The house remained empty since the Israeli authorities confiscated it
in 1994. When its owner attempted to return to his home, 17 kilometers
east of Qalqilia, Israeli settlers were waiting. They shot the man and
he died instantly. This is the story of Palestinian citizen, Mahmoud
Amin Awad.
Awad’s home was isolated from his village on the road dividing Qalqilia in the northwestern West Bank and Nablus to the north. Many people have fled the area due to settler attacks. Awad took up residence inside a neighboring village.
Lawyer Fathi Shabith filed a lawsuit against the Israeli authorities last week on 18 August. He petitioned the court to freeze the closure of Awad’s house and allow him to return home. Awad won the right to return to his house through 20 September, at which point if he did repairs on the house that had been empty for so long, the confiscation order would be permanently reversed.
The only catch was that the Israeli military stated that the home owner could not build onto the structure of the West Bank house without first obtaining a license from the Israelis.
But it did not matter as Israeli settlers shot the father of four with a bullet that lodged in his heart before he could regain his home permanently.
His cousin, Salah Awad, said, “Mahmoud’s death was senseless. The family was not certain they would ever be able to return to the house, but it didn’t make any difference in the injustice he suffered for more than 10 years.”
