Abir Aramin 1997-2007 "Revenge would have been the the easy choice when I lost my heart, my child," said Bassam Aramin, father of Abir and co-founder of Combatants for Peace. "Instead my family and I seek a way to open a path to peace and reconciliation,and a way to build safe places for all children, in memory of our daughter Abir."
“The Abir’s Garden Project is more than a playground. It is about justice prevailing over revenge, genuine partners for peace, and a precedent-setting case to prevent violence,” said Zohar Shapira, the project’s first coordinator for Abir’s Garden and a co-founder of Combatants for Peace. Zohar formerly served for more than 15 years in Israel’s elite unit of “Sayert Matkal,” as a combatant and as a commander. “At its heart, these Combatants for Peace are working together to build a beautiful place where children can be children, where they can go to be safe, to step out of the Occupation into a world of play and creativity, and begin to heal.”
| Update: With the help of people throughout the world through speaking tours and fundraising conducted by the Rebuilding Alliance, Combatants for Peace completed their first “Abir’s Garden Playground” at the Anata School for Girls in Anata, East Jerusalem. Fundraising is now completed for the 2nd Abir’s Garden Playground to be built at the new kindergarten in the West Bank Village of As Samoa- Simya neighborhood, near Hebron. The parents club will soon be meeting with Combatants for Peace to select the playground equipment! . |
In January 2007, news of Abir’s death created a wellspring of emotion worldwide, in part because Abir’s father, Bassam Aramin, is a peace and justice activist and founding member of Combatants for Peace. Responses to an online condolence letter written by Women of a Certain Age and addressed to her family, came from 58 countries.
“As I was signing it, I knew that we had to do more,” said Donna Baranski-Walker, founder of the Rebuilding Alliance. “My board asked me to contact the Aramin family. Her family wanted nothing for themselves — they wanted a way to help Abir’s friends, because her desk would now be empty at her school.” The Rebuilding Alliance, working with Women of a Certain Age, partnered with Combatants for Peace with the hope that the world would help us build playgrounds to provide these children and their families with a safe
place to play — and the response is very positive.
What Happened to Abir?
Abir Aramin was walking home from school with her sister and two friends in the West Bank town of Anata on January 16th, 2007. She never made it back to her family. On this day a single shot was fired from the back of an Israeli Border Police jeep, patrolling outside the gates of the Anata girls’ school. Abir was hit by a rubber coated steel bullet and critically wounded. Abir Aramin was taken off life support after 3 days of struggling for her life. She was only 10 years old. Please go to our ‘What Happened to Abir?’ page to learn more.
