Bringing the Body of Nonviolent Palestinian Activist, Awdeh Al-Hathaleen, to Rest

Photo Credit: Mati Milstein

On July 28, nonviolent Palestinian activist Awdeh Al-Hathaleen was shot and killed by an extremist Israeli settler, Yinon Levi, in broad daylight. 

Levi entered Awdeh’s village of Umm Al-Khair riding an excavator, his aim to clear out the villages’ olive trees and cut their water pipe. A group of men from the village went towards him, yelling for him to stop. Levi first hit Awdeh’s cousin, Ahmad, with the machine, knocking him unconscious, and then descended carrying a loaded gun. 

There is footage of Levi, who is so well-known for his violence that he was previously sanctioned by the Biden administration, waving the gun around—and then pulling the trigger. Awdeh was shot twice in the chest. He died just hours later. 

When military personnel arrived, Levi pointed out which Palestinians should be arrested. Eight members of Awdeh’s family were taken into custody. Levi was detained and questioned, only to be released less than twenty four hours later. The Palestinians arrested that day were released only yesterday, having spent well over a week in custody. 

The authorities held Awdeh’s body—unburied, undignified—saying they would only release it to the family if they agreed to bury him outside of his village, at night, with fewer than fifteen people present. In response to this injustice, the women of Umm Al-Khair held a hunger strike, and NIF grantee, Human Rights Defenders Fund, took the case to Israel’s High Court of Justice, demanding his body be released without preconditions.

Today, the authorities and the family came to an agreement: that Awdeh’s body would be released, and his funeral would be held with limited attendance. And so it happened; Awdeh was finally laid to rest, and his family—his wife, his mother, his three children, and his many, many cousins—are able to mourn. But Awdeh’s killer remains uninvestigated, unrestrained, and free to reenter Umm al-Khair (as he did that night) and wreak more destruction.

Many staff members at the New Israel Fund were long-time friends of Awdeh’s, and we are relieved that his body is back with his family, that he was finally granted a dignified burial. But we remain in mourning over the loss of such an incredible nonviolent activist who, with a smile, welcomed everyone into his broad tent to resist the forces of destruction, demolition, and violence—together.