Category: Press Releases - Page 86 - International Solidarity Movement

Settlers Kill Palestinian in Iraq Burin

27 January 2011 | Popular Struggle Coordination Committee

Oday Maher Hamza Qadous, 19 years old, has been killed by settlers while farming his land in Iraq Burin. Army forces have taken over the village of Iraq Burin.

19 year old Oday Maher Hamza Qadous was shot to death this afternoon while farming his land in Iraq Burin near Nablus. Qadous was farming with his cousin, Omer Ahmed Qadous, on the west side of Iraq Burin when settlers from Barcha entered the farmland and shot Oday in the stomach. Omer Ahmed Qadous saw the entire event and reported that there was no confrontation with the settlers before the shooting. He said that settlers entered the farmland and began to shoot. Qadous was evacuated from the area to a Nablus hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. The army is now occupying the village of Iraq Burin but no clashes have been reported.

This morning, in the village of Ein Abbus, settlers attacked villagers, set fire to a car and spray painted multiple walls with graffiti “we will never forget”. Dozens of settlers entered the village and set fire to one car. Settlers then began to vandalize Palestinian property and spray paint graffiti on walls throughout the village. Army soldiers and police arrived on the scene but did not force the settlers out of the village. Only after the settlers were exhausted from their rampage, did the army escort them from the scene.

Judge accepts military prosecution’s appeal to harshen Bil’in’s Abdallah Abu Rahmah’s sentence

11 January 2011 | Popular Struggle Coordination Committee

The court has accepted the military prosecution’s appeal to harshen Abdallah Abu Rahmah’s sentence to a total of 16 months. Abu Rahmah was supposed to be released on November 18th 2010, but was kept in detention by the military prosecution’s request, despite having finished serving his term. He will now serve an additional 3 months in prison.

After ordering to keep Abdallah Abu Rahmah in detention past his release date on the 18th of November 2010, the Military Court of Appeals sided with the prosecution’s appeal demanding to aggravate the one-year sentence imposed on Abu Rahmah. The prosecution asked the court to harshen the sentence so that it exceeds two years imprisonment. However, the judge gave a sentence of a total of sixteen months. He has been in jail for exactly thirteen months and one day. He will now serve three more months to complete the sixteen month sentence.

The judge sided with the military prosecution in front of a packed courtroom, which included the German and Spanish heads of consul in East Jerusalem, as well as diplomatic representatives from France, Malta, Sweden, Austria, United Kingdom, and the European Commission. Despite international outrage, the prosecution openly argued that the sentence should be extended for political reasons, namely “to serve as a deterrence not only to [Abu Rahmah] himself, but also to others who may follow in his footsteps.” Abdallah Abu Rahmah served as the coordinator of the Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements until his arrest last year. Such arguments by the prosecution expose the real motivation behind the countless recent arrests of anti-Wall organizers and activists, which is to squash the popular struggle movement in the West Bank.

Adv. Gabi Lasky, Abdallah Abu Rahmah’s lawyer: “Israel has tried violent means to hinder and stop the popular unarmed demonstrations in the West Bank. Military courts are an instrument of the occupation and their verdicts are devised to help the occupation continue. This decision makes a mockery of the law and justice itself.”

On October 11th 2010, Abu Rahmah was sentenced to twelve months imprisonment for his prominent role in his village’s successful campaign against the construction of Israel’s Separation Barrier on its lands. Abu Rahmah was convicted of two Freedom of Expression charges – incitement and organizing illegal demonstrations, but was cleared of all charges connecting him with direct violence.

Abu Rahmah was to be released from prison on November 18th, when the prison term he was sentenced to ended, but was kept in jail on the order of the Military Court of Appeals. The controversial decision directly conflicts with the jurisprudence of the Israeli Hight Court on the issue, instructing that a prisoner should only be kept under arrest after his term was over in the most extenuating of circumstances.

