Ten days after Israeli settler Yinon Levi shot and killed Palestinian activist Awdah Hathaleen, the Israeli army and police finally released his body for burial. His funeral was held today near his birthplace, in the community of Umm Al-Khair in the occupied West Bank.

Although Hathaleen was shot dead 35 meters away from where Levi stood, and there has been no allegation that he posed any threat, Israeli authorities imposed harsh conditions on the location and manner of his burial — similar to their treatment of Palestinians accused of carrying out attacks.

The army initially demanded that the funeral not be held in Umm Al-Khair, but instead in the nearby city of Yatta, claiming the community’s cemetery was “illegal.” Authorities also banned the community from erecting a mourning tent. Later, they proposed that the family bury Hathaleen at night, with no more than 15 people in attendance.

Ahead of an Israeli High Court hearing scheduled for today over the release of Hathaleen’s body, the family’s lawyer and state representatives reached an agreement allowing Hathaleen to be buried in a village near the Umm Al-Khair community, which bears the same name. However, despite the agreement stating that access to the funeral would be unrestricted, the army and police prevented non-residents, including activists and guests, from reaching the site. Some were forced to travel on dirt roads to attend the ceremony, which delayed their arrival.

Attorney Tamir Blank, who represented the family, told +972 he filed an emergency petition with the High Court to protest the violations of the terms of the agreement — which, according to him, explicitly stated that “there will be no limitations regarding the number of funeral attendees or the setting up of a mourning tent.” While the funeral was underway, the court held a hearing to discuss the army’s restrictions.

“The judges agreed that the agreements were violated and sent the state for consultations that lasted until after the funeral had already ended,” Blank told +972. He added that the state claimed the agreement allowed restrictions “subject to security needs,” which the army used as justification to declare a closed military zone and block access.

The killing occurred after a settler-operated excavator completed work in an area formally under the jurisdiction of the nearby settlement of Carmel, though in practice it lies within the village’s residential area. Instead of exiting via the main road, the excavator drove through villagers’ gardens, damaging olive trees and fences. When residents confronted the driver and demanded he stop, the driver struck one of them with the excavator’s arm, sparking a confrontation. Levi, the owner of the company operating the machinery, first responded by striking a Palestinian resident with his pistol, and then opening fire.

Although Hathaleen was the one killed, Israeli police and soldiers treated the Palestinians as suspects from the outset. Twenty residents, including Hathaleen’s relatives, were arrested, army roadblocks were set up around the village, and the mourning tent was dismantled the day after the killing.

This Tuesday, one of the settlers’ excavators, which had resumed work on village land, damaged a water pipe that supplies half of Umm Al-Khair’s homes. The pipe has yet to be repaired. Meanwhile, Levi, the shooter, was released to house arrest the day after the killing, and by Friday had been released entirely, free to roam the area near the village. The three village residents who remain in detention are scheduled to be released this evening.

Hundreds of residents and a small group of activists accompanied Hathaleen on his final journey from the mosque to the cemetery. It was a quiet procession, without slogans or flags, yet no fewer than three checkpoints were set up between the main road and the cemetery. The entrance to the Umm Al-Khair itself was blocked for hours, preventing mourners from offering condolences to the family afterward. After the burial, Hathaleen’s close friends remained by the fresh grave for a long time.

“Awdah was a teacher and an activist against the settlements,” Ibrahim, Awdah’s brother, told +972 before the funeral. “He left behind three children, a wife, siblings, animals, and many who loved him. Burying him is a natural human right, and they denied us that for ten days. It was emotionally hard for the family and the whole community.”

“The occupation tried to prevent us [from burying him], but we broke through,” added his brother Aziz. “[The army] wanted the funeral in another city, and with only 15 attendees. But he was buried in Umm Al-Khair. That’s sumud — that’s the message the region and the village are sending to the occupation.”

“There are no words to describe the suffering, and [Israel] keeping the body only deepened it,” said his cousin Tariq Hathaleen on Wednesday, before the funeral was finally approved. “He wasn’t part of any organization; he was a man of peace. He had Muslim, Christian, and Jewish friends around the world, and he deserved a dignified burial. Awdah was my best friend — we grew up together, went to school together, and then to university to become English teachers. I feel like half of me has died.”

A version of this article was first published in Hebrew on Local Call. Read it here.

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We are in an extraordinarily dangerous era in Israel-Palestine. The bloodshed has reached extreme levels of brutality and threatens to engulf the entire region. Emboldened settlers in the West Bank, backed by the army, are seizing the opportunity to intensify their attacks on Palestinians. The most far-right government in Israel’s history is ramping up its policing of dissent, using the cover of war to silence Palestinian citizens and left-wing Jews who object to its policies.

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