By Hiba Yazbek
Sept. 9, 2024
At a funeral procession on Monday in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the body of an American woman killed at a protest was carried out of a hospital morgue, wrapped in a Palestinian flag, as dozens of mourners erupted in chants demanding justice for her killing.
The woman, Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, was shot in the head on Friday, witnesses and Palestinian officials said, when Israeli forces opened fire during a protest she was attending in Beita, a village in the West Bank, against an Israeli settler outpost nearby. The Israeli military has said it is investigating her killing.
Ms. Eygi, who was born in Turkey, will be laid to rest there after a funeral service, “upon her family’s desire,” the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement. It added that the Turkish authorities were trying to fly her body directly to Turkey to avoid delays.
Mourners gathered at Rafidia Hospital in the West Bank city of Nablus on Monday afternoon, where Ms. Eygi was taken after she was shot. The brief funeral was attended by international and Israeli activists, Palestinian and Turkish officials, hospital staff and even children who stumbled upon the procession while walking home from school.
“She was here supporting an occupied country despite not being from there,” said Azmi Miri, a Palestinian psychological services trainee at the hospital who said he felt compelled to join the procession after hearing about Ms. Eygi’s killing.
The crowd followed her body as it was carried out of the hospital, stopping for a short Islamic prayer, before a marching band of Palestinian Authority security forces played in her honor. Her body was then taken in a van to be transported out of the Palestinian territories.
Ms. Eygi’s family moved to the United States when she was an infant, and she grew up in the Seattle area.
She arrived in Israel last week to join activists affiliated with the International Solidarity Movement, a nonviolent group resisting the Israeli occupation. She was among a group of International and Israeli activists who joined the residents of Beita during one of their Friday protests, which have been taking place weekly for the past few years, against a settler outpost on lands claimed by the village.
The outpost, known as Evyatar, which Israeli settlers erected over a hilltop they took over in 2021, has been illegal under Israeli law; Israeli settlements are generally regarded as illegal under international law.
The Israeli government recently said it would legalize Evyatar, something it has done with dozens of unauthorized settlements. That prompted months of deadly protests in which several residents of Beita were killed and scores wounded.
Among those paying tribute to Ms. Eygi in Nablus was Abu al-Nimer Mouid, 63, from the West Bank city of Jericho who attends the protests in Beita every week and was there on Friday when she was shot.
“They killed her in cold blood,” he said, referring to Israeli troops. “We chatted for a while and I invited her to visit my family in Jericho,” he added before bursting into tears.
Eran Maoz, an activist from Tel Aviv who was also at the protest on Friday, said that although clashes had erupted between Palestinians who threw stones and Israeli troops who fired live ammunition and tear gas during the protest, the moments before Ms. Eygi was shot were calm.
“She was visibly with a group of international activists,” he said, speaking after the funeral procession. “Then, we heard two gunshots coming from a house that Israeli snipers were positioned in” before she fell to the ground, he added.
“They weren’t exposed to any threat, especially from this activist,” said Mr. Moaz, referring to the Israeli troops. “I knew it was possible but I was very surprised because I didn’t think they would shoot someone who’s visibly not from the village,” he added.
On Friday, the Israeli military said soldiers had “responded with fire toward a main instigator of violent activity” who threw stones at Israeli forces. Several witnesses, including Mr. Mouid and Mr. Moaz, said the clashes were over when Ms. Eygi was shot.
Ms. Eygi flew to Israel from Istanbul last week and stayed for a couple of days in Jerusalem, where she was “very disturbed by the presence of the Israeli military after witnessing their harassment of Palestinians,” said a close friend of hers from Seattle who traveled with her.
The friend, who requested anonymity out of fear of reprisal, said that Ms. Eygi had persuaded him to join her in going to the occupied Palestinian territories as part of their work with the International Solidarity Movement.
“Everybody was afraid including her, and we talked about it,” he said, recalling their first few days in the region. “But she was also very courageous and she knew what she was here to do,” he added, speaking from the funeral procession.
After a day of training, Ms. Eygi embarked on her first, and what would become her last, protest in the West Bank on Friday. A few hours later, the friend who had hoped that they would fly home to Seattle together, was on the phone with Ms. Eygi’s husband, breaking the news of her death.
“I just told him very directly,” he said, bursting into tears: “The Israeli military shot her in the head and murdered her.”