Abir's Garden Project: More than a Playground
 Abir Aramin, ten years old "Revenge would have been the easy choice when I lost my heart, my child," said Bassam Aramin, father of Abir and co-founder of Combatants for Peace. "Instead we are here to tell Abir's story, build the Abir's Garden Project for her classmates at her school to give them a safe place to play and to heal, and prove to our societies and the world that it is possible to break the cycle of violence through justice." |
Update: On February
9th at noon, former fighters from Palestine and Israel gathered
at the Anata School for Girls, on the West Bank side of the Separation
Wall surrounding Jerusalem to hold a memorial for a Palestinian
child killed one year ago, and to open the beautiful playground they had built together in her name. They are members of Combatants
for Peace (C4P), an organization of more than 550 Palestinians
and Israelis, who formerly took an active part in the cycle of violence:
Israelis as soldiers in the Israeli army (IDF) and Palestinians
as part of the violent struggle for Palestinian freedom. After brandishing
weapons for so many years, and seeing another only through weapon
sights, they decided to put down their guns, and to work together
for peace and justice.
|
What Happened to Abir?
Abir Aramin was walking home from school
with her sister and two friends in the West Bank town of Anata on January
16th 2007 but never made it back to her family. On this day the Israeli
Border Police jeep, patrolling outside the gates of the Anata girls' school
opened fire, shooting from the back of the jeep.
Abir was hit by a rubber coated steel bullet and critically wounded. Abir
Aramin was taken off life support after 3 days of struggling for her life.
She was only 10 years old.
Although the Israeli State Attorney's office closed the case supposedly for lack of evidence, 14 eye-witnesses and an independent autopsy report submitted by the renowned Israeli pathologist, Dr. Chen Kugel, demonstrate clearly that she was shot with a rubber-coated steel bullet in the back of the head while running away. According to the Israeli Human Rights group B'Tselem, 864 Palestinian children have been killed since 2000 and not one case has been brought to justice. For more about the investigation and the appeal filed by Yesh Din
"The Abir's Garden Project is more
than a playground. It is about justice prevailing over revenge, genuine
partners for peace, and a precedent-setting case to make soldiers stop
shooting at children," said Zohar Shapira, project coordinator for
Abir's Garden and co-founder of C4P who formerly served for more than
15 years in the elite unit of "Sayert Matkal," as a combatant and as a
commander. "At its heart, these Combatants for Peace are working together
to build a beautiful place where children can be children, where they
can go to be safe, to step out of the Occupation into a world of play
and creativity, and begin to heal."
"Over the past 2 years, the Israeli Border
Police and IDF forces have been creating provocations near the school
district of Anata has become in part of the daily routine for the children.
Ever since construction started on the separation barrier surrounding
Anata, the jeeps have been roaming the streets especially near the schools
and shooting grenades and tear gas along with rubber bullets," said Avichay
Sharon of Combatants for Peace. "Many children have been injured in the
past by these brutal actions of the soldiers and on January 16th it became
deadly. As in many other cases the police replied that the soldiers were
shooting in response to stones thrown at them by children. Even though
all the evidence and witnesses stated that no stones were thrown that
day, the prosecution decided to close the case supposed due to lack of
evidence.".
News of Abir's death created a wellspring
of emotion worldwide, in part because Abir's father, Bassam Aramin, is
a peace and justice activist and founding member of Combatants for Peace.
Responses to a condolence
letter online written by Women of a Certain Age came from 58 countries
and was addressed to her family.. The Rebuilding Alliance contacted Mr.
Aramin, who asked that efforts to organize on behalf of Abir be directed
to the children of Anata, in the hope that the world would help Combatants
for Peace provide them with a safe place to play.
Abir's friends are traumatized, as are the children of
Anata who live under occupation and witness
brutality daily. They have no safe place to play and grow.
Activities:
Designs completed, approved.
Accounting plan is in place. Playground equipment purchased, blacktop
cleared, sand pit installed, final construction planned for this Saturday
with Combatants for Peace to help with assembly.
Project
Message:
I'm not going to lose
my common sense, my direction, only because I've lost my heart, my child.
I will do all I can to protect her friends, both Palestinian and Israeli.
They are all our children.
-- Bassam Aramin, Abir's father and co-founder of Combatants for Peace
Project Review and Approval:
The following three people sign-off on each stage of the project, with
on site approval by the landscape architects who provided specifications
for the project and review by the Rebuilding Alliance Board of Directors
Zohar Shapira, among the founding members of Combatants for Peace, is project manager for the Abir's Garden project. Zohar, now a teacher in a Waldorf school in Israel, served for 15 years in the elite unit "Sayert Matkal", as a combatant and commander. After the bloody spring of 2002, when hundreds of Israelis and Palestinians were killed in mutual violence he refused to serve in the occupied territories. Zohar is married with one child.
Partnering
with the Rebuilding Alliance
Combatants for Peace
is a group of Israeli and Palestinian individuals who were actively involved
in the cycle of violence in their area. The Israelis served as combat
soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces and the Palestinians were involved
in armed resistance in the name of Palestinian liberation. They believe
that the blood shed will not end unless they act together to terminate
the occupation and stop all forms of violence. They work to educate, raise
consciousness and create partners in dialogue, and to maintain political
pressure on all governments to stop the cycle of violence.
Women
of a Certain Age
traveled to the Occupied West Bank in 2004 to meet with Palestinians whose
voices have not been heard outside the walls of occupation. They work
to keep visible the reality of life on the ground in the
