News, articles and documents from
the Holy Land
Issue No. 133 - Tuesday, 26 February 2002
Dear
Friends, Brothers and Sisters,
Last Saturday morning I went with our Patriarch and all the other Christian
Leaders of the 13 Churches of Jerusalem to visit Mr. Yasser Arafat in order to
present him the good wishes for Al-Adha Moslem Feast. We passed through
Qalandia Checkpoint with the 9 cars convey while it was completely closed to
both cars and passengers, which means that nobody from Jerusalem can go out to
Ramallah neither from Ramallah to Jerusalem. It is always the same policy of
humiliation of a whole nation and the closure of a whole people inside small
closed prisons inside a big closed prison. We passed because we had diplomatic
cars but we saw fear and anger all around us: the soldiers are alerted and nerves,
they hold they machine gun and are ready to shoot, poor soldiers who are
obliged to stay at these checkpoints day and night in order to humiliate
another human beings.. They know very well that this will not provide security
to their Israeli citizens neither to themselves… six of them were killed last
week on a checkpoint, 30% of their fellow colleagues refuse so far to serve in
the occupied Palestinian areas, thousands of officers and reserve soldiers
signed a letter in which they refuse to serve outside the borders of Israel “Yesh
Gvul = there are borders” is the name of this new movement inside the Israeli
army.
At Arafat residence we found him calm and in a very good shape, he was
very happy of the visit and in a good humor, even he was kidding most of the
time. He reiterated his commitment to peace and he said that he is ready to go
back to the table of negotiation even tomorrow. He told us that he received a
letter from 11 presidents of states addressed to him and to Mr. Sharon to
calling them to cease-fire and calm dawn the situation, he said that we are
ready and we have done more than enough to show the Israeli side and the
International community our willingness to finish this conflict. He also welcomed
the initiative of crown prince of Saudi Arabia Prince Abdullah and said that he
is ready to put it in practice as soon as possible and encourage the Arab countries
to adopt it as a strategy and a basis of an immediate negotiation.
I am not defending Arafat, but I felt really that he is sincere and
honest in his efforts and proposals… Therefore, I see that the ball is in the
Israeli playground and they have to capture the opportunity and respond positively
to Arafat’s call for cease-fire and Prince Abdallah’s initiative for a full normalization
with Israel in exchange of a full withdrawal from the occupied Arab land in
1967. It is the last chance for Israel to be integrated in the Arab and Islamic
world; otherwise, it will remain a strange body and even a drop of water in the
ocean of one billion of Arabs and Moslems. The price is not very high, it is
simply the end of the occupation of 22% of the historical Palestine and in exchange
they will keep 78% of Palestine that they occupied in 1948. This is already a
very big concession from the Palestinian side and no one can ask them to do
more. I hope that all the signs of hope will give fruits of peace, Justice and
Reconciliation as soon as possible for both our peoples in the Holy Land.
In today’s Olive Branch, you will find some very interesting documents
that I collected from our friends who write us their report from the field of
the battle:
1)
Two briefings about the visit of President
Bashar Al-Asad of Syria to the Holy Father. I send it because it contains a new
call for peace in the middle East.
2)
In her Jerusalem Journal # 48, Sister Mary analyses
Sharon speech and arrives to the conclusion that he simply does not have a
"clean-cut plan" and this is right.
3)
In his LETTER FROM BETHLEHEM (15), Toine van
Teeffelen tells us about the Israeli plans to confiscate land in Bethlehem area
to open a bypass road for the settlers. Settlers and settlements are a real
obstacle for peace!
4)
Restrictions on movement between the
Palestinian cities and villages are very severe, therefore, let us hear Dr.
Maria C. Khoury telling us what happened with her on the Way to Beit Jala. (The
enclosed picture will illustrate this daily story).
5)
I received this letter from a Christian Youth
Group in Ramallah and I share it with you to let you know how these young
people feel in these days.
6)
Uri Avnery, the famous Israeli peace activist,
reveals in his article “Politicus Interruptus” the real story of Mr. Barak in
Camp David.
