The small picture

I'm busy with work and have taken a few days (weeks?) off from the blog. I'm not going to be able to do much over the next two weeks either but when I can, I'll post articles or thoughts about recent happenings...

One thing that caught my eye today while reading Ma'an was the recent death of Jihad al Shaer, a twenty year old from the West Bank. Al Shaer was killed by the Israeli Occupation Forces at a checkpoint outside of Bethlehem near a village called Tuqu'. The Hospital that took al Shaer says he died after receiving multiple blows to the head from a baton.

This is a brief story - one highlighted in part because of the outrage expressed by Mustafa Barghouti, an independent Palestinian Politician - but an important story nonetheless. If you've read the Economist article that I posted earlier, you'll have a better understanding of why checkpoints exist: to harass, to intimidate, and to generally make life as difficult as possible for the indigenous population of the Occupied Territories.

What could highlight the raw brutality of the Israeli Army more than beating a 20 year old to death? This boy did not have a suicide bomb belt on him - why would they choose to beat him then? This boy was not armed with an AK47 - why would they choose to beat him then? No the likely story is that he did something disobedient. Something that upset the soldiers but obviously not threatened enough to just shoot him. Instead they chose to pull out their batons and crush his skull. And they probably continue to inspect Palestinian ID cards at the same checkpoint today. Until a few months form now when they will be released from the military to return to their life of freedom on the beaches of Tel Aviv. I hope they never forget the life they took. Al Shaer's family, his younger brothers and sisters, his parent never will.