No justice for Bil’in Palestinian activist shot dead by Israeli soldier


September 19, 2018
JFJFP
Bassem Abu Rahmeh was killed by a tear gas canister fired directly at his chest at a nonviolent protest in Bil’in. Nearly a decade after the Palestinian activists’ death, a High Court decision confirms that the state will not prosecute or punish the killer.

Bassem Abu Rahmeh (ActiveStills)

Henriette Chacar writes in 972 Magazine, “More than nine years after an Israeli soldier killed Palestinian activist Bassem Abu Rahmeh at a protest in Bil’in, Israel’s High Court of Justice rejected a third and final appeal against the army’s refusal to prosecute or punish anyone for his death. The court, however, accused military police and prosecutors of handling the case with negligence, particularly for their inability to identify Abu Rahmeh’s killer.”…

“Abu Rahmeh, 30, was nonviolently protesting against the separation wall in Bil’in when an Israeli soldier fired an extended-range tear gas canister directly at his chest, against IDF regulations. The injury killed Abu Rahmeh almost immediately.

The unarmed, popular protests in Bil’in, a Palestinian village near the West Bank city of Ramallah, started in 2005. Residents and Israeli and Palestinian activists marched weekly to protest the separation wall, which cut them off from nearly 2,000 dunams of their agricultural land. Abu Rahmeh, one of the more prominent figures in the early days of the struggle, was featured in the Oscar-nominated film “Five Broken Cameras,” directed by Guy Davidi and Imad Burnat.” (More…)

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