Mohammad Nidal Salim محمد نضال سليم
15 years-old, from Azzun.
Design: Lahav Halevy
We are in March, and Mohammad is the 14th minor killed by army fire. His story was a case study for a report by the Human Rights Watch organization, as an example of shooting in the back, in accordance with the updated procedure of opening fire, which permits shooting in the back of a Palestinian who is on the run.
Mohammad, a 10th grade student at Talib High School in the town of Azzun (east of Qalqilya), the youngest of four brothers, was named after his cousin Mohammad Nizar Salim, who was shot and killed by army fire on March 14, 2003. Twenty years separate one loss of life from another.
Thursday, dusk. Not long after the Huwara pogrom, the temper was fiery. Mohammad and six other boys made their way, on foot, from Azzun to the nearby Izbat at-Tabib, to a house where they used to gather from time to time.
A protected military vehicles force passed nearby, and they threw stones and fire bombs at them. Another military vehicle surprised them from behind, and they began to flee, splitting in different directions. Four soldiers got out of the vehicle and opened massive fire from automatic weapons. Mohammad and a friend turned to a side street, near the school, 80 meters away from the main road and the soldiers.
"Mohammad yelled: They hit me. I yelled at him to run, run, and then they shot me too. I ran 100 meters and couldn't continue anymore" (testimony). One of the wounded boys managed to reach a house near the agricultural land and shouted for help. A second boy was seriously wounded by a bullet in the stomach. They searched for Mohammad for hours. He was found, unconscious and in critical condition, lying in a nearby field. He was shot in the back. The bullet penetrated the lung. He was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The bullets impact marks on the school wall and the nearby houses, remained as a silent testimony to the intensity of the shooting.
Source: Human Rights Watch, DCI-P.
Poster design: Lahav Halevy.
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