In Tel Aviv on Saturday, hundreds of Israeli peace activists held a protest to challenge the Israeli military's actions on Friday in the West Bank village of Bil'in. In Bil'in Friday, Israeli soldiers fired a high-velocity tear gas canister directly towards a non-violent anti-Wall demonstration, hitting Bassem Ibrahim Abu Rahma in the chest and killing him.
The attack comes just one month after American activist Tristan Anderson was shot by the same kind of weapon in the head, also at a non-violent anti-Wall demonstration. Anderson remains in critical condition at an Israeli hospital, and will likely suffer permanent brain damage if he lives, according to the latest medical reports.
Non-violent protests are held weekly on Fridays in the villages of Bil'in, Ni'lin, Budrus, Biddu, and other Wall construction sites. Despite the fact that these are well-publicized non-violent demonstrations, organized by Palestinian, Israeli and international peace activists, the Israeli military always lists them as 'riots' in their reports, and deploys massive force each week to face the non-violent demonstrators.
The protests in Bil'in and the other villages have also become a testing ground for experimental weapons by the Israeli army. Over the last several years, the Israeli army has fired sewage water, toxic blue dye, sound bombs, high-potency tear gas, stink bombs, and has even tried out a 'sonic weapon' that emits a low frequency sound to disperse demonstrators. Many of these weapons are U.S.-supplied, and the U.S. Government monitors closely the results of these Israeli experiments on unwitting non-violent demonstrators, to see what weapons to add to their arsenal to use against demonstrators in the U.S.
In recent months, the weapon of choice has become the high-velocity tear gas canisters which are fired from a special kind of gun. Israeli forces have used these canisters, not as crowd-dispersion tools, but as lethal weapons, firing them directly towards demonstrators' heads and chests.
The Israeli demonstrators who attended Saturday's protest in Tel Aviv called for an end to the Israeli military attacks on non-violent demonstrators, an investigation into the killing of Abu Rahma on Friday, and justice for all of the non-violent demonstrators killed by the Israeli military at anti-Wall demonstrations.
The following is a list of the people killed by Israeli troops at non-violent anti-Wall demonstrations over the last five years.
February 26th, 2004:
Muhammad Fadel Hashem Rian, age 25 and Zakaria Mahmoud ‘Eid Salem, age 28
Shot dead during a demonstration against the wall in Biddu.
February 26th, 2004:
Abdal Rahman Abu ‘Eid, age 17
Died of a heart attack after teargas projectiles were shot into his home during a demonstration against the wall in Biddu.
February 26th, 2004:
Muhammad Da’ud Saleh Badwan, age 21
Shot during a demonstration against the wall in Biddu. Muhammad died of his wounds on March 3rd 2004.
April 16th, 2004:
Hussein Mahmoud ‘Awad ‘Alian, age 17
Shot dead during a demonstration against the wall in Betunya.
April 18th, 2004:
Diaa’ A-Din ‘Abd al-Karim Ibrahim Abu ‘Eid, age 23
Shot dead during a demonstration against the wall in Biddu.
April 18th, 2004:
Islam Hashem Rizik Zhahran, age 14
Shot during a demonstration against the wall in Deir Abu Mash’al. Islam died of his wounds April 28th.
February 15th, 2005:
‘Alaa’ Muhammad ‘Abd a-Rahman Khalil, age 14
Shot dead while throwing stones at an Israeli vehicle driven by private security guards near the wall in Betunya.
May 4th, 2005:
Jamal Jaber Ibrahim ‘Asi, age 15 and U’dai Mufid Mahmoud ‘Asi, age 14
Shot dead during a demonstration against the wall in Beit Liqya.
February 2nd, 2007:
Taha Muhammad Subhi al-Quljawi, age 16
Shot dead when he and two friends tried to cut the razor wire portion of the wall in the Qalandiya Refugee Camp. He was wounded in the thigh and died from loss of blood after remaining a long time in the field without being treated.
March 28th, 2007:
Muhammad Elias Mahmoud ‘Aweideh, age 15
Shot dead during a demonstration against the wall in Um a-Sharayet - Samiramis.
March 2nd, 2008:
Mahmoud Muhammad Ahmad Masalmeh, age 15
Shot when trying to cut the razor wire portion of the wall in Beit Awwa.
July 29th, 2008:
Ahmed Husan Youssef Mousa, age 10
Killed while he and several friends tried to remove coils of razor wire from land belonging to the village.
July 30th, 2008:
Youssef Ahmed Younes Amirah, age 17
Shot in the head with rubber coated bullets during a demonstration against the wall in Ni’lin. Youssef died of his wounds August 4th 2008.
December 28th, 2008:
Arafat Khawaja, age 22
Shot in the back with live ammunition in Ni’lin during a demonstration against Israel’s assault on Gaza.
December 28th, 2008:
Mohammad Khawaja, age 20:
Shot in the head with live ammunition during a demonstration in Ni’lin against Israel’s assault on Gaza. Mohammad died in the hospital on December 31st 2008.
April 18th, 2009:
Bassem Ibrahim Abu Rahma, age 30:
Shot in the chest with high-velocity tear gas canister during a demonstration against the Wall in Bil'in.
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