Mourners gathered in the town of Turmus Aya in the occupied West Bank to receive the body of Sayafollah Musallat, a Palestinian-American man who was beaten to death by Israeli settlers in a violent attack near the town of Sinjil, north-east of Ramallah.
Mr Musallat, originally from Tampa, Florida, had travelled to the West Bank to visit family and help protect their land from increasing settler incursions.
He is the latest Palestinian-American to be killed in the territory, only weeks after the death of an American teenager left the community reeling.
At his family home, dozens of women lined the driveway early in the day, awaiting the arrival of the body. As the morning progressed, men gathered outside under the blazing sun, offering condolences. An ambulance arrived playing verses from the Quran, and when Mr Musallat’s body was finally brought out, mourners erupted in religious and political chants.
The presence of many American voices in the crowd was striking. Friends and relatives had flown in from Tampa, where Mr Musallat was born and raised. Among the mourners was a teenage boy who wept continuously, from the family home to the local cemetery. After a mass prayer held at a nearby school, the boy was heard crying into a friend’s shoulder, whispering, “I can’t breathe.”
Kamal Abdel Jalil Al Hijaz, a senior member of the Musallat family, stood outside the house, welcoming mourners. Dressed in a traditional keffiyeh and leaning on a walking stick, he directed younger relatives to fetch water for the guests.
“The whole town feels the pain,” he said, his voice breaking. “I’m crying in front of you so that God hears us.”
He recalled that Mr Musallat had gone with a group of people, many of them US passport holders, to prevent settlers from encroaching on Palestinian land. “They thought the American passport might offer some protection,” he said. “But they attacked him. Now he’s a martyr.”
Jama’a Hijaz, 23, a close friend of Mr Musallat from Tampa, spoke of their years growing up together. “We used to hang out every day. He loved going to the shooting range. He ran an ice cream shop, and that’s where we’d always meet – he couldn’t leave because he worked so hard.”
Mr Hijaz described his friend as devout, kind, and committed to his faith. “He never missed a prayer. He was on the right path.”
He said the attack happened after Friday prayers, when news spread that settlers were targeting nearby land. “At first they said someone died. Then they said no. Then they said Saif was passing out. I texted him to ask if he was OK. Everyone said he was fine. Two hours later, we found out he died on the way to the hospital.”
According to Mr Hijaz, Mr Musallat was left injured in the sun for three hours before help arrived. Another man, Hussein Al Shalabi, was also killed – first beaten, then shot by the settlers as they left. Others were reportedly tied up and had their limbs broken.
“The settlers have so much hatred in their hearts,” Mr Hijaz said. “Humans don’t do this. They have compassion. They get scared when they see a dead body. I don’t know what we’re dealing with – these are evil people.”
He added that the shock of Mr Musallat’s death reached far beyond the West Bank. “Everyone I know in the US is devastated. A friend of mine from high school met Saif only once – he still cried when he heard the news. That’s the kind of person Saif was.”
“I’m still in shock. I didn’t believe it until I saw the picture,” Hijaz said. “But we’re going to keep coming back. This is our land. This is our home. Saif died for it.”
