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<h1 class="title">A day of rage and the killing of Mutaz Zawahreh</h1>
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<div class="stamp">Oct. 14, 2015 4:14 P.M. (Updated: Oct. 14, 2015
7:44 P.M.) </div>
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<div class="authorClass">By: Sheren Khalel<br>
<b><small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768236">http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768236</a></small></small></b><br>
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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 at<span
style="font-size: 14.6667px; background-color: rgb(255, 255,
255);">Duheisha</span>refugee 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.
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
<div>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.</div>
<div>Several friends who helped evacuate Zawahreh to the ambulance
said he began singing a Palestinian fight song while they carried
him.</div>
<div>“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.”</div>
<div>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.”</div>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
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San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.freedomarchives.org">www.freedomarchives.org</a>
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