Abu Rahmah was declared a human rights defender by the European Union, and his conviction and sentence generated international outrage, and was denounced by human rights organizations and the international community alike, including EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton.

Background
Abu Rahmah, the coordinator of the Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, was arrested last year by soldiers who raided his home at the middle of the night and was subsequently indicted before an Israeli military court on unsubstantiated charges that included stone-throwing and arms possession. Abu Rahmah was cleared of both the stone-throwing and arms possession charges, but convicted of organizing illegal demonstrations and incitement.

An exemplary case of mal-use of the Israeli military legal system in the West Bank for the purpose of silencing legitimate political dissent, Abu Rahmah’s conviction was subject to harsh international criticism. The EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, expressed her deep concern “that the possible imprisonment of Mr Abu Rahma is intended to prevent him and other Palestinians from exercising their legitimate right to protest[…]”, after EU diplomats attended all hearings in Abu Rahmah’s case. Ashton’s statement was followed by one from the Spanish Parliament.

Renowned South African human right activist, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, called on Israel to overturn Abu Rahmah’s conviction on behalf of the Elders, a group of international public figures noted as elder statesmen, peace activists, and human rights advocates, brought together by Nelson Mandela. Members of the Elders, including Tutu, have met with Abu Rahmah on their visit to Bil’in prior to his arrest.

International human rights organization Amnesty International condemned Abu Rahmah’s conviction as an assault on the right to freedom of expression. Human Rights Watch denounced the conviction, pronouncing the whole process “an unfair trial”.

Israeli organizations also distributed statements against the conviction – including a statement by B’Tselem which raises the issue of questionable testimonies by minors used to convict Abu Rahme, and The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) which highlights the impossibility of organizing legal demonstrations for Palestinians in the West Bank.

Legal Background
Abu Rahmah, the coordinator of the Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, was acquitted of two out of the four charges brought against him in the indictment – stone-throwing and a ridiculous and vindictive arms possession charge. According to the indictment, Abu Rahmah collected used tear-gas projectiles and bullet casings shot at demonstrators, with the intention of exhibiting them to show the violence used against demonstrators. This absurd charge is a clear example of how eager the military prosecution is to use legal procedures as a tool to silence and smear unarmed dissent.

The court did, however, find Abu Rahmah guilty of two of the most draconian anti-free speech articles in military legislation: incitement, and organizing and participating in illegal demonstrations. It did so based only on testimonies of minors who were arrested in the middle of the night and denied their right to legal counsel, and despite acknowledging significant ills in their questioning.

The court was also undeterred by the fact that the prosecution failed to provide any concrete evidence implicating Abu Rahmah in any way, despite the fact that all demonstrations in Bil’in are systematically filmed by the army.

Under military law, incitement is defined as “The attempt, verbally or otherwise, to influence public opinion in the Area in a way that may disturb the public peace or public order” (section 7(a) of the Order Concerning Prohibition of Activities of Incitement and Hostile Propaganda (no.101), 1967), and carries a 10 years maximal sentence.

Tell Combined Systems Inc. to Stop Providing Tear Gas that Israel Uses to Kill and Maim Protesters

CLICK HERE TO SEND AN E-MAIL TO COMBINED SYSTEMS INC.

On January 1, 2011, 36-year-old Palestinian Jawaher Abu Rahmah from the West Bank village of Bil’in died at a hospital from the effects of tear gas inhalation suffered at a protest the previous day against Israel’s construction of a wall and settlements on Bil’in’s land. Jawaher is only the most recent protester killed or seriously injured by tear gas fired by the Israeli military. For example, Jawaher’s brother Bassem, was killed almost two years ago, and two US citizens, Tristan Anderson and Emily Henochowicz were injured in 2009-2010.

