6 jan 2011
Israel's killing zone in Gaza
Israel's killing zone in Gaza
Palestinian farmers in Gaza working in the area of Israel's deadly "buffer zone."
Ahmed Qudaih was skinny, in blue Converse sneakers and a black leather jacket, his mustache oddly making him look younger, not older, than his 27 years. His voice was even, his face rigidly composed, like human stone, as we sat down with him in the martyr's tent in Khozaa, a rural village slightly to the east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. Young men moved up and down the rows of plastic seats with brass coffee pots and tiny ceramic cups and platters of dates. Ahmed agreed to speak briefly about how the Israeli military had just murdered his 19-year-old brother Hassan Qudaih in the village's borderlands.
Ahmed said that a few hours before sunset on 28 December, Hassan had entered the area where two nights before, there had been a firefight between the Palestinian resistance and Israeli soldiers, who were accompanied by several Apache helicopters and tanks. During the melee, the soldiers killed Issa Abu Rok and Muhammad al-Najjar, fighters from the al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. They were also members of Hassan and Ahmed's extended family. Hassan entered the area to look around, to search through it for anything that had been left behind after the bodies had been removed.
Ahmed said that a sniper sitting in a jeep abutting the border shot Hassan in the leg. Hassan treated himself, partially stanching the blood flowing from the wound. And then, according to Ahmed, "the [Israeli army] let him bleed slowly for the subsequent two hours, preventing any emergency vehicles, or his friends, from reaching him."
His friends made repeated attempts to get close to Hassan, but were repelled by shots from the Israeli border patrol, and eventually incapacitated by a sort of "gas, which made them unconscious," Ahmed said. Emergency vehicles from the Palestinian emergency services also repeatedly attempted to coordinate with the Israeli army to evacuate Hassan, but they were denied permission to do so, while Hassan continued to bleed, Ahmed explained.
After some time, Ahmed said, a beleaguered Hassan "took out his phone and tried to call for help." Ahmed said it was at that point that the Israeli military "shelled him from a border-area tank, decapitating him." Ahmed speculated that perhaps they tracked Hassan's phone signal to the body. Hassan died instantly, his head apparently severed from his body.
Ahmed explained that "The area where they killed my brother is flat, free of any obstacles that could have blocked their view. The soldiers must have clearly seen that Hassan was a civilian, without any weapons, and shot anyway."
Ahmed showed us a picture of Hassan, as well as his shrapnel-damaged money case. He looked in the picture precisely like the young man he was, barely out of boyhood -- frighteningly young -- a stand-in for the stunningly young population of Gaza, more than 50 percent of which is under 18, and a wrenching reminder that war and siege on Gaza has meant war and siege on children.
Initial press reports, repeating information issued by the Israeli military spokespersons' office, put Hassan amongst four other youth "planting explosives at the security fence." However, subsequent investigations showed otherwise.
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights reports that the five youth were roughly 300 meters from the fence, just on the edge of the "buffer zone" -- the no-go area imposed by Israel covering a wide swath of land on the Gaza side of the boundary with Israel, in the east and north -- when Israeli firing began. Relatives and neighbors agree: Hassan was unarmed and shot without provocation other than his presence in Israel's unilaterally-declared "buffer zone."
That buffer zone ruinously affects Gaza residents living in areas like Khozaa. Khozaa, and the whole rural area east of Khan Younis -- which includes the towns and villages of Abasan al-Kabir, Abasan al-Saghira and al-Farrahin -- have been the subject of numerous incursions, demolitions, shelling and shootings over the past several years, occurring with an increasing frequency in recent months. Homes with any exposure to the boundary with Israel are pocked with hundreds of bullet holes, and children are barred by their parents from playing in areas which are within the line-of-sight to the boundary after dusk.
Officially, the buffer zone is 300 meters wide, at least according to the leaflets the Israeli military dropped on all of Gaza's hinterlands on 19 May 2009, showing a map of the Gaza Strip with clearly demarcated no-go areas. Unofficially, however, it extends as far as the bullets from Israeli snipers fly before they hit something.
According to a report put out by the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 29 percent of Gaza's arable farmland is inaccessible due to the belt of forbidden or dangerous land, which extends from 0.5-1 kilometer on the eastern frontier and 1.8 to 2 kilometers on the northern frontier.
In the southern governorates, the imposition of the buffer zone has hit agricultural production hard. For example, in the Khan Younis area, the administrative area of which includes the smaller zones to its east, agriculture and fishing-related activities plummeted from 24 percent of all jobs in the second quarter of 2007 to 7.2 percent in the third quarter of 2009.
If not enforced by physically present soldiers armed with sniper rifles, it is enforced by women soldiers manning remote-controlled motion-sensing machine gun turrets. The landscape there is marked by ditches, peppered by broken clumps of barbed wire. It’s a tableau of exposed dirt and sliced-off irrigation tubes. It looks like the war zone that it frequently is.
And soldiers often fire at anything that enters the buffer zone. Indeed, repeated calls to the Israeli military spokespersons' office to ask how they made the determination that Hassan was a "militant" either were met with unfulfilled promises to call back shortly, or the response that "we can't reveal that information for security reasons." Nor has the Israeli military issued a correction in response to the repeated queries.
Ahmed Qudaih was skinny, in blue Converse sneakers and a black leather jacket, his mustache oddly making him look younger, not older, than his 27 years. His voice was even, his face rigidly composed, like human stone, as we sat down with him in the martyr's tent in Khozaa, a rural village slightly to the east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. Young men moved up and down the rows of plastic seats with brass coffee pots and tiny ceramic cups and platters of dates. Ahmed agreed to speak briefly about how the Israeli military had just murdered his 19-year-old brother Hassan Qudaih in the village's borderlands.
Ahmed said that a few hours before sunset on 28 December, Hassan had entered the area where two nights before, there had been a firefight between the Palestinian resistance and Israeli soldiers, who were accompanied by several Apache helicopters and tanks. During the melee, the soldiers killed Issa Abu Rok and Muhammad al-Najjar, fighters from the al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. They were also members of Hassan and Ahmed's extended family. Hassan entered the area to look around, to search through it for anything that had been left behind after the bodies had been removed.
Ahmed said that a sniper sitting in a jeep abutting the border shot Hassan in the leg. Hassan treated himself, partially stanching the blood flowing from the wound. And then, according to Ahmed, "the [Israeli army] let him bleed slowly for the subsequent two hours, preventing any emergency vehicles, or his friends, from reaching him."
His friends made repeated attempts to get close to Hassan, but were repelled by shots from the Israeli border patrol, and eventually incapacitated by a sort of "gas, which made them unconscious," Ahmed said. Emergency vehicles from the Palestinian emergency services also repeatedly attempted to coordinate with the Israeli army to evacuate Hassan, but they were denied permission to do so, while Hassan continued to bleed, Ahmed explained.
After some time, Ahmed said, a beleaguered Hassan "took out his phone and tried to call for help." Ahmed said it was at that point that the Israeli military "shelled him from a border-area tank, decapitating him." Ahmed speculated that perhaps they tracked Hassan's phone signal to the body. Hassan died instantly, his head apparently severed from his body.
Ahmed explained that "The area where they killed my brother is flat, free of any obstacles that could have blocked their view. The soldiers must have clearly seen that Hassan was a civilian, without any weapons, and shot anyway."
Ahmed showed us a picture of Hassan, as well as his shrapnel-damaged money case. He looked in the picture precisely like the young man he was, barely out of boyhood -- frighteningly young -- a stand-in for the stunningly young population of Gaza, more than 50 percent of which is under 18, and a wrenching reminder that war and siege on Gaza has meant war and siege on children.
