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Gassed Bilin woman wasn’t protesting

A report says that the Palestinian woman who died of tear gas inhalation during a protest in the occupied West Bank was not even taking part in the demonstration.

The 36-year-old Jawaher Abu Rahmah did not participate in the main procession of the demonstration in the village of Bilin against the controversial Israeli separation wall in the West Bank, Ha’aretz newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The report added that the woman stood about 100 meters from her home, watching the protest. Two teenagers, Aslam and Ilham Fathi, said they were with Abu Rahmah when she got injured.

“I met with Jawaher at the entrance to the home of Abu Hamis [an uncle],” Aslam said. “She was speaking with her cousin, who is getting married. She suggested we go and watch the procession, which was far from us. We moved closer to the kids who were throwing stones at the army. The soldiers were quite far away, but they fired large amounts of gas.”

Ilham also said she was on the roof of Abu Rahmah’s house when the incident occurred. She climbed down and went into the house to close the windows after a cloud of gas approached them.

“As I closed one of the windows, I saw [Jawaher] lose consciousness because of the gas, and I ran to her with Aslam to take her away,” Ilham said.

“We lifted her together and carried her to the yard of my house. We called for help and she began to vomit. She had foam on her mouth,” she further explained.

Medics at Ramallah medical center said they were unable to revive Jawaher Abu Rahmah and she died on Saturday morning. She had lost two brothers during anti-barrier protests in the past.

Israeli troops fatally shot her handcuffed and bound brother Ashraf in the neighboring village of Nilin with rubber-coated steel bullets in July 2008. Her other brother, Bassem, was shot and killed with a tear-gas canister in April 2009.

Following the death of Rahmah, Palestinian lawmaker Mustafa Barghouti called for an international campaign to pressure Tel Aviv to stop using tear gas against civilians.

Barghouti asked doctors to document “the crimes committed by Israel.”

On Sunday, Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian man at a checkpoint in the West Bank. He was unarmed and on his way to work.

Sources in the Palestinian Red Crescent identified the man as the 21-year-old Tubas-resident Ahmed Maslamani. They said his body was riddled with bullets.

According to Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA), Israel is trying to cover-up the recent killings.

“Both of these persons were the victims of Tel Aviv regime’s policies which allow for the continued inappropriate use of disproportionate violence against Palestinians by Israeli forces, settlers, and guards,” read a PA statement released on Tuesday.

Tel Aviv began constructing the West Bank separation wall in 2000. The International Court of Justice says the wall is illegal and should be taken down.

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