report from bethleham

national | miscellaneous | news report Sunday November 24, 2002 14:29 by tracey and peter - gluaiseacht bobssista at yahoo dot co dot uk

report from bethleham

demolition has been ordered for the home of ayat al-ikhras. ayat was an 18 year old girl who became occupied palestines 3rd female suicide bomber on march 29th of this year. along with 4 other internationals we visited her family in a refugee camp in bethleham.
bethleham has been under curfew for a few days now. theres smoke and rubble on the streets where many houses of martrys have been already demolished. tiny children are out on the streets playing in the mess and hiding in alley ways everytime an army jeep or tank drives by.
ayats parents tell us how they had no idea of what she was planning. she was an intelligent and beautiful young girl who studied and was engaged to be married. "do you think her brothers would have let her do it if they had known" her father asked us. although they had no idea what she was planning they tell us how proud of her they are. "she did what i don't have the courage to do" her mother told us. ayat had witnessed several deaths of family and close friends in the month leading to the bombing. maybe this is what drove her to do it or maybe it was the hopelessness an intelligent young student felt knowing that as a palestinian in this country she would always be discriminated against.
because this reugee camp is so densely populated the buildings are in close proximity to each other. the demolishment of one house will lead to structural damage to many other neighbouring buildings. ayats familiy's building houses 20 people including 8 children ranging from 2 weeks old to 13 years. yesterday morning at 3am the army called and ordered everyone out of the building while they sent in a military engineer to inspect the building. he concluded that they will use an imploding bomb and he told the family that he will telephone them when they are ready to demolish their home.
as a result of an 18 year old's act of free will up to 40 or 50 people will be homeless and many more will have their homes damaged. this is clearly a case of collective punishment and a direct violation or international law. article 33 of the 4th geneva convention states "no protected person maybe punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed."
by these actions the israelis are not encouraging peace rather they are encouraging more violence. ayats father worries about this generation of palestinian children. they have seen their homes destroyed, loved ones humiliated or murdered they themselves have been shot at and tear gassed. he wonders how can they ever have anything but hatred in their hearts for israelis.
we have decided to remain with the famlily and defy the demolition. last night they moved all their belongings to a safer place and are preparing to loose their family home. the family are refugees from jaffa. the army asked them to move for a few weeks back in 1948 and they have never been allowed back since. they built up this home from nothing and now they will loose it.
our act of defiance with the family can only be symbollic but at least we can show them our solidarity. there is a chance we may be deported or arrested so if anyone would like to help with media at home in ireland please email me.
peace,
tracey and peter
"resistence is not terrorism" (i saw this graffited on a wall today)