Nabi Salih - Weekly Protests

Weekly Protests

Nabi Salih's residents have hosted weekly demonstrations for three years in protest at the confiscation of the village's lands and the takeover of their spring by the nearby Israeli settlement, Halamish. During the protests, there are regular clashes with the Israeli Army who attempt to disperse crowds by using teargas, skunk water, rubber bullets, sound grenades, and other dispersal methods while Palestinian youth respond by hurling stones. The Israeli authorities have repressed the residents using tactics such as night incursions targeting homes and arrests of alleged stone throwers. On December 11, 2011, Mustafa Tamimi was shot in the face by a teargas canister at close range and later died from his injury, becoming the first resident of Nabi Salih to be killed during a demonstration. The following day, a large group of protesters marched to the entrance of Halamish to commemorate Tamimi, but were stopped by the Israeli Army which arrested 15 demonstrators including Palestinians, Israelis and internationals.

Bassem al-Tamimi, one of the leaders of the protests, has been arrested twelve times by Israeli forces, at one point spending more than three years in administrative detention#Israel without trial. His most recent arrest took place on March 2011, when he was charged with sending youths to throw stones, holding a march without a permit, incitement, and perverting the course of justice; an Israeli military court found him guilty of the former two charges and not guilty of the latter. His arrest drew international attention, with the European Union describing him as a "human rights defender", and Amnesty International designating him a prisoner of conscience.

On 19 November 2012 Rushdi Tamimi, a 28-year old Palestinian protester, was killed by Israeli fire during a demonstration in Nabi Salih in solidarity with the people of the Gaza Strip in light of the recent Israeli offensive against the territory, Operation Pillar of Cloud.