direct actions and demonstrations against the theft of their lands. Gaining the attention of the international community with their creativity and perseverance, Bil’in has become a symbol for popular resistance. Almost five years later, Bil’in continues to have weekly Friday protests.

• Bil’in has held annual conferences on popular resistance since 2006, providing a forum for activists, intellectuals, and leaders to discuss strategies for the non-violent struggle against the Occupation.

• Israeli forces have used sound and shock grenades, water cannons, rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas grenades, tear gas canisters and 0.22 caliber live ammunition against protesters.

• On 17 April 2009, Bassem Abu Rahma was shot with a high-velocity tear gas projectile in the chest by Israeli forces and subsequently died from his wounds at a Ramallah hospital.

• Out of the 75 residents who have been arrested in connection to demonstrations against the Wall, 27 were arrested since the beginning of a night raid campaign on 23 June 2009. Israeli armed forces have been regularly invading homes and forcefully searching for demonstration participants, targeting the leaders of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, as well as teenage boys accused of throwing stones at the Wall. Seventeen currently remain in detention, 10 of which are minors.

• To date, 75 residents have been arrested in connection with demonstrations against the Wall.

• In addition to its grassroots movement, Bil’in turned to the courts in the fall of 2005. In September 2007, 2 years after they initiated legal proceedings, the Israeli High Court of Justice ruled that due to illegal construction in part of Modi’in Illit, unfinished housing could not be completed and that the route of the Wall be moved several hundred meters west, returning 25% of Bil’in’s lands to the village. To date, the high court ruling has not been implemented and settlement construction continues.

• In July 2008, Bil’in commenced legal proceedings before the Superior Court of Quebec against Green Park International Inc and Green Mount International Inc for their involvement in constructing, marketing and selling residential units in the Mattityahu East section of Modi’in Illit.

The original route of the Wall, which Israel began constructing in 2004, was ruled illegal by the ISC, as was a second, marginally less obtrusive proposed route. The most recent path, now completed, still cuts deep into Ni’lin’s land. The Wall has been built to include plans, not yet approved by the Army’s planning authority, for a cemetery and an industrial zone for the illegal settlement Modi’in Ilit.

Ni’lin is effectively split into 2 parts (upper and lower) by Road 446, which was built directly through the village. According to the publicized plan of the Israeli government, a tunnel will be built under road 446 to connect the upper and lower parts of Ni’lin, allowing Israel to turn Road 446 into a segregated-setter only road. Subsequently, access for Palestinian vehicles to this road and to the main entrances of upper and lower Ni’lin will be closed. Additionally, since the tunnel will be the only entryway to Ni’lin, Israel will have control over the movement of Palestinian residents.

Israel commonly uses tear-gas projectiles, rubber coated steel bullets and live ammunition against demonstrators.

Since May, 2008, five of Ni’lin’s residents were killed and one American solidarity activist was critically injured from Israeli fire during grassroots demonstrations in Ni’lin.

* 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 (https://palsolidarity.org/2009/06/7023).

* 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 (https://palsolidarity.org/2009/03/5324).

* 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 (https://palsolidarity.org/2008/12/3742).

* 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 (https://palsolidarity.org/2008/12/3714).

* 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 (https://palsolidarity.org/2008/08/3346).

* 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 (https://palsolidarity.org/2008/07/3329).

In total, 20 people have been killed during demonstrations against the Wall (https://palsolidarity.org/2009/06/7647).

Israeli armed forces have shot 40 demonstrators with live ammunition in Ni’lin. Of them, 11 were shot with 5.56mm caliber live ammunition and 29 were shot with 0.22 caliber live ammunition.