Deadly risks

Human rights activist Aysenur Eygi was the 18th person to be killed by Israeli troops since 2020 during a Palestinian protest against Israeli settlements in the occupied northern West Bank village of Beita. Her death was briefly headlined in regional and Western media because, unlike the others, she was a US citizen of Turkish background. Palestinian deaths are not counted by foreign governments and media.

Israeli snipers who had taken up position on a rooftop 200 metres from the protesters shot directly at Eygi, 26, who was sheltering among olive trees after most of the demonstrators had dispersed. A Palestinian man was hit in the thigh by shrapnel from a second bullet. A few weeks ago, Amado Sison, another US volunteer, was hit by shrapnel in the back of the leg. Israeli troops are liberal with live bullets.

Eygi was the third foreign volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) to be killed by Israeli troops. The first was Rachel Corrie, 23, who was crushed in March 2003 by an Israeli bulldozer which was demolishing Palestinian homes in Gaza. In 2005, “My Name is Rachel Corrie” – a play based on her diary and letters to her parents – was staged by the late British actor Alan Rickman and journalist Katherine Viner. The uninterrupted 90-minute moving monologue by Megan Dodds was put on at the Royal Court Theatre in London. The play won the Theatregoers’ Choice Awards for best director and best new play as well as best solo perfor-mance. The play was set transfer to the independent New York Theatre Workshop in March 2006 but under pressure from pro-Israel groups the play was “postponed indefinitely.”

The second ISM volunteer to die was British photographer, Tom Hurndall, who 22, was shot in the head in April 2003 while trying to rescue Palestinian children from Israeli bullets near at a peace tent pitched on a road to obstruct Israeli tank patrols in Rafah in the Gaza strip. He died at a London hospital in January 2004. The Israeli military ruled the shooting “accidental” and jailed the shooter for eight years. He was released early.

Born in the Turkish city of Antalya in 1998, Eygi graduated in June in psychology with a minor in Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures from the University of Washington state. Before her arrival in Palestine, she had worked with autistic children and as a legal assistant. Her LinkedIn profile cited by The Washington Post said, “I’m driven by a passion for making a positive impact and continuously seek opportunities to learn, grow, and contribute to meaningful projects.” She might have been influenced by the example of Rachel Corrie who was also from Washington state.

Eygi’s family said an Israeli investigation “is not adequate” and urged the US to conduct an independent investigation and “ensure full accountability for the guilty parties.” The family stated, “Like the olive tree she lay beneath where she took her last breaths, Aysenur was strong, beautiful, and nourishing. Her presence in our lives was taken [away] needlessly, unlawfully, and violently by the Israeli military.”

White House Arab affairs advisor Philip Gordon stated, “We deplore the death pf Aysenur Ezgi Eygi – an American citizen – in the West Bank, and we send our deepest condolences to her family and loved ones.” He called her death a “terrible tragedy” and said, “We are seeking more information.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken echoed Gordon by deploring “this tragic loss.” When asked of the US would take action against Israel, he said, “First things first – let’s find out exactly what happened and we will draw the necessary conclusions and consequences from that...When we have more info, we will share it, make it available and, as necessary, we’ll act on it.” He added, “I have no higher priority than the safety and protection of American citizens wherever they are.”

This is nonsense. The US has not acted against Israel over the shooting death of prominent US-Palestinian television journalist US citizen Shireen Abu Akleh in the West Bank city of Jenin by Israeli troops in May 2021. The US has failed to act over the particularly cruel case of octogenarian US national Omar al-Assad who died of heart attack in January 2022 after his arrest at a temporary Israeli army checkpoint. He was tied up, gagged and blindfolded. When he collapsed, the troops cut off the ties on his hands, took off the blindfold and gag and left him unresponsive in the cold in an unfinished building. Israeli investigations of both cases have gone nowhere.

This is why UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric stated, “We would want to see a full investigation of the circumstances and that people should be held accountable. Civilians “must be protected at all times.”

“Civilians?” What civilians? US civilians protesting Israel’s illegal occupation and colonisation of the West Bank. Palestinians protesting and resisting? Nearly 700 Palestinians have been killed over the past 11 months in the West Bank and 41,000 in Gaza – 70 per cent of Gazans are civilian women and children.

The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) was co-founded in August 2001 by US-Palestinian-Israeli Huwaida Arraf, Israeli activist Neta Golan, Palestinian rights campaigners Ghassan Andoni and George Rishmawi, Palestinian film maker Usama Qashoo, and US activist Adam Shapiro. The movement calls for global volunteers to protest peacefully against Israel’s military occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza and demands Israel abide by international law. In its mission statement, the ISM said Palestinians have the right to resist in multiple ways but vowed to stick to peaceful means. “There already is violence. We’re not advocating it. It’s already there. It’s on the ground. We’re working with people and with Palestinians who want to promote nonviolence.” This is a dangerous cause for ISM volunteers in Palestine whatever their nationality.

Photo: Reuters