Initial press reports, repeating information issued by the Israeli military spokespersons' office, put Hassan amongst four other youth "planting explosives at the security fence." However, subsequent investigations showed otherwise.
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights reports that the five youth were roughly 300 meters from the fence, just on the edge of the "buffer zone" -- the no-go area imposed by Israel covering a wide swath of land on the Gaza side of the boundary with Israel, in the east and north -- when Israeli firing began. Relatives and neighbors agree: Hassan was unarmed and shot without provocation other than his presence in Israel's unilaterally-declared "buffer zone."
That buffer zone ruinously affects Gaza residents living in areas like Khozaa. Khozaa, and the whole rural area east of Khan Younis -- which includes the towns and villages of Abasan al-Kabir, Abasan al-Saghira and al-Farrahin -- have been the subject of numerous incursions, demolitions, shelling and shootings over the past several years, occurring with an increasing frequency in recent months. Homes with any exposure to the boundary with Israel are pocked with hundreds of bullet holes, and children are barred by their parents from playing in areas which are within the line-of-sight to the boundary after dusk.
Officially, the buffer zone is 300 meters wide, at least according to the leaflets the Israeli military dropped on all of Gaza's hinterlands on 19 May 2009, showing a map of the Gaza Strip with clearly demarcated no-go areas. Unofficially, however, it extends as far as the bullets from Israeli snipers fly before they hit something.
According to a report put out by the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 29 percent of Gaza's arable farmland is inaccessible due to the belt of forbidden or dangerous land, which extends from 0.5-1 kilometer on the eastern frontier and 1.8 to 2 kilometers on the northern frontier.
In the southern governorates, the imposition of the buffer zone has hit agricultural production hard. For example, in the Khan Younis area, the administrative area of which includes the smaller zones to its east, agriculture and fishing-related activities plummeted from 24 percent of all jobs in the second quarter of 2007 to 7.2 percent in the third quarter of 2009.
If not enforced by physically present soldiers armed with sniper rifles, it is enforced by women soldiers manning remote-controlled motion-sensing machine gun turrets. The landscape there is marked by ditches, peppered by broken clumps of barbed wire. It’s a tableau of exposed dirt and sliced-off irrigation tubes. It looks like the war zone that it frequently is.
And soldiers often fire at anything that enters the buffer zone. Indeed, repeated calls to the Israeli military spokespersons' office to ask how they made the determination that Hassan was a "militant" either were met with unfulfilled promises to call back shortly, or the response that "we can't reveal that information for security reasons." Nor has the Israeli military issued a correction in response to the repeated queries.
A family photograph of Qudaih Hassan.
And the assault continues apace. Abd Alazeer Yousef Abu Rijla, Hassan's uncle and the owner of the land where the young man was killed, described how on 29 December Israeli armor-plated bulldozers entered their farmland in Khozaa and ripped up the remainder of the crops growing there. The total area destroyed comes to about four dunums, or roughly 4,000 square meters. "We cannot go there anymore, even though we are three families that depend on that area," Abu Rijla said. Although he said that he needed to return to his land, the area was far too dangerous for the time being.
Fifty-nine Palestinians were killed in Gaza by the Israeli military last year, 24 of them civilians, most in the buffer zone. The number of wounded -- 220 -- has been ten times that, with approximately forty of them occurring since the beginning of November. The tempo of rockets fired from Gaza has increased in response to ongoing Israeli provocations and pummeling, as well as the need to resist the 42-month-long siege.
Meanwhile, the next war slides in and out of view, as Israeli politicians and generals openly discuss timing and strategy. General Gabi Ashkenazi said that the Israeli military “holds the Hamas terrorist organization solely responsible for any terrorist activity emanating from the Gaza Strip. We hope that the security situation in the south does not deteriorate, however the IDF [Israeli army] is preparing for any scenario” (“Ashkenazi: We’ll be ready if Gaza tensions escalate,” The Jerusalem Post, 27 December 2010).
Indeed, a cable released by WikiLeaks, dated 15 November 2009, confirms that planning for the next incursion began even while the Palestinians of Gaza were still sifting through the rubble of the winter 2008-09 invasion. Ashkenazi told a visiting American Congressional delegation that “I am preparing the Israeli army for a large-scale war,” likely against Hamas and Hizballah (“Israeli army chief was preparing for ‘a large scale war’,” Agence France Presse, 2 January 2011).
A few think this is just posturing, meant to tamp down rocket fire to a more tolerable level and more importantly, to incite massive and paralyzing fear amongst Gaza's population. If so, perhaps it has worked: the resistance groups recently agreed to cease rocket fire for the time being, while most everyone I talk to in the streets worries that Israel will commemorate the biennial of the 2008-09 Gaza invasion by repeating it, while they grow tortuously frustrated by the stalled peace process.
"We are trapped here, and upset ... there is nothing," a meat seller in the middle class Gaza City neighborhood of Tel al-Hawa told me, before giving me a ride home. Meanwhile, the subdued roar of F-16s is audible nearly daily here and there in the Gaza Strip, while on the horizon grey Israeli warships hulk in the steel blue sea and Israeli drones buzz overhead in the washed-out sky -- watching, waiting, preparing and gathering information for the next massacre from the north.
All images by Max Ajl.
Max Ajl is a doctoral student in development sociology at Cornell, and was an International Solidarity Movement volunteer in the Gaza Strip. He has written for many outlets, including the Guardian and the New Statesman, and blogs on Israel-Palestine at www.maxajl.com.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11715.shtml
Medical sources confirm: Two Palestinians killed at the hands of IOF troops
Palestinian medical teams on Thursday retrieved the bodies of two Palestinians who were killed at the hands of the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) east of Jabalia refugee camp to the north of the Gaza Strip.
Adham Abu Salmiya, the spokesman for the medical services, told the PIC that the medical teams managed to evacuate the bodies after many attempts that started in the early morning hours, adding that they were killed Wednesday night.
He said that the bodies were carried to hospital but could not be identified yet.
IOF command earlier said that its soldiers fired at two Palestinians for approaching the security fence surrounding the Strip, claiming that they were trying to plant an explosive device.
A Hebrew website, for its part, said that one of them was killed and the other injured in the shooting.
http://bit.ly/gpItfx
Israel kills 2 Palestinians in Gaza
Palestinians have recovered the body of two men who were shot dead overnight by Israeli forces in northern Gaza, medics say.
Adham Abu Selmiya, the spokesman for Gaza health services, said an ambulance found the bodies of the two men on Thursday morning.
"Ambulance workers found the bodies of two Palestinian martyrs killed by Israeli military bullets east of Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip," he told AFP.
An Israeli military spokeswoman has also confirmed the fatalities, saying the troops opened fire on two Palestinians near the Gaza border with Israel.
Palestinian rescue services were not able to reach the men until daylight on Thursday because the area is a no-go zone where Israeli soldiers regularly open fire on Palestinians.
Last week, Israeli forces killed another Palestinian and wounded 5 others in tank shelling and gunfire attack on Khan Yunis.
The Israeli military has repeatedly waged attacks on Gaza since its massive 22-day war on the territory at the turn of 2009. However, during this month, there has been a surge of violence along the Israeli-Gaza border.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/158904.html
And the assault continues apace. Abd Alazeer Yousef Abu Rijla, Hassan's uncle and the owner of the land where the young man was killed, described how on 29 December Israeli armor-plated bulldozers entered their farmland in Khozaa and ripped up the remainder of the crops growing there. The total area destroyed comes to about four dunums, or roughly 4,000 square meters. "We cannot go there anymore, even though we are three families that depend on that area," Abu Rijla said. Although he said that he needed to return to his land, the area was far too dangerous for the time being.
