Human Rights

NOVANEWS Submitted by Rana Baker   The above video depicts Ola Tamimi, Mustafa Tamimi’s sister. You probably haven’t heard of Ola but news of Mustafa’s tragic end has most probably reached you. Mustafa Tamimi is a 28-year-old Palestinian from Nabi Saleh in the West Bank. Just like any other Palestinian, just like any other human who cannot afford seeing his land forcibly annexed by an alleged state that claims to be the only democracy in the Middle East, Tamimi joined the weekly protest against Israel’s colonial-settler regime in his own village. Tamimi, armed by bare hands and a few rocks scattered on the ground, was fired at with a tear gas canister from a one-meter distance. He was badly injured in his head; he passed away this morning.  ”Beddi ashoofo” screams Must...

NOVANEWS Submitted by maureen  A ten-minute video released today by David Reeb shows moving scenes from yesterday’s funeral for Mustafa Tamimi and the Israeli army’s use of force against protesters following the funeral. Tamimi, 28, died of his injuries after he was shot in the face by a tear gas canister fired by Israeli soldiers during last Friday’s popular demonstration against the occupation and settlements in Nabi Saleh village (read Linah Alsaafin’s searing account of Tamimi’s shooting). The video shows mourners bidding farewell to Tamimi as he is declared a “martyr of the Palestinian people, a martyr of steadfastness … a martyr of popular resistance.” It also shows protesters being detained by Israeli soldiers and being loaded into ambulances as Israel uses more bruta...

NOVANEWS Submitted by Linah Alsaafin For an introduction, I recommend reading the following links: Mourning Mustafa Tamimi as Israeli Soldiers Escalate Violence, and Funeral of Murdered Mustafa Tamimi Ends in moreIOF Violence and Savagery. I want to laugh every time I look at the picture below. Call it hysteria, call it exhaustion, call it the result of being subjected to so many cruel emotions the past few days after witnessing the murder of a freedom fighter. The picture shows Tasneem H, @Tweet_Palestine, @_Watan, and myself among others in a human pile on the ground with Israeli soldiers beating us as we tried to prevent them from arresting us and the other activists we were protecting with our bodies. The following is our testimonies, collected and edited by me. M...

NOVANEWS Linah Alsaafin  The Electronic Intifada  Mustafa Tamimi “Ambulance! Ambulance!” So far, there were three people who had suffocated from the tear gas, and three people injured by rubber bullets. I saw gas, and so assumed that it was another case of suffocation. But the cries got louder, urgent, desperate — quite unlike the previous calls. Along with those around me, we began running to where the injured person lay, 50 meters away. Screams. “Mustafa! Mustafa!” I ran faster. I stopped. The youth I was so used to, the same ones who were always teasing and joking and smoking, were crying. One turned to me and groaned, “His head. His head is split into two!” My stomach plummeted and I forgot to breathe. Exaggeration, I thought. Impossible. Not here. More screams of “M...

NOVANEWS   ”A Palestinian from the village of Nabi Saleh remains in critical condition after he was hit in the face with a direct shot from a tear gas canister.” *** We apologize for the graphic photos but the reality in the occupied West Bank is more Horrible.*** Mustafa Tamimi 28 years old after being shot in the face with a high-velocity tear gas canister from short range Mustafa Tamimi, 27, was critically injured on Friday in the village of Nabi Saleh when an Israeli soldier fired a tear gas canister directly at his head from a short distance. A group of Palestinian men surround Mustafa Tamimi after he was shot at the village of Nabi Saleh Witnesses say the soldier was less than ten meters away when he fired, causing severe damage to the orbital region of Tamimi’s face. “Half of his ...

NOVANEWS On January 3rd, 2011 protester Jawaher Abu Rahmah was killed by a tear gas inhalation at an earlier march in Bil’in. At the time, the Israeli Army made some bizarre claims that her death was caused by cancer, which they later retracted. Now almost a year later on December 9th, another nonviolent marcher has been killed in their own village, this time Mustafa Tamimi. You can read eyewitness testimony of his shooting here. The short version to respond to @IDFSpokesman victim-blaming question of what he did to to shot: save a friend’s life. Tamimi appeared in this TOD? post about the Israeli army criminalizing Palestinians having guests.. No word yet on the current excuses by Israeli Army, or how they intend to stop this from happening in the future, but these events are as good an...

NOVANEWS Brooklyn Prosecutors Confirm Forward’s Reports of Arrests Brooklyn prosecutors say authorities  have arrested 85 people in the Orthodox Jewish community on child sex abuse  charges in the past three years, the New York Post reported Sunday, confirming  earlier reports in the Forward. Prosecutors in the office of Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes told  the Post that 38 of the sex cases had been closed so far, with 14 convictions.  The suspects got jail time ranging from a month to up to 20 years for crimes  that included sex abuse, attempted kidnapping, and sodomy, the paper said. Twenty-four suspects were freed after the cases against them fell apart, the  report said. The rest of the cases are still pending under a controversial program called  Kol Tzedek, or Voice of Ju...

NOVANEWS Report: “19 Children Killed, 200 Injured, By Zio-Nazi Shells In 2011” Adham Abu Salmiyya, spokesperson of the Higher Committee for Medical and Emergency Services In Gaza, reported that, in 2011, Zio-Nazi soldiers killed 19 children, and injured more than 200, in Air strikes and bombardment targeting the Gaza Strip since the beginning of this year. Yousef Az-Za’lan, 10 Abu Salmiyya added that the youngest of the slain children were identified as Malak Shaath, 2, and Islam Qreiqe’, 3, adding that most of the slain children faced horrific deaths as Israeli military shells mutilated their bodies. He further stated that more than one-third of the wounded Palestinians in 2011 are children, adding that Yousef Bahjat Az-Za’lan, 10, is still in the intensive care unit after a shell fire...

NOVANEWS Nadia Walid Somrein  The Electronic Intifada  Silwan    Evictions protested in Silwan, occupied East Jerusalem, 25 November 2011. The postponement of an Israeli eviction order in East Jerusalem has spared the Somrein family from being made homeless — for the time being. In the days leading up to the eviction deadline — which was scheduled for Monday, 28 November — family members, local residents and activists with Israeli settlement watchdog group Peace Now had been taking eight-hour shifts to monitor the Somrein home in the Silwan neighborhood in case Israeli police tried to force the family out. As The Electronic Intifada previously reported, the family was served with the eviction notice on 2 October, but a court case over the house and land has been going...

NOVANEWS  by Stephen Lendman A commonly accepted definition calls human rights basic freedoms “to which all humans are entitled, often held to include the right to life and liberty, freedom of thought and expression, and equality before the law.” The UN said “(o)n Human Rights Day 2011, we pay tribute to all human rights defenders and ask you to get involved in the global human rights movement.” On December 9, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay will host a live online Facebook/Twitter/Weibo (Chinese) global conversation from 9:30AM – 10:30AM EST to answer questions participants ask. They’re your rights, she says. “Know them, demand them, defend them.” December 10 commemorates the day General Assembly members adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948. ...