<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Open letter to Combined Systems Inc, Maker of Israeli Tear Gas | Joseph&nbsp;Dana]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p>Letter sent on behalf of Palestinian nonviolent resistance groups to the US marker of Israeli tear gas that <a href="http://josephdana.com/2011/01/from-bilin-to-tel-aviv-outrage-at-killing-of-jawaher-abu-rahmah/">killed Jawaher Abu Rahmah of Bil’in </a>on 31 December 2010.</p>
<p>Dear Combined Systems Inc.,</p>
<p>As US groups committed to justice and peace, we are writing to ask  that Combined Systems Inc. cease providing CSI equipment to the Israeli  government in response to the Israeli military’s ongoing and foreseeable  misuse of CSI crowd control equipment to kill and maim protesters in  the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The Israeli military has  demonstrated a pattern of misuse of your equipment, directly leading to  the death and injury of unarmed demonstrators in the Occupied  Palestinian Territories. Over the last two years alone, the Israeli  military has used your products to kill two peaceful protesters from one  family in the West Bank village of Bil’in, to severely injure two  peaceful protesters from the US, and to seriously injure many more.  According to the the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, two other  Palestinians were killed by Israeli tear gas in 2002.[1]</p>
<p><a href="http://josephdana.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/tear-gas-bilin-12-10-b.jpeg"><img loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-2260" src="https://i2.wp.com/josephdana.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/tear-gas-bilin-12-10-b.jpeg" alt="" width="275" height="335" /></a></p>
<p>As noted on CSI’s website, “Israeli Military Industries” are among  CSI’s “military customers and development partners.” CSI has an ethical  and legal responsibility to ensure that the Israeli government is using  CSI products according to product guidelines. Unfortunately, the Israeli  military has a well-documented track record of systematically using  excessive force against civilians, including with CSI products as  outlined below, and thus is not an appropriate customer for CSI.</p>
<p>Furthermore, it is our understanding that the tear gas sent by CSI to  the Israeli military may be provided as part of the US government’s  military aid to Israel. For example, for 2007 and 2008, the US State  Department provided $1.85 million worth of “tear gasses and riot control  agents” to Israel as part of US military aid.[2] As taxpayers, we  strongly object to the possibility that CSI may be using our tax dollars  to support Israel’s repression of Palestinian rights.</p>
<p><a href="http://josephdana.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/ext-range-can-b.jpeg"><img loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-2261" src="https://i0.wp.com/josephdana.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/ext-range-can-b.jpeg" alt="" width="285" height="223" /></a></p>
<p>Most recently, on December 31st, 2010, Israeli soldiers fired what  was described by multiple eyewitnesses as excessive tear gas at  protesters in the West Bank village of Bil’in, resulting in the death of  36 year-old Jawaher Abu Rahmah from Bil’in. Around 1,000 Palestinians,  Israelis and foreigners were demonstrating in Bil’in that day against  Israel’s construction of a wall through village land, separating  residents from their livelihoods in violation of international law.  According to Jawaher’s mother Subhiyeh who was with her at the time, “We  weren’t even very close to them and the soldiers fired tear gas at us…  Jawaher told me that her chest hurt and she couldn’t breathe. Then she  fell down and started vomiting.”[3] Jawaher was taken by ambulance to a  nearby hospital where she died the next morning from cardiac arrest.  Protesters gathered tear gas canisters used by Israeli soldiers at the  December 31st protest, including one very common canister with the  letters CTS written on it.[4] CTS, short for Combined Tactical Systems,  is a brand name of CSI.[5]</p>
<p>Tragically, Jawaher Abu Rahmah was the second person in her family to be  killed by tear gas that was apparently provided to the Israeli army by  CSI. Jawaher’s brother Bassem Abu Rahmah was killed on April 17, 2009 at  a peaceful protest in Bil’in when he was hit directly in the chest by a  CSI tear gas canister fired from a gun by an Israeli soldier. The  Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem reported in an April 21, 2009  letter to the Israeli military’s Judge Advocate General that the direct  firing of tear gas at protesters was common practice and violated both  Israeli open-fire regulations and CSI product instructions, saying, “The  Open‐Fire Regulations require that tear‐gas grenades fired from a  launcher be carried out by indirect fire, with the barrel of the rifle  aimed upwards at a sixty‐degree angle. The Website of CSI, the American  company that manufactures the extended range grenades, explicitly points  out that the grenades are not to be fired at individuals, since doing  so is liable to cause injury or death.”[6] West Bank protesters have  collected examples of CSI extended range grenades that were fired at  protesters (see sample photo below from 2009). In response to an Israeli  reporter’s submitted query, an Israeli army spokesperson has confirmed  in writing that the extended range projectiles are produced by CSI.  CSI’s website also explains that these canisters are intended to break  indoor barricades.[7] Different CSI products are labeled for outdoor  use.</p>
<p>B’Tselem further documented that among those hit by extended range  canisters fired directly at protesters was US citizen Tristan Anderson  in March 2009. According to B’Tselem, “On 13 March, a Border Police  officer fired an extended-range type tear-gas canister that struck  Tristan Anderson, an American citizen, during a demonstration in  Ni’ilin. B’Tselem’s investigation reveals that the police officer fired  the canister directly at Anderson from 60 meters away… The grenade  struck him in the forehead, fracturing his skull and injuring the front  lobe of his brain.”[8] He is left partially handicapped and suffers  slight cognitive damage.” The canister “caused severe traumatic brain  injury and blindness in his right eye.”[9] Anderson, who remains in a  wheelchair, “has not yet regained the use of the left side of his  body.”[10]</p>
