Maltese woman shot in Palestine, but vows to continue demonstrating

Maltese woman shot in Palestine, but vows to continue demonstrating

A 28-year-old Maltese woman, Bianca Zammit, had a very close brush with death yesterday morning during a pro-Palestinian demonstration, when she was shot in the left thigh by Israeli forces near the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza.

Ms Zammit was shot while filming the demonstration at a distance of roughly 100 meters from a fence separating the Palestinian territory from Israel, where Israeli soldiers were positioned.

Speaking to The Malta Independent on Sunday yesterday evening, Ms Zammit said she had been “really lucky” in that the bullet had entered the flesh of her thigh and had not struck the bone, which would have resulted in a far worse injury.

As matters stand, doctors have told her she should be able to walk again in a week’s time.

Sounding calm, cool and collected despite what must have been quite an ordeal, Ms Zammit said yesterday’s experience had not deterred her in the slightest and that she would remain in Palestine to continue peacefully demonstrating in support of the rights of the Palestinian people.

While Ms Zammit should be back on her feet again by next week, one of her companions was not so lucky. Hind Al Akra, 22, was shot in the stomach and at the time of speaking to Ms Zammit he was still undergoing emergency surgery and his condition was said to be serious. Another demonstrator, Nidal Al Naji, 18, was shot in the right thigh.

“It was totally amazing,” Ms Zammit recounts. “The demonstration was 100 per cent peaceful. We were simply walking with Palestinian flags on Palestinian land, the same as is done every two to three days here.

“In no way could we have been perceived as constituting a threat to Israeli soldiers. I was filming the demonstration when some Palestinians attempted to plant a Palestinian flag as close to the border as they could get. We were filming and at the same time trying to make the international element to the protest felt.

“The soldiers were very aggressive. They shot straight into the crowd, many of whom were teenagers and farmers from the nearby village.”

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TRISTAN ANDERSON, a member of the International Solidarity Movement, was peacefully protesting against Israel’s Apartheid Wall in the West Bank village of Ni’ilin when he was shot in the face with a tear gas cannister by an Israeli soldier. This is his girlfriend’s eye witness account:

"I was very close to him when he was shot. I was only a few feet away. The demonstration had been going for several hours. It was wrapping up; it was almost over. Most people had already gone home. We were standing on some grass nearby a village mosque, and Tristan was taking pictures. He likes to take pictures and post them on Indymedia, sometimes under assumed names. And he was taking pictures, and he was shot in the head with the extended range tear gas canister. He fell to—nothing was happening immediately around us, by the way, I should mention. No one was throwing rocks around us. Nothing was happening. We were standing there."

Like RACHEL CORRIE who was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer while peacefully protesting against the demolition of a Palestinian home and BRIAN AVERY shot in the face and severely disfigured, Anderson did not engage in any violent behavior (not to suggest that Israel’s actions would be permissible even if he did). He also did not do anything to aggravate the Israeli forces. His only crime was his willingness to stand alongside Palestinians. Anderson chose to side with the oppressed.

Tristan is currently at Tel Hashomer hospital near Tel Aviv with uncertain prospects for his recovery.

When will we realise that there can't be this many "accidents"?

THIS IS A VIDEO
that International Solidarity Movement (ISM) volunteer Bianca Zammit shot up until the time she was shot by the Israeli military during a nonviolent protest in Gaza. The demonstration opposed an Israeli-imposed buffer zone that is having a devastating effect on farmers in Gaza who are now no longer able to work their land. Protesters report that Israeli soldiers fired live ammunition at the protesters at point blank range. In addition to Zammit, 22-year old Hind Al Akra was shot in the stomach and 18-year old Nidal Al Naji was shot in the leg. All three are now in stable condition.

done by Palestinians to any group of Israelis, the Corporate Media here would be all hissy-fit all the time. But when those who commit these atrocities are allies in the global hegemonistic game, not a word. Not one.

Ultranationalist religious Jews attempted to provoke and intimidate local Palestinian residents while marching through the Occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan on Sunday as hundreds of Israeli police stood guard. Hundreds of residents clashed with police in response, some throwing rocks and lighting tire fires. Twenty Palestinians and solidarity activists were injured as police shot rubber bullets and beat protesters. Two police were also injured when they were hit by rocks.

The seventy right wing Israelis were protesting a court order to evacuate Beit Yonatan, an illegal structure housing eight settler families in the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan. In July 2008 the Israeli Supreme Court ordered the seven-story building to be sealed off for demolition, and another evacuation order was issued in July 2009, but neither has been enforced.

The previous day, in Jaffa’s last remaining Palestinian neighborhood – Ajami, hundreds of Palestinian citizens of Israel and their supporters rallied in opposition to settler youth from Kiryat Arba who invaded the property of a Palestinian family on April 18, when Israelis commemorated the night of the fallen soldier. Waving flags and banners in front of the house on Jaffa’s main road, Yeffet, they chanted in Arabic and Hebrew.

The mother of the household Zynab Rahayel says she was sitting in her dining room when three buses full of settlers stopped outside, got out and started to jump around while shouting that this piece of land was theirs and raising the Israeli flag. One boy who entered their garden and peered through their front door told Rahayel twice, “This is my house, not yours.” When she exited her home they shouted at her that Palestinians have been in Jaffa for only a short time and “This is our land and you will get out of here!” One settler pushed Rahayel’s son after he said something offensive. Soon other Ajami Palestinians came and began arguing with the boys.

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In the aftermath of the events of 2000 inside Israel, in cities like Nazareth and Umm El-Fahem, in which 13 Palestinians from Israel were shot and killed by Israeli police, the Or Commission investigated the circumstances. In its summary conclusion, the Or Commission found no fault in the police’s conduct. No officer has yet to be brought to justice, this despite there being numerous eye witnesses that stated the police was shooting unarmed civilians. Nonetheless, the Or Commission concluded that the Israeli government must do more in reaching out to the Palestinian population in Israel. It specifically addressed the discrimination and the favoritism that plagues government agencies and their treatment of Arabs and recommended the government, the executive branch in particular, make significant efforts to change said reality.

Needless to say, the Or Commission’s recommendation’s fell on deaf ears as police brutality, false arrests and harsh interrogations still go on.

OR COMMISSION IN DEPTH HAARETZ