During the past few weeks, residents of Palestinian villages have been protesting on lands where the separation barrier is being erected. Security forces have often dispersed these protests using violent means including shooting live rounds when there is no danger to their lives. At one of the protests, which took place on 15 March 2004, near the village of Deir Kadis in the Ramallah district, IDF soldiers shot rubber-coated metal bullets at protestors, wounding three. One of the wounded, Muhammad Nasser, age 52, from Deir Kadis, was shot in the nape of the neck and had to undergo an operation. Following are excerpts from his testimony:
“[We] walked along a dirt road toward Khillat al-Mis, which is about 200 meters south of the village. We waved Palestinian flags and placards opposing the fence... The bulldozers stopped, and one of the soldiers, came toward us and shouted in Arabic: 'Stop, stop.' He aimed his rifle at us and said, 'If anybody takes one more step forward, I'll shoot him.' He was standing about three meters from us. Some of the demonstrators argued with him in Arabic and told him that we were conducting a peaceful demonstration.
“We sat on the ground and did not move. The soldier went over to the jeep, which was about four meters from us. He took a tear gas grenade and hurled it at us. The organizers of the demonstration asked us not to respond. We stayed where we were, even though some of us were choking and our eyes were burning. The other soldiers retreated about twenty meters, apparently fearing that one of us would throw the grenade back at them.
“A soldier said in Arabic: 'I will count to five, and if you do not move from here, I will fire at you.' He said it to frighten us, but the threat did not impress us, and we stayed where we were. The soldier counted to five and then fired one shot at us. The bullet hit the left hand of Khader ‘Awad, 34... The soldier again counted to five and then fired another bullet, and then once again, making a total of three shots. Within three minutes, about twenty more soldiers arrived... They began to beat us with clubs and rifle butts, and pushed us back...
“We backed up because we were afraid that the soldiers would injure us. I backed up around 2-3 meters from the soldiers. They kept coming at us. Suddenly, I felt a blow to the back of my head. It felt as if my head was exploding. I put my hands to my head and felt lots of blood flowing from it. I did not faint, but I was very dizzy and nauseous, and fell to the ground, on my side. I shouted...”
Protestors brought Nasser to the hospital in Ramallah, where he was operated on and hospitalized. B'Tselem sent this case to Chief Military Prosecutor, demanding an investigation. B'Tselem continues to monitor the security forces' response to the demonstrations along the separation barrier.
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Muhammad Nasser.
Photo: B'Tselem |
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Following are excerpts from the testimony of Muhammad Salim, farmer and resident of Jayyus, Ramallah district, whose land and house are separated by the barrier:
“My brothers and I worked the fields until the Israeli authorities completed building the separation fence in the area in 2003. The fence has agricultural gates through which people who have land on the other side pass. On 18 October 2003, the Israeli DCO [District Coordination Office] issued entry permits to the farmers who have land on the other side of the fence... My brothers received permits, but my family - my wife, sons, and I - did not.
“The Village Council told farmers who did not receive permits that we had to register our names and ID numbers with the Council, and that the Council would forward the list to the Israeli DCO, which would issue the permits. In late October, I went with my family to register, but this time too, the DCO did not give us permits. I do not know the reason... I have been working on this plot of land since 1968. During January and February 2004, I submitted several requests for entry permits for my family and me, but have not yet received a permit.
“I think that the DCO has refused to issue us the permit as collective punishment for the fact that my son Ma'an got arrested on 5 January 1998 in Qedumim on charges of theft. Ma'an was killed in a car accident that occurred when the army was moving him from detention in Qedumim to a detention site inside Israel.
“It is important to note that farming is the only source of income for me and my family.”
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Muhammad Salim. Photo: B'Tselem |
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On 8 February, a group of settlers planted olive trees on lands that belong to the residents of the village of Tuqu' in the Bethlehem district. A group of village residents, among them the secretary of the Tuqu' Council, Tayssir Abu Mifrah, arrived at the scene to prevent the settlers from planting trees on their lands.
Abu Mifrah told B'Tselem that when he got to the land he saw about 15 settlers and three people in IDF uniforms. Abu Mifrah and one of the landowners approached them. One of the settlers demanded that the villagers leave the area. When they refused to leave, one of the uniformed men introduced himself as an IDF officer and repeated the demand. When they refused again, the officer fired six shots in the air.
A car with more settlers and uniformed men arrived at the place. They were all armed. In his testimony, Abu Mifrah described what happened next: “[The] settlers... carrying rifles... came over to where we were and stood behind me. Before I managed to turn around, one of them hit me behind my ear with his rifle. When I turned around, I saw a settler raise his rifle to hit me again. Instinctively, I pushed him and he fell. Another settler hit me on the shoulder, and the two other settlers beat up Kamal. Kamal fell down. The officer and the other soldiers did nothing. The residents came over to protect us. Then, the fifteen settlers who had planted the trees began to fire in all directions without aiming their weapons. The soldiers pushed the residents back. One of the four settlers who had arrived in the Mitsubishi slammed Mahmoud Hussein Jabrin, 65, in the chest with his rifle. Mahmoud fell down.“
At that stage, some of the villagers pulled back. The settlers continued beating those who stayed and shooting in the air until two military jeeps arrived. The soldiers who had arrived in the jeeps did not ask the villagers what they were doing and said that they should present documents stating they own the land at the Etzion Police. A soldier said that if the villagers proved they owned the land, the trees would be uprooted. According to the witness, the settlers left the place only when police cars arrived.
The villagers presented ownership documents at the Etzion Police that evening and the trees were uprooted the following day.
B'Tselem has demanded the Chief Military Prosecutor investigate whether the uniformed men were indeed IDF soldiers and if so why one of them shot in the air and why they had stood by while the settlers attacked the villagers. If the men were not soldiers, an investigation should be opened as to the use of IDF uniforms by settlers.
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“The settlers, carrying rifles, came over to where we were and stood behind me. Before I managed to turn around, one of them hit me behind my ear with his rifle.”
Tayssir Abu Mifrah, Secretary of the Tuqu' Council |
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