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The death of a Palestinian demonstrator over the weekend has focused attention on how Israel deals with a burgeoning protest movement that includes Jews, as well as Arabs. Palestinians say the protester died from inhaling tear gas that was fired by Israeli troops during a demonstration in the West Bank. The Israeli military disputes the Palestinian version.
NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro reports.
Unidentified Woman: (Foreign language spoken)
LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO: The small concrete house is packed with women in mourning, sitting in plastic chairs. People file in and kiss cheeks, offering condolences.
Soubhiya Abu Rahmah is a stout woman dressed in a traditional Palestinian robe embroidered with cross stitching. Her son was killed here in the West Bank village of Bil'in during a demonstration in 2009. His face appears in posters papering the otherwise bare walls.
Now, her daughter, Jawaher Abu Rahmah, has also died after attending a similar demonstration last Friday.
Ms. SOUBHIYA ABU RAHMAH: (Through Translator) My daughter started talking to me screaming and saying, I feel bad. I feel bad. Then she started throwing up, throwing up. We took her to the hospital and we found that the tear gas had gone totally into her lungs.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Soubhiya blames the Israeli military for her death. Palestinian doctors support that claim, saying she died of a heart attack after breathing in too much gas. There is an investigation, but Israeli press reports say that the military believes that she died due to other factors.
Unnamed Israeli officers are quoted as saying that the Palestinians are trying to use the young woman's death to discredit the Israeli army. There will be a debate about the incident tomorrow in Israel's Parliament. The IDF declined to go on the record about the investigation.
Right-wing parliament member Danny Danon belongs to the security committee. Speaking to NPR by phone, he says the Palestinians are cynically trying to manipulate the case.
Mr. DANNY DANON (Member, Knesset): But what you will see today is that they think that by bullying us in the international arena, we will make more concessions, and that is not the case, especially not with this government.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: He says, in fact, Israel encourages peaceful protesting.
Mr. DANON: I don't know any other neighbor of Israel that you can go and protest. But when the demonstration becomes an assault, and it happens sometimes in the West Bank, that's when we have to take action. And when our soldiers are under threat, they have to protect themselves.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: But human rights groups and activists say a series of recent cases shows that Israel is systematically cracking down on dissent.
Mr. JONATHAN POLLACK (Pro-Palestinian Activist): My case is only one of many cases, one that gets attention because I'm a Jewish Israeli.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Jonathan Pollack is one of the leading pro-Palestinian activists in Israel. In 2008, he was participating in a peaceful bicycle protest in Tel Aviv when he was arrested, the only person arrested during the demonstration. Last month, he was convicted of disturbing the peace and was sentenced to three months in prison.
He says Israel is targeting protest leaders who challenge the occupation of the West Bank, while rabbis who break the law by preaching discrimination are unsanctioned.
Mr. POLLACK: I think that I can be sent to jail for three months for protesting the siege of Gaza, while open racism is advocated in Israeli society unanswered.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Another case that is garnering attention is that of grassroots organizer Adnan Ghaith who is from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan. Using an arcane law that dates back to the British mandate before the birth of Israel, Ghaith was told he was to be banished from his home for a period of several months on the basis of secret evidence that his defense lawyer was not allowed to see. He told NPR he won't obey the deportation order.
Jonathan Pollack says protest movements are a vital outlet for the many tensions here.
Mr. POLLACK: I do think that popular resistance and grassroots organizing are one of the only alternatives to horrible violence in this region. And I think that it is in the interest of everyone that this sort of resistance prevails.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: He warns that if Israel is allowed to repress the movement of civil resistance, there is no doubt that other more brutal forms of resistance will arise.
Lourdes Garcia-Navarro NPR News, Jerusalem.