"I had just left the Friday prayers at the neighborhood's protest tent when I saw a car speeding towards me," remembers Amran Mansur, 11, who was ran over byDavid Be'eri, chairman of the Elad Association promoting Jewish settlement in east Jerusalem.
Amran was released from the Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem early on Saturday. "I couldn’t run away in time, I didn't even have time to signal him with my hands," he says. "It was clear he did it on purpose. I was on the sidewalk, so there's no chance it wasn't deliberate."
It should be noted that in the video clip documenting the event, which was released by Al Jazeera, one can clearly see that Amran was walking on the road, and not on the sidewalk as he claims. Nevertheless, the video also shows the vehicle suddently accelerating towards the boy, from a short distance.
Al Jazeera video
(צילום: אלג'זירה)
Amran's father, Muhammad, who was in Nablus at the time of the incident, returned to Jerusalem following the event. "I usually never leave him," he told Ynet. "But yesterday I was on a family visit and when I heard what had happened I returned home."
The father says that when he saw the video footage he didn't believe his son was alive. "It was a crazy image, a deliberate running over. Thank Allah he and the other kids are alive and well. I didn't believe he would survive it."
'Boy suffers from hallucinations'
Muhammad says he is not sure whether to prosecute Be'eri. "At this point, I'm only thinking about my son and his rehabilitation this next week," he says. "He will be undergoing treatment until his stitches are removed, but the boy is still hallucinating."
The father noted that after being released from hospital, Amran fell asleep but awoke suddenly. "After he woke up he didn’t speak, he sits and stares. I hope we make it through this."
Amran himself speaks quite clearly and says his injuries still cause him pain. Nevertheless, he admits his memory of the event is blurry. "I saw that the two kids next to me had been injured as well and that's the last thing I remember," he says.