April 29, 2012
Last Thursday 18 year old shepherd
Yasir Sulaiman Sal man Najadah was shot in the chest by Israeli soldiers taking
part in military training exercises near the Tyraseer training zone.
If one walks towards the Bedouin
community of Wadi al-Maleh in the Jordan Valley, they will see one of the 67
blocks of concrete placed by Israeli military in the area, the words “Danger ~
Firing Zone ~ Entrance Forbidden” audaciously inscribed.
The village is only a few hundred
meters away from an Israeli military base, and the villagers of Wadi al-Maleh
are frequently endangered as Israeli soldiers carry out military training. In
the past year, the village has lost two young men, both killed whilst
shepherding as they inadvertently triggered unexploded ordnance.
“I was standing in the field with 19
camels,” said Yasir. According to Yasir, army jeeps typically comb
the area to alert herders before shooting exercises begin however on April
19th, no warnings were issued before the firing of live ammunition began. Yasir
was shot from a distance of approximately 1 to 1.5 kilometers, and he believes
that the soldiers saw him before shooting.
He did not see the soldiers and only
became aware of their presence after the shooting began; he believes they were
behind a nearby hill. After the bullet entered his chest, Yasir walked to his
home where he was then driven to the training base by his father for medical
attention.
Israeli soldiers refused to treat him
and denied fault in the shooting. It was nearly two hours before Yasir received
medical treatment in Rafadia Hospital in Nablus.
Yasir spent 1 day in Rafadia Hospital
and was then transferred to a hospital in Ramallah.
According to his doctor, Yasir is in
stable condition but remains in the Palestinian Authority hospital ICU after the
shooting.
Yasir is the eldest of eight children
and left school after the 10th grade to tend to the family’s herd of
camels and sheep which is the main source of income for his family. He says his
father is too old to take care of the animals and is concerned that no one is
tending to them while he is in the hospital.
Despite being shot, Yasir says he must
return to the area surrounding the Tyraseer training zone for grazing because
it is the only spring-time grazing near his village.
Aref Dyragma chief of council in Wadi
al-Maleh, was one of the first persons to be informed about the attack. As
Dyragma shows us around al-Maleh, he described how the Bedouins are exposed to
systematic violence.
“Life is like hell here”, he said. “We
have no running water, no electricity and we are prohibited from building
anything. Israel has taken control of all the natural water resources, which
forces us to walk 15 kilometers to the city of Tamoun, where we can buy
expensive water.”
The violence used against Palestinians
in the Jordan Valley is part of process of ethnic cleansing. 130 families from
the area have received demolition and evacuation orders ~ but Dyragma ensures
that they will stay.
“We have no other choice ~ this our
land and we cannot leave.”
Sally
Rosarito is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been
changed).
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