Israel: Brutal crackdown on anti-occupation activists [View All]

[Resistance]

By Chris Marsden | World Socialist Web Site

The response of the army, judiciary and the government of Ariel Sharon to Jewish opponents of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza—and to foreign peace activists—is becoming ever more brutal.

Israeli protester Gil Na’amati was shot in the legs by Israeli Defence Forces troops during a demonstration against the West Bank separation fence on December 27 near the village of Maskha. In a demonstration organised by Anarchists Against the Fence, the protesters were cutting a length of the fence when they were met with live fire by the IDF—seriously injuring Na’amati and slightly injuring an American citizen.

The IDF regularly use live ammunition to disperse Palestinians, but this was the first time troops have opened fire on Jewish protesters.

In March 2003, US citizen Rachel Corrie, 23, was murdered by the IDF while trying to stop an army bulldozer demolishing Palestinian homes in the Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. On April 5, US citizen Brian Avery, 24, was shot in the face in Jenin by IDF soldiers. On April 11, British citizen Tom Hurndall was a shot in the head while helping Palestinian children flee the scene of IDF gunfire in the Rafah. He has been in a coma ever since and is expected to die. It was only this month that an IDF soldier admitted to shooting Hurndall, claiming it was a deterrence shot.