Israel: Hundreds Protest in Tel Aviv over Killing of Palestinian Woman

Photo: Tomer Appelbaum (Haaretz)Hundreds of Israelis gathered in front of the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv on Saturday to protest the death of Jawaher Abu Rahmah, a 36-year-old Palestinian woman killed on Friday by tear gas fired by the Israeli military.

Police arrested eight activists. The protestors claim that police acted violently, detaining and beating Musi Raz, a former member of the Israeli Parliament, the Knesset.

The demonstrators held up pictures of Abu Rahma and chanted, “End the occupation” and “[Defense Minister Ehud] Barak, how many protesters have you killed as of today?” 

Abu Rahmah died on Saturday morning. She was exposed to tear gas as Israeli soldiers tried to disperse a crowd in the West Bank village of Bil'in. The demonstrators were protesting Israel's "separation wall".

Yonatan Pollak, a prominent activist, said, “Like every week, we began walking toward the fence when the IDF began barraging us with an insane amount of tear gas, even more than usual.” He said the gas canisters were fired “long, long before there could have been any stone-throwing because the protesters were still far away – too far to throw rocks".

The Israel Defense Forces have responded to the claim with a set of photographs of a few Palestinian boys throwing stones:

Abu Rahmah's brother Bassem was killed by an extended-range tear gas projectile fired at his chest by soldiers during an April 2009 demonstration against the wall.