On Thursday we will stand in mourning for Tom Hurndall, the loss his family has experienced, and in solidarity with the families of the 436 Palestinians that have died since April 11, 2003, the day he was shot.
On April 11, 2003, Hurndall was shot through the head by an Israeli sniper in Rafah, Palestine in the occupied Gaza Strip. The sniper started shooting into a crowded area, and most of the children who had been playing there fled, along with the adults. But three small children were left, frozen with fear. Hurndall, who was clearly visible wearing the bright orange jacket of an international volunteer, had already carried one boy to safety and had returned to help the two girls who remained. The bullet hit him as he bent down to take one of them to safety. Suffering severe brain damage with no possibility of ever recovering he laid in a vegetative state at the Royal Hospital for Neurodisability in Putney, England.
He was only 22 years old.
Dear Carl Hurndall, I am saddened by your son’s death, it has given me grief on this gray Seattle day.
Then I am heartened by your son’s courage and show of humanity. He is an inspiration to the rest of humanity to carry on the task at hand – becoming better human beings.
Rachel Corrie, a 23 year-old activist from Olympia, WA was killed one month before Hurndall. On March 16, 2003 she was crushed twice by an Israeli bulldozer while attempting to save a Palestinian house from demolition in Rafah, Gaza. Both Corrie and Hurndall were volunteers with the International Solidarity Movement, a Palestinian led non-violent movement of Palestinian and International activists working to raise awareness of the struggle for Palestinian freedom and an end to the Israeli occupation.
The Women In Black have stood at Westlake Center every Thursday for over two years in mourning for all those who have been killed and wounded in violent conflicts throughout the world.
Contact: Erica Kay 206. 568-7110 or Jenna Stevens 206.369-7087; or email to palestinejustice@aol.com
For further information about Tom Hurndall please contact family spokesperson Carl Arrindell: 07799 768768 or 07956 997 497. Email: carl@tomhurndall.co.uk