The IDF spokesperson’s unit yesterday sent out a Tweet announcing there was proof that Friday’s demonstration in Bil’in was “violent”, and gave a link to a page here containing a group of photographs — including this one, the last in the series posted on the page here.
This morning, the IDF added that there had been not only stones had been thrown, but also Molotov Cocktails.
A closer inspection of the group of photographs shows this one:
There is a small flame visible at the end of the teenager’s hand.
But, questions must be asked:
(1) Is it clearly a Molotov Cocktail?
(2) Is it an un-retouched photo?
(3) Where and when was it taken? ((As Didi Remez noted, there are no signs of the many other demonstrators who were seen at demonstration this past Friday in Bil’in, where the IDF fired unusually large quantities of tear gas which caused the death of one Palestinian woman, Jawaher Abu Rahmeh — the circumstances of which the IDF is currently investigating, but not without expressing all kinds of doubts and objections, and itself posing all kinds of questions …))
(4) Who is the demonstrator? (( This is an important issue. Israeli activist Joseph Dana reported via Twitter here from Bil’in during the demonstration on Friday 31 December that “There are special forces inside the protest in bil’in. They are preparing an attack on the nonviolent demo from inside” 1:44 PM Dec 31st via Twitter for BlackBerry® Retweeted by you and 19 others” ))
Another additional question must then also be asked:
(5) Even if this is all completely “kosher” – it is a totally unstaged, unretouched photo of a Palestinian or Israeli activist (not a provocateur planted to instigate trouble) preparing to thrown a small lit object with a flame at the end at Israeli Army personnel many meters away – is this sufficient violence to justify a massive response with potentially-lethal quantities of tear gas?
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad briefly showed up in Bil’in for the demonstration, but left quickly. Fayyad did not proceed out of the village and into the fields where the real action usually takes place, and he was not exposed to any tear gas (Fayyad is routinely accompanied by Israeli security on his travels around the Israeli-occupied West Bank).
Another tragedy: Jawaher Abu Rahmeh (Abu Rahmah) of Bil’in, in the occupied West Bank, died on this first day of the year in Ramallah Hospital from the effects of massive quantities of IDF-fired tear gas used to disperse demonstrators at the regular weekly Friday demonstration against the route of The Wall through their village lands.
Doctors at Ramallah Hospital struggled all night to save her life, the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee [PSCC] reported by email and on their website.
UPDATE: A photo of Jawaher’s funeral procession on Saturday afternoon is posted on the Twitpic website here:
Apparently, Jawaher was mortally wounded from toxic poisoning due to one of the active chemical ingredients used in the tear gas. According to PSCC member Joseph Dana (Ibn Erza), here, Jawaher was unconscious upon arrival at the Ramallah Hospital, and did not respond to treatment.
The tear gas was fired after Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad left the village, which he visited in a brief symbolic show of support. [Israeli Security coordinates and reportedly also accompanies Fayyad on his high-profile and well-publicized trips around the occupied West Bank.]
If only Fayyad had stayed longer, and actively participated in the Bil’in demonstration … maybe Jawaher would still be alive this afternoon.
The demonstrators moved out of the village, towards The Wall [which is in the form of a fence in that rural area], where they were met by volleys of tear gas.
The Israeli Supreme Court over three years ago ordered a change — which hasn’t yet happened — in the route of the Wall in Bil’in, where it cuts off and makes inaccessible large swathes of the village agricultural land, apparently in order to increase a “security” no-go zone around an adjacent Israeli settlement [is it Modi’in Illi? or Matityahu Mizrah, as Yossi Gurvitz reported here]. Whichever it is, this settlement is itself over the Green Line, and sitting squarely in the West Bank.
