Photos by Tamimi Press: 27 December
\
\
Manal being carried after being shot at close range by Israeli Occupation Forces
Manal being evacuated to hospital
Category: Reports
VIDEO: Israeli forces shoot Manal Tamimi from close range
By Mairav Zonszein +972 Magazine: December 27, 2013
Video by Bilal Tamimi
An Israeli Border Policeman was videotaped shooting Palestinian activist Manal Tamimi in the leg with a rubber-coated bullet from very close range in the Palestinian village of Nabi Saleh on Friday.
According to Bilal Tamimi, who shot the video, and a report from the Palestine News Network, the border policeman was no more than a few meters from Manal when he shot her in her knee region, reportedly causing a fracture to her bone from the impact. Tamimi told +972 they also tried to break his camera.
In the video below you can see the unarmed Manal walking up to the armed Israeli forces when one of them shoots her from what appears to be a frighteningly close distance. It is unclear what threat she was posing that would warrant the use of firearms.
Israeli forces shot large amounts of tear gas, sound bombs, skunk water and rubber-coated bullets at protesters in the village, according to several reports. In addition to Manal, two journalists were lightly injured and a girl was taken to the hospital after being hit with skunk water. Several homes and other property were damaged as a result.
Earlier this month, the IDF closed an investigation into the killing of Mustafa Tamimi, who was shot in the face with a tear gas canister from only a few meters in 2011. In its decision to close the investigation into that deadly shooting, the army claimed that no regulations were breached during the incident and accepted the soldier’s testimony that he didn’t see the victim when shooting from the military jeep.
Maan News: Nabi Saleh woman shot at close range by Israeli forces
Maan News: 27/12/2013
Screenshot from the video shows Manal Tamimi moments before being
shot.
shot.
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Activists from Nabi Saleh have released a video showing an Israeli soldier shooting a Palestinian woman in the leg at close range following clashes on Friday afternoon.
The video, uploaded by prominent local activist Bilal Tamimi, shows Manal Tamimi walking towards two heavily-armed Israeli soldiers who raided the village and being shot with a rubber bullet from a distance of only a few meters.
The incident is reported to have occurred as Israeli forces deployed in residential areas of the village of Nabi Saleh amid clashes following the weekly demonstration against the wall.
Israeli forces shot five Palestinians, including two journalists, and dozens suffered from tear gas inhalation during the clashes near the village. Israeli troops then deployed into the village itself.
It is at this point that local activist Manal Tamimi confronted the troops and was subsequently shot.
Video by Bilal Tamimi
The people of Nabi Saleh have been protesting weekly for four years, demanding that their lands confiscated by Israeli forces to build the separation wall be returned.
In 2004, the International Court of Justice called on Israel to stop construction of the separation wall within the occupied West Bank.
When completed, 85 percent of the wall will run inside the West Bank.
The internationally recognized Palestinian territories of which the West Bank and East Jerusalem form a part have been occupied by the Israeli military since 1967.
PSCC report on Nabi Saleh protests – 30 August and 13 September 2013
By Popular Struggle Coordination Committee
Weekly Protests, Friday 30th August 2013 – full report for all districts click here.
NABI SALEH, RAMALLAH GOVERNORATE
In solidarity with Palestinian prisoners
After the Friday Prayer, Palestinian, Israeli and international activists marched from the Martyrs’ square, in the center of the village, towards the confiscated land and natural spring near the Israeli illegal settlement of Halamish. Activists chanted slogans calling to the release of Palestinian prisoners and condemning the expansion of Israeli illegal settlements in occupied Palestine.
As the march reached Al shaheed Musatafa Tamimi street, Israeli Forces attempted to suppress the protest by firing tear gas and coated rubber bullets at peaceful demonstrators. Several people suffocated from teargas.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nabi-Saleh-Solidarity/177013109017209
***
Weekly Protests, Friday 13th September 2013 – full report for all districts click here
NABI SALEH, RAMALLAH GOVERNORATE
Call to release the Palestinian prisoners and end settler raids in Al Aqsa mosque
After the Friday Prayers, dozens of Palestinian, Israeli and international activists marched towards the confiscated land near the Israeli military watch tower at the entrance of the village, chanting slogans calling for national unity and holding photos of prisoners and of Yasser Arafat. As on most Fridays, the Israeli Forces prevented the march by firing a massive amount of rubber bullets and tear gas canisters leading to many suffocations cases. Clashes broke out; Israeli army invaded the village and targeted houses with their munitions.
