American Peace Activist, Trist Anderson, Shot in Head by Israeli Terrorist Soldier, Ambulance Delayed 15 Minutes at Checkpoint, Video

American Peace Activist, Trist Anderson, Shot in Head by Israeli Terrorist Soldier, Ambulance Delayed 15 Minutes at Checkpoint, Video

See video at:

http://palsolidarity.org/2009/03/5324

American protester shot by Israeli soldiers still in critical condition after surgery

Date: 14 / 03 / 2009 Time: 11:53
Bethlehem – Ma’an –

An American demonstrator shot in the head by the Israeli occupation terrorist forces Friday remains in life-threatening condition after undergoing surgery overnight. This happened during the weekly protest against the illegal Israeli Land-Grab, Apartheid Wall held Friday afternoon by Palestinian, Israeli, and international peace activists in the Ni'lin village.

“His skull is fractured. Fragments of bone went into his brain,” said Anderson’s partner, 25-year-old Gabrielle Silverman, originally from Brooklyn, New York, speaking on the phone from Tel Hashomer Hospital in Tel Aviv Saturday.

Silverman said doctors had removed part of the right frontal lobe of Anderson’s brain and were working to “put his face back together,” to address trauma to his eye and forehead. The hospital is refusing to release further details, she said.

“It’s unclear how well he’s going to recover. He could die. He could recover completely. He could be severely brain damaged,” said Silverman, adding that Anderson’s parents are on their way to Tel Aviv from San Francisco.

Israeli occupation terrorist soldiers shot 37-year-old Tristan Anderson, of Oakland California, in the forehead with a high-velocity teargas canister at a demonstration against the Israeli West Bank separation wall in the village of Ni’lin on Friday.

Palestinians and their international supporters hold demonstrations at noon every Friday in Ni’lin and other villages against the Israeli wall, which, if completed, will snake 723 kilometers through the interior of the West Bank. Israel says the barrier is for its security, but Palestinians see it as one of many means to confiscate their land and further fragment their territory. The wall was ruled illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2004.

Silverman also corroborated reports that the Israeli occupation terrorist soldiers had shot Anderson without provocation.

“I was only a few feet away when he was shot,” at about five in the afternoon, after the main demonstration had wound down. “He was standing on the grass; nothing was happening,” she said.

It was, then, “a surprise” when Israeli soldiers fired the teargas canister from an adjacent hillside. A video released by the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement, shows a scene of panic, moments after the shooting. Anderson is pictured lying in a stretcher, his face covered in blood.

When a Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance evacuated Anderson, they were delayed at an Israeli military checkpoint for 15 minutes, waiting while Anderson bled from his forehead and nose. They also waited for an Israeli ambulance to transport Anderson to Tel Aviv.

Silverman herself came to Israel in early February on the Taglit-Birthright program which offers free trips to Israel for young Jews from around the world. She stayed on after the program ended, planning to spend a month in Israel, a month in the West Bank, and a month travelling in Egypt and Jordan. Anderson later joined her.

“They shot Tristan for one of two reasons; either because they believed he was a Palestinian, or because they were indiscriminately firing. Either way we need serious accountability from the Israeli government,” Silverman said.

“As a Jew and as an American I’m very ashamed,” she added.

American citizen critically injured after being shot in the head by Israeli forces in Ni'lin

ISM, 13th Friday 2009, Ni’lin Village:

An American citizen has been critically injured in the village of Ni’lin after Israeli forces shot him in the head with a tear-gas canister.

Tristan Anderson from California USA, 37 years old, has been taken to Israeli hospital Tel Hashomer, near Tel Aviv. Anderson is unconscious and has been bleeding heavily from the nose and mouth. He sustained a large hole in his forehead where he was struck by the canister. He is currently being operated on.

Tristan was shot by the new tear-gas canisters that can be shot up to 500m. I ran over as I saw someone had been shot, while the Israeli forces continued to fire tear-gas at us. When an ambulance came, the Israeli soldiers refused to allow the ambulance through the checkpoint just outside the village. After 5 minutes of arguing with the soldiers, the ambulance passed. – Teah Lunqvist (Sweden) - International Solidarity Movement

The Israeli army began using to use a high velocity tear gas canister in December 2008. The black canister, labeled in Hebrew as “40mm bullet special/long range,” can shoot over 400 meters. The gas canister does not make a noise when fired or emit a smoke tail. A combination of the canister’s high velocity and silence is extremely dangerous and has caused numerous injuries, including a Palestinian male whose leg was broken in January 2009.

Tristan Anderson was shot as Israeli forces attacked a demonstration against the construction of the annexation wall through the village of Ni’lin’s land. Another resident from Ni’lin was shot in the leg with live ammunition.