<p>In a September, 2010 report, The Popular Struggle Coordination  Committee, a coordinating body for unarmed demonstrations in the West  Bank, noted that, “According to Palestinian Red Crescent records in  Bil’in and Ni’ilin, 18 people have been directly shot at and hit by the  high velocity projectiles since their introduction, in these two  villages alone.”[11] In addition to the killing of Bassem Abu Rahmah and  injury of Tristan Anderson, other severe injuries include those to  Bil’in resident Khamis Abu Rahmah who “suffered a fractured skull and  brain hemorrhage after being struck in the back of his head with an  extended range tear gas projectile.”</p>
<p>Another US citizen, 21-year-old Emily Henochowicz, lost her left eye  when an Israeli soldier fired an aluminum tear gas canister directly at  her, striking her face during a West Bank protest on May 31, 2010.[12]  Protesters have also collected numerous aluminum tear gas canisters with  CSI and CTS initials on them that were fired by Israeli soldiers at  protesters (see below).</p>
<p>Though B’Tselem reported on May 4, 2009 that Israel’s Judge Advocate  General forbade the firing of tear gas canisters directly at protesters,  [13] the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee[14] and the Israeli  newspaper Ha’aretz[15] documented in December 2010 that the Israeli  military has continued to fire extended range tear gas canisters  directly at protesters.</p>
<p>Reports by diverse human rights groups including B’Tselem, Human  Rights Watch[16] and the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza  Conflict[17] have documented Israel’s use of excessive and lethal force  against civilians. These reports, and the cases cited above of Israel’s  specific misuse of CSI products, demonstrate clearly that CSI cannot  rely on the Israeli military to use CSI products in an appropriate  manner without undue death and severe injury to civilians. Therefore,  CSI is obligated to end its sale of these products to the Israeli  government.</p>
<p>Thank you for your attention to this issue. We look forward to your response.</p>
<p>&#8211; – – – – – – – – &#8211;</p>
<p>[1] <a href="http://btselem.org/english/statistics/">http://btselem.org/english/statistics/</a><br />
[2] <a href="http://www.fas.org/programs/ssp/asmp/factsandfigures/government_data_index.html#655">http://www.fas.org/programs/ssp/asmp/factsandfigures/government_data_index.html#655</a><br />
[3] <a href="http://www.aolnews.com/2011/01/02/palestinian-protester-jawaher-abu-rahmah-dies-from-tear-gas-inha/">http://www.aolnews.com/2011/01/02/palestinian-protester-jawaher-abu-rahmah-dies-from-tear-gas-inha/</a><br />
[4] Photo above resembles this CSI/CTS model: <a href="http://combinedsystems.com/less-lethal/Flash-Bang/Flash-Bangs-Tear-Ball.aspx">http://combinedsystems.com/less-lethal/Flash-Bang/Flash-Bangs-Tear-Ball.aspx</a><br />
[5] <a href="http://www.combinedsystems.com/About_us.aspx">http://www.combinedsystems.com/About_us.aspx</a>, see CTS products:<a href="http://combinedsystems.com/less-lethal/CTS%20Catalog%202009.pdf">http://combinedsystems.com/less-lethal/CTS%20Catalog%202009.pdf</a><br />
[6]<a href="http://www.btselem.org/Download/20090421_Letter_to_JAG_concerning_the_shooting_of_Bassem_Abu_Rahmah_English.pdf">http://www.btselem.org/Download/20090421_Letter_to_JAG_concerning_the_shooting_of_Bassem_Abu_Rahmah_English.pdf</a><br />
[7] <a href="http://combinedsystems.com/less-lethal/Chemical-Munitions/Chemical-Munitions-40mm-Penetrators.aspx">http://combinedsystems.com/less-lethal/Chemical-Munitions/Chemical-Munitions-40mm-Penetrators.aspx</a><br />
[8] <a href="http://www.btselem.org/English/Firearms/20090318_Firing_of_Tear_Gaz_at_Demonstrators.asp">http://www.btselem.org/English/Firearms/20090318_Firing_of_Tear_Gaz_at_Demonstrators.asp</a><br />
[9] <a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2010/11/16/in_first_interview_since_critical_injury">http://www.democracynow.org/2010/11/16/in_first_interview_since_critical_injury</a><br />
[10] <a href="http://justicefortristan.org/">http://justicefortristan.org/</a><br />
[11] <a href="http://www.popularstruggle.org/content/under-repression">http://www.popularstruggle.org/content/under-repression</a><br />
[12] <a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2010/8/5/exclusiveemily_henochowicz_speaks_out_art_student">http://www.democracynow.org/2010/8/5/exclusiveemily_henochowicz_speaks_out_art_student</a><br />
[13] <a href="http://combinedsystems.com/less-lethal/CTS%20Catalog%202009.pdf">http://combinedsystems.com/less-lethal/CTS%20Catalog%202009.pdf</a><br />
[14] <a href="http://www.popularstruggle.org/content/demonstrator-suffers-head-injury-after-being-hit-directly-tear-gas-projectile-nabi-saleh">http://www.popularstruggle.org/content/demonstrator-suffers-head-injury-after-being-hit-directly-tear-gas-projectile-nabi-saleh</a><br />
[15] <a href="http://www.popularstruggle.org/content/idf-resumes-use-prohibited-tear-gas-canisters">http://www.popularstruggle.org/content/idf-resumes-use-prohibited-tear-gas-canisters</a><br />
[16] <a href="http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2005/06/21/promoting-impunity-0">http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2005/06/21/promoting-impunity-0</a><br />
[17] <a href="http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/12session/A-HRC-12-48.pdf">http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/12session/A-HRC-12-48.pdf</a></p>
<p><a href="http://josephdana.com/2011/01/open-letter-to-combined-systems-inc-maker-of-israeli-tear-gas/">Open letter to Combined Systems Inc, Maker of Israeli Tear Gas | Joseph Dana</a>.</p>
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