Dr. Hatem Kanaaneh reports on closing session of Rachel Corrie trial in Haifa

Dr. Hatem Kanaaneh, a retired doctor in the Galilee who blogs brilliantly here, covered this week the closing session in the year-long trial of the suit for wrongful death brought by the parents of Rachel Corrie, who was crushed to death while trying to stop an Israeli military D-9 bulldozer from razing Palestinian houses in Gaza in 2003.

Kanaaneh wrote that the trial’s final session heard the testimony of Colonel Pinhas Zuaretz, “better known by his nickname, Pinky, [who] was the commanding officer of the Gaza Division’s Southern Brigade at the time”.

Here is an extended excerpt of Kanaaneh’s report:

Col. Zuaretz’s “body language and his automatic assumption of priority in communicating with the judge [Judge Gershon], whose ruddy complexion suggested another longish repose on some tropical seaside, did little to reassure me. But [Corrie family lawyer] Husain Abu-Husain proceeded right away to tangle with the man and to try to cut him down to size … Would he commit to the principle of protecting human life? To this last one Colonel Pinky acquiesced begrudgingly after stressing his first allegiance to protecting the life of his soldiers. And was he still convinced of his conclusion after his rushed investigation of the case of the late Rachel Corrie only hours after his soldiers’ D-9R Caterpillars had crushed her to death that their conduct was flawless? To this he responded in the positive stating that Rachel had died through her own carelessness and willful interference on the side of the terrorists who had sent her to disrupt the soldiers’ orderly carrying out of their duty of leveling an area … In Colonel Pinky’s logic there seemed to be no place for doubt: things were either white or black. What he repeatedly asserted was that the whole area was a war zone and anyone present in it was as good as dead, “ben mavit — mortal” by definition. Rachel was on the side of the enemy and her death should have been a forgone conclusion. How could someone miss such simple logic? Pinky shook his head repeatedly in exasperation at the unbelievable stupidity of his doubters. And his soldiers were performing their duties in a war zone. That included the killing of enemy combatants or of their supporters and messengers, he seemed to imply. And yet his soldiers acted in a humane manner. They tried to give first aid to the accidentally injured woman. Pinky emphasized this ‘humane gesture’ that his soldiers extended to another victim whom they had shot dead as well … Indeed this was beyond the call of duty …”

Continue reading Dr. Hatem Kanaaneh reports on closing session of Rachel Corrie trial in Haifa

What is Israel doing, exactly, off Gaza's coast?

Via a Tweet [by the IDF’s own Peter Lerner, @ptrlrnr] on Twitter, our attention was drawn to an Opinion piece published in the Los Angeles Times here in which the author, Amos N. Guiora, identified as a professor of law at the University of Utah’s S.J. Quinney College of Law, professor, wrote: “Since Hamas gained control in Gaza, Israel has carefully controlled the borders, and it established the sea blockade three miles off Gaza’s shoreline“.

Well, this is a broad brushstroke.

But, before unpacking the various components of the phrase, the last part of the phrase attacks immediate attention: “Since Hamas gained control in Gaza, Israel has … established the sea blockade three miles off Gaza’s shoreline“.

This is puzzling, and warrants close examination.

On 3 January 2009, we published a post on the formal announcement of the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza’s maritime space, here.

After many inquiries, I was informed — some 15 months later — that it was published, supposedly on 6 January 2009, which is three days after it was announced on the website of the Israeli Ministry of Transport [controlled, of course, by the Israeli government].   This does raise some questions — especially as this notice was not published on the main global reference site, which is that of the UK Hydrology Office.

This formal Israeli Notice to Mariners (No. 1 of 2009), entitled “Blockade of Gaza Strip“, is published here.

Since then, however, there has been something new.

We first drew attention to this in a review of the situation we published on 14 July 2010, entitled “Investigation: Gaza’s maritime space”, which is posted here.

This new element is apparently unchanged.

The UK Hydrology Office is the main reference for global maritime claims, and the most recent “National Claims to Maritime Jurisdiction” posted on its website still indicates, as we’ve reported previously, as it has for at least the past year-and-a-half, that Israel claims a 12-Nautical Mile territorial sea — with a footnote: and this Footnote 17 (Israel) states that Israel’s claims are “reduced to 3M off Gaza”.

It appears that Israel is now claiming (and has been since at least the end of 2010), as part of its own territorial sea, some 3 nautical miles off Gaza’s coast. This is the area to which Palestinian fishing has largely been restricted.

