Palestine: "It's not my problem"

On Saturday, Rushdi Tamimi was shot in the village of Nabi Saleh. He was on a hillside in the village, taking part in a demonstration against the massacre in Gaza (which was escalating massively at that point).

He was shot with live ammunition by an Israeli soldier. He was 31 years old.

After he was shot, he lay on the hillside, surrounded by soldiers. They did not try to help him. Having shot him again and shoved him with their guns, they shot at anyone who tried to come near to help him.

This video below was filmed by someone trying to approach - you can hear being shot at as she shouts "Ana B'tselem" - "I am B´tselem" - B'tselem is a human rights organisation who film abuses by the Israeli authorities.

You can also hear the soldiers, as Rushdi's sister pleads with them to let her take him to a hospital, saying "I don't care". And "it's not my problem". The lack of humanity is chilling.

Rushdi's family eventually managed to take him to get medical help. He died 3 days later in hospital - they couldn't stop him from bleeding. Could earlier medical attention have saved him? Who knows.

Rushdi is the second person from Nabi Saleh who has died fighting the occupation. I was at the demonstration when the first, Mustafa Tamimi, was killed when a soldier shot a tear gas canister directly at his face, making Tuesday my second Nabi Saleh funeral.

There were tears, followed by anger, followed by tear gas.

Because in true bastard form, the soldiers attacked the funeral demonstration with live ammunition, tear gas, rubber bullets and skunk water. You can see pictures from the funeral taken by my comrade Alberto, on his blog here. They demonstrate a complete lack of respect for Palestinian life and a complete lack of remorse for having caused Rushdi's death.

In other news:

• There is now a ceasfire in Gaza. Inshallah it will last, and no more will be added to the 162 people who were murdered by Israel since operation 'Pillar of Cloud' began.   

• 22 year old Hamdi al Falah was killed in Hebron, demonstrating against the attack on Gaza. He was shot four times, once in the head, twice in the body and once in the leg. Friends of mine were at the funeral and said that thousand of people came to protest his death, the occupation and murder in Gaza. They were (surprise surprise) violently repressed by the Israeli army.

•  A 20 month old baby died in Qalandia after soldier fired a tear gas canister into his bedroom. It ignited and he died of the burns.

• Activists helped to remove a section of the Apartheid Wall (the Wall is in both concrete and metal fence form - the 15 metres we removed was from the wire part). The army didn't even arrive in time to stop us. Hah! 

• Activists blocked a settler road and for a second time, a settler drove a car into one of my comrades on purpose - this time it was Palestinian popular struggle organiser Abdullah Abu Rahmeh. He is fine now.