Tag: Bassem Abu Rahmah

State Attorney’s Office to police: forbidden to fire tear-gas canisters directly at demonstrators

B’Tselem

4 May 2009

According to media reports, the State Attorney’s Office has ordered the Police to review its guidelines for dispersing demonstrators. The order comes in the wake of the death of Bassem Abu Rahma, a Palestinian who was demonstrating in Bi’lin, and of injuries suffered by a number of other demonstrators recently. B’Tselem welcomes the State Attorney’s Office’s directive, which follows requests by B’Tselem to stop firing tear-gas canisters directly at persons. The real test, however, is whether the directive is implemented in the field. B’Tselem calls on the State Attorney’s Office to investigate incidents of tear-gas canisters fired at people and to prosecute the police officers and soldiers who were responsible for the prolonged and flagrant breach of regulations, and the commanders who allowed the forbidden practice to continue.

In recent weeks, B’Tselem has warned law-enforcement authorities about the life-threatening danger inherent in directly firing tear-gas canisters, a practice that has already resulted in injury to dozens of persons, some seriously. In its April letter following Abu Rahma’s death, B’Tselem demanded that the army enforce its Open-Fire Regulations, investigate incidents in which soldiers have violated the regulations, and prosecute the delinquent soldiers.

On 3 May, B’Tselem received a response from the legal advisor of the Judea and Samaria Division, Col. Sharon Afek, stating that an explicit, comprehensive directive would soon be issued prohibiting the direct firing of tear-gas canisters at people. B’Tselem also called on the Judge Advocate General to ensure that military forces cease firing tear-gas canisters directly at people.

B’Tselem also provided law-enforcement officials with video documentation of soldiers and border policemen firing directly at demonstrators, evidence that the breach of the Open-Fire Regulations was not an isolated incident, but a widespread practice known to senior officers.

B’Tselem wrote to the Judge Advocate General, Brig. Gen. Avichai Mandelblit, demanding to order a Military Police investigation into the circumstances of the death of Abu Rahma, and to make it clear to security forces that it is absolutely forbidden to fire tear-gas canisters directly at a person. B’Tselem had sent a letter in similar spirit a month earlier, following the severe injury to the American Tristan Anderson, who was struck in the forehead by a tear-gas canister. B’Tselem did not receive a reply to its letter.

Attached to the letter was a selection of video clips filmed in the villages of Ni’lin, Bi’lin, and Jayyus. The clips showed repeated firing of tear-gas canisters directly at demonstrators, indicating that, for some time, and contrary to army claims, security forces in the West Bank have used this practice.

http://blip.tv/play/gukm97tThKtR

New York protesters call for Mother’s Day boycott of Leviev diamonds over Israeli settlements

Adalah-NY

9 May 2009

On the day before Mother’s Day, 40 New York human rights advocates gathered at the Leviev jewelry store on Madison Avenue and called on throngs of weekend Madison Avenue shoppers to boycott Israeli diamond mogul Lev Leviev over his companies’ construction of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land in West Bank villages including Bil’in and Jayyous. Mother’s Day is one of the biggest jewelry shopping periods in the US annually. The New York protest came as controversy is growing in Norway over Norwegian government investments in Leviev’s company Africa-Israel. The New York protesters also commemorated Bassem Abu Rahma from Bil’in who was shot to death by Israeli soldiers last month during a peaceful protest against the construction on Bil’in’s land of Israel’s wall and of the Mattityahu East settlement by a Leviev company.

http://blip.tv/play/8zyBgMAoiep1

Riham Barghouti of Adalah-NY explained, “Thousands of New Yorkers heard our message today that Leviev should not be allowed to exploit this holiday honouring mothers while his companies are ruining the lives of Palestinian mothers by stealing their land for Israeli settlements.” Alexis Stern from Adalah-NY added, “The government of the United Kingdom, UNICEF and Oxfam are all now boycotting Leviev. We’re calling on New Yorkers, and the government of Norway to join them.”

The Norwegian government is under increasing pressure to divest from its pension holdings in Leviev’s Africa-Israel. An April 28 article in the UK’s Guardian by Abe Hayeem of Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine urged Norway to follow the UK’s example and sever its relationship with Leviev’s companies. The villages of Bil’in and Jayyous then wrote to Norwegian officials asking them to divest from Leviev’s companies, citing the devastating impacts of settlement construction on their villages’ agricultural land. This was followed by a May 5th letter from Adalah-NY and ten national and international organizations and networks from Europe, Palestine, Israel and the US calling on Norway to comply with its ethical guidelines for investment and divest.

