This is video of the Israeli occupying army breaking up a demonstration in Nabi Saleh in the West Bank yesterday. Thanks to Joseph Dana, who points out that after the first ugly portion involving an Israeli woman (beaten to the point that her head was bleeding), the video shows soldiers firing on Palestinian villagers who are participants in the "white intifada." Nabi Saleh? According to planxtysumoud:
The weeky protests in Nabi Saleh have quickly gained a reputation as the most violent of the West Bank demonstrations, yesterdays proved true to the norm where an arrested Israeli woman was repeatedly kicked and savaged on the ground by a Border Police thug and the villagers were subjected to blizzards of tear gas and live fire. According to the ISM : The hilltop village of An Nabi Saleh has a population of approximately 500 residents and is located 30 kilometers northeast of Ramallah along highway 465. The demonstrations protest the illegal seizure of valuable agricultural land and the uprooting in January 2010 of hundreds of the village residents olive trees by the Halamish (Neve Zuf) settlement located opposite An Nabi Saleh. Conflict between the settlement and villagers reawakened in January 2010 due to the settlers attempt to re-annex An Nabi Saleh land despite an Israeli court decision in December 2009 that awarded the property rights of the land to the An Nabi Saleh residents. The confiscated land of An Nabi Saleh is located on the Halamish side of Highway 465 and is just one of many expansions of the illegal settlement since its establishment in 1977 http://palsolidarity.org/2010/03/11907 Near the village is a natural spring named Ein Al Kus ("the Bow Spring"). In 2009 settlers from the nearby settlement of Halamish took control over the spring and it's surroundings while preventing Palestinian access to it. Subsequently, people of Nabi Salih and the nearby village of Dir Nizam began regular friday protests for the spring which they claim as their own, and against the Israeli occupation in general http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabi_Salih
Why are we sending American troops to Iraq and Afghanistan??? A brigade or two of the IDF and border police would be more than equal to the task…
Don’t think the IDF would be up to fighting men and especially those that are armed. Their specialities revolve around blanket-bombing civilians from the air or four or five soldiers smacking a Palestinian kid around. But obviously their courage includes kicking a woman on the ground.
I should qualify the comment about fighting armed men by saying face to face or upfront..not from the safety of a tank or miles away with rockets.
Earlier in the year, the women in the village were quite strong in the demonstrations. However, many of them were beaten badly by the Israeli military, arrested and detained in Halamish colony. Here they were strip searched, beaten. The Israeli Occuption Forces have also regularly fired teargas into the homes of villagers, in one incident there was up to 20 women and children sheltering in a house – the IOF fired teargas into the house through windows on three sides of the house. The children, including ones as young as 3 or 4 years had evacuated through a window from the second floor as they were overcome by the tear gas.
Seems pathetic to be honest. Like, the struggle for Palestinian freedom and liberation is noble. However, in this video, I think the symbolism of the conflict is both inadequate, comical and at the same time, striking.
Irony is the commonality at both ends of the spectrum (of how you can interpret the video’s strength).
And of course, it’s sad that these kinds of videos are turning into performance art.
The decked out Zionist army versus the handful of rock-throwing ‘freedom fighters’ and their 1-2 Jewish patrons. Dragged away in defeat.
In the end, it’s us watching these ‘performances’ at home comfortably, who are either going to stop this OR continue to enable it.
I could actually hear one of the soldiers, off camera, say in Hebrew to his fellow soldier, “That’s an Arab”.
Earlier in the video the woman being dragged was pleading with the solder asking him aloud why he was kicking her as she was being dragged.
It’s worth noting that the soldiers were displaying great restraint due to the presence of the camera nearby. When the camera was far away at the start of the video, they didn’t hesitate beat and drag an Israeli protester.
What’s also worth noting is that they are shooting the tear gas grenades straight instead of at an angle so as the path of the grenade forms an arc, thus landing at an angle, instead of hitting one of the Palestinians in the face or chest. It’s consistent with the way many protesters have been injured in the past, including Tristan Anderson, who despite him standing to the side and not engaging the soldiers – merely taking photos – was shot in the head with a tear gas grenade.
That’s damn good video quality, it’s obvious that the guys with the silly hats knew they were on camera, constantly glancing back at it. Anyone know who shot it, and how it was authorized?
what is with those silly hats anyway? there must be some logical reason to wear them but for the life of me i can’t figure it out. does anyone know?
Its camoflage helmet cover. Its to break up your silouhette to be more stealthy. Although this style of wear seems to be particular to units in the “IDF”. I wish I knew how to post pics here I have some interesting shots of really ludicrous looking ones.
demize – upload them to a pic sharing site (eg flickr) and posts some links.
Cowardice! Reminicent of paintings by Leon Golub.
Turkey Installs Anti-Aircraft Batteries Near Syrian Border
Playing peace to target Iran
link to ynetnews.com
They are now using attack dogs against leftist protesters in the West Bank. This is very reminiscent of apartheid South Africa and of course a rather dark period in European history.
Here is a video of an Israeli Defense Forces dog attacking an elderly Palestinian lady. Notice how, as the canine savagely bites the woman’s hand, the soldiers try to pull it away, most probably causing her even more pain, instead of shooting the animal to prevent further harm to the human being attacked.
In a very literal sense, Palestinians are worth less than dogs to Israeli soldiers.