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Fighting for Life: American Peace Activist Shot by Israelis
Parents demand inquiry into how son was critically injured by tear gas canister
The parents of an American peace activist publicly appealed yesterday for a full investigation into how their son was shot in the head with a high velocity tear gas canister by Israeli security forces.
Peace demonstrators carrying a placard in Jerusalem (AP) Tristan Anderson, 38, remains in critical condition after three brain operations at Tel Hashomer hospital in Israel, as a result of the shooting which came at the end of a regular joint Arab-Jewish demonstration against the Israeli separation barrier in the West Bank village of Ni'lin.
Activists say the canister round - with a range of more than 400 metres - was fired directly at Mr Anderson from about 60 metres as he was standing with three or four other activists in the centre of the village. They say he was well away from the barrier where the main protest had taken place earlier on 13 March.
Mr Anderson suffered a multiple fracture to his skull, severe injury to the frontal lobe of his brain, and a collapsed eye socket
The peace activists insist that neither Mr Anderson, nor his immediate companions, were throwing stones or posing any threat to the forces.
Mr Anderson's mother. Nancy, who flew from California with her husband Michael to be at her son's bedside, said yesterday that to fire at peace protesters was "really horrifying".
She said that tear gas canisters are designed to be fired in an arc to disperse demonstrators, but that the canister had been "shot right at his head".
"We want the Israeli government to publicly take full responsibility for the shooting of our son," she said.
"I don't carry any negative feelings towards the soldier who shot our son. All I feel is love for Tristan and fear for his recovery."
Mrs Anderson praised the "excellent" care by medics at Tel Hashomer.
Mr Anderson, who had a seasonal job in Oakland California working for a trade union setting up conventions, was in Israel for the first time.
He was with his Jewish girlfriend on a three-month trip, after which he intended to join his parents on a holiday in Europe. He had taken part in peace demonstrations in Iraq before the US invasion in 2003, and in El Salvador and Guatemala.
"He came to understand for himself what the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was about," said Michael Anderson, his father. "It is ironic that the country in which he was shot is a democracy where it is supposed to be a duty for everyone to follow their conscience.
"We want to know what happened and we want justice for our son."
Jonathan Pollack, an activist with the Israeli "Anarchists against the Wall" organisation said the incident had taken place about one kilometre from the barrier after demonstrators had started to disperse. While stones had been thrown earlier during the protest, Mr Pollack, who first met Mr Anderson at a demonstration in Prague during the World Bank-IMF conference in 2000, said: "I have known Tristan for nine years and I know he was not throwing stones at that point or any other point."
The activists say the gas canister, of a kind brought into service only four months ago, was labelled in Hebrew "40mm bullet special/long range."
Four Palestinian residents of Ni'lin - including a 10-year-old boy - were killed during demonstrations last year against the barrier, which will divide villagers from 400 acres of their farmland, when it is complete.
Michael Sfard, an Israeli human rights lawyer, who has filed a formal demand for an official investigation, said that of some 120 criminal investigations brought against security force members since the beginning of the intifada, there had only been one conviction - against the Arab-Israeli soldier who shot British peace activist Tom Hurndall dead in Gaza.
Nobody was brought to trial in two other cases involving the deaths of foreign nationals. They were Rachel Corrie, who like Mr Hurndall was an International Solidarity Movement volunteer. The Israeli military has not accepted responsibility for her death. In the case of British film-maker James Miller, Israeli authorities made a substantial cash payment to his family this year, which came nearly six years after his death.
The Israeli military said that on the day Mr Anderson was shot, some 400 rioters, "some masked", had thrown "a massive number of rocks" at their forces. They said protesters had thrown firebombs, and directed burning tyres towards the forces, and that 73 personnel were injured in 2008 at or near Ni'lin. A spokesman said: "The violent acts of the protesters force Israeli police officers and soldiers to use internationally acceptable riot dispersal means."
- Posted in
36 Comments so far
Show AllThat is a shame that this young man had nothing to protest here in America so he had to travel all the way over there to protest an illgeal and corrupt government mostly financed by his own illegal and corrupt government.
But then he forgot to "clean up his own back yard first".
Life is just full of bitter irony and injustice.
With young people like this young man, change here in this "wonderful place called America" is most likely on the horizon ; "lightyears" away, but "on the horizon".
Good Luck America, you really need it.