The Israeli Navy would, it seems obvious, not put seas that it claims as its own under embargo.

So, if the article Tweeted by the IDF’s Peter Lerner is correct (and if we understand it correctly), then the Israeli-proclaimed maritime embargo starts at 3 miles off the coast and extends to the 20 miles designated in maps attached to the Oslo Accords and signed by the parties and witnessed by the U.S. and Russia.

This would be consistent with information about where other ships have been intercepted by the Israeli navy in the past year or so.

We have previously asked the Israeli authorities about their limits of their naval embargo, and related questions, without response.

Continue reading What is Israel doing, exactly, off Gaza's coast?

AFP: UN report mentions unmarked minefield, denial of access to UN observer teams, in Golan

AFP has written a story from UNHQ/NY, based on an as-yet-unpublished UN report, that apparently says that Palestinian and Syrian demonstrators coming from Syria crossed an “unmarked minefield” in the Golan Heights on May 15 — the day that Israeli forces were surprised by the breach.

From the AFP story, published here, it is not clear if this referred to a field of Israeli, or Syrian, mines.

The unpublished UN report that AFP obtained is apparently linked to forthcoming UN Security Council consideration of periodic renewal, later this month, of the UN peacekeeping mandate on the Golan Heights, known as UNDOF [UN Disengagement Observer Forces]. This UNDOF report, published as a report of the UNSG, was due to be published on 10 June…

The AFP story, published yesterday [Wednesday June 15] says that “On May 15, about 4,000 mainly Palestinian demonstrators gathered on the Golan Heights on the anniversary of Israel’s 1948 creation. The UN report said about 300 moved toward the Israeli side ‘and despite the presence of the Syrian police, crossed the ceasefire line, through an unmarked minefield‘ and broke through an Israeli security fence. Israeli forces at first fired tear gas, then warning shots and then used ‘direct fire’, according to the UN, which said four dead and 41 wounded were reported. On June 5, Palestinians again gathered at two places on the Golan Heights ceasefire line. ‘Despite the presence of Syrian security forces, protesters attempted to breach the ceasefire line in both locations’, the UN said. Israeli forces again used tear gas and then live fire to deter the demonstrators. The UN said up to 23 people were reported killed and many more wounded … The UN report said ‘anti-government demonstrations in Syria spread to several villages’ on the Syrian side of the ceasefire line. UN observer teams have been denied access to six villages ‘ostensibly for reasons of safety and security of the military observers’, the report said”. This AFP story is published here.

This confirms the serious — and still unanswered — questions that have been raised in the past month:
(1) There is a question of proper notification, both to Syrian authorities and to UN peacekeeping missions working in the Golan.
(2) There is also an unanswered question about whether or not the minefields were properly marked [particularly any newly-laid minefields], in order to provide adequate warning to the demonstrators themselves.
(3) The breach of the Syrian and Israeli lines by Palestinian and Syrian protesters in demonstrations both on June 5 and also on May 15 has raised questions about how the UN peacekeeping forces who operate there are working.

The AFP story did seem to show UN confirmation that Syrian authorities didn’t do much but stand by and watch during May15 +June5 protests — though there was no real dispute on that point. The UN report apparently does not say that Syrian authorities actually sponsored, or even encouraged, the demonstrations. [It would be interesting to see anybody argue that the Syrian Army should actually have stopped the protesters from protesting — though the Lebanese Army did shoot at demonstrators on May 15.]

On Monday 6 June, a day after the latest demonstrations, the Israeli media published reports that newly-laid IDF minefields were among the preparations undertaken since the Nakba Day protests on May15 (when Palestinians + Syrians surprised the IDF by crossing the Golan on foot and entering Majdal Shams etc.) These newly-laid IDF minefields were reportedly planted expressly to prevent a second breach of the lines, in anticipation of the June 5 demonstrations marking the start of the June 1967 war (and the start of the Israeli occupation). An unclear number of people, said to be unarmed, were killed by unclear causes, apparently including minefield explosions.

UNDOF’s Croatian Battalion is located in the middle of the UN Zone that separates Israeli and Syrian lines near Majdal Shams.
The current UNDOF deployment map is published here.

