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,

Mariam Barghouti released on 18 April, after being arrested in Nabi Saleh the week before

by the International Solidarity  Movement: 18 April 2014

15th April 2014 | International Solidarity Movement | Occupied Palestine

Update Friday 18th April:

Mariam was released yesterday evening and is now home with her family.

*****

Update Thursday 17th April:

Mariam had a military court hearing this morning and the military judge agreed to release her on bail. Mariam’s bail has been paid and she is expected to be released later this evening.

*****

Update Wednesday 16th April:

At Mariam’s military court hearing today, an Israeli military judge stated that he “has doubts if the evidence supports the prosecution charges” and agreed to her release on bail. Nonetheless, he ruled that Mariam should remain in military detention until tomorrow morning, April 17^th, at 11:00, so that the military prosecution has a chance to appeal his decision.

*****

On Friday, April 11^th, 2014, 20-year-old Mariam Barghouti, a university student at Birzeit, was arrested by Israeli forces. She was brought to court on Sunday, April 13^th where she was charged and her detention extended until Wednesday, April 16^th.

Mariam was arrested while leaving the village of Nabi Saleh. Mariam, along with Abir Kopty (a Palestinian with Israeli citizenship who was later released on bail), and three foreign journalists were detained by soldiers and searched. Mariam had been in Nabi Saleh accompanying some of the journalists on their assignments and translating for them. Soldiers on the scene fabricated charges against her and handed her over to the police who arrested her along with Abir. At her hearing yesterday Mariam was charged with stone-throwing and entering a closed military area; her detention has been extended until Wednesday. Mariam sobbed throughout the whole hearing and told her lawyer that the charges are simply lies.

Mariam is a student at Birzeit University where she is majoring in English Literature and Psychology. Mariam is also active in community work and organizing and received a two-month residency scholarship in the UK, part of a program supporting women.

Abir said that during the arrest incident on Friday, “one of the soldiers who detained us looked at me and with a big smile said, ‘I’m going to mess up your life.’ It was obvious to me then that not only will he fabricate everything for his own purposes, but he knows he has the power to do so.”

 

Free Mariam Barghouti protests (16 April)

by Nabi Saleh Solidarity: 16 April 2014
Rally in support of 20 year old Mariam Barghouti who was arrested in Nabi Saleh last week for protesting against Israel’s occupation. Mariam was released on April 18.

Prominent activist Nariman Tamimi under partial house arrest during weekly Nabi Saleh’s protest

7th July 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Ramallah Team | Nabi Saleh, Occupied Palestine

 

The weekly protest in the village of Nabi Saleh was, as usual, met with extreme violence by Israeli forces. Tear gas canisters, rubbers coated steel bullets and skunk water were shot at unarmed protesters.

 

After midday prayers, over fifty Palestinians together with international and Israeli activists met in the centre of the village to march down the main road. As demonstrators walked passed the gas station, several Border police officers approached them from the hill located to the right of the road and shot several rounds of rubber coated steel bullets. When the march dispersed, the skunk water truck drove forward spraying people and homes.

 

The protest continued for an hour and a half during which Israeli border police were shooting demonstrators with tear gas canisters, rubber coated steel bullets and skunk water at close range.

 

Unlike every other Friday, Nariman Tamimi, a prominent activist from Nabi Saleh, was not able to attend the demonstration as she was in a partial house arrest. Nariman and Rana Nazzal were arrested at last week’s protest and spent three days in jail. They are accused of entering a closed military zone and had to pay 2750NIS each on bail in order to be released. The prosecution is asking for one week under house arrest. They are currently awaiting the judge’s decision.

Palestinian prisoner of conscience Bassem Tamimi speaks out

by Amnesty International: 2 November 2012

Weekly demonstrations began on 9 December 2009. Every Friday residents of al-Nabi Saleh and solidarity activists gather around noon in the village centre and march peacefully towards the spring. They have been met repeatedly with unnecessary and excessive force by the Israeli army including the use of stun grenades, pepper spray, batons and guns.

