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I have watched many videos about Israel and Palestine today one of them was about child prisoners in Israeli prisons. I am again terrified about Israelis treating for Palestinians! Even 12 year old children are held in prison and treated as adult and waiting 2 years to be sentenced! That is agaisnt israelis own laws and ofcourse laws world wide! I am more convinced that Israel is doing silent holocaust to Palestinians. I also watched a document about Sabra and Shatila, a refugee camps in Lebanon at the year 1982 where Israelis let Christian militants invade the camps and kill about 800 to 3500 refugees men women and children. I read a story what was written by a man who had gone there to investigate, I don't remeber if he was a journalist or doctor, but he describet what he saw like this: " All he could say as he walked round was "Jesus Christ" over and over again. We might have accepted evidence of a few murders; even dozens of bodies, killed in the heat of combat. Bur there were women lying in houses with their skirts torn torn up to their waists and their legs wide apart, children with their throats cut, rows of young men shot in the back after being lined up at an execution wall. There were babies - blackened babies babies because they had been slaughtered more than 24-hours earlier and their small bodies were already in a state of decomposition - tossed into rubbish heaps alongside discarded US army ration tins, Israeli army equipment and empty bottles of whiskey."This all looks and sounds to me more horrible than the holocaust of jews and I do wonder how come those Israelis are capable of doing these things to someone what they have just recovered them selves of?? Do they not have any feelings, any mercy?? Or is this a revenge from their own suffering? But why they would revenge to someone who could have nothing to do with the nazis??
These days the situation of Palestinians has become almost unbearable. Many people sleep during the day because it has become too scary to sleep at night when the Israeli soldiers come and raid houses and take prisoners. They take who ever they wan't and torture them too. It don't matter if you are young boy or elderly woman, they torture you anyway!
So many people are so scared and they don't even wan't to go outside their houses anymore. Before they we're prisoners in a big cage called Palestine, but now they are also prisoners in their own homes.
Every israeli settler, I mean regular citisens, carry heavy guns and have the right to beat or shoot Palestinians and they have. No body here at west are interrested of Israelis who have launged rockets to Palestinian villages or have fired guns to Palestinians who have been guarding their lambs or collecting harvest. Only Israelis have the right to call someone terrorists. Defending your family is a terrorist act, but shooting missiles from a chopper to childrens school class isnt, that is self defence... This is how Israel sees things and they have blinded the world too, but I hope soon we all will unite and force them to stop and have them condemned of their crimes! I only pray this will come soon..
Many people has been killed in Palestine these days. It seems that the Palestinians fight the Palestinians now. Sounds bad to me and ofcourse this will affect badly to Palestine's reputation too.I wish they could unite and not fight, Palestine has too many difficulties as it is.
For me; my life has gone upside down, my mind is so confused and mixed and everybody keeps messing it up more with their thoughts and opinions about some things in my life. I wish this to calm down too soon ;)
Yesterday a videoclip was broadcasted around the world where an Israeli soldier shot a rubber coated bullet from close range to a leg of an activist. Now the father of this girl who filmed this incident has been arrested. Not surprise me though, but I thought maybe people should know.. You can read all about it here .The other day I also read from the news that the Israli settlers had fired a rocket to the Palestinians side, I wonder where is the terrorist news about that??!!
I've got nice email from my friend from Palestine, she wrote how she is studying hard to get a scolarship. Im so proud of you! I hope you get it and I hope your responsibilities doesn't make you too tired. I wish I could help somehow.
What a brave woman she is, at the same time she goes to work to help her family and has exams for her school plus for the scolarship and the same time Israel is making her life misarable by capturing people and making roadblocks and taking more land. But those might be little things, I'm so worried about the health of Palestinians! The water is so dirty, actually it might be even the dirty water of the new Israeli settlers what they run to Palestinians side? And all the garbage too! Many health organisations is too worried about this too. It will lead Palestine and maybe others too to a new crisis soon! Sometimes I get so angry towards Israel that I wish someone would blow a big bomb there, but I know that this is wrong way to think and more wrong way to deal this situation..
