During a demonstration in An Nabi Saleh today (Friday-Palestine), US citizen and International Solidarity Movement volunteer Ellen Stark was shot from less than four meters away with a rubber bullet, which lodged in her arm left arm, breaking her wrist. Omar Saleh Tamimi, Amjad Abed Alkhafeez Tamimi and International Solidarity Movement co-founder Huwaida Arraf were arrested as they asked Israeli military personnel to stop firing tear gas canisters and rubber bullets at Stark as she was helped to safety. Alkhatib Mahmud Tamimi, 87, was hit with a rubber bullet in the arm and Nariman Tamimi, mother of four, with a gas canister. Both were treated in ambulances on site. 17-year-old Raaft Ahmad was shot above the eye with a rubber bullet later in the demonstration and is currently in the hospital. -Bikya Masr
This week marks the 7th anniversary of the death of Rachel Corrie, a student at Evergreen College in Washington state. Ellen Stark is also a student at Evergreen College.
The group was standing away from the main demonstration area with two medics when a military jeep sped up the main road and stopped in front of them. Soldiers jumped out of the jeep and targeted the un-armed, peaceful group with a barrage of tear gas and rubber bullets from a dangerously close range.
According to Ellen, "we were standing on Palestinian land, in support of the village who’s land has been confiscated but we weren’t even demonstrating yet. We were standing with medics who were also shot with tear gas." Eyewitness Robin Brown helped Stark to safety. He said "the soldiers started shooting from just three meters away. We did nothing to provoke the attack."
This incident comes as the Israeli government intensifies repression of the un-armed, popular resistance to the occupation of the West Bank, illegal land confiscation by settlements such as Halamish and construction of the illegal apartheid wall. Two weeks ago in An Nabi Saleh 14-year-old Ehab Fadel Beir Ghouthi’s skull was fractured as a rubber bullet shot by the Israeli military lodged in his brain. Bikya Masr
An explanation may be necessary. why were "rubber bullets" (STEEL bullets coated with rubber) shot at this group? why was anyone targeted? Why is Israel cracking down of protests and internationals? Why is Israel killing Palestinian children?
Here's a letter from Huwaida Arraf:
Thanks so much for your concern, solidarity and support. I was released last night at around 6:45pm from Neve Tirtze prison in Ramle. Save for minor cuts and bruises, I am OK. I haven't gotten a chance to see Ellen Stark (the ISM volunteer shot in the arm) yet. I hear she has a broken wrist but is doing OK.
I was arrested on Friday at around noon as I tried to get the Israeli soldiers to stop shooting at people in Nabi Saleh (a small village of about 400 people), especially after ISM volunteer Ellen Stark was shot in the arm. We were in Nabi Saleh for a weekly demonstration by the villagers against the theft of their land. Simultaneous demonstrations were taking place in Jerusalem and in a number of villages throughout the West Bank. In Nabi Saleh, the demonstration took the form of people walking down a hill towards the confiscated land. "Stop shooting...a woman has been injured and needs medical attention"
I yelled at the soldiers, making my way back up the hill to the road they stood on (shooting down at us knowing the rugged terrain we were on made it very difficult to move quickly to avoid their barrage of tear gas and bullets). When I got on the road the soldiers turned their guns on me but I just kept talking and walking towards them. "We have a woman that has been shot; she needs help. Stop shooting. There is no reason to be shooting at people like this. You are in THEIR village." For this I was handcuffed and thrown in a jeep, later accused of: (1) attacking a police officer; (2) cursing at the military and police; (3) obstructing the operations of the military; and (4) being in a closed military zone.
Instead of being taken to a police station, as Israeli citizens and foreigners are supposed to be, I was taken to the illegal settlement of Halamish where I was held for nearly eight hours outside in the cold. Two other Palestinians from Nabi Saleh, Omar who is 23 and Amjad, 22 were also arrested and brought there. The soldiers and border police were particularly abusive to Omar and Amjad, pushing them around, forcing them to stand for hours, handcuffed and blindfolded and every few minutes yelling at them to lift their heads, so they couldn't rest or fall asleep. When I protested this abuse I was told to "shut the f*** up" and if I didn't, I would get the same treatment. I responded, "I don't really care, but it's sad that you feel you have to treat people so inhumanely." "Shut the f*** up!"
At one point, when Omar couldn't feel his hands or move his fingers anymore (a combination of tight plastic cuffs and the cold, we were taken into a building supposedly to be checked by a doctor. The same officer who kept telling me to shut up, abusing his power because he can, ordered us to stand facing the wall. I refused this unnecessary measure and show of macho bullying, and was dragged back outside, lifted by my arms, while still cuffed behind my back, and then thrown on the ground. The dehumanization of Palestinians was not only evident amongst the soldiers, but also the Jewish settlers. Since we were held outside in the settlement, we were exposed to settler youth who surrounded and hurled profanities at us.
The ISM lawyer says that my arrest was illegal; that I should have been taken before a judge the same day I was arrested. Israeli citizens and internationals have that right. Palestinians don't. I was separated from Omar and Amjad at about 2:00 in the morning as after we were interrogated I was taken to a women's prison in Ramle, and they to the Ofer military prison. In the end I was detained for 31 hours then released. If I had not been released I would have come before a judge last night.
It will likely be at least another week before Omar and Amjad will be allowed to see a judge. At that point they will be accused of violence because they were protesting, unarmed, against the confiscation of their land. The heavily armed soldiers that invaded their village, immediately began shooting tear gas and rubber coated steel bullets; the soldiers that damaged 10 Palestinian homes and injured 25 people in Nabi Saleh aren't the violent ones. We are. Omar and Amjad are likely to have to pay a fine and/or post a hefty bail to be released, if they are not held for months first.
The police released me right before I was scheduled to come before a judge. This is likely because they had nothing to bring before a judge. I probably should have refused release and challenged their actions in court, but I really didn't want to make a big deal out of my arrest, when so many other worse things are happening.
That said, so many good things are happening also. Solidarity actions around the world are on the rise, the BDS movement is gaining more support every day, and the spirit of the Palestinian people is high. Israel expects to be able to continue stealing land and resources, subjugating the indigenous people, and using violence to subdue any kind of protest from the colonized and their supporters. We don't have the weapons Israel has to fight back, but we have our spirit and our voices with which we will fight. Israel should be under no illusion that it can intimidate or break us.
Thanks so much again for your concern and support!
Internationals like Ellen Stark make nonviolent resistance possible in Palestine. The abuse suffered by Palestinians even when internationals and Israelis are present would be of a far greater magnitude if they were not there. Israel has taken steps (see Haaretz editorial) to crush the nonviolent resistance, perhaps as a way to encourage the alternative, which is violent resistance, an alternative that Israel is far more comfortable responding to with even greater violence and collective punishment. We need to support nonviolent resistance to injustice. The alternative only creates more victims, more tears, more injustice.
Please consider making a special Kossack contribution to keep the hope of nonviolent struggle alive. Go here and help out.
Most importantly, we need to organize in the US for a just and decent policy that supports the rights of Palestinians and Israelis to live in peace and with justice. It is time for an end to unconditional military aid to Israel. Our weapons find their way into the heads of Palestinian children, into the arms of American human rights activists... these weapons are defending the confiscation of land that does not belong to Israel. Not acceptable. Organize. Organize. Organize. Join the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation. Get involved with one of their coalition members near you.