Injured ISM Agitator was Berkeley Tree Sitter

Turns out that ISM freakzoid who got whacked in the head by the IDF with a tear gas canister was one of those tree-sitting wackos at the University of California.

An American activist critically wounded by an Israeli gas canister in the West Bank is "hanging from a thread" after brain surgery Saturday, friends said.

Tristan Anderson, 38, a "tree-sitter" from Oakland, Calif., was hit in the forehead when troops shot tear gas during a protest of the separation barrier between Israel and the West Bank village of Naalin.

Anderson was in the intensive care unit of a Tel Aviv hospital yesterday, with girlfriend Gabrielle Silverman keeping a bedside vigil.

"He's really touch and go. He's hanging from a thread," friend Paul Larudee told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Anderson and Silverman, 25, were arrested last year after spending 21 months in a "tree-sitting" protest at the University of California-Berkeley, fighting against the administration's plan to rip down an on-campus grove.

Oh Well: ISM Freakazoid Injured in Clash With IDF

Try as I might, I just can't muster up any sympathy for this punk. You put yourself in harm's way, don't be shocked when you get whacked in the head with a teargas canister.

He'll probably become another mythical figure like Rachel Corrie.

An American demonstrator was critically wounded near Nil'in on Friday, during a clash between protesters and IDF troops over the West Bank separation barrier.

Left-wing activists with the International Solidarity Movement said Tristan Anderson, of the Oakland, Calif., area, was struck in the head with a tear gas canister fired by security forces.

Neither the IDF nor Tel Aviv's Tel Hashomer Hospital where Anderson was taken for treatment had any details on how he was hurt.

"He's in critical condition, anesthetized and on a ventilator and undergoing imaging tests," said Orly Levi, a spokeswoman at Tel Hashomer. She described Anderson's condition as "life-threatening."

The protest took place in the West Bank town of Nil'in, near Ramallah, where Palestinians and international backers frequently gather to demonstrate against the barrier.

More at The Jawa Report.