But I think Palestine has got a little more visibility now in the news, atleast I have read from our daily newspaper a bit more news from Palestine now than before and from tv has come 2 documents about it too, one today and one yesterday! I think this is progress! I hope it continues this way too!
Someone very special to me might be going to Palestine in these days. Ofcourse I'm exited about that, I've already asked to take thousand of pictures for me from all over, but also I'm little scared because I'm not sure if it's yet safe to go there. Ofcourse it is home and if it were my home, nothing would stop me from going. I can only wish a safe trip and safe return home!I hope someday it would be me who was going to visit Palestine, it would be interresting to see all those historical places and walk on the soil of this controvercial country. Palestine history holds so many sad stories from it's near history, but for longer in it's past I'm sure it was almost like paradise! If only the land could talk and tell us all the stories she knows..
So much wrongness is happening in this world, Palestine is only one of them. Maybe this war has been going on the longest though..
World is a funny place, we set all these rules, but actually very few follows them really. We have rules about military things, about bombs and about many others, we have set rules about human rights and enviroment, bnut there is always one or few disobedient countrys who refuse to follow our mutual rules. Like USA dont want to follow the line of these enviromental rules about emission and Isreal then again dont wan't to follow our rules about humanrights, but there is so little the world can do to these disobedients, we can jugde them in public by words, but we cannot do anything to make them obey. Where is the fairness in this? I can give you an answer; there isn't anything fair in this..
Many of my friends in Palestine are students and are trying to edugate them selves more, but it is not easy, when you are not allowed to leave the Gaza strip to go to your university in Europe or somewhere else. Many people has passport and visa and they have been accepted to university to study more, but they cannot go because israel won't let them.Israel is doing everything in their power to make Palestinians suffer for being Palestinians! And the news reports only tells us happy stories about truce and opened borders. Again thei forget to tell that it is still israel who tells who can go and who can't. Obviously very few can..
What about all those villages and towns what have been saperated and isolated from eachothers? Roads has been cut and connections too and neighbour villagers cannot see eachothers because of Israel and ofcourse they have many roadblocks on the only way to neighbourtown and guess is it easy to pass those?
So the life of a Palestinian is made as hard as it can be. Most of the jobs are behind the separation wall or destroyed and for the few people who has still got a job it has been made nearly impossible to come and go there. And if you dont have a job, then it's even worse, everybody is in need of something, money, food, electricity, gasoline and so on, if you are poor and dont have a job where do you get your food and living? Borrow from a neighbour who needs to borrow from their neighbour who will go to a shop to see the empty shelfs? Even if you somehow survive and stay alive in this the constant house raiding and capturing people would keep you as a nerves wreck scared when it's your turn. And even if you survive that, then maybe one day you or your familymember gets shot dead for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Sounds pretty much a life what anyone would kill NOT to have. There is 1,5 million people living in Gaza and more in West Bank, that is how many human is having a life as I described.
I usually read some news about Palestine every day to stay up to date what is going on there, I also watch videos and documetarys nearly every day too.
To me Palestine has become something that is with me all the tim
e in my life now, not one hour goes by without of me thinking or speaking about the Palestinian issues. And I think I'm not the only one; one night I saw a document of Danish woman who had a "crush" on Palestine, she had been there as an peace activist and had done many things for Palestine.My dream is to visit Palestine some day. I wish to meet my friends who live there and ofcourse I wish to take a lot of pictures from there too!
Sometimes I can sit here for hours to look at pictures related to Palestine. Usually those pictures are very sad and makes me feel sick and angry, sometimes I get lucky and find a happier one.
Many who I have asked to read this blog have told me later that they couldn't look at some pictures we have here, but I think it's good to look at them to know the real pain, not just words and stories, but the a
wful pictures too. Ofcourse the stories and the pictures can never be compared to what it is to live in those conditions, to grow up there, but I always say to my self; if you dont look, you cant know and if someone has gone thru that pain the least I can do is to look the pictures, so I always see everything even if it makes me feel sick to my stomack. It gives me energy to write and talk about it.I hope the awareness grows and more people would speak out about their concernes and this way makes the propaganda and hiding a bit more difficult to Israel.
From news I have read that the politicians are little more hopefull to this truse than before, so I wish this would hold now and forever!
