Dan Shohat about the events that led to shooting of Gil Na’amati.
“In the early afternoon today, in the middle of a direct,non-violent action against the Apartheid system of walls and fences in the occupied WestBank,an Israeli citizen was shot in his leg by soldiers of the Israeli army.
Gil Na’amati, whom I hadn’t met until today, was on the front line of Israeli activistswho went to the fence to cut it or break it down. I was a few meters behind him,watching the soldiers and helping to take care of the barrier of the road just behind the fence.20 meters ahead of us were the soldiers, 2 or 3 military jeeps.
Demonstration against the Wall in Qalqilya – 27/12
On the rainy Saturday, a day after the Israeli peace activist Gil Namati,was shot and severely wounded by an Israeli army sharpshooter whiledemonstrating against the “security fence” at Mas’ha village,a mass demonstration against the fence took place not far away, in Kalkilia.This town of 30 thousand inhabitants is completely surrounded by the “fence”,leaving only one single entrance through a checkpoint.
The Palestinian Authority’s governor of the Kalkilia district,Mustafa Maliki, personally phoned to Israeli peace organisations in order to ask them to takepart.
But the police cut off the whole area well in advance, in order to prevent the activists fromgetting there.However, some 30 Israelis – among them Gush Shalom activists – managed to reach thecheckpoint at the entrance to the town, where they were stopped.
While thousands demonstrated in the closed-in town and soldiers threwgas grenades at them from the watch-towers in the Wall,a spontaneous demonstrations took place at the checkpoint. Uri Avnery of Gush Shalom, themajor of Jayous,
members of the Knesset Muhammad Baraka (Hadash) and Jamal Zahalka (Balad), Latif Dori,Ya’akov Manor and representativesof the near-by villages addressed the demonstrators,attacking the wall and protesting against the shooting of the peace activist.Israelis and Palestinians chanted together: “The Wall must Fall”.
After the demonstration, the activists went to Jayous, where the”separation fence” separates the inhabitants from their olive groves and hothouses, onwhich they depend for their livelihood.”I wish all citizens of Israel would come here and see this abomination with their own eyes!”exclaimed the historian Teddy Katz when he viewed the scene from the roof of the municipality.
Protest “sit-in” in Tel Aviv, after the shooting of Gil Na’amati – 27/12
Later on the same day, a spontaneous demonstration against the shootingof the activist took place in front of the Ministry of Defence in Tel-Aviv.
About 200 furious demonstrators from various peace groups, including Gush Shalom, blockedthe street for almost two hours.
The police tried several times without success to disperse by force the demonstrators who saton the asphalt.
When the police arrested seven people, the demonstrators sat down around the police cars,chanting slogans like: “Mofaz, Mofaz, Minister of Defense – How Many Demonstrators Did YouKill Today?”and “Soldier, Policeman – You Can Refuse!”
A slight rain fell from time to time, but the demonstrators did not budge.At last the police car with the prisoners started to move a great speed,threatening to overrun the people crowding around it. One activist, 16 years old Matan Cohen,was wounded in the abdomen and removed byan ambulance, who could not reach him for 20 minutes.
When the police promised to release the prisoners after the peaceful dispersion of thedemonstration,the activists decided to march en bloc to the police stationto make sure that the detained people were actually released.