Fifty-nine Palestinians were killed in Gaza by the Israeli military last year, 24 of them civilians, most in the buffer zone. The number of wounded -- 220 -- has been ten times that, with approximately forty of them occurring since the beginning of November. The tempo of rockets fired from Gaza has increased in response to ongoing Israeli provocations and pummeling, as well as the need to resist the 42-month-long siege.
Meanwhile, the next war slides in and out of view, as Israeli politicians and generals openly discuss timing and strategy. General Gabi Ashkenazi said that the Israeli military “holds the Hamas terrorist organization solely responsible for any terrorist activity emanating from the Gaza Strip. We hope that the security situation in the south does not deteriorate, however the IDF [Israeli army] is preparing for any scenario” (“Ashkenazi: We’ll be ready if Gaza tensions escalate,” The Jerusalem Post, 27 December 2010).
Indeed, a cable released by WikiLeaks, dated 15 November 2009, confirms that planning for the next incursion began even while the Palestinians of Gaza were still sifting through the rubble of the winter 2008-09 invasion. Ashkenazi told a visiting American Congressional delegation that “I am preparing the Israeli army for a large-scale war,” likely against Hamas and Hizballah (“Israeli army chief was preparing for ‘a large scale war’,” Agence France Presse, 2 January 2011).
A few think this is just posturing, meant to tamp down rocket fire to a more tolerable level and more importantly, to incite massive and paralyzing fear amongst Gaza's population. If so, perhaps it has worked: the resistance groups recently agreed to cease rocket fire for the time being, while most everyone I talk to in the streets worries that Israel will commemorate the biennial of the 2008-09 Gaza invasion by repeating it, while they grow tortuously frustrated by the stalled peace process.
"We are trapped here, and upset ... there is nothing," a meat seller in the middle class Gaza City neighborhood of Tel al-Hawa told me, before giving me a ride home. Meanwhile, the subdued roar of F-16s is audible nearly daily here and there in the Gaza Strip, while on the horizon grey Israeli warships hulk in the steel blue sea and Israeli drones buzz overhead in the washed-out sky -- watching, waiting, preparing and gathering information for the next massacre from the north.
All images by Max Ajl.
Max Ajl is a doctoral student in development sociology at Cornell, and was an International Solidarity Movement volunteer in the Gaza Strip. He has written for many outlets, including the Guardian and the New Statesman, and blogs on Israel-Palestine at www.maxajl.com.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11715.shtml
Medical sources confirm: Two Palestinians killed at the hands of IOF troops
Palestinian medical teams on Thursday retrieved the bodies of two Palestinians who were killed at the hands of the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) east of Jabalia refugee camp to the north of the Gaza Strip.
Adham Abu Salmiya, the spokesman for the medical services, told the PIC that the medical teams managed to evacuate the bodies after many attempts that started in the early morning hours, adding that they were killed Wednesday night.
He said that the bodies were carried to hospital but could not be identified yet.
IOF command earlier said that its soldiers fired at two Palestinians for approaching the security fence surrounding the Strip, claiming that they were trying to plant an explosive device.
A Hebrew website, for its part, said that one of them was killed and the other injured in the shooting.
http://bit.ly/gpItfx
Israel kills 2 Palestinians in Gaza
Palestinians have recovered the body of two men who were shot dead overnight by Israeli forces in northern Gaza, medics say.
Adham Abu Selmiya, the spokesman for Gaza health services, said an ambulance found the bodies of the two men on Thursday morning.
"Ambulance workers found the bodies of two Palestinian martyrs killed by Israeli military bullets east of Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip," he told AFP.
An Israeli military spokeswoman has also confirmed the fatalities, saying the troops opened fire on two Palestinians near the Gaza border with Israel.
Palestinian rescue services were not able to reach the men until daylight on Thursday because the area is a no-go zone where Israeli soldiers regularly open fire on Palestinians.
Last week, Israeli forces killed another Palestinian and wounded 5 others in tank shelling and gunfire attack on Khan Yunis.
The Israeli military has repeatedly waged attacks on Gaza since its massive 22-day war on the territory at the turn of 2009. However, during this month, there has been a surge of violence along the Israeli-Gaza border.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/158904.html
5 jan 2011
IDF soldiers shoot Palestinians on Gaza border, reportedly killing one
Troops open fire on two figures approaching to the no-go zone, along the length of the border between Kfar Aza and Kibbutz Nahal Oz.
Israel Defense Forces soldiers opened fire on two Palestinians who were approaching the Gaza-Israel border, apparently killing one and wounding the other.
There was no immediate comment from Palestinian officials.
Israel enforces a no-go zone on the Gaza side of its border fence. Palestinian militants frequently try to plant bombs there to target Israeli military patrols. This particular incident took place between the town of Kfar Aza and Kibbutz Nahal Oz.
Israeli aircraft early Sunday attacked targets in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, wounding two Palestinians, medical officials in the territory said.
The Israeli military said a "Hamas terror activity center in northern Gaza and a weapons manufacturing facility in central Gaza" were hit in response to a rocket strike on Israel on Saturday.
Also Sunday, IDF soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian man who approached the West Bank checkpoint they were manning with a bottle in his hand.
According to initial reports, the soldiers opened fire on the man because they suspected he was poised to stab them and refused their order to halt.
An officer in the Central Command later said the incident seemed to have been caused by "a combination of misunderstandings stemming from the Palestinian citizen's inexplicable behavior and the high state of alert of the soldiers" and that a thorough investigation was under way.
http://bit.ly/gpCwU4
IDF soldiers shoot Palestinians on Gaza border, reportedly killing one
Troops open fire on two figures approaching to the no-go zone, along the length of the border between Kfar Aza and Kibbutz Nahal Oz.
Israel Defense Forces soldiers opened fire on two Palestinians who were approaching the Gaza-Israel border, apparently killing one and wounding the other.
There was no immediate comment from Palestinian officials.
Israel enforces a no-go zone on the Gaza side of its border fence. Palestinian militants frequently try to plant bombs there to target Israeli military patrols. This particular incident took place between the town of Kfar Aza and Kibbutz Nahal Oz.
Israeli aircraft early Sunday attacked targets in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, wounding two Palestinians, medical officials in the territory said.
The Israeli military said a "Hamas terror activity center in northern Gaza and a weapons manufacturing facility in central Gaza" were hit in response to a rocket strike on Israel on Saturday.
Also Sunday, IDF soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian man who approached the West Bank checkpoint they were manning with a bottle in his hand.
According to initial reports, the soldiers opened fire on the man because they suspected he was poised to stab them and refused their order to halt.
An officer in the Central Command later said the incident seemed to have been caused by "a combination of misunderstandings stemming from the Palestinian citizen's inexplicable behavior and the high state of alert of the soldiers" and that a thorough investigation was under way.
http://bit.ly/gpCwU4
Ahmed Muslamani 24
Israeli soldiers have killed the 24-year-old Ahmed Muslamani, from the village of Tubas in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials say.
Dozens of locals attended a funeral procession for Muslamani, who was shot dead at a West Bank checkpoint.
The victim was shot in the chest and leg, said a Palestinian medical worker, who collected the body at the Israeli military checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus.
