Haaretz & Daily Mail: Palestinian Women, Children Stop IOF Soldier Detaining a Minor

by Nabi Saleh Solidarity 28 August 2015

Both Israeli and International media have covered the incident in Nabi Saleh where an Israeli solider attacked and tried to kidnap a young Palestinian boy, only to be over powered by Palestinian women and girls from the village. The women and girls succeeded in freeing the child, who had a broken arm and was being held in a headlock at gun point.

An 18 year old Palestinian youth was also arrested by the IOF on the day.

Palestinian Women, Children Stop IDF Soldier Detaining a Minor

Activists at the protest in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh say the soldier used violence against the 12-year-old boy.

Gili Cohen, Haaretz,  Aug 28, 2015

An Israeli soldier tried to detain a minor during clashes in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh on Friday, but a number of Palestinian women and children managed to stop him.

According to the army, the youth was throwing stones at the troops, who did not realize he was a minor.

Photographs taken by Reuters and AFP show the soldier surrounded by women and children. In one of the images, a young girl is seen biting his hand.

The soldier was lightly wounded as a result of the altercation. The commander in the area decided to release the minor. The army said that one other Palestinian was detained in Friday’s clashes, along with one foreign activist.

Activists who were at Friday’s protest said that the soldier used violence against the 12-year-old boy, whose arm was in a cast at the time of the attempted arrest. Jonathan Pollak, one of the activists present, said that the boy did not throw stones and that the IDF force, which was in an abandoned building before approaching to detain the boy, could see he was a minor. Pollak told Haaretz that the soldier pointed his gun at the boy when he was detaining him.

The Israeli army spokesman responded in a statement that there was “a violent disturbance of the peace in Nabi Saleh, in which Palestinians threw stones at IDF forces that were in the place. The youth who was photographed was identified by the lookout force as a stone-thrower, and because of this it was decided to detain him. At the time of the arrest, a violent provocation by a number of Palestinians developed, including women and children. In light of the violent altercation, the commander decided to not to go ahead with the detention.”

Extraordinary moment that desperate Palestinian women fought and BIT an Israeli soldier after he put boy with a broken arm in a headlock at gunpoint

• Israeli soldier pins boy to the floor with machine gun held up near his cheek in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh
• But the gunman is ambushed by young girl who forces weapon from his hand and two women who claw at his face
• The soldier eventually flees the scene, leaving the young girl to cradle the terrified boy in her arms on the ground
• Clash happened during demonstrastions against Palestinian land confiscation to expand nearby Jewish settlement

By Simon Tomlinson for MailOnline

Published: Daily Mail, 29 August 2015

This is the remarkable moment a young girl and two women overpower an Israeli soldier who grappled a Palestinian boy with a broken arm to the floor at gunpoint.

The soldier placed the boy in a headlock while armed with a machine gun during clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinian protesters in the West Bank.

With terror etched on his face, the boy is powerless to move as the gunman towers over him, with the muzzle of his weapon just inches from his cheek.

Palestinians fight to free a Palestinian boy held by an Israeli soldier during clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinian protesters

But as he pins the boy to a rock, the soldier suddenly finds himself ambushed by a young girl who forces the weapon from his grasp and bites his hand.

Meanwhile, two women claw at his balaclava-clad face and drag him off the youngster, who has his arm in a sling.

Eventually, the gunman flees the scene, leaving the young girl to cradle the terrified boy in her arms.

It is not clear what the boy had done to provoke the soldier into taking such drastic action, but it is not uncommon for protesters, and sometimes children, to hurl stones at security forces during demonstrations.

Terrified: An Israeli soldier puts a young boy in a headlock at gunpoint during clashes between security forces and Palestinian protesters following a march against Palestinian land confiscation to expand the Jewish Hallamish settlement in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh

With terror etched on his face, the boy is powerless to move as the gunman towers over him, the muzzle of his weapon inches from his cheek

Attacked: As he pins the boy to a rock, the soldier finds himself ambushed by a girl, who forces the weapon from his grasp, and two women

Ambushed: As the girl bites his hand, two women claw at his balaclava-clad face and drag him off the youngster, who has his arm in a sling

The soldier fights back as the girl tries to prevent him from detaining the boy during a protest in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh

In her loving arms: Eventually, the gunman flees the scene, leaving the young girl to cradle the terrified boy on the floor

The clash happened in the village of Nabi Saleh, near Ramallah, during protests against Palestinian land confiscation to expand the nearby Jewish Hallamish settlement.

