Tag: Tear-Gas Canister - Page 61 - International Solidarity Movement

Israel’s repression leaves dozens wounded in Jerusalem

International Solidarity Movement

17 March 2010

In reaction to the blanket West Bank closure and Israel’s severe limitation of entrance into Al-Aqsa Mosque, demonstrations spread through Jerusalem. Police and soldiers used percussion grenades, tear gas, rubber bullets and physical assaults in an attempt to quell Palestinians show of disdain. Confrontations were reported in Isawiya and Wadi-Joz. Reports claimed that nearly 100 demonstrators were injured (about 25 seriously) and over 70 arrested.

An ominous and anticipatory air hung over the Old City on Tuesday. The normal banter of the Muslim quarter was replaced with closed shops and anxious stares. This was in response to Israel’s closure of much of the Old City. This closure only extended to Palestinians attempting to pray at the holy site. Tourists and Israeli school children were allowed free reign within its walls. The tourists’ interpretation of the situation was far removed from reality. When asked why access was limited throughout the Muslim Quarter, many responded it was because of Hamas. There was no discussion of the imprisonment of Palestinians in the West Bank. If pressed further, they usually responded that Hamas was upset because “the Muslims thought had a right to a disputed holy site.” Justice, religious freedom and unfettered access to the third holiest site of one’s religion never seemed to enter the discourse.

Although there was much dignified rage expressed nonviolently that day, these tourists were not privy to any of it. Thousands of police clad in riot gear, soldiers armed with automatic assault rifles ensured that any nonviolent expression of this anger was squashed immediately. As tourists took photos and meandered around the guns and those that carried them, men lined up to pray outside Al-Aqsa and across the street from the Old City. While the police effectively insulated the tourists from any sign of nonviolent resistance (handcuffing Palestinians to plain-clothes police officers, so arrests would go unnoticed to the untrained eye), they couldn’t stop it in the open air of Wadi-Joz and Isawiya.

As the Sun set the signs of resistance were readily apparent in Isawiya. Smoldering tires, barricades and youth placed in strategic positions spattered the hillsides. The day had been long for them. Their nonviolent demonstration began around seven AM and quit with the sun. The same was true for Wadi-Joz. However, the price that was paid was human and dear. Amidst the rapacious repression of the IOF and Israeli police, many were wounded. Wounded merely for demanding justice in a land where they are prisoners and unable to express the spiritual extension of their culture in places they hold so dear.

International solidarity activists visited demonstrators injured in clashes between Palestinian Jerusalemites and Israeli occupation forces in Al-Makasad Hospital, including 16 year old Muhammad Ibrahim Afanih from Abu Dis and a 14 year old boy from Ar-ram. The 14 year old, wishing to remain anonymous, received a rubber-coated steel bullet to his finger, removing its tip from his hand, when young demonstrators were ambushed by Israeli soldiers in the streets of Ar-ram neighborhood. Afanih was shot in the leg with a rubber-coated steel bullet by an Israeli soldier when a large military force opened fire on demonstrators in Abu Dis. He was then physically attacked by 4 soldiers, who continued to beat him before pulling him to the curb, where he was forced to wait approximately 10 minutes before the soldiers called for an ambulance. The ambulance was detained at Zayeam checkpoint for 15 minutes as Afanih continued blood from the gunshot wound before the vehicle was permitted to proceed to Al-Makasad Hospital. He was one of 10 injured from the Abu Dis neighborhood. Afanih reported that soldiers had used sound bombs, tear gas grenades, rubber-coated steel bullets and live ammunition against demonstrators. He will undergo an operation on his leg tomorrow, and remain in hospital for 7 days.

Qalandiya: Checkpoint closure anger surfaces

International Solidarity Movement

16 March 2010

Approximately 200 residents of Qalandiya gathered today to protest the continued closure of the checkpoint in their city, allowing them access to Israel.

Israeli military attempted to suppress the protest by invading and occupying a Palestinian home, and firing tear gas and rubber bullets down a roof into rush hour traffic below. In the densely packed street, several demonstrators were hit with tear gas canisters that were fired directly at them, as well as numerous passing vehicles. One driver suffered from tear gas inhalation after a canister smashed through the back windscreen their car.

On Friday 5th March, Israeli soldiers in An Nabi Saleh used a similar tactic of firing directly down onto a demonstration from the roofs of houses. This led to the near fatal shooting of a fourteen-year-old boy, after which it had been hoped cease to use this dangerous tactic.

The Demonstration today coincided with a number of other protest around East Jerusalem and the West Bank, responding to the blanket closure of the West Bank, and recent event Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem.

Israeli military fail to crush the spirit of An Nabi Saleh

12 March 2010

The Israeli military today continued their attempts to repress the weekly demonstration in An Nabi Saleh. Following on from their near fatal shooting of a 14 year old boy a week ago, soldiers invaded the village within minutes of the demonstration starting, driving jeeps to within approximately 50 metres of the demonstrators and firing upon them with tear gas, percussion grenades, rubber bullets and rubber-coated steel bullets.

Despite the military resorting so rapidly to violence, the villagers, accompanied by Israeli and international activists, determinedly continued their attempts to reach the nearby springs that have been usurped by settlers from the illegal settlement of Hallamish. A number of demonstrators were able to get close to one of the springs before soldiers again fired upon them to force them to retreat. Demonstrators who remained within the village were fired upon from above by soldiers who had occupied the same house from which they shot the boy the previous week.

At least 12 Palestinians sustained injuries from Israeli weaponry, three of which are reported to be serious, including two head wounds.

