On April 2009, Palestinian activist Bassem Abu Rahmah was killed when a tear-gas canister, shot by Israeli soldiers, hit him in the chest. He was a participant in the weekly demonstration in the Palestinian town of Bil’in against the Israeli military fence that crosses their lands and is de facto annexing part of them to Israel.
I went to cover Rahmah’s death’s first anniversary ceremony in Bil’in, which is documented in the first half of this short video. In the second half, you can see how dangerous the tear-gas canisters are, falling really close to the demonstrators. At least one felt exactly where I was an instant before. Other journalists went there prepared with gas masks, motorcycle helmets and protection chests.
(I also appear in the video, at minute one on the right-hand side with a blue t-shirt, and right at the end, 3.15, you can see my back as I’m moving from left to right, trying to take photos without getting a canister on the nose.)
This is another video of the same events:
And this third video shows how the soldiers threaten the cameraman with their weapons, when they are doing a night raid against an activist in Bil’in:
