Palestinian lawyer talks about iconic photo of tear gas kick

Ramallah: One of the most memorable images of the current Israeli-Palestinian confrontations shows a young Palestinian lawyer in dark shades, a suit and formal legal robe as he kicks away an Israeli tear gas canister, his legs flying high above billowing white gas.

Part of the appeal is the unexpected: Palestinians clashing with Israeli occupation soldiers are typically masked stone-throwers in scruffy jeans, not nattily dressed professionals.

But Hassan Ajaj, the lawyer, believes the Oct. 12 image by Associated Press photographer Majdi Mohammad - with more than 1.8 million views on one photo-sharing site alone - also resonated because his spontaneous act of defiance expressed the extent of Palestinian frustration.

Many Palestinians say five decades of Israeli occupation hover like a dark cloud over every part of life, with Israeli restrictions imposed on even the most mundane activities people elsewhere take for granted, such as being able to drive to a beach or fly from the nearest airport.

“It shows that as a Palestinian lawyer, I am part of my people, part of the Palestinian wish for liberation,” said Ajaj, 26, speaking in an interview at a rooftop restaurant owned by his well-to-do family in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

Yet Ajaj and his peers are also different from the generation that rose up against occupation in the late 1980s. Palestinian society was in transition then from rural to predominantly urban, most knew little about the wider world and uprising activists communicated through leaflets sent by fax.

Young Palestinians today tend to be more educated than their parents. More than 222,000 currently attend colleges and universities, or double what it was just a decade ago, out of 4.4 million people in the occupied West Bank, Gaza Strip and occupied east Jerusalem.

Ajaj and his contemporaries are linked to the world through social media and their expectations are similar to those of young adults in Europe or the United States.

“Social media helped Palestinians compare themselves with other societies,” said Ajaj, who practices criminal law. “They have a right to live like any other nation.”

The current round of confrontations, one of many in the long-running conflict, erupted in mid-September.

It was driven by Palestinian fears that Israel is trying to expand its presence at Muslim holy site. The Israeli regime says its committed to a decades-old status quo that bars non-Muslims from praying at the site. But Palestinians point to growing demands for prayer rights at the shrine by Jewish activists and their political backers, including senior members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition. Many colonists have raided the site in the past few months under the protection of Israeli occupation soldiers.

Over 68 Palestinians and 11 Israelis have been killed in the ensuing violence.

On Oct. 12, dozens of members of the Palestinian Bar Association marched from the Ramallah courthouse to the traffic circle for what Ajaj said was a peaceful march, without stone-throwing. Male and female participants wore formal attire, including suits and black court robes, said AP photographer Mohammed who covered the protest.

Israeli occupation soldiers fired stun grenades and tear gas to stop the lawyers from advancing, said Ajaj. Some of the marchers were overcome by tear gas. His now famous punt was spontaneous. “I just wanted to kick it (the tear gas) away,” he said.

Four days later, the website Buzzfeed said the image had been turned into a “huge meme” by users in a photo shop competition. Doctored photos portrayed him as a hurdler, rock star, dancer and field goal kicker.

Sam Bahour, a Palestinian-American business consultant and commentator, said the viral image of Ajaj in his lawyer’s garb in a cloud of tear gas highlights that “the occupation is part and parcel of everybody’s life.”