During the killing of over 1,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the demonstrations against them the occupation remains in the West Bank. This week a family lost their father in Hebron.
Yasser Saqr Ismail Tameizi had his six year old son with him. They were working on their land in Ithna Village, west of the city.
It was Tuesday morning and the 35 year old farmer’s death served as a violent reminder, commented the Al Haq Human Rights Organization, “that even as Israel engages in horrific and illegal attacks against the Gaza Strip, its oppressive occupation policies continue to undermine the lives of Palestinians in the West Bank.”
Tameizi had an Israeli-issued permit to reach his lands that the Wall had divided him from. Two eyewitnesses were in an adjacent field grazing their cattle and Tameizi and his six year old were 500 meters east of the Wall which is incomplete in this area of Hebron. Instead of a 10 meter concrete wall, it consists of barbed wire fencing that cuts through the village.
On 13 January at 11:00 am four Israeli soldiers entered Tameizi’s land through a gate in the Wall. They told the little boy to leave, which he did, and one of the soldiers kicked the father. Tameizi made a move to defend himself and his son and two of the soldiers knocked him to the ground and ties his hands behind his back. He was held down on his back by two soldiers sitting on his stomach while the others watched.
At noon an Israeli military jeep with four soldiers entered Tameizi’s land. After 15 minutes the man was thrown, blindfolded and still handcuffed, into the back of the jeep.
The eyewitnesses report, “The jeep then moved toward the gate, with four soldiers inside and the other four walking behind it.”
At 1:30 an APC, Armored Personnel Carrier, arrived and still on the side of the Wall facing the Israeli boundaries it left after 10 minutes with the jeep driving quickly to Tarqumiya Checkpoint.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society reports that its Hebron branch office received a phone call at approximately 3:00 pm in which Israeli soldiers told them to pick up Tameizi who was still in their custody.
He was dead before reaching the hospital.
The 35 year old man had been shot and died of the bullet wound to his stomach which exited through his lower back. The Red Crescent said it indicates he was shot at point blank range most likely while sitting down by someone above him aiming down.
Ramallah’s Al Haq referred today to the severe violation of international law, the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in addition to tenets of the Geneva Conventions and United Nations resolutions, as a “summary execution.”