Demonstrations are dispersed as soon as they begin and are usually not allowed to reach the spring. The Israeli army raids the village regularly, usually during the night, and conducts house searches and arrests, including the arrest of children under the age of 15.

Israeli military laws in place in the West Bank impose sweeping and arbitrary restrictions on freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, requiring people to obtain advance permission from the Israeli military for any proposed gathering of 10 or more persons “for a political purpose of for a matter that could be interpreted as political”.

Nariman Tamimi told Amnesty International that in al-Nabi Saleh and all areas where there is popular resistance, police use extreme violence, noting that “there is nothing [to the protests] except that you chant and express your opinion.”

As one of the organizers of the al-Nabi Salneh protests and a coordinator of the village’s popular committee, Bassem Tamimi and his family have been the target of harsh treatment by the Israeli army.

Since the demonstrations began, his house has been raided and ransacked numerous times. His wife has been arrested twice and two of his children have been injured — Wa’ed was in hospital for five days after he was hit in the leg by a rubber bullet and Mohammed was injured by a tear-gas canister that was shot directly at him and hit him in the shoulder.

Bassem Tamimi has been arrested by the Israeli army 11 times to date, though he has only once been convicted by a military court – on charges that Amnesty International believes were unfounded.

Amnesty International: Israeli soldiers arrest son of detained Palestinian activist at West Bank protest

by Amnesty International: 2 November 2012

Israeli soliders arrested 16-year-old Wa’ed Tamimi at a demonstration in the village of al-Nabi Saleh

The 16-year-old son of Bassem Tamimi, a detained Palestinian rights activist in the occupied West Bank, was himself arrested by Israeli soldiers today during the regular weekly protest against the encroachment of Israeli settlers onto Palestinian land.

Wa’ed Tamimi was arrested along with four activists during the demonstration on Friday afternoon in the West Bank village of al-Nabi Saleh, 21km northwest of Ramallah.

“Today’s arrest of Wa’ed Tamimi while he was walking peacefully in his village points to the continuing harassment of activist Bassem Tamimi, his family, and the community of al-Nabi Saleh by Israeli military forces,” said Ann Harrison, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director. “This harassment must stop”.

“Wa’ed Tamimi and the four others arrested in al-Nabi Saleh today must be allowed access to lawyers and should be released immediately unless they are to be charged with a recognizably criminal offence. His father Bassem is a prisoner of conscience, held solely for peacefully protesting Israel’s illegal settlement expansion, and must be released immediately and unconditionally.”

Nariman Tamimi told Amnesty International how she witnessed her son’s arrest: “I saw him being dragged violently by a soldier who immediately put him in a jeep,” she said. “Right now I am very tired and worried, and I am not sure what to do.”

Wa’ed Tamimi was taken to the police station in Sha’ar Benyamin settlement north of Ramallah.

Bassem Tamimi has been detained since his arrest on 24 October following a non-violent demonstration in a supermarket in the settlement of Sha’ar Benjamin. He faces a further prison sentence after appearing before the Ofer Military Court on Wednesday.

All Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are illegal under international law. Amnesty International is calling for their construction and expansion to stop as a first step towards removing the Israeli civilians living there.

UPDATE: Bassem Tamimi released from prison with broken ribs after BDS action arrest

Video: Soldiers attack children in Nabi Saleh and arrest Nariman Tamimi

by Popular Struggle Coordination Committee: 26 August 2012

During the weekly demonstration in the village of Nabi Saleh, yesterday, Friday, dedicated to support the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, some of the villagers of Nabi Saleh, along with other activists managed to get to the entrance of village’s spring “Alqaws” which was taken over by the settlers three years ago. Soldiers forcibly prevented them to approach the spring at the same time settlers were swimming in.

video by Bilal Tamimi

Soldiers detained three Palestinian women, one Israeli activist and one American journalist. Among the detainees was Nariman Tamimi (36), a resident of the village and a Popular Resistance activist. Her Daughter, A’hd Tamimi (11) and two nephews, Marah (11) and Wiaam (11), were attacked brutally by soldiers preventing them from reaching the spring, and separating them from Nariman during her detention. [CORRECTION to PSCC report – Marah is the neice of Nariman].