UPDATE: Here is information contained in an email just received from the Stop The Wall campaign — it does not supply a full answer, but it is still information: “At the beginning of the 1980s, the Matityahu settlement was built on a portion of Bil’in land and, at the beginning of the 1990s, another portion of land was confiscated for the Kiryat Sefer settlement. At the start of the millennium, yet another new settlement (Matityahu East) was built on Bil’in’s land. Modi’in Illit is now the most populated Israeli settlement in the West Bank outside of East Jerusalem, with a current population of almost 40,000. According to Israeli government plans, the target population for Modi’in Illit by the year 2020 is almost 150,000 residents”. The same email also notes that “In April 2004, Israel began construction of its illegal Apartheid Wall on the western side of the village. The existing route of the Wall isolates 1,980 dunums, or 49 per cent, of Bil’in’s land from the rest of the village by the Wall”.
Here, via a link on Joseph Dana’s website, is a video of yesterday’s demonstration in Bil’in [note the many yellow Fatah flags, the Israeli musicians, the Palestinian in a wheelchair with gas mask on, and the demonstrators carrying neatly rolled pieces of the chainlink fence]:
A report on the Israeli YNet website here says that “The IDF said that soldiers used tear gas to disperse Friday’s protest in a routine manner. The army added that an initial examination raises doubts regarding Abu Rahma’s [Abu Rahmah’s] cause of death as she initially sustained light wounds, was released from hospital and later died of her wounds in her home”.
The IDF yesterday accused all 250 “rioters” it said were in Bil’in of throwing stones. This makes it a “violent” demonstration, according to the Army’s usual discourse.
Activists present said yesterday that the accusation of stone-throwing was a “lie”. They maintain that their strategy is to pursue only non-violent resistance.
During the demonstration on Friday, however, Joseph Dana reported by Twitter that he believed Israeli provocateurs had infiltrated the protest to instigate problems… Here is his Tweet from Bil’in (which I retweeted at the time): “There are special forces inside the protest in bil’in. They are preparing an attack on the nonviolent demo from inside” 1:44 PM Dec 31st via Twitter for BlackBerry® Retweeted by you and 19 others
UPDATE: Joseph Dana has just reported on his website that “Small organized groups of protesters then spread across the Wall to try and implement the popular committee’s announcement that he last day of the decade will indeed also be the last day of the Wall on Bil’in’s land. An overwhelming number of Israeli soldiers and Border Police officers spread along the path of the Wall, but were not able to stop demonstrators equipped with bolt-cutters from breaching through the Wall in three places. In one place, the protesters actually managed to carry a rather significant chunk of the Wall back to the village”… This is posted here.
UPDATE: A later report on YNet said that “The IDF and the Civil Administration [n.b.-this is also part of the Israeli Army] have opened investigations into the death. IDF sources claimed surprise at the death, because, they said, there had been no exceptional use of tear gas – neither quantity nor type. Muhammad Abu Rahma [Abu Rahman], Jawaher’s uncle, spoke of her activities and the moment she was hurt. ‘She came to all the protests during the last five years’, he said. ‘Yesterday (Friday) they fired an unprecedented quantity of tear gas at us, and Jawaher was trapped in an area where there was a huge cloud of gas. She didn’t manage to get out, lost consciousness, and inhaled large amounts of gas. We managed to locate her only after some minutes, because the gas made it hard to find her’.” This report is posted here.
Jawaher was the sister of Bassam Abu Rahmah, who was killed within minutes of receiving a direct hit to the chest from an IDF-fired high-velocity tear gas cannister at a regular Friday anti-Wall demonstration on 17 April 2009.
Photo of Bassam Abu Rahmah published on the YNet website today:
At least two other members of the extended Abu Rahmah family have been shot and injured in demonstrations in recent years. As YNet reported, “Ashraf Abu Rahma [Abu Rahmah], was shot during a protest in Naalian [Nil’in] while being bound. Some six months ago a military court convicted Lieutenant-Colonel Omri Borberg, former commander of the Armored Corps’ 71st Battalion, of attempted threats and the soldier who shot Ashraf with illegal use of weapons. The two were also convicted of conduct unbecoming and their sentence will be given next week”.
