When Israeli settlers attacked their West Bank village of Abu Falah, Milia Hamayel told her son not to try to fight them off, but the 30-year-old went to defend a friend's land anyway.
"I called him two or three more times and he didn't answer. After that -- may God have mercy on him -- that was it," she told AFP, her lips trembling as she looked at a framed picture of her son, Thaer.Â
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