From Abir Kopty of the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee:
Palestinian Protester Dies of Injury Sustained on February 22
Muhammad Asfour, 23, was injured two weeks ago from rubber coated steel bullet in his head during a protest. His funeral will take place after Friday noon prayer in Aboud. Since the beginning of 2013, six Palestinians were killed from soldiers’ shooting.
The medical staff of Echilov hospital declared today the death of Muhammad Asfour, 23, resident of the village of Aboud, west of Ramallah, of injury sustained two weeks ago, after he was shot by Israeli soldiers during clashes that erupted during a protest at Aboud in support of Palestinian prisoners on hunger striker.
Asfour was shot on February 22nd, with a rubber coated steel bullet in the head which settled in the brain. He was evacuated to Salfit hospital and then to Rafidya Hospital in Nablus. Few days later he was transferred to Echilov hospital in Tel Aviv in critical condition.
Asfour was 4th year Physical Education student at Al Quds University in Abu Dis and played football in the village’s team. Born on 3/9/1990, Asfour died two days before celebrating his 23rd birthday.
His funeral will take place tomorrow, March 8th, after Friday’s noon prayer in his village, Aboud.
Asfour is the sixth Palestinian to die from Israeli soldiers shooting in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, (see B’Tselem report here), in addition to prisoner Arafat Jaradat who died two weeks ago in the Israeli prison “Megiddo”, six days after his arrest:
11 January 2013: Anwar al-Mamluk, 20, of a-Shuja’iyeh neighborhood, Gaza City, fatally shot by soldiers near the Gaza military perimeter fence
12 January 2013: ‘Udai Darwish, 21, of Dura, Hebron District, fatally shot by soldiers after crossing the Separation Barrier into Israel on his way to work
15 January 2013: Samir ‘Awad, 17, of the village of Budrus, Ramallah District, fatally shot by soldiers beside the Separation Barrier near Budrus
18 January 2013: Saleh al-‘Amarin, 15, of al-‘Aza Refugee Camp, Bethlehem District, fatally shot by soldiers in al-A’yda Refugee Camp
23 January 2013: Lubna al-Hanash, 21, of Bethlehem, fatally shot by soldiers near Route 60, by al-‘Arrub Refugee Camp
I bet any money the Zionist apologists (though they be few) who feel the need to smear their filth on this site will somehow try and justify all six murders.
How many more murders will Apartheid Israel get away with, before the boycott and divestment movement stops it?
Here’s an answer, from late last night:
A huge divestment victory at the University of California-Riverside. Another student government has entered the history of the Palestine Freedom Movement.
I hope to read more details in Mondoweiss. Yes, the student government at the University of California-Riverside has voted overwhelmingly for divestment against Israeli Apartheid.
The vote was 11-5, overriding a veto that attempted to kill the divestment resolution.
This follows a recent vote for divestment at UC-Irvine’s student government (in the L.A. Times at http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/11/uc-irvine-student-leaders-urge-uc-to-divest-in-some-companies.html ).
It also follows earlier student government votes for divestment at:
* Evergreen State College in 2010 (http://electronicintifada.net/content/evergreen-state-students-overwhelmingly-pass-divestment-votes/1067 ),
* Wayne State University (at http://tinyurl.com/85r6um2 ),
* Arizona State University in 2012 (at http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora/bds-roundup-arizona-state-university-student-government-votes-divest-israel )
* The University of Michigan-Dearborn (at http://michigandaily.com/content/dearborn-student-govt-demands-divestment ),
* Carleton University graduate students in 2012 (at http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/canadian-first-carleton-university-students-pass-israel-occupation-divestment )
Also:
* The University of Wisconsin-Platteville faculty senate approved its own divestment resolution (at http://michigandaily.com/content/faculty-senate-wisc-passes-divestment-bill ),
* MEChA, the largest association of Chicano youth in the U.S., voted overwhelmingly at its 2012 national conference to endorse the global call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel ( http://www.nationalmecha.org/archives/2012/03/national_mecha_endorses_palestinian_boycott_call_against_israel.php ),
* South Africa’s governing party, the African National Congress, voted to make boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel part of its official policy in December 2012 (at http://panafricannews.blogspot.com/2012/12/anc-takes-firm-position-in-solidarity.html ), and
* The Olympia Food Co-op, in 2010, voted to boycott all Israeli products (at http://www.theolympian.com/2010/07/21/1310754/israel-cleaned-from-co-op-shelves.html )
In these votes, every argument that apartheid could make was rejected. After all, the arguments favoring Apartheid Israel are identical to the arguments made to preserve the old dead Apartheid State of South Africa.
Furthermore, Apartheid South Africa was tighly allied to Apartheid Israel. (See http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/feb/07/southafrica.israel )
Another divestment vote is coming at UC San Diego next week.
This is because UC San Diego’s student government adjourned their meeting following eight hours of divestment debate last night (see http://www.ucsdguardian.org/news-and-features/campus/item/26498-divestment-vote-postponed ; at the end it quickly mentions the divestment victory at UC Riverside. )
The sixth that we know about that is. Palestinian victims are as invisible to our media as are the victims of our drone attacks. Of course that’s okay since they are probably Muslims.
May I just say that a rubber coated steel bullet shot at the head does not comport with ‘crowd control’. Sounds as though the IOF was practicing kill techniques. Hey, it worked!
Any word from Israel’s officials about Mr. Jaradat’s autopsy?
I’ve read the preliminary and intermediate reports– can’t find anything on the ‘final’.
Maybe they think that the world has forgotten.
My fiance and I met playing soccer. Soccer players being hurt and killed is so sad. There’s so much joy in the game. It’s all sad, all this needless death.