Early last night a newsflash was broadcast on our local TV stations announcing the killing of four people in Bethlehem and injuries to at least three others. No names or the circumstances surrounding the incident were given. Until late in the night our TV station brought more news concerning what had happened.
Early last night a newsflash was broadcast on our local TV stations announcing the killing of four people in Bethlehem and injuries to at least three others. No names or the circumstances surrounding the incident were given. Until late in the night our TV station brought more news concerning what had happened.
Amongst the dead is a ten-year-old child. All four were murdered by Israeli troops. The injured include the mother, father and sister of Christine, the little girl brutally slain by the occupation army. They are currently in hospital, their injuries serious, but apparently not life threatening.
The Israelis claim that they wanted to arrest a person and set up an ambush, right in the heart of the town of Bethlehem, with no care for the innocent people in the streets. The two-pegout cars drove by and the Israeli soldiers just started shooting indiscriminately toward the vehicles. The head master of the Greek Orthodox School in Beit Sahour was the driver of one vehicle, his family with him; they were all shot. Ten-year-old Christine was shot fatally in the head, her parents and sister were also shot in the head and now in hospital. We have no clear news of the two others who were murdered; the Israeli soldiers took their bodies immediately.
Is this the destiny of this family? Is it just their bad luck to be in the wrong place at the wrong time or drive the same car as the targeted one, or should they have taken another way home? All these are questions only God can answer for us. But I believe their bad luck is really because they are Palestinian and each Palestinian is a terrorist, according to the Israelis. How my heart goes out to their relatives, trying to come to terms with this hideous and illegal act. A little girl murdered, her immediate family all hospitalized.
We are used to raids, assassination attempts and military actions against us. We are used to double standards and hypocrisy. In other parts of the world we are told how humane soldiers are as they try to spare the lives of civilians but we do not know that kind of soldier here. To be Palestinian is to be a target, and there is no hope of justice for us. A Palestinian can be accused of any crime by Israel and no evidence need be shown, no lawyer given access, no legal process adhered to. That person can be assassinated and no one questions the validity of the Israeli accusations.
What about those families who know that their loved ones are dead but have no idea where their bodies can be found? What need is there for the Israeli soldiers to take away the corpses, why can’t they give them to their families so they can say goodbye and bury them in an honorable way? This is all part of the process of humiliation and dehumanization that Israel uses against us.
We are all victims of these ugly methods being used by the Israeli soldiers. Where is the justice? What sort of justice was received by those killed last night and for those who are killed each and every day in the most despicable manner by our occupier?
For us we know no liberator will come; no freedom, no justice for Palestinians. We will continue to struggle against the violence forced on us; we will continue to demand our freedom and our deliverance from occupation. We will defend our homes, our families and our land, despite the overwhelming odds we face. We will continue to resist because we know that our cause is true and just. I believe that one day the whole world will become conscious and understand the inhumanity we suffer and enormity of the crimes that are committed against us each and every day.
