The Murder of Yusuf Shawamreh

Assassinated for Picking Edible Wild Plants 3/19/14


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Remembering in New Haven March 19, 2015

March 2015 The Bitter Anniversary of Yusuf Shawamreh's Murder

November 2014 B'tselem Reports Army Decided to Close Case without Indicting or Punishing Any Soldier

June 16 B'tselem report including Israeli army surveillance video

April 19. Stanley Heller interviews Israeli journalist Amira Hass about the killing.

April 19. After one month there has been no Israeli government statement about the obvious criminal activity on the part of the soldiers. The military police are still "investigating" The young teenager and his two friends has crossed the fence in daylight. The army knew people routinely did that to pick wild thistle. The large gap in the fence which is supposedly so vital to Israeli security still hadn't been fixed as of April 4. The army unit saw these people from far away, issued no warning of any kind, did nothing other than shoot with live ammunition.

April 19. Still no report on the killing from the BBC or the New York Times

April 16. Medea Benjamin speaks about the injustice done to Yusuf Shawamreh in her Gandhi Peace Award Acceptance Speech

April 11. TSVN joins other groups and personalities and raises the issue on its TV program and on You Tube.

April 9. Mentioned in a story in an Australian newspaper

April 6. Was He Killed for Sport? - Anne Robbins

April 4. Unconcerned Commander Says "It Wasn't Personal" to Grieving Father - Gideon Levy and Alex Levac

April 4. Britain's Stop the War Coalition calls on BBC (newsonline.complaints@bbc.co.uk) to cover this story

March 26. Army Had Arrested Thistle Pickers at that Spot Two Days Earlier - Yedioth Aharonot

Mar 28. The Israeli "paper of record" Ha'aretz calls the killing a "war crime".

March 27. The great Israeli journalist Amira Hass writes about the killing "Letter to Soldier X"

March 26. B'tselem Report

March 26. B'tselem says, the Israeli "Military Police Investigations’ Unit (MPIU) has launched an investigation of the incident."

March 22. Condolences sent by Israeli Committee Against Home Demoltions

March 20. Palestinian children watch funeral

March 19. Kerala, India newspaper prints report based only on Israeli sources. Reader asks for revision in a comment.

March 19, 2014


Yusuf A-Shawamreh, 14, killed after he and two friends crossed through a hole in the "separation fence" to pick edible wild plants. He was shot and his friends were arrested. Though the army base is only 2km away it took 30 minutes for an ambulance to arrive. A-Shawamreh died. The young man was a nephew of Salim Shawamreh whose home was knocked down many times by the Israelis for "lack of a permit" and who works for the Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions

When will the guilty be punished for this infamy?