On August 29, 1970 some 5000 Mexican-Americans, mostly liberal students and activists, gathered in Laguna Park to protest the draft of Chicano citizens to fight in Vietnam. Ruben Salazar, a reporter for the L.A. Times and news director of KMEX-TV was assigned to cover the rally.
Eventually the crowd stampeded, and Ruben Salazar fled as well, ending up sitting in the front of a crowded local bar called the Silver Dollar. At a little before 8 pm, the police claimed that the riot had reached the area of the bar, that suspected militants and communists responsible for the riot were inside, and a squad from the the Special Enforcement Bureau surrounded the bar and announced from outside that all patrons should surrender themselves and come out. And just before 8 pm, a policeman, who claimed he heard no response, shot 3 canisters of tear gas into the bar. Inside, a friend was just warning Salazar that the cops were ready to shoot. When everybody else fled out the back door, Salazar wasn't among them. He was dead, struck directly in the head by one of those tear-gas grenades. His last words: "That's impossible; we're not doing anything."
___________________________________________
An official inquest into Salazar's death concluded, of course, that it was a Merry Mixup at worst-- after all, he had been "ordered to surrender" by police. (Just in case anyone needs a heads-up on the outcome of the Official Investigation into Tristan's case.) Here, "not doing anything" turned out to be a summary capital offense.
Yeah, too bad Tristan didn't protest in Amerika, where he would merely have been Tasered, had his personal property confiscated or destroyed, and been incarcerated on trumped-up charges.
· Yr Obd't Servant
Obviously you missed my point---that being----"clean up your own back yard---then you can complain about others"
The USA has far to many problems that need addressing where for any American, whether he lived in a tree, or the Zoo, or wherever--to be killed by a tear gas canister of all things---while protesting the illegal actions of an illegal group of squatters supported almost entirely by another group of illegal squatters (the Americans) has got to be placed in the 'World book of absurdities' for other people many of them such as yourself---to learn from.
But you may not be able to learn from it----since Mr. Salazar died in his own country--protesting a very real problem---and should be listed in the annals of time as one who died for his beliefs---fighting in his own way to make things better IN HIS OWN COUNTRY.
I hope that clears it up some for you.
Good luck 'obedient servant', you really need it.
Tristan is and has been in the thoughts of all concerned with the horrible brutalities that continue to take place by the US-backed Israeli government that has no concern for human life, be it their own citizens and certainly not those of Arab descent. And Peace and Love to Rachel whom we will never forget.
Has anyone seen anything in the MSM news about Tristan Anderson? I mean, any MSM media, any news?
There seems to be a complete blackout on this guy.
The Israelis have been allowed to get away with anythig and now look at what this has led to:
Haaretz- An investigation by a group of former Israeli soldiers has uncovered new evidence of the military's conduct during the assault on Gaza two months ago.
This is not a military that we recognise," said Mikhael Manekin, one of the former soldiers involved with the group. "This is in a different category to things we have seen before. We have spoken to a lot of different people who served in different places in Gaza, including officers. We are not talking about some units being more aggressive than others, but underlying policy. So much so that we are talking to soldiers who said that they were having to restrain the orders given."
An investigation by reporter Uri Blau, published on Friday in Haaretz, disclosed how Israeli soldiers were ordering T-shirts to mark the end of operations, featuring grotesque images including dead babies, mothers weeping by their children's graves, a gun aimed at a child and bombed-out mosques.
Another T-shirt designed for infantry snipers bears the inscription "Better use Durex" next to a picture of a dead Palestinian baby, with his weeping mother and a teddy bear beside him. A shirt designed for the Givati Brigade's Shaked battalion depicts a pregnant Palestinian woman with a bull's-eye superimposed on her belly, with the slogan, in English, "1 shot, 2 kills".
No, haven't seen anything in the MSM about Tristan Anderson. Especially not the Lehrer Report on PBS. They are co-opted by Israel and corporate power and running scared of this and other stories. So is the inside the beltway crowd. Remember the USS Liberty, 34 U.S. sailors killed by an Israeli air attack in 1967.
We call it the Liar Report.
This is a sad, but not surprising accident. He made a habit of directly confronting armed men and taking other risks, like living in a tree. To think he would never get hurt would be foolish.
That's as may be, but what's your point?
· Yr Obd't Servant
His point is blunted
… by the fact that so many " a c c i d e n t s " happen on such a regular basis, to such a surprisingly peaceful group of innocents.
