Faris Odeh

Faris Odeh (Arabic: فارس فائق عيسى حمدان عودة, 3 December 1985[1] – 8 November 2000[2]) was a Palestinian boy shot dead by the Israel Defense Forces near the Karni crossing in the Gaza Strip while throwing stones in the second month of the Al-Aqsa Intifada.

Faris Odeh
The iconic picture of Odeh throwing a stone at an Israel Defense Forces tank in the Gaza Strip, 29 October 2000
Born3 December 1985[1]
Gaza Strip
Died8 November 2000 (aged 14)
Karni crossing, Gaza Strip
Cause of deathGunshot wound
NationalityPalestinian

A picture of Odeh standing alone in front of a tank, with a stone in his hand and arm bent back to throw it, was taken by a photojournalist from the Associated Press on 29 October 2000. Ten days later, on 8 November, Odeh was again throwing stones at Karni when he was shot in the neck by Israeli troops. The boy and the image subsequently assumed iconic status within the Palestinian territories as a symbol of opposition to the area's occupation by Israel.[3][4]

Early life

Odeh was born in the Zeitoun quarter of Gaza City where he lived with his parents Fayek and Anam and his eight brothers and sisters. According to The Washington Post, Odeh was an "adolescent daredevil". He was fond of risky stunts, and once jumped an eight-foot gap between the roofs of two four-story buildings.[5]

Involvement in the intifada

When the Al-Aqsa Intifada began in September 2000, Odeh started skipping school to participate in the action, either at the Karni crossing or the Israeli settlement of Netzarim.[5][6] The headmaster of Odeh's school complained about the boy's absences to his parents who tried, unsuccessfully, to keep him away from the conflict. According to Faris' mother, the boy's father "beat him black and blue for throwing stones." Fayek also tried to physically restrain his son. Once, he locked the boy in his room, but Faris escaped out the window. According to the Post, "The next time Fayek heard that Faris had been at a clash point, he got tougher; he tied the boy's hands and feet together and left him on the roof after dinner. By midnight, his mother, worried sick about the boy, sneaked up to the roof and freed him."[5]

Still, Faris was undeterred.[5] His mother Anam would repeatedly go to the sites of the worst fighting in search of her son, often finding him at the front of the crowd, nearest the Israeli troops. "I must have gone out looking for him 50 times," she was quoted as saying in The Washington Post. "One day, I went out three times. Sometimes I'd sit down to lunch, and before I could put the first bite in my mouth some kids would come by and tell me Faris was at Karni again, throwing stones. And I'd drop my fork and rush out to find him."[5]

"It wasn't the fame he loved," she continued. "In fact, he was afraid that if he was filmed on TV his father would see him, so he'd run away from the cameras. One day, after I'd gone and dragged him away from the clashes every day for a week, I told him: 'Okay, you want to throw stones? Fine. But at least hide behind something! Why do you have to be at the very front, even farther up than the older kids?' And he said, 'I'm not afraid.'"[5]

Famous photograph

On 29 October 2000, Associated Press photographer Laurent Rebours captured the iconic photo of Odeh, who, according to a subsequent AP story, "reveled in his role as the most famous rock-hurler" at Karni.[7] Now a famous photograph, the "powerful image of a boy standing alone against facing-off a huge Israeli military tank" has drawn the use of the "David and Goliath" analogy by sociologist Judith Bessant. For many Palestinians, she noted, "he epitomised heroic Palestinian defiance and resistance to Israeli military occupation".[8]

Aftermath and death

Odeh's 17-year-old cousin Shadi, a Palestinian policeman, was killed during a confrontation with Israeli troops on 1 November. "When that happened, Faris said, 'I swear I'll avenge his death,'" Anam Odeh told the Post. "He went to Shadi's funeral wreath and placed a snapshot of himself in it. He said the wreath would be for him, too."[5][7]

Later, Odeh was reportedly at the front of a group of young Palestinians throwing rocks at Israeli troops at the Karni crossing, when Israeli soldiers opened fire. His friends say that as Odeh crouched to pick up a stone, he was hit in the neck and that because he was so close to an Israeli tank that they had to wait an hour before they felt it was safe to remove his body and load it into an ambulance. He was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.[5][6][7]

Reaction

According to United Press International (UPI), tens of thousands of people attended Odeh's funeral.[6] His father told UPI: "He is a martyr, and this is what he always wanted to be, a martyr for the sake of Al Aqsa."[6] Like many Palestinian families who had a member killed by Israeli troops after the outbreak of the Second Intifada, the Odehs received a $10,000 cheque from Iraq's then president Saddam Hussein.[9] His mother remarked that, "Faris was a boy who loved me so much [...] His blood is worth so much more."[5]

Since his death, Odeh and his image have become iconic,[4] and a symbol of the Second Intifada: "one boy, who dies in a similar confrontation only after the picture is taken, has come to represent [...] thousands of other[s]".[10] Dubbed the "Palestinian everyman"[11] and the "poster boy of Palestinian defiance," for many Palestinians he is a hero, portrayed in graffiti, wall art, calendars and posters.[5][8] In 2001, his slingshot appeared in an exhibit called "100 Martyrs – 100 Lives" at the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center in Ramallah,[12] and he was praised by Yasser Arafat in February 2002.[13]

The Faris Odeh activism award has been created in his name, granted annually by Al-Awda: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition (PRCC). The recipient in 2003 was Dr. Salman Abu-Sitta.[14] The photograph, Faris' story and the iconography around it have also subsequently been taken up as a teaching point in human rights and advocacy educational resources.[15]

