April 14, 2010
Remembering Bassem Abu Rahma of Bil’in
Remembering Bassem of Bil’in 
Edna Spennato 2010.
Photomontage made on 13 April 2010
Click on image to enlarge
Also published at Palestine Think Tank, Earth Heal, Window Into Palestine, Uprooted Palestinians.
In memory of Bassem Abu Rahma of Bil’in Village, killed by an IDF soldier on 17 April 2009, during a peaceful demonstration against the apartheid wall.
Almost a year earlier in July 2008, Bassem’s brother, Ashraf, survived a close-range shooting by the IDF while detained and blindfolded, which was also filmed (more info below).
Watch this beautiful video that his friends made about Bassem’s life.
Soldiers Kill Palestinian Demonstrator in Bil’in
Bassem Ibrahim Abu Rahmeh (a.k.a. Phil), a 30 year-old Bil’in resident, was killed this Friday during a demonstration against the wall, after Israeli soldiers shot a high-velocity teargas projectile directly at him. As can be seen in the video above, Bassem was standing on a hill alongside several journalists, removed from the main body of the demonstration, when he was hit in his chest by the special, “extended range” teargas projectile, which was fired without provocation from a distance of about 40 meters by troops positioned behind concrete blocks and on the other side of the separation barrier.
Seconds before the shooting, Bassem had been pleading with the soldiers to hold their fire, shouting “we are in a nonviolent protest, there are kids and internationals…”. He was shot before he could finish the sentence.
Video clip of Bassem’s murder during the peaceful protest
According to eyewitnesses, the impact from the projectile knocked him over and left a gaping hole in his chest. As there was no ambulance at the scene, he was driven to a Ramallah hospital in a private car, but died less than halfway there from the injury, blood flooding his lungs. News of his death reached the village just as the last of the demonstrators were leaving the site of the protest, next to the separation barrier.
The teargas projectile in question is the same kind that critically injured American national Tristan Anderson at a demonstration in Ni’lin on the 13th of March, after he was hit in the head from approx. 60 meters. Tristan remains hospitalized in Tel HaShomer hospital in Tel Aviv.
Basem Ibrahim Abu Rahmeh’s Funeral, Bil’inBassem Abu Rahmeh’s Funeral, Bil’in
Bassem Abu Rahmeh, a well-known and frequent participant in the village’s four year long battle against the Wall, is the first Bil’in resident and the 18th Palestinian in total to be shot dead during a demonstration against the Apartheid Wall. His funeral took place on Saturday afternoon, after his body was carried on a cloth stretcher all the way from a Ramallah hospital to his village of Bil’in, accompanied by hundreds of mourners. The funeral itself was attended by over a thousand people, including Palestinians from neighboring villages as well as international and Israeli friends and activists.
Read in full here.
CASE CLOSED IN MURDER OF PALESTINIAN ACTIVIST ~~ NO CHARGES FILED
Israel’s military said Thursday 01-04-10 it will not file any charges in the death of a Palestinian protester last year.
Teargas canister shot kills Palestinian demonstrator
A Palestinian demonstrator was killed today when he was hit by a teargas canister fired by Israeli forces during a weekly demonstration against the West Bank barrier.
Bassem Abu Rahmeh, 29, was hit in the chest by a high-velocity gas canister during the protest in Bil’in. For the past four years Bil’in has been the scene of a weekly demonstration against the barrier, which cuts the village off from a large slice of its farmland.
Abu Rahmeh was taken to hospital in Ramallah but died of his injuries. The Israeli military said it was looking into the incident.
Umm Ahmed Abu Rahmeh, left, and her two sons, react as the body of her son Bassem, 31, arrives at a hospital. Photograph: Muhammed Muheisen/AP
The barrier near Bil’in runs into the occupied West Bank, surrounding the large and fast-growing Jewish settlement of Modiin Illit. In September 2007, the Israeli supreme court ordered that the path of the barrier near Bil’in be rerouted to return some of the farmland to the village, although it has not yet been moved.
Read in full here.
A Tale of Two Palestinian Brothers… and Israel’s Dismissal of Murder
by Tim King
This is the story of Bassem “Phil” Abu Rahmah and his brother Ashraf. Bassem was killed by Israel’s military during a peace protest. He was unarmed and had no violent intent of any kind, in fact he was begging the Israeli soldiers in Hebrew not to fire directly at them, they did anyway, and struck Bassem squarely in the chest.
This act was excused yesterday by an Israeli judge, and the trigger happy soldier, Brian Ross, is in the clear…
Brian Ross, the soldier who murdered Phil, walks away scot free. But nobody is surprised or shocked, this what murderous governments do, and there is not a more rotten or illegal one in existence beyond Israel.