Even though I doubt that he has any God to believe in,
he is likely one that carries a lot of " i n s u r a n c e ".
Namaste
Check this out...IDF broke up a press conference being held by Tristan's parents! The Israeli government needs to be held accountable for their ongoing brutality against Palestinians and those who support justice. http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=36632
it was no 'accident', "middle road". at the end of the protest, when most had dispersed and all was quiet, some sick adolescent adrenaline-rushing whim probably told that soldier to aim that canister straight at tristan's HEAD just to see what would happen. i hope whoever did it can SEE a whole lot better now. every bit as tragic for the IDF as for the ISM 'sides'...
THE ONLY KINDS OF FIGHTS WORTH FIGHTING ARE THOSE YOU'RE GOING TO LOSE, BECAUSE SOMEBODY HAS TO FIGHT THEM AND LOSE AND LOSE AND LOSE UNTIL SOMEDAY, SOMEBODY WHO BELIEVES AS YOU DO WINS. -I.F.STONE
THE MOST INTENSE CONFLICTS, IF OVERCOME, LEAVE BEHIND A SENSE OF SECURITY AND CALM WHICH IS NOT EASILY DISTURBED, OR ELSE A BROKENNESS THAT CAN HARDLY BE HEALED. CONVERSELY, IT IS JUST THESE INTENSE CONFLICTS AND THEIR CONFLAGRATION WHICH ARE NEEDED IN ORDER TO PRODUCE VALUABLE AND LASTING RESULTS. -CARL JUNG
difficult, but not impossible faced with such outrage to use our words for peace-building, not provocation. we can wish for (and rail against the lack of) an arthur for our age, but it is our INNER jihads that actually create the change we seek.
Morihei Ueshiba (Aikido founder) said
THE TECHNIQUES OF THE WAY OF PEACE CHANGE CONSTANTLY; EVERY ENCOUNTER IS UNIQUE, AND THE APPROPRIATE RESPONSE SHOULD EMERGE NATURALLY. TODAY'S TECHNIQUES WILL BE DIFFERENT TOMORROW. DO NOT GET CAUGHT UP WITH THE FORM AND APPEARANCE OF A CHALLENGE. THE ART OF PEACE HAS NO FORM - IT IS THE STUDY OF THE SPIRIT.
CORRECTION to baruchzed
The Anderson Family Press Conference was not disrupted. You comment is based on an article from the Ma'an News Agency, that does not quite check out or make sense. They mixed the parents press conference and a completely seperate event that was disrupted.
Tristans parent's press conference was at the Alternative Information Center, NOT the ""the protest tent, in Sheikh Jarrah" as reported by the Ma'an News Agency. It also does not make sense that, "Sheikh Raed Salah the head of the Islamic party in Israel and Sheikh Ekremah Sabry the religious leader at Al-Aqsa Mosque." would be at the Anderson family press conference. Finally no other article, including from the Alternative Information Center, where the press conference was held makes any mention of "disruption".
Check out their article conference:
http://www.alternativenews.org/content/view/1649/381/
I have known Tristan since at least 1995 when he worked with us at the Food Not Bombs Gathering in San Francisco. I have participated with Tristan in many protests in America as well as many outside the United States. U.S. taxpayers paid for the weapon used against Tristan and the many thousands of Palestinian civilians that have also been killed. I have participated in protests against the wall in Palestine and when the IDF arrived fear also arrived. Before Tristan traveled over to Palestine he was active in a tree sit at U.C. Berkeley. He participated in actions against the US assault on Iraq marching in the streets of San Francisco and silkscreened patches which his sold at the Anarchist Book Fair. He has dedicated his life to working for peace and touched many lives cooking with Food Not Bombs and staffing Long Haul in Berkeley. Marching against the WTO in Seattle and Cancun. Over 200 people came out in San Francisco to support him last week. When looking at Tristan's actions they are often in support of ending the violence created by the United States from the war on Iraq to economic exploitation of U.S. based corporations and their trade agreements to the hungry that live on America's 'streets.
M E N U
My heartfelt condolences and thank you for courageously sharing your experiences along the road to PEACE with Tristan. Please do let his family and friends know of the depth of suffering this tragic loss has illuminated for so many others in denial.
Tristan is a true hero and this occasion today, makes me feel proud and grateful to say that America ( despite or because of its faults ) is my home, which is not often any longer truly considered nor appreciated.
