One family’s struggle for survival.

Nabi Saleh- a small Palestinian village with just over 500 inhabitants, yet it plays such a big role in Palestinian non-violent resistance. Like Bil’in and other villages in the West Bank, demonstrations are held there every Friday, in which both Palestinians and international activists peacefully protest against the Israeli occupation. This particular village’s demonstrations focus mainly on the issue of illegal Israeli settlements. The last demonstration, on Friday, November 21, 2014, ended in bloodshed, thanks to the Israeli Occupation Forces firing live ammunition on the crowd. Three Palestinian youths were injured, as well as one woman, who was shot in the leg.

After opening fire on the protestors, the IOF immediately raided the village in their military jeeps. According to some journalists who were on the scene, they attempted to arrest many women and young girls who were at the non-violent demonstration. They even went as far as firing live ammunition at people who were not attending the demonstration at all; which brings me to Nariman Tamimi’s story.
Nariman Tamimi was born in Nabi Saleh in 1976. She is married and has 3 children; the eldest is 18 years old, and the youngest, 8 years old. Nariman is the wife of Palestinian activist Bassem Tamimi. Bassem is the leader of the popular resistance in Nabi Saleh. He has been arrested over a dozen times, simply for leading the non-violent demonstrations. Nariman, like her husband, has been arrested by the IOF, probably around five times. She is currently on house arrest, which prevents her from attending the weekly protests.

Last Friday, Nariman was in her home when she heard shots fired. Her reaction was to rush outside once she learned that a few of the boys at the demonstration had been injured. Upon exiting her home, she was shot in the leg at close range. She was only a few feet away from her home, not participating in the demonstration at all, but she was still targeted by the IOF. Nariman suffered some broken bones and had to undergo surgery in which metal screws were placed in her leg to repair the fractured bones.
Nariman’s family is no stranger to the violence carried out by the IOF against Palestinians. Nariman has lost family members at previous protests. In December 2011, Nariman’s cousin, Mustafa Tamimi was killed by a direct blow from an army teargas projectile. Later on in November 2012, her own brother’s life was taken by the IOF when they shot him with live ammunition, then prevented anyone from giving him immediate emergency medical attention.
The village of Nabi Saleh first started holding their non-violent demonstrations in 2009. In five years, the IOF has managed to arrest 170 locals. Of the 170, 70 of them are children under 17 years old, while 9 are children under 15 years old. The number of local women who have spent time in Israeli military prison is 15. The number of people who have been injured is around 350, with 10 of those injuries leading to permanent disabilities. 13 families have been issued demolition notices. These demolitions can come at any time with no warning. The home of Bassem and Nariman is one of those homes which is currently under the threat of being demolished. 90% of the village’s homes have been raided by the IOF at night. During these raids, it is common for the soldiers to completely destroy the home, from making huge holes in the walls, to breaking down the doors. They also destroy furniture as well as personal belongings, while making a huge mess by emptying all of the contents of cabinets and drawers onto the floor.

The Israeli commander who  gave the order to shoot her.

Seventy-nine percent of Nabi Saleh’s land is under Israeli control. Of this seventy-nine percent, sixty percent is under illegal settler occupation. The settlers in Nabi Saleh are extremely violent towards the native Palestinians. They don’t allow the Palestinian farmers onto their own land so that they can cultivate it. They also took control of the natural spring near the village, named Ein al-Qaws. The spring is owned by a member of the village, Bashir Tamimi, but the settlers continue to steal land and water, with the help of the IOF.
As I said earlier, the village of Nabi Saleh has about 500 residents. If you just look at the numbers, without even using simple mathematics, you can easily see that pretty much every resident has suffered in some way as a result of the illegal occupation. Numbers don’t lie.