Bassem Abu Rahmeh's shooting during a demonstration against the wall, Bil'in. Video by David Reeb

Bassem Ibrahim Abu Rahmeh (a.k.a. Phil), a 30 year-old Bil’in resident, was killed this Friday during a demonstration against the wall, after Israeli soldiers shot a high-velocity teargas projectile directly at him. As can be seen in the video above, Bassem was standing on a hill alongside several journalists, removed from the main body of the demonstration, when he was hit in his chest by the special, “extended range” teargas projectile, which was fired without provocation from a distance of about 40 meters by troops positioned behind concrete blocks and on the other side of the separation barrier. Seconds before the shooting, Bassem had been pleading with the soldiers to hold their fire, shouting “we are in a nonviolent protest, there are kids and internationals...”. He was shot before he could finish the sentence.

Protesters carrying Bassem after he was hit by the teargas projectile. Photo: Lazar Simeonov

According to eyewitnesses, the impact from the projectile knocked him over and left a gaping hole in his chest. As there was no ambulance at the scene, he was driven to a Ramallah hospital in a private car, but died less than halfway there from the injury, blood flooding his lungs. News of his death reached the village just as the last of the demonstrators were leaving the site of the protest, next to the separation barrier.

The teargas projectile in question is the same kind that critically injured American national Tristan Anderson at a demonstration in Ni’lin on the 13th of March, after he was hit in the head from approx. 60 meters. Tristan remains hospitalized in Tel HaShomer hospital in Tel Aviv.

Bassem Abu Rahmeh's Funeral, Bil'in

Bassem Abu Rahmeh, a well-known and frequent participant in the village’s four year long battle against the Wall, is the first Bil’in resident and the 18th Palestinian in total to be shot dead during a demonstration against the Apartheid Wall. His funeral took place on Saturday afternoon, after his body was carried on a cloth stretcher all the way from a Ramallah hospital to his village of Bil'in, accompanied by hundreds of mourners. The funeral itself was attended by over a thousand people, including Palestinians from neighboring villages as well as international and Israeli friends and activists.

Demonstrators in Tel Aviv protesting Bassem's murder. Signs read "Murderers in Uniform"

On Saturday evening, over 400 protesters took to the streets in Tel Aviv, accusing Israeli soldiers of murdering demonstrators and calling for an end to the occupation and the Apartheid Wall. Protesters gathered at the central Ben-Tzion Boulevard and marched towards the Kirya, an area which serves as the headquarters of the IDF's General Staff and where various government structures are situated, including the main Israeli army base and the Ministry of Defense. Protesters held a short rally in memory of Bassem Abu Rahmeh and all the victims of Israeli military violence, dispersing without incident.