THE SUFFERING OF SAIR: ISRAELI OCCUPATION KILLS FOUR BOYS FROM THE SAME TOWN
During the evening of Thursday January 7 Israel's occupation forces killed three youths from the small town of Sair aka Si'ir at the entrance to Israel's illegal Gush Etzion colony bloc and a fourth youth, a minor, from the same small town less than an hour later at Beit Einoun junction.
At Gush Etzion, drenched with Palestinian blood in recent months, Israel's occupation forces took the lives of Ahmed Salem Kawazba(19), Ala Abed Kawazba(19) and Mohannad Ziad Kawazba, who was either 18 or 19. The victims are cousins
The basic Israeli occupation story in both incidents is the same: The killed youths "were armed with knives" and "tried to attack Israeli soldiers", but in neither case any Israeli occupation soldiers were injured and in photos from the former site its clearly seen that a knife has been planted in the hand of one victim afterwards.
No other knives can be seen in photos from the illegal Gush Etzion colony killing site. A knive can be seen beside the body of Khalil Shalalda at Beit Einoun.
At first Israeli occupation forces claimed that at the three teenagers would have been shot while attacking Israel's occupation soldiers manning a checkpoint, who - at "imminent
danger" - would have shot at them, with the teens "killed instantly".
This is clearly not the case - the site of the killings is not directly at the checkpoint itself based on photos and videos from the scene and the distance between bodies of two boys who were killed basically on top of each other separated by tens of meters from the third.
A more developed Israeli occupation claim is that the three Kawazba youths killed at Gush Etzion were seen on security camera feed trying to sneak past the Israeli occupation forces checkpoint and were ambushed.
If this Israeli occupation claim is to be taken at face value, we have to question why the youths had to be killed when the occupation forces had enough time to ready an ambush?
Yet each are said to have been shot with "multiple rounds".
The bodies of the Kawazba youths are scattered at some distance from each other on both sides of a road at the scene of their killing.
The possibility that they were killed when trying to escape is - if we assume the Israeli occupation claim of an ambush - one that would fit this, assuming that they were moving as a group.
Israel's occupation forces stopped Palestinian ambulances from reaching the site of the killing and there's no evidence or claim of any medical aid to given to the youths at here or at Beit Einoun - yet Israeli David Magen Adom (which had agreed in a deal with International Committee of the Red Cross in 2006 not to operate in occupied territories) was again on the scene according to its own confirmation that "no Israelis were injured".
Certainly the Kawazba boys would have had "a motive" for an attempted attack beyond purely national feelings: The killing of Ahmad Younis Kawazba(17) on January 5th and five other inhabitants of the Sair village before him during the current uprising.
On the other hand, although we consider this possibility with hefty scepticism, this and the killing of Khalil Shalalda(16) just an hour after might have been targeted killings intended to further inflame tensions and terrorize the Sair village families. Israel's occupation forces changing story also doesn't give any confidence to any of its versions of the incident.
Khalil Mohammad Shalalda was the younger brother of Mahmoud Mohammad Shalalda(22), who was killed by Israel's occupation forces November 13. Israeli occupation claimed then that he was shot for "attempting to stab a soldier", but no Israeli occupation soldiers were injured at that incident either.
Again Khalil Shalalda might have tried to avenge his killed brother, but only further evidence can prove or deny this. Considering how Israeli occupation handles the killings of Palestinians, we would be foolhardy to expect much at least when it comes to evidence based on facts from Israel's occupation forces.
What we are left with, instead, are bereaved families and a shocked community at Sair, which has now lost ten of it's inhabitants during the uprising to Israeli occupation forces' violence and the number of victims that keeps going up. At least 149 Palestinians have been killed during the uprising, Khalil Shalalda being the 29th minor among them.
SOURCES:
4 Palestinians shot dead after alleged stabbing attempts in West Bank
4 Palestinians shot dead by the IOF in Gush Etzion settlement junction and Hebron
Army Kills A Palestinian Child In Hebron, The Fourth To Be Killed In Hebron, Thursday
Israeli army kills three Palestinians with live gunfire near Hebron
IOF soldiers execute 3 Palestinian youths¨
