A street in the Palestinian town of Jericho is now named in honor of Aaron Bushnell, the US Air Force member who, in an extreme act of protest, set himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington whilst calling for a ‘Free Palestine.’
The Palestinian town of Jericho has named a street in honor of Aaron Bushnell, the US airman who set himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Washington while calling for a “Free Palestine.”
Unveiling the new street sign on Sunday, Jericho mayor, Abdul Karim Sidr, said Bushnell had “sacrificed everything” for Palestinians.
“We didn’t know him, and he didn’t know us. There were no social, economic, or political ties between us. What we share is a love for freedom and a desire to stand against these attacks (on Gaza),” the mayor said.
In what he called “an extreme act of protest” Bushnell, 25, live-streamed his self-immolation on February 25.
Bushnell said he would “no longer be complicit in genocide” as he walked up to the embassy.
“I’m about to engage in an extreme act of protest but, compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it’s not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal,” the active-duty member of the US Air Force said.
As flames engulfed his body, Bushnell yelled: “Free Palestine!”
Bushnell, who wrote in his will that he wanted his ashes “to be scattered in a free Palestine,” died of his injuries.
The street in Bushnell’s honor is reportedly located in the south of the occupied West Bank city and branches into a street named after revered Palestinian poet, Mahmoud Darwish.
Bushnell’s Will
The young soldier wrote in his will that he wanted his ashes to be scattered in a free Palestine.
“I am sorry to my brother and my friends for leaving you like this. Of course, if I was truly sorry, I wouldn’t be doing it. But the machine demands blood. None of this is fair,” Bushnell wrote before his act of self-immolation according to the Crimethinc website.
“I wish for my remains to be cremated. I do not wish for my ashes to be scattered or my remains to be buried as my body does not belong anywhere in this world,” he continued.
“If a time comes when Palestinians regain control of their land, and if the people native to the land would be open to the possibility, I would love for my ashes to be scattered in a free Palestine,” he added.
Over 31,000 Killed
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 31,184 Palestinians have been killed, and 72,889 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire.’
(The Palestine Chronicle)
In his will, Aaron Bushnell had also “insisted that his savings be donated to a children’s relief fund established for Palestinians.”
“We should see the gruesome reality of Israel’s horrors and genocide against the Palestinian people. And we should see the agony that a determined Aaron went through to try to end it.”
“Aaron’s empathy with the Palestinian people is profound.”
“And it comes from a similar longing.”
“A refusal to live in permanent subjugation – a liberty through death – and a hope that by exiting that subjugation through death, a dignified life might be achieved for others who one loves.”