Twilight Zone / Five masked men

In a dirty and neglected room in the surgical department of Rafidiya Hospital in Nablus, an elderly shepherd lies injured, the victim of a vicious attack. Five masked men assaulted him last week. They beat him with sticks as he was tending his grazing sheep to the west of his home village of Til. The five came down from the direction of Havat Gilad, an illegal outpost in the territories, sprayed teargas in his face and at his companions, and then began hitting them with sticks, drawing blood, while he lay helpless on the ground. Now the shepherd, Hashem Hamed, has two fractures in his left arm, fractures in his skull, large stitches on his head, in front and back, and is severely traumatized.

His nephew, Amer Hamed, and his fellow shepherd Hussein Asida, who were there, too, have been having nightmares since the day of the attack - Christmas day, last Tuesday, December 25, 2007. Police say they have opened an investigation, "an intelligence investigation," in the words of the police spokesperson. The council head of the victims' village says it is not hard to imagine what would have happened had the situation been reversed, and someone from his village had attacked settlers in this way: The village would have been placed under curfew and arrests would have been made immediately. At Havat Gilad this week, life went on just as usual. No one was arrested, no one was questioned.

He is an aging bachelor who lives with his parents in his village, west of Nablus, and goes out every morning to tend his sheep. There are 40 sheep in all, and they are his whole life and his sole possessions. Last Tuesday morning he got up as usual and shortly after 8 A.M. headed out to the west with the flock. Now Hamed sits on his unmade bed in the hospital, wearing a shabby track suit, surrounded by friends and relatives who have come from the village to visit him.

A little after 10 A.M., he noticed several figures approaching from behind, from the direction of nearby Havat Gilad. There were five young men - three with black masks over their faces. The other two were not masked, he said. They were not carrying firearms, but had heavy sticks and a dog with them. Haaretz