Ramallah: Jerusalemites are concerned that the Israeli regime may exhume the body of a Palestinian its forces shot dead hours before his burial, as it was done without the occupation authorities’ permission.
Ali Atef Ebrahim Shoyoukhi, 20, suffered fatal shots to the chest and head during some of the fiercest clashes in Silwan of East Jerusalem since the first Intifada in 1987. Shoyoukhi lay bleeding in the street for more than an hour, with ambulances and medics denied access to him.
The Israelis often fetch the bodies of Palestinians they kill and withold them from their families, a practice Palestinians have slammed as collective punishment.
The West Bank, home to more than 4 million Palestinians, was in lockdown on Wednesday as the Israeli regime marked the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur.
According to Amjad Abu Assab, who heads Jerusalem’s Prisoners’ Families Committee, Ali was shot by occupation forces after Jerusalemites burned an occupation military jeep with a Molotov cocktail.
“Israeli occupation forces were heavily deployed inside and around Silwan, which was effectively turned into a military zone, in a provocative and inhuman way sealing off all entrances and exits to the neighborhood which houses more than 55,000 Jerusalemites,” Abu Assab told Gulf News. “The occupation forces rained tear gas, sound bombs and rubber-coated bullets down on the houses of Silwan, after which they used live ammunition.”
Fakhari Abu Diyab, who heads the local committee in defence of occupied Jerusalem, said: “The occupation forces prevented the Red Cross ambulances from reaching the injured Palestinians and providing them with medical treatment. Palestinian demonstrators were left having to provide emergency treatment to themselves.”
Many of Shoyoukhi’s Palestinian friends tried to save his life, carrying him on their shoulders as they ran in different directions begging for medical help, but nothing could be done.
Israeli occupation forces were searching for him and, as Abu Diyab noted: “We all knew his dead body would be seized and kept in an Israeli morgue for a long time. It was therefore decided to bury Ali immediately. Ali’s family members were collected together from many houses in the area to attend his funeral.
“All the official procedures will be completed at a later stage,” Abu Diyab explained. “We do not expect that the Israelis will be dumb enough to attempt to exhume Ali’s body from his grave. They will pay if they attempt to exhume his body,” he told Gulf News.
On October 8, 2014, Shoyoukhi was arrested by the Israeli police, sentenced and spent 15 months in an Israeli prison.
“That was not the first time Ali was imprisoned by the Israelis. He and his twin brother. Mohammad. were arrested and imprisoned several times on charges of confronting the occupation forces. He was unable to complete his education because of his repetitive arrests by the Israelis,” Abu Diyab said.
Ali’s three brothers and two sisters have all spent time behind Israeli bars.
Ali’s last post on his Facebook page indicated that he hoped to become a groom, but without a bride — a reference to Al Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest site that has come under increasing Israeli encroachment.
“The situation in Silwan became critical after the Israelis launched a massive military operation against the neighbourhood which was home to Musbah Abu Subaih, the Palestinian who shot and killed two Israelis and wounded eight others in a shooting attack in Jerusalem,” said Abu Diyab. “The situation is extremely tense, with the occupation forces determined to attack the neighbourhood and implement collective punishment against the residents.”
At least 20 residents of Silwan suffered either moderate or serious injuries during the clashes, in addition to dozens of people who suffered gas inhalation.