In another flashpoint, Palestinian protester hurled stones at Israeli army bulldozer during clashes which following a protest against Israeli settlements in Qadomem, Kofr Qadom village, near the the West Bank city of Nablus.

They come a day after the European Union’s outgoing envoy to the Palestinian territories said the 28-nation bloc was moving forward with measures against Jewish West Bank settlements.

The envoy, John Gatt-Rutter, did not provide a timeframe. But his remarks to reporters underline European discontent with Israel’s continued expansion of settlements in territory that Palestinians want for a future state.

Israeli solider attempts to kidnap 12 year old boy in Nabi Saleh and is overpowered by Palestinian women and girls

by Nabi Saleh Solidarity, 28 August 2015

Israeli Occupation Forces invaded Nabi Saleh today and attempted to kidnap a 12 year old boy.  However, Palestinian women and girls managed to overpower the soldier and free the boy before he was taken away. Israeli Occupation Forces also arrested an 18 year old Palestinian youth.

Video by Bilal Tamimi

Photo by Shadi Hatem

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Photos by Bilal Tamimi

Israeli Occupation Forces falsely arrested photographers during Nabi Saleh protest, court rules

                             Nabi Saleh – teargas fired by IOF. Photo by Manal Tamimi

                                 Arrested photograpahers in Israeli Occupation Court

IDF falsely arrested photographers during Palestinian protest, court rules

Israeli soldiers arrested two Israeli and one Palestinian photographers during a demonstration in the West Bank. What followed showed just how differently Israelis and Palestinian detainees are treated.

By Oren Ziv / Activestills.org / 23 August 2015
Published: +972 Magazine

Israeli soldiers arrested three photographers, two Israelis and one Palestinian, during the weekly protest in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh last Friday. On Saturday night, an Israeli court ruled that there was no reason for the arrests and released the two Israelis from detention.

On Sunday morning, Israel Police agreed to release the third photographer, Bilal Tamimi, without conditions, following a request by his attorney. Tamimi is expected to be released soon.

Weekly anti-occupation demonstrations have been taking place in the village of Nabi Saleh, near Ramallah, for the past several years. Every week, dozens of Palestinians, Israelis and international activists march toward a spring that has been taken over by residents from the nearby settlement, Halamish. The soldiers arrested Tamimi, himself a resident of the village, toward the end of the demonstration, as village youths clashed with soldiers on a nearby hill.

A short while later, the soldiers arrested B’Tselem Spokesperson Sarit Michaeli as well as Israeli artist David Reeb, both of whom have been documenting the protests with their cameras for years. The two were arrested for refusing to clear the area, which they deemed a “closed military zone.” The soldiers, however, refused to present the required, written order.

The three were taken to the Binyamin Police Station, where they discovered that along with violating the closed military zone order, Reeb and Tamimi were accused of attacking an officer, while Michaeli was accused of obstructing a police officer in the line of duty. After their interrogation, Michaeli and Reeb refused to sign off on the conditions of their release, which would ban them from the village for two weeks, while setting their bail at NIS 1,000. Upon refusing, the two were taken into detention. Tamimi was not offered these conditions and was taken straight to jail at Ofer military prison.

“It was clear that the arrest was unlawful,” Michaeli said following her release. “The fact is that they agreed to release us, even on condition, while it was clear that they would never allow Bilal the same conditions. That is why we refused to agree to those terms, even if it meant a night in jail.”

Michaeli and Reeb were brought before a judge at the Jerusalem Magistrates Court on Saturday night. During the hearing, Attorney Neri Ramati, who represented the detainees on behalf of Attorney Gabi Lasky’s office, asked the police representative whether the soldiers presented Michaeli and Reeb with a written copy of the closed military zone order. When the representative admitted that they had not done so, Judge Gad Arenberg ordered the two be released without condition.

“In this case the judge decided to release the detainees not only because they were not shown the closed military zone order, but also because they demanded to see the order and were arrested. Furthermore, the judge noted that the detainees were filming and were not connected to the clashes taking place,” said Ramati following the decision.

It is important to note that because it is unclear whether violating a closed military zone order is in fact illegal, and because it is doubtful whether such a violation merits arrest and release on condition, soldiers and policemen often tack on additional violations such as obstructing or attacking an officer. “Violation of a closed military zone order has no parallel offense in Israeli law, and we have never had a case in which someone has been accused solely of violating such an order. In these cases the police always add additional offense.”

