As Palestinians continue to mourn the dead of 36-year old nonviolent activist, Jawaher Abu Rahme, the town of Hebron buried Amr Qawasme who was shot at least 13 times while he slept in his bed during an Israeli army raid of his home.
Haaretz reports:
Medical sources said a 65-year-old Palestinian, who was reported to be an unarmed civilian, was brought dead to hospital with several bullet wounds to the upper part of his body. They said the man had been shot in a building the soldiers had raided to arrest one of the Hamas members.
The man who was killed, Amr Qawasme, was asleep when soldiers broke into his home before dawn. His wife, Sobheye, said IDF troops brushed past her into the bedroom, where she heard several shots fired. When she went in, she found her husband in a pool of blood.
"I was praying when they entered. I do not know how they opened the door. They put their hand to my mouth and a rifle to my head," she told Reuters after Qawasme's body was removed.
"I was shocked. They did not allow me to talk. I asked them, 'What did you do?' They asked me to shut up."
in Bil'in in the West Bank, the weekly Friday demonstration against the apartheid wall that has stolen much of the village's agricultural land, villagers were joined by feminist and women's organizations from throughout the West Bank to honor Jawaher Abu Rahme who was asphyxiated to death when Israeli soldiers threw massive amounts of CS tear gas into the large crowd. (See Sofia's excellent diary from yesterday for the story.)
In the week after the killing of Jawaher Abu Rahma by Israeli military forces, Bil'in village has continued the struggle of resistance against the occupation.
At today's demonstration, three persons were wounded, in addition to dozens of more cases of people choking on tear gas. The Popular Committee Against the Wall in Bil'in organized today's demonstration. The march began after Friday prayers from the center of the village, towards the site of the wall.
Representatives from Bil'in as well as hundreds of Palestinians from around the West Bank participated in today's march. Today's demonstration was led by feminist and women's organizations. In addition, dozens of international activists and hundreds of Israelis participated in the demonstration, chanting slogans calling for national unity, ending the occupation, and destroying the wall. Participants raised Palestinian flags and banners of the various factions, calling for liberation and national unity.
When demonstrators reached the site of the wall, they were met with a shower of tear gas and sound bombs, rubber bullets, and the use of wastewater contaminated with chemicals. Iyad Bernat, the Chairman of the People's Committee was injured, and Mustafa Shawkat and Miss Ahmed Abu Rahma were rendered unconscious by tear gas. Dozens of people suffered from teargas inhalation, which was used intensively, and many more suffered from the use of waste water by the Israeli army.
This was just today in occupied Palestine, and all this violence is supported with our tax money in the form of $3 billion annually in military aid to Israel.
Since the MSM won't touch these issues, grassroots activists are bringing this news to the American public in creative ways. Checkout this street theater in Boston:
What have you done to end violence in your name?
You can start here. Send an email to the U.S. company, Combined Systems Inc., telling them to stop selling tear gas that Israel uses to kill and maim protesters.
What would our community's response be if Jawaher were Iranian rather than Palestinian?
Thanks sofia for uploading the photos.