Bil'in to Commemorate Killed Demonstrator

The people of Bil'in will be joined by women from across the West Bank and by Israeli women organizations in commemorating Jawaher Abu Rahmah who was killed by tear-gas last week.

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What: Demonstration in memory of Jawaher Abu Rahmah
Where: The village of Bil'in, west of Ramallah
When: Tomorrow, Friday, January 7th, 2011 at 12:30 PM

Following the tragic killing of Jawaher Abu Rahmah as a result of tear-gas inhalation during the weekly demonstration against the Wall last Friday, the residents of Bil'in will dedicate this week's protest to her memory. The demonstration is expected to be joined by hundreds outraged by Abu Rahmah's killing, most notably women from across the West Bank, as well as representatives of Israeli women organizations.

Jawaher Abu Rahmah was killed after Israeli soldiers used excessive amounts of tear-gas to disperse the demonstration in Bil'in from afar last Friday. She passed away Saturday morning from cardiac arrest caused by the collapse of her respiratory system. Despite an enraging smear campaign by the Israeli Army, unsubstantially alleging that Abu Rahmah did not at all die as a result of tear-gas inhalation, all evidence support the demonstrators' version, including the ambulance and medical reports.

Contrary to Israeli claims, Abu Rahmah is not the first to have died as a result of tear-gas inhalation. Already during the years of the First Intifada, Amnesty International had reported forty deaths from CS tear gas inhalation from December 1987 to June 1988 alone in its report "Israel and the Occupied Territories: Amnesty International's concerns in 1988" (published 1989).