Posted on: December 15, 2014
Palestinian Minister Ziad Abu Ein assassinated by Israel in a rally to save olive trees
Ziad Abu Ein dies following a confrontation with Israeli troops as he made his way to a tree planting ceremony
About 100 foreign and Palestinian activists were on their way to plant trees near an Israeli settlement when they were stopped at an improvised checkpoint.
Naomi Wolf wrote:
“Now you see the morphing headlines..on SkyNews “Palestinian Minister Dies after Troop Clash’ which suggests a militarized conflict — not a group of peaceful demonstrators trying to plant olive trees on their own land…no suggestion of a wrongful death manslaughter or assault in the headline…http://news.sky.com/…/palestinian-minister-dies-after-troop…
UK, Wednesday 10 December 2014
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Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has announced 3 days of national mourning after one of his cabinet members died following a confrontation with Israeli soldiers.
Palestinian leaders are holding emergency talks about the incident, while Israel says it is “reviewing the circumstances” of the death.
Mr Abbas says all options are open, following the death of Ziad Abu Ein in the West Bank.
He was taking part in a tree-planting demonstration in Turmus Aya when he was confronted by Israeli soldiers and tear gas was fired.
Witnesses also said the Cabinet member was involved in a scuffle with an Israeli soldier and there were claims he was hit on the chest by an Israeli soldier’s helmet and a rifle butt.
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He then began to experience breathing problems, and died while he was being taken to hospital by ambulance.
Mr Abbas said: “What happened today was a crime. We cannot be patient or remain quiet about what happened.
“We are open to taking up any option against the other side.”
Palestinian leaders are due to hold a meeting on Wednesday night to discuss what action they may take.
A group of around 15 Israeli soldiers fired tear gas at the protesters and began scuffling with them, witnesses said.
One marcher said Mr Abu Ein marched toward the soldiers ahead of everyone else, until he was stopped by a soldier.
He said the soldier head-butted the politician then hit him in the chest with his rifle butt.
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The Palestinian Ambassador to the UK Manuel Hassassian told Sky News: “Ziad Abu Ein was trying to explain the situation, why they were there, and what have you.
“They started pushing and shoving and throwing tear gas at the people and he was defending the right to stay there, to plant the olive trees and the end result was that tear gases were suffocating him. He fell on the ground and he was beaten before he passed away.”
Lt Col Peter Lerner of the Israeli Defence Force told Sky News: “We are investigating the specifics of the events of today. How were our troops prepared for the event, for the demonstration? What did we know? Did we know who was coming?
“We have to determine what is the actual cause of death and I’m happy to say that the Palestinians have agreed that there will be a joint investigation and pathologist both from our side and the Palestinian side will look into what exactly happened.
“Taking care and preventing an escalation of violence, we don’t want that to happen. We are currently speaking with our counterparts in the Palestinian security apparatus in order to prevent an escalation and stop the cycle of violence we face.”.
The British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said: “I’m shocked by the death of Palestinian Minister Ziad Abu Ein, following clashes between the IDF and Palestinians at a protest and tree planting ceremony for Human Rights Day in the West Bank.
“We expect a swift and transparent investigation.”
Posted on: December 12, 2014
Palestinian non-violent activists killed by Israel
Naomi Wolf posted:
“All the Western MSM have ‘”dies after clashes’ suggesting this minister was violent and the context was militarized or aggressive. Only the Guardian includes the fact that the group was a peaceful group of protesters planting olive trees, in its subhed (that is journalism speak for the explanation below the headline).
See the demonization of Palestinians and Islam almost like an organic law and the story moves from East to West?
And is that second soldier restraining the one choking Abu Ain — or restraining Abu Ain from keeping himself from being choked bythe first soldier? http://www.theguardian.com/…/palestinian-minister-dies-conf…
The Palestinian minister who died after a non-violent protest on Wednesday was a symbol the Palestinian Authority’s support for non-violent popular struggle.
Non-violent Palestinian leaders from across the West Bank talk about how Israel responds violently toward their activities.
Yael Marom published this Dec. 10, 2014
A general strike in Ramallah, three days of mourning in the Palestinian Authority and calls for increased protests and non-violent resistance to the occupation.
Those were only some of the responses to the death of Palestinian Minister Ziad Abu Ein, who died during a protest marking International Human Rights Day Wednesday.
