The week leading up to Christmas, I got to photograph two activist art projects in Bethlehem’s Manger Square. Both were Christmas trees, one made of barbed wire, the other “Wall Tree” was designed by Palestinian artist Rana Bishara to symbolize the Israeli separation wall. Both were set up in Manger Square at one of the busiest times of the year for international tourists, with the hopes of educating some of them about the realities that Bethlehem residents face living life under the Israeli military occupation.

As the photo shows, Rana’s “Wall Tree” was garlanded with barbed wire and ornamented with spent tear gas grenades. I didn’t notice it until processing photos much later, but when checking my focus at high magnification, I recognized the letters, “CTS.” This rang a bell.

CTS, or Combined Tactical Systems, is a division of a U.S. company, Combined Systems Inc. (CSI). To be more specific, they’re based in Jamestown, Pennsylvania, my home state. As Israeli journalist Joseph Dana reported recently:

US companies like the Pennsylvania based Combined Systems Inc (CSI) are among the primary suppliers of tear gas used in the West Bank. After Jawahar Abu Rahmah died as a result of breathing CSI tear gas in Bil’in, a number of pro-Palestinian advocacy groups staged protests and launched a boycott of the company. CSI officials have remained silent on the use of their product by Israeli forces.

And it’s not just in Palestine:

One important consequence of this year’s Arab revolutions has been renewed interest in the use of US-made tear gas to control social protests across the Middle East. A number of US tear gas manufacturers have ramped up production, while profits have been soaring as governments from Bahrain to Egypt demand more and more tear gas to suppress political revolt.

The result has been deadly. In January, the 32-year-old French photographer Lucas Mebrouk Dolega was killed by a tear-gas canister fired at close range by Tunisian police. And hundreds of protesters in Egypt have claimed that tear gas canisters made by CSI were fired at them, often at close range, by security forces. According to the leading Egyptian daily Al Ahram, port officials in Suez recently protested against unloading a shipment of CSI-manufactured tear gas destined for the Supreme Council of Armed Forces in Cairo.

Amnesty International has joined the port officials’ protest, issuing a sharply worded statement singling out the use of CSI tear gas in Egypt, and calling on the US government to stop approving sales of the product to Egypt because of its misuse against protesters. Tear gas has become the main instrument by which authoritarian regimes control social protests that challenge their power in the Middle East. Used tear-gas canisters litter the streets of Cairo and Tunis. Identical canisters allow the Israeli army to crush unarmed demonstrations throughout the West Bank, without attracting widespread condemnation from the international community. What seems certain is that until tear gas is viewed as the deadly weapon it can be, authoritarian governments will continue to use it with impunity.

Well, one thing I discovered when tracking down more information about CTS/CSI and the grenades I photographed—at least they don’t claim that their products are “non-lethal”. The URL for their web site is “www.less-lethal.com”—small comfort to families of those for whom these weapons turned out to be deadly.

Why do Israeli riot police tear gas guns have precision sights?

Three months before Mustafa Tamimi of the West Bank town of Nabi Saleh died after being shot in the face with an Israeli tear gas grenade at close range, this ominous tid-bit appeared near the end of a New York Times article on preparations for the Palestinian UN statehood bid (emphasis added):

Brig. Gen. Michael Edelstein, the chief officer commanding the paratroopers and infantry responsible for preserving order this month, told reporters that the army had equipped itself with a broader range of nonlethal weaponry. It has acquired more than 20 water-cannon trucks that can spray water or a foul-smelling liquid known locally as skunk; huge loudspeakers that can also emit intolerable noise to scatter protesters; and tear-gas launchers fitted with sights to allow soldiers to aim better when firing the gas canisters.

I found this disturbing at the time because several Palestinian and international activists had already been killed or seriously injured by tear gas canisters. Can anyone explain why soldiers should be aiming tear gas canisters at all? As the Associated Press reports:

Tamimi is the 20th person to be killed over the past eight years at similar demonstrations in rural villages throughout the West Bank, said Sarit Michaeli of the Israeli rights group B’Tselem. … Others who have been struck by tear gas canisters include Palestinian Bassem Abu Rahmeh, who was killed in 2009 when one hit his chest. They also include Tristan Anderson of Oakland, Calif., who is suffering from brain damage, paralysis and seizures after he was hit in the head by a canister at a 2009 demonstration.

Go ahead and debate Mustafa Tamimi’s right to throw rocks at an armored military jeep that invaded his village. But do not for a moment debate the obvious murderous intent of shooting someone in the face at close range with a s0-called ‘nonlethal’ grenade.

Also, somebody please tell the AP that when a Palestinian is killed by Israelis, it is lazy, irresponsible, and downright pathetic journalism to quote only Israelis (even if some are left-wing Israelis) for comments on the events of his death. The voices of Nabi Saleh’s residents deserve to be heard first hand. Haven’t they suffered enough to deserve that right?