Jawaher Abu Rahmah
Nog een bericht over Jawaher Abu Rahmah, de vrouw die afgelopen weekend bij een protest tegen de muur in Bili'in is omgekomen, volgens de Palestijnen door Israelisch traangas. Zoals wel vaker, is de zaak mistig en is veel onduidelijk. Volgens nieuwe getuigenissen van Palestijnen zou Abu Rahma niet bij de demonstratie zijn geweest, maar in de buurt hebben gestaan van een groepje jongeren die stenen gooiden naar het leger, waarop het leger traangas spoot in haar richting. Het blijft moeilijk voorstelbaar dat de concentratie zo hoog was dat zij daar, honderden meters van het leger verwijderd, aan kon sterven, zoals ook uit een eerder bericht bleek. Bovendien spreken de Palestijnse getuigen elkaar ook weer gedeeltelijk tegen. Het blijft allemaal zogezegd mistig.
Hoe dan ook, iedere dode is er een teveel en Israel kan op een gemakkelijke manier een einde aan deze wekelijkse protesten maken door het stuk muur bij Bili'in eindelijk te verplaatsen, waartoe het hooggerechtshof al in 2007 toe heeft bevolen. (Naar verluid is men met een nieuwe muur bezig en zal de huidige over enkele maanden worden afgebroken.)
RP
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According to rioters, Abu Rahma was 150-180 meters away
http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2011/01/according-to-rioters-abu-rahma-was-150.html
http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2011/01/according-to-rioters-abu-rahma-was-150.html
Ha'aretz published a map of the (one of many) Palestinian Arab version of events in Bil'in. I received a horrible fax copy of it (see here):
According to this version, Jawaher Abu Rahma was standing 150-180 meters away from the kids throwing stones who were hit with tear gas.
This is nearly two football fields away.
As we saw yesterday from the Physicians for Human Rights paper on tear gas, the immediate cloud produced is some 6-9 meters in diameter and even in the center of the cloud the concentrations of the agent are 3%-10% of the amount usually needed to be breathed in for a full minute to kill the average healthy person.
I can't find any studies on dissipation of CS gas outdoors but simple watching of videos of these demonstrations shows that the gas cloud dissipates within seconds (although the canister emits gas for maybe 10 seconds so if one was right next to the canister one could be exposed at the highest outdoor levels for perhaps 15 seconds.)
While I have no doubt that someone can smell tear gas from a greater distance and even that their eyes can tear from a whiff, the idea that tear gas is toxic from 150 meters is absurd. The entire town of Bil'in would have been wiped out years ago.
(h/t Yisrael Medad and SoccerDad)
According to this version, Jawaher Abu Rahma was standing 150-180 meters away from the kids throwing stones who were hit with tear gas.
This is nearly two football fields away.
As we saw yesterday from the Physicians for Human Rights paper on tear gas, the immediate cloud produced is some 6-9 meters in diameter and even in the center of the cloud the concentrations of the agent are 3%-10% of the amount usually needed to be breathed in for a full minute to kill the average healthy person.
I can't find any studies on dissipation of CS gas outdoors but simple watching of videos of these demonstrations shows that the gas cloud dissipates within seconds (although the canister emits gas for maybe 10 seconds so if one was right next to the canister one could be exposed at the highest outdoor levels for perhaps 15 seconds.)
While I have no doubt that someone can smell tear gas from a greater distance and even that their eyes can tear from a whiff, the idea that tear gas is toxic from 150 meters is absurd. The entire town of Bil'in would have been wiped out years ago.
(h/t Yisrael Medad and SoccerDad)
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Bil'in eyewitnesses: Woman killed by tear gas wasn't protesting
An investigation carried out by Haaretz, with the help of a number of eyewitnesses, concluded Abu Rahmah stood about 100 meters from her home, watching the protest.
By Avi Issacharoff
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/bil-in-eyewitnesses-woman-killed-by-tear-gas-wasn-t-protesting-1.335257
The Palestinian woman who died last weekend from smoke inhalation was indeed hurt by tear gas in Bil'in, according to new evidence provided to Haaretz. The evidence has also made it clear that the woman, Jawaher Abu Rahmah, 36, had been standing near youths throwing stones at Israeli soldiers on Friday.
This new information runs contrary to claims made in the media, which are allegedly based on military sources.
An investigation carried out by Haaretz on Monday, with the help of a number of eyewitnesses, has concluded Abu Rahmah did not participate in the main procession of the weekly demonstration against the West Bank separation fence, but instead stood about 100 meters from her home, watching the protest.