Much of Israel’s tear gas is provided by the US company Combined Systems Inc. (CSI) located in Jamestown, Pennsylvania. The letters CSI, or CTS, a CSI brand name, are marked on many of tear gas canisters that litter Palestinian villages after they protest. The Israeli military is using CSI’s tear gas as a weapon as it tries to crush the growing movement of unarmed protest against Israel’s illegal confiscation of Palestinian land for Israeli settlements. Even more disturbing, you as a US taxpayer are paying for at least some of the tear gas that Israel is shooting at Palestinian, Israeli and international protesters. For example, in 2007 and 2008, the US State Department provided $1.85 million worth of “tear gasses and riot control agents” to Israel as part of the US’s $3 billion in annual military aid to Israel.

Act now by emailing executives at CSI, and at the companies that invest in CSI, the Carlyle Group and Point Lookout Capital, and telling them to stop providing their tear gas to the Israeli military, before more protesters are killed and maimed.

The Israeli military has a documented history of deliberately firing tear canisters directly at unarmed protesters, and of blanketing entire villages in clouds of tear gas whenever they hold protests against Israeli land seizure. Jawaher’s brother Bassem Abu Rahmah was killed in April 2009 when he was hit in the chest with an extended range CSI tear gas canister fired directly at him by an Israeli soldier, according to B’Tselem. In the villages of Bil’in and Ni’ilin alone, 18 people have been directly hit by extended range CSI tear gas http://adalahny.org/images/teargas-cont.jpgcanisters. Bil’in resident Khamis Abu Rahmah suffered a fractured skull and brain hemorrhage after being shot in the back of his head. An Israeli soldier shot California resident Tristan Anderson directly in the head with a high velocity tear gas canister in a March 2009 protest in Ni’ilin, leaving Tristan partially handicapped and suffering slight cognitive damage. New York City college student Emily Henochowicz lost her left eye when an Israeli soldier shot her directly in the face with an aluminum tear gas canister at a May 2010 protest at the Qalandiyah checkpoint.

And no one knows the long-term health impact for residents of villages like Bil’in and Ni’ilin, and their Israeli supporters, who have been blanketed in tear gas at least once a week over a period of years, each time they hold their weekly protests against Israel’s confiscation of their villages’ land for Israel’s wall and settlements.

For photos and more documentation about the use of CSI’s tear gas by the Israeli military to kill and maim protesters CLICK HERE.

CLICK HERE TO SEND AN E-MAIL TO COMBINED SYSTEMS INC.

Substantial evidence contradicts the army’s version of the events surrounding the death of Jawaher Abu Rahmah

4 January 2010 | Popular Struggle Coordination Committee

The evidence surrounding the events leading to the death of Bil’in resident Jawaher Abu Rahmah disproves completely the army spokesperson’s version, to the point of putting the army in a ridiculous light. The army’s version is based on claims made anonymously, without any supporting evidence – unךike the version of the Abu Rahmah family and the Popular Coordinating Committee of Bil’in, which is detailed below.

Since yesterday, the army has been promoting in the Israeli media a mendacious version regarding the events that led to the death of Jawaher Abu Rahmah of Bil’in on Friday, 31 December 2010. According to the army’s version, Jawaher was not injured by tear gas and was possibly not even present at the demonstration. The army spokesperson did not see fit to publish an official statement on the matter, instead passing the information to the media in the name of anonymous “army sources.”

The facts of the matter, which are supported by the testimony of eyewitness who were present at the demonstration, as well as by the ambulance driver who evacuated her to the hospital, contradict completely the army’s version:

Soubhiya Abu Rahmah, mother of Jawaher: “I was standing beside Jawaher on the hill that is near the place where the demonstration took place, when we were injured by a cloud of tear gas. Jawaher began to feel unwell from inhaling the gas and started to move back from the place; soon after that she vomited and collapsed. We took her to the nearest road, and from there she was evacuated by ambulance to the hospital, where she remained until her death. She was not sick with cancer, nor did she have any other illness; and she was not asthmatic.”

