The shot fired by an Israeli soldier in the head of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi left no chance for doctors at the hospital in Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, to bring her back to life. The 26-year-old, an American national but originally from Turkey, whose nationality she also held, according to Ankara, came to participate with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) association on Friday, September 6, in a movement to support a group of Palestinians fighting against the confiscation of their land near Beita, south of the city of Nablus.
Every Friday a protest rally takes place at the site, which revolves around prayers, supported by Israeli anti-settler activists and sometimes with the support of foreigners. This demonstration takes place not far from a settlement, Evyatar, a former illegal “outpost” located on a neighbouring hill, which was indirectly legalised in July by the Israeli authorities when they declared this area a “protected area”. “department[enait] to the State »thus depriving Palestinian owners of their rights.
“After the prayer ended, small skirmishes began, prompting the army to fire live ammunition.” says Abdul Rahman Kabeisah, a Palestinian protester who was present at the scene. “At first, the army fired a large number of [cartouches de] tear gas, before starting to fire live ammunition,” details a note written by ISM activists in the evening. The text states that two shots hit the people present. The first wounded a Palestinian in the leg. The second hit Aysenur Ezgi Eygi in the head.
A continuity of violence
The latter was, according to testimonies from other members of the organisation, under an olive tree, not far from where her support demonstration had taken place, when she was hit. Jonathan Pollak, an Israeli activist long involved with Palestinians in the West Bank, was nearby. In a recording posted on Instagram, with his hands still covered in blood, he recounts how he tried to give her first aid and took her pulse, which was already very weak.
Pollak told the American newspaper Washington Post that the demonstration had ended when the shooting took place, including that which hit Aysenur Ezgi Eygi. In a statement, the Israeli army said that a unit operating near Beita had “responded with shots aimed at the main instigator of the violence who had thrown stones [les soldats] and presented them with a threat”.
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