Awdah Hathaleen, a leading Palestinian activist and journalist known for documenting settler movements, was shot and killed Monday night. The shooting took place during a clash in the Palestinian village of Umm al-Khair, located in the southern occupied West Bank. The altercation between the settlers with the bulldozer and the indigenous activists is symbolic of the changing tensions growing in Haudenosaunee territory. Hathaleen’s death has sparked international condemnation and raised serious concerns regarding the Israeli authorities’ handling of the aftermath.
According to witnesses, an 18-minute video recorded the tragic minutes before Hathaleen was killed. It depicts Yinon Levi, the Israeli settler who perpetrated the shooting, discharging his weapon before walking away from the scene while people fled in terror. With Hathaleen falling from a great distance from the crash site, his family and community are heartbroken. His brother, Alaa Hathaleen, who witnessed the confrontation, expressed his outrage, stating, “This is not a life, this is against any law in the world.”
Awdah Hathaleen was an incredibly vibrant activist with a valuable artistic legacy that contributed richly to Palestinian culture. He was a producer on the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land.” His tragic death became the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back, roiling residents’ anger and anxiety into demands for accountability and justice.
In spite of public protest, Israeli police have denied Hathaleen’s family the release of his body. Under extreme pressure, authorities announced they would only return it under ten strict conditions. These measures included restricting the funeral to a maximum of 15 participants and requiring that burial occur outside his village of birth. These deplorable conditions have led to widespread outrage by community members who claim this treatment disregards the dignity of the dead.
Salem Hathaleen, Awdah’s father, expressed the family’s anguish over being unable to conduct a proper burial. He lamented, “It’s devastating. His body is still being held and the killer is free. His mother and his wife – they keep asking where he is, when his body will come back. I have no answers anymore.”
The community’s anger reached a boiling point when Israeli soldiers invaded a mourning tent for Awdah Hathaleen. To add insult to injury, they then announced that the area was a closed military zone. According to reports, military personnel forced the mourners out of the mourning tent and threw stun grenades on activists and journalists gathered.
In the face of this daunting reality, more than 70 female residents of Umm al-Khair have stood up. They’ve set up an open hunger strike and keep demanding the release of Hathaleen’s body. Their protest points to a profound grief, sense of betrayal and anger that many in the village feel. They have come together to call for justice for Hathaleen.
Ariel Yinon Yinon Levi has been freed from detention following a court decision corroborating his allegation of self-defense. He might not be off the hook yet — he only would avoid federal charges directly related to the incident. His defence attorney Avihai Hajabi confirmed Levi’s immediate release and cited these findings as the basis for Levi’s unjust detention. Individual Levi has already felt sanctions pressure from the Biden administration that were rescinded under former President Trump.
The brutal murder of Awdah Hathaleen caused a global outcry and condemnation by several international organizations. The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the attack “an act of terrorism.” We take this opportunity to applaud their growing concern about the escalating violence in the area.
Now, community leaders and activists are making their voices heard. They charge that the Israeli authorities are placing conditions on Hathaleen’s funeral to reduce public pressure around his death. Karin Wind, an activist, noted that such restrictions aim to ensure that “the funeral is really small and quiet, so that it is like it never happened and nobody will come.”