Stop the Wall repression update: Jan 27 â Feb 9
Part I: Testimony
Exerts from testimony gathered by PCHR from ‘Omar Ahmed Hamza Qadous, who spoke about the killing of his cousin Odai Qadous. From the village of Iraq Bourin, Odai was shot and killed on January 27 by a settler from Barkha settlement. According to ‘Omar:
“At approximately 08:00 on Thursday, 27 January 2011, my cousin ‘Odai Maher Hamza Qadous, 18, and I were farming our land in al-Wedian area in the southeast of Iraq Bourin village, south of Nablus. We left 10 sheep grazing atop of a mountain near the land. At approximately 12:30, after we had finished our work on the land, my cousin told me that he would mount up the mountain to bring the sheep and go back to our village. ‘Odai went to the mountain and stayed on the land. Twenty minutes later, I heard him calling on me. He told me that he found 7 sheep only, while the other sheep were missing. I went to search for the two sheep. Nearly half an hour passed and my cousin did not come back. I mounted up the mountain to search for him and the sheep. When I arrived at the top of the mountain, I saw ‘Odai on al-Jaish (the army) road, which leads to ‘Brakha’ settlement behind the mountain. [An Israeli] settler was standing in front of him. Later, I saw ‘Odai walking behind the mountain and the settler was behind him, until I could not see them. Soon after, I heard the sound of a bullet. I followed them. I saw the settlers running away towards Madama village, and my cousin was lying wounded on the ground. He immediately died. I tried to carry him, but I could not. I saw two farmers who were working on their land and I told them what happened. They immediately came to help me. We tried to carry him, but we could not. I asked one of them to put my cousin on my shoulder and I took him to the village. The farmers phoned the Palestinian police and residents of the village of what happened. A number of residents came. They brought a horse with them. We put my cousin on the back of the horse and took him to the edge of the village, where a Palestinian ambulance was waiting. It transported him to Rafidya Hospital in Nablus.”
Part II: Analysis
The killing of Odai in Iraq Burin and Yousef in Beit Ummar are the latest example of ongoing, systematic and unpunished settler violence. It is important to situate these two killings within wider trends of settler attacks, which are frequent in villages located near settlements, in particular in the Hebron and Nablus districts.
Iraq Burin and the surrounding villages have faced years of settler violence, ranging from physical attacks and shootings to the damage of property and intimidation. Such attacks increase during the olive harvest season, with a majority of last yearâs attacks occurring in this area.
The killing in Beit Ummar comes as Occupation soldiers are also arresting dozens of village youth, attempting to break the weekly demonstration. In three consecutive days, soldiers arrested nine, the vast majority minors, in night raids against the village.
Occupation forces are also mounting similar campaigns against Bilâin and al Nabi Saleh. In Bilâin, three more youth were arrested, recalling the events of 2009, when Occupation forces arrested more than 30 people in the village from June until December in regular night raids. A similar campaign to crush the weekly protests is being waged in al Nabi Saleh, where three more youth were arrested.
In all of the recent arrests in al Nabi Saleh, the case of 14-year-old Islam Tamimi is particularly egregious. According to Adameer Prisoners Support and Human Rights Association, Islam has been told he will be placed under house arrest, not in his family home in al Nabi Saleh, but instead in house in Ramallah. Furthermore, his parents have also been ordered to pay a NIS 10,000 fine. They have refused these conditions, and Islam remains jailed.
There were fewer reported injuries over this reporting period, although soldiers continued to use tear gas, rubber ammunition and live bullets against demonstrators.
Part III: Statistics
Killings: 2
Serious injuries: 1
Arrests: 15
Arrests of HRDs, Youth and Minors
1. Omar Saleh Tamimi (21) and Mo’tassem Khalil Tamimi (14)
Place: al Nabi Saleh (Ramallah district)
Date of arrests: 27 January 2011
Circumstances: Omar and Moâtassem were arrested during the day in the latest in a series of raids targeting the youth of al Nabi Saleh.
2. Sharaf Fadel Tamimi (19)
Place: al Nabi Saleh (Ramallah district)
Date of arrests: 06 February 2011
Circumstances: Sharaf was arrested during the day in al Nabi Saleh, as part of the continuing, intensifying raids targeting the youth of the village.
3. Amar al Khatib (13), Mahmoud Samara (16) and Jamal al Khatib (14)
Place: Bilâin (Ramallah district)
Date of arrests: 02 February 2011
Circumstances: Occupation forces continue to target village youth in Bilâin. According to eye witnesses in the village, Occupation soldiers arrested the Jamal al Khatib (14), Mahmoud Samara (16) and âOmar al Khatib (13) on the pretext that they were found near the Apartheid Wall constructed on village land.
4. Mohammed Ibrahim Abu Maria (17), Mohammed Jameel Abu Maria (16), Khaled Ibrahim Sabarna (14), Rasheed Mohammed ‘Awadh (16), ‘Aayesh Khaled ‘Awadh (16), Qassam Ahmed Abu Maria (16), Ahmed Isma’il al-Khatib (15), Murad ‘Abdul Qader Ekhlil (22), and Ibrahim Isma’il al-Za’aqiq (18)
Place: Beit Ummar (Hebron district)
Date of arrests: 06 February â 08 February 2011
Circumstances: According to PCHR, Occupation forces arrested 9 youth in a series of back-to-back night raids in the village of Beit Ummar.
Violence against HRDs, Youth and Minors
1. ‘Odai Maher Hamza Qadous
Place: Iraq Burin (Nablus district)
Date of injury: 27 January 2011
Circumstances: According to PCHR, âan Israeli settler from “Brakha” settlement to the south of Iraq Bourin village, south of Nablus, shot dead ‘Odai Maher Hamza Qadous, 18, using a pistol. The victim was hit by a bullet that entered the right shoulder and settled in the kidney.â
2. Yousef Mousa Ekhlil (15)
Place: Beit Ummar (Hebron district)
Date of injury: 28 January 2011
Circumstances: Yousef was rushed to a Hebron hospital after being shot by settlers, where doctors declared him brain dead. According to the Beit Ummar-based Palestine Solidarity Project, setters from Bat Ayn settlement opened fire on the villages of Saffa and Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, shooting Yousef in the head and another 16-year-old Palestinian boy in the arm.
3. Murad Mohammed Ekhlil (20)
Place: Beit Ummar (Hebron district)
Date of injury: 28 January 2011
Circumstances: Shot in the arm with live ammunition by a settler in the same shooting wherein Yousef was killed.
4. 15 demonstrators, names unknown
Place: Wad Rahal (Bethlehem)
Date of injury: 04 February 2011
Circumstances: Heavy use of tear gas was reported at the recently re-started Wad Rahal, where 15 people were treated for inhalation.