Michaeli points to the different treatment that she and Reeb, both Israeli citizens, received, as opposed to Tamimi. “David, Bilal, and I were arrested at the same spot and interrogated over the same offenses, but we were treated differently, since Bilal is Palestinian and is subject to Israel’s military law. We are Israelis, and thus enjoy the benefits of Israel’s civilian legal system.”

Following the court’s unequivocal decision Saturday night, Israel Police accepted Attorney Ramati’s request to release Tamimi without conditions.

Tamimi’s release is not an everyday occurrence. Most Palestinians arrested in the occupied territories remain in detention until the end of legal proceedings. Moreover, the military legal system almost never offers alternatives to detention, such as house arrest, while the conviction rate for Palestinians in Israel’s military courts stands at 99.74 percent.

Several months ago, soldiers violently attacked Israeli photojournalist Haim Schwarczenberg and a Abbas Mumani, who works for AFP, as they attempted to comply with orders to leave the area. The army decided to try the attacking soldiers after the incident was filmed and first published on +972 Magazine,

Nabi Saleh – 7 August 2015

Video by David Reeb

Nabi Saleh – 31 July 2015

Video by David Reeb

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Photos by Bilal Tamimi

Nabi Saleh: Israeli forces ‘ambush’ demonstrators, injuring 2 with live fire

By Nabi Saleh Solidarity: 24 July 2015

On Friday in Nabi Saleh, Israeli Occupation Forces opened fire with live ammunition during Friday protest against Israel’s occupation and land grabs. The IOF shot a 17 year old boy twice in the leg with live ammunition and a 27 year old man in the thigh with live ammunition.

Video by Bilal Tamimi

Video by Israel Puterman
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Israeli forces ‘ambush’ demonstrators, injuring 2 with live fire

July 24, 2015 MAAN NEWS

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Two Palestinians were shot and injured by Israeli forces Friday during a weekly demonstration in the occupied West Bank town of Nabi Saleh, witnesses said.Israeli forces had reportedly set an “ambush” near the path where demonstrators planned to walk, opening live fire as the marchers headed towards land confiscated by the neighboring Halamish settlement.During the incident, forces shot a 17-year-old with two live bullets. Witnesses say a bullet passed through one thigh, entering and settling in the teen’s other thigh, while a second bullet hit him in the back.A 27-year-old was also shot in the leg. The injured demonstrators were taken to a hospital in Ramallah for treatment.Israeli soldiers attempted to prevent the ambulance carrying those injured from leaving the scene for a short period of time, witnesses added.An Israeli army spokesperson had no immediate information on the incident.Two Palestinians have died from live Israeli fire in the past few days, bringing the total number of fatalities at the hands of Israeli forces to 17 since the start of 2015.Rights groups have criticized Israel for disproportionate use of force against unarmed civilians during demonstrations.While crowd control weapons are intended to be non-lethal, many methods used by Israeli forces can cause death, severe injury, and damage to property, critics say.Residents of Nabi Saleh — similar to villages and towns across the occupied West Bank — have staged weekly demonstrations for years in protest of private land confiscated by Israeli authorities.Large portions of the Jewish-only Halamish settlement is built on land belonging to Nabi Saleh residents.

(TamimiPress/File)

(TamimiPress/File)

(TamimiPress/File)

Nabi Saleh – 16 July 2015

Video by Bilal Tamimi

Nabi Saleh – 10 July 2015

Video by Bilal Tamimi

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Photos by Popular Struggle Coordination Committee – 10 July 2015

Nabi Saleh – 3 July 2015

Video By Israel Puterman

Palestinian girl rises to fame as amateur reporter

Nine-year-old Jana tells her story of Israeli occupation using mobile phone.

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Through a child’s lens

The Arab Weekly
Nida Ibrahim 24.04.2015

Nabi Saleh, West Bank – When Jana Jihad cut the cake on her ninth birthday on April 10th, she made a wish to “see Neymar,” the Brazilian foot­ball star who plays for Spanish club FC Barcelona.

The wish was as far-fetched as the complexities in the life of the third-grader.

Dubbed the youngest amateur journalist in the Palestinian terri­tories, Jana hopes to tell her story from the viewpoint of a Palestin­ian child: From Israeli tear-gas to stun grenades, night raids and even losing friends, Jana’s child­hood is often interrupted with dramatic events in the village of Nabi Saleh, north of the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Home for 600 residents, Nabi Saleh is the site of weekly dem­onstrations against the Israeli oc­cupation. Every Friday for five years villagers have protested the occupation that is manifested by a Jewish settlement built on the vil­lagers’ lands.