7)
I am sorry to end this Olive Branch with the
Latest Targets Amid The Blood And Violence: Pregnant Women. Innocent people
from both sides are losing their lives!
It is high time to stop this tragedy of both sides; you can do
something and make a difference. Please, help us!
Best wishes from Jerusalem Fr. Raed
Abusahlia
POPE RECEIVES SYRIAN PRESIDENT
VATICAN CITY, (VIS) - At midday today, Fr. Ciro Benedettini C.P., vice-director of the Holy See Press Office, made the following declaration:
"The Holy Father today received in audience Bashar Al-Assad, president of the Arab Republic of Syria, accompanied by his entourage.
"The Syrian president then met Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Sodano for a cordial encounter in which Farouk Al-Shara, vice-prime minister and foreign minister of Syria, and Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, secretary for Relations with States, also took part.
“In the course of the discussions, opinions were exchanged on the subject of relations between Syria and the Holy See following the Holy Father's historic visit to Damascus last year, and on ways to restore peace to the Middle East, especially the Holy Land, on the basis of the well-known U.N. resolutions”.
VATICAN OPPOSES ATTACKS ON IRAQ
AND FAVORS CREATION OF PALESTINIAN STATE
Pope to Interrupt Annual Retreat in Order to Meet Syrian President
ROME, (Zenit.org).- Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Vatican secretary of state, called for the recognition of a Palestinian state. He also said an attack on Iraq "would not contribute to peace."
In a meeting Monday with the highest authorities of Italy, the cardinal appealed to the country to work for the "right of existence of two states" in the Middle East, "the state of Israel and the Palestinian state."
Cardinal Sodano also revealed that on Thursday the Holy Father will interrupt his weeklong Spiritual Exercises to meet with Syrian President Bachar al-Assad. Commenting on the president’s visit, the cardinal expressed the hope that "all men of goodwill will collaborate to put an end to the Calvary lived by the peoples of the region."
Cardinal Sodano´s annual meeting with the Italian president, Prime Minister and other authorities took place in the Italian Embassy in the Vatican, on the anniversary of the 1929 Lateran Pact.
At the end of the meeting, Cardinal Sodano revealed to the press that the Vatican appealed to the Italian government for its commitment in fostering Mideast peace.
"We must help these two nations live together," he explained. "Without the effort of the international community, it will be difficult for the two adversaries to come to an agreement."
"We must hasten to put an end to this situation, giving the two states the right of existence," the cardinal stressed, "and we must help these nations live together."
He added: "It is true that an attack against Iraq would not help the situation in the Middle East."
Jerusalem
Journal # 48
Sister
Mary
23/2/2002
Here in Jerusalem we have watched a week of escalation in the violence throughout Israel and Palestine. And both peoples tuned in to hear Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's policy in regard to the situation here as he addressed the Israelis on TV Thursday night. Both were troubled by what they heard. The Israeli press reported that there was nothing new in his speech, except for the construction of a" buffer zone", a concrete wall nine feet high running from the area of Gilboa in the north to Hebron in the south. That's about 300 kilometers of a Berlin style wall, which of course will be built on Palestinian lands after the land is confiscated for that purpose. Some Israelis are reminded of Sharon's unsuccessful "buffer zones" in South Lebanon, which claimed the lives of over a thousand members of the Israeli Occupation Forces there. I found myself wondering about all the Israeli settlements that are in the West Bank and Gaza; they will be on the wrong side of the wall. One dreads what they might be able to do to the indigenous people of this land. The Prime Minister said: "There is on other way."
Last month an Israeli newspaper had a lengthily article about how the
checkpoints that the Israeli government has set up on all the roads near the
West Bank are of no real value for security. The article pointed out that they
are only places of showing who is in control; places of wasted time and
humiliation for the Palestinians trying to pass through them. This week the
Israeli Occupation Force at those checkponts discovered just how insecure they
are -- six Israeli soldiers lost their lives there. "Buffer zones"
will be no better. The day prior to Prime Minister Sharon's TV appearance, the
Palestine Monitor publication stated that anyone who tries to avoid checkpoints
by using by-pass roads will be shot. One can only expect the death toll to
rise.
