On 20 March 2010, Israeli soldiers raided Iraq Burin near Nablus after a demonstration by the villagers to protest ongoing restrictions on access to their lands near the illegal Jewish settlement of Har Bracha. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza reported:

At approximately 11:30, IOF moved into the east of Iraq Borin [sic] village, south of Nablus. A number of Palestinian boys gathered and threw stones at Israeli soldiers, who immediately responded by firing, but no casualties were reported. The Palestinian boys withdrew into the village, while IOF took position in the east of the village.

At approximately 15:00, a Palestinian civilian Ford transit minibus, driven by Zakareya ‘Adel Qadous, arrived in the village from Nablus. In the meanwhile, Israeli soldiers were positioning themselves approximately 30 meters to the east of the intersection of Iraq Borin village and exited their jeeps. The driver drove to the western entrance to the village. Approximately 100 meters from the intersection, in front of the mosque of the village, the driver found out that there were burning tires and that the street was closed.

He stopped and Mohammed Ibrahim Abdul Qader Qadous, 16, and Usaid Abdul Naser Qadous, 20, stepped out of the minibus. As the driver turned around to travel back to Nablus, Israeli soldiers opened fire at Mohammed, who was wounded by a bullet to the heart, and Usaid who was wounded by a bullet to the head.

A number of young Palestinians who were at the scene carried the two wounded persons back into the minibus. After the minibus drove for approximately 20 meters, Israeli military jeeps tried to stop it, but the driver managed to pass them and reach Nablus Specialized Hospital.

Mohammed was dead upon arrival at the hospital, while Usaid underwent a prolonged surgery, but was pronounced dead on Sunday morning, 21 March 2010. Usaid was student at an-Najah National University in Nablus.

Ha’aretz correspondent Amos Harel reported on March 23rd that immediately after the shooting, the IDF Central Command described the killings as "a regrettable incident" that should not have ended in the deaths and announced plans to probe the incident.

Two days after the second young man passed away, the IDF’s chief prosecutor, Major Avihai Mandelblit, ordered the army’s criminal investigation division to get to work.

For once it seemed like things might just be limping towards a glimmer of justice:

Military sources said the two Palestinians who were shot on Saturday in the village of Iraq Burin, near Nablus, were apparently killed by live Israel Defense Forces fire, contrary to the IDF’s initial claim that only rubber bullets were used.

IDF doctors met with Nablus hospital doctors Sunday night to examine X-rays of one of the men killed in Iraq Burin, which the Palestinians said show that a live bullet had penetrated his head.

Photo: Salma aDeb’i/B’Tselem

Yet as the Ha’aretz report meandered towards its conclusion, it became clear that all of this "concern" was just business as usual, with the IDF spokesperson retreating into three classic positions that decades of evidence suggest must surely be written up in what would be the international relations Holy Grail of WikiLeaks… the official IDF spokesperson’s handbook:

1. The Combo Smoking Gun/Magic Bullet Theory

IDF sources said however it was not certain the bullet was a 5.56 mm., the kind used by the IDF, or a 7.62 mm., used by Palestinian security forces.

5.56mm rounds (L) and 7.62mm (R)

Of course! The M-16 (and derivative M-4 rifles) which are predominantly used by the IDF use standard NATO 5.56×45mm rounds, while the AK-47s predominantly used by Palestinian Authority forces use Russian 7.62×39mm rounds!

With CSI-Israel pointing out the obvious in this case, we should expect this to be a simple, quick and conclusive investigation: 5.56 mm = Israeli perp. 7.62 mm = Palestinian perp!

Unfortunately, the IDF investigators must have forgotten about Israel’s own Galil ACE Assault Rifle, based on the original late 1960s design by Yisrael Galili and Yaacov Lior and produced by Israel Weapon Industries Ltd, two models of which use the Russian 7.62×39mm ammunition and which are used by some IDF troops:

And I was really rooting for them this time!

2. The Doctor Is Feared More Than The Disease

They also said it was not verified the X-ray was of the Palestinian who was killed in this incident or of someone else.

Yeah, because Palestinian doctors living in warzones where more than 6,300 Palestinians have been killed within the last decade—roughly 2 per day, not counting those injured or maimed during the conflict, or merely routinely sick—are just brimming with spare time to create fake X-rays that are going to stand up to even a cursory professional comparison with medical records and photographic evidence.

Teams of them are waiting at the ready in tiny, remote villages like Iraq Burin, champing at the bit for the opportunity to create the needed documentation in minutes, every time Palestinians coincidently shoot a 16-year-old and 20-year-old Palestinian dropped off by a relative at the same time Israeli troops have been firing all kinds of weapons for several hours.

