29th October 2016 | International Solidarity Movement | Hebron, occupied Palestine
This is a the personal thoughts of an ISMer, remembering the execution of Hummam Adnan al-Saeed and Islam Rafiq Hammad Ibeido, on 27th and 28th October 2015. Israeli forces gunned down the two Palestinian men right in front of the ISM-apartment.
The only thing we have in common is:
That you happened to die in front of my eyes
Corrected: that you were shot in the back just behind my back, Hummam.
Corrected: that you were shot dead while holding your hands up high, Islam.
My initial thought was that the soldiers were “poking fun” at us
by intimidating us with some terrifying sounds.
Until I finally grasped that what sounded like barking machine gun bullets
were barking machine gun bullets
pumped into your precious bodies
to remain there for good.
For terror.
Also: you didn’t die
for you weren’t even granted the time to die.
You were mowed down and wiped out.
You were dead before you touched the ground.
I wish I had walked down the stairs and held your head.
Or touched your shoulder.
Or covered you with a kuffiyeh.
Anything, just anything to give you back what they tried to wipe out:
Being human in inhuman times
which is the only thing we have in common.