And, at least two others members of the Abu Rahmah family have been detained and imprisoned for extended periods. Adeeb Abu Rahmah was released on 12 December. Abdallah Abu Rahmah, whose case has been publicly taken up by the European Union Foreign Policy chief Catherine Ashton (her statement called him a “human rights defender” whose rights to demonstrate peacefully have been suppressed), is still in jail although he has already served a one-year sentence imposed by a military court. Abdallah, one of the organizers of the weekly demonstrations held in Bil’in, was convicted of incitement (but not on charges of stone-throwing or possession of a weapon). Upon appeal, his sentence has been extended…
Activists present in Bil’in yesterday reported that about 1,000 people were there — more than the usual number. Earlier this year, in an effort to prevent the demonstrations, the IDF issued an order closing the village from 8 am to 8 pm every Friday. Only village residents are supposed to be in the area during those 12-hour periods.
There were many reports yesterday from activists on the spot that unusual quantities of tear gas were being used. Rubber bullets were also reportedly fired by the IDF at the protestors.
The PSCC is now reporting on its website that “Mohammed Khatib, a member of the Bil’in Popular Committee said this morning: ‘We are shocked and furious for Israel’s brutality, which once again cost the life of a peaceful demonstrator … In the dawn of a new decade, it is time for the world to ask Israel for accountability and to bring about an end to the occupation.” And, the PSCC website says that Attorney Michael Sfard, “who represents the village in an appeal against the Wall added: ‘The son was killed by a directly aimed projectile, the daughter choked in gas. Two brave protestors against a regime that kills the innocent and doesn’t investigate its criminals. We will not [be] quiet, we will not give up, we will not spare any effort until those responsible will be punished. And they will.” This is posted here.
Ma’an News Agency reported on Saturday that in the demonstration on Friday Israeli forces also hit “one teenager in the face and sending him to hospital”. No further details were given. This Ma’an report is posted here.
Israeli activists announced they would hold a demonstration protesting Friday’s army violence at 19h30 Saturday night near the Israeli Defense Ministry headquarters, or Kiriya, in Tel Aviv.
UPDATE: Activists and journalists on the scene of the demonstration are Tweeting that about 200 people are participating, and that police have declared the demonstration illegal, put up roadblocks, and are beating and arresting participants and “tossing people into vans” — all in downtown Tel Aviv… The protesters blocked Kaplan Street in front of the Kirya for over an hour. Reports indicate that 8 people were arrested — including Meretz former MK Mossi Raz, who was apparently treated roughly. A video of his arrest posted on the YNet website here shows Raz being accosted by surprise, and then grabbed by the arms and marched down a street before being stuffed into a van. He appears to try to reason with the police arresting him. Lisa Goldman, who was right on the scene, reported overnight on +972 Magazine here that “Raz says to the police, as they push and drag him toward the police van, ‘Did you see me resisting arrest? Did you’?!” Another report said he had been slapped by police forces. By 2 am, Joseph Dana sent out a Tweet announcing that all those arrested had been released.
UPDATE: Dana also reported that other demonstrators went to Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv, and demonstrated outside the residence of the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, where they “returned” used tear gas cannisters from the Bil’in demonstrations. In an article posted on the website of +972 magazine, Dana wrote that “The tear gas used by the Israeli forces in Bil’in is manufactured by Combined Systems Inc.; a United States company based in Jamestown, Pennsylvania. This is the first protest where empty tear gas canisters have been returned to an ambassador’s home. Approximately twenty five Israeli protesters gathered in front of the residence of American ambassador to Israel, James B. Cunningham around 1am local time. The protesters ‘returned’ loads of spent tear gas canisters collected in the West Bank village of Bil’in in protest of the murder of Bil’in’s Jawaher Abu Rahmah. The demonstrators also made noise throughout the Ambassador’s neighborhood informing residents of how American military aid to Israel is being used to kill unarmed and nonviolent demonstrators in the West Bank … The action in front of the American ambassador’s residence completed a day of protest throughout Israel and the West Bank stemming from Abu Rahmah’s death”. This article is posted here.
UPDATE: On Sunday morning, when a Court hearing was held for the demonstrators arrested in Herzliya, it became clear that 11 people had been arrested overnight — “including two women over 60 years old”, Dana remarked — and jailed. Joseph Dana reported that police asked that they be kept in jail at least 7 more days, on charges of “possession of firearms” — i.e., the used tear gas cannisters tossed over the fence at the American Ambassador’s residence — but the Judge ordered an extension for 2 days, for holding an illegal demonstration and resisting arrest. The Court will reconvene on Tuesday.
