We Didn't Mean to Kill Him

We just wanted to arrest him - August 9, 2003

Twenty-one years ago, I wrote this story, a story of murder. For 75 years, the Israeli government has been murdering Palestinians. I was a witness to their destruction of the Occupied West Bank in 2003, 2005, and 2007, long before October 7, 2023.

August 9, 2003

The phone woke me at 4:30 am.  I am sleeping on a mattress in the ISM media office since the phone has to be covered 24 hours a day during this summer campaign against the wall.  Garrick called to tell me that the Israeli Military was firing on a refugee camp called Askar outside occupied Nablus, and tanks and jeeps were on the main street.  It's home to thousands, a thriving village with four and five-story homes, businesses, and schools.   

"Could you get a press release out to the media?"  I groggily shook myself awake and typed up the first of three.  I ensured the information was accurate by calling Ahmed, the Palestinian coordinator with the ISM, and Jack, the ISM international staying in the camp.

The military had sent seven tanks, three jeeps, a helicopter, and an F-16 fighter jet to catch one man who "allegedly" was with Hamas. 

For the next seven hours, until the occupation forces left the camp, I stayed on the phone getting eyewitness accounts, sending three press releases, and talking to anyone in the camp who could speak English well enough to tell me what was going on.

In the end, three Palestinians and one Israeli soldier were dead, five Palestinians were severely injured, a four-story home was in ruins, and Palestinians were under curfew again.

When I signed online to send this story, I read the account on AOL and was outraged once again at how the US press reports only IOF information.  The material is straight from their press release, and the US press used none of our information.

Not a single American reporter called me to verify the story, not one.  Remember that CNN says all stories going out of this hellhole have to be cleared by the IOF... if they go to America. 

All day the media has called here, French, Swedish, English, Italian... where is the vaunted American press?  What happened to free speech and telling the truth?

The lies, slander, and libel of the Palestinians are deliberate.  For example, there was no bomb factory.  The only bombs were the ones dropped on the home.  The "protestor" killed was a 15-year-old boy throwing stones at the jeeps.  And the two dead men have been condemned in the press before anyone knows their affiliation. Not a single word was written about the injured.

I'm tired, and I'm sad for the Palestinians, who, once again, have gotten the short end of the stick, or should I say the nasty end of the tank.

Look at the photos coming out of the camp and tell me... hell... tell everyone... that going after one man with seven tanks, three jeeps, a helicopter, and an F-16 fighter jet is obscene. I’ve got to get back to Jenin.  Being out there is better than being in the office no matter how much good I’ve done.  I leave tomorrow.

Here is the press release headline from the Israeli Occupation Force today.   

“We didn’t mean to kill him, we just wanted to arrest him.” 

It took seven tanks, three APCs, several jeeps, dozens of soldiers and lord knows how much ammunition to pillage a village and kill the lone Palestinian.  No one cares.