Faris Odeh
Encyclopedia
Faris Odeh was a Palestinian
boy shot dead by the Israel Defense Forces
near the Karni crossing
in the Gaza Strip
while throwing stones in the second month of the Al-Aqsa Intifada
.
A picture of Odeh standing alone in front of a tank, with a stone in his hand and arm bent back to throw it, was taken by a photojournalist from the Associated Press
on October 29, 2000. Ten days later, on November 9, Odeh was again throwing stones at Karni when he was shot in the neck by Israeli troops. The boy and the image subsequently assumed icon
ic status within the Palestinian territories
as symbols of resistance to the area's occupation by Israel
.
quarter of Gaza City, where he lived his entire life with his parents Fayek and Anam and his eight brothers and sisters. According to The Washington Post
, Odeh was an "adolescent daredevil". He was fond of risky stunts, and once jumped an eight-foot gap between the roofs of two four-story buildings.
When the Al-Aqsa Intifada
began in September 2000, Odeh started skipping school to participate in the action, either at the Karni crossing or the Israeli settlement of Netzarim
. The headmaster of Odeh's school complained about the boy's absences to his parents who tried, unsuccessfully, to keep him away from the conflict. According to Faris' mother, the boy's father "beat him black and blue for throwing stones." Fayek also tried to physically restrain his son. Once he locked the boy in his room, but Faris escaped out the window. According to the Post, "The next time Fayek heard that Faris had been at a clash point, he got tougher; he tied the boy's hands and feet together and left him on the roof after dinner. By midnight, his mother, worried sick about the boy, sneaked up to the roof and freed him."
Still, Faris was undeterred. His mother Anam would repeatedly go to the sites of the worst fighting in search of her son, often finding him at the front of the crowd, nearest the Israeli troops. "I must have gone out looking for him 50 times," she was quoted as saying in The Washington Post. "One day, I went out three times. Sometimes I'd sit down to lunch, and before I could put the first bite in my mouth some kids would come by and tell me Faris was at Karni again, throwing stones. And I'd drop my fork and rush out to find him."
"It wasn't the fame he loved," she continued. "In fact, he was afraid that if he was filmed on TV his father would see him, so he'd run away from the cameras. One day, after I'd gone and dragged him away from the clashes every day for a week, I told him: 'Okay, you want to throw stones? Fine. But at least hide behind something! Why do you have to be at the very front, even farther up than the older kids?' And he said, 'I'm not afraid.'"
On October 29, Associated Press
photographer Laurent Rebours captured the iconic photo of Odeh, who, according to a subsequent AP story, "reveled in his role as the most famous rock-hurler" at Karni. Odeh's 17-year old cousin Shadi, a Palestinian policeman, was killed during a confrontation with Israeli troops on 1 November. "When that happened, Faris said, 'I swear I'll avenge his death,'" Anam Odeh told the Post. "He went to Shadi's funeral wreath and placed a snapshot of himself in it. He said the wreath would be for him, too."
(UPI), tens of thousands of people attended Odeh's funeral. His father told UPI: "He is a martyr, and this is what he always wanted to be, a martyr for the sake of Al Aqsa." Like all Palestinian families who had a member killed by Israeli troops after the outbreak of the Second Intifada, the Odehs received a $10,000 cheque from Iraq
's then president Saddam Hussein
. His mother remarked that, "Faris was a boy who loved me so much [...] His blood is worth so much more."
Since his death, Odeh and his image have become iconic. Dubbed the "Palestinian everyman" and the "poster boy of Palestinian defiance," for many Palestinians he is a hero, portrayed in graffiti, wall art, calendars and posters. In 2001, his slingshot
appeared in an exhibit called "100 Martyrs - 100 Lives" at the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center in Ramallah
, and he was praised by Yasser Arafat
in February 2002. The Faris Odeh activism award has been created in his name, granted annually by Al-Awda: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition (PRCC). The recipient in 2003 was Dr. Salman Abu-Sitta
.
Palestinian shabab (youth) were immortalized by the televised footage on them throwing stones at Israeli tanks during the Second Intifada, according to Barbara A. Goldscheider, who cites Faris Odeh and Mohammed Al-Durrah as examples of two twelve year-old Palestinian boys who became instant martrys.
To French philosopher Pierre-André Taguieff
, the Palestinian response to Odeh's death forms part of a popular political religion revolving around the figure of the shahid, or martyr. He views this as a consequence of the "Islam
ization" of the Palestinian cause, manifested in Palestinian support for a "culture of death." Odeh's mother told reporters that he used to watch Al-Manar
, the Hezbollah television channel, where the idea of becoming a martyr is highly regarded. "He wanted to join them," she said, "and used to wear their headband."
