Nabi Saleh is a small Palestinian village located about 20 km northwest of Ramallah, with population of just over 530. The village is located on hilltop, amidst agricultural lands and olive groves. ‘Ayn Al-Qaws, a natural spring owned by Bashir Tamimi, a resident, was taken over by settlers of nearby Halamish in 2009. The settlement itself is built on lands confiscated from village’s residents.
Since 2010, the Ramallah-district village of Nabi Saleh has been staging weekly demonstrations, in which locals alongside Israeli and international solidarity activists have been taking part. The village is protesting the ongoing expropriation of agricultural lands for the purpose of expanding the nearby settlement of Halamish. This wave of weekly protests was launched after the settlers took over a water spring that belongs to the village, renamed it and have been using it as a recreational site. These protests have been met with excessive violence, as the Israeli army has been using tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets, the “skunk,” stun grenades and even live ammunition in its attempts to disperse the demonstrators and squash dissent. Two of the village’s residents, Mustafa and Rushdi Tamimi, were killed within a year of each other. Mustafa was killed from a tear gas canister fired directly at his head while Rushdi was shot multiple times with live ammunition and rubber bullets. The Israeli army has regularly imposed a closed military zone order for the route demonstrators have taken, in an attempt to deter outside activists from participating and isolate residents from global outpour of support. Many international and Israeli activists have been detained over the years.
In solidarity with the hunger striking Palestinian political prisoners, residents of the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh marched and confronted the Israeli army. The strike was launched on Prisoner’s Day, 17 April, and included thousands of political prisoners of different factions. The prisoners demand immediate improvement to the conditions of their incarceration, such as…
Photographed & Edit by Bilal Tamimi On Friday 3 March, 2017, I was documenting a direct action in the village of Nabi Saleh in the West Bank, at a local spring which had been confiscated by settlers. I was assaulted by a settler and pushed off a mound 1.5m onto the ground. I sustained bruises…
Photographed & Edit by Bilal Tamimi Residents of Nabi Saleh marched on Friday to reclaim ‘Ayn al-Qaws, a spring which was confiscated by the settlers a few years ago. Since the expropriation, the military rarely allowed Palestinians to enter the spring and its environs, especially on Fridays. Villagers marched to the spring, accompanied by solidarity…
After several of the village’s young men were released from Israeli prison, residents of Nabi Saleh confronted the occupying army, defying the army’s expropriation of their water spring. The soldiers fired barrages of tear gas on demonstrators, including the new and improved-range kind. No major injuries reported. If you like my work, please also ‘like’…
Israeli military court at Ofer, near Bitunia, released eight political prisoners, all young men from Nabi Saleh. The prisoners, arrested over the past several months during night raids, were accused of stone throwing and other offences, and the prosecution initially requested significant jail sentences of several years. However, failing to provide significant evidence, the prosecutors…
Commemorating the battle of al-Qastel, Palestinians from the village of Nabi Saleh confronted the Israeli army protesting the continued colonial violence and land expropriations. Villagers commemorated the battle of al-Qastel of 1948, famous for the steadfastness and heroism of Palestinian resistance fighters led by ‘Abd al-Qader al-Husseini against Zionist militias. However, al-Husseini fell in battle,…
Commemorating the 40th anniversary of Land Day, residents of Nabi Saleh, and many solidarity activists from Palestine and the world marched towards ‘ayn al-Qaws, the spring and adjacent lands expropriated by the Israeli settlers. Land Day was first marked on 30 March 1976 with a massive demonstration in the Galilee, northern Palestine, when the Israeli…
Residents of the Ramallah-district village of Nabi Saleh marched on Friday to protest the occupation and the ongoing violent repression of Palestinians by the Israeli army. This time, protesters were accompanied by a large contingent of foreign solidarity activists, who came to participate in the demonstration and witness the brutality. The Israeli soldiers fired many…
Commemorating the 13th anniversary of Rachel Corrie’s death, villagers in Nabi Saleh confronted the Israeli army, in protest of the ongoing occupation, land seizures and mass incarceration of Palestinians. Corrie was killed by the Israeli army while attempting to prevent house demolition in the Gaza strip. Today, the practice of punitive house demolition by the…
Human Rights Defender Manal Tamimi Talks about Her Arrest on International Women’s Day “I asked to say goodbye to my children. My daughter was crying all the time. Samer (10) was in shock. He didn’t say anything. The room was full of around ten soldiers and all of them have guns and they cover their…
