BASSEM IBRAHIM ABU RAHMAH MURDERED AT BILIN, 17/4/09

Bassem Ibrahim Abu Rahmah holding a kite

prior to his murder by IDF assassin.

Local demonstrator Bassem Ibrahim Abu Rahmah was seriously injured by tear gas canister hit to his chest during anti-fence rally. He died of wounds shortly after reaching hospital. IDF says protest was violent. Demonstrators: We're like sitting ducks; soldiers fire at anything that moves; army, PA investigating.

Bessem takes the hit and collapses

Today, the Israeli military shot and killed Bassem Ibrahim Abu Rahmah, 30, during the weekly nonviolent protest against the Wall in the West Bank village of Bil'in. The photo to the right, from the International Middle East Media Center, is of Abu Rahmah being rushed to the ambulance after being shot in the chest with a tear-gas grenade.

Waiting for transportation, his friends try to stop the bleeding.

The ISM is reporting that Abu Rahmeh was killed by the same type of projectile that critically injured Tristan Anderson.

Friends carry Bassem to ambulance.

Ynet just posted a story about the killing that includes a shocking Reuters video of Abu Rahmah being shot. In the article Israeli activists say that the Israeli military has been using increasingly more force against the nonviolent protests. Roni Barkan, a member of the Anarchists Against the Wall says, "it seems that since Operation Cast Lead IDF soldiers and commanders have been conducting themselves in an even less moral and humane manner; they are firing at anything that moves."

A friend comforts Bassem and kisses him as he passes from life.

Roni Barkan, a member of the "Anarchists Against the Fence" group, told Ynet that the rally was peaceful and that "no stones were thrown."

"The soldiers, who were standing less than 30 meters (about 100 feet) from us, immediately began to throw stun grenades in our direction," he said. "A few minutes later I overheard the commander to prepare to throw tear gas canisters. There were two or three shots, and then Abu-Rahma was hit. I tried to stop the bleeding."

Palestinian Dies in Bilin Protest:

When Does a Killing Become a War Crime?

We have only to look at today’s news from Bilin for an answer. A few weeks ago a California peace activist, Tristan Anderson was gravely injured by an IDF tear gas canister that smashed into his skull during a nearby demonstration against the Separation Wall. He has lost the sight in one eye and will have an undetermined amount of brain damage.

The culprit? A special type of high velocity rifle which fires the tear gas canister with such speed that it becomes a potentially lethal weapon. In addition, IDF tactics seem to encourage firing the canister directly at the bodies of protesters rather than in their vicinity. In other words, tear gas is no longer merely used for crowd control, but to physically harm demonstrators. Apparently, the IDF believes that it can fudge the facts when maiming or deaths occur by saying that it didn’t intend to harm anyone. Since tear gas isn’t usually used to kill it may be hard for the world to credit that Israel is using the munition in a lethal way.

This is the canister that took Bassem's life.

That is why the world community needs to say loud and clear that no matter what Israel claims, its words mean nothing. The IDF will be judged by what it does. And its actions declare loud and clear that the tactics at the Wall demonstrations at Bilin and other Palestinian villages constitute war crimes. I have no doubt that Michael Sfard, Yesh Gvul and other human rights activists will be amending their documentation as we speak to include such crimes in their brief against the army.

Let’s get out of the way the Israeli version of what happened conveyed to us by what a peace activist who sent this to me today so aptly called “Isabel Kershner’s credulous stenography:”

An Israeli military spokeswoman said that security forces were trying to disperse a violent demonstration during which demonstrators threw stones and other objects. She said the army was checking the report about the Palestinian fatality and has asked to join Palestinian officials in investigating the cause of death.

This is almost precisely the language used in excusing Tristan Anderson’s attack. And it was a lie then since Anderson was standing alone and not throwing stones. It is a lie once again in this case as well. Watch the video and tell me where were the stones and the threat.

The ISM notes that Abu Rahmeh is the 18th Palestinian killed by the Israel military while protesting the Wall. Here is a list. Although such a needless death is a tragedy at any age, please note how young some of those killed have been:

This extremely disturbing video

of the shooting of Bassem is NOT for children.

The video shows plainly that the demonstrators were not violent. Here is a rough translation of the words on the video, supplied by an anonymous friend: The demonstrators are telling the soldiers in Hebrew that there are children and Israelis present and they are asking them not to shoot. Bassem is shouting "Listen, wait a minute, wait a minute!" before he falls to the ground. The soldiers then fire another round of tear gas as the demonstrators yell that he is injured and needs an ambulance.

In the longer video, as [Mohammed] Khatib is arguing with the soldier, I can't make out all of it because they're talking over each other, but you can clearly hear the soldier say, "Do you want more gas?" They can see someone is on the ground and bleeding and because they know it's a Palestinian, they don't care.

And the soldier is telling Khatib "Are you going to shut up?" as Khatib pleads with him to stop shooting. The Israeli who's next to Bassem right after the shooting is just saying, "There's an injured man, bring an ambulance quickly." He asks Bassem where he was hit. The demonstrators also repeat throughout, this is a non-violent demonstration. The soldiers merely respond with teargas.

The ISM notes that Abu Rahmeh is the 18th Palestinian killed by the Israel military while protesting the Wall. Here is a list. Although such a needless death is a tragedy at any age, please note how young some of those killed have been:

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, 2009:
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, 2009:
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 2009.