Jerusalem, 13 May 1998. Khairi Alkam, a 51-year-old Palestinian labourer, left home early in the morning to pray at al-Aqsa mosque before going to work. As he was walking through the Mea She’arim neighbourhood, a suspected Jewish terrorist stabbed him in the back and left him to bleed to death in the street. He left behind a wife and nine children.
The crime horrified Israelis and Palestinians alike. Ezer Weizman, then president of Israel, visited Alkam’s widow Dalal to pay his respects and described the killing of her husband as ‘a murder by cowards’. Dalal was not eligible for compensation under the Victims of Hostile Actions (Pensions) Law – no perpetrator had been identified and the 1970 legislation was drafted with only Palestinian terrorism in mind. Nevertheless, the defence ministry authorised a six-figure payment. A mere token compared to a human life but a shuffle nonetheless towards Israel reckoning with its own extremists.
The veneration of violence within sections of Palestinian society is what has allowed Israel to become so complacent
Jerusalem, 27 January 2023.
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