Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, President of the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees has been prevented from leaving the country by Israeli authorities. Dr. Barghouthi had been invited by the German/French television station ZDF/Arte to take part in a Palestinian-Israeli debate on a three-hour program to be broadcast in Berlin the evening of January 11th. Dr. Barghouthi will not be able to take part in the debate because he was denied the exit permit, which Israel requires of all Palestinians wanting to leave the country.
Barring Dr. Barghouthi from taking part in an important debate on the Palestine/Israeli issue is a clear violation of his right to free expression * a right continuously and systematically denied to Palestinians by the Israeli State. The permit system, closures and siege imposed by Israel upon the Palestinian people are forms of collective punishment and are illegal according to the Fourth Geneva Convention which stipulates the responsibilities of military powers imposed during periods of prolonged occupation.
We urgently appeal to the international community to insist that Israel lift the siege on the Palestinian population and adhere to the international laws that stipulate the state's responsibilities as military occupier.
For more information, contact Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi at +972 50-254-218 or visit www.palestinemonitor.org.
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by Rebecca Johnson and Bob Holmes
When eleven year old Moath Ahmed Abu Hadwan left the house
December 31st, he was still wearing the new shirt and trousers his
mother bought for him in celebration of Al Eid, the end of Ramadan. He
told her he was going to play in the school yard with his friends
Abdel, Naji and Muhammed. On January 3rd Palestinian journalist
Kawther Salaam and Bob Holmes sat in the small two room house in the
old city of Hebron, surrounded by 30 women, family and neighbours, as
his mother and the three boys told the story.
Heading home after playing, the boys heard shooting and decided it
wasn't safe so went instead to the mosque for afternoon prayer which
was just beginning. After prayer they were almost home when shooting
started again. They felt safe in the narrow street with houses two
stories high on the right and three stories high on the left. But an
Israeli tank or rocket shell hit the top of the three story building
and shrapnel filled the street wounding both Moath and Abdel. A man
picked up Moath and ran with him, but blinded by the blood spurting
from his head and mouth, tripped and fell. Others helped and both boys
were taken to the hospital. Earlier, the boys showed Salaam and the
CPT members the blood-soaked ground, now circled by rocks, a small
martyr's shrine.
Naji ran to tell Moath's mother huddled with her other children for
safety . Moath's father was protecting his nieces and nephews nearby.
Both parents went immediately to the hospital. Moath had died. Abdel,
who is mute, had his head and arm wounds treated and was released. As
he sat, his wounds shouted out the insanity of the situation. The aunt
of the new "martyr" asked, " Who will defend our right to live in
freedom without bombing and killing? It is not justice to live like
refugees in our own land."
Meanwhile, Rebecca Johnson accompanied Yusra, a neighbour, to
the hospital to visit the child of a friend also wounded in the
shelling attack on New Year's eve. Fourteen year old Abir Salema
Kharami lay in bed with an IV hookup and bandages around her stomach
and left hand. Abir had been on the steps of her home, about to head
out to visit her two cousins in the hospital when the shrapnel sprayed
her. Her grandmother held up her shirt and undershirt, full of holes
and bloodstained. Upon leaving, Yusra reiterated the comments of
others, "Everyone is against us, and what have we done? We just want
to live in peace."
These are not isolated tragedies. At 4:45 pm on January 5th, nineteen
year old Ahlam Al Jabali went up to the rooftop of their four story
building to help her husband's sister, eighteen year old Areeg Al
Jabali take in the laundry. From the roof there is a clear line of
sight to the Israeli settlement of Beit Haggai, but the family had
never been fired on before. When the machine-gun bullets started to
hit, the two women ran into the stairwell and hugged each other. The
bullet entered Areeg's back and went through her body to lodge in
Ahlam's abdomen. Trailing blood on every step they ran down to the
second floor where the family was preparing supper. They fell through
the door, where Areeg died. The bullet was removed from Ahlam in the
hospital where Salaam heard and recorded her story. Ahlam died two
days later.
Areeg's fiancé arrived from Haifa January 6th, bringing gold jewelry
to finalize the marriage (an Arab custom). He attended her funeral
instead.
Christian Peacemakers Team
The Women and Children Weren't Shooting