In response to the speech, Israelis have said that it sounded like a
"hollow election speech" and showed that Sharon, who was elected on
his promise to bring security to Israel, has only brought more insecurity and
death. The conclusion of many was that he simply does not have a
"clean-cut plan", except his plan to force the elected leader of the
Palestinians, President Arafat, out of office. This plan allows Sharon the
freedom of not having to deal with the issue of negotiations, the issue of
justice and the issue of peace. An American response to the speech came
in terms of the "wild west"; Sharon called for "the circling of
the wagons", but this time it was in the form of a huge concrete
wall. The lucky Israelis, Romanians or Phillipinos who work for the
concrete factory will not have to worry about their jobs during this time of
economic slowdown. A Palestinian woman who listened to the Prime Minister
Thursday night reflected that they, the Israelis, are afraid now. It's
true, many more Israelis are fearful. The man who promised them security has
only brought increased insecurity into their daily lives due to his steadily
increasing the violence against Palestinians.
But what I never cease to be amazed at is the ability of the Palestinians to
adjust to whatever curtailment of freedom, whatever humiliation or
destruction that is forced upon them. They have survived these past 16
months; and even though their leader is not allowed to leave his compound (which
has been bombed twice this week), even though family and friends have died in
the atrocities of these months, even though they have been out of work or not
allowed through the checkpoints to get to work, even though their homes or
sources of livelihood have been destroyed, all this seems to have made
them more resilient and more unified.
For ages as the Jews have considered themselves sons of Abraham through Isaac,
the Arabs have considered themselves sons of Abraham through Ishmael. Both had
their desert experiences and both survived.
LETTER FROM BETHLEHEM (15)
Toine van Teeffelen
In splendid
Spring-like weather, I had the opportunity last Saturday, together with other
representatives of institutions in Bethlehem and colleagues of United Civilians
for Peace, to visit the Za’atera district east of Bethlehem at the edge of the
desert. On the occasion of the Moslem Al-Adha feast, we came to express
solidarity with the Palestinian population there who had erected a protest tent
against the establishment of a new Israeli bypass road linking Jerusalem to
Tekoa. The tent was conveniently put at the top of an hill so that our host,
the local member of the Palestinian Legislative Council Salah Ta’amari, could
explain the impact of the road waving towards the fields (still) dotted with
trees and flowers.
Some 1500 dunam
Palestinian lands will be confiscated, he explained, over ten houses destroyed,
olive trees uprooted, and a tomb desecrated. The last few years, the Israeli
government had twice tried to open the road but each time the implementation
was canceled due to local opposition. However, an extreme right-wing member of
the Sharon-government, Avigdor Lieberman, lives in Nokadim, which is part of
the settlement bloc around Tokoa (ironically the birthplace of the prophet
Amos, the voice of justice). The minister linked his support for the annual
budget of the government to the construction of the by-pass road. Sharon
complied. According to one Israeli commentator, Zeev Schiff, the bypass road is
simply an act of “stupidity” since the Israeli government will never be able to
keep control over the isolated and small settlements around Tekoa. The road
would create new flashpoints and would in fact be quite dangerous for the
settlers themselves. It passes through scattered Palestinian hamlets, and
youngsters would throw stones, or worse. Strategically, the road serves to
connect the settlements around Tekoa with Har Homa/Abu Ghneim, the large
settlement to the south of Jerusalem where foreign labourers are building
apartments for the new Jewish inhabitants who, under the present tense
conditions, are not likely to come in great numbers. Yet, the settlement effort
continues, whatever the Palestinians and “the world” say.
Waving to the
northern side, Ta’amari points out that the bypass road would cut through Beit
Sahouri lands, effectively dividing the land area of Beit Sahour in two parts
and curtailing any possible expansion of the town. As an Israeli once said, it
is like the Japanese Go game. You create continuity yourself and divide the
other’s territory. If you create complete continuity for yourself and complete
separation for the other, you win. That is here the game on the ground. On the
southern side, the road would pass by Herodion, an important archeological site
- the place where King Herod was buried. It would come close to the water pump
stations near Tekoa that are Israeli-controlled and supply water to Israel.
