James Crafti
On May 12 Sydney resident Phillip Reiss was shot with a "rubber" bullet in the back of the head while demonstrating in the Palestinian village of Bil'in. The misleadingly named "rubber bullet" — a metal cylinder covered by a millimetre of plastic — caused a haemorrhage in Reiss's brain.
Reiss, a member of the International Solidarity Movement, was filming a demonstration close to soldiers of the Israel "Defense" Forces when he was shot. IDF regulations stipulate that soldiers may not fire rubber bullets at close range and only at the arms and legs.
Although Australian media reports focused almost exclusively on Reiss and, to a lesser extent, B.J. Lund from Denmark, who was also shot in the head and required stitches, eight Palestinians were severely injured at the same demonstration.
Sixty-year-old Abed Al Karim Khatib was hit in the groin with a rubber bullet. Other Palestinians injured by rubber bullets include 15-year-old Abed Albased Abu Rahme and Waleed Mahmoud Abu Rahme and Wajdi Shokut, who are 20 and 18 respectively.
Ashraf Muhammed Jamal was hit by a tear gas canister that was aimed at his head. Abdullah Abu-Rahme (coordinator of the Bil'in Popular Committee Against the Wall), Muhammad Al Katib and Akram al Katib were severely beaten.
Reiss's injuries are not unique. On February 24, Israeli anarchist Matan Cohen and Palestinian Hussni Rayan sustained serious injuries when hit with "rubber bullets" at a rally in the village of Beit Sira against Israel's apartheid wall.
Cohen was hit in an eye, which impaired his sight and needs further operations; his sight may never fully recover. A rubber bullet penetrated eight centimetres into Rayan's body, almost reaching his kidneys.
Cohen's injuries were plastered all over the Israeli media, but Rayan's injuries were barely reported. Israeli and international activists' injuries receive a lot more coverage in the corporate media, both in Israel and abroad.
At the trial of Israeli activists Jonathan Pollak and Kobi Snitz, who were both acquitted on May 16 of charges relating to a 2005 anti-wall protest, the Israel Border Police made clear the difference internationals and Israelis make to a demonstration. Border Police officer Hassan Mada commented, "We will remove the Israelis to get them out of the line of fire ... so that we can take action against the Palestinians". This comment was backed up by another Border Police officer, Yasmin Levi, who, when asked if different weapons were used on Israelis and Palestinians, answered "of course".
Only two suicide bombings have occurred this year. Yet the non-violent resistance, which involves a wide range of Palestinians in ongoing action against the occupation, continues to be denied coverage in the corporate media even when people are regularly injured and sometimes killed.
The role of people like Reiss and other international activists is important because the actual history of the Palestinian struggle is constantly being rewritten by a biased press, which continues to demonise Palestinians' resistance. Even Michael Moore, in his book Stupid White Men, devoted a chapter to arguing why Palestinians should adopt Ghandi's techniques. If only Moore, like Reiss, could witness the Palestinian struggle with his own eyes.
[James Crafti, a member of the Australian socialist youth organisation Resistance, recently returned from the West Bank.]
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, May 24, 2006.
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