Israeli troops aim their weapons during clashes with Palestinian stone throwers in the West Bank village of Qusra, south of Nablus, on September 23, 2011. A Palestinian man was shot dead by Israeli troops in clashes which erupted after settlers attacked a village near Nablus, Palestinian hospital sources told AFP.
The Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip has become increasingly hazardous to Palestinians, with attacks by settlers and heavy-handed tactics on the part of Israeli security forces on the rise, according to the latest UN statistics.
In the West Bank village of Quasra, Israeli forces shot and killed a 37-year-old Palestinian on September 23 while trying to break up a dispute between residents and Jewish settlers. On the same day, an eight-year-old Palestinian child in Hebron was struck by a settler’s vehicle. He died four days later. During the same week in Bethlehem and Nablus, a Palestinian was injured when settlers stoned his car, while two others were hurt after being physically assaulted.
These are some of the latest incidents reported by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied territories (UNOCHA), whose statistics show that aggressive Israeli actions against Palestinians have increased across the board over the last year.
The number of Palestinian civilians killed or injured by Israeli forces rose by nearly a third in the West Bank and Gaza from 2010 to 2011.
During the same period, hostilities instigated by Jewish settlers have also contributed to a steep rise in the number of instances of injury and damage to property, with the UNOHCA reporting a 38 per cent increase in such episodes.
The latest indicators of mounting aggression by Jewish settlers come as militant Jews set fire to a mosque in northern Israel on Monday, prompting clashes between ethnic Arab citizens from the village of Tuba-Zangaria and police.
And as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas seeks UN recognition for an independent Palestinian State based on 1967 borders, Israel’s refusal to halt settlement expansion could very well lead to more violence.
While the Israeli government has approved the construction of 1,100 new housing units in East Jerusalem, the UNOCHA found that the number of Palestinian homes and buildings demolished had risen significantly, while the total number of Palestinians displaced by such actions has more than doubled.
Palestinian casualties by Israeli forces in West Bank and Gaza
Killed in 2011 vs. same period in 2010: 95 vs. 62
Injured in 2011 vs. same period in 2010: 1577 vs. 1119
Settler-related incidents
Incidents resulting in Palestinian injuries or property damage in 2011 vs. same period in 2010: 326 vs. 202
Palestinians injured in 2011 vs. same period in 2010: 139 vs. 74
Palestinian-owned structures demolished
Structures demolished in 2011 vs. same period in 2010: 409 vs. 290
People displaced in 2011 vs. same period in 2010: 804 vs. 374
http://rt.com/news/palestine-israel-occupation-violence-001/.
The Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip has become increasingly hazardous to Palestinians, with attacks by settlers and heavy-handed tactics on the part of Israeli security forces on the rise, according to the latest UN statistics.
In the West Bank village of Quasra, Israeli forces shot and killed a 37-year-old Palestinian on September 23 while trying to break up a dispute between residents and Jewish settlers. On the same day, an eight-year-old Palestinian child in Hebron was struck by a settler’s vehicle. He died four days later. During the same week in Bethlehem and Nablus, a Palestinian was injured when settlers stoned his car, while two others were hurt after being physically assaulted.
These are some of the latest incidents reported by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied territories (UNOCHA), whose statistics show that aggressive Israeli actions against Palestinians have increased across the board over the last year.
The number of Palestinian civilians killed or injured by Israeli forces rose by nearly a third in the West Bank and Gaza from 2010 to 2011.
During the same period, hostilities instigated by Jewish settlers have also contributed to a steep rise in the number of instances of injury and damage to property, with the UNOHCA reporting a 38 per cent increase in such episodes.
The latest indicators of mounting aggression by Jewish settlers come as militant Jews set fire to a mosque in northern Israel on Monday, prompting clashes between ethnic Arab citizens from the village of Tuba-Zangaria and police.
And as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas seeks UN recognition for an independent Palestinian State based on 1967 borders, Israel’s refusal to halt settlement expansion could very well lead to more violence.
While the Israeli government has approved the construction of 1,100 new housing units in East Jerusalem, the UNOCHA found that the number of Palestinian homes and buildings demolished had risen significantly, while the total number of Palestinians displaced by such actions has more than doubled.
Palestinian casualties by Israeli forces in West Bank and Gaza
Killed in 2011 vs. same period in 2010: 95 vs. 62
Injured in 2011 vs. same period in 2010: 1577 vs. 1119
Settler-related incidents
Incidents resulting in Palestinian injuries or property damage in 2011 vs. same period in 2010: 326 vs. 202
Palestinians injured in 2011 vs. same period in 2010: 139 vs. 74
Palestinian-owned structures demolished
Structures demolished in 2011 vs. same period in 2010: 409 vs. 290
People displaced in 2011 vs. same period in 2010: 804 vs. 374
http://rt.com/news/palestine-israel-occupation-violence-001/.
