[CIMC-work] Re: [Imc-chicago] story idea for center panel - Brian Avery

Tue Dec 16 17:32:40 PST 2003

Hello Mitchell and Chicago IMC, I've attached some possible photos
for the Brian Avery center panel, and here in the text of this email
are the captions, numbered to match the jpgs. Also below is a poem
written about Brian shortly after his shooting. Let me know if there
is anything else I can provide, and thanks.
In solid,
David M. 
---
Photo Captions:
Photo 1) Brian Avery (Photo: Jens Sandvej Grandin/ISM)

Photo 2) Brian Avery prior to going to Palestine as a volunteer with
the International Solidarity Movement. (unattributed - probably a
personal photo by a friend)

Photo 3) ORIGINAL REUTERS CAPTION: Palestinian medics attend to Brian
Avery of the United States who was wounded in the face by an apparent
ricochet bullet [sic] from an Israeli armoured vehicle while in the
streets of the West Bank city of Jenin during a curfew, April 5,
2003, Palestinian witnesses said. Israeli military sources said the
armoured vehicle was exchanging fire with a Palestinian gunman. [sic]
(REUTERS/str) Emphasis added.

Photo 4) Brian Avery shooting: Annotated map of the center of Jenin
showing various points of interest, from eyewitness Tobias Karlsson,
International Solidarity Movement, 7 April 2003--from
www.palsolidarity.org, the official website of the ISM:

    1. Initial position of Israeli Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs) 
The first bursts of gunfire we heard originated from this approximate
position at around 6:20PM.

    2. Location of our apartment 
>From here Brian and Tobias heard the firing from the APCs. The APCs
were not visible to us, we could only hear the sound of their engines
and their machine guns. This is the very last burst of gunfire we
heard until they shot at us ten minutes later, at around 6:30PM.

    3. The approximate position of the first APC when it opened fire
at us
At this point we have been visible to them for at least 15 seconds,
and they have clearly identified us as international observers. They
never stopped. 15-25 rounds were fired from the heavy caliber mounted
machinegun while the APC was still moving towards us.

    4. Position of Brian and Tobias 
We were standing still, with our hands in the air, lit up by both the
last daylight and electric street lights. Brian was wearing a
florescent red vest with reflective decals. There were no other
people out on the streets due to the curfew. Nothing was posing any
kind of threat to the soldiers, inside armored vehicles. The distance
between us and them at this point was approximately 50 meters.

    5. Scene of clashes between armored vehicles and children
throwing stones earlier in the day
Four internationals had been monitoring these clashes during the day.
However, the area had been calm for over one hour before the incident
in which Brian was injured. The four internationals were on their way
to join Brian and Tobias, walking the route marked in blue on the
map. At the time that the APC opened fire at us, they had just
arrived to the scene.

    Route marked in red
The route of the APCs. They drove slowly at around 15 kph. This speed
was maintained throughout the whole incident. They did not stop to
make sure that the shots they fired were aimed in a controlled
direction. After Brian was shoot they continued driving as if nothing
had happened. They made no effort to investigate his condition or to
provide any assistance.

Photo 5) Brian Avery, 25, who was shot in the face April 5 in the
occupied West Bank city of Jenin, and his father Bob, right, look at
an X-ray of Brian's head in August at their home in Chapel Hill, N.C.
(AP Photo/Bob Jordan)
---
[poem]

The Face of Brian Avery

On April 5th, 2003, Brian Avery’s life changed forever.
An Israeli sniper fired his machine gun through Brian’s face
And pulverized it beyond recognition.
The Apartheid Wall, the Roadmap to Peace - I never really understood
it all - 
Till I saw the scars on Brian's face. 
Till I saw the brutality, injustice and hypocrisy of the Occupation -
Quilted into the stitches on his cheeks.
Every line, every ridge –
Is a story of courage, of struggle, of grief beyond description;
And his eyes are pools of hope. 

The lines on our palms may tell our fortune,
But the lines on Brian's face tell the tale of brutal oppression:
This scar on his chin...is the humiliation of a Palestinian man at a
West Bank checkpoint, stripped and searched for hours.
This scar on his forehead... is a pregnant woman who couldn’t make it
to the clinic in time.
This one on the left cheek... is the Israeli soldier who couldn't
bear to kill innocent children anymore, so he killed himself.
This one on his temple... is a suicide bomber from Gaza whose
existence was so painful that he blew himself up in a bus filled with
Israelis.
This one on his lip... is a five-year-old Palestinian girl whose home
was demolished by a Caterpillar bulldozer. 
Her father and brother were shot. She hasn’t said a word since then. 

On April 5th, 2003, Brian Avery’s life changed forever.
He was wearing a fluorescent red vest, with a big white cross on the
front and the back.
He carried no weapon,
He even put his hands up in the air!
The press said it was an 'unfortunate accident.'
But Tom Hurndall is brain dead; Rachel Corrie and James Miller paid
with their lives –
So it was no accident that Brian lay in critical condition in Jenin
Hospital.
We may never understand the trials of those in Palestine,
We may never risk our own lives to take pregnant women to a clinic,
under the watch of snipers and tanks,
But we know in our hearts that the brutal attack on Brian was no
accident. 

In the face of an illegal occupation, Brian chose to step in harm’s
way:
He protected those who didn’t have a choice.
In this scar near the ridge of his nose... is the untold story of a
grateful people 
They have nothing to give him but rivers of tears.
They run their fingers gently down the scars on his face;
They hold him in their arms and rock back-and-forth;
They try to speak but their words choke in their throats -
They love him like a brother.
I know this because it is etched into the most beautiful face
on earth  
I've seen with my own eyes... the face of Brian Avery. 

- Neesha Mirchandani
  June 20, 2003

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