Sunday, June 15, 2008

Live ammunition at Bil'in

The West Bank village of Bil'in is one of very few instances where steadfast non-violent resistance, maintained jointly by Palestinians and Israelis, along with a petition to Israel's High Court of Justice, have achieved positive legal results. The High Court ruled in favor of the Palestinian petitioners, instructing the state and the military to re-route sections of the separation barrier appropriating much of the village land, on which private building companies have proceeded to construct an orthodox neighborhood. As reflected in earlier items selected and forwarded by Jewish Peace News, this court ruling remains unimplemented to date. (For more information see: http://www.bilin-village.org/).

Non-violent demonstrations therefore continue regularly in Bil'in, organized and attended by activists from Bil'in and its environs and from Israel.

As is the case throughout the Occupied Territories, Israeli forces regularly meet non-violent protesters with violent action. This systematic practice is clearly exemplified in the item below, issued by Jonathan Pollak, of "Anarchists against the Wall", one of the Israelis active in resisting the separation barrier and focusing on its forceful destruction of Bil'in.

The item below is an urgent call for blood donations needed for treatment of Ibrahim Bornat, a Palestinian activist from Bil'in, targeted by Israeli forces and wounded by live ammunition in last week's demonstration. It includes a link to video footage of Ibrahim's shooting.

For those interested in a more immediate sense of the ongoing struggle at Bil'in and, among other things, with the activist Bornat family whose son, Ibrahim now needs urgent blood donations, I suggest obtaining and viewing the film "Bil'in Habibti" (Bil'in My Love) filmed and directed by Shai Carmeli-Pollak (http://www.claudiusfilms.com/bilin.html).

Rela Mazali

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From: Jonathan Pollak <cat@squat.net>
Date: 2008/6/15
Subject: Urgent: AB+ blood donations needed for Bil'in demonstrator who was shot on Friday

Hello,
Last Friday, during the weekly demonstration against the wall in Bil'in, soldiers opened fire on Ibrahim Bornat using live ammunition and hitting his right thigh. Ibrahim is son to Intessar and Wageeh and brother to Rani who was himself shot by an Israeli sniper eight years ago at a demonstration in Ramallah. The shot left him paralyzed from the neck down.

Ibrahim, a regular participant in the Bil'in demonstrations for the past three years, had already been injured numerous times, but this is the most serious one yet. The bullets that pierced his leg had ripped an artery and a vain and caused local nerve damage, of which the long term implications are still not clear.
Resulting from the massive blood loss, Ibrahim was brought to the hospital unconscious and in critical condition. He was operated on for several hours, but still has no feeling in his right leg, at least temporarily.

During the operation Ibrahim was given numerous blood transfusions that saved his life, but he is still in constant need of AB+ blood transfusions at large quantities and have already received 11 counts.

Usually recipients of AB+ blood type can receive from any blood donor, but due to Ibrahim's harsh condition the doctors prefer the transfusions to be of the original blood type only.

If you will be willing to urgently donate blood for Ibrahim in Ramallah, and your blood type is AB+, please call Sarah at 0523991897

A video of Ibrahim's shooting could be watched at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF1ibN40FJE


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Jewish Peace News editors:
Joel Beinin
Racheli Gai
Rela Mazali
Sarah Anne Minkin
Judith Norman
Lincoln Shlensky
Rebecca Vilkomerson
Alistair Welchman
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Jewish Peace News archive and blog: http://jewishpeacenews.blogspot.com
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