3. In The Kingdom Of The Blind The One Eyed Israeli Is King

The officers and soldiers at the site said they had only fired rubber-coated bullets…. Officers said it could be difficult to obtain the "full picture" of what had happened because the sergeant who shot the victims and his three soldiers are the only witnesses.

Ah, the crux of the matter. It doesn’t matter even if there were 100 Palestinian witnesses to the shooting or that, as the International Solidarity Movement reported, that there were 15 internationals present during the day’s events.

The problem is that there weren’t any Israeli witnesses, apart from the perpetrators themselves, who claim that they only shot with "rubber bullets."

I guess we know where this investigation will go. Nonviolent Palestinian activist Bassem Abu Rahmeh was killed a year ago by the single shot to the chest of a long range tear gas cannister—the same pattern of intentional weapon misuse that also left U.S. citizen and ISM activist Tristan Anderson with serious brain injuries a month before him.

On March 28th, the IDF made a final statement on the events of Abu Rahmeh’s killing, reported in Ha’aretz:

"We have approached military officials for their comments on the alleged incident. After examining the materials we received, we came to believe there was no basis found to the claim a tear gas grenade was aimed and fired directly at Abu Rahmeh," the statement read.

"The inquiry shows that there are two possible explanations for the injury: A. The injured man was standing on an elevated spot, and intersected the firing line of the grenade or B. The ammunition fired hit the upper wires of the fence, which changed its trajectory."

As Ha’aretz also reported:

The incident was documented by three different video cameras. Abu Rahmeh’s family sent the footage to ballistics experts, who cross-sectioned the images and concluded the grenade was fired directly at Abu Rahmeh, contrary to rules of engagement for the weapon.

Do IDF spokespersons practice keeping a straight face?

Nigel Parry is a former webmaster of Birzeit University, co-founder of the Electronic Intifada, and a longtime independent media activist. He currently lives in Pittsburgh, PA.

Article from Mondoweiss read more here

It will be recalled that just after Christmas, following the shooting death of an Israeli settler driving on a road between nearby settlements, the Palestinian Authority (PA) rounded up some 150 Palestinians for questioning, but the IDF raided the home of three suspects in and around Nablus a couple of days later — and none of the suspects were taken alive. They were all shot and killed, some in front of their families. The IDF said the suspects were behaving in a threatening manner, but witnesses said otherwise. The Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem has called for an official investigation.

On the same night, last Wednesday, as Ma’an News Agency reported, “Three other raids occurred in the West Bank between midnight and sunrise, targeting Palestinians from the Ramallah and Bethlehem governorates. Twenty-one of those detained were taken from the Jalazon Refugee Camp near Ramallah in a mass raid of the small area [n.b. - Jalazone Refugee Camp is right outside the Beit El settlement, guarded by the Beit El military base, and a few young adolescents have been shot by Israeli security over the past year for approaching too close, or on suspicion of "planning attacks"].

The Ma’an report continues –
“Those taken were identified as:
Muhammad Rebhi Masaroh, 18
Zeidi Mahmud Abdul Rahim Zed, 17
Malek Rabah Mamoun Nakhleh, 20
Muhammad Khaled Mahmud Nakhleh, 16
Yassen Ahmad Nakhleh, 16
Hussein Theeb Sharaikeh, 15
Naser Kamal Ahmad Sharaikeh, 15
Khaled Marwan Dalabsheh, 17
Mahmud Ramadan Sharai’a, 16
Muhannad Ramada Alayan, 18
Ahmad Hussein Theeb Sharaikeh, 15
Khaled Marwan Misbah Dalabshehm, 16
Ahmad Khaled Wasfi Sa’adat, 16
Muhammad Mahmud Khalil Nakhleh, 16
Ahmad Mahmud Khalil Nakhleh, 15
Muhammad Mahmud Abdul Aziz Zeid, 16
Mu’aied Mahmud Fouzi Nakhleh, 16
Hussein Khaled Al-Areesh, 18
Ahmad Muhammad Sha’ban Ghazawi, 17
Amr Zuher Dar Awwad, 16
Mahmud Ramadan Sanad, 16
In, addition, the Ma’an report says, in Bethlehem, “forces detained Mahmud Jamal Mustafa Masalmeh, 25, and Omar Jalal Khalil Shalsh, 16.
This Ma’an report is published here.

So, the question now is: are these kids still being detained? Where? Have they seen a lawyer? How are they being treated?

And that wasn’t all.

The offices of Stop The Wall campaign in Ramallah were raided from 1 to 4 am the same night. And, the wife of the Mayor of nearby El-Bireh was also detained, apparently on suspicion of supporting Hamas, as her husband reportedly does.

