Locals support family of Jerusalem knife attacker ahead of home demolition

SURDA, Ramallah, Occupied Palestinian Territories - All roads into the village of Surda, in central occupied West Bank, were blocked with flaming tires and mobs of young men overnight Saturday in a move to prevent demolition of the family home of Muhanad Halabi, who earlier killed two Jews in East Jerusalem.

Boys came from villages across Ramallah city to protect the house of "the martyr," which has reportedly now been slated for demolition, a common practice by Israeli forces against Palestinians suspected of crimes against Israel.

Halabi, 22, was shot dead by Israeli forces on Saturday night after he stabbed and killed two ultra-orthodox Jews in the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem, home of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

The stabbing victims have been identified as Aharon Banita, 21, an Israeli soldier from the illegal Israeli settlement of Beitar Illit, and Nehemia Lavi, 41, who was reportedly killed while trying to stop the attack.

Banita’s wife, 22, was also stabbed and injured. She is reportedly in serious to moderate condition, while the couple’s two-year-old son was lightly injured in the attack.

Hours after the stabbing, early on Sunday, another Palestinian allegedly stabbed a 16-year-old Israeli demonstrator in front of Damascus gate, the main Palestinian entrance into the Old City.

The Palestinian was shot dead on the scene.

The stabbing attacks come just two days after suspected Palestinians killed two Israeli settlers in a drive-by shooting in the northern occupied West Bank district of Nablus.

‘When the soldiers come, we will all fight’

Following Saturday’s incident, the Halabi family was allegedly informed that their home is slated for demolition by Israeli forces. MEE could not confirm whether an official demolition notice had been issued.

Hundreds of villagers from across Ramallah showed up at the Halabi home following the attack in support of the dead attacker, in an attempt to protect his family and their home from demolition overnight Saturday.

Mohammed Barghouti, a man from a neighbouring village, drove to Surda with nine other cousins.

“When we heard the Israelis were planning to destroy the martyr’s home we came right away to help. We have been moving everything and saving anything we can from inside their home for them,” Barghouthi said. “And when the soldiers come, we will all fight. There are more than a thousand men and boys on the streets waiting to protect this family.”

Within hours, the Halabi home, an immaculate three-storey building that housed his mother, father, and four siblings, was completely emptied, stripped of everything from kitchen cabinets to light fixtures.

‘In support of Al Aqsa’

“We are resilient,” Mahmoud Arian, Halabi’s uncle, told MEE. “Yes, they will come and destroy this home, but we support my nephew’s actions. Muhanad was a smart boy, a law student, top of his class. Muhanad was a normal boy, not overly religious, but he did what he felt he needed to do for his country, his people and his God.”

Arian said Halabi had become increasingly political after a friend, Diyaa Talahmah, was shot dead by Israeli forces in Hebron two weeks previously.

“Muhanad was deeply upset by his friend’s death, and what the Israelis are doing to Al-Aqsa. In the end, he did what he did in support of Al-Aqsa,” Arian said.

Israeli authorities have imposed increasingly tight restrictions on Palestinians entering the Al-Aqsa compound, the third-holiest site in Islam, sparking clashes and violence around the mosque.

Palestinians fear that Israeli authorities plan to create a schedule in which Muslims and Jews would share the compound, which is venerated by Jews as the holiest site in Judaism.

Halabi’s family members told MEE that they feel no remorse for the recent Palestinian attacks on Israelis.

“Yes, my nephew went to Jerusalem and did what he did, but it’s normal for Israelis to kill Palestinians who have done nothing at all, in cold blood, like Ali Duwabsha,” said Halabi’s aunt, who asked not to be named, referring to the 18-month-old infant who was burned alive by Israeli settlers two months ago.

“The political Jews, especially the settlers, are just killing people, just killing and killing - how long are we supposed to be silent? The people have had enough. Everyone will send their family to fight now,” she said.

Halabi's mother, Suher Habali, sitting outside her family home, told MEE that the attacks won't stop until Al-Aqsa Mosque is freed from "the reign of Israeli terror".

"I am proud of my son. Of course every mother wants to watch her son grow up and graduate and get married and live their life, but Al-Aqsa is bigger than any of us. We are all Al-Aqsa, and every Palestinian would be happy to die for Al-Aqsa.

“They can destroy my home, but my son is martyr for Al-Aqsa. They can’t take that away,” she said.

Palestinian factions across the West Bank and Gaza Strip have announced their support for the stabbing attacks, with several factions in Gaza calling the actions resistance and “a natural reaction to the occupation,” local media reported.

Between 2001 and 2005, Israeli forces demolished 664 homes as punishment, leaving more than 4,000 Palestinians homeless, according to Israeli human rights group B'Tselem, which condemns the practice.

(Additional reporting and video by Abed al Qaisi)