IDFWO_British

Refusing to Walk the Path
of Mourning in Solitude
As a widow who lost her husband eight months ago to terrorism, Arin Sitawe
wages her battle with grief with one simple request: to not be left alone
• BY NOA AMOUYAL
When Arin Sitawe emerges from
her house perched upon a
hilltop in Maghar, a tranquil
Druze village in the Eastern Galilee, one
can immediately see that a light that
shone so brightly within her has been
extinguished.
It is clear that her striking brown eyes
have shed many tears in the past eight
months, since her husband, police officer
Haiel Sitawe, was killed by terrorists
outside the Temple Mount last July.
Arin recalled speaking to her husband
at 5 a.m., a mere two hours before he
was gunned down by three terrorists
outside the holy site’s complex.
“I remember everything clearly,” she
said, her voice shaking. “I just delivered
our son 10 days before. I was nervous
and anxious and couldn’t sleep all
night. I called him and he told me to be
calm and focus on our baby.”
After reluctantly hanging up, she
knew in her heart something was
wrong. It was the last time she would
ever speak to her husband.
“My father’s cellphone rang, and
he stepped out of the house to take it.
I knew then something wasn’t right.
Something had happened,” she said,
recalling that fateful morning.
“My father came back inside and told
my sister and me that Haiel was injured.
But I knew that wasn’t true. He was
gone. I told him he was lying to me. And
then I simply passed out from shock,”
she added.
“I have no words.
I can’t even envision my
future at the moment. How
can I go on? How can I
raise a child alone? I just
don’t know,”
Arin Sitawe
Haiel Sitawe wasn’t the only casualty
that morning. Kamil Shnaan, a fellow
Druze police officer, was also killed and
left behind a fiancée, parents, a brother
and three sisters in mourning.
During our conversation Sitawe
doesn’t make eye contact often. Her
gaze is often directed to somewhere
else, perhaps the other world she wishes
she could be in. One that would include
her husband beside her.
While most widows are able to overcome
one of life’s greatest tragedies over
time, Sitawe’s grief is still raw and fresh.
Every word she utters, every step she
takes is another reminder that her husband
is no longer with her and that she
has suddenly become a single mother.
“I have no words. I can’t even envision
my future at the moment. How can I go
on? How can I raise a child alone? I just
don’t know,” she said.
“My family gives me strength to go on
and stand on my feet and raise a child. I
12 IDFWO MARCH 2018
Haiel Sitawe in uniform. Sitawe
was slain by terrorists during the
terror attack beside the Temple
Mount complex last year.