Four Ni’lin residents have been killed during demonstrations against the confiscation of their land.

Ahmed Mousa (10) was shot in the forehead with live ammunition on 29th July 2008. The following day, Yousef Amira (17) was shot twice with rubber-coated steel bullets, leaving him brain dead. He died a week later on 4 August 2008. Arafat Rateb Khawaje (22), was the third Ni’lin resident to be killed by Israeli forces. He was shot in the back with live ammunition on 28 December 2008. That same day, Mohammed Khawaje (20), was shot in the head with live ammunition, leaving him brain dead. He died three days in a Ramallah hospital.

Residents in the village of Ni’lin have been demonstrating against the construction of the Apartheid Wall, deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2004. Ni’lin will lose approximately 2500 dunums of agricultural land when the construction of the Wall is completed. Ni’lin was 57,000 dunums in 1948, reduced to 33,000 dunums in 1967, currently is 10,000 dunums and will be 7,500 dunums after the construction of the Wall.

… the firing incident took place inside the village and not next to the fence. There were clashes in the earlier hours, but he wasn’t part of them. He didn’t throw stones and wasn’t standing next to the stone throwers.

There was really no reason to fire at them. The Dutch girl standing next to him was not hurt. It only injured him, like a bullet.

Please Contact: Adam Taylor (English), ISM Media Office +972 8503948 Sasha Solanas (English), ISM Media Office - +972 549032981 Woody Berch (English), at Tel Hashomer hospital +972 548053082

OAKLAND: UPDATE: FRIEND SAYS ACTIVIST'S LIFE IS 'SOMEWHAT AT RISK' IN ISRAEL

OAKLAND (BCN)

13 Mar 2009 18:45

Veteran Bay Area activist Tristan Anderson was critically injured today during a protest against the building of a separation barrier in the village of Naalin on the West Bank, according to a friend from San Francisco.

Kate Raphael, who said she has known Anderson for six years through their mutual participation in local peace rallies, said he was hit with a tear-gas canister fired by Israeli armed forces and suffered a large hole in his forehead.

Raphael said Anderson, 38, who has lived in Oakland the past several years and previously lived in San Francisco, was one of the tree-sitters who protested the University of California at Berkeley's plans to tear down a grove of trees so it could build a new sports training facility next to its football stadium.

Israeli activist Jonathan Pollack said in a telephone interview that he was with Anderson when he was hit with the tear-gas canister.

Pollack, who said he has known Anderson "for many years," said Anderson was hit from "a pretty short distance" by a powerful new type of tear-can canister that can shoot up to a distance of 500 meters.

Pollack said Anderson was struck at about 4:30 p.m. local time toward the end of a lengthy protest that had started about noon.

He alleged that Anderson "was shot for absolutely no reason" because he wasn't threatening anyone and the group of protesters had dwindled from about 400 people to about two dozen people.

Anderson's skull was fractured and some of the bone fragments entered his brain, Pollack said.

Anderson underwent surgery to have part of his frontal lobe removed and it "went relatively well," said Pollack, who was at the Tel Hashomer hospital in Tel Aviv to monitor the surgery.

However, Anderson is still unconscious and "his life is still somewhat at risk," Pollack said.

The International Solidarity Movement is one of the groups that participated in the West Bank protest today.

Raphael said Anderson isn't closely involved with the group but knows people in the group.

Raphael said she was closely involved with the group but hasn't been as active in recent years.

Although Raphael said she has known Anderson for about six years, she said she doesn't know what he does for a living.

Pollack said Anderson has been in Israel and the West Bank for about a month and participated in other protests before the one today.

Israel began building the barrier in 2002 after an outbreak of Palestinian violence and it has been a source of controversy and protest ever since.

Supporters say the barrier is a necessary tool to protect Israeli citizens from Palestinian terrorism, including suicide bombing attacks.

But opponents argue that it is an illegal attempt to annex Palestinian land and violates international law.

Anderson came down from his perch in a tree near UC Berkeley's football stadium on June 19 and was given a stay-away order but was found near the tree the following day.

Attorney William Simpich said Anderson, who used the nickname "Cricket" during his tree-sitting days, resolved the civil case that the university filed against him by pleading guilty to contempt of court charges.

In return, the university agreed not to seek legal costs or jail time from Anderson and other tree-sitters who accepted the deal, Simpich said.

Anderson and the other protesters had to pay fines and perform community service.

Simpich said Anderson has fulfilled all his legal obligations and he was planning to document that in writing next week.

Simpich said he was shocked to hear that Anderson was seriously injured today.

Anderson also faced misdemeanor criminal charges for his tree-sitting activities but Simpich wasn't involved in that case and the attorneys who handled the case weren't available for comment today.

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