Pricking the Eye and Stirring the Heart
Jul. 30th, 2008 01:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eumeliaTuesday afternoon, during one of the regular demonstrations and protests against the Separation Wall in the West Bank village of Nil'in, on the outskirts of Ramallah a boy between the ages of 9-12 (reports vary) was shot dead by what appeared to have been a live round* fired by an IDF border guard.
His name was Ahmad Husam Yousef Mousa.
Ha'aretz report and the BBC report.
A serious inquiry and probe is going to take place because of this incident.
Say they do find the culprit, that one teenager that shot that one child. What then? They suspend him? They kick him out of the unit? Will they actually arrest this 18-20 year old soldier for murder?
Or this going to be another thorn among the roses of the IDF? An anomaly, everyone in the service are Good Boys, salt of the Earth and all that other stuff that we hear about the soldiers, who are actually policemen.
Beyond the fact that this is a travesty and a tragedy of the highest degree, I can already hear the reactionary media and talking heads saying: The soldier was provoked, what's a child doing there anyway, those Arabs have no morals sending their children into dangerous situations, well he would have grown up to be a terrorist anyway - throwing stones at that age, etc. etc. etc.
I'd also like to know what kind of people are being discharged into Israeli civilian life. Are these soldiers really comfortable with what they're doing in the West Bank? Can they really excuse their behaviour and actions by saying that they were "just following orders", which are patently illegal?
A patently illegal order as written in the small pamphlet every new IDF recruit gets the day they enter the system is an order that "Pricks the eye and stirs the heart" - "אי חוקיות הדוקרת עין ומקוממת את הלב".
I tend to give these kids (because that's what they are) the benefit of the doubt, because I find it really difficult to believe that they've lost any kind of perspective and really do not regard the Palestinians as people and merely as a monolith of Terrorism.
It's the commanding officers in which I have absolutely no faith any more.
In any event there is a demo taking place this evening outside Defence Minister Ehud Barak's house in Tel-Aviv.
Information in Hebrew and English
*It may very well have been a well aimed rubber bullet, those things at close range are deadly. And I don't know if you know that a rubber bullet is merely a regular projectile covered in, well, rubber.
His name was Ahmad Husam Yousef Mousa.
Ha'aretz report and the BBC report.
A serious inquiry and probe is going to take place because of this incident.
Say they do find the culprit, that one teenager that shot that one child. What then? They suspend him? They kick him out of the unit? Will they actually arrest this 18-20 year old soldier for murder?
Or this going to be another thorn among the roses of the IDF? An anomaly, everyone in the service are Good Boys, salt of the Earth and all that other stuff that we hear about the soldiers, who are actually policemen.
Beyond the fact that this is a travesty and a tragedy of the highest degree, I can already hear the reactionary media and talking heads saying: The soldier was provoked, what's a child doing there anyway, those Arabs have no morals sending their children into dangerous situations, well he would have grown up to be a terrorist anyway - throwing stones at that age, etc. etc. etc.
I'd also like to know what kind of people are being discharged into Israeli civilian life. Are these soldiers really comfortable with what they're doing in the West Bank? Can they really excuse their behaviour and actions by saying that they were "just following orders", which are patently illegal?
A patently illegal order as written in the small pamphlet every new IDF recruit gets the day they enter the system is an order that "Pricks the eye and stirs the heart" - "אי חוקיות הדוקרת עין ומקוממת את הלב".
I tend to give these kids (because that's what they are) the benefit of the doubt, because I find it really difficult to believe that they've lost any kind of perspective and really do not regard the Palestinians as people and merely as a monolith of Terrorism.
It's the commanding officers in which I have absolutely no faith any more.
In any event there is a demo taking place this evening outside Defence Minister Ehud Barak's house in Tel-Aviv.
Information in Hebrew and English
אחמד חוסאם יוסף מוסא, בן 10, נרצח אתמול בנעלין -
הפגנה היום, יום רביעי, בשעה 19:00 מול ביתו של שר הביטחון אהוד ברק
ניפגש בשעה 18:30 ברכבת ארלוזורוב, מסוף אל על.
אחמד חוסאם יוסף מוסא, בן 10, נרצח אתמול כשהפגין עם חבריו נגד גדר ההפרדה המוקמת על אדמות כפרו, נעלין. כאשר הגיעו לתוואי העבודות, ירו לעברם החיילים כדורי גומי, והם נסוגו לאחור. או אז אחד החיילים ירה בראשו של אחמד כדור חי ממרחק של עשרה מטרים.
במהלך הפגנה שנערכה מוקדם יותר בכפר נפצעו 18 מפגינים.
במשך שש שנות מאבק עממי נגד גדר ההפרדה הרגו כוחות הכיבוש 11 מפגינים, מתוכם 7 ילדים, ופצעו אלפים. פעם אחר פעם מדכאים החיילים את ההפגנות ותוקפים את המשתתפים בהן באמצעים קטלניים. עד היום אף אחד מהחיילים שהרגו לא הועמד הדין.
היום, יום רביעי, נצא למחות ולצעוק את מותו של אחמד בן ה-10 מול ביתו של שר הביטחון, אהוד ברק, בתל אביב.
די לרצח ילדים - צאו מיד מהשטחים!
ניפגש בשעה 18:30 ברכבת ארלוזורוב, מסוף אל על.
משם נצעד למגדלי אקירוב שברחוב פנקס, מקום משכנו של שר הביטחון ברק.
Ahmad Husam Yousef Mousa murdered yesterday in Nilin-
Demonstration today, Wednesday, at 19:00
in front of defense minister Barak's home
We'll meet at 18:30 at El Al terminal,Tel Aviv central train station (Arlozorov)
Ahmad Husam Yousef Mousa, 10 years old, was murdered yesterday as he demonstrated together with his friends against the separation wall which is being constructed on the lands of his village Nilin. When Ahmad and his friends reached the construction site the soldiers shot rubber bullets at them and they began to retreat. At that point one of the soldiers shot a live round at Ahmad's head from a distance of about 10 meters.
During the demo earlier in the day, 18 demonstrators were injured.
During 6 years of popular struggle against the wall, the occupation forces have killed 11 demonstrators, 7 of them children, and thousands were injured. Time and time again, soldiers violently suppress demonstrations and attack those who take part in them with lethal weapons. To date, none of the soldiers who killed demonstrators has been prosecuted.
Today, Wednesday we will set out to protest the murder of 10 year old Ahmad in front of the home of defence minister Ehud Barak in Tel Aviv.
Stop the Killing, Stop the Occupation !
We'll meet at 18:30 at El Al terminal,Tel Aviv central train station (Arlozorov)
From there we will march to the Akirov towers on Pinkas street where Barak lives.
*It may very well have been a well aimed rubber bullet, those things at close range are deadly. And I don't know if you know that a rubber bullet is merely a regular projectile covered in, well, rubber.
