About a Boy

Date: Mon Oct 27, 2008

Published originally in Haaretz and Israeli Newspaper

One man gives another man an improvised notebook of a child's
drawings (A3-sized pages, stapled together).

Man No. 1: a schoolteacher, Mohammed Amira
Man No. 2: David Reeb
The place: The village of Na'alin

The time: August 7, just before the regular demonstration against the separation fence

The time: Shortly before Israeli soldiers arrest Mohammed Amira

The time: A week before Amira was released from jail (August 14)

The child: Ahmed Moussa

Age: 11.

That is, was 11.

Was? He died.

Died? Was killed (if an 11-year-old child had been killed by an armed Palestinian, he would have been "murdered").

David Reeb: "I read in the paper, 'A 10-year-old youth was killed at Na'alin' - not, 'Soldiers killed,' but 'was killed,' and I've never heard of a 10-year-old Israeli youth who was killed."

When: July 29, 2008

Do you cry?

The father: "And would it bring him back, if I cried?"

And his mother?

"Every corner of the house reminds her of him, and she doesn't stop crying."

An A3-sized sheet of paper, folded in the middle. Some buildings, a mosque, topped also with a cross. A museum. The flag of Palestine on one building, an Israeli flag (a regular star instead of a Star of David) on another. And another Israeli flag, on another building.
Some cars. Connecting roads. A cart and a horse. A low stone wall.

Reeb: "He gave me the notebook and told me to see what the child had drawn."

To you in particular, because you are a painter?...

...with the other Israelis and videotapes. For three years now I've been following the protests at Bil'in and videotaping. But we can't ask him. He's under arrest."

Mohammed Amira, one day after his release: "I didn't know he was a painter. I wanted him to safeguard the notebook and to videotape the drawings. I've known him since the demonstrations here started, about three months ago."

Reeb: "The teacher told me that he asked the child why he had drawn an Israeli flag, and the child said something like, 'We have to live together.' Or maybe it was: 'Both peoples have to live together.' And maybe it's me saying that, remembering the teacher's words. After all, it's what the drawing suggests [it was drawn during the middle trimester, in the winter, before the construction of the fence and destruction of the land began]."

Did he tell the children what to draw?

Reeb: "We can't ask him. Soldiers arrested him at the demonstration, and he's still under arrest."

Mohammed Amira, one day after his release: "I heard soldiers say, 'Manuel [apparently one of the two security guards employed near the fence] wants us to arrest him.'"

Are you an art teacher?

Amira: "Not at all. I'm a science teacher, and I had to complete my required weekly hours of teaching (from 22 to 24). The principal asked me to give art lessons. And I can't even draw."

Did you tell the children what to draw?

Amira: "Not at all, they draw freely, whatever comes to their mind.

And he drew Jerusalem.

'Why did you draw this?' I asked, and he answered, 'Why shouldn't we live together, we are human beings and they are human beings.'

I said to him, 'Well done,' and told the other children to applaud him."

Did you tell this to the judge (at the military court in the Ofer camp)?

Amira: "No. I only told him that I have 30 dunams of land that will be gone with the fence, and that I need the land to grow olive trees, to support my family (because what can you do on a teacher's salary?), and to graze my herd on my land. I can't graze in other
people's yards. I told the judge that, 'I am a protester and unlike what the officer said, I don't throw rocks. [Amira has a scar on the inside of his left arm. He was hit by a rubber bullet while marching at one of the demonstrations, with his hands up in the air.] We can't harm the soldiers. Even if I killed a soldier, Israel will never run out of soldiers. That won't bring us back our land.'

"I saw on the judge's face that he understood." (Amira was released on NIS 2,500 bail. The prosecution asked for NIS 6,000; in addition, his wife signed an NIS 10,000 bond without his knowledge.)

Pictures No. 3, 4, 5 White A3-sized paper, folded halfway.

Helicopters. A bird flies, fleeing from a helicopter. Small
rectangles lead from the helicopter to the houses, to the human
figures. Some are lying on the ground. A few more helicopters. More
and more rectangles.

Did helicopters fire at the village during the intifada years?

The father: "No."

The uncle: "He saw it on television and heard about helicopters firing missiles and hitting people, it must have influenced him, and he tried to draw helicopters dropping bombs."

Shadows of soldiers, two in one picture, many in another, armed, wearing helmets, behind fences, fences, fences.

Many landscapes, trees, a village, land, cactuses, demonstrators.

The place: Bil'in, mainly

The place: The Artists' House Gallery, Tel Aviv

The time: Exhibition opening, October 25, 2008

Technique: Acrylic painting on projected video, processed

Reeb: "About four years ago I started using a video camera for my work. Landscape painting was a change for me, different from habit. When I studied art, the convention was conceptual, not landscapes. And to paint something with a kind of documentary aspect, that's even more than painting a landscape. To me it's not self-evident. On (these) video(s) I document people and events, whose meaning is greater than that of painting. It's a way of stepping outside yourself. When I videotape at protests, there are more important things than the work of painting, than the artistic aspects. I'm glad if I can help in court, when the attacked person (the protester) is falsely accused of being
the aggressor. And the videotape proves the truth."

Are you a witness or a participant?

Reeb: "I'm a guest. A guest in the village, with permission. It's a visit, and I'm glad to visit. The landscape is very close to my heart, and I know that it is not my place. In terms of action - I'm a participant, a somewhat marginal one. I try to help by videotaping. I very much respect what the anarchists do and identify with their goals. To act against the separation. Israelis are willing to pay any price for the fence, especially when it is paid by the Palestinians."

Were you at the demonstration in which the child Ahmed Moussa was killed?

Reeb: "No."

Did you know the child Ahmed Moussa?

Reeb: "No."

The child Ahmed Moussa stops by a rock and bends down, apparently to put on a shoe that has fallen off.

The place: An olive grove in Na'alin, an area known as El-Asfour (the Bird), about half a kilometer away from the Jewish settlement of Hashmonaim.

The day: July 29, 2008

The hour: 6 P.M.

Who was there: About 100 of the village youths and children head out to protest at the site where the fence is being built / the land is being destroyed. Some 90 meters from the fence.

Who else: A Border Patrol jeep suddenly appears, driving alongside the construction work. The driver gets out and stands in front of his jeep.

What else: The adults rush the children away.

What else: Eyewitness testimony: "The driver aims his rifle at the people. Fires three shots in a row. From the sound of the shooting, people realize that these are live rounds. Someone shouts, 'live fire,' and everyone begins to flee."

At the hospital. A doctor examines the child Ahmed Moussa. He writes:6:45. Pupils dilated, no breathing, no pulse. Brain is torn, a bullet entry wound of 1 centimeter in the forehead, an exit with characteristics of tearing of the brain tissue.

At the hospital. The father notices that his son - dead, killed, murdered - is wearing only one shoe.

At the Justice Ministry's department for the investigation of police officers, Judea and Samaria Police District.