RAMALLAH, October 14, 2015
(WAFA) – Last August, three Palestinian administrative detainees in Israeli
jails, including Ghassan Zawahreh, began an open-ended hunger strike in protest
of their administrative detention, without charge or trial.
Days later, three other
detainees joined the previous three hunger strikers in their battle against detention
without charge or trial, famously known as Administrative Detention.
During their strike,
27-year-old Moataz Zawahreh, the brother of Ghassan Zawahreh, decided to return
home to be close to his family in these difficult times; Moataz feared that his brother Ghassan would die while he was away working in France.
After 30 days of hunger strike,
the six detainees, including Ghassan, decided to suspend their
strike after the Israeli prison authorities pledged to meet their demands.
Ghassan was safe now. Moataz,
who was born in ad-Duheisha camp, no longer had to worry about his brother and
he can now resume his dream about finding a job in France and building a better
future.
On October 13, Moataz heard
calls for a mass protest against the Israeli occupation’s practices in the
occupied territories and he decided to join.
He was determined to answer the
call and stand in solidarity along with hundreds of local youths to protest
against the extrajudicial killings of Palestinians and Israel’s ongoing
encroachment of Islam’s holy site, Al Aqsa Mosque.
However, Moataz had no idea that
October 13 would be forever imprinted in his family’s memory as the day he was
killed by Israeli soldiers.
Minutes after Moataz left his
house and engaged with other locals in a protest, Israeli soldiers opened live
ammunition and shot teargas canisters to disperse the protest as usual, and Moataz was
the main target of a soldier’s sniper-directed bullets this time.
He sustained serious wounds and
was transferred to hospital to undergo surgery, but was pronounced dead soon
after.
Moataz who returned home to be
able to attend his brother’s funeral, was killed instead. On October 13, Moataz
Zawahreh became the 30th Palestinian to be killed by Israeli
soldiers during the month of October of 2015.
He was buried in his hometown, a refugee camp,
in a procession that thousands of Palestinians attended despite the narrow roads.
After Beit Jala’s doctors
informed Moataz’s family that he is no longer alive, Moataz’ brother, Ahmad couldn't believe.
Ahmad hugged his brother and whispered
in his ear. He kept talking to Moataz until another young man
decided to drag him away. It was then when Ahmad protested: “Wait! I’m still talking
to him.”
Moataz’s youngest brother Mohammad
insisted that his brother is not dead. He demanded everyone to leave, because Moataz
was still alive.
“Go away! I know how to wake him up. Moataz
is alive. My brother! Wake up!” he begged in-between sobs.
M.N/M.H