“I don’t remember a white flag…” – Testimony from the soldier, S., a member of the IDF’s Givati Brigade, who shot at a group of Gazan civilians fleeing the war that had suddenly erupted near the home they had been sheltering it, as reported in Haaretz today.
A woman, head of a family, died on the spot.
The Haaretz report, today, does not say who she was, or where she was killed — perhaps it may be reported later on Israeli TV (see below), perhaps not.
Equality of respect for victims in this conflict is rare to the point of non-existence. The Haaretz story is like the maps of this place: just as, in order to understand the geography and history here, you need to have one map with the Israeli place names next to one with Arabic place names, you likewise need to look at this account and then open other internet pages or pull out other documents prepared by Israeli human rights groups and by the UN, in order to find out who the woman was, and to learn from survivors what was happening to her and to them at the time.
According to details of information collected by Human Rights Watch, it seems that this woman may have been Ibtisam al-Qanu’, 40, mother of seven children, killed in ‘Atatra [in northern Gaza] as an IDF bulldozer [a D-9?] was demolishing the house that also under fire as it was sheltering her and 39 other members of her family.
Haaretz reports today that “The evidence collected in the case, as well as exclusive interviews with S. and other soldiers indicted over Cast Lead, will be broadcast on television tonight on Ilana Dayan’s program ‘Uvda’ (‘Fact’ ), which airs at 9 P.M. on Channel 2. Based on evidence collected thus far, it seems the incident raises much larger questions than merely who fired and at what”.
Just before the extremely unusual coincidence of the total lunar eclipse last night as the winter solstice begins [this happened the last time over 400 years ago, while the next one will be in 2094 according to NASA, and big changes are predicted], the Israeli Air Force launched airstrikes against various targets in Gaza to retaliate for a recent increase in rocket fire on Israel from Gaza. So far, three Palestinian injuries from these attacks have been reported.
The firing from Gaza was in retaliation for the near-daily attrition of Israeli strikes on Palestinian workers trying to collect rocks and rubble in northern Gaza, and also on Palestinian fishermen working close to shore off the Gaza coast [a 15-year old Gazan drowned during an Israeli Navy attack on the boat he was working in on Sunday], and on farmers and protestors approaching Israel’s unilaterally-declared no-go zone inside the eastern land perimeter of the Gaza Strip. Severe restrictions have been imposed on Gaza’s perimeter and maritime space during and after the large-scale Israeli military operation two years ago, Operation Cast Lead.
UPDATE: the IDF reported that with these attacks (overnight 20-21 December), “For the First Time Since Cast Lead, IDF Strikes Hamas Targets in the Gaza Strip”…[see here.!
Israeli military information has complained, significantly, that the recent firing from Gaza involved “military-use projectiles” (not the previous home-made low-grade stuff).
In the past, Israeli officials have noted that various small organizations which were not Hamas had done the firing, although Israel holds Hamas untimately responsible on the grounds that it “controls” the internal authority in Gaza Strip.
The IDF has announced its “goodwill gestures that will be implemented for the Christmas holiday … from Sunday, December 19th 2010 until Thursday, January 20th 2011 [i.e., through the Catholic, Orthodox and Armenian celbrations of Christmas]:
* Christian Palestinian residents of the Judea and Samaria [West Bank] Region (regardless of age) will be permitted to cross into Israel for the duration of the entire Christmas celebrations, including lodging.
* 300 Christian Palestinians will be permitted to travel via the Ben Gurion International Airport for the duration of the holiday, subject to security assessment.
* 500 Christian Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip over the age of 35 will be permitted entry into the Judea and Samaria [West Bank]region and into Israel for religious and family gatherings. The permits will be given subject to a security clearance.
* 200 Christian residents of Arab countries will be permitted to enter the Judea and Samaria Region [West Bank] during the holiday.
