Mazra Ash Sharkiya, West Bank
CNN
–
Saif Moosalett was only a few weeks away from celebrating his 21st birthday, and when he visited his family here, the Florida native began to turn to marriage.
“I think it’s time to get married,” Musalou told his father, Kamel, on a phone call last week. “Hopefully, I can find a future spouse while I’m here.”
The call will be Kamel’s final conversation with his son. A few days later, according to his family and witnesses, Saif was beaten to death by Israeli settlers.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, Musalou was one of two men killed by settlers that day.
Hundreds of people confronted the afternoon sun for the funeral of the two men on Sunday, carrying their bodies to their final resting spot. Some mourners cried openly, buried their faces in the Palestinian flag and wrapped their bodies.
They are one of nearly 1,000 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces or settlers since the region erupted into war on October 7, 2023, according to the United Nations.
Their deaths mark the latest escalation in the colonist attacks at Singil. There, Palestinian residents say that settlers have invaded their land in the past two months, terrorizing the Palestinians.
Mousarou was among the dozens of Palestinians who drove to Singil together after a prayer on Friday and a prayer to reach their land. They say they were attacked by rocks, clubs and gun-wielding settlers.
Among them, a group of settlers came down to Musallet and begged him with sticks and clubs, an eyewitness told CNN.
Musallet’s younger brother manages to contact him and ask for help. He said that Moosarlett is unconscious, but still breathes and needs an ambulance.
However, for at least two hours, the ambulance could not reach him. The settlers were still roaming the area and had already crushed the ambulance windshield that day. On the other side, Israeli forces fired tear gas to disperse the Palestinian crowd, refusing to allow ambulances to pass for hours.
By the time the ambulance reached Musallet, his face was blue and he was holding his breath.
“No one could reach him,” said Mousarou’s father, Camel.
He says he now holds Israeli troops who are as responsible for the death of his son as the settlers who beat him.
“They blocked ambulances and allowed settlers to do what they wanted at any time,” Kamel Moussarrow said. “I take the Israeli army just as responsible as the settlers and the US government and have not done anything about this. Why are you not telling the IDF? Why not prevent the settlers from terrorist attacks?”
Israeli forces said it was investigating Musaloo’s death, but did not respond to allegations that it prevented the ambulance from reaching him.
The Musallet family has called on the US to investigate Musallow’s murder. Beyond the call of sad dol from the US Consulate, Camel Mousalette said he had not heard anything more from the Trump administration.
Saif Mousalette was born and raised in Port Charlotte, Florida, and owned an ice cream shop in Tampa with his father.
“Everyone loved him. Everyone loved Safe,” his father said.
But Camel Mousalette says he believes there is a double standard. The US government says he would take the murder of his son more seriously if he were in America and Israel.
“We want justice. We want America and Israel, America and the Palestinians to be in the same class,” Kamel Musalett said. “These are Americans, but for some reason, the Americans and Palestinians are distinguished from America and Israel.”
Hafez Abdel Jabbar, a US citizen, was one of the Palestinians on the scene that day. He said that settlers and soldiers prevented the ambulance and soldiers from reaching Musallet for several hours until a vehicle appeared with a police officer from Cogat, an Israeli coordinator of government activities on the territory, and agreed to escort him.
Abdel Jabbar believes Musallet could have been saved if it had been previously allowed.
“Of course,” Abdel Jabber said. “The first minute, from the first call… he was breathing.”
CNN witnessed firsthand the violence of settlers in Singil on Sunday when we were attacked by a group of settlers who smashed the windows of our vehicles.
A white car began to follow the team as Abdel Jabbar ran down the CNN and took Musallet’s unconscious body to the site where he found it.
Inside there was a group of at least four settlers who covered their faces as they began pursuing our cars.
As they approached a nearby intersection, the settlers got out of their car and tried to strip the vehicle away, but turned around as CNN approached the nearby Israeli border police vehicle.
Border police forces immediately headed out to search for settlers after being warned by CNN.
However, a few minutes later, our team was ambushed. The settlers attacked in hiding and not visible to border police.
One assailant of some kind, or mallet-wielding, crashed into a CNN vehicle, causing the team to quickly smash the rear window. Israeli police have launched an “active investigation in pursuit of justice” on the attacks, saying such cases are being treated “very seriously.”
“If it had taken us another five seconds, we would have all been beaten,” Abdel Jabber said.
But for Abdel Jabbar, it is a taste of the harsh reality he is forced to face in the West Bank. His son, Tawfic, was killed in January 2024 by Israeli settlers.
“You scream to the whole world, the whole world is watching – simply silent – all these mothers see their sons working hard to raise them for 20 years,” Abdel Jabber said. “And you pick them up when you place them on the ground, under the sky. And the silence continues over and over.”
“It is the silence of the whole world that seriously hurts you.”