In the Washington Post interview, his mother said of the image: "When I see his picture my heart is torn to pieces. I guess I feel proud for him being called a hero, standing in front of a tank and all that. But when I see his classmates come around after school, all I can do is cry. […] I'm so afraid that Faris' death will be for nothing. That everything will just go back to normal. And the only thing that happened is that I'll have lost my son."[5][16]

Wider impact

UPI's photo changed Israeli tank doctrine. In August 2001, The Jerusalem Post quoted an anonymous tank doctrinist saying tank personnel were now instructed to fire upon rock-throwers.[17]

Palestinian shabab (youth) were immortalized by the televised footage on them throwing stones at Israeli tanks during the Second Intifada, according to Barbara A. Goldscheider, who cites Faris Odeh and Mohammed Al-Durrah as examples of two Palestinian boys who became instant martrys.[18]

To French philosopher Pierre-André Taguieff, the Palestinian response to Odeh's death forms part of a popular political religion revolving around the figure of the shahid, or martyr. He views this as a consequence of the "Islamization" of the Palestinian cause, manifested in Palestinian support for a "culture of death." Odeh's mother told reporters that he used to watch Felesteen-Al-Yawm, the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine television channel, where the idea of becoming a martyr is highly regarded. "He wanted to join them," she said, "and used to wear their headband."[19]

Dr Eyad al-Sarraj, founder and director of the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme, writes that stone-throwing during the Intifada was one of the few distractions the children had. They did not realize the danger they were in, he said, and felt invincible.[19]

See also

References
  1. "فارس عودة.. حجر الطفل مقابل رتل الميركافا" [Fares Odeh: the child in front of the Merkava convoy] (in Arabic). Wafa. Archived from the original on 13 November 2020. Retrieved November 9, 2020. كان فارس يحب الاحتفال في عيد ميلاده، الذي يصادف الثالث من كانون الأولى/ ديسمبر
  2. "Three Palestinians, one Israeli dead as violence continues". Agence France-Presse. November 8, 2000.
  3. Delinda Curtiss Hanley (January–February 2001). "Israel's Spin-Doctors Wage War of Images and Words Against Palestinian Rock Children". Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Archived from the original on 2008-07-25. Retrieved 2007-07-16.
  4. La Guardia, Anton (2003). War without End: Israelis, Palestinians, and the Struggle for a Promised Land. Macmillan. p. 264. ISBN 978-0-312-31633-4. Archived from the original on 2017-02-15. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
  5. Hockstader, Lee (2000-12-11). "Gaza Gains a Martyr, Parents Lose a Son; Slain Youth Hailed As Palestinian Hero While Couple Mourns". The Washington Post. p. A18. Archived from the original on 2018-09-30. Retrieved 2007-07-23.
  6. Abu Ramadan, Saud (2000-12-20). "The death of a 14-year-old "martyr"". United Press International.
  7. Myre, Greg (2000-11-25). "Mideast moms face deadly dilemma". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 2021-05-21. Retrieved 2022-06-27.
  8. Bessant, Judith (2020). Making-Up People: Youth, Truth and Politics. Routledge. ISBN 9781000317602. Archived from the original on 2022-06-27. Retrieved 2022-06-27.
  9. "Palestinians Get Saddam Charity Checks". www.cbsnews.com. Archived from the original on 2021-11-16. Retrieved 2021-11-16.
  10. Smith, Angela K.; Barkhof, Sandra, eds. (2018). War Experience and Memory in Global Cultures Since 1914: Volume 60 of Routledge Studies in Cultural History. Routledge. ISBN 9780429953569.
  11. Claire Valier (Summer 2004). "The sense of atrocity and the passion for justice". Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy. 7 (2): 145–159. doi:10.1080/1369823042000266567. S2CID 145001899.
  12. Sontag, Deborah (2001-02-21). "Ramallah Journal; Bitter, Stark Souvenirs: Sneakers and Slingshots". The New York Times. p. Section A Pg. 4. Archived from the original on 2020-11-08. Retrieved 2007-07-23.
  13. Mohammed Daraghmeh (2002-02-19). "Palestinian Youths Support Dead Bomber". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16.
  14. "Dr. Salman Abu Sitta to receive the Faris Odeh activism award 21 June 2003 from the Palestine Right to Return Coalition". May 14, 2003. Archived from the original on May 26, 2006. Retrieved February 20, 2021.
  15. Albhaisi, Nancy (2022). "Decoloniality as a social issue for psychological study". Journal of Social Issues. Wiley Online Library. 78 (1): 7–26. doi:10.1111/josi.12502. hdl:10500/28757. S2CID 247833670.
  16. "The Legitimized Occupation" (PDF). al-Majdal. No. 8. BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights. 2000. p. 10. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-06-27. Retrieved 2022-06-27.
  17. O’Sullivan, Arieh (15 August 2001). "The Army Banks On Its Tanks" (PDF). The Jerusalem Post. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 February 2017. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
  18. Goldscheider, 2005, p. 18.
  19. Taguieff, 2004, p. 65, 163 (footnote #18) For the comments of Odeh's mother and Dr Eyad al-Sarraj, Taguieff cites Claudet, Sophie. "Mourir en martyr," Revue d'études palestiniennes, new series, No. 28, Summer 2001, pp. 96–102.

Bibliography
  • Goldscheider, Barbara A. (2005). Al-Naqba (the catastrophe) (Illustrated ed.). Frog Books. ISBN 9781583941270.
  • Taguieff, Pierre André (2004). Rising from the Muck: The New Antisemitism in Europe. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee.
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