Photo Essay – Nabi Saleh residents face teargas and rubber bullets to protest occupation and land theft

Photos by Tamimi Press: 3 May 2013

Nabi Saleh demonstration violently suppressed by Israeli forces; activist shot three times

12th April 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nabi Saleh, Occupied Palestine

Updated: Nabi Saleh demonstration violently suppressed by Israeli forces; activist shot three times

Posted on: April 12, 2013 |

UPDATE 13th April 2013: The injured Spanish activist returned to hospital Saturday morning, after experiencing continued pain, dizziness and fatigue. She had been shot three times with plastic coated steel bullets at Nabi Saleh demonstration the day before. She is currently under observation at the Rafidia Hospital in Nablus, being treated with antibiotics.

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12th April 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nabi Saleh, Occupied Palestine

Around one hundred Palestinians, joined by a handful of Israeli and international activists, participated in today’s demonstration in Nabi Saleh. After midday prayers, protesters marched from the centre of the village, deviating from their usual route and walking across the main road and up the hill, trying to reach the water spring stolen by settlers from Halamish settlement more than three years ago.

By the time protesters reached the hilltop, several Israeli Border Police officers waiting and immediately started to shoot tear gas canisters and rubber coated steel bullets at them. One Spanish international activist was hit by a rubber coated bullet in the right leg. As people retreated from the hilltop back to the main road, Israeli forces continued shooting tear gas canisters.

Teargas shot at peaceful demonstrators

As protesters walked chanting and clapping towards a large group of Israeli military personnel and jeeps blocking the road, they were ambushed. Border police officers who had invaded the village shot multiple volleys of rubber coated steel bullets directly at unarmed protesters from a vantage point on top of the hill, as protesters retreated.
The same international activist who had previously been shot was again shot with two bullets; one in the ribs on the back and the other on the stomach. This breaks the Israeli forces’ own rules of engagement which state that rubber coated bullets should be fired at the legs. Despite the fact that officers clearly saw that the activist was injured, they continued shooting rubber coated steel bullets along the road. The activist was immediately assisted by Red Crescent personnel and taken to hospital by ambulance. She is in good health condition, recovering from the injuries at home.

Activist’s injury by rubber coated steel bullets

Israeli forces continued shooting tear gas canisters and rubber coated steel bullets at protesters until three in the afternoon, when the demonstration finished.

The village of Nabi Saleh has been demonstrating against the theft of the natural spring and the occupation since December 2009. Israeli forces violently suppress the weekly Friday protests by shooting tear gas canisters, skunk water, sound bombs, rubber coated steel bullets and even live ammunition at protesters. Two people have been killed, Mustafa and Rushdi Tamimi, and many others severely injured. Bassem Tamimi, from Nabi Saleh, has spent 16 months in Israeli jails, merely for being a prominent activist at the protests. After more than three year and despite the repression, Nabi Saleh continues to fight against the injustices of a brutal military Israeli occupation.

Video & Photo Essay: Nabi Saleh resistance to occupation and apartheid continues – 29 March 2013

Photos by Haim Schwarzcenberg and Tamimi Press/Video by David Reeb

Nabi Saleh residents begin Friday demonstrations – photo by Haim Schwarczenberg

Israeli Occupation Forces invade Nabi Saleh – photo by Haim Schwarczenberg

Israeli Occupation Forces open fire on unarmed demonstrators in Nabi Saleh – photo by Haim Schwarczenberg

Israeli Occupation Forces fire teargas at protestors – photo by Haim Schwarczenberg

Palestinian woman carrying flowers in front of Israeli Occupation Forces soliders – photo by Tamimi Press

Skunk being sprayed at protesters – photo by Tamimi Press

Israeli Occupation Forces harass journalists and press in Nabi Saleh – photo by Tamimi Press

Illegal Israeli settlers occupy spring located on stolen Palestinian land owned by Nabi Saleh residents – photo by Tamimi Press

IOF injure and arrest 14 year old boy in Nabi Saleh; Spray pepper spray at video journalists.

by Nabi Saleh Solidarity: 22 February 2013

Today’s demonstration (22 Feb 2013)  in NabiSaleh called for solidarity with Palestinian hunger strikers and Palestinian political prisoners.  The demonstration saw protesters started to march towards the spring. Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) invaded the village, accompanied by skunk truck and also began firing rubber coated steel bullets and teargas. IOF have also sprayed local cameraman and videographer Bilal Tamimi with pepper spray as he was filming the demonstration.   At least one protester received medical treatment after being hit by a rubber coated steel bullet fired by the IOF.

A 14 year old boy was also injured by at least 3 rubber coated steel bullets and kidnapped by the IOF and taken to the check point tower has been evacuated to hospital in Ramallah.

