To Understand What 'To Neutralize' Means, Look at This Broken Palestinian Man
A young Palestinian participates in a tumultuous demonstration, Israeli undercover men knock him to the ground and shoot him point-blank. The result: Mohammed Ziada, 19, is partly paralyzed and wheelchair-bound.
If you want to see what things look like from there – meaning, not in Israel – visit the cafeteria at the Beit Jala rehabilitation hospital, 15 minutes from Jerusalem. Managed by a charity organization, this Palestinian counterpart to Israel’s Beit Loewenstein is considered the West Bank’s best rehab center. Its patients include some of the victims of the events of recent weeks. They were “neutralized” by Israeli security forces but were lucky: They weren’t killed and weren’t arrested (or they were detained and then released); they were “only” wounded seriously and crippled, temporarily or for the rest of their life.