Israeli Army Seriously Wounds Birzeit University Staff at Checkpoint

18 September, 2001
( larger images: Dalia getting help from colleagues while an Israeli soldier looks , Dalia in hospital, Pictures taken by Dalia before her injury )
Birzeit ---- At the Surda checkpoint this morning, an Israeli soldier deliberately released a soundbomb at close range at staff members of Birzeit University, seriously wounding the University’s Senior Information Officer, Dalia Habash. The sound-bomb landed on Dalia’s leg and broke her left leg between the ankle and the knee. She is currently being treated in Sheikh Zayed Hospital in Ramallah.

The attack occurred around 9 AM as Dalia, and around ten other faculty and staff members, were attempting to pass through the Surda checkpoint to get to the University. A highly responsible and dedicated member of staff, Dalia has been active in a daily monitoring of events at the checkpoint in an effort to ensure the safety and security of students as the new academic year resumed on 15 September. When soldiers insisted that there was no passage through the road - forcing faculty and students to walk through the fields - Dalia and other staff members objected and said they would stay on the road until they could negotiate their passage. A soldier then placed a sound bomb near the staff members, set it, and walked away. Dalia’s “punishment” for speaking out the humiliation, harassment and collective punishment of the University community was a close-up explosion and a broken bone

Birzeit University, and its faculty, staff and students, strongly condemn this malicious and illegal attack on a respected member of the University community who was simply trying to affirm her right to travel to the University and fulfill her work responsibilities. Such acts are not only dangerous to person, but signal an even greater danger of increased denial of rights, army violence and profound instability. We urge all concerned, particularly representatives of the international community, to protest the attack on Dalia Habash, and to demand the opening of the road to education and peace.