Osama Adel Awad (picture)
No name
The UK Foreign Minister for the Middle East Alistair Burt expressed concern on Tuesday over the killing of two Palestinians by Israeli forces in Qalandiya refugee camp.
No name
The UK Foreign Minister for the Middle East Alistair Burt expressed concern on Tuesday over the killing of two Palestinians by Israeli forces in Qalandiya refugee camp.
No name
"The circumstances leading to these two deaths needs to be fully investigated," Burt said.
"I urge both sides to exercise restraint and avoid inflammatory actions such as this."
The incident took place after Israeli soldiers entered the camp before dawn on Monday and clashes broke out, Palestinian officials said.
The European Union has also urged Israel to carry out an inquiry into the killings.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=410538
"The circumstances leading to these two deaths needs to be fully investigated," Burt said.
"I urge both sides to exercise restraint and avoid inflammatory actions such as this."
The incident took place after Israeli soldiers entered the camp before dawn on Monday and clashes broke out, Palestinian officials said.
The European Union has also urged Israel to carry out an inquiry into the killings.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=410538
29 sept 2011
Analysis: The Gaza child newspapers omitted
Analysis: The Gaza child newspapers omitted
Ibrahim Zaza 12
By Ramzy Baroud
"Both of Ibrahim’s arms were cut off. He had a hole in his lung. Parts of his legs were missing. His kidney was in a bad condition…we need people to stand with us."
These were the words of an exhausted man as he described the condition of his dying son in an interview with The Real News, an alternative news source.
Ibrahim Zaza was merely a 12-year-old boy. He and his cousin Mohammed, 14, were hit by an Israeli missile in Gaza, fired from an manned drone as they played in front of their house.
The story started on August 18. The next day, the British Telegraph reported: “Israel launches fightback after militant attack on Egypt border.”
The whitewashing of the recent Israeli strikes at besieged Gaza leaves one wondering if all reporters used Israeli army talking points as they conveyed the story. Palestinians were punished for an attack at Israelis that reportedly accrued near the Israeli border with Egypt. There is no evidence linking Gaza to the attack, and Egyptian authorities are now disputing the Israeli account altogether.
“At least six Palestinians were killed in the first wave of bombing. Israel said they were members, including the leader, of the militant group known as the Popular Resistance Committees it accused of responsibility for the attacks,” wrote Phoebe Greenwood and Richard Spencer (The Telegraph, August 19).
The Popular Resistance Committees had dissociated themselves from the attack, as had Hamas and all Palestinian factions. But that was hardly enough to spare the lives of innocent men and women in Gaza, already reeling under untold hardship.
Among the dead in the first wave of attacks that targeted ‘militants’ were two children, one aged three and the other 13.
In the media, Palestinian casualties only matter when they amount to a sizable number. Even then, they are placed within a context that deprives the victims of any sympathy, or worse, blames Palestinian militants for indirect responsibility (pushing Israel to resort to violence to defend its security).
In fact, the term ‘Palestinian security’ is almost nonexistent, although thousands of Gazans have been killed in the last three years alone.
Even the news of Palestinian children killed in the August strikes was reported with a sense of vagueness and doubt. News networks downplayed the fact that the majority of Palestinian victims were civilians.
The Telegraph reported that: “Hamas, which runs Gaza, said that two children were also killed in the air raids…” Quoting Hamas, not human rights groups or hospital sources, is hardly shocking when the reporter is based in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem.
Neither was it shocking when the boy, Ibrahim Zaza, died. His heart was the only organ that had continued to function for nearly thirty days after the drone attack.
The father, who was allowed to accompany Ibrahim and Mohammed to an Israeli hospital, was then prevented from leaving the hospital for he constituted a security threat. He kept circulating around his son’s frail body, hoping and praying. He appealed to people to stand by his family, stressing his lack of means to buy a wheelchair, which he thought Ibrahim would need once he woke up again.
There is no need for a wheelchair now. And Mohammed’s unyielding pain continues. His legs are bare with no skin. His belly area is completely exposed. His screams are haunting.
Ibrahim’s death seemed to compel little, if any, media coverage. There were no New York Times features, no Time magazine pictorials of the weeping mother and the devastated community. Ibrahim’s existence in this world was short. His death was mostly uneventful outside the small circle of those who dearly loved him.
There will be no debates on Israel’s use of airstrikes that kill civilians, and no urgent UN meetings over the incessant killings caused by Israeli drones, which in themselves constitute a highly profitable industry.
