As Hundreds Mourned Gassed Woman’s Death, Israel Gunned a Palestinian

Sunday 2 January 2011

As Hundreds Mourned Gassed Woman’s Death, Israel Gunned a Palestinian

02/01/2011 At the time hundreds of Palestinians and anti-barrier activists have attended the funeral procession of a Palestinian protester who died after inhaling the gas fired by Israeli forces quelling a protest in the occupied West Bank, the occupation forces have shot dead a Palestinian man near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, in yet another flare up of violence in the volatile region.

The victim, identified as Mohamed Daraghme, was killed at the Hamra checkpoint early Sunday, the Palestinian Red Crescent told AFP. The 21-year-old was gunned down after Israeli soldiers refused to let him pass through the checkpoint, prompting a quarrel. Daraghme was reportedly unarmed. He was killed almost instantly.

The killing comes two days after a Palestinian woman named Jawaher Abu Rahma was fatally tear-gassed during a protest in the city of Ramallah.

"What happened yesterday, there were too many forces from the occupation, guarding the apartheid wall, and they started shooting, so many, so many gas (canisters) mixed with smelly water. And this large amount of gas caused many protesters a fealing of suffocation, and it killed Jawaher. And immediately we moved her to the Palestinian medical centre," said family member Rateb Abu Rahme.

"This death was caused by their brutality, by the fact that they are using tear gas that was banned in Europe in the 60s and 70s, because it is lethal. But here, on Palestinians, they continue using it," said anti-barrier activist Jonathan Pollak.

Jawaher Abu Rahme's brother Bassem, in his 20s, was killed in 2009 after a tear gas canister struck him in the chest.

Israel Radio, quoting Palestinian sources, said Israeli troops had fired an unusual amount of tear gas at dozens of demonstrators during a weekly protest against the barrier Palestinians in Bilin say cuts them off from some of their land.