The Israeli and Syrian lines are situated where agreed by a 1974 Agreement on the Disengagement of Israeli and Syrian forces. It can’t be found on the UN website, but it is on the website of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, here. It shows the UN zone in the middle of the demarcated area:

Map of Israeli-Syrian Disengagement Agreement - 1974
Israeli-Syrian Disengagement Agreement Map - 1974

The story has not yet been developed.

It is not clear where the old minefields are, or whether they are all clearly marked. And it’s absolutely not clear where any newly-laid minefields are. But, all indications are that the newly-laid minefields were unmarked. (Except by two rows of barbed wire, according to an Israeli friend.)

One report, whose link I’ve unfortunately misplaced, did mention in passing that the IDF lines were overrun on May15 when Israeli troops stopped in their tracks, stunned to see the Palestinian demonstrators crossing minefields [marked, or unmarked?]

The first indications of injuries and deaths from mine explosions came from accounts given to the Israeli media by the IDF Northern Command on June 5, and then by IDF spokespersons themselves. The IDF aid that some protesters supposedly threw Molotov cocktails onto one minefield, apparently near Quneitra, thereby setting off one or more explosions. At least one IDF spokeswoman insisted, in an interview with one of my colleagues, that this peculiar tragedy involved minefields left over from the 1967 war.

UPDATE: However, the as-yet-unpublished UN report blame the fire not on Molotov cocktails supposedly thrown by demonstrators, but rather on the tear gas (or smoke?) canisters fired at the demonstrators by Israeli forces. Thanks to a tip from NYC-based journalist Alex B. Kane, who published his own account on Mondoweiss, there, we discovered a DPA [German Press Agency] story published by Haaretz on Tuesday evening, here reports that “A UN report on the Naksa day events said the IDF used tear gas, smoke grenades and live fire to prevent the demonstrators from crossing the ceasefire line. It stated: ‘Several anti-tank mines exploded due to a brush fire apparently started by tear gas or smoke grenade canisters near UNDOF facilities at Charlie Gate [near Quneitra?], resulting in casualties among protesters’. The brush fire was put out by Syrian and Israeli fire squads, and UNDOF, the report read”.

Another link in Alex Kane’s report for Mondoweiss, a Haaretz report published on June 6, here, “[IDF] Soldiers fired ‘with precision’ at the bottom half of the bodies of the protesters, the army said”. Then, an IDF spokeswoman said that this was further proof that the death toll figures had been exaggerated: We shot them in the feet, she said, and then the wounded were carried away on stretchers, pretending that they were dead…

So, to satisfy the IDF standards of proof that they were only “shot in the feet”, those injured should have walked back across the lines…?

Why was Hussam Khader sentenced by an Israeli military court in the West Bank to six months' administrative detention???

Hussam Khader in left front in handcuffs  - photo by Maan

Hussam Khader, in left front in handcuffs, carrying his belongings in a bag – photo by Maan News

The story — but not the reason, or the explanation — is published by Maan News Agency, which reported that  “Israel’s Salem military court sentenced Fatah leader Hussam Khader to 6 months of administrative detention in a decision signed Thursday. The brother of the elected official, Ghassan Khader, said the judge who signed the order declined to give a reason for the decision … Administrative detention is allowed under Israeli military rule in the West Bank and Gaza, permitting the detention of Palestinians without charge for a period of up to six months, a term which is indefinitely renewable. It is based on the Law of Emergency Powers, adopted by the Israeli Knesset in 1979“. This is posted here.

UPDATE: Hussam Khader’s family have said that they still have hope. They say that they have been told that the judge in the military court has asked the same question we’ve asked — and has given the military prosecutor 72 hours to explain the reason, to explain why the Army, or the Ministry of Defense, or the security services, want Hussam Khader to be detained and locked away. The judge has asked for an answer on Monday. After he gets the answer, the judge will either confirm the sentence, cut it, or eliminate it entirely and release Hussam Khader. In the meantime, Hussam Khader is in Megiddo Prison in Israel, just on the edge of the northern West Bank.

UPDATE TWO: Maan has updated their story to say that so far, or in effect, Hussam Khader’s detention has only been extended for 72 hours. But, this makes their report unclear, as it doesn’t really explain the fuller picture …

There have been a series of IDF detentions of Hamas-affiliated politicians and elected members of the Palestine Legislative Council in the northern West Bank in recent weeks. Hussam Khader is the only Fatah politician to be arrested. He was an elected member of the PLC when he was last arrested in 2003, and he was still in jail and could not run in the following elections in 2006, so he was not a member of the most-recently-elected Palestinian parliament. He was last released from jail in September 2008, and has now been detained for the 25th time in his life.

