Mourners attended the funeral of Palestinian activist Awdah Hathaleen in the southern West Bank on Thursday after his body was returned by Israel more than a week after a settler allegedly shot him.
The settler, Yinon Levi, was arrested on suspicion of reckless manslaughter, but was released last week.
The burial took place in the village of Umm al-Khair under restrictions imposed by the Israel Defense Forces, with one area resident telling The Times of Israel that troops blocked him from participating because he was not a resident of the village.
The military did not comment on the burial or on the return of Hathaleen’s body, which followed a days-long hunger strike by the women of Umm al-Khair and a petition to the High Court by Hathaleen’s associates and supporters. A hearing on the petition was scheduled for Thursday and was canceled.
“He was killed by a hateful settler, his body was held for 11 days, and more than 20 people from the village were arrested,” following the late July shooting, said the slain activist’s brother, Aziz Hathaleen, adding that the accused settler “was released at that very moment.”
Umm al-Khair resident Ibrahim Hathaleen told AFP that “we were prevented from receiving the martyr’s body” for days after his death, and Aziz said Israel had placed several conditions to allow the funeral.
The activist’s brother argued that the moves were meant to prevent a large gathering that would draw attention to his work opposing Israeli settlement in Masafer Yatta.
“The first condition was that he not be buried in the area at all, and the second was that no mourning tent be set up,” said Ibrahim, who is also related to Awdah Hathaleen.
An AFP journalist in Umm al-Khair said the IDF had set up checkpoints around the village and prevented some Palestinians and foreign activists from reaching the funeral site.
About 100 mourners still managed to attend the funeral, many of them in tears, kissing Awdah’s body before joining prayers at a local mosque, the AFP journalist reported.
Awdah Hathaleen, 31, worked on the Oscar-winning documentary film “No Other Land,” which focuses on the efforts of Palestinians in Masafer Yatta — a string of hamlets including Umm al-Khair — to prevent Israeli forces from destroying their homes.
Hathaleen was killed on July 28 as Palestinians confronted armed Israeli settlers allegedly carrying out earthworks on land claimed by the village.
Part of the clash was caught on video. Levi, who has faced international sanctions targeting extremist settlers, could be seen in the video brandishing a gun. He was detained after the shooting but released to house arrest the next day, with the court later refusing the police’s request to extend his house arrest.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces arrested several members of Hathaleen’s family, and could also be seen in a video last month clearing out a mourning tent for Hathaleen after declaring the area a closed military zone.
Violence in the West Bank has spiked since the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza.
According to the Palestinian Authority health ministry, more than 950 West Bank Palestinians have been killed in that time. The IDF says the vast majority of them were gunmen killed in exchanges of fire, rioters who clashed with troops, or terrorists carrying out attacks.
The military says troops have arrested some 6,000 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 2,350 affiliated with Hamas, since the October 7 onslaught.
During the same period, 53 people, including Israeli security personnel, have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another eight members of the security forces were killed in clashes with terror operatives in the West Bank.