Earlier on Saturday, a 36-year-old Palestinian woman died one day after inhaling tear gas at an anti-apartheid wall protest in Bilin in the occupied West Bank.
Israeli soldiers have been using the prohibited deadly tear gas canisters against Palestinian protesters in recent weeks, reports say.
Tel Aviv began constructing the anti-apartheid wall in 2000. The International Court of Justice says the wall is illegal and should be taken down.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/158389.html
UN voices concern at WB deaths
The United Nations has expressed concern at the recent deaths of Palestinian civilians, including a woman, by Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank.
"We are very worried that two Palestinians have lost their lives in recent days in incidents involving Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank, AFP quoted UN spokesman in Israel Richard Miron as saying on Sunday.
On Sunday morning, a Palestinian man from Tubas, Mohammed Daraghmeh, was killed at around 8:00 a.m. (0600 GMT) at the Hamra checkpoint northeast of Nablus after sustaining bullet wounds to his chest, hand and leg.
The Israeli media initially claimed Daraghmeh, in his early twenties, had tried to stab soldiers at the checkpoint. But the military later confirmed that the man was not armed.
The army blamed the killing on "a combination of misunderstandings stemming from the Palestinian citizen's inexplicable behavior and the high state of alert of the soldiers."
Palestinian security sources said Daraghmeh was trying to pass through the checkpoint on his way to work at a West Bank settlement when he was stopped and consequently killed by Israeli troops.
The checkpoint killing came almost two days after female Palestinian protester Jawaher Abu Rahma, 36, died due to massive amounts of tear gas fired by the Israeli military during a demonstration in Bilin, a village near the West Bank city of Ramallah.
The Palestinian Authority has condemned the two deaths as a war crime" and a "dangerous escalation" by Israel aimed at demolishing any hope of peace in the Middle East.
On Saturday, hundreds of Israeli leftist protesters and pro-Palestinian activists gathered outside Israel's defense ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv to protest against the continued occupation of the West Bank and Abu Rahma's death.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/158396.html
Israeli soldiers have killed the 24-year-old Ahmed Muslamani, from the village of Tubas in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials say.
Dozens of locals attended a funeral procession for Muslamani, who was shot dead at a West Bank checkpoint.
The victim was shot in the chest and leg, said a Palestinian medical worker, who collected the body at the Israeli military checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus.
Earlier on Saturday, a 36-year-old Palestinian woman died one day after inhaling tear gas at an anti-apartheid wall protest in Bilin in the occupied West Bank.
Israeli soldiers have been using the prohibited deadly tear gas canisters against Palestinian protesters in recent weeks, reports say.
Tel Aviv began constructing the anti-apartheid wall in 2000. The International Court of Justice says the wall is illegal and should be taken down.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/158389.html
UN voices concern at WB deaths
The United Nations has expressed concern at the recent deaths of Palestinian civilians, including a woman, by Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank.
"We are very worried that two Palestinians have lost their lives in recent days in incidents involving Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank, AFP quoted UN spokesman in Israel Richard Miron as saying on Sunday.
On Sunday morning, a Palestinian man from Tubas, Mohammed Daraghmeh, was killed at around 8:00 a.m. (0600 GMT) at the Hamra checkpoint northeast of Nablus after sustaining bullet wounds to his chest, hand and leg.
The Israeli media initially claimed Daraghmeh, in his early twenties, had tried to stab soldiers at the checkpoint. But the military later confirmed that the man was not armed.
The army blamed the killing on "a combination of misunderstandings stemming from the Palestinian citizen's inexplicable behavior and the high state of alert of the soldiers."
Palestinian security sources said Daraghmeh was trying to pass through the checkpoint on his way to work at a West Bank settlement when he was stopped and consequently killed by Israeli troops.
The checkpoint killing came almost two days after female Palestinian protester Jawaher Abu Rahma, 36, died due to massive amounts of tear gas fired by the Israeli military during a demonstration in Bilin, a village near the West Bank city of Ramallah.
The Palestinian Authority has condemned the two deaths as a war crime" and a "dangerous escalation" by Israel aimed at demolishing any hope of peace in the Middle East.
On Saturday, hundreds of Israeli leftist protesters and pro-Palestinian activists gathered outside Israel's defense ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv to protest against the continued occupation of the West Bank and Abu Rahma's death.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/158396.html
Mohammed Dragma, 20
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) killed a Palestinian young man from Tobas when he approached a military roadblock east of Nablus on Sunday morning, eyewitnesses reported.
They said that the soldiers manning Al-Hamra road barrier detained the body of the youth and cordoned off the entire area.
They said that the soldiers deliberately fired at Ahmed Daraghme, 21, while walking near the barrier after they claimed he tried to assault them. The soldiers riddled his body with bullets killing him instantly then blocked movement on the barrier.
The IOF deploys more than 650 roadblocks in the West Bank cities, villages, and refugee camps turning them into isolated cantons.
http://bit.ly/fgq42A
Soldiers shoot dead Palestinian at checkpoint
Israeli forces on Sunday shot dead a Palestinian man at Hamra checkpoint east of Nablus in the northern West Bank.
Sources in the Palestinian Red Crescent identified the man as Tubas-resident Mahmoud Muhammad Dharaghma, 21, and said his body was riddled with bullets.
Eyewitness Dr Hatim Froukh said Dharaghma was shot at close range by three soldiers.
"I was standing at the eastern side of the checkpoint waiting for the bus when I heard screaming. As I turned, I saw a young man wearing jeans and a brown jacket and raising his hands. Two male soldiers and a female soldier were three meters away from the young man and started shooting at him," Froukh said.
Other witnesses said they saw Dharaghma trying to approach the checkpoint with a Coca-Cola can in his hand. As he came close to a female soldier, witnesses said, she started shouting at him, and immediately two other soldiers showered him with gunshots.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said soldiers shot dead a man because he approached the checkpoint in an unauthorized lane, and was holding a glass bottle.
A female soldier ordered him to stop, and when he continued to proceed, soldiers "operated according to IDF rules of engagement" and opened fire, the spokeswoman said.
Media reports later revealed doubt over the issue of proper protocol. Israel's Ynet news site said an initial inquiry revealed several issues with the incident, with two soldiers who were not in harm's way firing on Dharaghma, a shot hitting him in the leg, debilitating him, and then further shots to his upper body which he sustained after soldiers saw he was unarmed.
According to the report, the soldier said that he felt his life was in danger when he decided to fire his weapon, while two other soldiers said they were firing to help their friend.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=347306
Witness: Palestinian shot, left for 30 minutes
A Palestinian man who was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers was left on the ground for 30 minutes before receiving medical attention, a man who said he witnessed the incident told CNN.
The witness, who would identify himself only as Abdallah for fear of reprisal by Israeli authorities, said he was standing behind the victim just before the shooting.
Abdallah, who was located by CNN, said the man had passed through the security checkpoint near Nablus in the West Bank when a female Israeli soldier started speaking to him in Hebrew. The man turned around and began walking toward her, Abdallah said. The soldier then started to scream at him and, moments later, a soldier next to her opened fire. Abdallah told CNN that other soldiers then fired, and the man fell to the ground, where he lay for about half an hour before receiving medical attention.
The Israeli military said Sunday the man had approached soldiers from an unauthorized lane and was holding a glass bottle. The military said soldiers called on him to stop, but that the man did not comply and continued to approach the soldiers.
He came within a few meters of soldiers, "who then operated according to (Israeli military) rules of engagement, firing towards him," the military said in a statement.
The Israeli military said it was investigating the incident, and reported that the soldiers feared the man was going to stab them with the glass bottle.