I'm thinking about Palestine whitch would be free and peacefull, where people could make a living again as they once was and where would be nice to raise children and
make a family. But I guess it would take many many years to build a healthy society, heal all the wounds. This war has been going on so long that it is so deep inside Palestine and Palestinian's lifes and minds that it maybe never heales properly. It will take so many years of processing in so many levels. If we think only the children; from where they could get an example of living a normal life? Everybody in Palestine has some sort of trauma, I'm sure of that, so everybody there needs somekind of help and no one will heal from these kind of nightmares over a week or not even in a year! And what about their homes and schools and works and all the water and other technics what humans needs in their daily lifes? We will need the whole world to help Palestine to recover, it will take so many years and so much money and effort, but I'm sure it can be done!Maybe many people don't know, but once upon a time Finland was a developing country, we didn't have food or anything else either, coffee was made out of wood and children didn't have shoes or school books. But the world helped us and here we are today!
We Finnsih people should know how it feels when ten times more powerfull enemy attacks on you and takes your land since it has happen to us too. In Finlands history was a time when the great Russia wanted our land and we fought back only with few men and eccuipment what was old and not working correctly. Russia had ten men against our one and they had airoplanes so many and we had only few and our planes didn't even work because it was winter and sometimes -40 celsius, but we won that war and we got our freedom, even we lost few parts of o
ur country, but we recovered from it!That was a long time ago, my grandfathers fought in that war, but I have heard stories about it.
Many Finnish people don't like to talk about it, it still hurts too much and our war too was full of crimes and secrets; from both sides..
Here at my parents home I can see almost every satellite channel in the world and I always watch so much documentarys while I'm visiting them.Yesterday I watched a documentary of Apache helicopters, how they are made by hand every single step and how advanced they are with their big radars and nose what can see 19 kilometers ahead and it can see in dark too as clear as in daylight.
It's database compares everything the apache sees and scans it and tells the pilot if it is friendly or enemy, if it is a car or a tank and so on..
To me it seems so amazingly wise warmachine, that it would be nearly impossible to mis a target with it.
Every Palestinian knows this and knows the truth behind this thing too, but here I am, wondering again..
How come those brilliant wise apaches shoot so much in to the crowd or straight to someones houses?
Ofcourse all Palestinians knows the answer to that too, but I'm asking; do they do it on purpose??
Dear friend! Thank you so much for caring and Im so sorry not to be able to write to you. I came to my parents at the country because Im too sick to handle my home and dogs alone. I still got fever and flu.
getting back to what i started; teachers don't say much when you are late here; they know better. a lot of students get late because of checkpoints or like my friend who was late because the Israelis took over their house the whole night and put all of her family in a small room and closed it on them, so they [the Israeli soldiers] can "focus" on shooting on other houses. teachers get late sometimes too, maybe because an Israeli soldier didn't like the course they teach or the books they carry. i recall when i once was stopped by an Israeli soldier because after he checked my school bag he didn't like the logo of the campaign that gives lower price books for needed students which had the map of Palestine. a lot of stops on checkpoints, a lot of nights with no sleep, a lot of times worrying about family members and friends, all times living a Palestinian life!
i hope that things are all going well with you and your family, i also hope we would get to talk soon maybe this Sunday.
it's amazing how things change around us, our environments, people, places... everything changes. i remember when i used to check this blog to read about your day, it always made happy to hear your happy news =) i would imagine your day and be there watching from a cloud or from behind the sun all seemed beautiful and colorful, the photos in the slide show helped me, i would check the slide show of your photos many times to see how wonderful Finland is and what a great artist you are. i would love to see these photos and more of your work in the slide show, to me they always represented the happy side of this blog, let's put them with the photos about Palestine maybe that will help balance my day here =)
i want to share something with you...to me where ever i see a smile i smile, my life is too short to fear living a happy moment therefore i have to make my happy moment even if it didn't exist, and you always helped me do that. i want you to know that you are making a difference and changing this world to be a better place... at least for me and my family.
my dear friend; i thank you for caring, i thank you for supporting, writing, reading about and praying for Palestine, i thank you for being my friend, i thank you for sharing my life, and for making me smile through the hard times =) thank you for being a light breaking a dark night.
to us .. you are unforgettable
he is an honest brave man who fought for Palestine his own way, a way that opened the door to a better understanding towards the Palestinian issue and the Palestinian people, I invite you [whom ever you are] to listen to his talks and open your mind to his thoughts and logical debates. he is one of the best public speakers in the U.K. "some people say he is populist and dangerous because of his political opinions, but the fact remains that Mr Galloway is a talented debater" who knew what to debate about!