Ilham Fathi: I was on the roof of my house, which is located a few meters from where Jawaher stood. When the cloud of tear gas moved in our direction, I went downstairs in order to close the windows. While I was closing one of the windows, I saw her lose consciousness from the gas and ran over to her, together with Islam Abu Rahmah, in order to pull her away. We picked her up together and carried her to my garden. We called for help and she began to vomit and foam at the mouth.

Islam Abu Rahmah: “I was standing with Jawaher, her mother and my grandmother in order to watch the confrontation that was going on just in front of us, in the area of the fence. The wind moved the gas in our direction, making our eyes itch and tear up. After that she (Jawaher) began to cough and foam at the mouth. Soon after that she became weak and lay down on the ground. I succeeded in carrying her as far as the Abu Khamis home, about 40 meters in the direction of her house, but then she became terribly weak, vomited violently and foamed at the mouth. She was having difficult breathing and lost her sense of direction. We got a few women to help her by waving a paper fan over her face in order to provide some oxygen. After that she was taken to the hospital.”

Saher Bisharat, the ambulance who evacuated Jawaher: “We received Jawaher near the entrance that is parallel to the fence, which is where the demonstration was taking place. She was still partially conscious, answered questions, and said that she had choked on gas. I took her straight to the hospital.” (Click here to view the Red Crescent report).

The army has also claimed that the reports about Abu Rahmeh’s injuries started to arrive only several hours after the incident, in the evening. That claim is contradicted by a tweet sent by the NGO Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), which reports the injury of Jawaher, including her name, in real time (click here to view). The tweet was sent at 2:36 pm (4:36 am on the East Coast of the United States). Wafa, the Palestinian news service, published a report that includes the injury of Jawaher Abu Rahmah shortly after the event (click here to view).

Also according to “army sources,” which remain anonymous, Jawaher Abu Rahmah suffered from a serious illness, possibly leukemia; the “sources” postulate that she died from a pre-existing condition rather than tear gas inhalation. Several sources reject that claim.
Dr. Uday Abu Nahlah: “Jawaher Abu Rahmah was employed in my home on a regular basis. On Thursday she was at work as usual, healthy, only one day before her death.”

Jawaher had an inner ear infection, which affected her balance, for which she was recently given a CT scan. The radiologist who performed the CT scan, Dr. Hamis Al Sahfi’i, confirmed that the brain scan was normal (for the CT scan results click here). Jawaher had a minor health issue involving fluids in her inner ear. Her physicians insist that she did not suffer from any illness or from any symptoms that might, if combined with tear gas, lead to her death.

There is not, nor could there be, any indication that Abu Rahmah had cancer; in fact, she was in good health. The director of the hospital refutes the claim that she died from a pre-existing condition:

Mohammed Aida, director of the Ramallah health center where Abu Rahmah received her care: “Jawaher Abu Rahmah died from lung failure that was caused by tear gas inhalation, leading to a heart attack. She arrived at the hospital only partly conscious, and then lost consciousness completely.” Click here for the hospital’s official medical report.

Mohammed Khatib, a member of Bil’in’s Popular Coordinating Committee: “The army is trying to evade its responsibility for Jawaher’s death with lies and invented narratives that have no basis. They are spreading these lies and invented narratives via the media, which is not bothering to do basic fact checking. Our version is supported by named sources and with medical documents. In a properly functioning society, the army’s version, which has been spread by anonymous sources, would not be considered worthy of publication.”