Abdallah said he did not see the victim holding a glass bottle when he was shot.
Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghassan Khatib told CNN on Monday that his government condemned the checkpoint shooting and called it murder.
"The man was shot in cold blood and the Israelis said after the killing there were no arms, there was nothing. It was unjustified," said Khatib. "One can describe it as coldblooded killing."
Contacted Monday, the Israeli military could provide no new details on the incident and said it was still under investigation.
http://bit.ly/hDR3y4
IDF says Palestinian's death at checkpoint caused by 'misunderstandings'
Man kept approaching soldiers despite verbal warnings and subsequent shot in the thigh.
Israel Defense Force soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian on Sunday at a checkpoint in the Jordan Valley as he was walking toward the soldiers holding a glass bottle.
An officer in the Central Command said the incident seemed to have been caused by "a combination of misunderstandings stemming from the Palestinian citizen's inexplicable behavior and the high state of alert of the soldiers" and that a thorough investigation was under way.
Mohammed Dragma, 20, from the northern West Bank town of Tubas near Nablus, had been approaching soldiers at the Beka'ot checkpoint, outside the lanes where pedestrians and vehicles undergo security checks.
Dragma apparently kept on walking after one of the soldiers told him to stop. The soldier reportedly called on Dragma three times, cocked his weapon according to procedure, and when Dragma still did not stop, he shot him in the thigh. Apparently, Dragma still did not stop, and other soldiers then also fired at him, killing him.
The newly appointed commander of the Jordan Valley Brigade, Col. Nohi Mandel, is investigating the incident, whose details are not yet clear. Some soldiers said Dragma had a knife on him, although it turned out to be a glass bottle. Dragma apparently does not belong to a terror group, nor did he suffer from a psychological disorder.
http://bit.ly/fGkjlr
IDF: Palestinian killed at checkpoint was unarmed
Soldier who fired at Palestinian man says he acted suspiciously, but inquiry into incident yields uncertainty as army discovers two other soldiers fired despite not being in danger. 'We must take all measures to avoid pulling trigger,' IDF source says.
An IDF soldier guarding the West Bank checkpoint of Bekaot shot and killed a Palestinian man despite observing that he was unarmed, an initial investigation of Sunday's incident showed.
It appears that eight bullets were fired at the 20-year-old Tubas resident, Mohammad Dragma, when more soldiers rushed to help the first soldier in the shooting.
The Habikaa Bridgade, headed by Colonel Yohai Ben Yishai, was appointed to investigate the incident. The Duchifat Battalion, which was securing the northern Jordan Valley area, was debriefed, but questions surrounding the event continued to mount.
Dragma reportedly acted suspiciously when he bypassed the line of people waiting at the checkpoint and arrived at a spot that was closed for traffic; he did not respond when the soldiers ordered him to stop. Even after being shot in the leg, he did not lie down as he was ordered.
Soldier shot at debilitated Palestinian
The initial inquiry also shows that the first soldier that reached Dragma saw that he was not carrying a gun, but only glass bottle. Regardless of this observation the soldier chose to shoot at the man's upper body. During the questioning the soldier said that he felt his life was in danger when he decided to fire his weapon. Two of his battalion companions, who joined him in the shooting, admitted that they were not in the danger zone, but just wished to aid their friend.
Several violent events have taken place at the Bekaot checkpoint in recent months, mainly attempted smuggling of explosives. However, IDF officials acknowledge that the tension warrants the soldiers to be especially careful to distinguish between real danger and a false alarm, based on a suspect's behavior, his distance and the items he is carrying.
"Even a stone can be a lethal weapon if it is pelted from a short distance, but obviously if a Palestinian is located a few dozen meters away and the danger is not real, every other measure should be taken to avoid pulling the trigger," one official said.
The investigation is expected to be completed within a few days, and its findings are to be presented to the 162nd Division commander, Brigadier General Agai Yehezkel, and Central Command Chief Major-General Avi Mizrahi.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4008043,00.html
IDF probing shooting death of unarmed Palestinian
Muhammad Dharaghma, 21, was shot a total of 8 times by 3 soldiers standing behind protection walls at the Jordan Valley checkpoint.
The IDF Central Command launched an investigation Sunday into the fatal shooting of a Palestinian at a checkpoint in the Jordan Valley.
Identified as Muhammad Dharaghma, the 21-year-old Palestinian arrived at the Bekaot Checkpoint in the northern Jordan Valley, south of Beit She'an, and did not heed a soldier's call to stop to stop.
The Palestinian was unarmed but IDF sources said that he was carrying a bottle in his hand and that the soldier later told his commanders that he felt threatened.
After the Palestinian didn't stop and the soldier felt threatened he opened fire, one officer explained.
After the soldier shot Dharaghma in the thigh, two other soldiers ran to the scene and, thinking that their friend was under attack, they also shot him. A total of eight rounds were shot by the soldiers who were standing behind protection walls, according to the initial IDF investigation. He was pronounced dead at the checkpoint.
Sunday's shooting came a day after a Palestinian woman was reported to have died of injuries she sustained from inhaling tear gas during an anti-security barrier demonstration near the West Bank town of Bil'in.
Israel came under sharp criticism for both killings, which are currently under investigation.
IDF sources said that the military was studying Sunday's shooting to determine whether the soldier operated in accordance with fire regulations and whether his life was genuinely threatened.
Last year, the Central Command modified open-fire regulations in the West Bank, making more stringent the rules of engagement before soldiers are allowed to discharge their weapons.
The decision to change the rules of engagement was made in line with IDF policy to avoid violence in the West Bank as part of Israeli efforts to bolster the Palestinian Authority.
There is also an understanding in the IDF that a possible tactical mistake like the deaths on Saturday and Sunday could cause diplomatic damage to the state and provide the Palestinian Authority with additional excuses not to renew peace talks with Israel.
Jpost.com Staff contributed to this report.
http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=201964
Hamas MPs: Murdering unarmed civilians reveals Israel's savagery
Hamas lawmakers in Nablus strongly denounced the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) for murdering Ahmed Muslamani near the Hamra roadblock east of Nablus in cold blood.
The deputies issued a press release on Sunday saying that the murder of Muslamani and before him Abu Rahma in Bilin displayed Israel's criminal nature and its insistence on the war of genocide against all Palestinians.
The IOF cold-blooded murder of innocent civilians provided yet another proof on Israel's savagery and disrespect of all international and humanitarian laws, they said.
The MPs furthermore charged that the killing of the young man reveals the lies about Israel easing measures on those roadblocks.
http://bit.ly/eH02HN
Israeli military sources acknowledge that the slain Palestinian was not armed
Israeli military sources acknowledged on Sunday that the Palestinian youth who was killed earlier today at the Hamra roadblock near Tobas city was not carrying a knife or a firebomb as initially claimed by the Israeli soldiers.
The Israeli army radio quoted those sources as saying that the Palestinian young man was carrying a small piece of glass, which Palestinian sources later said was only a soft drink.
The Palestinian sources said that Ahmed Muslamani, 25, was heading to Najah University in Nablus, where he is a fourth grader, with a soft drink in his hand.
They added that the soldiers at the roadblock refused to let him cross and when he asked why a female conscript shouted at him to return from where he came and the soldiers fired at him directly believing that he was trying to attack them leading to his instant death.
The Israeli army firstly claimed that the youth refused to obey orders to stop and tried to assault one of the soldiers with a knife prompting the soldiers to shoot him.
http://bit.ly/gq5Nde
Abbas aide: Israeli shooting 'dangerous escalation'
A senior Palestinian official on Sunday condemned the death of a man shot dead by Israeli troops at a West Bank checkpoint, calling it a "dangerous escalation".
Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the death of Mohammed Daraghme, which came less than 48 hours after the death of a Palestinian protester who inhaled massive amounts of tear gas at a demonstration.
"The Israeli escalation in the last two days is aimed at demolishing any hope of a peace process, and we ask the US administration and the international community to take necessary steps to stop the dangerous escalation against the area," he told AFP.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said soldiers shot Daraghme because he approached the Nablus checkpoint in an unauthorized lane, carrying a glass bottle, and did not heed orders to stop. Soldiers acted according to operational procedure, she said.
Palestinian Red Crescent medics said the 21-year-old's body was riddled with bullets.
Eyewitnesses said they saw Dharaghme approach the checkpoint holding a can of Coca-Cola. As he came close to a female soldier, witnesses said, she started shouting at him, and immediately two other soldiers showered him with gunshots.
Another witness, Dr Hatim Froukh, said Dharaghme's hands were raised when soldiers opened fire.
"I was standing at the eastern side of the checkpoint waiting for the bus when I heard screaming. As I turned, I saw a young man wearing jeans and a brown jacket and raising his hands. Two male soldiers and a female soldier were three meters away from the young man and started shooting at him," Froukh said.
Ma'an staff writers contributed to this report
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=347431
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) killed a Palestinian young man from Tobas when he approached a military roadblock east of Nablus on Sunday morning, eyewitnesses reported.
They said that the soldiers manning Al-Hamra road barrier detained the body of the youth and cordoned off the entire area.
They said that the soldiers deliberately fired at Ahmed Daraghme, 21, while walking near the barrier after they claimed he tried to assault them. The soldiers riddled his body with bullets killing him instantly then blocked movement on the barrier.
The IOF deploys more than 650 roadblocks in the West Bank cities, villages, and refugee camps turning them into isolated cantons.
http://bit.ly/fgq42A
Soldiers shoot dead Palestinian at checkpoint
Israeli forces on Sunday shot dead a Palestinian man at Hamra checkpoint east of Nablus in the northern West Bank.
Sources in the Palestinian Red Crescent identified the man as Tubas-resident Mahmoud Muhammad Dharaghma, 21, and said his body was riddled with bullets.
Eyewitness Dr Hatim Froukh said Dharaghma was shot at close range by three soldiers.
"I was standing at the eastern side of the checkpoint waiting for the bus when I heard screaming. As I turned, I saw a young man wearing jeans and a brown jacket and raising his hands. Two male soldiers and a female soldier were three meters away from the young man and started shooting at him," Froukh said.
Other witnesses said they saw Dharaghma trying to approach the checkpoint with a Coca-Cola can in his hand. As he came close to a female soldier, witnesses said, she started shouting at him, and immediately two other soldiers showered him with gunshots.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said soldiers shot dead a man because he approached the checkpoint in an unauthorized lane, and was holding a glass bottle.
A female soldier ordered him to stop, and when he continued to proceed, soldiers "operated according to IDF rules of engagement" and opened fire, the spokeswoman said.
Media reports later revealed doubt over the issue of proper protocol. Israel's Ynet news site said an initial inquiry revealed several issues with the incident, with two soldiers who were not in harm's way firing on Dharaghma, a shot hitting him in the leg, debilitating him, and then further shots to his upper body which he sustained after soldiers saw he was unarmed.
According to the report, the soldier said that he felt his life was in danger when he decided to fire his weapon, while two other soldiers said they were firing to help their friend.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=347306
Witness: Palestinian shot, left for 30 minutes
A Palestinian man who was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers was left on the ground for 30 minutes before receiving medical attention, a man who said he witnessed the incident told CNN.
The witness, who would identify himself only as Abdallah for fear of reprisal by Israeli authorities, said he was standing behind the victim just before the shooting.
Abdallah, who was located by CNN, said the man had passed through the security checkpoint near Nablus in the West Bank when a female Israeli soldier started speaking to him in Hebrew. The man turned around and began walking toward her, Abdallah said. The soldier then started to scream at him and, moments later, a soldier next to her opened fire. Abdallah told CNN that other soldiers then fired, and the man fell to the ground, where he lay for about half an hour before receiving medical attention.
The Israeli military said Sunday the man had approached soldiers from an unauthorized lane and was holding a glass bottle. The military said soldiers called on him to stop, but that the man did not comply and continued to approach the soldiers.
He came within a few meters of soldiers, "who then operated according to (Israeli military) rules of engagement, firing towards him," the military said in a statement.
The Israeli military said it was investigating the incident, and reported that the soldiers feared the man was going to stab them with the glass bottle.
Abdallah said he did not see the victim holding a glass bottle when he was shot.
Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghassan Khatib told CNN on Monday that his government condemned the checkpoint shooting and called it murder.
"The man was shot in cold blood and the Israelis said after the killing there were no arms, there was nothing. It was unjustified," said Khatib. "One can describe it as coldblooded killing."
Contacted Monday, the Israeli military could provide no new details on the incident and said it was still under investigation.
http://bit.ly/hDR3y4
IDF says Palestinian's death at checkpoint caused by 'misunderstandings'
Man kept approaching soldiers despite verbal warnings and subsequent shot in the thigh.
Israel Defense Force soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian on Sunday at a checkpoint in the Jordan Valley as he was walking toward the soldiers holding a glass bottle.
An officer in the Central Command said the incident seemed to have been caused by "a combination of misunderstandings stemming from the Palestinian citizen's inexplicable behavior and the high state of alert of the soldiers" and that a thorough investigation was under way.
Mohammed Dragma, 20, from the northern West Bank town of Tubas near Nablus, had been approaching soldiers at the Beka'ot checkpoint, outside the lanes where pedestrians and vehicles undergo security checks.
Dragma apparently kept on walking after one of the soldiers told him to stop. The soldier reportedly called on Dragma three times, cocked his weapon according to procedure, and when Dragma still did not stop, he shot him in the thigh. Apparently, Dragma still did not stop, and other soldiers then also fired at him, killing him.
The newly appointed commander of the Jordan Valley Brigade, Col. Nohi Mandel, is investigating the incident, whose details are not yet clear. Some soldiers said Dragma had a knife on him, although it turned out to be a glass bottle. Dragma apparently does not belong to a terror group, nor did he suffer from a psychological disorder.
http://bit.ly/fGkjlr
IDF: Palestinian killed at checkpoint was unarmed
Soldier who fired at Palestinian man says he acted suspiciously, but inquiry into incident yields uncertainty as army discovers two other soldiers fired despite not being in danger. 'We must take all measures to avoid pulling trigger,' IDF source says.
An IDF soldier guarding the West Bank checkpoint of Bekaot shot and killed a Palestinian man despite observing that he was unarmed, an initial investigation of Sunday's incident showed.
It appears that eight bullets were fired at the 20-year-old Tubas resident, Mohammad Dragma, when more soldiers rushed to help the first soldier in the shooting.
The Habikaa Bridgade, headed by Colonel Yohai Ben Yishai, was appointed to investigate the incident. The Duchifat Battalion, which was securing the northern Jordan Valley area, was debriefed, but questions surrounding the event continued to mount.
Dragma reportedly acted suspiciously when he bypassed the line of people waiting at the checkpoint and arrived at a spot that was closed for traffic; he did not respond when the soldiers ordered him to stop. Even after being shot in the leg, he did not lie down as he was ordered.
