An American Nurse's Ordeal: Detained for Trying to Save a Palestinian Activist's Life
📷 Image source: theintercept.com
The Incident That Sparked Outrage
A Brutal Killing and a Failed Rescue Attempt
On a dusty hillside in the South Hebron Hills, Awdah Hathaleen, a 28-year-old Palestinian activist known for his nonviolent resistance to Israeli settlements, lay bleeding after being shot by settler Yinon Levi. The scene was chaotic, but one woman rushed to help: an American nurse named Sarah Wilkinson, who was volunteering with a medical aid group.
Wilkinson, a seasoned trauma nurse from Chicago, didn’t hesitate. She applied pressure to Hathaleen’s wounds, shouting for an ambulance. But within minutes, Israeli soldiers arrived—not to assist, but to push her away. 'They treated me like a criminal,' Wilkinson later recalled. 'I was just trying to stop the bleeding.'
Hathaleen died on the ground. Wilkinson was handcuffed, interrogated for hours, and then deported—her passport stamped with a 10-year ban from Israel. The message was clear: helping the wrong person in the wrong place comes with consequences.
Who Was Awdah Hathaleen?
The Face of Palestinian Grassroots Resistance
Awdah Hathaleen wasn’t just another name in the endless scroll of casualties in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He was a local leader in the village of At-Tuwani, where settlers have been encroaching on Palestinian land for decades. His activism was documented in the film 'No Other Land,' which showed him leading protests, rebuilding demolished homes, and teaching kids how to navigate checkpoints.
'He believed in resistance without violence,' said his cousin, Bassam Hathaleen. 'But in the end, that didn’t protect him.'
Yinon Levi, the settler who shot Hathaleen, claimed self-defense, but witnesses say Hathaleen was unarmed. The case has since stalled in Israel’s legal system, a familiar pattern in settler violence cases. Meanwhile, Wilkinson’s deportation drew scant attention outside activist circles—until now.
The Nurse’s Story
From Trauma Care to Detention
Sarah Wilkinson didn’t set out to be a political lightning rod. She’s a 34-year-old ER nurse who’s worked in war zones from Syria to South Sudan. 'I go where people are hurting,' she said. 'That’s my job.'
But in the West Bank, her medical credentials meant nothing. After Hathaleen was shot, soldiers accused her of 'interfering with security operations.' Her phone was confiscated, and she was held in a detention center for 12 hours without legal representation. 'They kept asking me why I cared about a terrorist,' she said. 'I told them he was a human being.'
The U.S. Embassy, when contacted, offered little help. A consular officer visited her once but didn’t challenge her deportation. 'It felt like they just wanted me to disappear,' she said.
The Bigger Picture
A Pattern of Silencing Witnesses
Wilkinson’s case isn’t isolated. Over the past five years, at least a dozen international medics and human rights workers have been detained or deported after treating Palestinians in conflict zones. The Israeli government calls it a matter of national security; critics say it’s a tactic to erase witnesses.
'If you remove the people who can document what’s happening, you control the narrative,' said Omar Shakir of Human Rights Watch. 'That’s why Sarah’s story matters.'
For Wilkinson, the fallout is personal. She’s back in Chicago, but her career in crisis zones might be over. 'I don’t regret trying to save Awdah,' she said. 'I regret that no one could save him.'
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