Another element in the strategic game. After this, the road would pass the
settlement bloc around Tekoa and link up with the main Bethlehem-Hebron road.
Of course, the
road would not be open for local Palestinians. In fact it would rather make it
more difficult for Palestinians from the Hebron area to reach Bethlehem. This
would especially be so when the normal road 60 between the two cities is closed
off for local Palestinians and they have to take their own laborious “bypass”
roads through areas which now may become inaccessible due to the new road.
*
* *
So what to be
done? Ta’amari explains that going to the Israeli High Court is not very
promising. By doing so, the farmers would recognize the Israeli presence on the
land and have moreover very small chance to win their case, since the High
Court usually accepts the “security” reasons brought forword by the army. In
fact, the farmers presently refuse any compensation so as not to legitimize the
road. What else, publicity? Yes, when Abu Ghneim/Har Homa was going to be
built, the local population in Beit Sahour and Bethlehem organized protests
which led to an international outcry under the Netanyahu government. Even the
British foreign minister Robin Cook visited the site and voiced his protest,
says Ta’amari. After that, the Israeli government and Jerusalem municipality
suspended activities until the international climate was more favourite. The
building process was once again started up under the Barak government, during
the peace negotiations. The protests turned out to be in vain.
“Let me say it
bluntly,” continues Ta’amari. “The youngsters here, in this district, nowadays
do not believe in non-violence. They mock people like me who have tried so
often.” (I remember that over ten years ago Ta’amari had contributed to a book
written jointly with a veteran Israeli journalist, seeking dialogue).
At least for the
moment, various international delegations (Belgians, French, Dutch – my own
group, United Civilians for Peace) are taking stock of the situation. Also
Israeli groups have shown their presence over the last weeks: Gush Shalom,
Ta’ayush, Peace Now. The elder people in the tent feel encouraged but remain skeptical.
One speaker mentions the “European brothers” – a subtle hint of saying how much
people here feel being left alone by the “Arab brothers.”
*
* *
At the
institute, we discuss with several other local NGOs the prospect of new Justice
and Peace marches. We opt to have them every three-four months, the first one
in April. The challenge is to increase the number of participants and to have
broad international attendance. With a local and national coalition of forces
we may build the marches into an institute by itself. A dream or a necessity?
*
* *
Mary is tired.
She enters the ninth month. She still manages to go to work but for less hours.
Slowly we are making ourselves up for a new baby to be born in an inhospitable
country. A country not without hope, I say despite so much evidence to the
contrary. Four years ago, when Jara was to be born, I wrote a father’s “letter
to an unborn child” making a number of “small” wishes for her future, such as
traveling freely. They turned out to be big wishes. Yesterday I passed the
checkpoint. The soldiers there were so worked up and intimidating, after last
week’s attacks against checkpoints, that I would not think of taking Jara with
me under such conditions. She would be frightened. We have to wait a little
while longer. As Mary says, “patience, patience how long will it aid me, just
look at patience how it has made me.”
On the Way to Beit Jala Today
By Dr. Maria C. Khoury
Three young soldiers with machine guns pointed at my chest want to make sure I understand the road is closed today. I insisted I am a foreigner with a legal visa and I should be allowed to pass. The soldiers insisted, with their guns still aiming at me that this particular road is closed to all except of course the illegal Israeli settlers that fly by in their cars without stopping at checkpoints using these roads built especially for them to avoid going through Arab villages. It is so frustrating not to be able to get to work sometimes. And not being able to use this particular road for me means being locked up in the village because it is the only road out that doesn't have concrete blocks. Although Taybeh is a very beautiful village, days like today, I feel it's like a big jail. Our situation in the Holy Land is deteriorated so badly and the international community still cannot put pressure on Sharon to at least uplift the severe closure.
Normally, these soldiers can handle up to one hour of my begging, nagging, and pleading to pass. However, these are not normal days in the Holy Land. Fifty people have died just this week alone. The violence has escalated to the point of no return. Especially the last few weeks there have been increased attacks on Israeli soldiers and this fact has put all of them on the edge. I never had so many guns pointed at me pulling up at checkpoint before. You can just sense the soldiers are nervous and tense. The other day one of them literally said to me as I pulled up faster than usual to show him my passport: "You scared me, don't drive so fast." I thought in my mind, just imagine, he has the gun, the bulletproof vest and the armored jeeps and tanks behind him and I scared him just because I am in a hurry to get to Beit Jala.
