Tariq Abu Khdeir is not deterred: Despite Israeli police attack, he plans on returning to Palestine
8/19/2014
The quiet street where 15-year-old Tariq Abu Khdeir lives is nestled behind twists and turns on small roads. The Tampa, Florida townhouse where the Palestinian-American rests his head looks like all the other homes on his block. The high school Tariq attends is a quick drive away.
It is a typical American suburban setting, with his mom raising her young children and his father working in a restaurant an hour away. And it couldn’t be more different than the chaos that enveloped Tariq and his family after his cousin, 16-year-old Mohammed Abu Khdeir, was kidnapped and burned alive by a group of Israeli Jews in July. Israeli police beat Tariq, who was in Jerusalem on a family vacation, to a pulp during the protests that took place in response to the kidnapping.
Tariq, tall and soft-spoken, is now safe and sound. His face, badly distorted by the beating delivered by two Israeli officers, is back to normal, though his mother says he still suffers from occasional headaches. But his life has been topsy-turvy ever since his cousin was killed, and he is far from an escape back into total normality. His legal team is looking into their options, hoping for accountability from the Israeli system. And he has been whisked around the U.S. to demonstrations and to talk about his ordeal and spread the word about human rights abuses in Palestine. Many more protests and events are in Tariq’s future.
Tariq says it’s tiring to continually talk about what happened to him. But, he added, “at the same time, you think about it, it’s like you’re helping people, you’re helping your own people.” And despite his ordeal, Tariq wants to go back to Palestine to see his family and celebrate events like weddings.
in full:http://mondoweiss.net/2014/08/tariq-abu-khdeir-is-not-deterred-despite-israeli-police-attack-he-plans-on-returning-to-palestine.html