Combined Systems Inc.: stop providing equipment that Israel misuses to kill and maim unarmed protesters

3 January 2010: Open letter to Combined Systems Inc written by Palestine solidarity groups

From:
Adalah-NY: The New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel (adalahny.org)
CodePink: Women for Peace (www.codepink4peace.org)
Jewish Voice for Peace (www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org)
The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation (www.endtheoccupation.org)

Dear Combined Systems Inc.,

As US groups committed to justice and peace, we are writing to ask that Combined Systems Inc. cease providing CSI equipment to the Israeli government in response to the Israeli military’s ongoing and foreseeable misuse of CSI crowd control equipment to kill and maim protesters in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The Israeli military has demonstrated a pattern of misuse of your equipment, directly leading to the death and injury of unarmed demonstrators in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Over the last two years alone, the Israeli military has used your products to kill two peaceful protesters from one family in the West Bank village of Bil’in, to severely injure two peaceful protesters from the US, and to seriously injure many more. According to the the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, two other Palestinians were killed by Israeli tear gas in 2002.[1]

As noted on CSI’s website, “Israeli Military Industries” are among CSI’s “military customers and development partners.” CSI has an ethical and legal responsibility to ensure that the Israeli government is using CSI products according to product guidelines. Unfortunately, the Israeli military has a well-documented track record of systematically using excessive force against civilians, including with CSI products as outlined below, and thus is not an appropriate customer for CSI.

Furthermore, it is our understanding that the tear gas sent by CSI to the Israeli military may be provided as part of the US government’s military aid to Israel. For example, for 2007 and 2008, the US State Department provided $1.85 million worth of “tear gasses and riot control agents” to Israel as part of US military aid.[2] As taxpayers, we strongly object to the possibility that CSI may be using our tax dollars to support Israel’s repression of Palestinian rights.

Most recently, on December 31st, 2010, Israeli soldiers fired what was described by multiple eyewitnesses as excessive tear gas at protesters in the West Bank village of Bil’in, resulting in the death of 36 year-old Jawaher Abu Rahmah from Bil’in. Around 1,000 Palestinians, Israelis and foreigners were demonstrating in Bil’in that day against Israel’s construction of a wall through village land, separating residents from their livelihoods in violation of international law. According to Jawaher’s mother Subhiyeh who was with her at the time, “We weren’t even very close to them and the soldiers fired tear gas at us… Jawaher told me that her chest hurt and she couldn’t breathe. Then she fell down and started vomiting.”[3] Jawaher was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital where she died the next morning from cardiac arrest. Protesters gathered tear gas canisters used by Israeli soldiers at the December 31st protest, including one very common canister with the letters CTS written on it.[4] CTS, short for Combined Tactical Systems, is a brand name of CSI.[5]

Tragically, Jawaher Abu Rahmah was the second person in her family to be killed by tear gas that was apparently provided to the Israeli army by CSI. Jawaher’s brother Bassem Abu Rahmah was killed on April 17, 2009 at a peaceful protest in Bil’in when he was hit directly in the chest by a CSI tear gas canister fired from a gun by an Israeli soldier. The Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem reported in an April 21, 2009 letter to the Israeli military’s Judge Advocate General that the direct firing of tear gas at protesters was common practice and violated both Israeli open-fire regulations and CSI product instructions, saying, “The Open‐Fire Regulations require that tear‐gas grenades fired from a launcher be carried out by indirect fire, with the barrel of the rifle aimed upwards at a sixty‐degree angle. The Website of CSI, the American company that manufactures the extended range grenades, explicitly points out that the grenades are not to be fired at individuals, since doing so is liable to cause injury or death.”[6] West Bank protesters have collected examples of CSI extended range grenades that were fired at protesters (see sample photo below from 2009). In response to an Israeli reporter’s submitted query, an Israeli army spokesperson has confirmed in writing that the extended range projectiles are produced by CSI. CSI’s website also explains that these canisters are intended to break indoor barricades.[7] Different CSI products are labeled for outdoor use.