The IDF will continue to operate in order to ensure that the Christian population in the Judea and Samaria Region [West Bank] can celebrate the Christmas Holiday”.
Though the Christian population in the Holy Land has dwindled from over 20 percent to something like 2 percent now, those quotas given in the IDF “goodwill gestures” listed above are very, very small — if they are even implemented [for the past couple of years, the Gaza quotas were not filled, or, not in an appropriate way] …
The Jerusalem Post’s Larry Derfner reported in the weekend Magazine that he was told by a senior Israeli defense official that, so far in 2010, Israeli troops at Gaza border have killed 30 armed Palestinians + five civilians.
According to Derfner’s article, this Israeli official knows of no “mistaken” killing during the past 1.5 years in Gaza. Another Israeli Defense official said, however, that “none … were purely innocent bystanders”.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), however, has reported that “In most cases ‘warning shots’ are fired to force people out of the area, which results in no casualties… [but a] minority of cases have resulted in the death and injury of civilians”.
Derfner mentions the coverage of the killings of two of those five Gazan civilians: on September 12 [the third day of the post-Ramadan Muslim three-day Eid holiday], “an incident near the northern part of the Gaza Strip received more than the usual, meager level of attention: An unarmed 91-year-old Palestinian farm employee, Ibrahim Abu Said, his teenage grandson and another young man were killed by an IDF tank shell a few hundred meters from the border … The army acknowledged up front that the dead suspects had been unarmed, but the investigation exonerated the soldiers who fired the shell. ‘One of the young men had picked up an RPG [shoulder-fired missile launcher] from the ground. He might have been just playing with it, but the tank unit felt threatened. They thought it was being aimed at them, so they fired. Right before that, there had been mortars fired at our positions’, a senior defense official in the northern Gaza Strip told The Jerusalem Post this week”.
The Derfner article also says that another one among the five civilian — but no, still not mistaken, according to the IDF official — Palestinian deaths in Gaza this year was “a man who was carrying a slingshot at the head of group of protesters headed for the border fence. ‘We fired warning shots and he didn’t leave. Then the soldiers fired with the intent to injure, not kill. They hit him around the knee, and he didn’t get proper treatment over there, and he bled to death’, said the official, noting that the reason demonstrators are not allowed near the fence is that some, often youngsters, use the opportunity to plant explosives”.
No Palestinians were questioned in the IDF investigation, said the official” “the army has no direct contact with Gaza’s population except during brief military incursions, so the Palestinian side, as a rule, is not heard in army inquiries”.
I’ve kept this link open so I wouldn’t forget to write about it: Johann Hari’s profile in The Independent of Israeli journalist for Haaretz Gideon Levy. The title, catchy: “Is Gideon Levy the most hated man in Israel or just the most heroic?”
Levy was interviewed in Scotland as he was visiting to promote his new book, The Punishment of Gaza.
Here are some excerpts of what he told Hari: “ ‘My biggest struggle’, he says, ‘is to rehumanize the Palestinians. There’s a whole machinery of brainwashing in Israel which really accompanies each of us from early childhood, and I’m a product of this machinery as much as anyone else. [We are taught] a few narratives that it’s very hard to break. That we Israelis are the ultimate and only victims. That the Palestinians are born to kill, and their hatred is irrational. That the Palestinians are not human beings like us, So you get a society without any moral doubts, without any questions marks, with hardly public debate. To raise your voice against all this is very hard’.”
… Continue reading Great article, great man
As the Irene approached the declared limits of the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza’s maritime space, which extends 20 miles from the shoreline straight out to sea in the eastern Mediterranean, an Israeli warship approached. Within a half hour, the Israeli Navy was reportedly escorting the small ship.
At 10h42 this morning, the Jerusalem Post reported: “The army established contact with the captain, and asked him where we are headed,” Rami Elhanan said. “The navy asked to bypass the ship from 5 miles to the right, and we complied. We said we are headed to Gaza and sailing under the British flag”” Elhanan added. Elhanan also reported that the captain was not told that the boat will be stopped. “I have no idea when, if at all, we will be intercepted,” he said. This is posted here.
