There’s a documentary drama on the UK’s Channel 4 tomorrow night at 9 PM, telling the story of Thomas Hurndall’s murder by an Israeli sniper, and his family’s fight to uncover the truth.
I met Tom on the human shield action to Iraq in 2003. He left Iraq when war became inevitable and travelled on to Gaza where he was eventually shot in the head by Hayb, an award-winning Israeli marksman, while trying to save Palestinian children who were having pot shots fired around them by Israeli snipers.
From his diary:
What do I want from this life? What makes you happy is not enough. All the things that satisfy our instincts only satisfy the animal in us. I want to be proud of myself. I want more. I want to look up to myself and when I die, I want to smile because of the things I have done, not cry for the things I haven’t done.
External links:
No parent should have to see their child die, but if you were my son, Gordon, I would be immensely proud that you lived every minute of your allotted time to its utmost. A gentleman and a scholar, farewell brother.
While rummaging through one of my drawers today I came across a small memory card for the digital camera I took to Iraq in 2003, and it held photos that I’d forgotten I had. Here’s a few of the better ones. You can find the original fullsize versions of these and my other photos from Iraq on
Flickr.com.
This is a photo of the man who killed Tom Hurndall with a shot to the forehead while Tom was rescuing two Palestinian children from gunfire. It feels strange to look on the face of a person who has killed someone you know. After a long battle by Tom’s family Taysir Hayb was convicted yesterday for killing Tom. Taysir’s military and political masters have yet to take any responsibility for their part in what is a common occurance as part of the general oppression of Palestinians.
Reminds me of something Bansky is quoted to have said:
People who follow authority are dangerous motherfuckers. More crimes are committed in the name of obedience than disobedience. It’s always the people who do what they’re told who end up carrying out genocides and gas attacks.
So just to be on the safe side I’ve stopped doing what I’m told, ever. That way you can always be sure.
I met and got to know Tom a little in Iraq as part of the human shield action. Not surprisingly he was one of the good guys. He left Iraq and ended up in Israel, as far as I know because he wasn’t sure about our strategy in Iraq. This is what Tom wrote in his diary in November, 2001:
What do I want from this life? What makes you happy is not enough. All the things that satisfy our instincts only satisfy the animal in us. I want to be proud of myself. I want more. I want to look up to myself and when I die, I want to smile because of the things I have done, not cry for the things I haven’t done.
Update (26 May 2007): Killers name corrected from Wahid Taysir to Taysir Hayb
I watched
Baghdad or Bust the other night, a BBC 4 documentary on the
human shield action to Iraq, put together with a heap of footage provided by the numerous film crews we had with us. I thought it was a pretty good effort overall. It really nailed home for me what we might of achieved had we not had a certain group of people on board. There’re a bunch of re-runs for those of you in the UK if you missed it, the next one is on Friday at 12:10am.
One major point they missed with regard to the road trip was that Joe Letts, the owner of the red buses, didn’t “volunteer” his buses (as he asserts at the start of the documentary) but charged us thousands of pounds for them.
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