Again, there is no worse or more dangerous government on earth, mostly because of the backing of the U.S…
Ashraf was detained by Israeli soldiers during a nonviolent protest in July of 2008, in the nearby village of Ni’lin, and after he was cuffed and blindfolded a soldier, standing next to him, pointed his gun at his leg and shot him with a rubber-coated bullet.
The shooting of Ashraf was also caught on tape by a young Palestinian girl… . Israeli soldiers kidnapped the girl’s father later on as a punishment just for exposing the crime. ..
Abu Rahma’s brother Ashraf, slammed Israel’s decision, saying it amounts to giving their soldiers more chances to continue the killing of innocent, nonviolent protesters….
The photograph below shows Palestinian demonstrator, Ashraf Abu Rahma, 27, brother of Bassem, who was stopped by soldiers in July 2008, and cuffed and blindfolded for about thirty minutes before soldiers and border policemen led him to an army jeep, where a soldier aimed his weapon at the demonstrator’s legs, firing from about 1.5 meters away.
Read in full here.
Video clip of Ashraf’s shooting at this link.
His name was Basem, which means smile, and that is how he greeted everyone. But we all called him ‘Pheel’, which means elephant because he had the body the size of an elephant. But Basem had the heart of a child.
He loved everyone, and because of his sweetness and ability to make us laugh, everyone loved him. Basem was everyone’s friend: the children talk about how he would play with them, scare them and then make them laugh. He would tend the garden in the playground and bring toys and books to the kindergarten. The old ladies in the village talk about how he used to visit, to ask after them and see if they needed anything. In the village, he seemed to be everywhere at once. He would pop in to say hello, take one puff of the nargila, and be off to his next spot. The morning he was killed he went to the house of Hamis, whose skull had been broken at a previous demonstration three months ago by a tear gas canister projectile – the same weapon that would kill Basem.
Basem woke Hamis and gave him his medicine, then off he went to visit another friend in the village who is ill with cancer. Then a little girl from the village wanted a pineapple but couldn’t find any in the local stores. So Basem went to Ramallah to get a pineapple and was back before noon for the Friday prayers and the weekly demonstration against the theft of our land by the apartheid wall. Pheel never missed a demonstration; he participated in all the activities and creative actions in Bilin.
He would always talk to the soldiers as human beings. Before he was hit he was calling for the soldiers to stop shooting because there were goats near the fence and he was worried for them. Then a woman in front of him was hit. He yelled to the commander to stop shooting because someone was wounded. He expected the soldiers to understand and stop shooting. Instead, they shot him too.
People came to his funeral from all the surrounding villages to show Basem that they loved him as much as he had loved them. But those of us from Bil’in kept looking around for him, expecting him to be walking with us.
Pheel, you were everyone’s friend. We always knew we loved you, but didn’t realize how much we would miss you until we lost you. As Bil’in has become the symbol of Palestine’s popular resistance, you are the symbol of Bil’in. Sweet Pheel, Rest in Peace, we will continue in your footsteps.
— Mohammad Khatib, member of the Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements
More info here.
February 17, 2010
Sgt. Uri And His Howling Commandos
Sgt. Uri and his Howling Commandos Edna Spennato 2009.
Photomontage made on 18 January 2009.
Click on image to enlarge
January 14, 2010
Barak Faces Arrest for War Crimes
Barak Faces Arrest for War Crimes Edna Spennato 2009.
Photomontage made on 10 January 2009.
Click on image to enlarge
Originally published at Auntie Ziona as Will Barak Follow in Eichmann’s Footsteps?
Also at these links: Kenny’s Sideshow, Window Into Palestine, Europalestine, BuJ Al Arab, Wake Up From Your Slumber, Uprooted Palestinians.
This photomontage was based on the famous photograph of Eichmann taken at his trial.
Turkish Organization: Arrest Barak for War crimes When He Arrives Here
AL – MANAR TV 14/01/201014/01/2010 Despite the intensifying crisis between Israel and Turkey, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak is insisting to follow through with his scheduled plans to visit Turkey next week. However, on Thursday it became clear that an arrest warrant may await him there.
One of the major human rights organizations in Turkey, Mazlumder, requested from the Turkish state prosecution to order that Barak be arrested upon landing in the country for what they call “his responsibility for war crimes during Operation Cast Lead….”
More at this link.
Israeli officers fear UK arrest
Al Jazeera 5 January 2010. A group of Israeli military officers have delayed an official visit to Britain over fears they could be arrested on war crimes charges.
Danny Ayalon, Israel’s deputy foreign minister, said on Tuesday that four officers invited to the UK by the British army would not be travelling “as we do not have a 100 per cent guarantee that they will not become objects of criminal lawsuits”.