 

Nabi Saleh children play soccer while IOF invade village and fire teargas and rubber coated steel bullets.                                                   Photo by Tweet Palestine

At least one injury from rubber coated steel bullet fired by IOF. Photo by: Baraa Hijazi

IOF and Palestinian ambulance at the tower checkpoint, preparing evacuation of 14 year old boy                                                                           hit by 3 steel  coated rubber bullets and arrested by IOF.  Photo by Tweet Palestine.

Photos: IOF invade Nabi Saleh firing rubber bullets, teargas and skunk

Photos by Haim Schwarczenberg: 8 February 2013

 

Nabi Saleh calls for the release of Samer Issawi and all Palestinian political prisoners; 12 injured by IOF fire.

by Nabi Saleh Solidarity

Today’s demonstration (Friday, 8 Feb 2013)  in Nabi Saleh called for the release of all Palestinian political prisoners and in support of Samer Issawi and all Palestinian political prisoners on hunger strike. Activists on the ground report that Israeli Occupation Forces fired non-stop teargas, rubber bullets and skunk.

Activists in Nabi Saleh also reported that dozens of IOF entered the village for at least 30-40 minutes. While in village, the IOF fired lots of teargas, stun grenades, rubber bullets and skunk. In particular, there were reports of journalists deliberately being targeted by IOF with teargas and stun grenades. Skunk also fired directly at houses.  At least 10 people were injured by rubber coated steel bullets and at least 2 people by teargas canisters, including one hand injury as a result.  Many people were also overcome by the teargas.

Photo by Tweet Palestine

Photo by Tweet Palestine

Photo by Abir Kopty

IOF arrest 2 Palestinian men, 1 Palestinian child and 2 Israeli activists; spray “skunk” at houses (4 Jan 2012)

4 January 2013

video by Sam4Palestine

video by Sam4Palestine

Israeli Occupation Forces arrest Othman Bazzar from Ramallah. He was beaten and fainted. A Palestinian ambulance workers were able to eventually treat him. According to a report from an Israeli activist who was arrested at the same time, he was unconscious and the ambulance workers were not able to rouse him. He was then apparently taken to hospital (not sure where). Also arrested were two other Israeli activists and a 15 year old child from Beit Rima (next to Nabi Saleh) and another man from Beit Rima.

Hilmy, one of the photographers for Tamimi Press was also shot at close range with two rubber coated steel bullets. Will update once again, when we have more information on Othman and the other arrests.  The IOF also sprayed “skunk” deliberately at Palestinian homes in order to try and intimidate village residents.

A year after the killing of Mustafa Tamimi, a campaign launched to expose his murderers

by Popular Struggle Coordination Committee: 9 December 2012

Press Release
Sunday, December 09, 2012
A year after the killing of Mustafa Tamimi, a campaign launched to expose his murderers

Last Friday and Saturday, residents in the village of Nabi Saleh north west of Ramallah, held memorial events for Mustafa and Rushdi Tamimi.  Both were killed by Israeli soldiers during the past year. Activists exposed the identity of two soldiers involved in Mustafa’s murder.

Last year on December 9th, Mustafa Tamimi, a 28 year old resident of Nabi Saleh, was shot by soldiers a few feet away directly in the face by a tear-gas projectile during the weekly protest in the village. Mustafa collapsed to the asphalt bleeding. Although multiple eye witnesses claimed he died moments after being shot (watch video here), Mustafa Tamimi was transferred to the hospital where he was announced dead in the early hours of Saturday, December 10th, 2011.

The Israeli army began an investigation of the incident, but after a year it has led to no conclusions with no one brought to justice.  The conduct and conclusions of these investigations are usual of most cases of Israeli soldiers or settlers involved in attacking Palestinians. Activists commemorated Mustafa’s death and exposed the identity of two Israeli soldiers involved in the killing in a campaign called “Who Killed Mustafa Tamimi?”  According to the activists, one soldier has been identified as Aviram Boniel, the soldier who opened the back of the military jeep and shot two tear gas canisters directly at Mustafa’s face from a few feet away.  The other soldier, Lieutenant Colonel Shay Ben Yshai, is the direct commander of Aviram Boniel and has therefore been identified as “a full accomplice covering up his crime” according to activists leading the campaign.  See photos here and here.

Ikhlas Tamimi, mother of martyr Mustafa Tamimi, said: “My grief is doubled, first for losing my beloved son, and second knowing that his murderers have not been brought to justice. It is not only about one or two soldiers, it is the Israeli Occupation.”

Media Contact: Abir Kopty +972-546782420

A month ago, on November 17th, Rushdi Tamimi (31) was shot during clashes that erupted in the village of Nabi Saleh, after Israeli soldiers entered the village following a protest residents held against the assault on Gaza.  During the clashes soldiers used extensive live ammunition bullets, rubber coated steel bullets, and tear gas.