Clients who have doubts about the effectiveness of the Elbit Systems Hermes 900 UAV, for example, need only view Israeli Air Force videos of the drone gently gliding over Gaza. According to sUAS News, it “can reach a higher altitude of 30,000 feet…(and) can be quickly and easily converted for the operator’s needs, without the need to adjust the operating infrastructure for every mission” (June 6, 2011).
Israel has been testing its drones on Palestinians for years. In Gaza, these vultures can be observed with the naked eye. Whenever the glider draws near, people scramble for cover.
But it took a WikiLeaks report to verify Israel’s use of drones for the purpose of killing. According to a recently leaked document, Israeli army Advocate-General Maj. Gen. Avichai Mandelblit had, in February 2010, informed previous US Ambassador to Israel, James Cunningham, of Israel’s use of weaponized unmanned aircrafts to kill suspected militants.
In The Real News video report, Lia Tarachansky spoke to Lt. Col. Avital Leibowitz, a spokesperson for the IDF, to try and understand why Ibrahim and his cousin were targeted.
Lia Tarachansky: “There was only one missile shot, according to witnesses, and it was at two children, one 12 and one 14, sitting outside of their house.”
By Ramzy Baroud
"Both of Ibrahim’s arms were cut off. He had a hole in his lung. Parts of his legs were missing. His kidney was in a bad condition…we need people to stand with us."
These were the words of an exhausted man as he described the condition of his dying son in an interview with The Real News, an alternative news source.
Ibrahim Zaza was merely a 12-year-old boy. He and his cousin Mohammed, 14, were hit by an Israeli missile in Gaza, fired from an manned drone as they played in front of their house.
The story started on August 18. The next day, the British Telegraph reported: “Israel launches fightback after militant attack on Egypt border.”
The whitewashing of the recent Israeli strikes at besieged Gaza leaves one wondering if all reporters used Israeli army talking points as they conveyed the story. Palestinians were punished for an attack at Israelis that reportedly accrued near the Israeli border with Egypt. There is no evidence linking Gaza to the attack, and Egyptian authorities are now disputing the Israeli account altogether.
“At least six Palestinians were killed in the first wave of bombing. Israel said they were members, including the leader, of the militant group known as the Popular Resistance Committees it accused of responsibility for the attacks,” wrote Phoebe Greenwood and Richard Spencer (The Telegraph, August 19).
The Popular Resistance Committees had dissociated themselves from the attack, as had Hamas and all Palestinian factions. But that was hardly enough to spare the lives of innocent men and women in Gaza, already reeling under untold hardship.
Among the dead in the first wave of attacks that targeted ‘militants’ were two children, one aged three and the other 13.
In the media, Palestinian casualties only matter when they amount to a sizable number. Even then, they are placed within a context that deprives the victims of any sympathy, or worse, blames Palestinian militants for indirect responsibility (pushing Israel to resort to violence to defend its security).
In fact, the term ‘Palestinian security’ is almost nonexistent, although thousands of Gazans have been killed in the last three years alone.
Even the news of Palestinian children killed in the August strikes was reported with a sense of vagueness and doubt. News networks downplayed the fact that the majority of Palestinian victims were civilians.
The Telegraph reported that: “Hamas, which runs Gaza, said that two children were also killed in the air raids…” Quoting Hamas, not human rights groups or hospital sources, is hardly shocking when the reporter is based in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem.
Neither was it shocking when the boy, Ibrahim Zaza, died. His heart was the only organ that had continued to function for nearly thirty days after the drone attack.
The father, who was allowed to accompany Ibrahim and Mohammed to an Israeli hospital, was then prevented from leaving the hospital for he constituted a security threat. He kept circulating around his son’s frail body, hoping and praying. He appealed to people to stand by his family, stressing his lack of means to buy a wheelchair, which he thought Ibrahim would need once he woke up again.
There is no need for a wheelchair now. And Mohammed’s unyielding pain continues. His legs are bare with no skin. His belly area is completely exposed. His screams are haunting.
Ibrahim’s death seemed to compel little, if any, media coverage. There were no New York Times features, no Time magazine pictorials of the weeping mother and the devastated community. Ibrahim’s existence in this world was short. His death was mostly uneventful outside the small circle of those who dearly loved him.
There will be no debates on Israel’s use of airstrikes that kill civilians, and no urgent UN meetings over the incessant killings caused by Israeli drones, which in themselves constitute a highly profitable industry.
Clients who have doubts about the effectiveness of the Elbit Systems Hermes 900 UAV, for example, need only view Israeli Air Force videos of the drone gently gliding over Gaza. According to sUAS News, it “can reach a higher altitude of 30,000 feet…(and) can be quickly and easily converted for the operator’s needs, without the need to adjust the operating infrastructure for every mission” (June 6, 2011).
