‘This is an unimaginable nightmare': Residents gather to mourn Palestinian-American and friend killed in Israeli-occupied West Bank

Irish Times

a day ago

Palestinian
flags covered their bodies and their heads were wrapped with keffiyehs as the two young men were lifted through the crowd. Hundreds of residents of Al-Mazra'a ash-Sharqiya, in the occupied
West Bank
, gathered on Sunday to mourn two of their own.
American citizen Sayfollah Musallet (20) and Palestinian Mohammed Hussein Al-Shalabi (23) died last Friday – one was beaten to death by
Israeli
settlers, the other shot, their families and witnesses say.
The men were killed after they went to agricultural land owned by local residents beside the nearby town of Sinjil. This has become a common Friday tradition, as Israeli settlers increasingly try to seize territory in this area – around 19km northeast of the city of Ramallah – and Palestinians attempt to defend it.
The deaths happened three months after Israeli soldiers shot and killed 14-year-old American citizen Amer Rabee, in Turmus Aya, a town less than 5km away.
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Musallet was born and living in
Florida
, where he worked at his family's Tampa ice-cream shop. He travelled to the West Bank on June 4th, his family said.
Reading a family statement, his cousin Diana said Musallet was surrounded by settlers for more than three hours as paramedics tried to reach him, meaning they were unable to give him life-saving medical assistance.
'Saif was a brother and a son ... a kind, hard-working and deeply successful young man,' she said. 'This is an unimaginable nightmare and an injustice that no family should ever have to face. We demand the
US State Department
lead an immediate investigation and hold the Israeli settlers who killed Saif accountable for their crimes. Saif is not just a number. He is the kid that brings light in every room he walks into. We won't let him be forgotten.'
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A US embassy spokesperson confirmed the death, telling The Irish Times: 'We offer our condolences to the family and are providing consular assistance. We have asked Israeli authorities for further details.'
A state department spokesperson added that they have 'no higher priority than the safety and security of US citizens overseas', while referring questions about an investigation to the Israeli government.
Men carry the bodies of American citizen Sayfollah Musallet (20) and Palestinian Mohammed Hussein Al-Shalabi (23), both killed during settler violence last Friday. Photograph: Sally Hayden
Relatives of Mohammed Hussein Al-Shalabi (23) gather to mourn together the day after his death. Photograph: Sally Hayden
Land near where settlers have been attacking in Sinjil, the occupied West Bank. Photograph: Sally Hayden
A poster remembering American citizen Sayfollah Musallet (20) seen during his funeral on Sunday. Photograph: Sally Hayden
Men pray at the funeral for American citizen Sayfollah Musallet (20) and Palestinian Mohammed Hussein Al-Shalabi (23), in Al-Mazra'a ash-Sharqiya, the occupied West Bank. Photograph: Sally Hayden
An Israeli military spokesperson said a joint investigation had been opened by the Israeli police and the Military Police Criminal Investigation Division, and they could not share further details because the case is 'ongoing.'
The military previously accused 'terrorists' of 'hurl[ing] rocks at Israeli civilians', saying a 'violent confrontation' later developed 'which included vandalism of Palestinian property, arson, physical clashes, and rock hurling'.
A witness to Friday's violence said the settlers came 'like a gang' and 'made a trap', arriving while Palestinians were 'up in the farms' and using a vehicle to block the exit road. He suggested one of the reasons the settlers want to control the land is that it contains dozens of farms and water wells.
Many American-Palestinians, like Musallet, regularly return to the area their family originally comes from and maintains a base in, even if they find full-time existence here unsustainable. 'We have to go to America to work,' explained one of Musallet's relatives.
As a Palestinian living in the occupied West Bank, Shalabi faced restricted movement under occupation. Like many others there – who say Israel's stranglehold on the Palestinian economy hugely restricts employment opportunities – Shalabi was unable to find steady work and did whatever daily jobs he could find, said his uncle Samer Shalabi (55).
Still, his uncle called Shalabi a 'happy kid' who would do 'things for the family to make their life easier'.
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The day after his death, dozens of women sat in Shalabi's home, red-eyed and in shock. In the middle was his mother, Jumana Shalabi. She described the hours, on Friday, after she heard there were clashes and someone had died. 'My heart was worried,' she said.
Because the military blocked the roads, witnesses said, friends and relatives were not able to search for Shalabi until late on Friday night, when they discovered his body. His mother believed he could have survived if he received medical attention sooner.
'He is the warmest son, warm with everybody. All the people in the neighbourhood, they loved him,' she said, crying again.
Israeli human rights organisation B'tselem has
documented
at least 40 attacks by settlers in Sinjil over the last five years, including them setting fire to vehicles and homes in January this year, and last year cutting down olive trees, vandalising cars, stealing water tanks and chasing harvesters off their land with a drone.
In 2022, settlement watchdog Kerem Navot
wrote
: 'It's clear that the settlers ... have their eyes on the land of the village of Sinjil,' saying an area of around 1,200 acres had been 'marked as a target for takeover decades ago'.
As the settlers advanced, residents of Al-Mazra'a ash-Sharqiya and Sinjil issued calls to journalists. On July 4th, they invited The Irish Times to a 'civil peaceful demonstration and protest', saying, 'We can't access our lands due to the settlers' violent act[s] toward us. We have farms, homes and property and lands that we cannot attend to due to Israeli settlers blocking the roads, shooting at us, and throwing rocks on our vehicles.'
Diana, a cousin of Sayfollah Musallet, reads a family statement the day after his death. Photograph: Sally Hayden
A civil defence volunteer used his vehicle to transport wounded people following Friday's violence. Photograph: Sally Hayden
Blood stains were still visible in a vehicle used to transport injured people the day after Friday's violence. Photograph: Sally Hayden
One week later, the two young men were killed. Residents said more people were injured, with one civil defence volunteer showing The Irish Times streaked blood inside the vehicle he said he used to transport wounded people before the roads were blocked.
At least 1,161 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the beginning of 2023, according to the UN, including at least 22 women and 236 children. The vast majority – 884 – were killed by live ammunition, the UN says. Over the same period, at least 59 Israelis were killed in the West Bank, including nine women and nine children.
Musallet's friend from the US, who asked to be identified only by his first name, Juma, said they were part of a 'bunch of guys in Tampa who used to hang out every day ... We used to go to his house just to chill. We used to go to the pool, we used to go to the range, we used to go fishing together'.
Juma – whose family is originally from the same area – called Musallet 'the best of us ... He never drank, he never did any drugs. This kid was just the best human being you'll ever meet in your life'.
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The 23-year-old said he finds being an American citizen 'very difficult' now. 'The country I live in supports the killing of my people. It's hard ... You see what's happening in Gaza. I hope something changes ... You can see this new generation that's coming up. They're becoming more aware of what's going on around the world ... They're seeing what they're seeing.'
'What happened is something that is not acceptable, not easy to deal with,' said Shalabi's uncle, Samer. 'Two kids who were killed in a very cold blood ... If you look at the eyes of the people you find the anger and sadness.' He said locals are terrified now, 'but even with that, they will never leave here ... It's our country. We're going to stay here. There's no other place for us'.