Since September this year when the education office for the Latin Patriarchate Schools of Jerusalem relocated from Ramallah, always under siege, to the new location in Beit Jala (which is sometimes under siege), it has been a nightmare for me to make it to Beit Jala even once a week. The rest of the education staff is thrilled about this new office under the leadership of Fr. Majdi Siryani, the new general director because they are mostly from the Beit Sahour and Beit Jala area. But for me, it technically means five checkpoints to reach and hours on the road. Eventually, I am very worried that these horrible checkpoints or Fr. Majdi will force me to give up the work that has brought so much meaning and purpose in my life.
On the way to work what usually disturbs me the most is to see so many Palestinian young men pulled over and detained longer than what is required. Their identification is taken away from them to be examined and their hands up in the air to be searched and just totally humiliated and every piece of dignity stripped from their being. The problem with this discrimination is that it occurs every single day. It would be so logical for the Israeli army to pull out of the West Bank and take their illegal settlers with them. Millions of Palestinian people pay such a high price with their dignity and their human rights just for these people to occupy Palestinian land since l967 illegally. It is so unjust.
Even good decent people can turn into terrorists because the conditions in the Holy Land are so horrid, unacceptable, inhuman. It is a shame that America has more laws for animal rights than we have in Palestine for human beings. It is really a shame that America is financing such occupation, which is denying over three million people their basic human rights
.
A letter from a Christian
Youth Group in Ramallah
Dear
Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
By the name of St.
Andrews Youth Church in Ramallah-Palestine, we would like to share with you our
pain, suffering and what we face these days from dangerous and aggressive
attacks form Israeli occupation to our land-land of Jesus.
As Christians living in the Holy Land
since 2000 years ago, holding the declarations of peace that Jesus initiated,
we ask you to support us in our time of suffering from the consequence of war.
By sharing us in our prayer for peace.
It’s a pity that after twenty century the
Holy Land” Land of Jesus“ where he first called for peace, forgiveness and
loveliness between people are still looking for that peace. Jesus has taught us
to love and forgive each other, as well as our enemies, and that we are trying
to do. Looking backward in history how Israel took our lands forcing
Palestinians to leave their homes to become refugees and immigrants. During the
establishment of the Jewish entity in 1948, Israel occupied more than 75% of
our land and left more than half of our people homeless. But the story didn’t
stop their after 19 years in 1967 Israel occupied the rest of our land
Palestine which led to more and more people leaving their land looking for
shelter. Isn’t that a pity that
the people of the Holy Land, the home for peace and justice, are forced to move
away?!!!
Since the beginning of the Palestinians
ordeal due to the Israelis aggression, we are trying to get back our stolen
land. Despite the suffering and the injustice that the occupation is causing
us, we are still seeking peace and looking for our independence. But Israeli
policy is to destroy all the peace initiatives by violating our basic and
essential human rights of living.
Fifty-three years of suffering is enough
for 6 millions Palestinians to have the right to live just like other human
beings. So don’t let the darkness of war against terror blind your eyes and
forget us, we need your support and prayers for us to live in dignity and to
our children to have a better future.
We will provide you with a full
description of our situation in the coming letters
The youth of St. Andrews in Ramallah
Politicus
Interruptus
Uri Avnery
23.2.02
Last week, in Europe,
I happened to pass a frozen lake. I was told that a few days before it was
possible to skate on it. But the temperature had risen and the ice cover had
started to melt. It still covers the whole lake, but in many places it can be
broken with a stick. I was warned not to try to stand on it, because it might
break, I would fall into the lake and disappear. But in a few days or weeks, I
was promised, the ice would disappear and the beautiful lake would come to life
again.
The situation in our country resembles this situation.
The ice still covers the whole state, but it has started to melt.
The ice is the Big Lie told by Ehud Barak and his
companions. This lie is starting to break. Soon nothing will be left of it.