UPDATE: Elhanan told YNet (see below) that “We are surrounded by at least 10 Navy ships. They are probably going to collide with us any minute. They are demanding that we stop and threatening that if we fail to do so, it may end with casualties. We are moving forward in full force, hugging each other and singing songs”…
Israeli authorities have said they intend to stick to their policy of bringing the boat to Israel’s southern port of Ashdod for “the usual”.
There are reportedly 10 activists, some of them Israeli, and a symbolic amount of cargo destined for Gaza, on board the 33-foot British-flagged catamaran.
Another option, presumably before the point of interception, would have been to say that they were going to the Egyptian port of El-Arish.
But, the Jewish Boat to Gaza wants to go … to Gaza.
The Jerusalem Post reported shortly after 10 a.m. that the Captain, Glynn Secker, “says his boat is about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from Gaza and that expects the navy to intercept the Irene within the next hours. The Israeli military said Tuesday it would not intervene until the boat tries to breach the blockade”.
YNet has reported that “The IDF announced it would notify the captain that he will not be allowed to proceed to Gaza, and that troops would raid the small boat only if it tried to breach the blockade”. The ship’s Captain, Glynn Secker, said: “We will not obey them, we will not help them … But we will not confront them physically. We will engage in no violence”.
According to the YNet report, here, the ship would have docked in Gaza withing three hours.
Itamar Shapira told YNet “The IDF has not spoken to us yet, but we have understood that it declared it would stop us 40 kilometers from the shore“…
Reuven Moskowitz, the 82-year-old Holocaust survivor who is one of the founders of Neve Shalom, an Israeli Jewish + Arab coexistence enterprise, told YNet that “We are an extraordinary people. We are only sorry that they plan to stop us and remind everyone that a true hero is one who tries to turn an enemy into a friend … In any case we refuse to recognize the IDF’s right to arrest us in Gaza’s territorial waters when all we want to do is bring them harmonicas, toys, and some medicine” …
The IDF’s Maj. Igor Moiseev, who was the Binyamin Brigade’s operations officer for two years, gave expert testimony during the sentencing phase of the trial of Bil’in activist Abdullah Abu Rahmeh in a military court last week that he was not aware of instructions banning the use of a certain weapon, the Ruger rifle, as a method of crowd control.
This became clear, Haaretz reported, “When Abu-Rahma’s attorney Gabi Laski inquired if Moiseev knew that the military advocate general had ruled that Ruger rifles are not to be used to disperse protests because they are potentially lethal.” Moiseev said he did not know that.
The Ruger rifle uses 0.22″ caliber bullets, which the Israeli military’s Judge Advocate General have classified as live ammunition.
In reprisal for recent attacks on Israeli settlers in the West Bank that were supported — and claimed, sort of — by Hamas, and certainly also for recent rocket attacks from Hamas-ruled Gaza, Israeli troops shot and killed a 38-year-old Hamas operative in the Nur Shams refugee camp in the northern West Bank near Tulkarem overnight.
This should stir things up significantly.
Palestinian medical sources say that the man, Iyad Shalabayeh, was killed by 3 bullets shot at close range while he was still sleeping, or in his bed, or in his bedroom. His family was reportedly away visiting relatives in Jenin.
The Associated Press has just reported that “The man’s brother, Moetasim Abu Shilbaya, says troops burst into his house and killed him in his bedroom. He says his brother was a Hamas political activist, not an armed militant”.
Palestinian Authority security has carried out a massive arrest campaign of Hamas operatives in the West Bank — reports indicate that between 300 and 600 Hamas supporters are now detained — since the drive-by shooting of four Israeli settlers near Hebron a few weeks ago [CORRECTED: on 31 August, not on 1 September as I originally wrote, which was another shooting attack on Israeli settlers in the West Bank, east of Ramallah].
This Israeli raid overnight culminated in what looks a lot like a targetted killing. B’Tselem now says it is checking…
Salam Fayyad has now reportedly called on the international community to intervene.
The Israeli military were reported to have made several statements indicating that the victim was “wanted”, that they had intended to arrest him, but that he attempted to flee.