During the New York Mother’s Day protest, the terrible impacts of Leviev’s settlement construction were brought home in a commemoration of Bassem Abu Rahma from Bil’in. Video from April 17th shows that Abu Rahma, a dedicated nonviolent activist, was participating in a peaceful protest in Bil’in against the settlement and the wall when he was suddenly shot directly in the chest with a teargas canister from a short distance by an Israeli soldier. One New York activist read aloud a tribute to Bassem written by his friend and colleague from Bil’in Mohammed Khatib. Two Jewish-Americans who have protested in Bil’in with Bassem then spoke of the courage of Bassem, of the people of Bil’in and of the millions of Palestinians confronting Israeli repression daily, and urged people in New York and around the world to stand with them.

Inspired by Bil’in’s four-year nonviolent campaign, that continues despite Bassem’s death and the injuring of 1,300 civilians, New York protesters chanted, “Your mama didn’t raise you that way, don’t buy from Leviev on Mother’s Day!” They passed out hundreds of copies of the cartoon flyer, Who Is Lev Leviev?, and carried signs saying, “Embrace moms, don’t displace moms.” Customers sitting outside at an upscale restaurant near Leviev’s store listened as protesters sang, “Mamas don’t let your babies grow up to build settlements,” and, to the tune of “Mama Said” by The Shirelles:

Mama said don’t build settlements,

don’t build on other people’s lands,

Mama said don’t buy diamonds,

from a guy with blood on his hands.

Leviev has also been criticized for human rights abuses in Angola where his companies mine diamonds.

Bil’in demonstrators call on international health institutions to “Stop the Occupation Flu”

Bil’in Popular Committee

8 May 2009

Palestinian, Israeli, and international protesters walked through the streets of Bil’in on Friday wearing surgical masks to protect themselves from the “Occupation Flu” which first infected Palestinians sixty-one years ago. It has caused the deaths of thousands of Palestinians, injured hundreds of thousands and has put millions in prisons, including Israeli prisons but also the prisons created by the wall in the West Bank and the siege on Gaza.

Protesters carried banners that read, “Stop the Occupation Flu” and called on international health and human rights institutions to intervene in order to save the Palestinian people from this dangerous disease which is spreading in the region and is threatening the rest of the world. Protestors also carried Palestinian flags and photos of the martyr Bassem Abu Rahmah, Bil’in’s most recent victim of the “Occupation Flu”, who was killed by the Israeli army three weeks ago.

The Israeli army responded to the demonstration by firing teargas and rubber-coated steal bullets into the crowd, causing eight injuries and dozens of cases of teargas inhalation. The injuries are Abdullah Aburahma, Fadel Alkhatib, Adeeb Aburahma, Abdullah Yassen, Ibraheem Burnat, Mohammed Aburahma, Mustafa Alkhatib and Hytham Alkhatib.

On Thursday night, the Popular Committee Against the Wall in Bil’in organized a short biographical film about the martyr Bassem Abu Rahmah entitled, “Bassem, Friend of All”. The film focused on the period of Bassem’s life spent participating in the struggle against the wall. Bassem had spent the last four years of his life involved in this struggle until he was killed by an Israeli soldier with a teargas canister on the April 17, 2009. The film was shown outdoors in Bil’in and many residents from Bil’in and surrounding villages showed up.

In other news, a delegation of French university students and faculty visited Bil’in yesterday and had a tour around the village and a presentation about the Wall.

The Popular Committee this week also received a response from the Norwegian government regarding a petition submitted by Bil’in and Jayyous to open an investigation into Norwegian companies that are investing in Africa-Israel Investments, Ltd. which is owned by billionaire Lev Leviev. Leviev is known to support the building of settlements, especially the eastern half of the Mattityahu settlement bloc which is built on Bil’in’s land and the settlement of Zufim which is built on Jayyous’s land.

