the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Sep 16, 2024
On September 6, an Israeli soldier shot Ayşenur Eygi in the head and killed her. Eygi was a 26-year-old American peace activist who had traveled to the West Bank just three days before, to protest efforts by Israeli settlers to seize land from Palestinians there.
Eygi was killed in the village of Beita, not far from the city of Nablus. More than a decade ago, Israeli settlers established an outpost on land the villagers of Beita used as a communal olive grove. The settlers had the goal of breaking apart the Palestinian lands.
The Israeli government originally considered the Israeli outpost as illegal and demolished the outpost several times. Each time the settlers quickly rebuilt the outpost. In 2023, Israeli militants, led by far-right Israeli government ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Belazel Smotrich, carried out protests demanding the Israeli government legalize the outpost. The Netanyahu government yielded to the demand and declared the land state property and authorized the outpost and four others.
The day Eygi was shot was not the first time the Israeli military has violently attacked the villagers of Beita, who have carried out weekly protests there since 2021. On July 9, 2021, Israeli soldiers fired on peace activists there, wounding almost 400 people. Just two weeks before Eygi was killed, an Israeli sniper had shot another American activist, Daniel Santiago, in the leg. Israeli soldiers apparently routinely shoot Palestinian protesters in the leg to discourage them from future protests.
After Eygi was killed, the Israeli military claimed she was part of a violent protest and had thrown rocks at its soldiers. President Biden claimed the bullet that killed Eygi “ricocheted off the ground and hit her.” Witnesses who were there tell a different story.
Wary of the Israeli soldiers’ violence, Eygi and her friend Helen held back in an olive grove some 200 yards from a park where Palestinians held a prayer session. Israeli soldiers encircled the Palestinians, sprayed them with tear gas, and took up positions on a hill and on the roof of a villager named Ali Maali. One Israeli sniper shot a young Palestinian 20 yards from Eygi in the leg. Ali Maali heard the sniper fire again and the shot hit Ayşenur Eygi in the head, and she died shortly thereafter in a hospital in Nablus.
Ayşenur Eygi’s murder has gotten international attention because she was an American. But she’s just one of many who’ve been killed by Israelis, whether right-wing settlers or the Israeli military. And the Israeli government gives tacit approval as Israeli settlers seize more and more Palestinian lands in the West Bank, just as the Israeli military is in the process of doing today in Gaza.
And make no mistake; they’re doing so with the complete approval of U.S. imperialism.