UPDATE TWO: Ma’an later reported that a B’Tselem field worker, Eid As-Sa’di, who had visited the scene, said that the Israeli military statements were “implausible”. According to the Ma’an story, “As-Sa’di said ‘it would have been possible to arrest him, or just as easily to injure him’. The rights worker said that the room where Iyad was shot was no more than three meters by three meters, and expressed skepticism over the report that the known Hamas leader had come running at troops, that soldiers had had time to warn him to stop, and then shoot. As-Sa’di said that the investigation by B’Tselem was ongoing”. This is reported here.
In late December, in and around Nablus, Israeli forces carried out similar killings, and made similar statements about shooting because they believed they were in danger, or because they believed the suspect was fleeing. Then, the Israeli forces were operating in pursuit of those who might have shot an Israeli settler driving between settlements in the Nablus area.
The AP reported this morning that “The [Israeli] military says soldiers were trying to arrest Iyad Abu Shilbaya early Friday in the town of Tulkarem when he ran at them, ignoring orders to halt. The military says troops feared he had a weapon and shot him”. This report can be read in full here.
YNet is calling the victim a former senior Hamas operative, and adds that the IDF raid started at 2am, and that 12 other persons were detained in the operation. According to this report, Israeli sources say that Shilbayeh — who “spent several years in Israeli prisons and was wanted for questioning” — suddenly “began running towards the soldiers in a menacing manner”. Palestinian sources, however, report that Israeli troops “arrived at Shilbayeh’s house and grabbed his brother, Muhammad, to use as a human shield. The force, said the brother, blew up the bedroom door and proceeded to shoot Shilbayeh three times – once in the neck and twice in the chest, while he was in bed. His body was transferred to the Palestinian District Coordination Office several hours later”.
Ma’an News Agency is reporting that “Accounts from family members say Shelbaya’s brother Mohammed was abducted by soldiers earlier in the morning, and forced to show officers the way to Iyad’s home. Once at the home, witnesses said soldiers placed explosives at the main door, destroying the entry way and entering the home. Several soldiers were then described entering the home, at which point three gunshots were heard. Medics confirmed three shots killed the man, one in the neck and two in the chest … Mohammed told Ma’an that he heard his brother Iyad calling his bedroom when the soldiers entered the home, asking ‘Who is it? Who is it? Who is it’?” The Ma’an report is posted here.
This YNet report added that in the southern West Bank, Palestinians say that “IDF troops have found a new way of ensuring cars stop for inspection. According to Palestinian sources, the last few days have seen soldiers stationed in the sector between the Palestinian villages of Dura and Dahariya throw stun grenades at the road in order to stop Palestinian vehicles for inspection. The latest incident, a Palestinian driver told Ynet, occurred on Wednesday night. The man said he was driving towards Dahariya around 10 pm, when an explosion happened just ahead of his car. ‘At least one stun grenade exploded just ahead of me, and then several soldiers came out from one of the orchards and told me to get out of the car’. The troops, he said, asked him to disrobe, ‘which was humiliating. But I am not the only one to be harassed like that. It is my understanding that his has been going on for at least three days.” This YNet report can be read in full here.
In addition to operations related to the 1 September drive-by shooting of four Israeli settlers, there have also been anti-drug operations reported recently in the southern West Bank near Dhahariya — where there is no Wall, and where the “border” between the West Bank and Israel is much more porous than in the north, or than around the Jerusalem area.
Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes were carried out on targets in Gaza overnight as well, and an IDF statement reportedly indicated that the “attack is in response to the nine projectiles fired into Israeli territory over the last 24 hours … In its statement, the Israeli military said it “holds Hamas solely responsible for any terrorist activity emanating from the Gaza Strip” … At the beginning of the week, Israeli forces around the Gaza perimeter also fired on three men who — it later turned out — were tending their fields and flocks, and nearly 700 meters away from the perimeter where the IDF has declared a 300-meter no-go zone in the aftermath of Operation Cast Lead [which ended in January 2009]. The IDF later admitted it had made an error.