Our post on the circumstances [as recounted by his family] of the IDF raid in which Hussam Khader was detained a week ago Thursday is published here.

UN Human Rights Commissioner is only UN official to deal with reports that minefields took toll on Golan protesters

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay [of India] is the only UN official to deal with reports that minefields had taken a toll among protestors in the Golan Heights on Sunday.

Pillay’s statement did not take on the question of reports that Israeli Defense Forces had laid new minefields in recent weeks to stop Palestinian and Syrian protestors from infiltrating via the Golan.

A UNHCR spokesperson said Wednesday afternoon that he had been unaware of these reports, which were published earlier in the week in the Israeli media [see yesterday’s post on this blog].

“The Government of Israel has a duty to ensure that its security personnel avoid the use of excessive force”, Pillay said in a statement issued on Tuesday afternoon, and posted here.

The statement, put out in Pillay’s name, also notes that “Reports have suggested that more than 20 civilians were killed and hundreds injured as a result of Israeli gunfire. Other reports suggest some of the casualties may have been caused by the detonation of landmines buried on the Syrian side of the ceasefire line“.

This wording avoids dealing with the possibility, suggested by Israeli media reports this week, that Israeli Defense Forces actually laid new minefields since May 15, when Israeli lines were overrun in the Golan Heights by Palestinian demonstrators from Syria, and some of their supporters, succeeded in entering the town of Majdal Shams.

It is not clear exactly where — assuming that this week’s Israeli media reports, sourced to IDF officials, are true — these reported newly-laid mine fields are actually located.

At a demonstration last Sunday, called to mark the anniversary of the June 1967 war and the start of the Israeli occupation (of the Golan Heights as well as the West Bank and Gaza), an uncertain number of demonstrators died or were wounded from mine explosions.

The first indications of the mine explosions came, in fact, from accounts given by IDF spokespersons themselves.

They said, disingenuously, that in these cases, the Palestinian and Syrian protesters should be held responsible for their own injuries because they failed to heed oral warnings — issued in Arabic, the IDF stressed — and because some protesters supposedly threw Molotov cocktails onto one minefield, thereby setting off one or more explosions.

This avoids the serious question of whether or not the IDF carried out proper notification — both to Syrian authorities and to UN peacekeeping missions working in the Golan — and also whether or not the minefields were properly marked, particularly any minefields which might have been newly-laid, in order to provide adequate warning to the demonstrators themselves.

It avoids directly dealing with reports that the IDF laid new minefields in the past three weeks specifically to stop infiltration by protestors.

And, it does seem to put more blame on Syrian authorities than on Israel, by saying that “Pillay also expressed concern over allegations that civilians were encouraged by the Syrian authorities to protest in areas where landmines are located”.

That is a very serious accusation indeed.

Continue reading UN Human Rights Commissioner is only UN official to deal with reports that minefields took toll on Golan protesters

IDF reportedly laid new minefields in Golan ahead of Sunday demonstrations

There were several Israeli media reports published yesterday (in English) and today (in Hebrew) that the IDF has, in recent weeks, laid new minefields in the Golan — as part of the military preparations against continuing demonstrations at the “border”.

According to these reports, new minefields were laid in the weeks between the May 15 Nakba Day demonstrations [marking the expulsion of some 750,000 Palestinians in the fighting that surrounded the creation of the State of Israel in 1948] and the June 5 demonstrations held on Sunday [to mark the 1967 war and the start of the occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, and Golan].

On May 15, Israeli officials were surprised by an infiltration of Palestinians and their supporters who managed to cross the lines and enter the Golan town of Majdal Shams. One of these infiltrators even managed to get as far as Yaffa, the birthplace and home town of his parents, where he went for a meal, looked around, and then turned himself in to Israeli police.

The Syrian Golan Heights was occupied by Israel in the June 1967 war — and annexed by Israel in 1980, a move that UN members said was “null and void”.

The well-informed Defense Correspondent for the Jerusalem Post, Yaakov Katz, wrote in an article published last night [06/06/2011 22:01] that “In general, the army was pleased with the way it handled the protests on Sunday … In the weeks before, the IDF prepared extensively, laying down new minefields, digging trenches and installing new barbed-wire fences … At least eight of the dead, IDF sources said on Monday, were killed by mines that exploded after the protesters threw Molotov cocktails in fields near the border, causing their premature detonation”. This was posted here.