Israel has been testing its drones on Palestinians for years. In Gaza, these vultures can be observed with the naked eye. Whenever the glider draws near, people scramble for cover.
But it took a WikiLeaks report to verify Israel’s use of drones for the purpose of killing. According to a recently leaked document, Israeli army Advocate-General Maj. Gen. Avichai Mandelblit had, in February 2010, informed previous US Ambassador to Israel, James Cunningham, of Israel’s use of weaponized unmanned aircrafts to kill suspected militants.
In The Real News video report, Lia Tarachansky spoke to Lt. Col. Avital Leibowitz, a spokesperson for the IDF, to try and understand why Ibrahim and his cousin were targeted.
Lia Tarachansky: “There was only one missile shot, according to witnesses, and it was at two children, one 12 and one 14, sitting outside of their house.”
|
|
Avital
Leibowitz: “The logic is that when someone is trying to launch a
rocket at you, then the logic is - we better target that person before
he targets us.”
The one photo I could retrieve of Ibrahim Zaza showed him posing shyly for the camera, his hair brushed forward. My heart breaks now as I think of him, and all the other victims of Israel’s “logic”. Ramzy Baroud is an internationally syndicated columnist and the editor of Palestine Chronicle. http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=424577 |
27 sept 2011
Settler kills Palestinian boy in hit-and-run incident
Settler kills Palestinian boy in hit-and-run incident
Fareed Jabir 8
An eight-year-old Palestinian boy died on Monday after he was critically injured in a hit-and-run incident involving a Jewish settler on Friday in the southern West Bank city of Al-Khalil.
The boy, Fareed Jabir, was hit while walking on a sidewalk in the Buq’a section of Al-Khalil and was later taken to a hospital in nearby Kiryat Arba and then to Hadassah hospital due to the graveness of his injuries.
More and more settler violence has raged across the West Bank after PLO chairman Mahmoud Abbas applied for full Palestinian membership in the UN, including in neighborhoods in Al-Khalil.
Settlers attacked Palestinian homes in Al-Khalil’s Ja’bari, Jabir, and Mashariqa neighborhoods, throwing Molotov cocktails at windows on Tuesday morning.
A recent surge in attacks followed Israeli police reports that a car accident that killed a Jewish settler and his son was caused by a Palestinian stone-thrower.
A spokesman for settlers in Kiryat Arba accused police of concealing the actual cause of death for two days in an endeavor to maintain a calm among settlers as the world was preoccupied by speeches by PA President Abbas and Israeli PM Netanyahu at the UN.
An eight-year old Palestinian boy sustained vrious injuries in attacks by settlers in Al-Khalil’s Mashariqa neighborhood, where locals’ movement was restricted by barricades set up on roads.
Settlers amassed just outside of Karmi Tzur settlement at Halhoul-Kiryat Arba junction and stoned Palestinian vehicles entering and exiting Al-Khalil and Halhoul, stopping traffic there for hours.
Hebron boy dies from injuries after being hit by settler car
A Palestinian boy from Hebron died on Monday evening from injuries sustained in a hit-and-run accident on Friday.
Farid Jaber, 8, was critically injured when a settler car ran him over in the village of al-Baqaa near the army-controlled H2 area of Hebron, a Ma'an reporter said.
Israeli forces summoned an ambulance and evacuated the child to a hospital inside the Kiryat Arba settlement. An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed the events.
Jaber's grandfather told Ma'an the incident was deliberate and not a car accident. He said the Israeli army had prevented the Palestinian Red Crescent from attending to the child.
Locals said that Palestinian youths clashed with Israeli troops after the incident.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said she did not have any reports of clashes, but said two Palestinians were detained for pushing a police officer following the incident.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=423946
An eight-year-old Palestinian boy died on Monday after he was critically injured in a hit-and-run incident involving a Jewish settler on Friday in the southern West Bank city of Al-Khalil.
The boy, Fareed Jabir, was hit while walking on a sidewalk in the Buq’a section of Al-Khalil and was later taken to a hospital in nearby Kiryat Arba and then to Hadassah hospital due to the graveness of his injuries.
More and more settler violence has raged across the West Bank after PLO chairman Mahmoud Abbas applied for full Palestinian membership in the UN, including in neighborhoods in Al-Khalil.
Settlers attacked Palestinian homes in Al-Khalil’s Ja’bari, Jabir, and Mashariqa neighborhoods, throwing Molotov cocktails at windows on Tuesday morning.
A recent surge in attacks followed Israeli police reports that a car accident that killed a Jewish settler and his son was caused by a Palestinian stone-thrower.