When the bunch of bankrupt politicians returned
from Camp David, they fabricated the legend, which has since become a holy
truth, as if given by God at Mount Sinai. Like the Ten Commandments of Moses, there
are Eight Facts of Barak: I have turned every stone on the way to peace; I have
submitted offers unprecedented in their generosity; I went further than any
Prime Minister before me; I have given the Palestinians everything they wanted;
Arafat has rejected all the offers; Arafat does not want peace; The
Palestinians want to throw us into the sea; We have no partner for peace.
If Binyamin Netanyahu had said this, it would not have
had any impact. Everybody knows that Netanyahu is a crook. If Sharon had said
it, he would not have been believed, because everybody knows that Sharon is a
Man of Blood, unable to distinguish between truth and untruth. But when it came
from the leaders of the Labor Party, those eminent spokesmen for peace, it
caused the collapse of the established peace movement.
Since then, many testimonies about Camp David have
been published, including some by pro-Israeli American eye-witnesses. All of
them show that Barak’s proposals fell far short of the essential minimum for
peace: end of the occupation, establishment of a Palestinian state side by side
with Israel, giving
up all the occupied territories (all in all 22% of Palestine under the British
Mandate), returning to the Green Line (with the possibility of mutually agreed
swaps of territories), turning East Jerusalem into the capital of Palestine,
return of the settlers and soldiers to Israel, ending the tragedy of the
refugees without
damage to Israel.
When the Big Lie exploded, an alternative lie was put
out: Some months after the Camp David talks were renewed in Taba, Barak’s men
made offers unprecedented in their generosity, gave the Palestinians
everything, but Arafat Refused To Sign, which shows that he does not want
peace, etc.
Now Moratinus, the European Union emissary for peace
in the Middle East, has come along and buried this lie, too. The Spanish
diplomat, who was in Taba but did not take part in the talks, has published a
long and detailed report about what really happened there.
The clear conclusion is that at Taba the
sides indeed came dramatically closer to each other. Gaps remained between
their positions in almost all areas, but they were quantitative, rather than
qualitative gaps. Clearly, if the talks had gone on for another few days or weeks,
a historic agreement would have been achieved.
So what happened? Is it true that “Arafat
Refused To Sign”?
Not at all. Arafat did not refuse to sign. He
wanted to continue the negotiations until there was an agreement to sign.
It was not Arafat who broke off the talks at this
critical moment, when the light at the end of the tunnel was clearly visible to
the negotiators, but Barak. He ordered his men to beak off and return home.
Why?
The Taba talks began after the outbreak of the second
intifada. After Sharon’s invasion of the Temple Mount with Barak’s permission,
and after seven Arab protesters were shot by Ben-Ami’s police, bloody incidents
occurred daily. The Taba talks were held “under fire” – a process that is quite
normal in history. After all, negotiations are held in order to put an end to
the fire.
On that day, two Israelis were murdered in a Palestinian
town. The Palestinians said that this was revenge for the murder of a local
leader. But it was enough for Barak to break off the talks.
What was the real reason? The answer must be found in
the mind of Barak. After all, it happened to Barak time and again: whenever he
got close to an agreement, he withdrew at the last moment.
It started at the very beginning of his term of
office. As will be recalled, he wanted to come to an agreement with the Syrians
first, in order to isolate the Palestinians. Complete agreement was almost
reached, when suddenly everything broke down. Assad wanted Syrian territory to
extend to the shores of
the Sea of Galilee, while Barak wanted the border to be a hundred meters away
from the shore. Because of the hundred meters, Barak rejected the historic
agreement that was at hand. (Comics say these days that Barak should have fixed
the border at the shore line as it was then, as the sea has retreated many hundreds of meters since then.)
The same happened at Camp David. Agreement was
possible. All the participants believed at the time that it was already close.
Then something happened to Barak. As the Israeli participants testify (and as
Arafat told me a few days ago), Barak simply freaked out. He cut himself off,
did not shave and refused to meet even with his closest assistants.
Something similar happened at Taba. When the agreement
was at hand, Barak ordered the talks to be broken off. The actual pretext does
not matter.