Laying new minefields in the Golan raises serious questions — including whether proper notification was made, particularly to the Syrian authorities (also to the UN, which has peacekeeping missions there).

It also raises questions about whether such military measures — normally intended to address grave dangers and prevent invasions — are also intended as the Israeli response to protest demonstrations and civilian infiltration.

Continue reading IDF reportedly laid new minefields in Golan ahead of Sunday demonstrations

Tiananmen Square Moment – A new form of non-violent protest at Qalandia today: Standing up to the skunk spray machine

A small group of protesters in today’s protest at Qalandia marking the outbreak of the June 1967 war stood up in front of — and blocked — the “skunk spray” or “sewage water” machine that was hosing demonstrators with a revolting and persistently-smelly blue-colored water.

Photo by courtesy of the photographer, Mohamed Jaradat

Fadi Quran, one of coordinators of Manara Youth group protests
since the beginning of 2011 stands (with colleagues) with his hands raised
in front of IDF skunk spray machine

 

It was the first time the “skunk spray” machine was used at Qalandia.  [It was used on Friday for the first time in a Friday protest against the Wall at Nabi Saleh… It sprayed some protesters, then it went into the center of the village and sprayed the streets and the homes, requiring a massive clean-up campaign.]

And, it was the first time Palestinian protesters in the West Bank used this tactic of non-violent resistance.

They stood there and took it.

They planned for it, they trained for weeks for this, and they did not run away as they were sprayed with the very foul-smelling liquid.

They stood there and allowed themselves to be coated, covered, with this notoriously disgusting stuff.

They blocked the machine from moving up the street, which is bordered with small businesses and small apartment buildings — and schools —  and which cuts through the heavily-populated Qalandia Refugee Camp.

And, they won a small victory on an otherwise confusing and disappointing day: the “skunk spray” machine was ordered to retreat back into the protected military zone at the terrible Qalandia Checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem.

It was a revolutionary change in the way checkpoint protests have been conducted until today.

Continue reading Tiananmen Square Moment – A new form of non-violent protest at Qalandia today: Standing up to the skunk spray machine

Total IDF closure of West Bank for Israeli holidays, followed by IDF build-up in preparation for Palestinian demonstrations this weekend

The tension is thick enough to cut with a knife.

The Israeli Defense Ministry declared a total closure of the West Bank from Sunday just after midnight until Wednesday just after midnight, to allow Israelis to commemorate Remembrance Day on Monday, in honor of those who have died in Israel’s wars, which segued immediately into Independence Day on Tuesday, to celebrate the creation of the State of Israel [according to the Jewish calendar].

Many visited the West Bank for picnics and barbeques, in ease and comfort. Checkpoints all around the northern West Bank town of Nablus were shut down to give extra reassurance to Israeli settlers and their friends and families. Israeli flags were everywhere, flying from windows, balconies, lampposts, and from plastic holders fixed on the front windows of both sides of their cars, like dogs’ ears.

The holidays passed uneventfully, apart from a mini-demonstration staged by the brother of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit at the important televised official ceremony on Mount Herzl during the transition from Monday’s sadness in Israel to Tuesday’s joy.

On Wednesday, as Israelis returned to work, the IDF began to deploy in watchtowers along The Wall, in preparation for demonstrations called by Palestinians for Nakba Day on March 15, to mark the catastrophic dispossession — much of it forced — of an estimated 750,000 Palestinians in the fighting that surrounded the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.

The return, or right to return, of those Palestinians and their descendants is something that has been under discussion for the subsequent 63 years.

Most Israelis are adamantly opposed.

Some say, with emphasis, that this would mean war.

Others say they cannot allow any deterioration of their own lifestyle, which they are convinced would be in jeopardy with any significant Palestinian return.

Most Israelis say they don’t want to even see any Palestinians.

Proposals discussed at the unsuccessful Camp David peace talks in late July 2000 envisaged the return of Palestinian refugees only to a future Palestinian state, with strictly limited and symbolic “family reunification” of between 10,000 and 100,000 Palestinian refugees who would be allowed to enter Israel.

The recent Israeli Peace Initiative, signed by a group of some 70 Israeli ex-military, ex-security, and other officials, contains a distinctly ungenerous proposal to recognize “the suffering of the Palestinian refugee since the 1948 war, as well as of the Jewish refugees from Arab countries”.

