Tony Greenstein | 04 July 2015 | Post Views:

Sometime i’m afraid, sometime i hit

In February 2011, B’Tselem
volunteers filmed Israeli soldiers coming to the homes of Arab residents,
waking and photographing children. [B’Tselem
report
February 15, 2011 “Show
of Force: Israeli Military Conduct in Weekly Demonstrations in a-Nabi
Saleh”
].

The Report accused
Israel’s security forces of infringing the rights of the Palestinian
demonstrators in Nabi Saleh.

On 31 August 2012 Two demonstrators at the village were injured by bullets
when IDF soldiers fired warning shots in the air during a protest gathering.
The IDF undertook to investigate and said that soldiers were reacting to
stone-throwing but of course nothing happened as a result. 

Below is a film of Palestinian children in Nabi Saleh talking about their
own arrest and the effect of the night-time raids.  Below that is a description from the Nabi Saleh
solidarity page of what the struggle of this small village is all about.

Tony Greenstein


Nabi Saleh, West Bank, 3.7.2015

About Nabi Saleh

An Nabi Saleh is a small village of approximately 550 people, twenty
kilometres north west of Ramallah in the West Bank of the Occupied Palestinian
Territories.

The Israeli colony of Halamish (also known as Neveh Tzuf ) was established
on lands belonging to the villages of An Nabi Saleh and Deir Nidham in
1976.   In response to the illegal colony being established on their
land, the residents of An Nabi Saleh and Deir Nidham began holding
demonstrations in opposition to the stealing of their land and the
establishment of the colony (whose establishment violates international
law).    The residents of An Nabi Saleh and Deir Nidham 
lodged a court case against the colony in Israel’s high court, but were unable
to stop the construction the illegal settlement.

Since its establishment in 1977, Halamish colony has continued to expand and
steal more Palestinian land.   In 2008, the residents of An Nabi
Saleh challenged the building of a fence by the colony on private Palestinian
land and which prevented Palestinians from accessing their land.  The
Israeli courts ruled that the fence was to be dismantled  Despite the
Israeli court ruling, the colony continued to illegally annex more Palestinian
land.  In the summer of 2008, the Israeli colonists from Halamish seized
control of a number springs, all of which were located on private Palestinian
land belonging to residents of An Nabi Saleh.

In December 2009, the village began weekly non-violent demonstrations in
opposition to the illegal Israeli colony of Halamish annexing of the 
fresh water springs and stealing of more of the village’s land.  Since An
Nabi Saleh began its demonstrations, the Israeli military has brutally sought
to repress the non-violent protests, arresting more than 13% of the village,
including children.    In total, as of 31 March 2011, 64 village
residents have been arrested.  All but three were tried for participating
in the non-violent demonstrations.  Of those imprisoned, 29 have been
minors under the age of 18 years and 4 have been women.

Recently two prominent leaders of the village’s non-violent struggle, Naji
Tamimi and Bassem Tamimi, were arrested for their role in the non-violent
struggle.  Today, they remain political prisoners in Israel’s jails,
charged with “incitement” and organising “illegal” demonstrations.
Since the demonstrations began in December 2009, International peace
activists and Israeli activists opposed to their government’s occupation and
apartheid policies have joined in solidarity An Nabi Saleh’s non-violent
demonstrations.

Our aim is to provide solidarity with people of An Nabi Saleh and their
non-violent struggle against Israel’s ongoing occupation of the Palestinian
people and the continued stealing of their land by the illegal Israeli colony
of Halamish.    Through this blog, we will provide english
language updates, news and  information  on the village and their
struggle, as well as action alerts on how you can stand in solidarity with An
Nabi Saleh and the Palestinian people in their struggle for self-determination,
freedom, justice and human rights.

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Tony Greenstein

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