Soldier shot at debilitated Palestinian
The initial inquiry also shows that the first soldier that reached Dragma saw that he was not carrying a gun, but only glass bottle. Regardless of this observation the soldier chose to shoot at the man's upper body. During the questioning the soldier said that he felt his life was in danger when he decided to fire his weapon. Two of his battalion companions, who joined him in the shooting, admitted that they were not in the danger zone, but just wished to aid their friend.
Several violent events have taken place at the Bekaot checkpoint in recent months, mainly attempted smuggling of explosives. However, IDF officials acknowledge that the tension warrants the soldiers to be especially careful to distinguish between real danger and a false alarm, based on a suspect's behavior, his distance and the items he is carrying.
"Even a stone can be a lethal weapon if it is pelted from a short distance, but obviously if a Palestinian is located a few dozen meters away and the danger is not real, every other measure should be taken to avoid pulling the trigger," one official said.
The investigation is expected to be completed within a few days, and its findings are to be presented to the 162nd Division commander, Brigadier General Agai Yehezkel, and Central Command Chief Major-General Avi Mizrahi.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4008043,00.html
IDF probing shooting death of unarmed Palestinian
Muhammad Dharaghma, 21, was shot a total of 8 times by 3 soldiers standing behind protection walls at the Jordan Valley checkpoint.
The IDF Central Command launched an investigation Sunday into the fatal shooting of a Palestinian at a checkpoint in the Jordan Valley.
Identified as Muhammad Dharaghma, the 21-year-old Palestinian arrived at the Bekaot Checkpoint in the northern Jordan Valley, south of Beit She'an, and did not heed a soldier's call to stop to stop.
The Palestinian was unarmed but IDF sources said that he was carrying a bottle in his hand and that the soldier later told his commanders that he felt threatened.
After the Palestinian didn't stop and the soldier felt threatened he opened fire, one officer explained.
After the soldier shot Dharaghma in the thigh, two other soldiers ran to the scene and, thinking that their friend was under attack, they also shot him. A total of eight rounds were shot by the soldiers who were standing behind protection walls, according to the initial IDF investigation. He was pronounced dead at the checkpoint.
Sunday's shooting came a day after a Palestinian woman was reported to have died of injuries she sustained from inhaling tear gas during an anti-security barrier demonstration near the West Bank town of Bil'in.
Israel came under sharp criticism for both killings, which are currently under investigation.
IDF sources said that the military was studying Sunday's shooting to determine whether the soldier operated in accordance with fire regulations and whether his life was genuinely threatened.
Last year, the Central Command modified open-fire regulations in the West Bank, making more stringent the rules of engagement before soldiers are allowed to discharge their weapons.
The decision to change the rules of engagement was made in line with IDF policy to avoid violence in the West Bank as part of Israeli efforts to bolster the Palestinian Authority.
There is also an understanding in the IDF that a possible tactical mistake like the deaths on Saturday and Sunday could cause diplomatic damage to the state and provide the Palestinian Authority with additional excuses not to renew peace talks with Israel.
Jpost.com Staff contributed to this report.
http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=201964
Hamas MPs: Murdering unarmed civilians reveals Israel's savagery
Hamas lawmakers in Nablus strongly denounced the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) for murdering Ahmed Muslamani near the Hamra roadblock east of Nablus in cold blood.
The deputies issued a press release on Sunday saying that the murder of Muslamani and before him Abu Rahma in Bilin displayed Israel's criminal nature and its insistence on the war of genocide against all Palestinians.
The IOF cold-blooded murder of innocent civilians provided yet another proof on Israel's savagery and disrespect of all international and humanitarian laws, they said.
The MPs furthermore charged that the killing of the young man reveals the lies about Israel easing measures on those roadblocks.
http://bit.ly/eH02HN
Israeli military sources acknowledge that the slain Palestinian was not armed
Israeli military sources acknowledged on Sunday that the Palestinian youth who was killed earlier today at the Hamra roadblock near Tobas city was not carrying a knife or a firebomb as initially claimed by the Israeli soldiers.
The Israeli army radio quoted those sources as saying that the Palestinian young man was carrying a small piece of glass, which Palestinian sources later said was only a soft drink.
The Palestinian sources said that Ahmed Muslamani, 25, was heading to Najah University in Nablus, where he is a fourth grader, with a soft drink in his hand.
They added that the soldiers at the roadblock refused to let him cross and when he asked why a female conscript shouted at him to return from where he came and the soldiers fired at him directly believing that he was trying to attack them leading to his instant death.
The Israeli army firstly claimed that the youth refused to obey orders to stop and tried to assault one of the soldiers with a knife prompting the soldiers to shoot him.
http://bit.ly/gq5Nde
Abbas aide: Israeli shooting 'dangerous escalation'
A senior Palestinian official on Sunday condemned the death of a man shot dead by Israeli troops at a West Bank checkpoint, calling it a "dangerous escalation".
Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the death of Mohammed Daraghme, which came less than 48 hours after the death of a Palestinian protester who inhaled massive amounts of tear gas at a demonstration.
"The Israeli escalation in the last two days is aimed at demolishing any hope of a peace process, and we ask the US administration and the international community to take necessary steps to stop the dangerous escalation against the area," he told AFP.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said soldiers shot Daraghme because he approached the Nablus checkpoint in an unauthorized lane, carrying a glass bottle, and did not heed orders to stop. Soldiers acted according to operational procedure, she said.
Palestinian Red Crescent medics said the 21-year-old's body was riddled with bullets.
Eyewitnesses said they saw Dharaghme approach the checkpoint holding a can of Coca-Cola. As he came close to a female soldier, witnesses said, she started shouting at him, and immediately two other soldiers showered him with gunshots.
Another witness, Dr Hatim Froukh, said Dharaghme's hands were raised when soldiers opened fire.
"I was standing at the eastern side of the checkpoint waiting for the bus when I heard screaming. As I turned, I saw a young man wearing jeans and a brown jacket and raising his hands. Two male soldiers and a female soldier were three meters away from the young man and started shooting at him," Froukh said.
Ma'an staff writers contributed to this report
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=347431
1 jan 2011
HRW Demands Criminal Investigation Into Death Of 20 y.o Palestinian Patient Denied Permit By Israel
HRW Demands Criminal Investigation Into Death Of 20 y.o Palestinian Patient Denied Permit By Israel
Anas Saleh 20
Human Rights Watch and other organizations have demanded a Criminal Investigation into the death of a 20 Year-Old Palestinian patient who was denied a permit by Israeli Authorities tolLeave Gaza. The Israeli authorities insisted that an unconscious patient appear for questioning by the Israel Security Agency; the patient died in Gaza while waiting for a response.
On 5 January 2011, Adalah in its own name and on behalf of Physicians for Human Rights Israel and Al Mezan Center for Human Rights (Gaza) submitted a complaint to the Attorney General of Israel, Yehuda Weinstein and to the Israeli Military Advocate General, Avichai Mendelblit, demanding the opening of a criminal investigation and prosecution of those responsible into the suspicious death of Mr. Anas Saleh, a 20-year old Gaza resident, who died on 1 January 2011 from a liver disease in Shifa Hospital in Gaza.
Although the patient was in a critical medical condition, which was known to the Israeli authorities, Israel prevented his exit from Gaza for lifesaving medical treatment. Adalah Attorney Fatmeh El-Ajou filed the complaint on behalf of the victim whose case was followed and documented by PHR-I and Al Mezan.
The human rights organizations argue in the complaint that the denial of an exit permit in these circumstances is an act against the legal obligation to provide medical treatment to save the life of the patient, an act which brought about, or at least hastened, the death of the deceased.
