Labor activist electrocuted while switching poster

Dead volunteer's mother says she doesn't want to lay blame.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
elections06.article.298 (photo credit: )
elections06.article.298
(photo credit: )
A 27-year-old Labor Party activist died on Saturday, while trying to remove a Likud sign from an electric pole on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv Highway near the town of Azor. Liad Golan, a resident of Kibbutz Beit Hashita, was electrocuted as he attempted to replace the Likud sign with a Labor poster. Labor activists had arrived at the heavily-trafficked highway to hang signs on the Azor bridge, when they noticed the Likud sign hanging on a nearby electrical pole. Golan climbed up the pole in order to remove the sign, and was electrocuted as he tried to reach the top. MDA teams that were scrambled to the site pronounced the young man dead on the scene. Aliza Golan, mother of Liad, said on Sunday that she had never worried about her son's political activities. "Ever since he was a kid he took part in labor rallies with his father and me. He was a serious, responsible boy. This business of climbing on electric poles doesn't seem like him. It's not like him to put himself in danger. I was always quiet about him," Aliza told Army Radio. "The police explained what happened, but no one explained it to me. No one saw it first-hand, but talked about it after it happened. I don't want to blame anyone. After I get all the details, I'll lay blame where and when I see fit." "Right now," Aliza continued, "I'm in such pain and such loss. Nothing will give me back my Liad." The Labor Party issued a statement saying that they mourned Golan's death, and that they embraced his family in their time of hardship. Labor Party Chairman Amir Peretz spoke with Golan's mother, and said that "the party shall be with the family in the rough times ahead." In sympathy with the bereaved family, the party said that they would suspend all activities for the remainder of the day, and Peretz called for the convening of a special party committee to investigate the tragedy. A Labor spokesman said the party was also discussing suspending campaign events scheduled for Sunday. One activist who was present at the scene of the Golan's death and two members of the planning committee were detained for questioning by the Ayalon District Police, who were investigating the incident. The police said that there was no question of responsibility or neglect on the part of the Israel Electric Corporation, which had warned parties of the dangers of climbing and hanging signs on electrical towers. The Shinui Party offered their condolences to the man's family and to the Labor Party, saying that this was ultimately one of many election campaigns, and that no such campaign was worth the life of a person.