Abu Ein, who was the Palestinian Authority official responsible for popular resistance against West Bank settlements, took part in a press conference organized by four Palestinian villages and Israeli human rights group Yesh Din Wednesday morning.
The press conference was timed to coincide with a petition to the Israeli High Court of Justice demanding that the Israeli army dismantle the illegal settlement outpost of Adei Ad, in the northern West Bank, and International Human Rights Day.
“We tried to go and plant olive tree saplings today when the soldiers attacked us,” said Abdallah Abu-Rahme, of the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee (PSCC). “The soldiers pushed Abu Ein; he was injured and fell to the ground. He is an older man who had various health conditions, and he died as a result of the blows he sustained.”
The type of direct action used Wednesday is an example of the way non-violent popular resistance has been organized in the West Bank since the Second Intifada. The struggle, which initially came in response to construction of the separation barrier and the ensuing land grabs, uses tools aimed at bringing resistance against injustice to the locations where they those injustices are taking place.
When the resistance is against the separation barrier — they march toward the wall, when it’s about land theft, they attempt to reach those lands and demonstrate there. In the case of today’s action, the activists set out to plant olive trees, a Palestinian symbol, on lands that were confiscated.
In recent years the Palestinian Authority has assumed a larger and larger role in that struggle. Issa Amro, one of the leaders of Youth Against Settlements, an organization that practices non-violent resistance in Hebron, spoke to +972 about Ziad Abu Eid.
“I have known him since he assumed his current role as the official responsible for popular struggle in the West Bank and against settlements,” Amro said. “He really tried to advance the non-violent struggle. He tried to organize non-violent [popular] committees, to organize the youth, political parties and students. He had a vision that 2015 would be the year of Palestinian non-violent struggle.”
Amro said of today’s events: “The army and the settlers turn the leaders of non-violent struggle into targets. That’s their way of preventing us from recruiting more people and more young people into our struggle. Look at how the army responds to non-violent struggle — with disproportionate violence toward the activists.”
Amro brought up Nariman Tamimi, one of the more prominent activists in the resistance by residents of Nabi Saleh against the confiscation of the village’s spring by settlers, who was shot in her leg last month. “They don’t want this type of struggle because if there is a non-violent movement it will weaken the occupation. They say the occupation is there for security, but if the struggle is non-violent then they can no longer justify the occupation.”
Munadir Amira, one of the PSCC’s leaders in the West Bank village of Ni’ilin, told +972: “This is a crime intended to stop these types of non-violent actions. They want us to be violent; they want us to not even open our mouths; they want us to just accept what Israel does.
But we won’t remain silent. This is another example of crimes that are committed by the occupation against non-violent activists. But this crime will not stop us from resisting the occupation. We will continue our struggle and even step it up. In the coming days there will be more actions at the same location and across the entire West Bank.”
Asked about the mood in the Palestinian street, Amira said: “Everyone is in shock, but not me. I know the way the Israeli army behaves towards us. Every small mistake by a soldier can cost us our lives. They use gas, they shoot at us. He isn’t the first to be killed in a non-violent action. They kill us — we know that we will pay a price, but that is the price of freedom.”
“Zia Abu Ein was a symbol of the Palestinian Authority’s support for the popular struggle,” said Muhammad Zawara, an activist in the PSCC from the Bethlehem-area village of al-Ma’asara. “He represented the strategy of non-violent action, of protest, and of promoting those tools as a central strategy of the Palestinian Authority.”
Attorney Gabi Lasky, who represents human rights defenders and activists in the popular struggle, and who is a Tel Aviv City Council member for Meretz, said: “On one hand, in a situation of occupation the security forces defend the settlers and land thieves and implement an apartheid regime in the territories. And on the other hand they prevent the residents of that occupied territory from struggling against that [land] theft and apartheid.”
“Instead of ending the injustice they try and curb and prevent non-violent protests. In doing so, the security forces use violence against anyone who attempts to realize their most legitimate right — to protest. That’s what happened here. And this time, like in previous incidents, it ended with death.”
On the non-violent struggle, Lasky said: “The Israeli occupation has found many ways to use force against Palestinian violent struggle. But it doesn’t have an answer to non-violent struggle, aside from sending its leaders to prison.”
Related:
Palestinian minister dies after reportedly struck by Israeli troops
Yael Marom is Just Vision’s public engagement manager and a co-editor of Local Call, where this article was originally published in Hebrew.
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