The Zionist occupation targeted and sniped a socialist activist and US-Turkish citizen in the head while she was peacefully protesting the expansion of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, an American-Turkish activist, arrived in the West Bank on Tuesday to volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) as part of a campaign to protect Palestinian farmers from settler and Zionist military violence.
It is worth noting that Eygi would be the third ISM volunteer the occupation murdered, after Rachel Corrie in 2004 and Tom Hurndall in 2005.
“An American solidarity activist arrived at the hospital with a gunshot in the head, and we announced her martyrdom around 14:30,” the director of Rafidia Hospital in Nablus, Fouad Nafaa said on Friday.
The Hamas Resistance movement issued a statement strongly condemning the Zionist crime that led to Eygi’s martyrdom, stressing that it is an extension of the murders deliberately targeting international volunteers in occupied Palestine.
In July, foreign volunteers helping Palestinian farmers in the occupied West Bank were attacked and assaulted by settlers, with some having to be transported to the hospital to receive medical treatment for reported injuries, activists stated on Sunday.
Eight volunteers, most of whom are American, were attacked by a group of 11 settlers from the Esh Kodesh illegal settlement while working in an olive grove near the Palestinian village of Qusra, David Hummel, an American-German volunteer, said.
“We were standing there peacefully, not a threat to anyone when they started coming towards us and pushing us down the path,” he told AFP, adding “They started attacking and beating us all with sticks and metal pipes and they were throwing rocks as well at us.”
Hummel described the attack as “very violent” and showed AFP his bruises sustained after the settlers beat his legs, arms, and jaw.
Palestinian left organizations also released statements which we publish in full below:
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine:
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The martyrdom of Turkish-American activist Aisha Ezgi is a continuation of a long series of occupation targeting all free voices.
– The martyrdom of the Turkish-American activist, Aisha Noor Ezgi, after being shot in the head by occupation forces near Mount Sbeih in the town of Beita, south of occupied Nablus, is yet another Zionist crime added to the occupation’s black record of targeting foreign activists in solidarity with our people.
– This crime brings to mind a long series of crimes committed by the occupation against international solidarity activists, from the assassination of American activist Rachel Corrie and British activist Tom Hurndall in Rafah, to the attack on the “Mavi Marmara” ship breaking the siege, which led to the martyrdom of ten activists, among other continuous attacks and practices against those in solidarity.
– The occupation continues to target anyone who stands for justice and defends our people, further proving that this entity poses a threat to all of humanity and every free voice striving for justice, not just to the Palestinian people.
– The Front calls on all the free people of the world to unite efforts to confront this zionist, U.S.- and Western-backed usurper entity, and to work on documenting these crimes as war crimes against humanity, contributing to enhancing international efforts to isolate this rogue and rejected entity, and to prosecute its leaders as war criminals before international courts.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Central Media Department
September 6, 2024
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Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine:
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The Democratic Front condemns the assassination of American activist Aysenur Ezgi by the “israeli” army using American-made weapons in Beita.
The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine issued a statement today, strongly condemning the assassination of Turkish-American activist Aysenur Ezgi, who was in solidarity with the Palestinian people, particularly farmers, against the attacks by the “israeli” army and settlers on Palestinian farmers, their lands, and properties. The assassination occurred as Beita residents confronted settlers and occupation forces on Jabal Sbeih, which the occupation has been attempting to seize for several years.
This crime brings to mind the killing of American activist Rachel Corrie in 2003 in Gaza, as she stood in solidarity with the Palestinian people under the tracks of an “israeli” bulldozer, also American-made. Similarly, today, the Turkish-American activist was killed by an American weapon, with the occupation attempting to instill fear among those in solidarity with our people by treating them no differently than Palestinian citizens, deterring them from participating in solidarity actions, especially as we approach the olive harvest season. This year’s harvest comes amid a vicious campaign by the occupation army and settlers in the West Bank, continuing the campaign of genocide that began in Gaza.
“Israel’s” impunity for its crimes and aggression, and the ongoing provision of weapons by Western countries, especially the United States, amount to complicity in the aggression. This encourages the fascist occupation government to commit more crimes against our people and land without restraint, extending even to free activists, regardless of their nationality, even Americans. If it weren’t for U.S. support, “israel” would have long been forced to recognize our national rights.
Central Media – Ramallah
September 6, 2024