The aforementioned act, or failure, raises the suspicion of manslaughter (section 298 of the penal law, 1977), and/or causing death by negligence (sections 304 and 309 (4) of the penal law, 1977) and responsibility for helpless person and violation of obligation of perant or of responsible person (sections 322 and 337 of the penal law).
In September 2010, Anas Saleh was diagnosed with a liver disease, Budd Chiari Syndrome (a clinical syndrome resulting from obstruction of the veins in the liver). Due to a lack of appropriate medical treatment in the Gaza Strip health system, his condition deteriorated into acute liver failure and hepatitis.
The patient was referred for lifesaving medical treatment to Muqassed Hospital in East Jerusalem, and a hospital referral and appointment were in his possession for 26 December 2010. On 13 December 2010 the family presented a request, via the Palestinian Liaison Office, to the Israeli authorities in order to obtain an exit permit from Gaza.
Thirteen days later, on 26 December 2010, the patient's hospital appointment date, the army informed the Palestinian Liaison Office that the patient must appear for interrogation by the Israel Security Agency (ISA or Shabak) on 30 December 2010 to further consider his request. However, on that date the patient was already unconscious, in a comatose state, and could not appear at the interrogation.
This information was forwarded, according to the Palestinian health coordinator, to the Israeli military on that same day, with a request to speed up the request procedure and to issue an exit permit from Gaza urgently.
Paradoxically, despite the ISA continued to insist that the patient appear for questioning. According to the father's testimony, on 28 December 2010 he received a telephone call from a man who introduced himself as an ISA representative, and requested that his ill son present himself for questioning on the following day. The father informed him that his son was in a coma and asked that he be allowed to leave for medical treatment without delay.
Throughout this process, medical documents substantiating the patient's medical condition were transmitted to the Israeli authorities. A final medical document confirming the patient's critical condition was sent on 29 December 2010.
The patient died in Shifa Hospital in Gaza 1 January 2011 at 18:00 (6 pm). Until today, no response to the request has been issued by the Israeli authorities.
Prof. Zvi Bentwich, PHR-I Chairperson states that: The patients could have been saved had he been granted immediate entry for emergency surgery.
This is just one of many examples of Israel's enduring intransigence towards residents of the Occupied Territories, which leads to unnecessary harm and in this case even led to a loss of life that could have been prevented.
Mahmoud AbuRahma, from Al Mezan, states that: The Israeli blockade has left thousands of victims suffering from the lack of medical care that is available only an hour away from them by car. He added that, Al Mezan and PHR-I have followed the cases of hundreds of patients who have been restricted from urgent medical treatment outside of Gaza, many of whom died and some of whom were arrested or delayed for long periods of time.
This situation is still causing inhumane conditions for the patients and, if it continues, it will result in grievances by many others"
Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, Al Mezan and Adalah are calling on the Israeli authorities to bring to justice those responsible for preventing 20 year-old Anas Saleh from leaving Gaza for life-saving treatment and ultimately causing his death and take the necessary measures to prevent such occurrences in the future.
Israel must fulfill its legal obligations towards Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip and guarantee patients full access to medical treatment.
Human Rights Watch and other organizations have demanded a Criminal Investigation into the death of a 20 Year-Old Palestinian patient who was denied a permit by Israeli Authorities tolLeave Gaza. The Israeli authorities insisted that an unconscious patient appear for questioning by the Israel Security Agency; the patient died in Gaza while waiting for a response.
On 5 January 2011, Adalah in its own name and on behalf of Physicians for Human Rights Israel and Al Mezan Center for Human Rights (Gaza) submitted a complaint to the Attorney General of Israel, Yehuda Weinstein and to the Israeli Military Advocate General, Avichai Mendelblit, demanding the opening of a criminal investigation and prosecution of those responsible into the suspicious death of Mr. Anas Saleh, a 20-year old Gaza resident, who died on 1 January 2011 from a liver disease in Shifa Hospital in Gaza.
Although the patient was in a critical medical condition, which was known to the Israeli authorities, Israel prevented his exit from Gaza for lifesaving medical treatment. Adalah Attorney Fatmeh El-Ajou filed the complaint on behalf of the victim whose case was followed and documented by PHR-I and Al Mezan.
The human rights organizations argue in the complaint that the denial of an exit permit in these circumstances is an act against the legal obligation to provide medical treatment to save the life of the patient, an act which brought about, or at least hastened, the death of the deceased.
The aforementioned act, or failure, raises the suspicion of manslaughter (section 298 of the penal law, 1977), and/or causing death by negligence (sections 304 and 309 (4) of the penal law, 1977) and responsibility for helpless person and violation of obligation of perant or of responsible person (sections 322 and 337 of the penal law).
In September 2010, Anas Saleh was diagnosed with a liver disease, Budd Chiari Syndrome (a clinical syndrome resulting from obstruction of the veins in the liver). Due to a lack of appropriate medical treatment in the Gaza Strip health system, his condition deteriorated into acute liver failure and hepatitis.
The patient was referred for lifesaving medical treatment to Muqassed Hospital in East Jerusalem, and a hospital referral and appointment were in his possession for 26 December 2010. On 13 December 2010 the family presented a request, via the Palestinian Liaison Office, to the Israeli authorities in order to obtain an exit permit from Gaza.
Thirteen days later, on 26 December 2010, the patient's hospital appointment date, the army informed the Palestinian Liaison Office that the patient must appear for interrogation by the Israel Security Agency (ISA or Shabak) on 30 December 2010 to further consider his request. However, on that date the patient was already unconscious, in a comatose state, and could not appear at the interrogation.
This information was forwarded, according to the Palestinian health coordinator, to the Israeli military on that same day, with a request to speed up the request procedure and to issue an exit permit from Gaza urgently.
Paradoxically, despite the ISA continued to insist that the patient appear for questioning. According to the father's testimony, on 28 December 2010 he received a telephone call from a man who introduced himself as an ISA representative, and requested that his ill son present himself for questioning on the following day. The father informed him that his son was in a coma and asked that he be allowed to leave for medical treatment without delay.
Throughout this process, medical documents substantiating the patient's medical condition were transmitted to the Israeli authorities. A final medical document confirming the patient's critical condition was sent on 29 December 2010.
The patient died in Shifa Hospital in Gaza 1 January 2011 at 18:00 (6 pm). Until today, no response to the request has been issued by the Israeli authorities.
Prof. Zvi Bentwich, PHR-I Chairperson states that: The patients could have been saved had he been granted immediate entry for emergency surgery.
This is just one of many examples of Israel's enduring intransigence towards residents of the Occupied Territories, which leads to unnecessary harm and in this case even led to a loss of life that could have been prevented.
Mahmoud AbuRahma, from Al Mezan, states that: The Israeli blockade has left thousands of victims suffering from the lack of medical care that is available only an hour away from them by car. He added that, Al Mezan and PHR-I have followed the cases of hundreds of patients who have been restricted from urgent medical treatment outside of Gaza, many of whom died and some of whom were arrested or delayed for long periods of time.
This situation is still causing inhumane conditions for the patients and, if it continues, it will result in grievances by many others"
Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, Al Mezan and Adalah are calling on the Israeli authorities to bring to justice those responsible for preventing 20 year-old Anas Saleh from leaving Gaza for life-saving treatment and ultimately causing his death and take the necessary measures to prevent such occurrences in the future.
Israel must fulfill its legal obligations towards Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip and guarantee patients full access to medical treatment.