Dear friends,
please find below an Haaretz article by Israeli activist, Jonathan Pollak, on the death of Mustafa Tamimi.
Jonathan's
article's is one of the best explanations, I have read, to the disingenuously question or statement made by many Zionsits about Palestinian stone throwing. Their statements are usually made in an attempt to
discredit the Palestinian struggle and to justify the brutal military
assaults by Israeli Occupation Force with high tech weaponry on
Palestinians who have nothing except rocks to defend themselves. Jonathan, however, clearly explains that for Palestinians throwing stones is about refusing to submit to Israeli occupation, its is about resistance to the occupation and defense of your family, friends and homeland.
As Jonathan writes: "Mustafa died
because he threw stones; he died because he dared to speak a truth, with
his hands, in a place where the truth is forbidden .... Mustafa was a brave man killed because he
threw stones and refused to be afraid of a soldier bearing arms, sitting
safely in the military jeep covered in armor".
I have know Jonathan for many years and he is one of the most dedicated, committed and passionate activists I have been fortunate to meet and work with over the years Jonathan was one of the original founders of the Israeli Anarchists Against the Wall and he is currently the media spokesperson for the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee.
In 2009, Jonathan gave evidence at the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, which was headed by Justice Richard Goldsone. Jonathan's testimony, along with the testimony of Mohamed Srour, described the murders of Arafat and Mohammed Khawaja from the village of Ni'lin. Arafat and Mohammed were killed by Israeli Occupation Forces during a demonstration against Israel's Operation Cast Lead, the 22 day military assault on Gaza which resulted in close to 1400 Palestinians being killed, the majority of whom were civilians, including at least 350 children. You can read Jonathan and Mohamed's testimony here.
Last year, Jonathan was sentenced to 3 months imprisonment for taking part in a Critical Mass bike demonstration in Tel Aviv in protest of Israel's blockade of Gaza. Jonathan was the only person convicted, although he was arrested along with 30 other protestors.
In solidarity,
Kim
A courageous Palestinian has died, shrouded in stone
The army spokesman was right - Mustafa died
because he threw stones; he died because he dared to speak a truth, with
his hands, in a place where the truth is forbidden.
Mustafa Tamimi threw stones.
Unapologetically and sometimes fearlessly. Not on that day alone, but
nearly every Friday. He also concealed his face. Not for fear of the
prison cell, which he had already come to know intimately, but in order
to preserve his freedom, so he could continue to throw stones and resist
the theft of his land. He continued to do this until the moment of his
death.
According to British newspaper The Daily
Telegraph, in response to the reports about the shooting of Tamimi, the
spokesman of the GOC Southern Command wondered on his Twitter account:
"What was Mustafa thinking running after a moving jeep while throwing
stones #fail." Thus, simply and mockingly, the spokesman explained why
Tamimi was to blame for his own death.
Mustafa Tamimi, from the village of Nabi
Saleh - son to Ikhlas and Abd al-Razak, brother to Saddam and Ziad, to
the twins Oudai and Louai and sister Ola - was shot in the head at close
range on Friday. Hours later, at 9:21 on Saturday morning, he died of
his wounds. A gas grenade was fired at him from an armored military Jeep
at a distance of only a few meters. It was not out of fear that the
person who did fired the shot hit him. He poked the barrel of the rifle
through the door of the armored vehicle and fired with clear intent. The
shooter is a soldier. His identity remains unknown and perhaps it will
always remain unknown. Maybe this is for the best. Identifying him and
punishing him would only serve to whitewash the crimes of the entire
system. As if the indifferent Israeli civilian, the sergeant, the
company commander, the battalion commander, the brigade commander, the
division commander, the defense minister and the prime minister had no
part in the shooting.
The army spokesman was right. Mustafa died
because he threw stones; he died because he dared to speak a truth, with
his hands, in a place where the truth is forbidden. Any discussion of
the manner of the shooting, its legality and the orders on opening fire,
infers that the landlord is forbidden to expel the trespasser. Indeed,
the trespasser is allowed to shoot the landlord.
Mustafa's body is lying lifeless because he
had the courage to throw stones on the 24th anniversary of the first
intifada, which begot the Palestinian children of the stones. His
brother Oudai is imprisoned at Ofer Prison and was not allowed to attend
the funeral, because he too dared to throw stones. And his sister was
not allowed to be at his bedside in his final moments, even though she
is not suspected of having thrown stones, but because she is a
Palestinian.
Mustafa was a brave man killed because he
threw stones and refused to be afraid of a soldier bearing arms, sitting
safely in the military jeep covered in armor. On the day Mustafa died,
the frozen silence roaming the valley was only slightly less chilling
than the shrilling sound of his mother's laments which fell upon it
occasionally.
Thousands of stone-throwers followed him at
his funeral. He was lowered into his grave and stones covered his body.
Soldiers stood at the entrance to his village. Even the anguish and
solitude of separation was intolerable for the army, who set their
soldiers and arms to shower mourners with teargas as they went down to
village lands following the funeral. While the soldier who shot Mustafa
is at large, six of the demonstrators were put behind bars.
Mustafa, we walk behind your body with our
heads bowed and eyes full of tears. We cherish you, because you died for
throwing stones and we did not.
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