By Kathryn Shihadah – Palestine Home: A young Palestinian man was the target of an apparent (failed) assassination attempt by Israeli soldiers last week.
His name is Mohammad Fadel Tamimi, and he is twenty years old. While the Israeli military shoots – and often kills – young Palestinian men every day, this particular young man has an especially harrowing history.
Mohammad has spent his whole life in Nabi Saleh, a village that has for years led in the Palestinians’ nonviolent resistance against Israeli occupation. The Tamimi family presides over the effort, calling for protests, speaking out internationally, modeling their efforts on the work of Martin Luther King, Jr.
These efforts torment Israel no end – so Israel’s military has tormented Nabi Saleh and the Tamimi clan for years.
Mohammad Tamimi’s backstory with Israel is epic and excruciating. Last week’s incident was just the latest in a series of disturbing events.
Incident: June 9, 2022
Last Thursday evening, Mohammad was walking with his thirteen-year-old brother Laith, when Israeli soldiers began shooting at them (they had already shot at Mohammad earlier in the day, lightly injuring him in the arm and abdomen).
To be clear: he was not participating in a protest or threatening the soldiers in any way – just walking with his little brother.
Mohammad is a familiar face – all of the soldiers know him. So when he was hit in the forehead with a sponge-coated steel bullet, and his brother was hit in the arm, fracturing bones, it was not by accident.
Apparently thinking Mohammad was dead, the soldiers began kicking him, and were about to carry him away (a common practice in the Israeli military) when neighbors who had heard the shots intervened.
Mohammad was rushed to the hospital with a fractured skull and severe bleeding (sponge- and rubber-coated bullets are more dangerous than they sound).
The Nabi Saleh village council issued a statement declaring the incident an “assassination attempt.”
While he is now stable, and appears able to hear and understand, he has not spoken since the day of the injury.
I spoke with a relative of Mohammad’s on Wednesday, six days after the shooting. She reported that he was able to take a few steps and use his hands, but his speech has not yet returned – whether it is due to damage caused by the bullet, or psychological trauma, is not yet known.
When asked whether anyone from the Israeli military had reached out to the family to discuss the incident, she responded,
No. Even if they tried, the family and everybody in the village would refuse [to talk to them]. You can’t begin a dialogue with someone who will kill you the first chance he has, or someone who is stealing your lands, and of course, [if] he is denying your existence.
A small consolation
One piece of good news in this calamity is that the Palestinian Authority (PA) will be covering Mohammad’s medical bills. (...)