According to eyewitnesses, Rushdi Tamimi was shot first with a rubber coated steel bullet that hit him in the back and he fell on the ground.  Afterward, soldiers shot him again, this time with a live ammunition bullet which entered through his hip and into his gut.  When soldiers came closer to Rushdi, they gave him a blow to the head with the butt of one of their rifles, even though he told them he was injured, and then shot him with another rubber coated steel bullet in the stomach.  Soldiers then attempted to drag him through the rocky terrain instead of providing him with medical treatment.  They continued to shoot live ammunition towards residents and prevented them, including Rushdi’s sister Nariman Tamimi, from approaching him and bringing him to an ambulance while saying, “I don’t care” and “it’s not my problem.”  Watch the video here.

Background: 

Late in 2009, settlers began gradually taking over Ein al-Qaws (the Bow Spring), which rests on lands belonging to Bashir Tamimi, the head of the Nabi Saleh village council. The settlers, abetted by the army, erected a shed over the spring, renamed it Maayan Meir, after a late settler, and began driving away Palestinians who came to use the spring by force – at times throwing stones or even pointing guns at them, threatening to shoot.

While residents of Nabi Saleh have already endured decades of continuous land grab and expulsion to allow for the ever continuing expansion of the Halamish settlement, the takeover of the spring served as the last straw that lead to the beginning of the village’s grassroots protest campaign of weekly demonstrations in demand for the return of their lands.
Protest in the tiny village enjoys the regular support of Palestinians from surrounding areas, as well as that of Israeli and international activists. Demonstrations in Nabi Saleh are also unique in the level of women participation in them, and the role they hold in all their aspects, including organizing. Such participation, which often also includes the participation of children reflects the village’s commitment to a truly popular grassroots mobilization, encompassing all segments of the community.

The response of the Israeli military to the protests has been especially brutal and includes regularly laying complete siege on village every Friday, accompanied by the declaration of the entire village, including the built up area, as a closed military zone. Prior and during the demonstrations themselves, the army often completely occupies the village, in effect enforcing an undeclared curfew. Military nighttime raids and arrest operations are also a common tactic in the army’s strategy of intimidation, often targeting minors.

In order to prevent the villagers and their supporters from exercising their fundamental right to demonstrate and march to their lands, soldiers regularly use disproportional force against the unarmed protesters. The means utilized by the army to hinder demonstrations include, but are not limited to, the use of tear-gas projectiles, banned high-velocity tear-gas projectiles, rubber-coated bullets and, at times, even live ammunition. The use of banned 0.22″ munitions by snipers has also been recorded in Nabi Saleh.

The use of such practices have already brought about the death of Mustafa Tamimi and caused countless injuries, several of them serious, including those of children – the most serious of which is that of 14 year-old Ehab Barghouthi, who was shot in the head with a rubber-coated bullet from short range on March 5th, 2010 and laid comatose in the hospital for three weeks. Due to the wide-spread nature of the disproportionate use of force, the phenomenon cannot be attributed to the behavior of individual soldiers, and should be viewed as the execution of policy.

Tear-gas, as well as a foul liquid called “The Skunk”, which is shot from a water cannon, is often used inside the built up area of the village, or even directly pointed into houses, in a way that allows no refuge for the uninvolved residents of the village, including children and the elderly. The interior of at least one house caught fire and was severely damaged after soldiers shot a tear-gas projectile through its windows.
Since December 2009, when protest in the village was sparked, hundreds of demonstration-related injuries caused by disproportionate military violence have been recorded in Nabi Saleh. Between January 2010 and June 2012, the Israeli Army has carried 98 arrests of people detained for 24 hours or more on suspicions related to protest in the village of Nabi Saleh, including those of women and of children as young as 11 years old. Of the 98, 31 were minors. Dozens more were detained for shorter periods. Two of the village’s protest leaders – Bassem and Naji Tamimi – arrested on protest-organizing related charges, were recognized by the European Union as human rights defenders. Bassem Tamimi was also declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International. Catherine Ashton, the EU’s foreign policy chief, recently denounced his conviction by an Israeli military court and Human Rights Watch warned that he did not receive a fair trial.

In Photos: Nabi Saleh mark 1 years anniversary of the IOF killing of Mustafa Tamimi

     Photo by Haim Schwarczenberg

Photo by Tamimi Press

  Photo by Tamimi Press

Photo by Tamimi Press

  Photo by Haim Schwarczenberg

  Photo by Haim Schwarczenberg

  Photo by Tamimi Press

  Photo by Haim Schwarczenberg

Photo by Tamimi Press

Nabi Saleh marks 1 year anniversary of the killing of Mustafa Tamimi by Israeli Occupation Forces

video by David Reeb

video by Israel Puterman