Elderly Palestinian anti-occupation activist succumbs to wounds

Suleiman Hathalin, a 75-year-old anti-Israeli occupation activist succumbed on Monday morning to wounds sustained after been  deliberately run-over by Israeli police at the entrance to Umm al Kheir village in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, two weeks ago.

Palestinian Ministry of Health today issued a statement confirming Hathalin’s death.  It said he sustained injuries in the head, chest, stomach and hips. He was admitted to a hospital in Hebron and remained in its intensive care unit until he succumbed to his wounds today.

Palestinian factions condemned the “Israeli killing of the innocent and unarmed” elderly Palestinian man who “only asked for a peaceful life in his village.”

Breaking the Silence, an Israeli NGO dedicated to exposing atrocities committed by Israeli military against the Palestinians, said that Hathalin was run over by an Israeli police-commissioned truck.

“After running over Haj Suleiman, the truck immediately left, without calling an ambulance. Hit and run, courtesy of Israel’s police. That’s what happens when Palestinian life has virtually no value in the eyes of the occupier,” it added.

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“This isn’t the first time the Israeli authorities have left a Palestinian severely injured in their quest to confiscate Palestinian property, all in order to enforce the occupation,” the Israeli NGO said.

It added: “Only last year Harun Abu Aram was shot in the neck when soldiers came to confiscate a generator, also in the South Hebron Hills. Abu Aram remains paralyzed to this day.”

“While Israeli settlers are demanding of the government to recognise an illegally built settlement, Homesh, on private Palestinian land, some of the most vulnerable Palestinians in the occupied territories aren’t even allowed to lead normal lives on their own land.”

“Um al Kheir, where last week’s incident took place, is the site of constant Israeli demolition and confiscation operations, while the neighboring settlement of Carmel continues to expand on the Palestinian villagers’ land.”