Jordan University to Honor Dead Child with Trust Fund, Prize, Garden

Published October 3rd, 2000 - 02:00 GMT
Al Bawaba
Al Bawaba

The brutal death of 12-year-old Mohamed al-Durra has led a Jordanian university to set up a trust fund in his name to pay tribute to the child "martyr", university president Mohamed Adnan al-Bakhit told AFP Tuesday. 

"Mohamed is a symbol of Israeli brutality and after watching television and seeing how they were showering him with bullets we decided that it was high time we recognize a martyr," Bakhit said. 

"We usually react positively to any agony in Palestinian towns and villages but this is the first time we recognize by name a martyr," he added. 

The state university has decided to set up "a trust fund to fund scholarships for students coming from Jerusalem or its neighborhoods" as well as award an annual prize bearing Mohamed's name, Bakhit said. 

The university is currently studying the conditions of the prize, he said. 

A small flower garden inside the campus will also be named after the child, who was killed by bullets apparently fired from Israeli army troops Saturday during clashes with Palestinian protesters in Gaza, Bahkit said. 

Jordan's widely-read Al-Dustour newspaper meanwhile distributed with its Tuesday edition a poster comprising four pictures showing Mohamed cowering beside his father as the bullets flew. 

The AFP pictures taken from a French television film show Mohammed and his father, Jamal al-Durra, huddling against a wall, desperately trying to take cover from the gun-battle. 

The last picture shows the boy slumped over his father dead with Jamil semi-unconscious as a result of being also hit by bullets. 

The poster carries in red the message: "We must never forget". 

The incident was captured by a French television cameraman and shown all round the world, evoking reactions of shock and horror, including from US President Bill Clinton. 

The Israeli army admitted Monday that it could have fired the shot that killed the boy. 

Jamal al-Durra is currently recovering in a Amman hospital from surgery to remove bullets from his arm and pelvis sustained during the same gun-battle that killed the boy. 

Doctors and officials have said Jamal will suffer permanent paralysis of the right hand and is struggling with psychological trauma - AMMAN (AFP)  

 

 

© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)

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