You've brought a greater humanity to the news, and together we mark these moments for ALL to see and understand more fully.
Namaste
You along with the other Americans---who travel abroad to protest the actions of other nations might learn from the same proverb that other wise sages have used in the past to caution against over stepping your rights to protest.
"why concern yourself with the speck in the eye of another, while the beam in your own blinds you"----
While protesting the world over is merit worthy----you and the others loose credibility while your own nation is such a mockery to humanity and history.
But then again, the problems here in your own country may be more than you are capable of handling and it most likely makes you feel self righteous to go somewhere else to make your protests. That would be easier than doing the 'right thing here----first---" then the world might just listen to what you have to say.
They certainly do not seem to be listening now.
Why not take the money you spend traveling abroad and donate it to your favorite charity here in the USA---there certainly are enough of them, or start your own charity here to answer these many problems; instead you make others wealthier with your money spent on the expenses associated with your "protests"---"over there"---and they mostly fall on deaf ears, and are presented to a largely blind audience.
But then again, perhaps that is why your own country is in such a mess, you and so many others are far to busy with the short comings of other nations to clean up your own first, so you take pride in joining a "fools parade" and lamenting the senseless death of another fool chasing a dream in a far off land that your own country has been instrumental in creating.
If you are a Jewish/Christian/Islamic believer, you might consider asking that mean, vindictive, jealous, weak, very insecure God of yours for some 'wisdom'.
But, what would you do with it?
Good Luck Menu, you and America really need it.
Native son,
Might it occur to you that we go to the occupied territories primarily to protest US actions - specifically those of it's vile 51st State?
Didn't you read menus comment? Tristan and plenty of others are working hard to change things within the original 50 states too.
And as far as charity, the people don't want no fucking condescending charity, they want POWER!
I have noticed that all of USAIsreal's defenders have bene pretty quiet lately.
---USAn---
Forgive me Native Son, but what's amazing is that you refuse to acknowledge the fact the US money fuels Israel atrocities, because you are only concerned about the issues that only affect you. And then you cop a self righteous attitude at that by stepping on the body of this brave individual.
Good luck Native Son. Looks like you are the one that really needs it.
After 500 years of "heads we win, tails you loose", I think we can cut the Native Americans some slack.
We're now being advertised as a "post-racist" society ( the age of Obama ), where immigrants from India are lauded over by the Repukelicans -- but the ( not well ) hidden history of despicable lawless murder and thievery toward our own pre-colonial ( i.e. native ) populations is unrepentant and basically unacknowledged in the least.
Perhaps the anger, rage and indifference stem from viewing so many CDers concerned about another country's native population being oppressed for a few decades - thousands of miles away - while we ignore the cancerous growths amidst our own children and dishonor those who've fought valiantly for America ( hoping for first class citizenship ).
I'm pissed as hell, sorry for the egregious suffering, and gloating indifference of most -- ignoring that this land's great wealth ( that created America ) was stolen from others -- who have much respect for it, and would never have treated it as dispposable ( we'll just go steal someone else's lands ).
The Native American's pain, suffering, and frustration -- are long unhealed wounds that actually cloud the gaze of all Americans.
It's not just a log in the eyes of most Americans, critiquing those with a mere moats in their eyes -- we've harvested several million square miles of their forests -- and ALL of THAT is blinding us every moment of every day, along with a few Saturn V's and A-bombs thrown in for fireworks.
Try walking a few miles in his shoes … for a few hundred years.
I apologize for non-Native American's brazen and illegal theft of land and wicked torture and death of hundreds of millions. I am so sorry that we did these relentless and unconscionable acts -- and continue to do so, please forgive me. I love you, and reach out with my heart of hearts for the grace of your forgiveness.
We non-Native Americans have been shallow and faceless and it is high time that we stand up and accept full responsibility, for our long ignored sins, and begin the process of healing our gangrenous wounds that are literally killing us from within. There must be reparations and public expressions of the long buried emotions, or we risk it ALL.
Thank you for everything. We owe Native Americans so much with their sacred bones that cover this land from sea to sea, we literally walk upon your ancestor's graves to build up our sky scrapers, and rightful respect has long been withheld.
Namaste
NativeSon, I started to respond to your earlier response, because my first post was off-balance. Since I happened to be familiar with the Salazar story, another episode of an innocent bystander being shot point-blank with a tear gas projectile seemed uncanny. I had an itch to comment about my déjà vu experience.