The officers, who hold ranks from major to colonel, are the latest in a string of Israeli politicians and military officials to call off travel to Britain due to fears over possible legal action…
Read in full here.
December 31, 2009
Blitzkrieg – Orders are Orders
Blitzkrieg – Orders are Orders Edna Spennato 2009.
Photomontage made on 1 January 2009.
Click on image to enlarge
Originally published at Auntie Ziona as Achtung, Goyza!
Also at these links: Uprooted Palestinians, Wake Up From Your Slumber.
December 30, 2009
Blitzkrieg on Gaza
Blitzkrieg on Gaza Edna Spennato 2008.
Photomontage made on 31 December 2008.
Click on image to enlarge
Cartoon of the Day on 31 December 2009 at Palestine Think Tank
Originally published at Auntie Ziona as Achtung, Goyza
Also at these links: Tlaxcala, Kenny’s Sideshow, Uprooted Palestinians, Wake Up From Your Slumber.
December 28, 2009
Shelling for Shalit
Shelling for Shalit Edna Spennato 2008.
Photomontage made on 28 December 2008.
Click on image to enlarge
Originally published at Auntie Ziona as Hold Your Fire, What About Shalit?
Also at these links: Kenny’s Sideshow, Window Into Palestine, Wake Up From Your Slumber.
December 27, 2009
Obama’s Hanukkah Message to Gaza
Obama’s Hanukkah Message to Gaza Edna Spennato 2008.
Photomontage made in late December 2008.
Click on image to enlarge
This time last year as President Elect, Obama was looking the other way and focussing on his golf game in Hawaii while Gaza was being subjected to the IDF’s aerial bombardment using illegal American weapons, including white phospherous. A year later and this collaborator has still not condemned the genocide of the Gazan population. How could he, really, when he’s been committing the same war crimes on an even larger scale against the Afghanistanis and Pakistanis?
Originally published at Auntie Ziona as Obama’s Message to Goyza
Also at these links: Kenny’s Sideshow, Window Into Palestine, Uprooted Palestinians, Wake Up From Your Slumber.
December 25, 2009
Christmas in Gaza
Christmas in Gaza Edna Spennato 2008.
Photomontage made on 24 December 2008.
Click on image to enlarge
Originally published at Auntie Ziona as Santa Strikes Back
Cartoon of the Day on 26 December 2009 at Palestine Think Tank
Also at these links: Palestine News, Window Into Palestine, Uprooted Palestinians, Wake Up From Your Slumber.
December 22, 2009
Livni – War Criminal
Livni War Criminal Edna Spennato 2008.
Photomontage made on 28 December 2008.
Click on image to enlarge
Originally published at Auntie Ziona as We Give our Light to Gaza on Hanukkah Shabbat
Also at these links: Tlaxcala, Kenny’s Sideshow, Takelsertit, Window Into Palestine, Uprooted Palestinians, The People’s Voice.
December 21, 2009
Bring the Israeli War Criminals to Justice
Israeli War Criminals Edna Spennato 2009.
Photomontage made on 5 Feb 2009.
Click on image to enlarge
The response to violence is justice. Please sign the universal petition to urge the ICC to bring the war criminals to justice.
Approximately 300 among NGOs and associations ask the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to open an investigation on the war crimes committed by Israel in Gaza. Our support is indispensable. Sign and circulate this urgent «universal petition».
To the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC)
Law is the distinguishing mark of human civilisation. All progress made by humanity coincides with the consolidation of rights. The challenge that Israel’s aggression against Gaza poses to us consists in affirming, when confronted with such great suffering, that the response to violence is justice.
War crimes? Only courts are able to bring about a sentence, but all of us can bear witness, because a human being only exists in his relationship with others. The circumstances show the breadth of their dimension in Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1949, «All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.»
The protection of populations, and not only of States, is the reason why the International Criminal Court exists. A population without a State is the most threatened of all, and before History, they are placed under the protection of international bodies. The most vulnerable populations must be the most protected. Killing Palestinian civilians, the Israeli armoured tanks have caused humanity as a whole to bleed. We have been insisting that the power of the Prosecutor be put at the service of all the victims, and this task must allow that the entire world receives a message of hope, that of the construction of international rights based on human rights. And together, one day, we can pay homage to the Palestinian people for the contribution that they have given to the defense of human freedom.
Published at these links: David Icke Headlines, Window Into Palestine, Uprooted Palestinians, WUFYS, Ziopedia, Exposing Zionofacism, Band Annie’s Weblog (French), Band Annie’s Weblog (English), Signs of the Times.
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