The Popular Struggle leaders reminded that national unity is essential to end the occupation and to establish a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as a capital.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nabi-Saleh-Solidarity/177013109017209
Video and photos: Nabi Saleh protests continue; one person hit in head with teargas canister as IOF open fire
Photos by: Oren Ziv and Tweet Palestine/Video by David Reeb: 25 Januray 2013
Video by David Reeb
A Palestinian boy aged 16 or 17 years receiving medical treatment after being hit in head by a tear gas shot by Israeli forces, during a weekly demonstration in the village of Nabi Saleh, West Bank, January 25, 2013.
Photo by: Oren Ziv/Activestills.org. 
Photo by: Tweet Palestine
Photo by: Tweet Palestine
Photo by: Tweet Palestine
IOF at spring – Photo by: Tweet Palestine
B’Tselem protests Israel’s use of live fire at West Bank protests
by Maan News: 23 November 2012
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has written to Israeli army officials protesting the firing of live ammunition against protesters in the West Bank.
Two Palestinians were killed and dozens injured at protests in the West Bank against Israel’s war on Gaza.
B’Tselem executive director Jessica Montell demanded that it be made unequivocally clear to soldiers and commanders that there is an absolute prohibition on shooting live ammunition at stone throwers.
“B’Tselem also demanded that crowd control weapons like tear gas and rubber-coated bullets be utilized in accordance with open-fire regulations and in a manner that does not endanger human life,” the group said in a statement.
On Saturday, Israeli soldiers shot 31-year-old Rushdi Tamimi in Nabi Saleh. He died in a Ramallah hospital two days later. On Monday, Israeli forces shot dead Hamdi al-Falah, 22, in Hebron.
An investigation by B’Tselem found that al-Falah had pointed a laser pen at the soldiers, and that none of the stone throwers were armed.
Sixteen protesters were hit by live bullets, nine people were hit in the head by rubber-coated steel bullets and seven more were hit in the head by tear gas canisters in the West Bank during Israel’s 8-day war on Gaza, B’Tselem said.
A 14-year-old boy was declared clinically dead at al-Ahli hospital in Hebron after an Israeli border policeman fired a tear gas canister at his head, and a 20-year-old man from Bethlehem suffered a fractured skull and cerebral hemorrhaging.
“The serious injuries caused by direct hits from tear gas canisters and rubber-coated bullets are a direct result of existing practices among security forces, including the unlawful firing of these weapons, which B’Tselem has documented extensively in recent years,” the group said.
“Soldiers and border policemen shoot aluminum tear gas canisters directly at people, although military regulations forbid it.”
B’Tselem added: “In addition, security forces fire rubber bullets at shorter ranges than permitted in the regulations and in a manner that makes it impossible to avoid injuring sensitive parts of the body.
Israeli Occupation Army raids Nabi Saleh, Night and Day
By Popular Struggle Coordination Committee: 21 & 22 Jun 2012
Large military forces raided the village of Nabi Saleh last night and maintained presence in the village until dawn, only to conduct another raid during the demonstration today.
Some several dozen protesters, residents of Nabi Saleh, accompanied by Palestinian, Israeli and international supporters participated in the weekly protest in the village this week. Shortly after the Friday prayer, as the demonstration was only beginning to march towards the village’s confiscated lands, the army entered the village with great force.
video by David Reeb
Shooting large amounts of tear-gas projectiles, rubber-coated bullets, soldiers occupied a space at the center of the village and remained there for several hours, effectively imposing a curfew on the village. Protesters were thus blocked with almost inability to move inside, not to mention out of Nabi Saleh. The army also used the “skunk”, a water canon of foul-smelling liquid, spraying it directly and intentionally into residential houses. Small clashed erupted, which ended after the army finally retreated. No arrests or injuries were reported.
Background Nabi Saleh is a small village of approximately 550 people, twenty kilometres north west of Ramallah in the West Bank of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The Israeli colony of Halamish (also known as Neveh Tzuf ) was established on lands belonging to the villages of An Nabi Saleh and Deir Nidham in 1976. In response to the illegal colony being established on their land, the residents of An Nabi Saleh and Deir Nidham began holding demonstrations in opposition to the stealing of their land and the establishment of the colony (whose establishment violates international law). The residents of An Nabi Saleh and Deir Nidham lodged a court case against the colony in Israel’s high court, but were unable to stop the construction the illegal settlement.
Since its establishment in 1977, Halamish colony has continued to expand and steal more Palestinian land. In 2008, the residents of An Nabi Saleh challenged the building of a fence by the colony on private Palestinian land and which prevented Palestinians from accessing their land.
