The Albany Gazette - Anger in West Bank village at funeral of two young men

The village, perched atop limestone hills, is known for its colonnaded villas and manicured gardens -- and its few thousand residents who mostly come from the Palestinian diaspora in North America.

Musalat, 20, was one of them. Born and raised in Florida, he ran an ice cream parlour in Tampa, arriving in the Palestinian territory just a few weeks ago with a plan to spend the summer with his mother and siblings.

But on Friday, he was beaten to death by Israeli settlers in nearby Sinjil, the Palestinian health ministry said, in the latest violence to hit the village north of Ramallah.

Hundreds gathered on Sunday, chanting prayers and slogans at Musalat's funeral. Inside his family's upmarket home, women wept and screamed at the sight of the young man's lifeless body.

On one of the walls, the young man looked from a poster -- his beard neatly groomed and against the backdrop of the Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem's Islamic sanctuary.

Two teenagers embraced as tears ran down their faces. "It's awful," one of them sobbed.

In recent months, the area has witnessed frequent attacks by Israeli settlers, sometimes backed by the Israeli army, local residents say.

A few days before Musalat's death, the UN said that "attacks, harassment, and intimidation by Israeli settlers against Palestinians have become a daily reality".

- 'Dehumanisation' -

Musalat's family said he was killed on farmland owned by them. Israeli settlers beat him brutally, they claimed, leaving him to die for over three hours and preventing a medical team from reaching him.

The Israeli army confirmed that "violent clashes" occurred Friday "between Palestinians and Israeli civilians, along with acts of vandalism against Palestinian property" in the area, and said an investigation had been launched.

The victim's father told reporters after the funeral: "We demand justice for these terrorist settlers. There's no doubt that they are terrorists. They're illegally on these lands -- they do not belong to them," said Kamil Hafez Musalat.

"We demand the US government do something about it. They're always saying, you know, for justice, justice, justice. But as Palestinians, they dehumanise us," he added.

Hafez Abdoul Jabar, also a dual national, said he had been waiting for help from the US Embassy for weeks.

"We need protection," he told the crowd, adding that it has become nearly impossible for residents of the area to access their land without risking their lives.

Jabar is also a bereaved father: his son was killed in January 2024 under unclear circumstances involving settlers and the Israeli military, his family reported.

- Anger -

In the village schoolyard, hundreds of men gathered to recite mourning prayers for Musalat and Mohammed al-Shalabi, 23, who also died on Friday after being shot during the attack and "left to bleed for hours", according to the Palestinian health ministry.

"We are people trying to live in peace. We try to protect our land. We have nothing against the world or against Israelis -- we are just trying to preserve our land," said his uncle, Samer al-Shalabi, calling the attacks "barbaric and savage".

"We will pursue justice as far as we can -- but what good is the law if the judge is our enemy?"

Violence in the Palestinian territory has surged since the start of Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza, after the Palestinian militants' attack on October 7, 2023.

At least 955 Palestinians -- both militants and civilians -- have been killed by Israeli soldiers or settlers, according to an AFP tally based on data from the Palestinian Authority.

At the same time, at least 36 Israelis, including both civilians and members of security forces, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations in the West Bank, according to official Israeli data.

(P.Clark--TAG)