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.

Family Appeals Decision to Close Investigation on Shooting of US Citizen Tristan Anderson

12 March 2010

This week the parents of Tristan Anderson filed an appeal on the decision to close the investigation concerning their son’s injury.– The 38 year-old American was critically injured by a high velocity tear gas projectile shot by Israeli Border Police in the West Bank village of Nili’in on March 13, 2009. The basic grounds for the appeal include undeniable negligence in the investigation. This negligence particularly involves two critical errors in the investigation conducted by the Investigative unit of the SJ District (West Bank) Israeli Police Force:

Mistaken identity: There were several Border Police squads in Nili’in at the time of Tristan’s injury, but only one of them was interviewed by investigators. A thorough examination of the facts shows that the squad interviewed was the wrong one.

No field visit: The investigation team did not visit the scene of the incident or nearby viewpoints from which it would have been possible to understand distances and positions described by eyewitnesses to the incident.

On the day of Tristan’s injury, there were several police squads in Nili’in – one stationed at a position known as “Antenna Hill” and another positioned closer to the village center. Since the squad stationed at Antenna Hill reported injuring a person, this squad was questioned regarding Tristan Anderson. However, it is now clear that there was more than one injury on March 13, 2009 – with one such injury having been reported by the squad stationed on Antenna Hill. These police officers report having hit a person in a completely different location and with an entirely different description than that of Tristan. For example, the police officers reported hitting a stone thrower whose face was covered, whereas several eyewitnesses attest to the fact that Tristan’s face was not covered at all on that day and that he did not throw stones. Furthermore, eyewitnesses to Tristan’s injury report that the tear gas canister came from a different direction than Antenna Hill, the same area in which the second squad was stationed. It is clear that these mistakes stem from the fact that investigators never visited the scene of the incident.

Attorney Michael Sfard: The astonishing negligence of this investigation and of the prosecutorial team that monitored its outcome is unacceptable, but it epitomizes Israel’s culture of impunity. Tristan’s case is actually not rare; it represents hundreds of other cases of Palestinian victims whose investigations have also failed.

One year after his shooting, Anderson is still hospitalized in Tel Hashomer hospital, with severe permanent brain damage of a yet uncertain degree. The severity of his condition still does not allow his transfer back home to the US.

To view a summary of the appeal in English, click here

Israeli Forces Critically Injure Boy in An Nabi Saleh

International Solidarity Movement

5 March 2010

Demonstrators in An Nabi Salih were met with tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets and sound bombs. The IOF also fired skunk, a putrid-smelling chemical spray. One international was hit with a metal tear gas canister in the arm. Four Palestinians were injured, including a young man Ehab Fadel Beir Ghouthi, 14, from Beit Rima, who was hit with a rubber-coated steel bullet in the head. He was taken to a hospital where he underwent emergency surgery. He is listed in critical but stable condition.

An expectant air hung over the village of An Nabi Salih. This feeling was heightened as IOF soldiers gathered on a hilltop near the edge of the village. Despite this sentiment, An Nabi Salih decided to celebrate International Women’s Day. The popular committee of An Nabi Salih invited the mothers, daughters and sisters of the surrounding villages to join their demonstration for unfettered access to their farmlands and spring.

The march began in its normal fashion, but today the men’s voices, which demanded justice, were punctuated by the unusual and melodic accompaniment of women. An Nabi Salih’s weekly demonstration was halted by Israeli Occupation Force’s (IOF) use of copious amounts of tear gas in the opening minutes. The demonstration was pushed in disarray shortly after it began by the violent actions of the IOF. This disarray was short-lived as the demonstrators collected themselves.

The demonstrators quickly reconvened. Many women took the lead in defending the village from the IOF through non-violent tactics of organized community resistance. These efforts were successful for over an hour until IOF soldiers drove a large vehicle, which blasted skunk, through the demonstration. While shooting skunk, the IOF threw sound bombs and shot tear gas. The demonstrators were made to reassemble after this. In the interim, IOF soldiers took control of a building under construction and used its roof as a vantage point to take better aim the Palestinians who traipsed through their fields.

The IOF shot at the youth of the village from this building for nearly 40 min. Their targets were only 50 meters away from the soldier’s position. Yet, they still used rubber-coated steel bullets. The decision to use these weapons led to the critical injury of Ehab Fadel Beir Ghouthi of Beit Rima, a village close to An Nabi Salih.

He was shot just above his left eye. He maintained consciousness for only a few minutes. He was driven to Salfit Hospital and then transferred to Ramallah Main Hospital. Ehab underwent emergency surgery to remove either bone fragments from his brain or the rubber-coated steel bullet from his skull. It was unclear which, but the surgery was successful. Ehab was moved to an Intensive Care Unit and is listed in critical but stable condition.

The hilltop village of An Nabi Salih has a population of approximately 500 residents and is located 30 kilometers northeast of Ramallah along highway 465. The demonstration protested the illegal seizure of valuable agricultural land and the January 9th 2010 uprooting of hundreds of the village resident’s olive trees by the Hallamish (Neve Zuf) settlement located on highway 465, opposite An Nabi Salih. Conflict between the settlement and villagers reawakened in the past month due to the settler’s attempt to re-annex An Nabi Salih land despite the December 2009 Israeli court case that ruled the property rights of the land to the An Nabi Salih residents. The confiscated land of An Nabi Salih is located on the Hallamish side of highway 465 and is just unfortunately one of many expansions of the settlement since it’s establishment in 1977.