<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
</head>
<body>
<div id="toolbar" class="toolbar-container"> </div>
<div class="container" style="--line-height:1.6em;" dir="ltr">
<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"> <font
size="-2"><a class="domain reader-domain"
href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/08/03/human-rights-defenders-palestinian-eyewitness-testimony-of-the-execution-of-abdul-fattah-al-sharif-by-israeli-soldier-elor-azaria/">https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/08/03/human-rights-defenders-palestinian-eyewitness-testimony-of-the-execution-of-abdul-fattah-al-sharif-by-israeli-soldier-elor-azaria/</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Human Rights Defenders: Palestinian
Eyewitness Testimony of the Execution of Abdul Fattah
al-Sharif by Israeli Soldier, Elor Azaria<br>
</h1>
<div class="credits reader-credits"><span
class="post_author_intro">by</span> <span
class="post_author" itemprop="author"><a
href="https://www.counterpunch.org/author/ramzy-baroud/"
rel="nofollow">Ramzy Baroud</a> - August 3, 2020<br>
</span></div>
</div>
<hr>
<div class="content">
<div class="moz-reader-content reader-show-element">
<div id="readability-page-1" class="page">
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<p>As illegal Jewish settlers increase their attacks on
Palestinian civilians in the occupied city of Al Khalil
(Hebron), the people of the Palestinian city continue to
mount a campaign of popular resistance.</p>
<p>One of the channels of resistance is <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/Human-Rights-Defenders-%D8%AA%D8%AC%D9%85%D8%B9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%81%D8%B9%D9%8A%D9%86-%D8%B9%D9%86-%D8%AD%D9%82%D9%88%D9%82-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%86-727496507326993/posts/">Human
Rights Defenders</a>, “a grass-roots, non-partisan
Palestinian organization, working to support nonviolent
popular resistance through popular direct action and
documentation of human rights violations committed by
the Occupation.”</p>
<p>To understand the situation in Hebron better, I <a
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIi9dX74vpU">spoke</a>
to Badee Dwaik, head of ‘Human Rights Defenders’, Raghad
Neiroukh, a journalist, and Flora Thomas, a British
solidarity activist.</p>
<p>The conversation included another member of HRD, <a
href="https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/case/ongoing-threats-and-harassment-against-imad-abu-shamsiyya">Imad
Abu Shamsiyah</a>, the courageous activist who filmed
the murder of Palestinian young man, Abdul Fattah
al-Sharif.</p>
<p>On March 24, 2016, Israeli army medic, Elor Azaria, <a
href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/02/elor-azaria-18-months-palestinian-killing-170221083609252.html">killed</a>
al-Sharif in cold blood in Hebron. The Israeli army
later claimed that al-Sharif, and another Palestinian,
tried to stab an Israeli soldier.</p>
<p>The murder was rightly dubbed ‘extrajudicial execution’
by human rights organizations. Under international
pressure, Israel tried Azaria in court, sentencing him
to eighteen months’ imprisonment, but eventually
released him fourteen months later, to <a
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh_8Y4fwG1I">be
received</a> as a hero by many Israeli politicians,
his family and ordinary people.</p>
<p>I asked Abu Shamsiyah about the events that took place
on that day, when he had personally witnessed and filmed
the execution of the Palestinian young man.</p>
<p>“It was about 8 o’clock in the morning and I was having
coffee with my wife. I heard the sound of shooting
outside, very close to my house,” Abu Shamsiyah began.</p>
<p>“I immediately went out to see what was going on, and
my wife followed me. She brought the camera with her.</p>
<p>“I found out that a person was lying in the street. He
was wearing a black t-shirt and trousers.”</p>
<p>“I saw that there was also another person on the
ground. I moved my camera to capture him on film and
noticed that he was bleeding from his face.”</p>
<p>“I observed a few Israeli soldiers approaching one of
the people on the ground; they were very close to me.”</p>
<p>“I realized that Abdul Fattah al-Sharif was a
Palestinian only when I saw an Israeli soldier kicking
him.”</p>
<p>“When the Israeli soldier kicked him, al-Sharif moved
both of his legs and his hands; and I <a
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8WK2TgruMo&feature=emb_title">captured</a>
this with my camera.”</p>
<p>“At that moment, my wife started shouting, saying:
‘Haram, haram,’ and tried to help the wounded young
man.”</p>
<p>“When the soldiers heard her screams, they noticed our
presence in the street. So they forced us to leave the
street; they chased us away.”</p>
<p>“I went home but I began to think of another way to
continue filming. I climbed on to the roof of a
neighbor’s house and resumed filming the execution.”</p>
<p>“I saw an Israeli ambulance arriving in the area, but
it didn’t go towards al-Sharif; instead, it went towards
the other person who was still lying on the ground. Only
then, I realized that the other person was, in fact, an
Israeli soldier.”</p>
<p>“So I zoomed in the camera to capture a better image of
the soldier, who (looked as if) slightly injured. The
ambulance gave him first aid and treated him, while they
denied any treatment to al-Sharif and the other wounded
Palestinian.”</p>
<p>“They carried the Israeli soldier into the ambulance; I
zoomed in again, and he was already standing; as I said
before, he was (clearly) only slightly injured.”</p>
<p>“The ambulance began to turn around to leave the area.
It was then that I heard the sound of one of the
soldiers loading his gun. He got closer and closer to
where al-Sharif was (still lying down). When he was
about one meter away, he pointed the gun at al-Sharif’s
head.”</p>
<p>“Al-Sharif did not pose any threat to the soldier,
whose name was revealed later in the media to be Elor
Azaria. It was Azaria who shot the wounded Palestinian
in the head.”</p>
<p>“I was still filming, and one of the Jewish settlers,
who noticed me, told the soldiers about me. One of the
soldiers turned towards me and ordered me to leave the
area, but I was already leaving because I had filmed the
entire scene.”</p>
<p>“I immediately went to the ‘Human Rights Defenders’,
where I uploaded the video and many people watched it.”</p>
<p>“Israeli soldiers kill Palestinians in cold blood,
while accusing Palestinians of trying to stab soldiers.”</p>
<p>Following the incident and, throughout Azaria’s trial,
Abu Shamsiyah and his family experienced much <a
href="https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/case/ongoing-threats-and-harassment-against-imad-abu-shamsiyya">harassment</a>
by the Israeli army for revealing the truth that Israel
wishes to keep hidden: the brutality of its soldiers,
and the intrinsic relationship between the occupation
army and the illegal Jewish settlers.</p>
<p>Speaking to Abu Shamsiyah four years after the tragic
death of al-Sharif, the Palestinian activist remains
steadfast in his belief that the ongoing Israeli human
rights violations must be exposed. His voice conveys
determination, not hesitation nor fear.</p>
<p>‘Human Rights Defenders’, like many other Palestinian
groups, continues to channel and guide the popular
resistance of the Palestinian people in Hebron and many
towns and villages across Palestine. They are a
testament to the resolve of Palestinian society – brave,
steadfast and unbroken.</p>
</div>
<p> <em>Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The
Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of five books. His
latest is “</em><a
href="https://www.amazon.com/These-Chains-Will-Broken-Palestinian/dp/1949762092"><em>These
Chains Will Be Broken</em></a><em>: Palestinian
Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons”
(Clarity Press, Atlanta). Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident
Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and
Global Affairs (CIGA), Istanbul Zaim University (IZU).
His website is </em><a
href="http://www.ramzybaroud.net/"><em>www.ramzybaroud.net</em></a>
</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://freedomarchives.org/">https://freedomarchives.org/</a></div>
</body>
</html>