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Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, May-June 2009, page 67 Waging Peace Friends Rally for Tristan Anderson, Protest Israeli Shooting of Activist
FRIENDS OF TRISTAN Anderson held a rally outside the Israeli Consulate in San Francisco in support of the Oakland peace activist who was critically injured March 13 in the West Bank village of Ni’lin after Israeli military forces shot him in the head with a high velocity extended-range tear gas canister weapon. The ambulance transporting Anderson was detained at a checkpoint, but the 37-year-old Bay Area community member was eventually admitted to Tel Hashomer Hospital near Tel Aviv where he underwent surgery and was listed as being in stable, but critical, condition. Prior to the unprovoked shooting, Anderson and other unarmed civilians, including Israeli activists, held their weekly nonviolent protest against construction of the apartheid wall around Ni’lin village. Despite the International Court of Justice’s July 2004 ruling that the wall is illegal, Israel continues construction of the 25-foot-high concrete and barbed wire barrier which includes watchtowers and machine gun turrets. Israeli forces killed four Ni’lin residents last year during demonstrations against the wall’s construction. On July 29, soldiers shot 10-year-old Ahmed Mousa in the forehead with live ammunition. Yousef Amira, 17, died Aug. 4, a week after Israeli troops shot him twice with rubber-coated steel bullets. On Dec. 28, soldiers using live ammunition shot Arafat Rateb Khawaje, 22, in the back and Mohammed Khawaje, 20, in the head. Both young men died of their wounds. The March 16 rally for Anderson coincided with the sixth anniversary of the death of Rachel Corrie, who was killed in Gaza when an Israeli soldier operating a U.S.-made Caterpillar bulldozer ran over the unarmed 23-year-old American as she stood in front of the house he was attempting to demolish. —Elaine Pasquini |
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