The Israeli courts ruled that the fence was to be dismantled Despite the Israeli court ruling, the colony continued to illegally annex more Palestinian land. In the summer of 2008, the Israeli colonists from Halamish seized control of a number springs, all of which were located on private Palestinian land belonging to residents of An Nabi Saleh. In December 2009, the village began weekly non-violent demonstrations in opposition to the illegal Israeli colony of Halamish annexing of the fresh water springs and stealing of more of the village’s land.
Since An Nabi Saleh began its demonstrations, the Israeli military has brutally sought to repress the non-violent protests, arresting more than 13% of the village, including children. In total, as of 31 March 2011, 64 village residents have been arrested. All but three were tried for participating in the non-violent demonstrations. Of those imprisoned, 29 have been minors under the age of 18 years and 4 have been women.
Israeli Occupation Forces carry out night raids against Nabi Saleh and Nil’in
byMairav Zonszein: +972 Magazine: 18 June 2012
The Palestinian village of Nabi Saleh was raided last night (Sunday) by the IDF. Nabi Saleh, which has been conducting weekly nonviolent demonstrations since the end of 2009 against Israel’s occupation and the encroaching settlement of Halamish, has been the target of repeated night raids over the last two years.
In the video below, uploaded by Bilal Tamimi, you can hear the IDF shooting stun grenades into the village and see the flashes of light they give off. Towards the end of the video, you can clearly see the IDF jeeps parked in the village, some soldiers firing shots, and then they all drive away.
Video by Bilal Tamimi, Tamimi Press.
While it is difficult to see in the dark, it seems as if the soldiers are shooting in every direction around them, nearly a full 360-degree circle. If the soldiers were being attacked in some way, it is unlikely it would be from literally all sides and besides, if they were really being threatened, they would be probably also use tear gas, not just stun grenades. It is hard to understanding this as anything other than the IDF terrorizing the village, punishing it for holding weekly demonstrations that call attention to Israel’s occupation.
– – – – – – – – – –
The village of Ni’lin, which recently marked five years of demonstrations, suffered an especially harsh night raid on Thursday night in which two Palestinian residents were arrested. According to the Ni’lin village website, from Saturday:
At 01:30 on Friday morning more than 120 soldiers surrounded the village of Ni’lin from all sides but the west. Thirty minutes later the soldiers invaded the village on foot accompanied by 14 military jeeps. They proceeded to raid five houses inside the village, the houses of Jameel Srour, Jammal Srour, Yousef Srour, Shukri Kawaja and Mosab Srour.
Video by Jihad Habazi
During the house raids, the families were put in one of the rooms in the house while the soldiers harshly went through their belongings, destroying furniture and leaving chaos in their wake. The five men listed above were all arrested but three of them were released later during the night. The two remaining men, Yousef and Mosab Srour were taken to an as of now unknown Israeli military facility where they are still being held as this is being written.
During the invasion of the house of Mosab Srour one of the soldiers stole NIS 1000 NiS from a moneybox of the youngest brother of Mosab. Mosabs brother had been saving this money for months, little by little from his work as a vegetable farmer and salesman. A laptop was also stolen from the house.
While this has not been verified, Palestinian residents claim that in addition to stun grenades, the IDF shot tear gas straight into civilian houses and that live ammunition was used as well.
Israeli Officer Throws Stones and Shoots Live Ammo at Palestinian Protesters in Nabi Saleh
By Popular Struggle Coordination Committee: 12 June 2012
The video, filmed on June 1, during the weekly demonstration in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, shows an Israeli officer standing in a dominant position, above two protesters, throwing stones and firing live ammunition at them.
Video by Bilal Tamimi
00:08 The first shot of live ammunition is heard, but is not seen.
00:14 An Israeli Army officer is seen throwing stones at two Palestinian youth who are standing on the road beneath him. The two protesters are also throwing stones. Three other soldiers are standing next to the officer.
00:17 After throwing a stone at the two Palestinians, the officer shoots live ammunition at them in a volley of two or three bullets. The officer clearly does not fear for his life, and is standing at a tactically advantageous position. The fact that the officer is using live ammunition and not rubber-coated bullets is evident by the lack of an attachment used for firing rubber-coated bullets on the barrel of his gun. The sound of the shooting is that of live ammo, rather than blanks.
The officer then continues to throw stones, a stun grenade and to shoot live ammunition for more than a minute. He walks to and fro and it is evident that the shooting was not made out of fear of immediate danger to his life.
01:03 The officer runs towards the two protesters and throws the stone at them standing above the two from a very sort distance. He retreats to pick up another stone as the two Palestinians throw stones back at him.
01:16 The officer advances back towards the two protesters, throws another stone and then shoots another bullet at them.
01:18 Immediately after the shot is fired, a cloud of dust can be seen rising from the road, a few inches left of one of the protesters. Since the attachment used for for firing rubber-coated bullets isn’t placed on the barrel of the officer’s gun, there could be no doubt left he is shooting live ammunition.
