SA’IR, WEST BANK – A widespread sense of anger and frustration was palpable as more than 10,000 people gathered on Feb. 25 in the West Bank town of Sa’ir, near Hebron, for the funeral of 30-year-old Arafat Jaradat, who had died two days earlier in an Israeli prison.
“Everyone is surprised about what happened,” Jaradat’s cousin Aded told Al-Monitor shortly before the funeral procession reached the local cemetery. “All the village is like his family. We are angry. [This shows that] anyone can come back as a martyr.” The father of two young children, Jaradat died on Feb. 23 in Israel’s Megiddo prison after five days behind bars. Israeli authorities arrested him last week on suspicion of stone throwing.