Since I was brooding upon the general parallel between the way Salazar and Anderson were shot, I sort of dragged the reference into the response even though, as you noted, there are important differences in the context.
However, I did understand you despite the clumsiness of my reply. And although I appreciate your characterization of even well-meaning folks like Anderson as ignoring the beam in their own eye while picking at the splinter in their brother's eye, I have a different view.
That may be your truth, but it's not mine. In fact, except for the geopolitical territories involved, your complaint is very similar to the complaint voiced by annoyed Southern citizens when Freedom Riders started passing through town.
I once heard a talk by one of the first Freedom Riders in which he noted good-naturedly that at times, the worst of it wasn't the brutal lawmen, tear gas, dogs or fire hoses-- it was the endless repetition of old folks in front yards and on porches asking, "Who do you think you are? What do you think you're up to?
"What gives you the idea that you have a right to come way down here from wherever it is you're from up North and tell us how to live?
"Don't you have your OWN problems back home to take care of instead of coming down here and causing all this stir and commotion and trouble in OUR lives?"
To his credit, the speaker thought those were fair questions.
So should Schwerner and Goodman be accorded less honor and respect because they ought to have stayed up in New York and agitated against racial discrimination there?
Protest, like love, is where you find it. Also, as others have noted, perhaps activism does have its "missionary" dimension. Perhaps Tristan, like Rachel Corrie before him, felt an intellectual or even spiritual calling to become a counterforce to Amerikan-spawned evil (which you yourself recognize) in the place where the oppressive and genocidal rubber meets the road.
You're certainly entitled to your opinion that for all the tragic absurdity of the atrocity, Anderson's heart is in the wrong place.
That's more than I know-- although I presume we both hope that heart keeps beating.
· Yr Obd't Servant
Never thought I'd see someone advancing isolationism for political protests.
An atrocity is an atrocity, regardless of where it happens. Why extend concern only to one's nation?
Most people are hospitable and friendly to friendly foreigners. What most non-Americans have discredited is the American government's proclamations.
menu. Right On. Your efforts to move right forward are dead on. And when you travel to do it, to be on point, where the blood is being spilled, that is SO commendable. Any American's presence in the face of the IDF is the meat on the bone....it gets media attention drawn to the Occupation & Killing which is usually done in darkness. The price can be one's life. Rachel, let us remember her.
Tristan is courageous. All who fight for right are, WHEREVER they Stand Forward. indigenousprogeny? Oh Really/ Then put an arrow through an oppressors neck, or use an assault rifle, but disparage Tristan Rachel or their ilk? They are your brothers and sisters and so am I.
Bless you All. Our divisions are constructs of our choice. Fences starting in your yards and going around the world they could disappear we have the power.
I S R A E L I ____ B A C K _ B R E A K I N G _ N E W S
Unbelievably, the Israeli Supreme Court has instantiated RACISM,
see Israel's Most Revolting Law ! :
http://www.counterpunch.org/avnery03232009.html
This supports the fact that the CIA expects and projects the
END of ISRAEL in 20 years :
http://tinyurl.com/CIA-demise-of-Israel
Namaste
The Mainstream Media in the US is disgusting. CNN just referred to a group of activists who were attacked by the Israeli military for their opposition to the Occupation-as "Jewish extremists." It never ends. Sending them an email to correct them on their choice of words. And I have a few choice words of my own for them, as well!
"jewish extremists"........FROM HAARETZ:....represented an individual who was nurtured by society and who was WILLING TO SACRIFICE FOR THE NATION.
Kiryat Arba Chief Rabbi Dov Lior delivered a fiery and overtly political speech, calling for Israeli sovereignty over the whole of the Land of Israel and criticizing what he described as weak-minded IDF strategies in the face of Israel's enemies.
Citing the Torah, Lior noted that "200,000 Israelites and 10,000 Judahites fought Amalek. Why are the Judahites counted separately from the others? Because the Israelite army pitied Amalek. Today this is called being humanitarian."
He added, "Only the tribe of Judah did not pity Amalek, and destroyed it... The sons of Torah are taught not to pity their enemies."
Lior expressed hope that a growing number of IDF strategists coming from the national-religious camp would have an influence on future military campaigns.