This would apparently creates an accounting balance [of zero] on both sides of the ledger.

The Israeli Peace Initiative also notes “the need to resolve the Palestinian refugees problem through realistic and mutually agreed-upon solutions”.

The demonstrations planned this weekend by Palestinians and their supports are scheduled to take place globally — and some, perhaps many, will be on the internet.

There has been intense speculation in recent weeks about these demonstrations — which could be the first large-scale direct confrontations between demonstrators who have declared their dedication to non-violence and Israeli forces at checkpoints in the West Bank and in Gaza, as well as at the Egyptian, Lebanese, and Jordanian borders.

No one knows how many will turn out, how sustained their effort will be, or what will be the response…

On Friday 13 May, a coalition of Palestinian youth groups has announced they will be holding a training session in non-violence in Qalandiya refugee camp ahead of a planned demonstration at the massive and monstrous checkpoint on 15 May, during which time, they say, they intend to enter Jerusalem and “1948 areas” — peacefully, of course.
Also on Friday 13 May, marches were scheduled along Israel’s borders with Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon.

UPDATE: clashes between Israeli military, police, and private security for Israeli settlers (on the one hand) and adolescent male residents of Silwan, on the south-eastern edge of the Old City of East Jerusalem escalated quickly on Friday afternoon. A 16 or 17-year-old, Mourad Ayyash, was shot in the abdomen, and suffered massive blood loss while medical care was delayed due to a police cordon around the area; he died later in hospital after hours of surgery. According to an email from Jonathan Pollack for the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee, the bullet came from a pistoMinor clashes were contained on Friday afternoon — with dozens of protestors detained — in an arc of East Jerusalem neighborhoods from Silwan to the Mount of Olives to Issawiya to Shuafat Refugee Camp to the Qalandia checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah. On Saturday at mid-day, there were what Israeli media reported were “violent” clashes at the boy’s funeral procession from his home in Ras al-Amoud to a cemetary outside the Old City Wall (just north of Silwan).

On Saturday 14 May, a demonstration is scheduled to be held in Walajee, ajacent to the north/western edge of Bethlehem, to protest the imminent completion of The Wall and further loss of Palestinian land there. Demonstrators may also be intending to enter Jerusalem — without permits — but peacefully.

UPDATE: There is a demonstration on Saturday afternoon in Yaffa, an Israeli coastal city once home to tens of thousands of Palestinians who fled in 1948, south of Haifa.

On Sunday May 15, the main anticipated demonstration will be at Qalandia checkpoint, which will certainly be shut down for most of the day.

Total closure of the West Bank for ten-day Jewish holiday of Pesach which celebrates freedom

The announcement of the IDF spokesperson, published today here, says, in full, that:
In accordance with the directives of the Minister of Defense and as part of the situation assessments adopted by the defense establishment, a general closure was implemented in the Judea and Samaria region yesterday, Sunday, April 17th, 2011 at 23:59. The closure will be lifted on the night of Tuesday, April 26th, 2011 at 23:59, in accordance with security assessments. For the duration of the closure, persons in need of medical attention, humanitarian aid or exceptional assistance will be permitted to pass for care. The passage of journalists will also be permitted. Christian Palestinians holding the relevant permits [emphasis added] will also be permitted to pass in order to celebrate the Easter holiday”.

Now, we learn, the bureaucracy of the Israeli occupation extends even to babies, who are now required to have permits to visit Jerusalem at Easter time. From a Tweet by @jbaboun, a photo of a permit given to an infant is posted here, accompanied by her own comments.  She also wrote a post about this on her own blog here, which also shows her own permit, which she apparently tore up into four pieces as a protest:

Palm Sunday celebration in Jerusalem.. even babies need permi... on Twitpic

Bili'in Tryptich

(1) On Monday, apparently late (9:30 at night), the IDF invited selected journalists and “right-wing bloggers” (according to +972 magazine) to cast doubt on reports (and evidence) that Jawaher Abu Rahmeh (Abu Rahman) somehow died of teargas inhalation on 1 January that was used by the Army a day earlier, at a regular weekly demonstration in Bil’in.

According to various reports, the a senior IDF official said in the briefing that Jawaher died from some other medical condition (cancer, it was strongly suggested).

Doubts were raised about whether Jawaher even participated in the briefing — perhaps she was just an onlooker.

