A Famous Palestinian Activist Killed in the Occupied West Bank

0:00Today on State of the World, a famous Palestinian activist activist, a famous Palestinian activist, controlled by Israel since the 1967 war. The man who died helped make this year's Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, which is about settler violence and Palestinian displacement in the West Bank. The suspect in his killing is a settler well known for his attacks on Palestinians. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley takes us to the village where it happened. We're arriving at the village of Umelher. This is where Alda Khatlin was killed and where he lived. It's very hot here. We're in the West Bank, rolling hills with boulders and rocks and olive trees and cactuses.

1:08And we're right behind the settlement of Carmel, which is tightly enclosed in barbed wire with rolls of barbed wire on the top of the fence. Villagers are gathered under a mourning tent to grieve for the 31-year-old peace activist, English teacher and father of three small boys. Auda Al-Hatalin's death has drawn international attention and a delegation of European diplomats has come. Their SUVs are parked on the dirt road beside the village of small stone houses with tin roofs. Annika Malki is the first diplomat to speak. I am from Consulia, Sweden, the Swedish consulate. and we would also like to convey our sincere condolences.

1:50It is a terrible crime and it shows how vulnerable Palestinian communities are. Al-Hatalin's brother Khalil addresses them. We hope from you to protect the local community here because we're being exposed to cleansing. Look around you, there's no problem, there's no military, no one's evicting us because you're Europeans and you're here. The moment you leave, you're going to come here. Allegra Pacheco, chief of party for the West Bank Protection Consortium, has been helping this isolated community of 500 people for the last eight years. She reads Al-Hatalin's last message to his large WhatsApp group when the settler bulldozer rolled in.

2:35Urgent call. The settlers are working behind our houses. And the worst, they're trying to cut the main water pipe for our community. We need everyone to act. If you can reach people like the Congress, the courts, please do everything. If they cut the pipe, the community here will literally be without any drop of water. That was his last message sent at 3 p.m. on Sunday. Israeli peace activist Oriel Eisner has been sleeping here since the killing to bear witness. He says in the night when the visitors are gone, the Israeli army comes in to arrest people. People aren't sleeping. People are terrified.

3:25The settlers and the government in lockstep with them are just doing whatever they want and taking over whatever land they want, doing whatever they want with the Palestinians. Eisner says while this has been going on for decades, it's accelerated since the war, and with the inclusion of far-right settlers in the Israeli cabinet. Seventeen villagers arrested for throwing rocks are still being held, but the settler who allegedly shot Al-Hatlin was released after being detained just 24 hours. He has not been charged, despite widely circulated video that shows Inan Levi wildly waving his handgun

4:09and shooting towards a group of village men who are trying to stop the bulldozer. The settler has been sanctioned by the EU and the U.S., though President Trump lifted those sanctions. Israeli authorities are also refusing to release Al-Hatlin's body unless his family agrees to a private funeral with no media. That's another humiliation, says Al-Hatlin's brother Khalil. Burial has to be in daylight. It has to be with the presence of all his friends, his people and the media. This area of the West Bank, where Israeli settlements are being swiftly built, is entirely under Israeli military law and Palestinians have few rights.

4:52We head to the women's mourning tent, where there are dozens of mothers with their children. We speak to Al-Hatlein's mother, Khadra Al-Hatlein, through an interpreter. She says her son was inside preparing for a trip to the U.S. when the trouble began.

5:21An Israeli ambulance eventually came and she tried to get in. They took him. I said, I want to go with my son. But I was not allowed.

5:37Somebody hit me on the hand and slapped me on the face. It's the same guy who killed him. There's a black bruise on her hand. Ode was our friend and he was our partner. Avi Dabush, the CEO of Rabbis for Human Rights, speaks to the mourners. There are many Jewish activists here. Dabush says they are fighting for the return of Al-Hatlin's body and for the person who shot him to face justice. But he says that's going to be difficult under Israel's current right-wing government. Unfortunately, in the coalition, there are people that believe only in violence, believe in Jewish supremacy. We believe in the core values for us of Judaism and even Zionism, of living together, reaching out in peace.

6:29A thousand Palestinians face one of the single biggest expulsion decisions since the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories began. Tragically, people in this village say they believed the Oscar-winning documentary about their struggle with settler violence, No Other Land, might bring a measure of protection and even lay the groundwork for peace, even though it was never screened in Israeli cinemas. But just the opposite has happened, says Basil Adra, one of the filmmakers. Auda was the most peaceful person. He was the person that always gathered us. And he was shot in front of the community center that he built for the kids to play and to have summer camp and to learn.

7:13As the village mourns and waits in agony to bury its fallen son, the settler's bulldozer, working steadily away through it all, is a reminder of who controls this land. Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Umar Kher in the occupied West Bank.

7:36That's the State of the World from NPR. Thanks for listening.