A spokesman for settlers in Kiryat Arba accused police of concealing the actual cause of death for two days in an endeavor to maintain a calm among settlers as the world was preoccupied by speeches by PA President Abbas and Israeli PM Netanyahu at the UN.
An eight-year old Palestinian boy sustained vrious injuries in attacks by settlers in Al-Khalil’s Mashariqa neighborhood, where locals’ movement was restricted by barricades set up on roads.
Settlers amassed just outside of Karmi Tzur settlement at Halhoul-Kiryat Arba junction and stoned Palestinian vehicles entering and exiting Al-Khalil and Halhoul, stopping traffic there for hours.
Hebron boy dies from injuries after being hit by settler car
A Palestinian boy from Hebron died on Monday evening from injuries sustained in a hit-and-run accident on Friday.
Farid Jaber, 8, was critically injured when a settler car ran him over in the village of al-Baqaa near the army-controlled H2 area of Hebron, a Ma'an reporter said.
Israeli forces summoned an ambulance and evacuated the child to a hospital inside the Kiryat Arba settlement. An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed the events.
Jaber's grandfather told Ma'an the incident was deliberate and not a car accident. He said the Israeli army had prevented the Palestinian Red Crescent from attending to the child.
Locals said that Palestinian youths clashed with Israeli troops after the incident.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said she did not have any reports of clashes, but said two Palestinians were detained for pushing a police officer following the incident.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=423946
25 sept 2011
Palestinian killed as West Bank unrest continues
Palestinian killed as West Bank unrest continues
A surge of violence triggered by the PLO’s request for UN membership has left one Palestinian dead and scores injured as they fell into clashes with Israeli military forces and Jewish settlers in the West Bank.
The clashes come amid an escalation of Jewish settler attacks and calls by Palestinian groups for a third intifada (uprising) and to respond to violence by Israeli forces.
Palestinian Authority security forces carried out a wide-ranging arrest campaign ahead of Friday, when PA president Mahmoud Abbas formally petitioned for full Palestinian membership in the UN, rounding up some 50 Hamas supporters in the West Bank and summoning more than 500 in a two-day period, as the PASF vowed to crush outbreaks of mass protests that could turn into clashes with Israeli military forces.
Regardless of the measures, clashes erupted in Jerusalem’s Arab Ras al-Amud district after Israeli soldiers provoked worshipers there, as well as in other areas in and around Jerusalem and the West Bank.
One man was killed in Qusra village, southeast of Nablus, and others were injured by teargas and rubber bullets fired by IOF troops in a Palestinian response to attacks by Jewish settlers.
On Sunday, Israeli occupation forces carried out a string of arrests in Al-Eizariyya near Jerusalem and Jewish settlers continued an onslaught of attacks across the West Bank, including on Palestinian villages south of Nablus city.
Locals reported that settlers ambushed Palestinian motorists on a main road south of Nablus stoning vehicles.
In separate incidents, settlers set fire to olive groves on the outskirts of Burin village, near Nablus, as villagers there were compelled into clashes with a joint force of Jewish settlers and Israeli occupation soldiers.
On Saturday, a Palestinian motorist from Nahalin village was left with bruises in a crash that came after a group of Jewish settlers from nearby Beitar Illit pelted his vehicle with stones.
Also on Sunday, informed Palestinian sources said a vehicle was struck by stones while passing a road to Jewish settlement Yitzhar, south of Nablus city. The owner of the vehicle has not been identified, according to the report.
The clashes come amid an escalation of Jewish settler attacks and calls by Palestinian groups for a third intifada (uprising) and to respond to violence by Israeli forces.
Palestinian Authority security forces carried out a wide-ranging arrest campaign ahead of Friday, when PA president Mahmoud Abbas formally petitioned for full Palestinian membership in the UN, rounding up some 50 Hamas supporters in the West Bank and summoning more than 500 in a two-day period, as the PASF vowed to crush outbreaks of mass protests that could turn into clashes with Israeli military forces.
Regardless of the measures, clashes erupted in Jerusalem’s Arab Ras al-Amud district after Israeli soldiers provoked worshipers there, as well as in other areas in and around Jerusalem and the West Bank.
One man was killed in Qusra village, southeast of Nablus, and others were injured by teargas and rubber bullets fired by IOF troops in a Palestinian response to attacks by Jewish settlers.
On Sunday, Israeli occupation forces carried out a string of arrests in Al-Eizariyya near Jerusalem and Jewish settlers continued an onslaught of attacks across the West Bank, including on Palestinian villages south of Nablus city.
Locals reported that settlers ambushed Palestinian motorists on a main road south of Nablus stoning vehicles.
