Tuesday, January 2

Murdered "by mistake"

Last saturday, during the Eid elAdha parade, a young man from Jaffa was shot.

A few hours ago, the victim died at Tel HaShomer hospital to which he had been transferred from nearby Wolfson hospital in hope to save his life.

Many of the murders committed in Jaffa over the last 10 years have to do with a feud between families and / or drugsales.
Murder and violence are never justified, but sometimes the writing "is on the wall". In this case, there was no writing. Apparently a case of "mistaken identity". Being in the wrong place at the wrong time on the wrong bike with your motor helmet visor down... And that, apparently, is very wrong.

The young victim had not been not connected to any gangs, had no crminal record, just another young Jaffa guy, living a normal life.
He died for just no reason at all.

Jaffa, 2007

Update:
Adham, the young man killed, was the son of Abdu, a well known fish restaurant owner from Jaffa. He was also a student at the "Tadmor" hotel school in Herzliya, where he was training to become a chef. His classmates, both Palestinians and Jews, had all come to the hospital, in hope to learn better news and be with the family. He was well loved by all. Not just as a sentence, often said after someone's death. He truly was a great guy with a good sense of humor. Bright, sensitive to the other people around him.

A tent has been erected in the street where he used to live. The men all sit in the tent, the women in the house. A tape plays prayers. It's very quiet. Most of the women cry silently, the men are quiet, but many have tears in their eyes.
People still cannot believe it. The family are all in shock.

Update:
It takes me time to express what i feel.

I was sitting with the women in the large, luxurious livingroom of the family. A white marble floor. Antique, dark wooden furniture, the large windows shuttered.
All along the walls there are chairs and couches. And close to the chairs and couches small delicate tables. On each table an ornamental box containing tissues, a few bottles of mineral water and disposable cups.
Women in traditional dress sit all around, their heads covered. Eyes red from crying. But for the tape with the praying voice, it is quiet. Now and then a stiffled sob is heard.
A young woman goes around serving bitter coffee in small cups to the mourners. The woman sitting next to me tells me a little about the young murder victim. She's an aunt. The family stick close together. Everybody's still in shock.

There is so much pain in this room.








4 comments:

Lirun said...

this is aweful.. where did he live in yaffo?

yudit said...

The guy lived in what we call "Gantamar" (or Gan Tamar in municipalese), which is a small neighborhood, just east of Yefet Street, south of "Haj Kahil". These streets are all name for 18th & 19th century Polish rabbis with unpronouncable names. We know our streets by the main families living in them.

Lirun said...

you dont like street names?

:D

yudit said...

Jaffa used to have streetnames such as Nuzha, Boustrous, Hilwe etc.
These have all been changed in names of Etzel, Lehi etc. members or names of rabbis etc.
Only three streets have been named after Palestinians. We have asked the municipality to name streets after e.g. Emile Habibi and Om Khaltoum, but it has been refused.
I(t's weird when a street in which 100% of the inhabitants are Palestinian, the name was changed to some rabbi, which no one even knows how to express...., no one heard of and he has no meaning to anyone.
There would be no problem if some of the names were this and some were that, but in Jaffa the old Palestinian names have been changed and all the new streetnames are after people who are of no relevance to Jaffa's Palestinian people. This appears to be a conscious process of wiping out Jaffa's cultural identity.