American citizen critically injured after being shot in the head by Israeli forces in Ni’lin

*This is what was shot at Tristan Anderson

This past Saturday, and American protester, Tristan Anderson was hit in the head with a tear gas canister shot at him by Israeli soldiers. Here is an excerpt from an article about it:

"The heavy impact from the tear gas canister being shot directly at him, from about 60 meters, also caused severe damage to his right eye, which he may lose. Tristan underwent brain surgery in which part of his right frontal lobe and shattered bone fragments were removed.

The Israeli army began to use the Rutger rifle and a high velocity tear gas canister in December 2008. The black canister, labeled in Hebrew as “40mm bullet special/long range,” can shoot over 400 meters and weighs 130 grams without the propeller. The gas canister does not make a noise when fired or emit a smoke tail and has a propeller to accelerate the weapon mid-air. A combination of the canister’s high velocity and silence is extremely dangerous and has caused numerous injuries, including a Palestinian male whose leg was broken in January 2009."

The town where Tristan was shot is called Ni'lin, and there are protest there every weekend. The separation wall that is being built around the entire West Bank is especially contraversial in this town, because it will cut out thousands of square miles of land from the town. Land that will then become part of Israel. What happened to Triston is awful. Unspeakably horrible. This poor man.

Along with how atrocious this whole thing is, I'm also totally appalled that THIS is the only incident that is getting the international media's attention. The New York Times, the AP, the Israeli press all wrote articles the day it happened. Even the title of this post "American citizen critically injured..." implies this message of "wake up, reader! Someone who matters has been hurt!!" Here is a list (from the article I linked to above) of many of the other people who have been hurt/killed in Ni'lin in the past year:

"Ahmed Mousa (10) was shot in the forehead with live ammunition on 29th July 2008. The following day, Yousef Amira (17) was shot twice with rubber-coated steel bullets, leaving him brain dead. He died a week later on 4 August 2008. Arafat Rateb Khawaje (22), was the third Ni’lin resident to be killed by Israeli forces. He was shot in the back with live ammunition on 28 December 2008. That same day, Mohammed Khawaje (20), was shot in the head with live ammunition, leaving him brain dead. He died three days in a Ramallah hospital."

A TEN year old? I mean, really!? Not only do many people here value the lives of Palestinians less than others, but apparently the international press feels the same. I know this isn't a ground-breaking conclusion, but it's just so damn sad.