In separate incidents, settlers set fire to olive groves on the outskirts of Burin village, near Nablus, as villagers there were compelled into clashes with a joint force of Jewish settlers and Israeli occupation soldiers.
On Saturday, a Palestinian motorist from Nahalin village was left with bruises in a crash that came after a group of Jewish settlers from nearby Beitar Illit pelted his vehicle with stones.
Also on Sunday, informed Palestinian sources said a vehicle was struck by stones while passing a road to Jewish settlement Yitzhar, south of Nablus city. The owner of the vehicle has not been identified, according to the report.
23 sept 2011
IOF troops kill Palestinian man in Qusra
IOF troops kill Palestinian man in Qusra
|
|
Issam Badran, 35
Man shot dead in West Bank village hours before Mahmoud Abbas's request to the UN for recognition of a Palestinian state. A Palestinian man has been shot dead in a clash with Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank. Hours before President Mahmoud Abbas's address to the United Nations general assembly and his formal request for recognition of a Palestinian state, the man, identified as Issam Badran, 35, was shot in the neck, according to witnesses including an Associated Press reporter. The incident began with a warning broadcast made over mosque speakers in Qusra of an approach by settlers from a nearby outpost. Scores of village men and youths headed towards a hill where around 20 settlers had gathered, waving Israeli flags. Israeli troops arrived and fired tear gas, then live rounds. Settlers also fired their weapons. Qusra has been the scene of repeated incursions by settlers in recent weeks, including an attack on a mosque in which tyres were set alight inside the building and the walls defaced with Hebrew graffiti. Elsewhere, sporadic clashes between Palestinian protesters and the Israeli military broke out in East Jerusalem and across the West Bank on Friday. |
Several hundred young Palestinians, swathed in Palestinian flags, their faces covered with scarves, gathered at Qalandiya checkpoint to throw stones, in defiance of Abbas's call for non-violent demonstration.
"We're not listening to Abu Mazen [Abbas], we never do," said one 20-year-old student, clutching several rocks in his hand. "Really we're just playing. It's a game we play every week. We want to send a message that after 60 years of occupation, we're still here."
One group of youths marched towards a line of Israeli troops holding aloft an American flag with the word "veto" printed on before torching it. Others threw rocks and miniature molotov cocktails at the advancing soldiers.
On the other side of the separation wall, Israeli police reported five arrests in East Jerusalem for rock throwing in an afternoon described by spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld as "relatively quiet".
The arrest of Hamze Jaber, 17, in the neighbourhood of Ras al-Amud sparked outrage. "He did nothing. He just saw the soldiers, got scared and ran. They chased him and jumped on him. Now he'll be in prison for maybe two months," said Jamil Abu Madi, 27, a local who struggled to hold back furious young boys from throwing stones at retreating Israeli soldiers.
"They closed Al-Aqsa mosque today so we just prayed on the street. Why? Because of a Palestinian state? We just want to live."
In the village of Nabi Saleh, protesters burned Israeli flags and posters of US president Barack Obama in an expression of rage over his UN speech this week, widely seen as overtly sympathetic to Israel. Police fired teargas at the protesters.
There were further clashes in the villages of Bil'in and Ni'lin. Confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli troops in West Bank villages are a routine Friday occurrence.
"We're not listening to Abu Mazen [Abbas], we never do," said one 20-year-old student, clutching several rocks in his hand. "Really we're just playing. It's a game we play every week. We want to send a message that after 60 years of occupation, we're still here."
One group of youths marched towards a line of Israeli troops holding aloft an American flag with the word "veto" printed on before torching it. Others threw rocks and miniature molotov cocktails at the advancing soldiers.
On the other side of the separation wall, Israeli police reported five arrests in East Jerusalem for rock throwing in an afternoon described by spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld as "relatively quiet".
The arrest of Hamze Jaber, 17, in the neighbourhood of Ras al-Amud sparked outrage. "He did nothing. He just saw the soldiers, got scared and ran. They chased him and jumped on him. Now he'll be in prison for maybe two months," said Jamil Abu Madi, 27, a local who struggled to hold back furious young boys from throwing stones at retreating Israeli soldiers.
"They closed Al-Aqsa mosque today so we just prayed on the street. Why? Because of a Palestinian state? We just want to live."
In the village of Nabi Saleh, protesters burned Israeli flags and posters of US president Barack Obama in an expression of rage over his UN speech this week, widely seen as overtly sympathetic to Israel. Police fired teargas at the protesters.
There were further clashes in the villages of Bil'in and Ni'lin. Confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli troops in West Bank villages are a routine Friday occurrence.
Issam Kamal Odeh, 33
Israeli forces on Friday killed a Palestinian man and injured five others during clashes in Qusra village in the northern West Bank, medics said.