And, accusations were made that the reports about Jawaher’s death from tear gas were the latest “blood libel” against Israel.

Some of the earlier attempts to dismiss Jawaher’s death were based on claims that her death was an “honor killing”, covered up.

One of the earlier of those attempts was published on 2 January on the Samson Blinded blog, here, and said: “A Palestinian rioter in Bilin, Jawaher Abu Rahma, died after allegedly inhaling tear gas. Which is odd, since she was discharged from the hospital after a few hours. This is not how one dies from tear gas. Recall that Jawaher’s brother Bassam was killed by a tear gas canister at Bilin. Since the number of deaths there was minuscule, such a coincidence is improbable. It seems that Jawaher was killed by her own in order to maximize the PR effect of creating a martyr family”.

However, Yossi Gurvitz wrote for +972 magazine that “The briefing held last evening for all of the main Israeli media (as well as a select group of right-wing bloggers, people you can rely on not to ask difficult questions and who would understand their role in the Hasbara choir) was given, according to a source, by Major General (Aluf) Avi Mizrahi, general commander of Central Command. Mizrahi – first noted by the public when his colossal failure to supply the troops in the 2006 Lebanon war led him to permit limited looting – is a major figure, which may explain why his remarks were given such space by all of the Israeli media, even though he was not named. It should be mentioned again that this is not the official IDF Spokesman position; it refused to answer the question whether it was Mizrahi who gave the briefing, claiming it cannot expose a person providing ‘background information’; but Mizrahi’s briefing was anything a ‘background briefing’, it was entirely for immediate publication … Mizrahi hinted during his briefing that Abu Rahmah was ill with cancer, and she conveniently died during the demonstation, just to screw the IDF. His proof? She received medicines which may also serve cancer patients; this made him jump to the conclusion that she was sick with cancer, and died of it … In short, the IDF asks us to believe that a 36 years old woman died suddenly, just on the day of the demonstration from cancer which showed no earlier symptoms; that a large number of people conspired to fake her death; all of which, by the way, without any results of an autopsy (which was not held)”.  This was published In short, the IDF asks us to believe that a 36 years old woman died suddenly, just on the day of the demonstration from cancer which showed no earlier symptoms; that a large number of people conspired to fake her death; all of which, by the way, without any results of an autopsy (which was not held).  In short, the IDF asks us to believe that a 36 years old woman died suddenly,  just on the day of the demonstration from cancer which showed no earlier symptoms; that a large number of people conspired to fake her death; all of which, by the way, without any results of an autopsy (which was not held).

Israeli activist Jonathan Pollak, who has himself been sentenced to three months in jail starting on 11 January for participating in a bike ride protest against calculated and calibrated Israeli military-administered sanctions against the Gaza Strip, has sent out an email on behalf of the Popular Struggle Committee saying that “Jawaher Abu Rahmah was killed after Israeli soldiers used excessive amounts of tear-gas to disperse the demonstration in Bil’in from afar last Friday. She passed away Saturday morning from cardiac arrest caused by the collapse of her respiratory system. Despite an enraging smear campaign by the Israeli Army, unsubstantially alleging that Abu Rahmah did not at all die as a result of tear-gas inhalation, all evidence support the demonstrators’ version, including the ambulance and medical reports. Contrary to Israeli claims, Abu Rahmah is not the first to have died as a result of tear-gas inhalation. Already during the years of the First Intifada, Amnesty International had reported forty deaths from CS tear gas inhalation from December 1987 to June 1988 alone in its report ‘Israel and the Occupied Territories: Amnesty International’s concerns in 1988” (published 1989)’. This email links to a report, not by Amnesty International, but rather to a back issue, dated 1992, from The Washington Report which reported here that “The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) is suing Federal Laboratories, a division of TransTechnology, Inc., on behalf of eight Palestinian families that have lost members due to inhalation of CS tear gas, a chemical weapon used by the Israelis. The complaint and request for jury trial seeks compensatory and punitive damages for wrongful death of the Palestinians. The suit alleges that Israel’s misuse of the CS gas is well documented. The complaint charges that by 1988, Federal Laboratories was aware of Israel’s abuse of the gas by firing directly at unarmed crowds and by using the gas indoors in crowded residential areas, and in and near structures that do not have windows that close. The suit charges that the firm knew the Israelis were using the gas without proper warning and where victims had no means to escape, and that the Israelis were failing to provide medical assistance to the victims. Amnesty International has reported [in a report entitled “Israel and the Occupied Territories: Amnesty International’s concerns in 1988″ (published 1989)] some 40 deaths from CS tear gas inhalation alone from December 1987 to June 1988”.

