Woman dies in West Bank protest

By ⋅ January 3, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment
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By Linda Gradstein

Subhiyye Abu Rahma sits on a bed in her small stone house in the West Bank village of Bil’in. She clutches a pink tissue as dozens of women come to console her.

The Palestinian woman seems to find it hard to believe that her daughter, 35-year-old Jawaher, is dead.

Jawaher was killed this weekend after Israeli soldiers fired tear gas at demonstrators who were protesting the controversial barrier that Israel is building in and around the West Bank.

Subhiyye said she and Jawaher were looking forward to a relative’s engagement party Friday night. She said they noticed the weekly demonstration against the separation barrier and started walking towards it.

Soon Sabhiyye said the soldiers began firing tear gas.

Sabhiyye said Jawaher complained of a pain in her chest after the soldiers fired a gas bomb. She said to her mother, “I have a pain in my chest, I can’t breathe,” and then, her mother said, she started vomiting.

Jawaher lost consciousness in the ambulance. She died the next morning. Dr. Mohammed Aideh treated her. He said she died of respiratory failure and then cardiac arrest caused by tear gas inhalation.

The doctor said he did not know if Jawaher had a pre-existing condition.

It’s the second tragedy to hit the Abu Rahma family in the past 18 months. Jawaher’s younger brother, Bassem, was killed in 2009 in a similar demonstration. Walls of this village are now covered with posters of both Bassem and his sister.

Iman Yunus Titi, a friend of the family, came to pay her condolences. “Jawaher was a babysitter for my twins,” she said. “She was excellent.”

Titi said that Jawaher never recovered from her brother Bassem’s death. Titi remembers what Jawaher told her just a week ago. “She said, ‘I have a dream that I’m walking in paradise and my brother Bassem opens his hand and reaches out to me. He said, ‘please come with me to paradise.’

The Israeli army said it’s investigating Jawaher’s death.

The incident has reopened the issue of the security barrier that Israel has been building since 2002. The construction began during a wave of suicide attacks by Palestinians, who crossed into Israel from the West Bank.

But Palestinians call it a land grab, because parts of the barrier extend into Palestinian territory. For example, it goes through Bil’in.

The barrier cuts this village from about half its farmland. There are weekly demonstrations against the barrier here, and they often turn violent.

More than a dozen Israeli soldiers have been wounded in the protests in the area and activists say 21 Palestinians have been killed. Just over half of the 430-mile barrier has been completed but work has slowed substantially.

Three years ago, the Israeli Supreme Court ordered the army to re-route the barrier near Bil’in to enable the villagers to reach their land. Residents here say they’re still waiting.

Discussion

8 comments for “Woman dies in West Bank protest”

  • Dorn

    Gradstein interviewed family members at some length in an emotive report. The impression was given that the woman was just walking towards soldiers, not taking part in a demo, as I read in other reports. Israeli guilt was suggested by the assertion that the army was opening an “inquiry into the incident”. There was just one brief balancing phrase about suicide bombers preceding the building of the barrier.

    It was instructive to compare this report to the prior one on the death of 21 Copts in Egypt. The 21 Copts were not personalized in any way, although the report was sympathetic to them. Palestinians especially are always personalized, while Israelis are invariably faceless “soldiers”, “settlers”, etc, – except when they espouse anti-Israel views.

    Of course, the primary bias is in the choice of issues. We aren’t told about the ongoing rocket attacks from Gaza, nor about injuries to teenagers, disruption of life from these rocket attacks. How long will it take to stop giving the PA a free pass, and report some of their actions and statements?

    In recent weeks,
    (1) Mahmoud Abbas again rejected ever recognizing Israel as a Jewish homeland, even as he demands a Judenrein Palestinian state.

    (2) The PA issued an official report (written by one of its ministers) denying any Jewish connection to the Wsetern Wall, and Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest sites. The report was taken off websites for 3 days after US protests – but then went back onto official PA sites.

    (3) The PA continues to have town squares, streets, computer centers, named after perpetrators of terror attacks that occurred decades ago (such as Dalal Mugrabi).

    (4) Last year, President Mahmoud Abbas and PM Salaam Fayad, both hailed as “moderates” posed with pictures and clay models showing all of Israel as part of PA territory. See http://www.palwatch.org, and http://www.palwatch.org/pages/allmaps.aspx?fld_id=550&doc_id=736

    (5) Mahmoud Abbas continues to demand resettlement of descendants of refugees NOT in a future Palestinian state, but in pre-1967 Israel. This denies the rights of the similar numbers of Jewish refugees from Arab lands. It makes a mockery of a two state solution. It sidesteps Arab resposibility for starting the wars that led to BOTH refugee issues.