The Israeli army, often present in a military watchtower at the entrance of the village, shuts the village’s entrance with a large metal bar. Tensions rise as local protesters and international peace activists hoist Palestinian flags and head towards the closed gate. The army often tries to disperse the protesters with tear gas, foul-smelling water, stun grenades and even live ammunition. Two young men have been killed in the dem­onstrations.

Whereas journalists are present for the demonstrations, Jana says she feels the media don’t show all injustices happening in her vil­lage. As soon as she hits the record button on her moth­er’s mobile phone, Jihad pans the camera while describing the atmos­phere around her.

One to two min­utes later, Jana switches the camera to show her face and signs off the report with her name like a professional.

“I want the world to know that we are not terrorists and to expose the army’s vio­lence against us,” she told The Arab Weekly in an inter­view at her home.

Her videos, in which she talks about the plight of Palestinians as seen through a child’s eye, have gone viral on so­cial media.

Her mother, Nawal Tamimi, said her daughter was traumatised af­ter a young man in the village was shot dead by the Israeli army. “He was older than her but used to al­ways be friendly and nice to her so that she became attached to him. When she saw his blood on the ground, she became frantic,” Tamimi said.

Her then-6-year-old daughter approached Israeli soldiers ask­ing them, in English, why they killed her friend. “I miss him,” she shouted on a video, which is also popular on social media.

Going down a long staircase to Jana’s house, it is hard not to see the tension. Used tear-gas can­isters with flowers in them hang on metal bars as a decoration re­sembling the peaceful resistance the village supports. The house’s windows are covered with wire fencing to prevent gas bombs from entering.

The young girl told The Arab Weekly she used to jot down her feelings in a locked journal every night but then decided to turn to documenting her activities and emotions on video. She carried her mobile camera to Jerusalem and Ramallah talking about free­dom of prayers, arrests, suppres­sion of protests and Jewish settle­ments.

Jana is often seen leading dem­onstrations. Carrying the Palestin­ian flag and chanting anti-occu­pation slogans, protesters repeat after her in Arabic and English.

In her videos, she says Israeli attempts to suppress the protest will not dissuade people, but will inspire them to fight for libera­tion. “If we stop protesting, they will take the rest of the lands,” she explained.

However, Jana’s mother says the girl is sometimes afraid, “I don’t push her one way or the other. She’s free to decide if she wants to participate in the protest,” Tamimi told The Arab Weekly.

Getting ready for the Friday protest, Jana wrapped a black and white keffiyeh around her neck to cover her nose from a faint-causing gas as her mother asked her about her plans, “I don’t know, we’ll see,” she replied.

Bassem Tamimi, a leader of the popular resist­ance move­ment in Nabi Saleh and a distant relative of Jana’s, said his group was subject to criti­cism for allow­ing children to protest. He told The Arab Weekly that there is no safe place for children in the village in the first place.

“A tear-gas canister broke my daughter’s arm while she was sitting at home. We care more about our children than anybody else,” he said.

Instead of teaching children how to hide from their problems, he said, they should learn to con­front them.

Living in a conflict zone, Pal­estinian children have been subject to detention, collective punishment and human rights or­ganisations accuse Israel of violat­ing children’s rights, particularly the right to live.

Ayed Abu Eqtaish, account­ability programme director at the non-governmental organisation, Defence for Children Internation­al-Palestine (DCIP), told The Arab Weekly that 2014 was the most difficult year for Palestinian chil­dren.

DCIP documented the death of 560 Palestinian children in 2014, including 547 in Gaza in the 50-day war between Israel and the mili­tant parties last June. Eqtaish ac­cused Israel of violating concepts of proportionality and distinction by targeting civilians in militant areas and locations protected under international law, such as schools, hospitals and shelters.

In the West Bank, Eqtaish said 11 children were killed by Israeli army gunfire. “Investigation was not requested to be open, except for one case that was pushed by media footage and the sentence didn’t match the crime,” he added.

Hundreds of Palestinian chil­dren are subject to detention and solitary confinement as well as physical and psychological vio­lence. Eqtaish said 700 children were put on trial in Israeli military courts in 2014.

“Israel is the only state to pros­ecute children in military courts that lack basic standards of due process,” he added. Three-quar­ters of 107 children who were arrested said they were subject to physical violence when inter­viewed in 2014

Back in Nabi Saleh, Jana did not march with protesters on that Fri­day and was spotted wandering in nearby fields.

No report was made that day. Jana did not give any explanation why she was off.

“She’s only a child,” her mother said.