Family of slain Palestinian teen mourn death, demand justice

TUQU, West Bank - Qusay al-Amour would have been graduating high school and heading on to college this spring, the slain teen’s mother Fatima al-Amour said, clutching a tattered tissue. Instead, the 17-year-old became another number in the ever-increasing tally of Palestinians shot dead by Israeli forces.

Qusay was shot dead on Tuesday during clashes in a village called Tuqu in the southern occupied West Bank district of Bethlehem. Video footage filmed by Palestinian journalist Hisham Abu Shaqrah showed Qusay standing at least 100 metres away from Israeli forces when he was shot dead in an olive field on the edge of the village.

“I’m not angry he was martyred, he died for our country, for our land, and for Al-Aqsa Mosque,” said Fatima. “He is in heaven now…but I am enraged at the way they dragged my son. They shot him and dragged him like an animal,” she said, while surrounded by mourning relatives in her living room.

In the video, Israeli forces are shown grasping Qusay moments after he falls to the ground. Taking hold of each of the teen’s limbs, four soldiers then drag him off to military jeeps waiting in the distance. The video shows his limp head bouncing up and down the rocky terrain as the soldiers haul him away.

A doctor at the hospital where Qusay’s body was eventually taken said the teen had been shot four times, in the heart, chest, hip and leg.

According to Qusay’s family, six months ago he was shot in the leg by Israeli forces during clashes in the village. A few days later Israeli police arrested and detained him for 10 days before his parents were able to pay 10,000 shekels ($2,622) - amounting to a three-month wage for an average West Bank resident – to bail him out.

A political activist

While Qusay’s family remember him as a brilliant student with top marks who helped his peers with their school work, Qusay’s friends also recall him as a political activist determined to take part in the Palestinian resistance movement.

He was always at the frontline of youths throwing rocks, said a friend who was present when he was shot.

“There was no reason for the soldiers to be so crazy that day,” his friend, who asked to remain anonymous, told MEE. “It was like any other day. We were lying in the field watching the soldiers. When we stood up, they shot him immediately.”

Qusay’s friend is seen in the video running away as the Israeli forces rush forward to claim his body.

We want justice, not just for Qusay, but for all the Palestinian children hurt by Israel - Fatima Al-Amour

According to witnesses at the scene, there were about 15 Israeli soldiers across the field with seven military jeeps positioned behind them.

The incident

Qusay’s mother said her son was a regular participant in clashes that are sparked whenever Israeli forces approach a Palestinian village. But the day he was shot, Fatima thought he was in the nearby city of Bethlehem and out of harm’s way.

“If there were ever soldiers in the village, Qusay was guaranteed to be out there with the rest of the youth trying to push them back,” said Fatima.

“But I didn’t know that Qusay was in the village that day,” she said. “I was at home when I heard a lot of screaming outside. I went out to check out what was happening, when some kids told me they thought it was Qusay who had been shot.”

“I didn’t think, I just began running frantically towards the field.”

By the time Fatima got to the olive trees on the village outskirts, Israeli forces had already taken her son away and would not allow her near his body.

“My son and his friends threw rocks, yes, but they threw rocks at soldiers with guns. They could have shot him one time, the human body is so fragile, one shot would have been enough - there was no need to riddle him with bullets the way they did,” said Fatima.

‘Extrajudicial killing’

According to a report released by the BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian and Refugee Rights, the incident amounts to an “extrajudicial killing”.

BADIL investigated, and documented that the actions of the Israeli forces did not reflect international law, which says the use of “lethal force… must always be proportional and necessary…[and] only used as a measure of last resort”

“A law enforcement officer can only use firearms against a person under imminent threat of death or serious injury,” the report said. “That is, they can only shoot to kill if it is required to save a life, which would make the use of lethal force proportional - and only if there are no other means available or less extreme means are insufficient to prevent the threat to life, which means lethal force is necessary.”

According to a statement made by the Israeli army, the forces reacted to a “violent riot” of “hundreds” of Palestinians throwing rocks.” But the video footage and witnesses’ statements contradict this narrative.

Several witnesses present during the incident said fewer than a dozen youths were present that afternoon.

Legal measures

According to BADIL, the Israeli authorities are not planning to conduct an investigation into the matter, but Qusay’s family is planning to take legal action.

“We definitely plan on suing the people responsible for my brother’s death,” 32-year-old Fadi al-Amour told MEE. “We are not going to do this only for Qusay’s sake. Israelis kill Palestinians like this every day. It is only that this time it was caught on camera.”

“We want justice, not just for Qusay, but for all the Palestinian children hurt by Israel, the child prisoners, the orphans whose fathers were killed and the child martyrs too,” said Fatima.

“We don’t just want justice because he was killed, we want justice for how he was killed. He was my child and they executed him in a field like an animal, dragged his body away and ripped off his clothes,” she said.

Israeli soldier verdict: Army protects Elor Azaria judges as conviction protests grow

The family of slain Abd al-Fattah al-Sharif, who was shot after injuring a soldier with a knife in the southern occupied West Bank city of Hebron in March last year, shared the sentiment over his shooting death.

Video footage that emerged after the incident, showed Sharif lying motionless on the ground, surrounded by Israeli forces and ambulances before an Israeli soldier lifted his gun and shot him dead.

Earlier this month, the shooter, Elor Azaria, now 20, was found guilty of manslaughter. Numerous calls by Israeli officials have been made in support of a full pardon.

Israeli forces confirmed that the death of Qusay brings the death toll of Palestinians to four since the start of this year. But according to the Ma’an News Agency, two more Palestinians have since been killed by Israeli forces, bringing the death toll to six. One of the two slayings, which took place after Qusay’s, is also reportedly being contested with video evidence.

Five Israelis - all soldiers or police officers - have been killed by Palestinians in 2017.

In 2016, 112 Palestinians were killed and 15 Israelis, according to Ma’an.