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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 5 - 11 October 2000 Issue No. 502 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 5 - 11 October 2000 Issue No. 502
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Elections Region International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters 'Samer is dead'
Like all children his age Samer Tabanga, 12, loved to watch airplanes fly in the sky. However, on 1 October, the last aircraft Tabanga was to see was an Israeli helicopter gunship shooting randomly at Palestinian demonstrators in the West Bank city of Nablus.
When the shooting began, Tabanga and other neighbourhood children started running. Tabanga fled for home, but the assault helicopter beat him to it, bearing down until an instant later he lay dead on the ground, struck by a bullet to the stomach.
Tabanga's aunt, Nahed, said that as soon as she heard the whir of the helicopter she had called out to the children to rush back home. A few minutes later she heard their screams: "Samer is bleeding, Samer is bleeding, Samer is dead."
Since his death, Samer's mother has suffered a nervous breakdown. Brother Youssef, 10, refuses to enter the bedroom where they slept and never leaves his mother's side. The room, whose walls are covered with the drawings of the Tabanga brothers, is now empty and silent. The dead boy's schoolbag and books are never to be used again. Israeli soldiers have seen to that.