When something like that occurs again and
again, it raises questions. It may be called “politicus interruptus’. A moment
before the consummation, Barak draws back. I am not a psychiatrist and am not
qualified to deal with mental problems. But I believe that every time, when
Barak saw the actual price of peace in front of him, he shrunk back at the last
moment. There was a dissonance between the price of peace (withdrawal from the
occupied territories, evacuation of settlements, conceding East Jerusalem and
the Temple Mount, return of a symbolic number of refugees) and the ideas he was
brought up on. He could not shoulder the responsibility and broke down. At the
same time, he expanded the settlements at a frantic pace.
Adding sin to crime (as the Hebrew expression goes),
he covered his personal collapse with the Big Lie, which caused a national
collapse.
Now the lie is starting to break up. The open
discussion of war crimes, the declaration of hundreds of soldiers that they
refuse to serve in the Palestinian territories, the call of the reserve
generals for an end to the occupation, the new voices in the media, the call of
courageous artists, the big demonstration of 27 militant peace organizations
(including Gush Shalom), the following big Peace Now demonstration – all these
show that the ice is starting to melt.
This is only the beginning. Now is the time for all
those who were waiting to join the effort. As Churchill said after the victory
in Egypt: “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it
is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
The Latest Targets Amid
The Blood And Violence: Pregnant Women
The Independent (UK)
Phil Reeves in Jerusalem
26 February 2002
The tiny girl
called Fida lay cradled in her wounded mother's arms, yawning like any other
new-born, blissfully unaware that her life had been irreparably scarred by
Israeli soldiers even before it began.
Before her mother, Maysoun, set out for hospital early yesterday, too tortured
by labour pains to hang on any longer but knowing that she must travel the West
Bank's lethal roads in darkness, the unborn Fida had a father.
By the time they reached hospital, her father was dead, the victim of a hail of
bullets pumped into their car at a makeshift Israeli army roadblock. And Fida's
grandfather, who was travelling with them in the pathetically misguided hope
that the presence of an old man would make them safer, was so badly injured
that Palestinian doctors say he may be paralysed from the neck down for the
rest of his life.
Maysoun Hayek and her child were lucky. Fragments from a bullet hit Maysoun's
abdomen, but missed the unborn baby. Hours later, amid grief and trauma, she
was born, weighing 7lbs 10oz. Maysoun, abruptly widowed at a mere 22 years old,
chose the name "Fida" because it is Arabic for sacrifice. Fida is her
first child.
There has been much cruelty in the 17-month conflict between Israel and the
Palestinians, but the events of the past 48 hours mark another squalid chapter,
overshadowing the latest peace manoeuvrings, based on proposals tentatively
floated by Saudi Arabia.
Only a day before the attack on Maysoun Hayek and her family, Israeli soldiers
shot and injured another pregnant Palestinian woman in the same place as she
was travelling to hospital to give birth.
And, as night fell yesterday, doctors in Jerusalem's Hadassah hospital were
operating on a 33-year-old Israeli settler, who had given birth after being
shot and seriously wounded by Palestinian guerrillas who opened fire on cars
near Nokdim in the southern West Bank yesterday. Two other Israelis were
killed. Reports said the woman was in her 36th week of pregnancy and gave birth
to a baby after undergoing a Caesarean section as doctors also treated her
injuries. The Al Aqsa Brigades, affiliated with the mainstream Fatah faction,
claimed responsibility.
These ugly events were so similar to the Hayek family's suffering that it was
impossible not to wonder if it was not deliberate revenge.
In all, three healthy baby girls – two Palestinians and an Israeli – were
beginning their lives yesterday as their mothers were recovering from bullet
wounds. The blood of war has left its mark on the latest generation even before
they were out of the womb.
Maysoun and her husband, Mohammed Hayek, a 24-year-old unemployed labourer,
knew about the earlier shooting of another pregnant Palestinian woman before
they set out yesterday. They had heard how Shadia Shehadeh was shot on Sunday
by the soldiers, and had had to give birth to her baby – now called Hiba, or
"gift from God" – while being treated for a shoulder injury. The
couple were deeply worried about it. Maysoun Hayek tried in vain to hold out in
the morning so that she could make the difficult 12-mile journey from her
village, Zeita, to hospital in Nablus during daylight.