While the IDF said, in the meantime, that it had issued directives changing some of its practices, there are still questions about what happened to cause Jawaher Abu Rahmah’s death last Saturday. While, as one “right-wing blogger” noted, if the tear gas used was of a particularly lethal composition, Jawaher would not have been the only casualty. However, any armed force is also supposed to take into consideration other extenuating circumstances — such as possible medical conditions, or drug interactions — that might turn tear gas from an extreme irritant into an outright lethal weapon. And, by almost all accounts (except the IDF’s), Israeli solidiers used tear gas very liberally, to say the least, in Bil’in last week.

[[The Israeli Government Press Office (GPO) — which is part of the Prime Minister’s office — published a Tweet on 5 January saying that Jawaher Abu Rahmeh died of cancer, despite all the editorial space devoted to debating this question and the medical reports and testimonies that have been published. It is interesting, by comparison, to read on 6 January that “leaks” from the Prime Minister’s office, however true, are not at all acceptable, where as the defamatory spin from the IDF is perfectly acceptable. Arutz Sheva (a very nationalist and pro-settler website) reported on 6 January that “Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahi ordered the Shin Bet (Israel Security Service) to investigate senior members of his administration on suspicion that they leaked sensitive information to journalists, a report said Thursday. The investigation is underway, and several officials have already been questioned, some using a polygraph to determine if they were the ones who leaked the information. Among the officials the Shin Bet has questioned, the report on Army Radio said, are National Security advisor Uzi Arad, government secretary Zvi Hauser, and former Netanyahu spokesperson Nir Heffetz”. This Arutz Sheva story is posted here.]]

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(2) On Sunday evening, results were announced after a year-long IDF inquiry into the death of Jawaher’s brother, Basem Abu Rahmah, who died after being hit directly in the chest by a high-velocity tear-gas cannister.

Haaretz reported that “The IDF delayed its decision for over a year, until finally releasing a statement on Sunday. ‘We have approached military officials for their comments on the alleged incident. After examining the materials we received, we came to believe there was no basis found to the claim a tear gas grenade was aimed and fired directly at Abu Rahmeh’, the statement read. ‘The inquiry shows that there are two possible explanations for the injury: A. The injured man was standing on an elevated spot, and intersected the firing line of the grenade or B. The ammunition fired hit the upper wires of the fence, which changed its trajectory’.” This report is posted here.

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(3) In the aftermath of the death of Jawaher Abu Rahmah, some 30 Israeli women’s organizations expressed shock and outrage, and called on their government to stop “the use of weapons to disperse popular demonstrations in the West Bank”.

A statement issued by the groups said: “We express solidarity with our sisters across the Palestine and Israel and support their inalienable right to non-violent protest”.

Their statement accused the Israeli army of “trying to … disseminate false information regarding the circumstances of the death of Jawaher Abu Rahmah last Friday in Bil’in”, and they said they “will join the weekly demonstration against the Wall this Friday (the 7th of January) in Bili’in”, expressing solidarity and “a firm position of support for the protesters and family, according to which Abu-Rahmah’s death was caused as a result of tear gas inhalation, in contrast to versions circulated in recent days by the IDF spokesperson”. Among the groups who announced plans to participate in the Bil’in demonstration on Friday are: Coalition of Women for Peace, Progressive Women’s Front, TANDI, Machsom Watch, Aswat, Kayan and New Profile.

A press release stated that “Jawaher Abu-Rahmah, 36, a sister to Bassem Abu-Rahmah, who was killed in April 2009 from a high-velocity tear gas canisr shot directly towards him, was an active and appreciated figure in the village and used to organize conferences and workshops on feminist issutees”.

In addition, Dr. Dalit Baum, member of the Coalition of Women for Peace, who initiated the petition stated: “Abu-Rahmah’s murder is a form of violence against women, and it is plastered in the exact same way as other forms of violence against women are. As in all such cases, we, women’s organizations, will not silence until those responsible will be held accountable”.

Mahasen Rabous, Coordinator of the Coalition of Women for Peace, said: “nearly thirty women’s organizations have expressed today support for the struggle in Bil’in, and for the Palestinian struggle for liberation from occupation … solidarity between women does not stop at the checkpoint”