9th March 2014| International Solidarity Movement, Team Khalil| Hebron, Occupied Palestine
On Tuesday 4th March, 14-year-old Wassem Rajabi from the Jabal Johar area of Hebron (al-Khalil), was detained and driven away by Israeli soldiers on his way back from school. This Thursday, after nine days in prison, his family will go to the police station to find out his fate. Recently, more than 50 children from the area have been arrested and imprisoned. In the last week alone, between 15-20 children were arrested, all under the age of 18.
Wassem Rajabi is from a family with few resources. His father died eight years ago in a work-place accident inside the 1948 areas, and he now lives with his mother, an older brother and two younger sisters. When Wassen did not come home from school last Tuesday, his family discovered he was taken by the Israeli military, imprisoned and transferred to Ramallah. He was charged with throwing stones at Israeli forces. His family have stated that he was at home at the time the incident were supposed to have occurred. As Wassem is only 14-years-old, he is too young to be imprisoned according to the United Nation’s declaration of human rights. However, Israeli forces detain and prolong detentions for children on a regular basis.
Wassem’s family has been told that he will spend 10 days in prison and will have to pay 2000 shekel, an amount impossible to raise by the family. If they do not pay this money, Wassem he could be facing as much as six months in prison. This coming Thursday the court will give their decision.
The Jabal Johar area is in the southern part of Hebron, very close to several illegal settlements. The children of the area need to pass one or more checkpoints to travel to their school, and are often subject to attacks from tear gas canisters, stun grenades and other forms of harassment by the Israeli army. International groups have reports of children as young as seven-years-old being detained by the Israeli military, and each week children as young as four have to pass through clouds of tear gas to reach their classes.
5th March 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Charlie Andreasson | Gaza, Occupied Palestine
Israeli forces fire tear gas at Palestinian demonstrators during the Jabaliya protest on 21 February. (Photo by Charlie Andreasson)
The regular Friday demonstration at the “buffer zone” east of Jabaliya was stopped by Palestinian police and security forces. The Israel had send a message via Egypt to the Palestinian authorities in Gaza that it would not tolerate any demonstrations and that it intended to shoot at the upper body of those who approached the separation barrier. From the crest at the slope of the hill on the other side, down to the fence and its rolls of razor wire, several Israeli military vehicles were seen. Palestinian police and security forces had a tough task keeping demonstrators away. Ambulances on standby stood behind them, but fortunately the Israeli military did not make their threats a reality.
Islam Shahwan, spokesman for the Palestinian ministry of the interior and national security in Gaza, later said in a statement posted on Facebook and released through the ministry, “It was our commitment to the lives of the our young people from getting shot by the Israeli army through lack of access to the fence and to keep young people away a little bit in order to preserve their lives.”
“We are keen on the lives of our young people and our children and we appreciate their enthusiasm,” Shahwan added. “Thanks God there was no one injured during that day, we take care of the lives of our young brothers.”
The demonstration was planned in dedication to Muatazz Washaha, 24 years old, who had been killed by the Israeli military the day before in the West Bank village of Birzeit. Military forces of the occupying power had surrounded the house where he lived, let other residents evacuate, then shelled the house, well aware that Muatazz were there. Like earlier targeted killings in the occupied territories, the Israeli military is very restrictive regarding protests, and has previously used violence against any form of demonstration. The warning to Gaza that the Israeli military intended to shoot at the upper body of civilians who approached the fence must be understood in light of the incident in the village of Birzeit.
According to an officer at the site of the planned demonstration, no more protests against the occupying power or its abuses will be allowed in the “buffer zone.” They have, on every occasion, resulted in a dozen injuries from live ammunition, as well as direct hits of tear-gas canisters. Mohammed Helles is still in a coma at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital after he was hit in the head with a canister at the previous demonstration.
At al-Shifa hospital Mohammed Helles, age 14, is laying in a coma with an uncertain outcome after he was shot, with what appeared, to be a tear-gas canister in the head and parts of it penetrated his brain. He had an operation, but fragments are still left. Kamal hospital reported thirteen injures, from both gunshot wounds in the legs and tear-gas canisters.
Israeli forces struck a Palestinian protester in the head with a tear-gas canister in Jabaliya, in the northeastern Gaza Strip.
Friday’s demonstration on the hillside east of Jabaliya gathered about 400 people, mostly young men in their late teens. Protests against land seizure, mixed with dissent at the consequences of the occupation such as a broken economy, soaring unemployment and loss of hope for the future, were met by tear gas and live ammunition, with ambulances shuttling back and forth .
(Photo by Charlie Andreasson)
Over the slope an Israeli drone hovered at a low altitude, but at an even lower altitude two Palestinian kites floated close over the fence. Cheers and applause broke out when one tore and three Israeli soldiers rushed after it. But it was also the only thing protesters had over which to rejoice. The protests will probably not change the occupying power’s policy towards the Palestinian people. According to figures from OCHA, 17 percent of the Gaza Strip, including 35 percent of its farmland, is unavailable due to the Israeli-established “buffer zone.” More than 100,000 people are directly affected, and the protests against the occupying power, as well as its military response to them, are likely to continue.
