By Robert Inlakesh

Zaid Amer, a freed Palestinian prisoner, sought justice for the Dawabsheh family massacre, a harrowing tragedy that shocked the world.

Freed Palestinian prisoner Zaid Amer was deported to the Gaza Strip, despite originating from the West Bank. He was responsible for committing a shooting attack against illegal Israeli settlers near Nablus in 2015. The story of why is crucial to understanding the plight of life-sentenced Palestinians in Israeli military detention.

The 35-year-old Palestinian prisoner, Zaid Amer, was born and raised in Nablus, located in the northern occupied West Bank. He is married and has two sons and a daughter. Amer’s family owns a reception hall and his life would have been considered ordinary until July 31, 2015, a date that would change everything.

On that day, a group of extremist Israeli settler fanatics stormed the village of Douma, located near Nablus and situated near hardliner Israeli settlements/settler outposts. 

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Having planned their attack from inside a stolen Palestinian structure, the group allegedly belonging to a religious settler party called Hamered (The Revolt), committed two arson attacks inside the village.

The first arson attack accidentally targeted an empty home, the second was against the Dawabsheh family’s home. Armed settlers barricaded the house and firebombed it, throwing Molotov cocktails through its windows. Inside were 18-month-old Ali and 6-year-old Ahmad, along with their parents Reham and Sa’ad. 

Engulfed in flames, Sa’ad managed to grab his son Ahmad and make it outside of the home before collapsing, Reham attempted to grab her baby from his cot but instead ran outside only with his blanket; also while she was immersed in fire

Ali Dawabsheh burned to death inside his baby cot, while both his parents died of their wounds, only little Ahmad managed to miraculously survive, but not without third-degree burns to 70% of his body. The harrowing incident sent shockwaves throughout the occupied West Bank, as Israeli politicians and Morton Klein of the Zionist Organisation of America, publicly claimed that Jews were being wrongly blamed, asserting instead that “Arab clans” who were feuding had committed the arson attack.

Zaid Amer was, like many Palestinians, left enraged over the Israeli attempted coverup, followed by a long delay in bringing the issue to court, which was publicly condemned by human rights groups. 

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Ahmed Dawabsheh’s grandfather, Hussein, who would go on to raise the traumatized child, repeatedly expressed his lack of faith in the Israeli judicial system to punish the offenders.

Amer, having joined a small Hamas cell of the Qassam Brigades fighters that had formed that year amidst a major escalation in West Bank violence, allegedly decided along with four others to plan a revenge attack. 

In October 2015, a drive-by shooting occurred that killed two settlers near the illegal settlement of Itamar, located near Nablus. 

As a result, the Israeli army arrested Amer and subjected him to torture during interrogation. He was later handed two life sentences, in addition to 30 years, in military prison. 

The arrest operation that was conducted in Beit Furik village and all the way across Nablus was met with Palestinian protests, during which around 200 demonstrators were injured due to Israeli fire.

In May 2016, the Israeli military stormed Amer’s family home at around 4:00 AM (local time), using an explosive charge to destroy the apartment’s door and break all electronic equipment. The soldiers then proceeded to blow up the home, according to his family this was done without any pre-warning, making it impossible to rescue all of their belongings.

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The conditions in Israeli prisons began dramatically deteriorating following the start of the war on Gaza, during which Amer was subjected to torture. Leading the charge of making the prison conditions so atrocious was Israeli security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, who even visited one of the facilities to taunt and mock Palestinian detainees.

Ben Gvir not only served as a lawyer for one of the settler accused of committing the Dawabsheh family massacre, attempting to win his client sympathy through unsubstantiated claims that the settler was sexually assaulted by Israeli interrogators, but even attended a wedding in which settlers celebrated the massacre. The reception was filmed, leading to further outrage, revealing the Israeli settlers dancing and stabbing photos of the Dawabsheh family, chanting “Ali is on the grill”. 

Zaid Amer served over nine years under Israeli military detention, until his release last weekend in a prisoner exchange deal between Hamas and Israel. However, despite there initially being an intention to release Amer to the West Bank, he revealed in an interview with UltraSawt that he was threatened by an Israeli Shin Bet officer with re-arrest and he was deported to Gaza after a dispute.

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“You are a murderer, you are a terrorist, and we will not forget. Anything you do, whether participating in a march, commenting on social media, or meeting someone, will return you to a life sentence with a new sentence,” the Israeli interrogator told Amer. 

He was then offered to be released inside Gaza as an alternative to the West Bank but asked to be transferred outside of Palestine altogether, knowing that he would not be able to see his family from inside Gaza.

The Shin Bet officer began to verbally abuse Amer, according to his account of the events that unfolded, forcing him to accept the transfer to Gaza. However, the Israeli officer left the room and returned to question him on why he wanted to go to a place with so much destruction.

Following Amer’s release, the Israeli military was unhappy with his family’s celebrations and so threatened to bomb their wedding haul, forcing them to temporarily close it. He now hopes to travel to Turkiye in order to reunite with his family but is currently unable to leave Gaza due to the closure of the Rafah Crossing. 

(The Palestine Chronicle)