Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Follow-up on Raed Sawalha
Late last week, we blogged about the story regarding the 15 year-old Palestinian boy, Raed Sawalha, who was hanged by members of his family for suspicion of collaborating with the IDF. An update was provided that put the blame solely on the "mentally unstable" uncle of the boy.
The Jerusalem Post has a follow-up story stating that relatives of Sawalha's would like to see those involved in his killing (which, according to this story, include his uncle and his brother, and possibly others) receive the death penalty.
"Sawalha's grandfather, Mufid, strongly denied that the boy had any connection with the Israeli authorities, saying the whole affair was the result of a 'misunderstanding.'The Jerusalem Post story concludes with a statement from the PA:
"Mufid said that he and the boy's father did not know that the case would result in the gruesome murder, which has shocked many Palestinians in the village and elsewhere.
"'My grandson was a decent boy,' he said. 'He did not have any connections with the Israelis.' The grandfather said that one of the boy's uncles beat him to death before hanging him.
"'He was a good boy, an innocent boy,' he said. 'He used to help me and his father a lot in the fields. The same day he was murdered he had worked with me in the fields.'"
"Adnan Damiri, spokesman for the PA security forces in the West Bank, said that a number of the victim's relatives have also been arrested on suspicion of aiding the main suspect."Damiri's statement would seem to imply that there is a conspiracy aspect to the murder which is being pursued.
4 Comments:
By 
D.E. Cloutier, at
Tue Jun 16, 08:26:00 PM:
"It's hard to believe this story ... We believe there's another motive behind this murder."
The murder of Raed Sawalha, the deaths of Princess Diana and Dodi Al-Fayed -- bad news always involves a "conspiracy" in the minds of many Arabs.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, many residents blame bad news on witches and sorcerers.
By 
, at
Wed Jun 17, 12:07:00 AM:
This is a terrible communications problem!! The IDF has a large pay check for a PA "colleague" named "Adnan Damiri," not "Adnan Damari."
"Adnan, please call your controller on the secure line and let us know where you want your reward sent."
By , at
Wed Jun 17, 12:34:00 AM:
I don't believe any claims regarding arrests or investigations, partly because under Islamic law killing an enemy of Islam isn't a crime, and partly because that's how "investigations" of these kinds of crimes go in Muslim countries.
By , at
Wed Jun 17, 06:44:00 AM:
I think that the worst is that this story interests nobody! I am a French emigrant living in Israel and I consult daily the information. In France they did not absolutely speak about it. I am sure that if this young man had been killed by the IDF there would have been hundreds of articles!!