Issam Kamal Odeh, 33, died after he was shot by two bullets in the neck and shoulders during confrontations following afternoon prayers, medical officials said.
Witnesses said Israeli soldiers raided Qusra, near Nablus, after settlers entered the village.
Palestinian Authority settlement affairs official Ghassan Doughlas told Ma'an clashes erupted when residents of Esh Kodesh settlement raided the village carrying Israeli flags.
Soldiers entered and opened fire, he said, adding that Sadeq Tayseer, 22, was shot in his neck and Jawad al-Shaer in his hand.
The Israeli military said in a statement that soldiers used "riot dispersal means and eventually, live fire" during a "mutual rock hurling incident" between Israeli civilians and Palestinians."
The army and the Palestinian Authority security authority are "jointly investigating" reports that a "rioter" was killed, the statement added.
Meanwhile, settlers attacked Jalud village south of Nablus leading to clashes with locals, residents said. No injuries were reported.
Witnesses said dozens of settlers were pelting rocks at Palestinian cars at Zatara checkpoint near Nablus. They said the checkpoint was briefly closed.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=422908
One Palestinian killed_ many injured by Israeli forces
Essam Aoudhi, father of 8, killed by Israeli military which intervened on the behalf of violent, illegal Zionist settlers
Israeli settlers attacked the village of Qusra, South of Nablus on Friday, and attempted uprooting the village's olive trees, the main source of income for many of the Palestinian villagers.
Today Essam Kamal Abed Aoudhi, a 35 year old father of 8 children from the village of Qusra, was murdered by the Israeli army as they fired live ammunition indiscriminately into a crowd of villagers gathered in their village.
From the nearby outpost of Esh Kodesh (“Holy Head”) built entirely on stolen Qusra land, a large group of settlers left the settlement and entered the village just after 1pm and began attacking villagers and burning olive groves.
As the villagers gathered to protect themselves and their land, the soldiers arrived and stood between the settlers and villagers, protecting the settlers who retreated.
Soldiers instantly began to fire tear gas canisters, rubber bullets and live ammunition directly at villagers, making no attempt to disperse but intending solely to injure.
Mohammad Abdul Odeh, age 16, was shot in the stomach with a high velocity tear gas canister as he stood on his land.
Remi Yusef Faiz Hassan, age 35, was shot with 4 rubber bullets and one dum dum from 2 meters as he peacefully walked to soldiers to ask why they allow the settlers to enter his village and burn his trees.
Sameeh Hassan, age 24, was shot in the groin with rubber bullets as he attempted to reach his olive trees and extinguish the fire destroying them.
Essam Aoudhi was shot with live ammunition as he joined his fellow villagers protesting the army’s incursion into his village. According to Dr. Sameh Abu Zaroh, a doctor at Rafidia Hospital in Nablus, the wound on Essam’s body shows that the bullet was shot from just a few meters away and from below in such a way to insure maximum injury. The bullet entered the right side of Essam’s chest and exited through the top of his back, fracturing his vertebrae in multiple places.
After Essam was carried to an ambulance, the soldiers left immediately, clearly understanding what had just happened. The people of Qusra returned to the centre of the village where children had gathered, shouting slogans expressing their anger over Essam’s martyrdom.
As the sun set in Qusra, the punishment continued, as two teenagers stumbled into the village before collapsing to the ground in pain.
Both Amar Masameer, age 19, and Fathi Hassan, age 16, were arrested earlier in the day as they made their way towards Qusra’s burning olive trees.They did not resist arrest yet returned to the village dripping with blood and faces so swollen they were barely recognisable.
Once arrested, Fathi Hassan explained, settlers from the outpost had asked the soldiers detaining them for permission to beat the two boys. The soldiers did not interfere and so the settlers began stoning the boys whilst their hands where cuffed behind their backs. Amar Masameer was hit directly in the eye with a stone thrown from just a few meters and is now in Rafidia hospital awaiting treatment.
Israeli forces on Friday killed a Palestinian man and injured five others during clashes in Qusra village in the northern West Bank, medics said.
Issam Kamal Odeh, 33, died after he was shot by two bullets in the neck and shoulders during confrontations following afternoon prayers, medical officials said.
Witnesses said Israeli soldiers raided Qusra, near Nablus, after settlers entered the village.
Palestinian Authority settlement affairs official Ghassan Doughlas told Ma'an clashes erupted when residents of Esh Kodesh settlement raided the village carrying Israeli flags.
Soldiers entered and opened fire, he said, adding that Sadeq Tayseer, 22, was shot in his neck and Jawad al-Shaer in his hand.
