Looking for Trouble

Prison, death part of daily struggle for people in Gaza and the West Bank

The news out of Gaza and the West Bank usually focuses on major events – visits by U.S. dignitaries, rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel or major air raids or other attacks from Israel into Gaza or the West Bank. The daily struggle is rarely mentioned.

This note from Huwaida Arraf, an American lawyer with the Al Quds Human Rights Law Clinic at Al Quds University in Jerusalem, shows what Palestinians face on almost any given day:

Dear friends,

Thanks so much for your concern, solidarity and support. I was released last night (Saturday, March 20) 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. (Huwaida also is a co-founder of ISM, the International Solidarity Movement, through which she has helped train thousands of volunteers in human rights documenting and reporting.)

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 get 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 machoism, 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!

In solidarity & struggle,
Huwaida Arraf

In another village Saturday, the Israeli military killed 16-year old Mohammad Qadus from Iraq Burin, a village south of Nablus, with a live round on his heart. A second youth, Asaud Qadus, 19 years old, was critically injured after being shot in the head. Mohammad was trying to carry Asaud to safety when he was hit, according to a report by Stopthewall.org. The Associated Press also moved a brief story about the shootings.

From Stopthewall.org:

Today, just as every Saturday in the last few weeks, settlers from the settlement of Bracha attacked the village of Iraq Burin. The community of around 600 people has lost over 100 dunum to the settlers who claim more land.

Eyewitnesses report that today the number of settlers and Israeli military was unusually high. At around noon, settlers and soldiers invaded the village.

People stepped out of their homes to defend their village and a struggle ensued. The military took up positions with several jeeps at strategic points and chased the youth in the streets of Iraq Burin.

They shot tear gas, sound grenades and life ammunition randomly at homes and people. Asaud Qadus was shot by live ammunition in the head. Young Mohammad ran to carry the injured youth to safety but was himself targeted in the heart by live ammunition.

Medics and ambulances were prevented from entering the small community. Only after a long time both youth were allowed to be carried out of the village and to a hospital in private cars. Mohammad was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital in Nablus while Asaud is still in critical condition.

Two people were arrested but no further details are known about them yet.

Shoot-to-kill policy

Mohammad was the latest victim shot while protesting since Bassem Abu Rahmah, 31, was killed by a high velocity tear gas canister in Bi’lin last April. His death comes only two weeks after Ehab Barghouti, a 14-year-old boy from Nabi Saleh village near Ramallah was shot in the head with a rubber-coated steel bullet by the Israeli military on 5 March 2010. He is still in critical condition.

Killing children with live ammunition is not an accident, It is a crime. Of the 16 people killed by the Israeli military in connection with anti-Wall protests since 2002, half were under the age of 18.

The pattern of killings related to anti-Wall protests shows that the occupation forces engage in killings cycles: during a wave of killings in 2004/2005 8 were killed, then again between July 2008/ April 2009 6 were killed. This is very likely just the start of yet another wave of killings.

This systematic criminal policy against our people is a war crime and supports the settlers in stealing Palestinian land. Israel will continue with its shoot-to-kill policy against our children and youth until the international community starts to hold it accountable for its crimes.