“My son is an American before Palestinian,” his grieving father said as he grappled with the U.S. government’s role in the violence in Gaza and the West Bank. “Americans, us, our government backs it up.”
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AL-MAZRA’A AL-SHARQIYA, West Bank — Tawfic Hafeth Abdel Jabbar, 17, was born and raised in Louisiana, in a city called Gretna across the Mississippi River from New Orleans and surrounded by the delta’s swampland and bayous.
It’s a long way from the mountains of the occupied West Bank, but when Tawfic arrived in May, he was excited to properly explore the landscape of the village where his dad grew up, and to learn more about his roots as a Palestinian American.
But he says the Biden administration’s support of Israel, including with weapons, and what he sees as a tepid response from the White House to Tawfic’s death make him doubt that his government will act in his son’s interest.
The incident comes as human rights groups have documented a rise in settler violence in the occupied West Bank since the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza began.
Since Oct. 7, at the start of the war in Gaza, 344 Palestinians, including 88 children, have been killed by security forces and settlers across the West Bank, according to data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Since the start of the war, President Joe Biden has urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to minimize civilian casualties in Gaza, but the death toll has continued to skyrocket in the months since.
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Click here to see the summary
AL-MAZRA’A AL-SHARQIYA, West Bank — Tawfic Hafeth Abdel Jabbar, 17, was born and raised in Louisiana, in a city called Gretna across the Mississippi River from New Orleans and surrounded by the delta’s swampland and bayous.
It’s a long way from the mountains of the occupied West Bank, but when Tawfic arrived in May, he was excited to properly explore the landscape of the village where his dad grew up, and to learn more about his roots as a Palestinian American.
But he says the Biden administration’s support of Israel, including with weapons, and what he sees as a tepid response from the White House to Tawfic’s death make him doubt that his government will act in his son’s interest.
The incident comes as human rights groups have documented a rise in settler violence in the occupied West Bank since the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza began.
Since Oct. 7, at the start of the war in Gaza, 344 Palestinians, including 88 children, have been killed by security forces and settlers across the West Bank, according to data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Since the start of the war, President Joe Biden has urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to minimize civilian casualties in Gaza, but the death toll has continued to skyrocket in the months since.
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