US peace activist Tristan Anderson, of Oakland, Calif., was critically wounded when he was struck in the head by a tear-gas cannister launched by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank village of Ni'lin [3], west of Ramallah, March 13. Four Palestinians were also shot with rubber-coated bullets in the incident. Anderson remains in life-threatening condition after undergoing surgery overnight at Tel Hashomer Hospital in Tel Aviv.
"His skull is fractured. Fragments of bone went into his brain," said Anderson's partner, Gabrielle Silverman, 25, originally from Brooklyn, NY. The protest is a weekly event against the Israeli separation wall, which cuts Ni'lin off from many of its traditional lands. Held by the village land defense committee, it is attended regularly by international activists, many affiliated with the International Solidarity Movement. Protesters said Israeli soldiers attacked them as they marched peacefully through the streets of Ni'lin toward the separation wall, chanting slogans.
According to Teah Lunqvist, another international protestor: "I ran over as I saw someone had been shot, while the Israeli forces continued to fire tear-gas at us. When an ambulance came, the Israeli soldiers refused to allow the ambulance through the checkpoint just outside the village. After five minutes of arguing with the soldiers, the ambulance passed." (Ma'an News Agency [4], March 14; Ma'an News Agency [5], March 13)
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