April 2006: Third Killing Operation in Bethlehem
On April 23 Israeli Special Forces carried out their third killing operation against Palestinians. They claimed that one
of the men was an Aqsa Brigade activist in the Bethlehem area.
According to Ma’an News Agency, the ISF shot Ahmad Musleh, 21, a Palestinian Muslim from the Dheisheh refugee camp when
he stepped out of his car near the psychiatric hospital. In the photo below you see an Israeli soldier dragging his
body.
Musleh arrived dead at Beit Jala Hospital. A medical examination determined he was shot in the head and in the neck at
point-blank range.
In the photo the man Israeli soldiers arrested is the late Daniel Abu Hamamah, a Palestinian Christian.
Ma’an News reports Israel soldiers dragged the injured Abu Hamamah for more than 100 meters. Sources say he was later
taken to Hadassaah Hospital in Jerusalem. His death was announced after a half-hour of this photo.
Both men were unarmed. They were shot by ISF, which Palestinians call “Musta’rabeen,” or people disguised as civilian
Arabs.
Hundreds of people turned out for the killed men’s funerals and several people shouted for revenge.
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Sonia Nettnin is a freelance writer. Her articles and reviews demonstrate civic journalism, with a focus on
international social, economic, humanitarian, gender, and political issues. Media coverage of conflicts from these
perspectives develops awareness in public opinion.
Nettnin received her bachelor's degree in English literature and writing. She did master's work in journalism. Moreover,
Nettnin approaches her writing from a working woman's perspective, since working began for her at an early age.
She is a poet, a violinist and she studied professional dance. As a writer, the arts are an integral part of her
sensibility. Her work has been published in the Palestine Chronicle, Scoop Media and the Washington Report on Middle
East Affairs. She lives in Chicago.