B’Tselem further documented that among those hit by extended range canisters fired directly at protesters was US citizen Tristan Anderson in March 2009. According to B’Tselem, “On 13 March, a Border Police officer fired an extended-range type tear-gas canister that struck Tristan Anderson, an American citizen, during a demonstration in Ni’ilin. B’Tselem’s investigation reveals that the police officer fired the canister directly at Anderson from 60 meters away… The grenade struck him in the forehead, fracturing his skull and injuring the front lobe of his brain.”[8] He is left partially handicapped and suffers slight cognitive damage.” The canister “caused severe traumatic brain injury and blindness in his right eye.”[9] Anderson, who remains in a wheelchair, “has not yet regained the use of the left side of his body.”[10]

In a September, 2010 report, The Popular Struggle Coordination Committee, a coordinating body for unarmed demonstrations in the West Bank, noted that, “According to Palestinian Red Crescent records in Bil’in and Ni’ilin, 18 people have been directly shot at and hit by the high velocity projectiles since their introduction, in these two villages alone.”[11] In addition to the killing of Bassem Abu Rahmah and injury of Tristan Anderson, other severe injuries include those to Bil’in resident Khamis Abu Rahmah who “suffered a fractured skull and brain hemorrhage after being struck in the back of his head with an extended range tear gas projectile. “

Another US citizen, 21-year-old Emily Henochowicz, lost her left eye when an Israeli soldier fired an aluminum tear gas canister directly at her, striking her face during a West Bank protest on May 31, 2010.[12] Protesters have also collected numerous aluminum tear gas canisters with CSI and CTS initials on them that were fired by Israeli soldiers at protesters (see below).

Though B’Tselem reported on May 4, 2009 that Israel’s Judge Advocate General forbade the firing of tear gas canisters directly at protesters, [13] the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee[14] and the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz[15] documented in December 2010 that the Israeli military has continued to fire extended range tear gas canisters directly at protesters.

Reports by diverse human rights groups including B’Tselem, Human Rights Watch[16] and the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict[17] have documented Israel’s use of excessive and lethal force against civilians. These reports, and the cases cited above of Israel’s specific misuse of CSI products, demonstrate clearly that CSI cannot rely on the Israeli military to use CSI products in an appropriate manner without undue death and severe injury to civilians. Therefore, CSI is obligated to end its sale of these products to the Israeli government.

Thank you for your attention to this issue. We look forward to your response.

– – – – – – – – – –

[1] http://btselem.org/english/statistics/
[2] http://www.fas.org/programs/ssp/asmp/factsandfigures/government_data_index.html#655
[3] http://www.aolnews.com/2011/01/02/palestinian-protester-jawaher-abu-rahmah-dies-from-tear-gas-inha/
[4] Photo above resembles this CSI/CTS model: http://combinedsystems.com/less-lethal/Flash-Bang/Flash-Bangs-Tear-Ball.aspx
[5] http://www.combinedsystems.com/About_us.aspx, see CTS products: http://combinedsystems.com/less-lethal/CTS%20Catalog%202009.pdf
[6] http://www.btselem.org/Download/20090421_Letter_to_JAG_concerning_the_shooting_of_Bassem_Abu_Rahmah_English.pdf
[7] http://combinedsystems.com/less-lethal/Chemical-Munitions/Chemical-Munitions-40mm-Penetrators.aspx
[8] http://www.btselem.org/English/Firearms/20090318_Firing_of_Tear_Gaz_at_Demonstrators.asp
[9] http://www.democracynow.org/2010/11/16/in_first_interview_since_critical_injury
[10] http://justicefortristan.org/
[11] http://www.popularstruggle.org/content/under-repression
[12] http://www.democracynow.org/2010/8/5/exclusiveemily_henochowicz_speaks_out_art_student
[13] http://combinedsystems.com/less-lethal/CTS%20Catalog%202009.pdf
[14] http://www.popularstruggle.org/content/demonstrator-suffers-head-injury-after-being-hit-directly-tear-gas-projectile-nabi-saleh
[15] http://www.popularstruggle.org/content/idf-resumes-use-prohibited-tear-gas-canisters
[16] http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2005/06/21/promoting-impunity-0
[17] http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/12session/A-HRC-12-48.pdf