    (6) Mahmoud Abbas last year eulogized the mastermind of the Munich massacre.

    Above all, how long will it take to even hint at the real core issue, and most legitimate Jewish concern: Arab refusal to accept a permanent Jewish state, no matter how small?

  • Lior Dahoah

    The woman(JAWAR ABU RACHMA) died from cancer ,and even did NOT participate in the event on the village.
    The correspondent Linda Gradstein did a very poor journalist job,since she did not do any homework,and by that change public opinion deliberatly against ISRAELI soldier that fight terror on daily bases!!!those terrorists that call themselves ‘freedom fighters’,throw heavy stones on daily bases on soldiers.
    I expect from NPR to do a professional job,and not to change public opinion,and to change the facts on the ground!!!

  • Sarka Bohemina

    Linda, Linda, Linda – are you sure you have all the facts? Really? Have you checked that the reports of this woman’s death are the truth, and nothing but the truth? Or are they the truth like the al Dura truth? Do you REALLY know what this woman died of, and where she actually die? Is your reporting a bit – er – biased, perhaps?

  • dorn l

    It now seems the item was false:

    Israeli military contradicts account of Palestinian’s death

    January 4, 2011

    JERUSALEM (JTA) — There is no evidence that a Palestinian woman reportedly killed at a West Bank security fence protest died from tear gas poisoning, Israel’s military said.

    Jawaher Abu Rahma, 36, died on the morning of Jan. 1, hours after she was said to have inhaled tear gas at a demonstration near the West Bank village of Bilin. She reportedly died of complications from inhaling the tear gas.

    Her brother, Bassem, was killed in April 2009 during a demonstration in the same area after being hit in the chest with a tear gas canister as it released its contents.

    Israel Defense Forces sources cited in Israeli media reports said that inconsistencies in the medical report of the woman’s death provided Monday by the Palestinian Authority call into question the circumstances of her death and contradict the family’s account.

    Israeli activist Jonathan Pollak disputed IDF claims that Abu Rahma was not at the demonstration, telling The Jerusalem Post that he saw her there, though not on the front line, and watched her being loaded into an ambulance.

    While the file shows that her blood was collected for testing at a Ramallah hospital at 2:45 p.m. Dec. 31, the admission form says she entered the hospital at 3:20 p.m.

    Abu Rahma’s medical file also showed that she was taking strong drugs for a medical condition that could have been leukemia, and that she had been treated in the same hospital 10 days prior to her death. Pollak told The Jerusalem Post that Abu Rahma was treated in the hospital for an ear infection, though Haaretz reported that during the earlier hospitalization a Palestinian ear, nose and throat doctor ordered a CT scan.

    No other protester had a serious reaction to the tear gas used at the demonstration, according to reports.

    Abu Rahma’s death sparked demonstrations outside of the U.S. ambassador to Israel’s home and the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv, leading to arrests.

    Palestinian protests, which are joined by Israelis and international activists, take place at the site every Friday. Abu Rahma reportedly had been attending the weekly protests for the past five years. A second brother, Ashraf, was wounded several years ago after being shot during a demonstration against the security fence near the village of Naalin.

    The IDF on Sunday released photos showing that the Dec. 31 demonstration at Bilin became violent and thus required the use of tear gas, despite Palestinian claims that the protest was nonviolent. The photos show Palestinians throwing rocks using large slingshots.

  • Lior Dahoah

    Today , Jan 7th Arab sources have confirmed that the woman(Jawar Abu Rachma)had passed away from complications of pre existing illness,and not from tear gas!!!
    Linda gradstein owes appology for the Israeli fources who are innocent and fight terror every day!!!we will wait for appology in NPR!!!

  • Michael Rubell

    Between the ongoing anti-Israeli bias consistantly spewed by the BBC and broadcasted by NPR, and the false reporting by Linda Gradstein without a correction (forget the idea of an apology – that will never happen), it’s becoming ever more difficult to listen to NPR. Public radio used to be my religion. I’ll now have to search for another.
    Shame on you Linda and NPR!

  • Laura Goldmeier

    Once again, an article attacks Israel by relying solely on a Palestinian report. There has never been a report of death from inhalation of tear gas in an open area. Why would only one person be so affected? Why was she evacuated from her home and not the site of the protest? Why was an autopsy not performed and results released? Linda Gradstein, NPR, AOL who reported this story need to publish a retraction. I am certain that they will not.

  • http://N/A Samuel Ulap

    good analysis. Since the flotilla i have seen the bias report of all these medias i found all what you have found how the spirit of lies and deception fills these media’s and how it operates in the world, today.