Israel Matzav

Mohamed's wedding?

Last night, I reported that Hamas had arrested Jamal al-Dura, the father of Muhammed al-Dura, for involvement in a 'family brawl.' This morning, the Jerusalem Post carried an al-AP report that says that al-Dura was arrested for shooting in the air during a wedding, a long-standing 'Palestinian' tradition. Here's where things get dicey:

Al-Dura, a Fatah supporter, denied the accusations and said he can't carry guns because of his medical condition.

...

At the police station, Hamas asked al-Dura to sign a piece of paper to pledge he will abide by the law, al-Dura said. He refused.

"I am a law abiding citizen," al-Dura said. "I am a respected man around the world and here. This is an affront to me and to them," al-Dura said in reference to Hamas.

Hamas security said al-Dura was called in for questioning on a firing incident and was released.

At The Augean Stables, Richard Landes speculates as to what's really going on.

No way of knowing whether this is an insight into how much Hamas is trying to get control of “private violence” (and hence a monopoly on “public violence”) in Gaza, or whether that was an excuse to bring Jamal in and question/warn him about what he says about his son, given the increased attention the trial is bringing to him. The possibility that this is linked to the trial seems remote — it may be pure coincidence that this happened now — but bears watching.

I'm going to go a step further. On September 30, 2000, the day Mohamed was 'killed,' he was 12 years old. That would make him 19 or 20 today. 19 or 20 is marrying age in this part of the world - in some communities even for the boys. I'm going to go out on a limb to say that the wedding was Mohamed's and that the reason Hamas called al-Dura in was to 'remind him' not to do anything that would damage Mohamed's propaganda value.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:04 PM