Brown lives also don't matter in Palestine: Palestinian minister is dead, and Israel will no doubt get away with it

Ziad Abu Ein, a senior Palestinian Minister led a group of activists to stolen farmland to protest yet another violation of international law yesterday. Together they marched peacefully to a village in the West Bank called Turmusaya, which had seen much of its land stolen for the nearby illegal settlement of Adei Ad. The protest was organised in coordination with International Human Rights Day and the activists were planning on planting olive tree saplings.

According to reports the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) were already at the farmland waiting to block activists from reaching their destination. The IOF fired tear gas and stun grenades at the group. Shortly after, Abu Ein was assaulted by Israeli soldiers in a violent confrontation. One photo (below) shows a soldier grabbing him by the throat, while witnesses say he was also struck on the chest. He collapsed and was rushed to a hospital in Ramallah, but died on the way.

The autopsy results have been disputed, with the Israelis determined that Abu Ein died from a heart attack, while Palestinian officials asserting that he died as a result of the assault. The Israelis have also claimed in an official IOF statement that the demonstrators were a group of "rioters" attempting to enter the "civilian community of Adei Ad".

Unfortunately for the IOF, local and international media witnessed the entire event. The incident was captured on camera and to me it is very clear that the senior Palestinian minister was violently assaulted.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas is now under increasing pressure to respond with strength. Indeed senior leaders in Fatah are calling for him to suspend the PA’s security coordination with Israel. But Abbas has yet to make a move.

open image in gallery

The fact that a PA minister can be assaulted in the West Bank while on a peaceful demonstration to oppose illegal settlement building is very telling of the de facto situation on the ground. The PA has little authority or sovereignty in the West Bank.

Had it been the other way round and an Israeli minister was assaulted in Israel by a Palestinian and died as a result, we can be sure that the Israeli government would be laying siege to the whole of the West Bank and (for good measure) bombing the hell out of Gaza. The simple point that this incident demonstrates is that the situation between Israel and Palestine is totally inequitable and that the PA cannot even guarantee the safety of its own ministers in its own ‘territory’.

Indeed activists on social media have already begun using the hashtag "I can’t breathe" and "brown lives matter", drawing comparisons between Abu Ein’s death and Eric Garner’s in the US. Just as there was no indictment for the NYPD officer who killed Garner, there will also be no justice for the death of Ziad Abu Ein. Or for Rauf Snober, the 17 year old boy who was shot in the head in Jalazoun refugee camp yesterday and lies critically injured in hospital. Or for the dozens of other Palestinians who have been killed by Israeli forces since the summer massacre in Gaza.

The killing of Abu Ein emphasizes two things. Firstly, that the PA has very little sovereignty and power in the West Bank if Israeli soldiers can attack a high profile Palestinian minister. Secondly, Palestinian lives simply do not matter for Israel and its allies.