George Galloway - Palestinian Rights / Israel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUFLpP9Prxo
George Galloway - enough! end the Israeli occupation demo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U328Zd53-W0&feature=related
Mass Murder in Palestine - George Galloway MP Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f498POUx6Ms&feature=related
Mass Murder in Palestine - George Galloway MP Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AECi6k0rpro&feature=related
George Galloway: Zionism is not Israel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPB9ttKvDEA&feature=related
Galloway on Israel and Lebanon 06/08/2006
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-brkmfrxrQY&feature=related
this time i'm writing in school what i have seen the past couple of days to post it later when God wills, my days are very busy and i hardly get anytime to write, my uncle is still very sick, at the same time i dont get to visit him much, work is taking most of my time, i get out of the house at 800am to get back at 500pm between work in the morning and school in the afternoon. fortunately i get Fridays as a break. it is busy and makes me very tired when i get home but ... i'm thankful that i get to help and still keep my education. the weather is hot these days and summer is a season that many families take advantage of to visit other family members, one of my friends is a married young woman with a twin, 1 year old. she took them to their grandmother's house the day before yesterday. the whole family gathered in that old house, all laughing and enjoying the moment of being together, they even sent one of the other kids [13 years old] to buy some more of that sun flower seeds, he got down the stairs, out of the house, walked a bit and there was a gun pointed at his head. he said; "when i looked around i saw them everywhere most of them were surrounding our neighbor's house, they had a ladder to climb to the balcony of the next house", they came out of the trees and a helicopter followed them from above with that awful sound that only means one thing; they are here to either demolish houses or kill some people. the Israeli soldier who was pointing his M16 on the boy said "run and i will start shooting", the boy ran as if he never ran before, he got to the house and because he was scared he forgot to shut the door in his way up stairs, he ran to my friend and hid behind her shacking, the family didnt know what happened they thought he was just kidding... but he wasn't and he forgot the door open which meant if the Israeli soldiers got inside the house no one would hear them coming. he told what happened, everyone in the house started to get ready to a break-in, my friend and her mother woke up the kids who were asleep with their cousins on the balcony, they opened all the windows in case the Israelis bomb any near by houses, which they did. the Israelis came with bulldozers this time and asked for a man after surrounding his family's house with tanks supported by a helicopter from above, the man immediately turned himself in asking from the Israelis not to demolish the house of his old parents but there was no use in saying that, he was gone, his wife was crying and the Israelis started shooting at the house to make everyone get out and what a way to ask people to get out of their own house! everyone was out, the young and the old, the child and the baby .. everyone was out in the middle of the night to see their house, their life savings, their rooms and their furniture all gone in a matter of an hour. the Israelis did not stop they started demolishing neighbors' houses, for NOTHING they have done but building their house next to that family's house! one of those neighbors is a young working woman who's parents died years ago, she just bought a car but the bulldozer destroyed the stairs of her house on her car. the old olive trees, the beaches and the apples all gone. i always wondered from where does Israel get all these ideas of destruction?! it's very ironic how history repeats itself but it's more ironic that the 60 years old Israel have caused all this destruction and murder to break a new record in entering history... i believe no one should be proud of making such a history written by another nation's blood and tears! no one should stand and watch this happening!
the earth is a witness...
the sun, the moon
the night and the day
what else should i say
to make you at least ... pray
I have been in fever and havent had the strenght to write anything here lately..My friend got a job what is great! I hope it helpes her family and i hope she likes it!
The situation between Israel and Palestine is like skating on thin ice. I'm not sure if anyone is expecting this truce to hold, but Israelis attacks against civilians isn't really helping any!
I hope Israeli would calm down and ease their force against Palestinians and I hope more activists and tv groups would go there to document the real situation.
