All this weekend I’ve thought about Ethan Bronner’s brutalized use of the term "cutting the grass" to describe Israeli raids and "actions" in the West Bank that have reduced violence, Bronner states. It seems to me an important moment: no one can say that this is not an ugly term, which hides a multitude of atrocities. Here’s one that Bronner surely isn’t covering, from a raid the other night.
Israeli Occupation Forces arrested an elderly resident of Jayyous this week, a Palestinian village located in the Qalqilya region, that has maintained an active campaign against the terrorisation of its people and the annexation of its land by the illegal Apartheid Wall.
Mohammad Salim, a 63 year old resident of Jayyous was taken from his home in the middle of the night by Israeli Occupation Forces this week. Salim, an elderly man, was just a few short hours away from leaving for Mecca, Saudi Arabia, to make the holy pilgrimage of the Hajj when he was taken by the military. Residents – even his own family – are dumbfounded as to why he would be targeted.
This is not atypical of the military’s strategy in Jayyous – what appears a haphazard campaign of unpredictable – seemingly random – arrests and violent invasions is a methodical attempt of the army to sow the seeds of internal discontent and provocation within the village.
