Rights and Accountability 27 December 2013
The disturbing sight of soldiers firing on unarmed civilians occurred as occupation forces assaulted participants in the weekly demonstration against land theft and colonization in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh today.
The unarmed Tamimi can be seen walking towards the soldiers, apparently ordering them to leave the village.
As she approaches, one of the soldiers fires at point-blank range.
Tamimi was hit with four rubber-coated steel bullets in her knees and legs and was later taken to a hospital in Ramallah, according to a press release from the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee.
Under no circumstances could this be described as “self-defense” by the occupation forces since Tamimi clearly posed no threat.
The occupation forces, moreover, were engaged in an offensive action: invading Palestinian homes and property in support of an ongoing and systematic program of colonization and land theft – a war crime.
Israel has stolen almost 1,000 dunums (250 acres) of the village’s land and settlers from the nearby Halamish colony have destroyed hundreds of its olive trees.
In a similar incident in 2011, an Israeli soldier shot Mustafa Tamimi in the face with a tear gas canister at close range, killing him. Lina Alsaafin, who witnessed Tamimi’s killing, wrote about it for The Electronic Intifada.
Attacks on Nabi Saleh
Wattan TV reported that three women and two journalists were injured in the Israeli attacks, which employed tear gas, sound grenades and rubber-coated steel bullets.
The Popular Struggle Coordination Committee named the two journalists as Abbas Momani and Muath Mishal, a cameraman for Turkey’s Anadolu news agency.
Israeli occupation forces also sprayed foul-smelling water at people’s homes.
This is not the first time that Israeli forces have been caught on video attacking villagers in Nabi Saleh, sometimes with lethal force.
Tags
- Nabi Saleh
- Popular Struggle Coordination Committee
- violence by Israeli soldiers
- rubber-coated steel bullets
- Halamish
- Manal Tamimi
Comments
Excellent Journalism
Permalink Charles Frith replied on
The cowardly IDF and their ethnic cleansing. Shame on them.
Sad Commentary
Permalink Marshalldoc replied on
One can only marvel at the level of fear & paranoia that would motive a fully-armed, and armored, IDF soldier to fire - point-blank - on an obviously unarmed (although fully irate) Palestinian woman. It seems to speak to the level of propaganda, brainwashing, hasbara (whatever) to which these kids are exposed that he'd feel and need & feel justified in loosing violent force (albiet 'less-than-lethal'... yeah, right) in this circumstance. I've no doubt the Israeli press will find some justification for this barbarous act; "...he was threatened due to her unrestrained use of .50 cal insults", or "...he felt compelled to defend himself as her voice was reaching a potentially lethal level of 250 db", and that my 'fly' with the average Israeli willing to countenance any heinous act against Palestinians so long as it 'keeps us safe' but the rest of the world's watching and sees just one more instance that gives the lie to 'the most moral army in the world' sales pitch.