World Palestine Newswire Archive

This morning, protesters, EU Parliamentarians, journalists and ambulance crews are being sprayed with skunk water and copious amounts of tear gas in the weekly protest against the wall at Bil'in. Soldiers are also reported to be firing 'rubber bullets' at children in the village.

The tragic death of an unarmed woman in Palestine last Friday (31st) has lead to a global cry for action against the increasing use of 'non-violent' weapons in the continued repression of the Palestinian people.

On the Newswire: 1

Links: www.palsolidarity.org | www.bilin-village.org

“The Israeli government and its army have been for years now using the West Bank and Gaza as their testing ground. The Palestinians are their guinea pigs. The Israeli army uses tear gas that would probably be banned in any other countries in the world. They shoot tear gas, directly at protesters, once again, an illegal act. But a very rewarding one. Israel’s security industry is booming. It’s never been this good. Countries all over the world are buying Israel’s expertise in security, crowd control and weaponry every day. Israeli soldiers are training other countries commandos all over the planet”[1]

From the blog, Bil’in: A Village of Palestine, 02/01/11

Towards the end of last year, we sent out two media alerts - Put The Palestinians On A Diet and Too Toxic To Handle? - about the corporate media's failure to report the release of documents detailing Israel's deliberate policy of near-starvation for Gaza. "The idea", explained a senior Israeli official, "is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger." The human rights group Gisha published explicit Israeli formulas for the amount of food, animal feed and poultry to be allowed into Gaza, and the cold calculation of "breathing space": the number of days before these essential supplies would run out.

Hundreds of Israelis rallied in Tel Aviv Saturday night to protest the death of Bil’in resident Jawaher Abu Rahmah, who died on Saturday morning after inhaling tear gas fired by Israeli forces during the weekly anti-fence demonstration.

The 36 year-old woman was evacuated to a Ramallah hospital on Friday afternoon, after losing consciousness. Doctors attached her to a respirator and treated her for exposure to toxins found in the tear gas, but the patient did not respond. She died at 9 o’clock on Saturday morning, without regaining consciousness.