And, as Iraeli journalist Lisa Goldman noted in a tweet on Twitter: “In daring night-time op, IDF raids ISM offices in Ramallah, confiscating T-shirts & bracelets engraved w/ ‘Palestine’.” Her tweet links to this story by Nir Hasson in Haaretz yesterday here, which notes that it was the second, yes, second IDF nighttime raid in a week on the same ISM apartment — yes, it is apparently an apartment.

It was also on Wednesday.

The earlier raid was on Sunday. One of the inhabitants who was present both times — and who was not detained, because his papers were in order, unlike the case of two of his female colleagues who were hauled away in the earlier raid — said that the IDF soldiers did not even knock! They used a crowbar to break open the lock on the door, and barged in. The door had not been repaired after the first raid, so the IDF didn’t even have to break in the second time — they just barged in through the broken door. This person told me that computers and videos and documents were also taken the first time, and one or two computers were seized again the second time

The two women who were hauled off in the first post-midnight but pre-dawn raid were not immediately deported — as happened to another ISM volunteer, Eva Novakova of the Czech Republic, who was seized from her apartment at the very center of Ramallah, just off Manara Square, and taken almost directly to the plane at Ben Gurion airport around 11 January. The two women seized this week were able to appear before a judge, who ordered them released on bail while they deal administratively with their visa situations — however, they were banned from returning to the West Bank…

Haaretz identified them, in the Nir Hasson article, as Ariadna Jove Marti of Spain and Bridgette Chappell of Australia.

As Haaretz noted in its article, “ISM, founded soon after the second intifada began in September 2000, is a very small group. It usually has less than 20 activists in the West Bank at any one time. Nevertheless, it has been heavily involved in anti-Israel protests, and is currently active in the demonstrations against house demolitions in East Jerusalem as well as the protests in Bili’in and Na’alin. It also has four activists located in the Gaza Strip. Two ISM activists have been killed while protesting, Rachel Corrie in 2003 and Tom Hurndall in 2004; two others have been seriously wounded”.

Earlier in the Second Intifada (and particularly from 2003 until 2005, in particular), everyone suspected of being an ISM activist was particularly singled out for special treatment, long detentions, invasive searches, and the lit, at Ben Gurion Airport. Until very recently, the situation had improved for everybody at the airport. But, it appears to have deteriorated again, with the recent crack-down that started in December, and intensified in January, and continues today.

It appears that with each raid, the IDF is refining its techniques, as some of those targetted have the opportunity to be hauled before Israeli judges, who then object to this or that tactic, to make their raids comply with Israeli law …

Then, on Thursday, as Ma’an News Agency reported, “Israeli forces entered Barta’a Ash-Sharqiya village Thursday before sunrise and handed five families demolition orders for their homes and agricultural buildings in area west of Jenin.  Member at the Barta’a village council Tawfiq Qabha said that the forces overran the village and woke five families in the middle of the night, pounding on doors and handing over warnings that homes would soon be demolished” …  This report is posted here.

Article from UN-Truth read more here

The legal residents of the camp have Jerusalem IDs. But, in recent years, Israel has unilaterally decided to exclude it and close it off from Jerusalem by the construction of The Wall around three sides of Shuafat refugee camps — it is now only freely open to the West Bank.

And, an awful Israeli military checkpoint has been put at the main entrance into Shuafat Refugee Camp. Now, children needing to get to school in the morning, and adults needing to get to their jobs, all have to pass out of the camp through this prison-like checkpoint. The traffic jam, and the stress, are terrible — every day, day in and day out — imposing great stress on people who are technically residents of Jerusalem but who have become de facto West Bankers…

Though they still have to pay their Jerusalem taxes!

The CNN team in Jerusalem took some good footage under near-battle conditions, and the video can be seen by clicking on the link: here.

A few hours earlier, and not very far away, the Israeli military raided Ramallah/El-Bireh, and arrested the wife of the mayor of El-Bireh, apparently because of alleged activities on behalf of Hamas. And other Israeli military units raided the offices of the Stop the Wall campaign, carrying out a three-hour search operation, and carrying away documents, computers, videos and other materials found in the office.

And, still other units of the Israeli military raided another area of Ramallah and arrested two young women who were said to be members of the International Solidarity Movement. The two women were seized — in Ramallah — for overstaying their Israeli visas, and then taken to the Israeli military detention center in Ofer (still in the West Bank). Luckily, they had a lawyer who was able to take their cases before the Israeli Supreme Court, which ordered their release on bail while they contest their pending deportation. However, they are banned from returning to their apartment in Ramallah…

Article from UN-Truth read more here