Two teenagers, Aslam and Ilham Fathi, said they were with Abu Rahmah when she was injured.
"I met with Jawaher at the entrance to the home of Abu Hamis [an uncle]," Aslam said. "She was speaking with her cousin, who is getting married. She suggested we go watch the procession, which was far from us, and we moved closer to the kids who were throwing stones at the army. The soldiers were quite far away, but they fired large amounts of gas and stinky water.
"Her mother called her to come back and I also thought it was enough. I didn't want us to go through what happened to Bassem," he continued, referring to Abu Rahmah's brother, who was killed at a protest in Bil'in in 2009.
"But the gas reached us. She was about half a meter from me. There was a lot of gas and I covered my eyes. I didn't see her until Ilham called to me, saying 'Come quickly, help me lift Jawaher.' She managed to call out, 'Call Samir [her brother] to take me to hospital. I'm going to die,'" Aslam said.
Ilham, on the other hand, says she was on the roof of Abu Rahmah's house when the incident occurred. After a cloud of gas approached them, she said, she climbed down and went into the house to close the windows.
"As I closed one of the windows, I saw [Jawaher] lose consciousness because of the gas, and I ran to her with Aslam to take her away," Ilham said. "We lifted her together and carried her to the yard of my house. We called for help and she began to vomit. She had foam on her mouth."
The teens said they then called Abu Rahmah's brother Samir, but that he could not find an ambulance. He then called his elder brother, Ahmed, who was in the procession. There were reportedly two ambulances there and he took one of them to the spot where Jawaher was lying.
According to Ahmed and Samir Abu Rahmah, who on Monday described the scene to Haaretz, their sister Jawaher was still alive and conscious at that point. She waved her hands to indicate that she needed air and told them that she was going to die. They said she then vomited and that foam covered her mouth.
Subhiya, Jawaher's mother, relayed the same version of events to the village committee.
According to Saher Basrat, the ambulance driver who evacuated Jawaher Abu Rahmah from the scene, "I picked up Jawaher at the entrance to the path close to the [separation] fence, where the demonstration had taken place. She was partially conscious, responded to questions and said that she was being choked by the gas. I took her to the hospital immediately."
This new information runs contrary to claims made in the media, which are allegedly based on military sources.
An investigation carried out by Haaretz on Monday, with the help of a number of eyewitnesses, has concluded Abu Rahmah did not participate in the main procession of the weekly demonstration against the West Bank separation fence, but instead stood about 100 meters from her home, watching the protest.
Two teenagers, Aslam and Ilham Fathi, said they were with Abu Rahmah when she was injured.
"I met with Jawaher at the entrance to the home of Abu Hamis [an uncle]," Aslam said. "She was speaking with her cousin, who is getting married. She suggested we go watch the procession, which was far from us, and we moved closer to the kids who were throwing stones at the army. The soldiers were quite far away, but they fired large amounts of gas and stinky water.
"Her mother called her to come back and I also thought it was enough. I didn't want us to go through what happened to Bassem," he continued, referring to Abu Rahmah's brother, who was killed at a protest in Bil'in in 2009.
"But the gas reached us. She was about half a meter from me. There was a lot of gas and I covered my eyes. I didn't see her until Ilham called to me, saying 'Come quickly, help me lift Jawaher.' She managed to call out, 'Call Samir [her brother] to take me to hospital. I'm going to die,'" Aslam said.
Ilham, on the other hand, says she was on the roof of Abu Rahmah's house when the incident occurred. After a cloud of gas approached them, she said, she climbed down and went into the house to close the windows.
"As I closed one of the windows, I saw [Jawaher] lose consciousness because of the gas, and I ran to her with Aslam to take her away," Ilham said. "We lifted her together and carried her to the yard of my house. We called for help and she began to vomit. She had foam on her mouth."
The teens said they then called Abu Rahmah's brother Samir, but that he could not find an ambulance. He then called his elder brother, Ahmed, who was in the procession. There were reportedly two ambulances there and he took one of them to the spot where Jawaher was lying.
According to Ahmed and Samir Abu Rahmah, who on Monday described the scene to Haaretz, their sister Jawaher was still alive and conscious at that point. She waved her hands to indicate that she needed air and told them that she was going to die. They said she then vomited and that foam covered her mouth.
Subhiya, Jawaher's mother, relayed the same version of events to the village committee.
According to Saher Basrat, the ambulance driver who evacuated Jawaher Abu Rahmah from the scene, "I picked up Jawaher at the entrance to the path close to the [separation] fence, where the demonstration had taken place. She was partially conscious, responded to questions and said that she was being choked by the gas. I took her to the hospital immediately."
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