i woke up this morning to see pictures of two martyrs in the morgue. the captions in arabic said they were murdered early this morning in qalandia refugee camp. i wasn’t sure i understood the names, so i checked maannews in english, which reports three martyrs: Jihad Asslan, said to have been only 20 years old, reportedly succumbed to severe injuries in hospital – pronounced brain dead. Younis Jahjouh, about 22 years, reportedly shot in the head. and robin al abed, about 32, reportedly shot in the chest.
15 others reported as injured, whether severely or lightly, i don’t know. apparently an early morning raid into the camp to rearrest a prisoner who had recently been released after 10 years in the occupiers prisons. apparently the occupation forces were entered the camp “under cover”. the arrest was made, but the occupation army was met with resistance. still, to me, this sounds unusual. i am asking friends if it is. writing it like this, though, i’m thinking: does it matter? الله يرحم الشداء
they are not the first martyrs since april 30. i barely registered reports of the murder of young Moataz Sharawnah, about 19, from dura on july 2. i missed reports of the assassination of Hussein Awadallah, about 30, in or near the so-called “buffer zone” (see this post for more on the “buffer zone”) in gaza, and again, i barely registed the murder of Majd Lahloul, about 22, in another bloody raid in jenin refugee camp last week on august 20 which left at least one other person in very critical condition (i saw terrible pictures of the wounded).
i see pictures of people morning near ramallah hospital and imagine the bloody invasion and aftermath at the camp, people waking up to the news of martyrs, with the massive military checkpoint and i don’t know how many soldiers, “border police”, “special forces” etc. just a few meters down the road from the camp, going about their usual business of restricting movement for west bank palestinians. i imagine the clashes that i’m sure are already happening on the main road. if i was in palestine, it would be very close.
here is a video of the clashes in the camp this morning, judging from the light and armored vehicles, assume this was after the murders, but could be wrong:
here the maan article:
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Israeli forces kill 3 Palestinians in Qalandia camp
Robin al-Abed, 32, was shot in the chest and died instantly, medics said. Younis Jihad Abu al-Sheikh Jahjouh, 22, was also shot dead.
Jihad Asslan, 20, died Monday morning from his injuries after being pronounced brain dead at a Ramallah hospital.
All three men were killed when Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd during clashes with camp residents following an arrest raid.
At least 15 Palestinians were injured by live fire, with six said to be in a critical condition. Most of the injured were shot in the head, chest and upper body, medics said.
Mohammad Abed Badran, Mohammad Mteir, Abdo Mteir, Ali Adawi, and Samer al-Mansour were identified as some of those wounded.
Witnesses told Ma’an that Israeli forces dressed in civilian clothes raided the camp at around 5 a.m. and arrested recently released prisoner Yousef al-Khatib, who had spent 10 years in an Israeli jail.
Dozens of camp residents quickly surrounded Israeli forces, who opened fire.
Another Israeli military patrol then entered the camp.
Abbas’ spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeinah strongly condemned the killings, calling it a crime against the Palestinian people. The incident shows Israel’s true intentions towards the peace process, he added, calling upon the US to intervene and prevent peace efforts from failing.
Caretaker Palestinian Authority prime minister Rami Hamdallah condemned the crime, and sent condolences to the victims’ families.
An Israeli army spokeswoman did not return calls seeking comment.
http://maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=624010