"Why did you shoot Issa Souf?"

Issa Naef Abd el-Raheem Souf, a Palestinian activist from the village of Hares in the Salfit region (West Bank), is a trusted partner of our organization and of many other Israeli peace activists.

Issa hosted and helped coordinate non-violent protest activities against the occupation in the village of Hares and the surrounding region of Salfit, with various peace organizations such as Ta'ayush- the Arab-Jewish Partnership, Gush Shalom, Rabbis for Human Rights Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, and many others.

His activities drew international attention to violations of human rights in the region, and this was why Hares became a symbol of the effects of the ongoing closure and the predicament of the Palestinian rural population since October 2000.

Issa and his brother, Nawaf, were able to guarantee the safe arrival and welcoming of activists in the villages. They worked without consideration for the dangers they were exposing themselves to from all directions.

On the 15th of May 2001, at about 9am, two Israeli soldiers entered the village of Hares from the back entrance, where the Souf family lives. Issa, who had just been woken by his brother, had just left the threshold of his parents' home. There was no confrontation in that area at the time. He remembers:

"…I heard shooting. I didn't know where it was coming from. It was automatic fire, not single gunshots. I ducked - I bent my head down, and felt a blow on my shoulder, from the back. I fell. I could hardly breathe and I couldn't move. My legs felt dead. Two soldiers came, one dark-haired, and the other with blond hair. They didn't believe I was hurt because they couldn't see blood. I couldn't talk because the bullet had entered my lung, but I managed to whisper "they've killed me". They stood over me and threatened anyone who came near with their guns. They turned me back and forth; when they saw I couldn't breathe or speak or move, they understood they had injured me badly. The blond soldier changed colors. He became flushed and then pale again. He tried to give me water. He said "I thought he was throwing stones". After that they let my family take me in a car to a medical center in Kifl-Hares [a nearby village], and from there an ambulance took me to the hospital in Nablus..."