One of the greatest lines in western culture is the cry “Attention must be paid!” at the end of “Death of a Salesman.” Willie Loman’s wife demands on his grave that the world acknowledge the injustice Loman suffered– and playwright Arthur Miller made sure that the world paid attention to his embodiment of working-class dignity.
I feel the same urgency when I read of the death this week of Harun Abu Aram at 25. Please read Yumna Patel’s harrowing report chronicling Harun’s shooting two years ago by the Israeli army when soldiers in the occupied West Bank tried to take away his generator and Harun refused to let go of the machine. For two years Harun has been paralyzed and suffering.
And now Harun is gone. No Israeli soldier was charged with killing Harun. No, they were just defending themselves, the investigation by the apartheid army concludes.
Attention must be paid because this brave and humble man was just trying to hold on to his means of employment, also his ability to build a family house on Palestinian land. He refused to back down in the face of armed thugs. He showed a courage I can’t imagine. And I have a generator just like the one they stole from Harun in my basement.
Harun is a great martyr to the cause of Palestinian steadfastness. His name will some day be incised in monuments to the history of his people for his noble stand. His name ought to be heralded by the world press right now and in the mouths of our leaders. Harun ought to be the subject of Congressional sanctions legislation.
His treatment ought to be denounced by the State Department as another human rights violation in the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. The White House ought to be citing the Israeli failure to prosecute anyone in this good man’s killing as yet another demonstration of Israeli impunity for war crimes violations.
But that won’t happen. The Biden administration keeps bowing to the Netanyahu government, assuring it the U.S. will impose no consequences for the Jewish colonization of Palestinian lands. Because Biden fears the money of the rightwing Israel lobby jumping to the other side. It’s a farce. We can only be pleased that the farce is transparent to everyone.
So thank you for paying attention, and keep Harun’s memory in your thoughts. And if you have a moment, please read my remembrance of a dear friend who guided me on Israeli politics, Yossi Gurvitz.
