CAMPAIGN: What Happened to Abir?
Big News! On August 16th, an Israeli civil court ruled in favor
of the Aramin family, citing the Israeli government responsible for Abir’s death.
Read more about our campaign to support the Aramin family below, and the playgrounds we build in Aramin’s memory here.
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Our Rebuilding Alliance commitment to rebuild war-torn communities includes the requirement to make them safe. When we set out to make our playground building projects in memory of Abir, we thought long and hard about how to achieve this goal. Yesh Din attorney Michael Sfard summed it up best when he said, “If you do nothing, human rights violations do not go away; instead they get worse.”
We hope to see the day when soldiers stay far away from schools and schoolyards. With this in mind, the Rebuilding Alliance brought the Aramin family, including Abir’s sister Areen, who was an eye-witness to the incident, and Israeli Combatant for Peace Yonatan Shapira, to the State Department to testify. As a result, an entry about Abir Aramin was included in the 2007, 2008, and now the 2009 U.S. Human Rights Report on Israel and the Occupied Territories updated with each passing year. We believe the Israeli courts are the right place to seek justice.
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For information on Abir’s Garden, a playground built in her memory, click here.
Good News!
- We were notified by the attorneys from Yesh Din, the Israeli human rights organization, that:
“On February 9, 2010, the High Court of Justice in Israel ordered the State of Israel to reopen and complete the investigation [of the Abir Aramin case] and consider prosecution where appropriate. The State has been given 45 days within which to provide its position on the order, including any steps it has taken or plans to take to satisfy it, supported by sworn affidavits. Upon receiving the State’s response, the court will decide how to proceed with the petition.”
- In response to this, Israel’s State Prosecutor’s Office announced on March 28 that it would reopen the investigation the death of Abir Aramin. Evidence that was left out of the initial investigation, such as eyewitness testimony, will be included. Read more here.
This is a very important decision in favor of the Aramin family. According to the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, 952 Palestinian children have been killed since the year 2000. To our knowledge, only one case has been brought to justice. Abir Aramin’s case has the potential to set a precedent for holding accountable those involved in such deaths. Click here to read more about the appeal filed on behalf of the Aramin family by Yesh Din.
What Happened to Abir?
Abir Aramin was leaving school with her sister and two friends in the West Bank town of Anata on January 16th, 2007. She never made it home to her family. On this day a single shot was fired from the back of an Israeli Border Police jeep that was patrolling outside the gates of the Anata Girls’ School. Abir was hit by a rubber-coated steel bullet and critically wounded. She was taken off life support after 3 days of struggling for her life. She was only 10 years old.
According to Abir’s attorney, Michael Sfard of Yesh Din, “Fourteen eye-witnesses and an independent autopsy report submitted by the renowned Israeli pathologist, Dr. Chen Kugel, demonstrate clearly that Abir was shot with a rubber-coated steel bullet in the back of the head while running away.”
However, the Israeli State Attorney’s office closed the case citing lack of evidence. Appeal to reopen the case was denied; the State Attorney claimed she was hit by stones thrown at the time the jeep was leaving the village. But according to the soldier’s own reports, Abir was already at the hospital before the jeep had even left the village. A third and final appeal to the Israeli High Court of Justice was presented on Oct. 14, 2009, and the High Court issued its decision (top of page) on February 9th in favor of the family. On March 28, the Israeli State Prosecutor’s Office announced that it we reopen the investigation.
Our Rebuilding Alliance commitment to rebuild war-torn communities includes the requirement to make them safe. Yesh Din attorney Michael Sfard once told me that, “If you do nothing, human rights violations do not go away; instead they get worse.” According to the Israeli Human Rights group B’Tselem, over a thousand Palestinian children have been killed since 2000 and only one case has been brought to justice. Click here for more about the investigation and the appeal filed by Yesh Din.
With this in mind, the Rebuilding Alliance brought the Aramin family, including Abir’s sister Areen, who was an eye-witness to the incident, and Israeli Combatant for Peace Yonatan Shapira, to the State Department to testify. As a result, an entry about Abir Aramin was included in the 2007, 2008, and newly released 2009 U.S. Human Rights Report on Israel and the Occupied Territories.
