Tareq Odah Ma’ali

January 21, 2023: Tareq Yousef Ma’ali, 42, was shot and killed by an Israeli paramilitary colonizer in the Jabal Ar-Reesan area, near Kafr Ni’ma village, northwest of the central West Bank city of Ramallah.

The Palestinian Health Ministry stated that Tareq Odah Yousef Ma’ali, 42, was a married father of three children, Walid, 12, Laith, 8 and Ahmad, 6 from Kafr Ni’ma village.

Israeli sources claimed the Palestinian exited his car and attempted to stab a colonizer before he shot and killed him. But there was no independent verification of that claim – and it is a frequent excuse used by Israeli settlers and soldiers when they assassinate Palestinians. The Israelis provided no evidence to back their claim.

The incident occurred in the illegal Sde Ephraim illegal colonialist outpost near the Neria colony, built on stolen Palestinian lands.

Ar-Reesan Mountain, situated on lands belonging to al-Janiya, Ras Karkar, and Kafr Ni’ma, witnesses frequent protests due to illegal Israeli annexation and colonialist activities.

The colonialist outpost, Sde Ephraim, is considered “unauthorized” by Israel because it was established without approval from the Israeli government.

All of Israel’s colonies in the occupied West Bank, including those in and around occupied East Jerusalem, are illegal under International Law, the Fourth Geneva Convention in addition to various United Nations and Security Council resolutions. They also constitute war crimes under International Law.

Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states: “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” It also prohibits the “individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory”.

Tareq was a married father of three children from Kafr Ni’ma village. Source: IMEMC