Another travesty and tragedy of the Occupation: Ziad Abu Ein, a 55-year-old Palestinian minister and...

1. Picture Of An Occupation: Palestinian Minister Killed
During Peaceful Protest
Another travesty and tragedy of the Occupation: Ziad Abu Ein, a 55-year-old Palestinian minister and
father of four, died after being choked by an Israeli soldier as he and other activists attempted to
plant olive trees at an illegal settlement near Ramallah. The new head of the Commission Against the
Separation Wall and Settlements, Abu Ein had moments before denounced the IDF's shooting of tear
gas, beating and arresting of activists, and other violence in response to what was a peaceful
protest.
The first member of the Palestinian government to be killed in a protest, Abu Ein was a minister
without portfolio, a senior member of Fatah and a former Deputy Minister for Prisoners' Affairs who
had spent 13 years in Israeli and U.S. prisons. As the newly appointed head of the Commission, he
was in charge of organizing popular resistance activities of Palestinians against the security barrier
and settlements, and was a frequent presence at protests.
On Wednesday, he and dozens of activists had set out to plant olive trees near the settlement of Adei
Ad, formerly the village of Turmus Aiya, to "protect land stolen by settlers." Israeli soldiers attacked
them, firing tear gas and punching and arresting many. As Abu Ein stepped in to object, one soldier
seized him by the neck and roughly shoved him. A few moments later, Abu Ein collapsed; he died in
Ramallah Hospital. Eyewitness accounts and the results of a subsequent autopsy have been fiercely
disputed: Palestinian and Jordanian doctors say he died either from choking, inhaling large amounts
of tear gas, being hit in the chest by an Israeli helmet or tear gas cannister, or some combination of
those factors; Israeli doctors say he died of natural causes stemming from a heart condition.
Thousands attended Abu Ein's funeral today in Ramallah, where shops closed and protests escalated.

2. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called his death "a clear crime" and "barbaric act," and said
the Palestinian government is considering its options in response. Shortly before his death, Abu Ein
spoke to reporters, sounding short of breath from the tussle. "We came to plant trees on Palestinian
land, and they launch into an attack on us from the first moment. Nobody threw a single stone," he
said. "This is the terrorism of the occupation. This is a terrorist army, practising its terrorism on the
Palestinian people." Video bears him out. Warning: distressing. Also reminder: This is what, over and
over, the Occupation has wrought. It goes on daily.
His daughter at the funeral
At the Martyrs' Cemetery

3. http://www.commondreams.org/further/
2014/12/11/picture-occupatio-
-palestinian-minister-kil-
ed-during-peaceful-protest