Dr Eyad al-Sarraj, founder and director of the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme, writes that stone-throwing during the Intifada was one of the few distractions the children had. They did not realize the danger they were in, he said, and felt invincible.
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
boy shot dead by the Israel Defense Forces
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
near the Karni crossing
Karni crossing
The Karni Crossing is a cargo terminal on the Israel-Gaza Strip barrier. It is located in the north-eastern end of the Gaza Strip and was opened in 1994 after the signing of the Oslo Accords, in order to allow Palestinian merchants to export and import goods...
in the Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
while throwing stones in the second month of the Al-Aqsa Intifada
Al-Aqsa Intifada
The Second Intifada, also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada and the Oslo War, was the second Palestinian uprising, a period of intensified Palestinian-Israeli violence, which began in late September 2000...
.
A picture of Odeh standing alone in front of a tank, with a stone in his hand and arm bent back to throw it, was taken by a photojournalist from the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
on October 29, 2000. Ten days later, on November 9, Odeh was again throwing stones at Karni when he was shot in the neck by Israeli troops. The boy and the image subsequently assumed icon
Icon
An icon is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity and in certain Eastern Catholic churches...
ic status within the Palestinian territories
Palestinian territories
The Palestinian territories comprise the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Since the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in 1988, the region is today recognized by three-quarters of the world's countries as the State of Palestine or simply Palestine, although this status is not recognized by the...
as symbols of resistance to the area's occupation by Israel
Israeli-occupied territories
The Israeli-occupied territories are the territories which have been designated as occupied territory by the United Nations and other international organizations, governments and others to refer to the territory seized by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967 from Egypt, Jordan, and Syria...
.
Biography
Odeh was born in the ZeitounZeitoun, Gaza
-History:It was built in the 1930s and 1940s as Gaza developed outside its center. Much of the funding for the initial construction is attributed to foreign institutions, such as missionary hospitals. After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, with the influx of Palestinian refugees, Zeitoun's population...
quarter of Gaza City, where he lived his entire life with his parents Fayek and Anam and his eight brothers and sisters. According to The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, Odeh was an "adolescent daredevil". He was fond of risky stunts, and once jumped an eight-foot gap between the roofs of two four-story buildings.
When the Al-Aqsa Intifada
Al-Aqsa Intifada
The Second Intifada, also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada and the Oslo War, was the second Palestinian uprising, a period of intensified Palestinian-Israeli violence, which began in late September 2000...
began in September 2000, Odeh started skipping school to participate in the action, either at the Karni crossing or the Israeli settlement of Netzarim
Netzarim (settlement)
Netzarim was formerly an Israeli settlement established in Gaza in 1972. It began as a secular Nahal outpost of the Hashomer Hatzair movement; in 1984 it became an orthodox kibbutz. A few years later, the residents decided to change from a kibbutz to a village...
. The headmaster of Odeh's school complained about the boy's absences to his parents who tried, unsuccessfully, to keep him away from the conflict. According to Faris' mother, the boy's father "beat him black and blue for throwing stones." Fayek also tried to physically restrain his son. Once he locked the boy in his room, but Faris escaped out the window. According to the Post, "The next time Fayek heard that Faris had been at a clash point, he got tougher; he tied the boy's hands and feet together and left him on the roof after dinner. By midnight, his mother, worried sick about the boy, sneaked up to the roof and freed him."
Still, Faris was undeterred. His mother Anam would repeatedly go to the sites of the worst fighting in search of her son, often finding him at the front of the crowd, nearest the Israeli troops. "I must have gone out looking for him 50 times," she was quoted as saying in The Washington Post. "One day, I went out three times. Sometimes I'd sit down to lunch, and before I could put the first bite in my mouth some kids would come by and tell me Faris was at Karni again, throwing stones. And I'd drop my fork and rush out to find him."
"It wasn't the fame he loved," she continued. "In fact, he was afraid that if he was filmed on TV his father would see him, so he'd run away from the cameras. One day, after I'd gone and dragged him away from the clashes every day for a week, I told him: 'Okay, you want to throw stones? Fine. But at least hide behind something! Why do you have to be at the very front, even farther up than the older kids?' And he said, 'I'm not afraid.'"
On October 29, Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
photographer Laurent Rebours captured the iconic photo of Odeh, who, according to a subsequent AP story, "reveled in his role as the most famous rock-hurler" at Karni. Odeh's 17-year old cousin Shadi, a Palestinian policeman, was killed during a confrontation with Israeli troops on 1 November. "When that happened, Faris said, 'I swear I'll avenge his death,'" Anam Odeh told the Post. "He went to Shadi's funeral wreath and placed a snapshot of himself in it. He said the wreath would be for him, too."