"We need ethics from the Torah, not the Christian world, which teaches to turn the other cheek. This hypocrisy is against human nature," Lior said.
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat also saluted the soon-to-be soldiers, saying the IDF was an army of "city-dwellers and villagers, secular and religious, left- and right-wing."
A religious band provided high-spirited music, and the youths danced along.
My heart goes out to the Anderson family and Tristan's friends who know and love him so. I think of the Corrie family too at this time...so many couragous people who are taking actions to show their love for all of human kind....just as I would have stood up in Nazi Germany for my Jewish brothers and sisters who were being mistreated by the Germans...I now stand up for my Muslim brothers and sisters (in and outside the Gaza strip) who are being persecuted by oppressors (Jewish, Christian and others) and just want to live in dignity and peace like the rest of us.
PEACE, SALAAM, SHALOM,
M
I'm telling everyone who will listen to watch Democracy Now instead of CNN and the others. Aljezeera is very good, too. If they must watch mainstream, MSNBC is the best; but, they too filter out information on untouchable topics, like Racel Corrie and Tristan Anderson.
And, of course Common Dreams, Counterpunch, ZNet, and other good alternative sites.
But Native Son it was US dollars and US armaments and US indirect military support that helped cause the terrible injuries to this man. Being as the egregious actions of Israel are so closely related to the US he felt it was his duty to try and help alleviate some of the damage. That's why he was there. If the US were not so involved in every violent activity in the world today maybe Americans wouldn't feel like they owned part of the problem.
You have made a point for me, that you may have not understood you were making---or---perhaps you did understand, and your American arrogance could never allow you to admit.
Taken as a whole, one could connect the USA to a majority of the problems experienced by humanity and the environment.
The point that I wanted to make, is very simple:
Any American who travels abroad, to protest conditions experienced by others as a result of American meddling looses any credibility with anyone when they are protesting in another country. If those same people would simply make sure that the USA does not create problems for others-------they would have no need to be protesting.
The mere fact that so many of the "professed progressives" responding to this report with such philosophical "authority" is just one more tribute to American arrogance.
This is just one more example of the many revelations that are exposed each day on every news media outlet, whether conservative or "liberal"...............
There never has been a more arrogant and at the same time ignorant nation of people that the USA; read the responses to this story and these are just a few.
One more verification that the USA most likely will be known to history as "The horrible negative example of history".
But thanks for your contribution---you and so many others help make my point.
Good luck America, you really need it.
I have been to Bil'in 3 times, inspired in Nov. 2005, after attending a power point lecture in Gainesville, Florida given by a Palestinian and Israeli member of Anarchists Against the Wall/AAtW.
Jonathan Pollak, said: "I was six years old at my first demonstration and active on my own at thirteen. I am 23 now. When they started to build the Apartheid Wall in the West Bank I would go a few times a week and watch them deceive the world. The Israeli government successfully marketed the Apartheid Wall as a security barrier. But it is all about segregation, separation and ethnic cleansing...
"Though Palestinians have employed nonviolence since 1929, they have seen little evidence that it will help them to achieve freedom. In 2003-2004, the West Bank village of Budrus decided to set an example for how nonviolence can defeat the Wall.
"All the people of Budrus mobilized, and were joined by Israeli and international activists. In 55 nonviolent marches, Israeli soldiers injured more than 300 people, arrested 33 and killed one, as the villagers, with their bodies alone, attempted to stop the destruction of their land. Faced with Budrus` determined protests, the Israeli government eventually moved the Wall to the Green Line. The village saved 300 acres of its land and 3000 olive trees. Children, women and old people were among the heroes of Budrus` nonviolent struggle.
"Throughout the West Bank, nine protesters were killed in marches against the Wall, thousands were injured and hundreds arrested. Hundreds of civilian protests throughout the West Bank are the reason the world learned of the injustice of the Wall. As a direct result, the International Court of Justice at the Hague ruled in 2004 that Israel's construction of the Wall violated international law.
"The village of Budrus and the International Court of Justice ruling represent victories for nonviolent resistance. Another success of the joint struggle was the connection forged between Palestinians and the Israelis who joined them in their resistance. This connection, stronger than anything that ideas could create, was unwittingly forged by the Israeli army, through their beatings, the joint arrests and the bullets. Joining Palestinians in nonviolent struggle has allowed some Israelis to voice very clearly that the struggle against occupation and for freedom is not a Palestinian struggle alone, but is their struggle as well.