"I was afraid that something would happen to us," she said, as she
lay in bed in Rafidia hospital, Nablus, yesterday. "My husband told me before
we left the house that maybe we would live to see the baby, and maybe we would
not."
When her contractions began in earnest, the couple decided to risk the journey,
although it meant going through an Israeli checkpoint on the outskirts of
Nablus on a notoriously dangerous stretch of road. She said they set out at
1.30am and passed through the checkpoint without any problems after soldiers
searched the vehicle and patted her stomach to make sure she was really
pregnant, and not concealing a bomb.
Five minutes later, she said, their car came under fire from troops stationed
on a hillside, where four Israeli armoured vehicles and two tanks look down on
a makeshift road-block. Bullets struck her husband, fragments hit her in the
shoulder and three bullets hit her father-in-law, Abdullah, 64, in the chest
and back. "They shot at the car's tyres and the car stopped immediately...
I got out of the car and all the windows were smashed. I looked at my husband
and saw that he was unconscious and the same with my father-in-law.
"I started screaming in English 'There's a baby, there's a baby',"
she added tearfully.
Israeli soldiers took them into an armoured vehicle, where they received
medical treatment. For 45 minutes, cold and so engulfed by shock and pain that
she forgot that she was about to give birth, Maysoun says she lay on the ground
as the Israelis made arrangements to move her. She was eventually transferred to
a Palestinian ambulance and taken to hospital in Nablus.
Doctors said X-rays of her dead husband showed he had 25 bullet wounds. His
father Abdullah was rushed off for surgery; he was on a respirator yesterday. Three
minutes after arriving in hospital, shortly before dawn, Maysoun gave birth.
Israeli soldiers have been trigger-happy throughout the conflict, and have
killed hundreds of Palestinian non-combatants, including many children. But
they are particularly on edge after last week's attack by Palestinian
guerrillas on a West Bank checkpoint last week, in which six soldiers were shot
dead.
More now than ever, the Palestinians are focusing their attacks on soldiers and
settlers inside the occupied territories rather than inside Israel, a trend
underscored last night when two gunmen opened fire on a bus stop and injured 10
people – five seriously – in a residential neighbourhood in Neve Yaakov, a
Jewish settlement in occupied east Jerusalem.
Israeli army checkpoints in the occupied territories have become the scene of
regular shootings. This weekend, soldiers near Ramallah opened fire on the
bullet-proof car of Ahmad Qreia, one of Yasser Arafat's top officials.
The Israeli army yesterday offered detailed explanations for shooting at the
two pregnant women. It accused the drivers of their vehicles of trying to break
through a roadblock and ignoring repeated commands from Israeli soldiers to
stop. It said that in both cases the soldiers assumed they were under attack.
This will not stop a growing tide of criticism within Israel of the army's
conduct, led by more than 200 reservists who have refused to serve in the
occupied territories.
Yesterday's events will further stoke this.
Nor will it assuage the anger of the Palestinians, any more than the prospect
of an Israeli inquiry, also announced by the army yesterday. They know that the
Israeli army hardly ever punishes its wayward soldiers, and when it does so they
are treated with astounding leniency. That much has again been made clear. Three
soldiers were punished for posing for "trophy" photographs as they
stood over Israeli Arab shot by mistake at a roadblock last week. The most
severe of the three sentences was a mere seven days in prison.
Personal Commentary:
Women are victims of this conflict from both sides: either they are killed or angered, either they are suffering for the loss of their beloved ones. Women are also able to make a difference and help to resolve this conflict. Let’s remember the movement of the “Four women” who obliged the Israel army to pullout from south Lebanon, and the movement of “women in blank” who are very active in the Israeli peace camp. I was very happy to ready today a short letter written by the wife of the Israeli President Moshe Kastav addressed to the Palestinian women calling them to move jointly with the Israeli women and say their world in order to finish the bloodshed of their children in both camps. I hope that this appeal will have an echo from the other side!
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