I wish Palestine recieves all the help they can get and I hope Israel would be put on charge of what they have done! Their human right violations cannot go on.
For me reading the news from Palestine and Israel has become a new every morning routine. To stay up to date about what happens there and what does not.
One village in West Bank has been forced under constant curfew for demonstrating against the construction of the separation wall.
So; I see Israel will continue those violations against humanity and Palestinians will continue to suffer because of Israel. Not much has change then after the ceasefire.
When will the peace return?
I think Israel want's all of Palestine to them selves and ofcourse only jews would be perfect citisens there, but do they honestly think that if they succeed to conquer the whole land that everyone would let them live there in peace? Do they think it belongs to them? I don't think Palestinians will let them to have it and destroy all historical places in it. Palestinians have stood strong so far and I know they will in the future too!
I wish the world would see what is going on now.. Israel and Usa are planning "anti terrorist" actions in Sahara too.
Usa want's to have a military position there too. Looks to me that Usa and Israel are on their way to conquer the whole world, atleast the whole world of not white people.There is only militants who has been there soon 20 years by athority of UN and suddenly they are terrorists?? Why this sounds so familiar to my ears??
Between the lines I can read; If you are not like us, then you are nothing, you are not human and you have no rights, we wan't to sweep you off from this planet, you have no right to exist here!?
Isn't that some sort of racism too?
How long the world will let those idiots to run this world? Obviosly here will never be peace if this continues! If they are not fighting in Palestine, then they will be at war with someone else! Their stupidity really pisses me off now and I apologise my rude language, but those men who rule their military superforces act like little children in their sand box with their war dolls and transfromer tanks and they got greedy to get all the hill tops to them selves and they seems to be blinded by their adrenaline and childisheness so they have forgotten
about the millions human lives living in those hill tops!Ofcourse all powerfull men would like to be the ruler of the whole world, atleast in cartoons!
Maybe we all should consider to destroy our guns and start a new page equally and without hostility and interveneing to others matters..
tonight i'm very tired, it's getting late. i havent got much sleep lately because of work, school and family still i cant sleep now. yesterday my uncle suffered a heart attack,thanks to God he's doing much better now and ready to get home, . i'm afraid because of that i wont be able to type much, i just thought i should pay some attention to the most critical up rising crisis of the situation here.
this week a lot of people died of cancer, my mom went to 2 funerals on the same day in our neighborhood. a new crisis is on the doors of the west bank; lack of clean water. the Israelis throw their toxic waste [specially from the Dimona nuclear base] in clean Palestinian water. another way of murder! Over 200 communities in the West Bank lack access to water, while Israeli settlers in the West Bank have full access to clean running water. The inequality in the water situation in the Palestinian territories is exasperated by the fact that Israel will not allow the Palestinian to develop water sources. i think Israel's intention is as clear as the sun's eye.
This is horrible thing to read but even more horrible to this boy and his family! I'm so sorry for all of you!
Defence for Children International
July 2, 2008
Name: Ezzat H
Age at incident: 10
Date of incident: 11 June 2008
Location: Sanniriya, Qalqiliya
Accusation: None
A 10-year-old boy was subjected to physical abuse amounting to torture for 2.5 hours by Israeli soldiers who stormed his family’s shop on 11 June, seeking information on the location of a handgun. The boy was repeatedly beaten, slapped and punched in the head and stomach, forced to hold a stress position for half and hour, and threatened. He was deeply shocked and lost two molar teeth as a result of the assault.
On Wednesday 11 June 2008, at around 10:30am, 10-year-old Ezzat, his brother Makkawi (7) and sister Lara (8) were in their father’s shop selling animal feed and eggs in the village of Sanniriya, near the West Bank city of Qalqiliya. The children were suddenly startled to see two Israeli soldiers storm in to the shop.
Interrogation and abuse in the shop
One soldier wearing a black T-shirt started shouting in a loud, menacing voice in Arabic, "your father sent us to you to collect his gun". A terrified Ezzat responded, "My father does not own a gun". The soldier responded by slapping Ezzat hard across the right cheek and his brother Makawi across his face. The soldier then ordered Makkawi and Lara to leave the shop. Once the younger children had left the soldier demanded once again that Ezzat hand over his father’s gun. Although Ezzat repeated that his father did not own a gun the soldier ordered him to search for it in the sacks containing the animal feed. Ezzat kept insisting that there was no gun in the shop so the soldier slapped him once again, this time across his left cheek.
