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ISM Gaza Strip video Footage & editing: Ya9ni...
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Ahmed Abu Hashish, a Bedouin teenager of 18 years from a rural community in the northern Gaza Strip had been missing for 54 days.
A shepherd then noticed a murder of crows on a patch of land from which there was also a foul stench emanating, but he could not approach close enough to investigate. This patch of land is in what Israel calls the buffer zone. A strip of land within The Strip which abuts the border with Israel, and in which the Israeli military enforce a no-go decree by shooting, from positions on their side of the border, at anyone who breaks it. It feels like a no-mans land, typically empty of people - or at least the living.
Of course most Gazans now choose not to go there. Others go out of necessity, desperation, or a resolve not to be forced off their land. Usually they survive. The soldiers dont always shoot with the firm intent to kill. Often the shootings just very, very close - enough to terrify. Enough to make one believe that the intention of the shots are to kill, and that the next one might. And the fact is that the next one might.
Ahmeds father, Abu Ayesh, knew that this patch of land was most likely where his son now lay, slowly decomposing in the hot summer heat. No official organisations could or would help him search for his sons body in this area - even the International Committee of the Red Cross who might normally coordinate with the Israeli Military in matters such as this had refused. He then requested assistance from the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative, and from the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).
On Sunday 14th June, members of Ahmeds family including his father, and volunteers from the Beit Hanoun Local Initiative and the ISM ventured out into the buffer zone. As we arranged ourselves into a line to sweep along, and scour the land for a corpse, we could see Israeli jeeps and hummers congregating just across the border fence next to us. N from the ISM communicated with the soldiers over a megaphone, informing them of our purpose, and of our status as civilians. Many of our number were high visibility vests, drawing attention to the fact that we were a group of civilians.
Within minutes of starting our search however, the first shots rang out.
This land over which we were treading was rough, and speckled with thorn bushes. Maintaining our line, and ensuring that we didnt pass some spot of ground unnoticed proved to be very challenging in these conditions - navigating our way through the the scrub, scanning the ground around us for a corpse, and instinctively attempting to avoid the bullets that split the air with an audible hiss.
We pressed on, and the gunfire waxed and waned - sometimes from assault rifles, sometimes from a machine gun, and punctuated with the odd explosion. Soldiers were visible on top of their jeeps, and on foot right up against the fence. N continued to communicate with them, requesting that they stop shooting at us.
Suddenly we spotted Ahmeds body. As two of the Bedouins approached and began crouching down to examine it, more shots suddenly rang out which were obviously directed at them. They dived for cover away from the body. More of our group converged on the spot where the body was. We began wrapping it in a sheet, to carry it off the field. The stench of decay was nauseating, and a quick glance at the state of the corpse after lying there open to the elements for 54 days, was enough to induce an urge to retch.
As we rushed to take Ahmeds body away, the shooting only intensified. We were all heading away from the fence. Wed told the soldiers over the megaphone, that wed found the body and that we were going. Ahmeds father hurriedly and in anguish attempted to catch up with the bearers of his sons corpse, wailing and lamenting his loss as he did so. Still the bullets whistled past our heads, or into the ground behind us.
It struck me, when we finally got out of range of the soldiers guns, that our presence in that area that day must not have come as any surprise to them. It was most likely them who had shot Ahmed in cold blood some 54 days previously. They would have known where his body lay. The Israeli military never informed anyone of this. They did not pass on news of Ahmeds murder to his family. Instead, they waited for almost two months, knowing that at some point and despite the danger, a search party might come looking for the corpse.
Was it necessary to shoot at a group of civilians on a humanitarian mission? Was it necessary to continue shooting at us as they left? Was it necessary for their bullets to force a grieving father to face his own mortality in the very moment he was compelled to recognise that of his son.
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freepalestineee uploaded a new video
(4 weeks ago)
by http://guerrillar...
video made by kaxlan2009:
http://www.youtub...
ISM:...
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by http://guerrillar...
video made by kaxlan2009:
http://www.youtub...
ISM: http://palsolidar...
Bedouin family to search for the body of their missing son
Posted on: June 13, 2009 | ShareThis| Print
14 June 2009
A Bedouin teenager Ahmed Salama Eid Abu Hashish, 18 from the border area east of Beit Hanoun has been missing since 21st April, 2009. His family believe that he may have been killed in the buffer zone an area of Gaza next to the border that Israeli soldiers attempt to prohibit access to by shooting at people. On Sunday, 14 June 2009, his family, along with members of the Local Initiative from Beit Hanoun, and volunteers from the International Solidarity Movement Gaza Strip will attempt to search for his body in this area.
The ISM is aware of 18 people who have been injured by Israeli gunfire or shelling.
5 June 2009, Shoka, Rafah: Khaled Ismail Mohammed Jahjuh was shot in his lower spine by the Israeli army.
3 June 2009, Beit Hanoun: Ali Mohammed al-Zummara, 65, injured by shrapnel in the back.
3 June 2009, Beit Hanoun: Saleh Mohammed al-Zummara, 66, injured by a gunshot to the left hand.
3 June 2009, Bedouin village Um An-Nassir: Ahmed Tawfiq Abu Hashish, 17, injured by shrapnel to the left shoulder and foot.
3 June 2009, Bedouin village Um An-Nassir: Saleh Ahmed al-Madani, 17, seriously injured by shrapnel to the neck and the left shoulder.
20 May 2009, Beit Hanoun: Ziad Salem abu Hadayid, 23, was shot in his legs with live ammunition by Israeli forces.
7 May 2009, Rafah: Randa Shaloof, 32, was shot in her hand with live ammunition by Israeli forces.
3 May 2009, Beit Hanoun: Mohamed Harb Shamia, 12, was injured in his leg by Israeli forces.
3 May 2009, East of Jabalya: Mona Selmi As-Sawarka, 30, was injured by shrapnel wounds to her chest.
2 May 2009, Khozaa: Nafith Abu Teima, 35, injured in his neck by shrapnel from Israeli forces.
10 March 2009, al-Maghazi refugee camp: Muhannad Sehi Abu Mandil, 24, was shot in the left foot with live ammunition by Israeli forces.
24 February 2009, Khozaa: Wafa Al Najar, 17, was shot in the kneecap with live ammuntion by Israeli forces.
18 February 2009, Al Faraheen: Mohammad al-Breem, 20, was shot in the right leg with live ammunition by Israeli forces.
14 February 2009, Jabalya: Hammad Barrak Salem Silmiya, 13, was killed when Israeli forces shot him in the head with live ammunition.
27 January 2009, Al Faraheen: Arwan al Ibrim, 27, was killed when Israeli forces shot him in the neck with live ammunition.
25 January 2009, Khozaa: Subhi Tafesh Qudaih, 55, was wounded by a gunshot to the back.
23 January 2009, Khozaa: Nabeel Ibrahim al-Najjar, 40, was wounded by shrapnel from a gunshot to the left hand by Israeli forces.
20 January 2009, Sheyjaiee: Ahmed Hassanian, 7, was shot in the head by Israeli forces.
20 January 2009, al-Qarara: Waleed al-Astal, 42, was shot in his right foot by Israeli soldiers.
18 January 2009, Khozaa: Maher Abdul Azim Abu Rjaila, 23, was killed when Israeli forces shot him in the chest with live ammunition.
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