Image: Palestinians confront Israeli forces during a military raid on the Jenin refugee camp on March 7, 2023. (Photo: Shadi Jarar’ah/ APA Images)
Filed by Mariam Barghouti
Every day in Palestine, the number of deaths rises. Last year, the
most deadly since the UN began documenting in 2005, more than 231 Palestinians were killed, 180 in the West Bank alone.
In the first three months of this year, 84 Palestinians have been
killed. That means the number of those killed between January 2 and
March 14 of this year equals 47% of Palestinians killed in what was
deemed our most deadly year. Out of every 15 Palestinians killed this
year, at least one was a child or a minor.
As a small team, we struggle to cover every killing in addition
to everything else in motion. This is partly because we are human and
struggle to cover the intensity and frequency of this much death. Yet it
is also because I find myself stuck in the details of every story. I
have heard first-hand testimonies from so many mothers, fathers,
siblings, cousins, friends, and community members as they recall moments
of execution. It is always surreal
More and more, I find myself crying in interviews, unable to console
and yet relentlessly prodding to reveal some of the most intimate
moments between lovers and strangers. Then I reflect on the amount of
knowledge I collect, such as the details of the bullet shots. I printed
out the list of Palestinians killed to track the details of their
killing next to their names.
Abdomen, chest, chest, head, head, head, chest, head, chest, abdomen,
head, head, neck, head, head, chest, abdomen, head, head, chest, entire body.
These are the locations of the fatal bullet shots that killed the
first 21 Palestinians of this year. They are execution shots, sniper
shots, clear shots, and direct shots. I use “entire body” to account for
a death where the body was so decimated it is impossible to clearly
identify a singular location of the injury.
These are the haunting details I see and wrestle with. Meanwhile, for
the families I interview the corpse of their beloved is the single most
haunting detail they must reconcile with and survive.
Since last year, the Israeli military and government have given the
green light to a mass execution campaign. As a journalist, I find myself
unable to find the correct language to explain this to our readers
without risking accusations of hyperbole.
Then comes the coverage of resistance. I have met some of these
fighters, interviewed them, and seen them grieve one assassination after
the other. At the first funeral, their eyes swelled with tears,
grieving and in pain. At the second funeral, I saw them bury each other,
their spine arched more inwards, their breath tight and held in, and
the only words they utter are different iterations of “we won’t be
defeated.” By the third funeral, the eyes of the fighters were dry; the
men left were younger, and the older men were more furious.
Their nephews, sons, and neighborhood boys are either dead, arrested,
or at risk of either. You can map the killing spree across a family
tree. It’s always a brother, cousin, or close childhood friend getting
killed. These fighters are not a formal army. These are men and boys in
jeans, sweatpants, and ski masks fighting a military invading their
refugee camps. The same military that made them refugees in the first
place.
The frequency of the slaughter is not the only thing escalating; so
is the brutality. Sniper shots targeting the head and chest have become
attacks that riddle bodies with bullets. The last extrajudicial execution, on March 11, was so brutal that journalists were asked not to share any photos out of respect for the bereaved families.
On my list, the next 20 Palestinians killed are as follows:
Chest, head and neck, head, abdomen, upper body parts, head, head, head, abdomen, entire body, head, abdomen, abdomen, head, chest, entire body, entire body, entire body, entire body, entire body.
The next 20 are: face, chest, medical negligence, head, head, abdomen, abdomen, head, neck, head, entire body, entire body, entire body, entire body, entire body, entire body, entire body, chest, entire body, entire body, entire body.
The increase in attacks on the entire body would seem to reflect the
Palestinian condition, which is seeing an extension of military abuse
to all aspects of life. The rest is in the details.
|