Bil'in protester dies after exposure to tear gas shot by IDF
Palestinian PM Fayyad also present at the weekly West Bank anti-separation wall demonstration where Jawaher Abu Rahmah was critically injured.
By Amira Hass and Anshel Pfeffer Tags: IDF Israel newsA resident of the West Bank village of Bil'in died on Saturday morning in a Ramallah hospital after she was exposed to tear gas that was shot by IDF soldiers to disperse the crowd of demonstrators against the separation wall in the village on Friday.
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Palestinian, Israeli and foreign activists run away from tear gas in the West Bank village of Bil'in, December 31, 2010. |
| Photo by: Reuters |
Jawaher Abu Rahmah, 36 years old, was the sister of Bassem Abu Rahmah, who was killed by an extended-range tear gas projectile fired at his chest by IDF soldiers at a demonstration against the separation wall in Bil'in on April 17, 2009.
Weekly demonstrations against the fence have been held in Bil'in for the past five years, where villagers say the barrier unjustly separates them from their lands. In 2007, the Supreme Court accepted these arguments and ruled that the route of the fence should be moved, and that some 170 acres of land be returned to the villagers. The IDF has yet to implement the court's decision.
The weekly demonstrations against the separation wall set out from the village under the banner 'The Last Day of the Wall.' Although the IDF announced that the area was a closed military zone and set up a number of roadblocks around the village, hundreds of Palestinian, Israel and international demonstrators succeeded in reaching the center of the village by foot.
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad was also present at the demonstration in order to show support for the Palestinian popular struggle in Bil'in and throughout the West Bank. Fatah youth from various locations across the West Bank came to the village on Friday to participate in the demonstration.
Over the course of the demonstration, activists succeeded in tearing three holes in the chain-link fence that comprises the separation barrier in Bil'in, and in removing a section of it, which they later mounted on display in the center of the village.
Demonstrators reported that IDF soldiers shot massive amounts of tear gas into the village, and that they felt that the tear gas was especially potent. After Abu Rahmah choked on the gas, she was taken to a hospital in Ramallah.
The doctors that treated Abu Rahmah told her family that she was not responding to their treatment. Over the course of the night, her condition worsened, and she died at nine o'clock in the morning on Saturday.
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Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad (C) takes part in a march inside the West Bank village of Bilin, December 31, 2010. |
| Photo by: Reuters |
The IDF spokesperson has yet to issue an official public statement regarding the incident, but some IDF sources have said that there was no irregular use of tear gas at Friday's demonstration.
The IDF sources say Abu Rahmah's death may have been the result of an asthmatic condition compounded by the tear gas, and that if the gas had been any different than usual more people who have been negatively affected by it.
The sources added that the incident was under investigation and that they are awaiting clarifications from Palestinian medical officials, as they have up until now received inconsistent reports from the Palestinian side.
Over a year after Jawaher Abu Rahmah's brother Bassem was killed by an extended-range tear gas projectile in April 2009, the IDF Military Advocate General ordered the army's criminal investigations unit to investigate his death.
The investigation was initiated after video footage was produced showing that Abu Rahmah did not act violently and experts testified that the tear gas canister that killed him had been aimed directly at him, in violation of military orders.
Although Abu Rahmah's death is still officially under investigation, IDF soldiers quietly resumed the use of the prohibited tear gas canisters to disperse demonstrations in the West Bank last month.
Ashraf Abu Rahmah, a cousin to Jawaher and Bassem, was also injured by IDF forces back in 2008. After being detained at a protest against the separation fence near the West Bank village of Na'alin on July 7, 2008, an IDF soldier shot him in the leg with a rubber bullet while he was bound and blindfolded.
The incident was caught on camera by a villager and released by the human rights group B'Tselem. The IDF soldier that shot Abu Rahmah told military police investigators that his battalion commander had ordered him three times to fire at the protester.
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We need to get gas masks to these poor people and maybe body armour if we can find a donor country.Israel shows its true colours and the world does nothing,as usual...
the fence still hasn't been moved, and the IDF is still killing demonstrators against that illegal fence. ISRAEL, SAVE YOURSELF FROM MORAL DEGRADATION. END THE OCCUPATION NOW!
can justify their attempts to compare Iranian behaviour with Israeli behaviour. Iran kills protestors as well
State terrorism in action, Israel should be kicked out of UN straight away.