The Israeli military said in a statement that soldiers used "riot dispersal means and eventually, live fire" during a "mutual rock hurling incident" between Israeli civilians and Palestinians."
The army and the Palestinian Authority security authority are "jointly investigating" reports that a "rioter" was killed, the statement added.
Meanwhile, settlers attacked Jalud village south of Nablus leading to clashes with locals, residents said. No injuries were reported.
Witnesses said dozens of settlers were pelting rocks at Palestinian cars at Zatara checkpoint near Nablus. They said the checkpoint was briefly closed.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=422908
One Palestinian killed_ many injured by Israeli forces
Essam Aoudhi, father of 8, killed by Israeli military which intervened on the behalf of violent, illegal Zionist settlers
Israeli settlers attacked the village of Qusra, South of Nablus on Friday, and attempted uprooting the village's olive trees, the main source of income for many of the Palestinian villagers.
Today Essam Kamal Abed Aoudhi, a 35 year old father of 8 children from the village of Qusra, was murdered by the Israeli army as they fired live ammunition indiscriminately into a crowd of villagers gathered in their village.
From the nearby outpost of Esh Kodesh (“Holy Head”) built entirely on stolen Qusra land, a large group of settlers left the settlement and entered the village just after 1pm and began attacking villagers and burning olive groves.
As the villagers gathered to protect themselves and their land, the soldiers arrived and stood between the settlers and villagers, protecting the settlers who retreated.
Soldiers instantly began to fire tear gas canisters, rubber bullets and live ammunition directly at villagers, making no attempt to disperse but intending solely to injure.
Mohammad Abdul Odeh, age 16, was shot in the stomach with a high velocity tear gas canister as he stood on his land.
Remi Yusef Faiz Hassan, age 35, was shot with 4 rubber bullets and one dum dum from 2 meters as he peacefully walked to soldiers to ask why they allow the settlers to enter his village and burn his trees.
Sameeh Hassan, age 24, was shot in the groin with rubber bullets as he attempted to reach his olive trees and extinguish the fire destroying them.
Essam Aoudhi was shot with live ammunition as he joined his fellow villagers protesting the army’s incursion into his village. According to Dr. Sameh Abu Zaroh, a doctor at Rafidia Hospital in Nablus, the wound on Essam’s body shows that the bullet was shot from just a few meters away and from below in such a way to insure maximum injury. The bullet entered the right side of Essam’s chest and exited through the top of his back, fracturing his vertebrae in multiple places.
After Essam was carried to an ambulance, the soldiers left immediately, clearly understanding what had just happened. The people of Qusra returned to the centre of the village where children had gathered, shouting slogans expressing their anger over Essam’s martyrdom.
As the sun set in Qusra, the punishment continued, as two teenagers stumbled into the village before collapsing to the ground in pain.
Both Amar Masameer, age 19, and Fathi Hassan, age 16, were arrested earlier in the day as they made their way towards Qusra’s burning olive trees.They did not resist arrest yet returned to the village dripping with blood and faces so swollen they were barely recognisable.
Once arrested, Fathi Hassan explained, settlers from the outpost had asked the soldiers detaining them for permission to beat the two boys. The soldiers did not interfere and so the settlers began stoning the boys whilst their hands where cuffed behind their backs. Amar Masameer was hit directly in the eye with a stone thrown from just a few meters and is now in Rafidia hospital awaiting treatment.
20 sept 2011
Palestinian child succumbs to wounds sustained in Israeli shelling
Palestinian child succumbs to wounds sustained in Israeli shelling
Ibrahim Adnan Al-Zaza, 12
A Palestinian child was pronounced dead on Monday night in hospital after suffering serious injuries a month ago in an Israeli shelling of a group of children east of Gaza.
Medical sources said that Ibrahim Adnan Al-Zaza, 12, was wounded along with his cousin Mohammed, 15, in the vicinity of Wafa’a hospital in Gaza city.
Human rights groups recalled that both children were hit with shrapnel wounds all over their bodies.
They were admitted into ICU in Gaza’s Shifa hospital but later transferred to a hospital in 1948 occupied Palestine where Ibrahim was proclaimed dead.
A Palestinian child was pronounced dead on Monday night in hospital after suffering serious injuries a month ago in an Israeli shelling of a group of children east of Gaza.
Medical sources said that Ibrahim Adnan Al-Zaza, 12, was wounded along with his cousin Mohammed, 15, in the vicinity of Wafa’a hospital in Gaza city.
Human rights groups recalled that both children were hit with shrapnel wounds all over their bodies.
They were admitted into ICU in Gaza’s Shifa hospital but later transferred to a hospital in 1948 occupied Palestine where Ibrahim was proclaimed dead.
