03/01/2011 Questions are surfacing about Israel's use of tear-gas grenades, as security officials investigate the recent killing of a protester at the weekly demonstration near the separation fence at the West Bank village of Bil'in.
A 36-year-old woman, Jawaher Abu Rahmah, died on Saturday morning. The medical report filed in the Ramallah hospital where Abu Rahmah was taken shows that her death was caused by respiratory failure resulting from the inhalation of tear gas.
Haaretz newspaper obtained the medical report on Sunday from Jawaher's brother, Ahmed Abu Rahmah.
Jawaher Abu Rahmah was the sister of Bassem Abu Rahmah, who was killed in April 2009 when Israeli soldiers fired a tear-gas grenade at his chest at a demonstration at the fence in Bil'in. Ahmed Abu Rahmah has three surviving brothers; their father died five years ago. "My entire family is ruined," he said on Sunday. "The whole house feels a sense of catastrophe."
The Israeli occupation forces use crowd-dispersal tear gas known as CS, which was developed half a century ago in Britain and the United States. It is used by armies and police forces around the world. In recent years, a number of studies have cast doubts about this type of gas; there have been reports of several deaths caused by the inhalation CS tear gas.
Daniel Argo, an Israeli doctor who regularly takes part in the demonstrations against the separation fence, says recent eye and lung injuries, as well as skin diseases, can be associated with the use of CS tear gas.
The United Nations has expressed concern at the recent deaths of Palestinian civilians, including Abu Rahmah, by Israeli occupation soldiers in the occupied West Bank.
"We are very worried that two Palestinians have lost their lives in recent days in incidents involving Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank,” AFP quoted UN spokesman in Israel Richard Miron as saying on Sunday.
On Sunday morning, a Palestinian man from Tubas, Mohammed Daraghmeh, was killed at the Hamra checkpoint northeast of Nablus after sustaining bullet wounds to his chest, hand and leg.
The Israeli media initially claimed Daraghmeh, in his early twenties, had tried to stab soldiers at the checkpoint. But the military later confirmed that the man was not armed. The army blamed the killing on "a combination of misunderstandings stemming from the Palestinian citizen's inexplicable behavior and the high state of alert of the soldiers."
The Palestinian Authority has condemned the two deaths as a “war crime" and a "dangerous escalation" by Israel aimed at demolishing any hope of peace in the Middle East.
[ 03/01/2011 - 12:10 PM ]
NAZARETH, (PIC)-- The Israeli military used lethal tear gas grenades in December after military equipment was outlawed in Israel two years back, Israeli media reported.
The grenades differ from procedure tear gas used to break up demonstrations. The gas Israel used in December has been labeled dangerous and lethal. It was banned after choking several Palestinian demonstrators and killing more.
The same gas played a role in the death of Jawaher Abu Rahma, who choked on tear gas that was heavily fired at demonstrators in a weekly anti-wall demonstration in Bil'in on Friday.
The Israeli army recently sparked several provocative moves against Palestinians in the West Bank and along the Gaza border, and has threatened to launch a new aggression targeting the Gaza Strip.
Israeli foreign affairs and defense committee chairman Shaul Mofaz warned Monday that Israel's going into war will eventually lead the country to the same point as negotiations with the Palestinians, Israeli Radio reported.
"The government does not follow a governing strategy but a survival strategy," Mofaz said.
It would be best to reach a settlement stage since the Palestinians realize that the possibility of reaching a permanent settlement is very low, he said.
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
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