Scenes from the evacuation of settlements
Photo: AP
Woman who set herself on fire dies in hospital
Yelena Bosinova took most drastic of forms of protest against the pullout from Gaza
A woman who set herself on fire to protest the disengagement program has died of her injuries.
Yelena Bosinova, 54, of Kadumim, was rushed to the Soroka hospital in Beer Sheva with third degree burns on 75 percent of her body. She was placed on a life support machine, and remained unconsciousness after sustaining her injuries, and suffered system failures on all levels throughout her body.
Bosinova stood 50 meters from the checkpoint west of Netivot. She refused water from police in the area, and did not take any shade. Later, police found the woman on fire and ran towards her with buckets of water. The flames were put out and an ambulance was rushed to the area.
The head of Kadumim council, Daniella Weiss, said, “The funeral will take place in Kadumim, but I can’t arrive because I’m under house arrest.”
Weiss says Yelena arrived in Kadumim five years ago. “She was an amazing woman, positive, idealist, and intelligent. She took part in all the struggles along the way,” said Weiss.
“She fought until the bitter end. She was a very idealistic woman, and she took Oslo and the disengagement very badly. She couldn’t bear this terrible thing. Her family has gathered at her home in Kadumim.”
Ester Karish, Weiss’s vice president, told Ynet that “Yelena was lonely. Her mother passed away two years ago. This was not a woman who had an easy life. Yelena did not accept the disengagement decree and she gave up her life. She was very gentle, very pretty, educated, and intelligent. Everyone who knew her fell in love with her, but it seems that life was hard on her.”
