When Buying Dinner Becomes Dangerous

Saturday March 05, 2011 10:59 by Maysa Abu Ghazala – Jerusalem - Palestine News Network (PNN) - Exclusive

On Thursday, February 24, 20-year-old Mohammad Gharib of al-Issawiya village near Jerusalem was driving home, bringing dinner from a restaurant in Jerusalem.

Mohammad Gharib - PNN

Mohammad took his youngest brother and his friend along for the ride. When they reached the intersection leading to the Ma’ale Adumim settlement, their car broke down.

“As I was trying to see what happened to the car, three settlers stopped and offered to help," Mohammad recalled. "I thanked them and as I was speaking to them in Hebrew, they realized I was Arab. They started calling me names, then one of them pulled his gun and shot me in the knee.”

Mohammad was taken immediately to al-Maqasid hospital in Jerusalem, then moved to the Israeli hospital of Hadassah where doctors told him his knee was shattered and muscles torn.

“Doctors installed a device to make me walk," he said, "but now I can’t leave my bed on my own”.

Mohammad said he filed a police report and told Israeli officers that he could identify the settler who shot him. He also demanded they work on his case quickly.

As of now, he is still lying in bed in pain and waiting for the police to arrest his attackers.

Not long ago, Mohammad suffered a fracture in his foot in a work accident, and spent the last weeks recovering from his injury.

jerusalem | israeli attacks | news report saed at imemc dot org