"We believe that, as with Apartheid South Africa, Americans have a vital role to play in ending Israeli occupation - by speaking out, coming to Palestine as witnesses, or standing with Palestinians in nonviolent resistance.
"We are confident that Israeli occupation will one day be defeated, as were other US government supported repressive regimes - Apartheid South Africa, Pinochet`s Chile and racial segregation in the United States. There is no price too great to pay for freedom, and nothing will deter us from achieving this goal.`
During one of my trips to Bil'in, after chanting a while in front of the soldiers, Jonathan was the first down the steep rocky hill and over a metal railing to grab the roll of razor sharp barbed wire that is in front of the electrified fence in order to shake it. He was immediately joined by a few dozen locals and other AAtW who were swiftly greeted by the first of dozens of sound bombs-thick orange plastic grenades that hit the ground with a deafening sound.
I was half way down the hill when a teenager next to me threw a rock at a soldier and I know that action alone can get one killed or arrested, so I headed back up the hill before the tear gas assaulted the crowd at the barbwire. By the time I made it up the hill the first of hundreds of rubber bullets were being shot into the crowd. Only two internationals were hit and other than a few Palestinian adolescents and young boys throwing rocks all remained nonviolent. I was told that because of the large International presence no live ammo was fired; although the week before a Frenchman took a bullet in the arm while standing next to a group of children. He was back at the Friday ritual with a cast and sling on.
Much more:
http://www.wearewideawake.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1202&Itemid=215
Eileen Fleming, Author, Founder WAWA:
http://www.wearewideawake.org/
Producer "30 Minutes With Vanunu" and "13 Minutes with Vanunu"
The rest is @
WAWA Blog February 23, 2009:
http://www.wearewideawake.org/
The Battle for Bil'in
Eileen Fleming, Author, Founder WAWA:
http://www.wearewideawake.org/
Producer "30 Minutes With Vanunu" and "13 Minutes with Vanunu"
"I don't carry any negative feelings towards the soldier who shot our son. "
Mrs. Anderson, you are a better Christian than I am. I certainly have very negative feelings toward the momser that shot your son. He had absolutely no reason to do what he did other than his personal motivations.
Though I hope that Mr. Anderson recovers, I must say that I have negative feelings toward him. He knowingly injected himself into a riot aimed at impeding Israel from building a necessary barrier to protect its citizens from terrorists.
I am sorry that he was hurt and I have sympathy for the feelings of his parents who must be terribly concerned right now. But there is a difference between taking part in a demonstration involving rock and firebomb throwing, which are deliberate attempts to hurt people, and the accidental injury that sometimes befalls the perpretators of such violence. He is an adult and he should have known the danger into which he was placing himself. Under the guise of "peace" he allied himself with terrorists bent on hurting, maiming, and killing others and he ended up getting hurt himself. I hope he recovers but I can't help observing that there is a certain element of Karma in what happened.
Regarding the policeman who shot him, I do not believe it is possible even to aim a tear gas cannister very accurately. If there were more than one person firing them it may not be possible to tell which policeman did the firing. If he is identifiable, I feel sorry for the policeman. Even though he was doing his job, and I would commend him for that, he probably feels terrible about the fact that someone was hurt by something that is supposed to be a humane method of dispersing a riot. My sympathy goes out to him and his family as well as to Tristan Anderson and his.
I saw the video, and you lie unconvincingly about everything that occurred that day,
except your " … negative feelings toward [ Tristan ], " which clearly is at odd with your concluding comment "My sympathy goes out to … Tristan Anderson and his"
There was no riot, no terrorists with fire bombs and rocks, which wouldn't have been in any way effective going uphill towards the police regardless.
This was in no manner an accident, and the video clearly shows 2 or more affitional teargas canisters falling directly upon the paramedics, trying to save Tristan's life. Demonstrably, the accuracy precision of the multiple gas rounds hitting a very small 6 by 6 foot area ( from about 60 yd ) is positive proof of the means and opportunity.
You Zionists are unbelievably racist and hateful, and you will soon discover that the universe doesn't revolve around you and your pathetic agenda.
The Apartheid wall and Gaza confinement are war crimes and socially reprehensible.
Namaste
I think it aggrevates the Palestinian terrorists (as well as their fellow terrorists in the ISM such as Anderson) to no end that the security fence is extremely effective in blocking their murderous activities.