Burlington, Vermont – With Israel at struggle within the Gaza Strip and violence reaching new heights within the occupied West Financial institution, Hisham Awartani's household thought they’d be safer in the USA.
That's why, as a substitute of going to the West Financial institution for Thanksgiving break, the 20-year-old Palestinian scholar and his two childhood pals determined to spend the US vacation with family within the small northern state of east of Vermont.
That's additionally why Awartani's uncle, Wealthy Value, didn't assume an excessive amount of of the convoy of police automobiles that roared previous his home, sirens blaring, on the night of November 25.
Awartani ought to be out of hurt's approach within the picturesque lakeside city of Burlington. However a name Value receives from his mom that night time would remind him of the violence Palestinians face, even overseas.
“Hisham had referred to as her and stated, 'Grandma, I've been shot,'” Value informed Al Jazeera from her eating room, the place household images line the partitions. Massive home windows overlook North Prospect, the identical road the place Awartani and his pals Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Ahmad have been attacked.
“Their households determined it was safer for them to come back to Burlington, Vermont,” Value stated. “One of many actually troublesome issues about that is that they got here right here particularly as a result of we felt this was a safer place for them.”
The Palestinian college students have been carrying keffiyehs and talking a mix of Arabic and English when a person stepped off their porch, lower than three blocks from Value's residence, and opened fireplace. All three have been injured however survived. Awartani is now paralyzed from the chest down.
“He's doing an unimaginable job and placing a number of effort into his rehabilitation, and I believe it's troublesome. Now he's again at Brown [University]. I actually bought to expertise what it means to be again on that campus in a wheelchair,” Value stated.
The assault didn't simply change Awartani's life, although. It additionally stoked worry throughout the nation, the place Palestinians and their supporters stated they confronted a barrage of hateful rhetoric since Israel's army offensive in Gaza started in early October.
In line with Value, the dehumanization of Palestinians in the USA is the first issue that fueled the November taking pictures.
“The Palestinian wrestle is one that isn’t being informed in a balanced approach on this nation,” he stated.
“The rhetoric of individuals in politics, in positions of management – definitely after October 7 – who talked concerning the wrestle as a wrestle between good and evil is mostly a dehumanizing and harmful rhetoric.”
That's a view shared by almost a dozen legal professionals and group specialists who spoke to Al Jazeera for this story. They detailed how politicians, media and pro-Israel teams have spent years dehumanizing and demonizing Palestinians — with generally lethal outcomes.