When the PLO/PA removes it's commitment to the destruction of Israel from it's charter, I may start feeling sympathy for those fighting on the frontlines on the side of the enemy. As it is, the arabs have never stood down from their war against Israel, so any act to deliberately destroy the security barrier protecting Israelis should be dealt with as an act of war by an enemy and treated as such. The arabs should have thought of the consequences before launching their wars of annihilation and terror on Israel....but as we know, arabs have a hard time grasping the concept of culpability and responsibility for your own actions. The arabs were the aggressors, and they are paying the price of their aggression. There is no reason on earth why Israel should use it's own land for a buffer zone and security barrier, when the arabs created the need for it by their neverending war of annihilation against Israel. I have one thing to say to the arab residents of Judea and Samaria: Take a look at your own leadership, at the depth of the lies and deception they have fed you. They are the ones you should be addressing over your pityful plight...not Israel which is simply trying to protect itself against your unreconstructed terrorist leaders.
... exactly on the first day of a New Year...
as you claim. This apartheid wall is illegal under Internation Law. It separates Palestinians from their families, food, water and their land. You've created thousands of "separated, divided families." This is your idea of fairness and justice? Israel has turned Palestineinto a Swiss Cheese pogrom and bantustan. And you are playing your victim card by saying Palestinian's want the destruction of Israel, which is one of the biggest fallacies and lies Israeli uses to justify murder and the stealing of more land of Palestinan's. Which of course, is THEIR land to begin with. If this was not Palestinian land, then why does the world, the UN, the ICC consider the occupation "ILLEGAL?" And how dare you say arab's are the agressor. Who has the military, the land and control? My people have been oppressed, beaten and murdered for 63 years! We have nothing to fight with and nothing more to give - Israel has taken everything. And what is left, Israel continues to steal day-in, day-out. Is this your idea of democry? Of a "democratic nation" which you claim of Israel? Look at your leadership with your Zionist agenda for complete domination, not just of the Middle East, but of the world. Either Israel want's peace or it wants land. You can't have it both ways to suit your needs. Unfortunately, I believe it's the former.
Another victim in the Israeli occupation's long list. But the struggle for freedom continues.
I hope God comforts her family on this their second loss and that the villagers of Bilin remain steadfast in the face of oppression.
The death of this woman is a criminal act by a rogue state.
... it's an avaricious State, at the expense of long-suffering neighbors...
And fines for public disorder and violence.
yes the use of tear gas here is quite regular. Tear gas can be dangerous or even lethal. I do hope the IDF soldiers diciplined enough and are trained in the safe use of it. See: http://web.archive.org/web/20070926011533/http://www.waco93.com/detcs.pdf Although hitting people with cannisters does not sound professional.
If only the IDF had respected Israel's Supreme Court, precious lives would have not been lost. The Pals have an inherent right to ask for the return of their source of livelihood taken from them by force. The SC sided with them but the IDF rejected the SC decision. Is this the kind of military organization Israel is proud of?I am beginning to be convinced by the perceptions of others that Israel is a rogue state.
The relocation of the fence will be finished in a year. It is the violence of Arabs that called for dispesal methods, but I forgot Arabs are never responsible for their own actions, like little children. Even when the fence finishes relocating the IDF believes they'll continue to protest and attack the fence to let their terrorists in, so what now, Sherlock?
If Aabs will protest violently then they are likely to become victims of warnings of tear gas, Abu Rahma's death was unfortunte but as she appears to be suffering from AN asmathic condition, if she had any sense, she should not have ventured into any such violent protests. The Arab/Israeli relationship is not a friendly one. and Abu Rahma
If we end the Occupation, there will be no reason to have 100s of Israeli soldiers shooting tear gas and rubber bullets at unarmed protestors.
(1) Bilín protest are peaceful until they are dispersed by soldiers. (2) If you cannot escape tear gas in time or the concentration gets to high it can kill, no need for a precondition. (3) Nobody with astma is stupid enough to come even near to CS-gas. (4) A protestor was hit in the face which implies unsafe use of tear gas. (5) Tear gas into the village makes an astma precondition a moot point
to demonstrate means to risk life.... shameful...once again......
Expect to suffer from tear gas and rubber bullet if the situation calls for it.
Mister prime minister you have that blood on your hand, difficult to shake your hand now without having some stain on our hand thank you for the shame we wear now .
When a demonstration turns to a squad of vandalists expect mass dispersal methods. Even in a year when the fence is finished relocating they'll attack it to let their terrorists better access.
Why hasn't the 2007 Supreme Court judgment been implemented by the IDF? Why are peaceful demonstrations dispersed with tear gas? Why has there been such lenghy delay into the death of Bassem Abu Rahmah?
And thus mass dispersal methods were required.
When will we ever learn?
And how do you know Shalit is in "detantion" and not dead ? Has anybody visited him in his "detention" ?
But it will be the IDF that investigates the IDF so the terrorist murderer will yet again go unpunished.
Violent demonstration called for dispersal methods. Tear gas isn't the safest thing in the world but it's used world-wide regardless. One in 100,000 I suppose you can expect such a poisoning to happen, unless the demonstrator refused to leave the affected area in which case the chance increases dramatically.
Shame!