01:21 another shot is fired. A cloud of dust can be seen rising from the road where the bullet hits, between the two protesters. Seconds after, as the two are running away, another shot is fired and hits the road next to them.
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.
Military Court Orders to Jail Palestinian Activist, Naji Tamimi, for Peacefully Protesting on Nakba Day
by Popular Struggle Coordination Committee: 22 May 2012
Military Court Judge, Major Refael Yemini, ruled that Naji Tamimi, a protest leader from the village of Nabi Saleh is to remain in jail until the end of his trial for having participated in a peaceful demonstration.
Video by Khaled Sabarneh
Naji Tamimi, a 49 year-old activist from the village of Nabi Saleh, was arrested on May 15, during a demonstration at the Ni’ilin Checkpoint to commemorate the Nakba of 1948. Despite the peaceful nature of the demonstration, an Israeli military judge decided on Sunday to accept of the Military Prosecution’s motion to detain Tamimi until the end of legal proceedings against him. An appeal on the decision will be heard on Thursday at 10:30 AM, at the Military Court of Appeals.
Tamimi – who has only recently been released after a year in prison after being convicted of charges related to protest-organizing in his village – is not accused of any violence, but is, nevertheless, possibly facing two years imprisonment under Israel’s complete ban on Palestinian demonstrations in the West Bank. Furthermore, during the remand hearing, the military prosecutor admitted that Tamimi has been singled out for prosecution because of who he is and not for what he has done. The prosecutor, Captain Michael Avitan, said, “Had the defendant been someone else, the prosecution would most likely would not have asked to keep him in remand”, exposing the prosecution’s political motivation. The prosecutor also mentioned the presence of journalists at the protest and the fact that protesters were holding flags and signs as an aggravating factor.
During his previous incarceration, between March 2011 to February 2012, Tamimi was recognized as a human rights defender by the European Union.
Under military order 101, practically every Palestinian demonstration in the West Bank is forbidden. A violation of the order, which outlaws any gathering of ten or more people – whether in the public domain or not – unless it was granted a special permit in writing by the military commander, is punishable by ten years imprisonment. Israeli citizens, even when in the West Bank, are not subject to the draconian order. When participating in the same demonstration, Palestinian subjects are tried by military law, while Israeli citizens tried by Israeli criminal law.
On Sunday, another resident of Nabi Saleh, Bassem Tamimi, was convicted by the military court, in a trial that generated international attention and harsh criticism on Israel’s military justice system.
Background Naji Tamimi, a father of five and veteran grassroots activist, was born on September 2nd, 1962, in the village of Nabi Saleh. Tamimi studied accounting in Jordan, before completing a bachelor’s degree in history and political science at the Birzeit University, where he later also earned a master’s degree in Arab contemporary studies.
Tamimi comes from a family with long history in the Palestinian liberation struggle. His father was badly injured during the 1947-8 war, while serving under Abd al-Qader al-Husseini in the battle of Latrun. His elder brother, who was a PLO member based in Lebanon, was killed in 1973 during an attack staged by Israeli forces on the refugee camps of Baddawi and Nahr al-Bared. Tamimi himself has lost 17 acres of privately owned land, which were expropriated by Israeli authorities and handed over to the Israeli Jewish-only settlement of Halamish, located adjacent to Nabi Saleh from the south.
Tamimi has written extensively on both Palestinian culture and politics, and is the elected president of the Nabi Saleh cultural club. Prior to his current detention, Tamimi had spent a total of six years in Israeli prisons, in three different periods. As early as 1982, he was involved in the founding of Fatah’s Youth Committees for Social Work (al-Shabibah) in the North Ramallah area. The Shabibah was Fatah’s first serious popular enterprise, and later became one of the driving forces of the First Intifada. His latest imprisonment, a one-year sentence on charges of “incitement” and “organizing unpermitted marches”, ended in February 2012.
Tamimi’s lifelong devotion to justice and liberation remains wedded to his commitment to grassroots community organizing. He is one of the coordinators of the Nabi Saleh popular committee and a key figure in the village’s struggle to regain its lands from the settlement and end Israeli occupation.
In 1992, Tamimi married Bushra Tamimi, with which he fathers five children – two boys and three girls. He employed by the Ministry of Civil Affairs in the Palestinian Authority, as the manager of the Infrastructure and Land Department.
Tamimi is currently detained at the Ofer Prison near Ramallah, awaiting trial. He is charged with participating in an unpremitted march, obstruction of a soldier and illegally leaving a closed area.
Nabi Saleh Solidarity 