Death
Although different sources offer different dates, all agree that Odeh was shot between November 8 and November 10. He was reportedly at the front of a group of young Palestinians throwing rocks at Israeli troops at the Karni crossing, when Israeli soldiers opened fire. As Faris crouched to pick up a stone, he was hit in the neck. According to Odeh's friends, the boy was so close to an Israeli tank that they had to wait an hour before they felt it was safe to remove his body and load it into an ambulance. He was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.Reaction
According to United Press InternationalUnited Press International
United Press International is a once-major international news agency, whose newswires, photo, news film and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines and radio and television stations for most of the twentieth century...
(UPI), tens of thousands of people attended Odeh's funeral. His father told UPI: "He is a martyr, and this is what he always wanted to be, a martyr for the sake of Al Aqsa." Like all Palestinian families who had a member killed by Israeli troops after the outbreak of the Second Intifada, the Odehs received a $10,000 cheque from Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
's then president Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
. His mother remarked that, "Faris was a boy who loved me so much [...] His blood is worth so much more."
Since his death, Odeh and his image have become iconic. Dubbed the "Palestinian everyman" and the "poster boy of Palestinian defiance," for many Palestinians he is a hero, portrayed in graffiti, wall art, calendars and posters. In 2001, his slingshot
Slingshot
A slingshot, shanghai, flip, bean shooter or catapult is a small hand-powered projectile weapon. The classic form consists of a Y-shaped frame held in the off hand, with two rubber strips attached to the uprights. The other ends of the strips lead back to a pocket which holds the projectile...
appeared in an exhibit called "100 Martyrs - 100 Lives" at the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center in Ramallah
Ramallah
Ramallah is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank located 10 kilometers north of Jerusalem, adjacent to al-Bireh. It currently serves as the de facto administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority...
, and he was praised by Yasser Arafat
Yasser Arafat
Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini , popularly known as Yasser Arafat or by his kunya Abu Ammar , was a Palestinian leader and a Laureate of the Nobel Prize. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization , President of the Palestinian National Authority...
in February 2002. The Faris Odeh activism award has been created in his name, granted annually by Al-Awda: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition (PRCC). The recipient in 2003 was Dr. Salman Abu-Sitta
Salman Abu-Sitta
Salman H. Abu Sitta is a Palestinian researcher and writes about Palestinian refugees and the Palestinian right of return.-Biography:Abu-Sitta was born in Beersheba Salman H. Abu Sitta (Arabic سلمان ابو ستة)(born 1938) is a Palestinian researcher and writes about Palestinian refugees and the...
.
Palestinian shabab (youth) were immortalized by the televised footage on them throwing stones at Israeli tanks during the Second Intifada, according to Barbara A. Goldscheider, who cites Faris Odeh and Mohammed Al-Durrah as examples of two twelve year-old Palestinian boys who became instant martrys.
To French philosopher Pierre-André Taguieff
Pierre-André Taguieff
Pierre-André Taguieff is a philosopher and director of research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research in an Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris laboratory, the CEVIPOF...
, the Palestinian response to Odeh's death forms part of a popular political religion revolving around the figure of the shahid, or martyr. He views this as a consequence of the "Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ization" of the Palestinian cause, manifested in Palestinian support for a "culture of death." Odeh's mother told reporters that he used to watch Al-Manar
Al-Manar
Al-Manar is a Lebanese satellite television station affiliated with Hezbollah, registered as Lebanese Media Group Company, broadcasting from Beirut, Lebanon. It has an offering a "rich menu" of high production news, commentary, and entertainment. The self-proclaimed "Station of the Resistance" ,...
, the Hezbollah television channel, where the idea of becoming a martyr is highly regarded. "He wanted to join them," she said, "and used to wear their headband."
Dr Eyad al-Sarraj, founder and director of the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme, writes that stone-throwing during the Intifada was one of the few distractions the children had. They did not realize the danger they were in, he said, and felt invincible.
See also
- Muhammad al-DurrahMuhammad al-DurrahThe Muhammad al-Durrah incident took place in the Gaza Strip on September 30, 2000, on the second day of the Second Intifada, amid widespread rioting throughout the Palestinian territories...
- Tank ManTank ManTank Man, or the Unknown Rebel, is the nickname of an anonymous man who stood in front of a column of Chinese Type 59 tanks the morning after the Chinese military forcibly removed protestors from in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square on June 5, 1989. The man achieved widespread international...
- Partial List of Palestinian civilian casualties in the Second Intifada
External links
- Gelderloos, Carl. Teaching in Nablus: Images of Occupation, October 12, 2006.
- Munayyer, Yousef. The Palestinian Will, The Massachusetts Daily Collegian, March 8, 2002.