Nablus, occupied West Bank – It has been almost two months since Najlaa Dmaidi’s eldest son, Labib, 19, was shot dead by Israeli settlers.
But for the 42-year-old mother, time has stopped. She keeps her head down and her eyes glued to the ground, sad for her slain son.
“He turned 19 on July 21. His birthday was the same day his sister’s high school exam results came out,” she said in a hushed voice.
Sitting in the living room of her home in the Palestinian town of Huwara, south of Nablus, Najlaa said: “It was the last time we all celebrated together. »
Huwara is surrounded by four illegal Israeli settlements and countless settler outposts, checkpoints and military bases. The country has suffered serious settler attacks and movement restrictions imposed by the Israeli army for more than a year and a half.
“Labib always brightened up the house. He loved to joke, to play, he loved life, he also loved his homeland,” Najlaa said, wiggling his fingers.
On the night of October 5 – and into the early hours of October 6 – dozens of Israeli settlers attacked the Dmaidi House, located on Huwara Road – the main north-south artery used by both Palestinians and Palestinians. and the settlers.
The attack took place hours after a Palestinian fired shots in the city, causing no injuries.
“The settlers were gathered in front of our building and snipers stationed on the roofs were shooting at people,” Najlaa said, adding that “the army was with” the settlers and they were shooting tear gas at their house. .
Some 25 family members, including 13 children, were inside at the time of the attack. Labib was shot dead while standing on the roof of his uncle’s house, directly opposite the family building.
“His 12-year-old brother was standing next to him when he was shot,” Najlaa said.
“Dreams shattered in the blink of an eye”
Labib was in the second year of a degree in graphic design at the Palestinian Technical University – Kadoorie, in the nearby town of Tulkarem.
His father, Mohammad, 50, an engineer, is a soft-spoken man with a clean-shaven beard.
“I would sit down with Labib and we would draw plans for his future,” he recalls. “In the blink of an eye, all those dreams were shattered. »
The father of three said he was very proud of his son before he was killed. “Labib went to college every day, and after that he worked in his uncle’s shop in Huwara,” Mohammad told Tel Aviv Tribune, adding that his son was also taking an interior design course.
The deteriorating living conditions of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, particularly in Huwara, make it difficult to imagine a better future for Palestinian children, he said.
“No one is afraid for their children, their nieces and nephews,” Mohammad said. “They have no future.”
Due to its location on a main highway in the occupied West Bank, Huwara’s 9,000 residents once enjoyed a steady flow of commerce due to the constant flow of Palestinians from other towns and villages.
But since May 2022, the Israeli army and settlers have slowly turned Huwara into a ghost town, like Shuhada Street in Hebron’s Old City.
On February 27, hundreds of settlers ransacked Huwara, carrying out what was described as a “pogrom” that left a 37-year-old Palestinian dead, hundreds more injured, and dozens of cars and vehicles. houses burned. Since then, several other attacks have taken place.
Israel reimposed store closures on October 5 after the shootings in the city, with the vast majority of Huwara’s 800 stores forced to close their doors. They never reopened.
“We were not even allowed to walk or stand on the road for the first 45 days after October 5,” Najlaa said.
Mohammad believes that Israel used the Gaza-based Hamas armed group’s attack on Israel two days later, on October 7, to significantly intensify restrictions in Huwara.
That day, Hamas fighters killed some 1,200 people in a surprise operation. Shortly after, Israel launched a bombing campaign on the besieged Gaza Strip, killing at least 15,000 Palestinians, including more than 6,000 children.
But Labib’s father said the focus on Hamas since Oct. 7 distracts from Israeli policy against the Palestinian people as a whole.
“They claim that what is happening concerns Hamas. My son was killed on October 6. There was no Hamas,” Mohammad told Tel Aviv Tribune.
“When they burned Huwara in February, Hamas did not exist. When they attacked our house again two weeks after killing my son, there was no Hamas,” he said.
“Imagine that a minister of a state comes and tells the media ‘erase Huwara’: what world do we live in?”
“Living under the illusion of a State”
Due to the frequency of settler attacks and the heavy militarization of Huwara and the southern area of Nablus, which is also heavily populated with illegal settlements, the Dmaidi family said their children suffered seriously psychologically.
“My niece has a real nervous breakdown when she sees the settlers. Especially after the night Labib was killed, she falls to the ground and starts shaking,” Mohammad said.
“All the children in the family saw Labib lying on the ground in the street, bleeding after we carried him from the roof. It was horrible for them,” he explained.
The father of the slain teenager said he believed the Palestinian Authority (PA) shared some responsibility for the current situation of residents of the occupied West Bank.
The PA was established as a temporary governing body in 1993 and exercises administrative control over small pockets of the occupied West Bank.
He was supposed to serve for five years towards the creation of an independent Palestinian state in the occupied territories of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Continued Israeli occupation, land theft and settlement building meant that the Palestinian state was never created.
Many Palestinians now view the PA as a mere contractor for the Israeli occupation due to its requirement to share intelligence with Israeli authorities, among other policies.
“We have been living under the illusion of one state for 30 years,” Mohammad said.
“I used to go up to the mountain, there was no Yitzhar (an Israeli settlement south of Nablus). Thanks to Oslo, Yitzhar is now here. The settler descends with ease into the center of our city – this is all based on Oslo. Now, in two or three years, they will not just come to the front door, we will find them in our living rooms,” he said.
“We have a president, we have a prime minister, and yet we have nothing at the same time.”
