Feature: Refugee camp mother remembers son killed in Palestinian-Israeli violence

After about two weeks at a Jerusalem hospital, Nahed Muteir, 24, succumbed to his injury in the neck, becoming the 14th victim from Qalandia refugee camp to die from a fresh wave of violence between the Palestinians and Israel that started last October.

Muteir's mother still remembers the last day he spent with her.

It was Feb. 29, a Monday, one day before he was seriously injured and rushed to hospital.

Being a barber, Muteir took Mondays off and often spent the day with his friends, but that day he did not.

"It seems that he marked this day in particular staying home, as if he was bidding farewell," his mother said.

On the eve of March 1, Israeli forces launched an operation to rescue two soldiers who entered the Qalandia camp on their military vehicle by mistake.

In the raid, Muteir and his friends were caught on the rooftop of a bakery in their neighborhood. He was injured and another young man was fatally shot in the head.

Muteir managed to return back home with injuries in his fingers after jumping off the bakery rooftop, said the mother, Um Nahed, describing that last day.

"When I asked him to stay in, he insisted to return to bring back his younger brother," the mother said.

About an hour later, said Um Nahed, a bleeding Muteir returned, carried by his younger brother, Mahmoud, who rushed him to hospital.

"They didn't want me to see him, but my heart was set on fire. I knew it was my son Nahed. They told me yes and his injury is light, but I said no, my son's injury is not light. I saw a martyr not an injured person," she said in tears.

Qalandia refugee camp, home to nearly 14,000 residents, is located approximately 10 km north of Jerusalem, into the periphery of the West Bank city of Ramallah. The area is marked as area C in which Israel retains full control.

Under the interim Oslo Accords signed between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel in 1993, the West Bank is divided into three zones: A, B and C, with Area A being under Palestinian control, B under Israeli security and Palestinian administrative control, and C under full Israeli control.

Because of its location, Palestinian security forces are not allowed inside the camp unless asked by the Israeli army.

Located near one of the major Israeli military checkpoints in the West Bank, known as Qalandia checkpoint, the camp has become a hotspot for protests that often spark clashes.

Muteir's father, Fawzi Muteir, is heavily engaged in the camp's social affairs. He questioned the aim of the Israeli army that often drive into the camp in large troops, sometimes without an apparent reason.

"In my opinion, Israel is the one who creates tension and targets youth in one way or another," said Fawzi Muteir. "If the Israeli army didn't come into the camp every day, there would be no deaths or injuries."

The camp's location and repeated incursions by Israeli forces exacerbate the hardships of the camp's youth.

According to Jamal Lafi, head of the camp's popular committee, the situation has been exceptionally tense in the past six months that have seen almost daily clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces, and a series of stabbings, shootings and other attacks by Palestinians against Israelis.

To Lafi, the military raids are the main source of tension in the camp.

One day, he said, Israeli troops raided Qalandia camp in the morning hours, wounding more than 15 children who were on their way to school.

Lafi said all those students sustained injuries from live ammunition.

The Israeli army sees the camp as a security threat, describing it as a base for armed youth who identify with Fatah party's armed wing, Al-Aqsa Brigades.

The camp is abandoned by both Israel and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), making it more vulnerable to violence and Israeli repression.

It continues to suffer from poor infrastructure, lack of services, economic hardship and weak social fabric.

More than half of the 14 camp residents who have died since October were shot by Israeli forces inside the camp, in clashes with armed forces after they entered the camp.

In spite of all these, several of the camp's youth who spoke to Xinhua said they are against a third intifada, or uprising.

"But at the same time how could one remain silent toward the Israeli provocations inside our camp?" asked a university student from the camp, who requested anonymity.

"When we are given the chance to teach the Israeli army a lesson, we do it, but when we lose our men like Nahed Muteir, we soak in sadness," he added. Endit