[News] Occupied Palestine - A day of rage and the killing of Mutaz Zawahreh

[Anti-Imperialist News]

  A day of rage and the killing of Mutaz Zawahreh

Oct. 14, 2015 4:14 P.M. (Updated: Oct. 14, 2015 7:44 P.M.)

By: Sheren Khalel
*http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768236*

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- A day of rage, as it was called, turned into an 
evening of mourning in Bethlehem on Tuesday, after Israeli forces shot 
and killed Mutaz Ibrahim Zawahreh, 27, while he was standing with a 
group of friends on a main street during clashes in the city.Zawahreh 
was the second Palestinian to be killed on the Jerusalem-Hebron road in 
four days. The first was a 13-year-old boy who was shot and killed by 
Israeli forces just a few hundred meters away.The protests, called for 
by Palestinian political parties as a “day of rage” across the occupied 
Palestinian territory, started atDuheisharefugee camp, where Zawahreh 
lived.Hundreds of protesters participated in the march that proceeded 
down one of the main streets in Bethlehem, towards a garage-like door 
that opens to an Israeli military base on the other side of Israel’s 
separation wall.The protesters marched carrying Palestinian flags while 
calling for their neighbors to “leave their homes” and join the 
demonstration and chanting slogans against Israel’s occupation of 
Palestine.Zawahreh wore a red kuffiyeh tied tightly around his head 
during the protest -- the color a symbol of his political party, the 
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the checkered scarf, a 
symbol of Palestinian nationalism. “He loved Palestine more than 
anything,” Fadi al-Qaisi, a childhood friend of Zawahreh told Ma’an. 
“Most of his family has been imprisoned by Israel.”When Tuesday’s march 
reached the separation wall, Israeli forces immediately fired tear gas 
at the gatherers, dispersing part of the crowd. The peaceful protest 
quickly turned into clashes between Palestinian youth armed with rocks 
and heavily armed Israeli forces.Zawahreh was one of the young men at 
the front-line of the fight.

A few hours into clashes, Israeli soldiers took over a half-constructed 
seven-story building and stationed snipers on the rooftop. A medic 
yelled out to protesters who had retreated down a side street to regroup 
after being barraged with tear gas. When asked if he ever felt his role 
as a medic was sometimes difficult for him, he smiled and shook his 
head.“I am Palestinian first, my medical training just means I have a 
different way of fighting,” he said. “My main concern is protecting 
these guys, it's my way of fighting the occupation.”Being out-maneuvered 
while facing a well-equipped army did not stop Zawahreh and the other 
young men from continuing to hurl rocks from their slingshots. They 
spent hours choking on tear gas and dodging a litany of projectile 
weapons in the hopes that one of them might injure a single Israeli 
soldier with their rocks.At one point, Zawahreh climbed up on a building 
where Israeli forces were stationed below and threw a Molotov cocktail 
on the helmeted head of a soldier. Zawahreh’s friends believe that is 
why he was targeted hours later.

An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an that Israeli forces "thwarted an 
attack" by a "Palestinian perpetrator" who attempted to throw a Molotov 
cocktail at their army.However Zawahreh was killed during a lull in the 
clashes. At the time he was standing among a group of fellow protesters 
with nothing in his hands, and was much too far away to have been a 
threat to Israeli forces.
When Zawahreh was shot, the bullet went through his stomach and exited 
from his back.The young men who were standing with him scrambled to pick 
him up off the ground while the entire crowd yelled for an ambulance 
that came rushing to the scene.
Several friends who helped evacuate Zawahreh to the ambulance said he 
began singing a Palestinian fight song while they carried him.
“The mother of the martyr don’t be sad, every Palestinian is your son,” 
he sang, according to the young men.Zawahreh was an active member of the 
PFLP, considered a terrorist group by the United States, the EU and 
Israel. For Palestinians, the group -- founded by a Christian doctor, 
George Habash -- is simply the choice for secular leftists.People who 
knew Zawahreh repeatedly highlighted his friendly character and 
political involvement. “His family are a very active family in his camp 
for PFLP,” al Qaisi said, pointing out that six of Zawahreh’s brothers 
are currently in Israeli prisons. “He was a popular guy, everyone in the 
area knew him and had some kind of relationship with him.”
After protesters realized how serious Zawahreh’s condition was, the 
entire protest dispersed as young men rushed to the hospital to kiss 
Zawahreh’s still face goodbye.Hundreds of Palestinians went that night 
to his family’s home to pay respects to Zawahreh’s parents.George 
Abueed, a friend of Zawahreh’s, was still in shock from the news of his 
death when he spoke to Ma’an. “I still just can’t believe that this 
happened to him,” Abueed said through his grief. “He was simply the kind 
of person who gives hope to people. Whenever someone was sad or feeling 
down he was the guy that would always be there for people.”“That was his 
human side,” Abueed said “But it is important to say that he was a great 
defender of his country.”
-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
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