What did Raed Wael Sawalha do wrong ?

I have two teenagers at home and I enjoy seeing them grow and develop as independent individuals. Every step of this journey, since they were born, has added a lot of joy to my life. I loved to take care of them as babies, I enjoyed watching them as they learned to walk and I have enjoyed the conversations between us which have been taken to higher levels as they have grown. I have never considered them a problem of any kind to me.

We do not always agree. In fact there is no need for them to agree with me in everything. Growing up is about relating to the surroundings in a mature way and to take responsibility for ones actions. It is easier to do that if a person had been allowed to grow up and is acting in harmony with his/her own understanding of things.

It seems like not every parent or family member agree with me on this. There are families where to ask questions are considered rebellion and where acting according to ones belief is considered dishonoring the family.

Raed lived in an area with a lot of tension within the Palestinian society. His village was close to Qalqilia where there has been a lot of trouble between Fatah and Hamas lately.
The problems often cause a split within families as different family members have sympathies with different political fractions.
I do not know the details about his family other than that his father, uncle and cousin decided to torture him brutally and finally hang him because he allegedly had connections with the Israeli authorities.
Hundreds of young Palestinians have been killed by their own people for the last couple of years for similar reasons, but it is the first time it happens within the closest family.
Usually the children killed by their own father, brother or uncle are girls.

It must be hard being a mother under such circumstances. When news reporters come to interview the family or neighbors in such cases we always see the women trying to be invisible by covering their faces, hiding and not talking to anyone.

Israel and America is of course to blame for this !?!?!?????

Elin Elkouby