The mothers in Gesher al-Zarqa are not ready to remain silent. They can no longer stand aside in the face of the wave of violence sweeping their village. Since the beginning of the year, seven young men have been murdered in the village. Three weeks ago there was another “step up” in violence, and since then three young men from the village have been shot to death. The last of them is Zahi Jurban.
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It happened last Friday at 7:30 pm. A masked man entered the courtyard of the house of Khadra Jurban, Mohammed’s niece, and started shooting everywhere. Her son Waid, 12 years old, and her brother Hamadan were moderately wounded by the shooting. From here everything just gets more and more complicated.
Later in the evening, Muhammad’s two sons – Zahi and Lotfi – went to the house of one of the families in the village. They allegedly shot at her. And hence there are two versions of what happened: one of the police and one of the members of the Jurban family.
Mohammed is a councilor in Jasr al-Zarqa, one who has been fighting corruption and crime for years that have destroyed every good part of his settlement. The residents attribute the escalation in crime this year to the construction of residential buildings on the beach in the “Housing for Residents” project. The project attracted criminal organizations from outside the village, and these remotely operate the Majesar crime family that terrorizes the residents here.
The village of Jessar a Zarqa is located on one of the most beautiful stretches of beach in Israel, near Caesarea. But it is also one of the poorest settlements in Israel. More than 16 thousand residents live there, more than 50% of them are young people under the age of 19.
Ahmed, the owner of the Juha guesthouse, established it in the heart of the village years ago, believing that it is possible to have a social business here, one that will attract Israelis, Arabs and tourists.
Despite the establishment of a police station here 4 years ago and despite the reinforcement of the forces and the well-publicized operations, such as the one in which seven suspects were arrested this week in the recent shooting incidents, the police are having great difficulty dealing with the rampant crime in the village. There is not a single moment here. This week was not quiet in Jessar either. Mohammed claims that the crime family in the village tried to run over one of his sons.