After the arrests, the army raided the village, sprayed “skunk” water and threw stun grenades and tear gas at houses, and used live ammunition through the clashes with the residents. During the raids on the houses, several residents were injured, including: Azmi Tamimi (70), injured in his finger from a rubber bullet shot from point blank range, Martyr Mustafa Tamimi’s grandmother (90), injured in her leg from two rubber bullets, as she sat at her house door, Halla Tamimi (48), injured from a stun grenade thrown into her house and Ahmed Shaker (11), injured in his chin from rubber-coated steel bullet, in addition to several injuries from rubber-coated steel bullets.

During the raid, the army arrested another Israeli activist from one of the houses. The six detainees were held for more than eight hours, in violation of the law, which only permits holding detainees for a maximum of three hours (or six hours in extreme cases), before they are arrested. At 9pm, soldiers put detainees on an army vehicle and drove them for an hour though different settlements roads then drove back to Nabi Saleh entrance where they were dropped off and released.

Amnesty Calls for the Immediate Release of Bassem Tamimi

By Popular Struggle Coordination Committee: 2 March 2012

In a statement released today, Amnesty International pronounced Palestinian protest organizer, Bassem Tamimi, a prisoner of conscience and called for his immediate and unconditional release from Israeli prison.

After nearly a year in Israeli jail, standing trial for charges pertaining to protest organizing in his west bank village of Nabi Saleh, Bassem Tamimi was named prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International. In its statement the organization called for Tamimi’s immediate and unconditional release. Tamimi’s next court hearing will take place this Sunday, March 5th, 10:30 AM at the Ofer Military Court.

See here for Amnesty’s full statement.

“Palestinian human rights defender Bassem Tamimi is a prisoner of conscience, detained solely for his role in organizing peaceful protests against the encroachment onto Palestinian lands by Israeli settlers, and should be released immediately and unconditionally”, Amnesty International said today.

“The Israeli army has repeatedly used excessive force in countering these demonstrations, as a result of which the organizers reiterate instructions for Palestinian demonstrators to adhere to non-violent methods. Occasionally, individual protestors have engaged in throwing stones at soldiers. One such protestor, Mustafa Tamimi, was shot in al-Nabi Saleh on 10 December 2011 by a high-velocity tear gas projectile fired at his head at close range from an Israeli military jeep. He died the next day in hospital”, the organization’s press release added.

West Bank Protest Organizer, Bassem Tamimi, to Testify in his Trial on Sunday

By Popular Struggle Coordination Committee: 14 February, 2012

Almost a year after his arrest, the Palestinian protest organizer from the village of Nabi Saleh, will have a chance to answer his accusers.

When: Sunday, February 19th, 2012, at 10 AM
Where: Ofer Military Court*
* Entry to the military court must be coordinated with the Israeli army’s spokesperson’s office in advance.

Bassem Tamimi, who was arrested on March 24th, 2011, is being tried for organizing demonstrations in his village, Nabi Saleh, north-west of Ramallah. The Military Prosecution’s case against Tamimi is based on the coerced confessions of two children, 14 and 15 years old. In the course of interrogations tainted by illegality and gross violations of the minors’ rights, the two incriminated Tamimi of having organized protests and stone-throwing.

At the opening of the trial, during his arraignment, Tamimi pleaded “not guilty” to the charges against him, and gave a general but defiant statement, explaining the motivation and rational behind the demonstrations in his village. During the course of Tamimi’s trial, new evidence has emerged, including proof of systematic violations of Palestinian minors’ rights during police interrogations, as well as first hand verification given by a military commander of disproportional use of force by the army in response to peaceful demonstrations.

Almost a year into his detainment, the hearing on Sunday will, in fact, be Tamimi’s first chance to face his accusers and give his own version of the events. Tamimi, who has been recognized as a human rights defender by the European Union shortly after his arrest, is expected to say that his arrest and trial is motivated by Israel’s will to crack down of Palestinian popular resistance to the Occupation.