Settler violence with impunity

I am meeting for the second time with Khaled, and that in itself feels important. He has recently met with over 30 Non-governmental organizations, telling them the same story over and over again. Sadly together with my colleagues from EAPPI, we are the only ones still interested in his story. For the other NGO’s it is so common with settler violence they have moved on, and nobody has offered him any help. Whilst Khaled needs help we cannot give him, I still think it is important to talk about the settler violence that occur without any precautions other than the wall. The wall may protect the people living inside of Israel, but it does not serve the security of the Palestinian people being attacked by Israeli settlers. Khaled is still suffering, although it is two months since the incident.

“The vision in my left eye is not very good, and the doctors say I need three more surgeries in the next couple of months. I have psychological problems, I cannot sleep because I have nightmares and sometimes I have panic attacks. There is also a problem with my ear, where he hit me with the stick. What happened was a big shock, I cannot forget. I am always nervous and easily angry, I shout a lot and even my sons will not accept me. I am scared to leave the house, and I have no job just all of these bills. My lawyer said I will not be allowed to enter Israel or a settlement again. It is difficult to work, and I need to pay my medical bills. Even my boss did not call me afterwards, although he used to visit my house many times. It hurts in my heart. After the attack I changed my view on the whole situation. The settlers in general, they will be your friend when it benefits them, and when they do not need you they will throw you away.”

Khaled Hamamrah from the village of Husan, near Bethlehem has worked in the nearby settlement Betar Illit for the last twelve years. One Friday he was called in to clean up after a party in the school where he worked as a housekeeper. The events will be told mostly from his own words, because I believe my job is rather to let him tell his story, than for me to claim it as my own. In fact I cannot even begin to comprehend the pain Khaled went through:

“I started to work at 8 am and at 9 I was standing by the stove in the kitchen making my coffee. I felt something huge hit my head from the back. After that I fell down and could see that a masked man was hitting me with a stick with large spikes on it. I tried pushing him away but I could not, but I managed to take away a part of the ski-mask that covered his face. He started using a knife and hit me on my left eye. I thought he was going to kill me because I had uncovered a part of his face so I shouted out. Then he ran away. I crawled up the stairs to where my colleague was and then fainted. He called the Israeli ambulance but they did nothing, they thought I was dead. I was told the ambulance came after ten minutes, and the police came then too. The police started asking questions, but I was tired and could not answer their many questions which made them angry. I was just sitting in the Israeli ambulance but we never left, I saw that something was wrong because everything went so slow. Instead they called a Palestinian ambulance to enter Betar Illit, and it took another 20 minutes before it came. A Palestinian ambulance had never entered the settlement before, and why could they not take me in the first one?"

It is true that it is the Palestinian authorities that have decided that Palestinians should be cared for in Palestine. However, this may not be common knowledge in the West Bank, and the police questioning Khaled were not Palestinian as it was in what is referred to as the Area C of the West Bank under complete Israeli control.

“The strangest thing is that the police came with me in the ambulance, and the nurse had to fight with the police saying I was in a critical condition and not fit to answer any questions. The police asked if the attacker was Arab or Israeli, if I had seen the man who attacked me and if I had problems with settlers before. Then they took me to the hospital in Beit Jala, and I was in the hospital for two weeks. The nurse in the ambulance said maybe he will be dead, and there are many people in my village who think that I am dead now.”

I am sitting with Khaled’s family, and by now I have gotten to know his nephew, two sons, wife and mother pretty well. I feel guilty for asking them to repeat the story, and for not being able to do more for them. Khaled’s wife says “I am still in shock.” When I ask her how she feels she gets so upset she says “I cannot talk about it” and immediately leaves the room, but even then I can hear her cry. Khaled’s mother is sitting next to me, turning her praying beads in her hands, also visibly distraught. All I can offer is to hold her hand, trying to show that someone cares and give a little ounce of comfort.

The police never came back to ask more questions, so Khaled himself went with a Jewish friend to the police station to see how the investigation was going, after he was released from the hospital. “Me and my friend went to the police station to ask about the case and talk about the person who attacked me. Instead they arrested me for the night, and then the police station did not call again. If I did that to an Israeli I would spend the rest of my life in prison.”