Solidarity with Tristan Anderson

A Palestinian man shot in the face with a tear gas canister during a West Bank demonstration died Saturday morning, according to protest organizers. Mustafa Tamimi, 28, was among dozens of protesters who gathered in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh on Friday for a weekly protest against the encroachment of a nearby Israeli settlement.

Full story: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/12/10/world/meast/west-bank-protester-dead/index.html

As per agreement between Tristan’s lawyers and the lawyers of the State, all court dates have been postponed. New dates will be set sometime in January.

Beginning next week, a Jerusalem Civil Court will convene regarding the case of Tristan Anderson: an International Solidarity Activist from Oakland, California, wounded in March 2009 when he was shot in the head by Israeli Border Police in Ni’lin, Palestine.

Tristan was shot with an experimental weapon—a High Velocity Tear Gas Grenade—designed to travel 300 meters and hit with enough force to break through barricades. Tristan was shot directly in the head from about 50 meters. He survived the attack on his life, but has been left paralyzed on one side of his body and with significant damage to his brain. [ --read more-- ]

The following article on Tristan’s case is by Charlotte Silver, a journalist in the West Bank, Palestine.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/11/201111611108224290.html

And here are a series of updates on Rachel Corrie’s trial. We can expect Tristan’s trial to follow a similar pattern:

http://rachelcorriefoundation.org/blog/2011/08/09/sumud-corrie-trial-update
http://rachelcorriefoundation.org/trial

Undeniable negligence in police investigation

This week the parents of Tristan Anderson – the 38 year-old American who was critically injured by a high velocity tear gas canister shot by Israeli Border Police in the West Bank village of Nil’in on March 13, 2009 – filed an appeal on the decision to close the investigation concerning their son’s injury.  The basic grounds for the appeal include undeniable negligence in the investigation.   This negligence particularly involves two critical errors in the investigation conducted by the Investigative unit of the SJ District (West Bank) Israeli Police Force:

· Mistaken identity: There were several Border Police squads in Nil’in at the time of Tristan’s injury. Only one of the squads was interviewed by investigators – the wrong squad.

· No field visit: The investigation team did not visit the scene of the incident or nearby viewpoints from which to understand distances and positions described by eyewitnesses to the incident.

On the day of Tristan’s injury, there were several police squads in Nil’in – one stationed at a position known as “Antenna Hill” and another positioned closer to the village center.  Since the squad stationed at Antenna Hill reported injuring a person, this squad was questioned regarding Tristan Anderson. However, it is now clear that there was more than one injury on March 13, 2009 – with one such injury having been reported by the squad stationed on Antenna Hill.  These police officers report having hit a person in a completely different location and with an entirely different description than that of Tristan. For example, the police officers reported hitting a stone thrower whose face was covered, whereas several eyewitnesses attest to the fact that Tristan’s face was not covered at all on that day and that he did not throw stones. Furthermore, eyewitnesses to Tristan’s injury report that the tear gas canister came from a different direction than Antenna Hill, the same area in which the second squad was stationed.  It is clear that these mistakes stem from the fact that investigators never visited the scene of the incident.

Attorney Michael Sfard:  The astonishing negligence of this investigation and of the prosecutorial team that monitored its outcome is unacceptable, but it epitomizes Israel’s culture of impunity.  Tristan’s case is actually not rare; it represents hundreds of other cases of Palestinian victims whose investigations have also failed.

On Thursday, Nov. 17 at 6:30 pm, an event in solidarity with the opening of Tristan Anderson’s trial holding the Israeli military responsible for shooting him in the head with a tear gas canister will be held at the Art House in Berkeley, 2905 Shattuck near Ashby.

Accompanying the update on legal challenges will be music, featuring David Rovics, Andrea Pritchett, Ayr and others tba.

A panel discussion will start with a live update from the first day of trial in Israel from Tristan’s friend Gabby who was with him when he was shot, and a statement from Tristan. Other panelists include Ayr, Paul Larudee from the International Solidarity Movement, and others, speaking about current situations in Palestine. We will also give a shout out to Occupy Oakland and Iraq veteran Scott Olson, who was injured in a similar way via police action at Occupy Oakland and remains in recovery.

This event is free. Info at 510-547-7486.

Tristan’s first interview since his injury. In this brief interview Tristan discusses the innocence of his friends Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer. For more information, please check out FreeOurFriends.eu or FreeTheHikers.org
Follow this link for a transcript of the interview.