In other news, the Popular Committee Against the Wall in Bil’in deplores the arrest of five leaders of the Popular Committee in Alm’asra they are: Mahmoud Zawahra coordinator of Alm’asra Committee, Mohammed Burjya, a spokesman for the Media Commission, and his brother Hassan, Azmi Alchiokhi, who is president of the Popular Committees in Hebron, Mustafa Faouar. The Committee calls upon the People’s human rights organizations to intervene for the release of five leaders, and this is comes within the occupation forces to target the leaders of the popular events to discourage the continuation of events against the construction of the wall and settlements.

It takes a village

Stefan Christoff | Hour

7 May 2009

Montreal’s ties to illegal Israeli settlement

In April, Palestinian activist Bassam Ibrahim Abou Rahme was killed by Israeli military forces after being shot at close range by a teargas canister, becoming the 18th Palestinian to have been killed for protesting against the Israeli wall being built in Bil’in, a farming village.

“Bassam was a leader from the Bil’in movement against Israeli apartheid. Everyone in the village loved Bassam, who regularly worked with Israeli activists,” remembers Abdullah Abu Rahme, a Bil’in resident and activist.

Local residents have held weekly demonstrations every Friday in attempts to alert the world to their cause.

Rahme says Bil’in has been severely impacted by the construction of the security wall, which will annex around 50 per cent of village lands, mainly farm lands. In some areas, the wall towers over eight metres high and is fortified by armed military watchtowers. The village is also battling Israeli attempts to build illegal settlements on the land, a project with ties to Montreal.

Bil’in has launched a lawsuit in the Quebec Superior Court against two companies registered locally, Green Park International and Green Mount International, who are currently helping to build an Israeli-only settlement on land within Bil’in’s municipal jurisdiction.

“Israel is colonizing our land and stealing it for future generations. They are trying to erase Palestine,” explains Rahme.

In June 2009, Bil’in village is scheduled to have a series of court dates that will determine if the lawsuit filed with Quebec Superior Court will be heard.

A solidarity protest with Bil’in village is scheduled for Friday, May 8, at noon outside Indigo bookstore (corner of Ste-Catherine and McGill College).

Police negligent in probing fence protest casualties

Dan Izenberg & Yaakov Katz | The Jerusalem Post

5 May 2009

The death of Palestinian Bassem Ibrahim in Bil’in two-and-a-half weeks ago might have been prevented had the police carried out orders to investigate previous incidents in which protesters against the separation barrier were hurt by grenade canisters, a senior Justice Ministry official told the police on Monday.

Ibrahim, 30, died when a border policeman fired a canister directly at him and hit him in the chest during a protest at Bil’in on April 17.

The protest was one of the weekly protests held by villagers, Israelis and pro-Palestinian demonstrators from abroad against the route of the fence that separates the villagers from much of their agricultural land.

According to a statement issued by the Justice Ministry, Yehoshua Lemberger, deputy state attorney for criminal affairs, has asked the police to review the guidelines for dispersing protesters.

Lemberger said Ibrahim was one of several protesters in the recent past who have been hurt by gas bombs or grenades “which have aroused suspicions of illegal use of means to disperse protests.”

According to a knowledgeable source, the Justice Ministry asked the police to investigate four incidents that occurred in Nil’in, another Palestinian village that holds weekly protests.

In one case in September 2008, a Palestinian suffered head injuries when shot by a border policeman.

In January, a Spanish journalist and an Israeli protester were injured. On March 13, an American citizen, Tristan Anderson, was shot in the face and critically wounded by a tear gas canister.

Lemberger added that even if it was right from an “operational point of view” to use gas grenades, bombs and other ordinance, it was wrong to aim directly at protesters.

IDF sources said that the direct fire of gas grenades at demonstrators had always been against official military regulations. Military forces operating at Bil’in, the sources said, would continue to use gas canisters since it was an “effective tool” in dispersing violent demonstrations.

The sources said that the IDF has always made a distinction between “direct fire” of the canisters at specific demonstrators as opposed to “indirect fire” in the nearby vicinity.

“There is nothing wrong with firing gas canisters,” one source said. “The problem is with direct fire but that has always been against military regulations.”

Lemberger also pointed out that investigations of border police conduct in the West Bank are conducted by the police, rather than the Justice Ministry’s Police Investigations Unit, which does not investigate incidents of shooting involving border policemen unless they take place in Israeli population centers in the administered territories.