An Israeli drone is hovering over Palestinian protesters by the separation barrier in Jabaliya, in the northeastern Gaza Strip.
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An estimated 400 – 500 people, most in their late teens, gathered at the hillside east of Jabaliya for the recurrent demonstration against the occupation. There was no organizer, leader or banners, and the demonstration was largely chaotic. Stones were thrown, mostly from quite far distances, tear gas drifted along the hillside. Youth trying to get past rolls of razor wire to attach the Palestinian flag on the fence facing Israel were met by tear gas as well as live ammunition.
(Photo by Charlie Andreasson)
Unlike previous bombardments with tear-gas cartridges, it was clear this time that the occupying power was deliberately trying to hit protesters with the cartridges, not only disperse them with gas. This procedure has previously caused deaths. Perhaps the most well-known case was in Nabi Salah on 9th December 2011 when Mustafa Tamimi was shot at close range.
Kamal Radwan hospital reported 17 casualties from the demonstration, most of them direct hits with tear-gas cartridges. Two were also shot by live ammunition in the legs. Previously injured demonstrators have explained the demonstrations as a manifestations against the impacts of the occupation: soaring unemployment, poverty and lack of confidence in the future.
(Photo by Charlie Andreasson)(Photo by Charlie Andreasson)
10th February 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Rosa Schiano | Gaza, Occupied Palestine
(Photo by Joe Catron)
On Friday, 7th February, hundreds of Palestinian youth joined a weekly demonstration of popular resistance along the separation barrier east of Jabaliya, in the northern Gaza Strip.
Aware of attacks by the Israeli army, many were equipped with onions, water and yeast to relieve the pain of tear gas.
Palestinian youth between ten and 24 years old gather there to challenge the Israeli military occupation, approaching the separation barrier, throwing stones or placing Palestinian flags on the fence.
(Photo by Rosa Schiano)
Placing a Palestinian flag on top of the barrier that separates the Gaza Strip from the lands Israeli occupied in 1948 is a victory that worth life for many.
The Israeli army deployed Jeeps along the barrier. Three soldiers hid behind a small hill, pointing guns at the protesters. Some other soldiers came out of a Jeep and shot bullets and tear gas.
The wind was in protesters’ favor, the reason the tear gas did not initially hit them. Later, the Israeli army fired tear gas a long distance over demonstrators so all were surrounded by it. Many youth started to run, looking to the sky to avoid being hit by the canisters. The gas burned the eyes and lungs.
(Photo by Rosa Schiano)
“We are here to liberate Jerusalem and affirm the right to our land,” a young man said.
The protest was also attended by two young men wounded in previous demonstrations. One of them, on crutches, had an external fixator in his right leg. He had a big smile, despite everything.
The tension rose as time passed, and soon the tear gas was replaced with more bullets.
An ambulance reached the area shortly afterward.
At the end of the, day five youths were wounded, three by gunfire and two by tear gas.
Nizar Mahey El Dein Zaqout, age 23, was hospitalized at Kamal Odwan hospital in Beit Lahia. He suffered from a gunshot wound to his left knee that caused a fracture and from shrapnel. He underwent surgery the next morning and will remain under observation for control of his nerves.
Nizar had placed a Palestinian flag over the separation barrier and a soldier shot him. Some youth carried him to the ambulance.
The next morning in the hospital, he said he had risked his life “Because this is our land. Jerusalem belongs to us. They live in our land against our will.”
Nizar Mahey El Dein Zaqout. (Photo by Rosa Schiano)
Nizar also attended the protest also the previous Friday, when he was injured by tear gas.
His cousin Mahmoud Zaqout, age 19, was killed two years ago on 30th March during the Global March to Jerusalem near the Erez checkpoint in the northern Gaza Strip. Mahmoud had been shot while trying to place a Palestinian flag on the separation barrier.
Nizar said he will continue to go to these protests, which began again in Gaza about two months ago. He added that for about six weeks, the demonstrations have become more aggressive.
(Photo by Joe Catron)
“I could become a martyr fighting for the liberation of Jerusalem and to open a line between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank,” he said. “We also demonstrate for the rights of Palestinian women detained in Israeli jails.”
Ali Ziad Salim Abu Dan, age 19, was seriously injured and hospitalized in the intensive care unit at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. His father Ziad said that the bullet entered the chest and affected the heart and liver, at a distance of a few millimeters from the spine. His son arrived at the hospital in a coma, waking up the next day. He was hospitalized in the ICU with artificial ventilation. The last from his father on Sunday night reported that his condition was improving and he was breathing without ventilation.
(Photo by Charlie Andreasson)
Ahmad Mahmoud Al Najjar, age 23, was hit by a bullet in the right leg. His bones were not fractured and he was released from the hospital.
The other two youth, injured by tear gas, were released from the hospital.
Many of these youth risk their lives because they believe in the liberation of their land, and become martyrdom means to be remembered for having fought bravely for it.
Some of them likely risk their lives in part because they are desperate. Their life conditions, the siege, and unemployment do not give them any hope for the future.
(Photo by Charlie Andreasson)
ISM will continue to be witnesses, as Nizar asked, to give these youth a voice and be close to them in the fight for their rights, because the Palestinian issue is not only a humanitarian cause but also a political one.