One of Ezzat’s friends, realising that something was wrong, tried to enter the shop but was kicked by the soldier standing at the door and prevented from entering. Soon a group of local people had gathered outside the shop. Some of the people in the group also tried to enter the shop but were prevented from doing so by the soldier at the door.
The soldier in the black T-shirt asked him once again to produce the gun. Ezzat answered, "We do not have anything". The soldier responded by punching him hard in the stomach causing Ezzat to fall over on to empty egg boxes. Ezzat started screaming and crying out from pain and fear. The soldier in the black T-shirt started making fun of Ezzat and imitated him crying. Ezzat remained in the shop alone with the soldiers for a further 15 minutes when the soldier in black abruptly grabbed him by his T-shirt and dragged him out of the shop. Ezzat asked the soldier if he could lock up his father’s shop but the soldier said he wanted it to remain open so that it could be robbed. The soldier also threatened to put Ezzat in his jeep and take him away.
Once they were out of the shop, Ezzat was ordered to walk in front of the soldiers to his house, whilst a gun was pointed at his back. The soldiers hit him several times on the nape along the way. On approaching his house Ezzat saw many Israeli military officials surrounding the house and a number of green military vehicles parked outside. One of the olive coloured jeeps had the word "police" written on it.
Interrogation and abuse in the home
After arriving at the family’s home the soldier in the black T-shirt stood Ezzat in the yard and ordered him to search the flower basin for the gun. Before Ezzat had a chance to respond the soldier slapped him so violently that Ezzat fell down face first into the basin. Without giving him the chance to stand up the soldier grabbed him by his T-shirt and lifted him up roughly. He was then instructed in Arabic by another soldier to head to the guestroom.
On approaching the guestroom Ezzat could see his father standing by the door. The soldier slapped him on the neck and Ezzat fell to the ground. As Ezzat stood up the soldier slapped him a second time making him fall to the ground once again. All this happened in front of his father. He then grabbed Ezzat by his T-shirt and lifted him in to the air. The soldier told Ezzat’s father that he was going to take his son to prison. He also threatened to take Ezzat’s 19-year-old sister to prison. Ezzat was then pushed forcibly in to the guest room where his mother and four of his other siblings including his sisters Diana (19), Raghda (18), (Aya) 15 and brother Jihad (3), were being held. His mother was crying. Ezzat was also crying and when asked by his mother why he was crying, he said it was because he had been hit by the soldiers. His mother asked the soldiers to stop beating her son and to beat her instead.
After several minutes Ezzat was taken out of the guestroom and slapped several times by the soldier in black, once so hard that he fell to the ground. After being moved to several locations in the house Ezzat was told to stay in the boys’ bedroom. The same soldier then left the room but would return every five minutes to slap Ezzat and also to punch him several times in the stomach. Each time this took place Ezzat would shout and scream out in pain and burst in to tears. The soldier would then imitate him and make fun of him. The soldier hit him around six times.
Destruction of property and use of stress positions
A short time later, five soldiers entered the room and proceeded to destroy the family’s property using hammers. In all, the soldiers destroyed wooden ventilation panels in the attic, a small refrigerator in the bedroom and it contents, damage to the kitchen, a fan and the fireplace.
Ezzat spent one hour in the bedroom alone with the soldiers. In that hour he was ordered by the same soldier to stand on one foot for half an hour, with his back against the wall and with both his hands lifted up in the air (see picture). Ezzat was exhausted by this but was too scared to put his foot down on the ground. Eventually he was told by one of the other soldiers that he could put his foot down. He was then asked to sit down in a squat position. He managed to remain in this position for two minutes and then had to stand up. A female soldier then walked in to the room and asked him to sit on the refrigerator box.
Shortly after the soldier in the black T-shirt returned accompanied by Ezzat’s older sister Diana. He proceeded to ask Ezzat whether he cared for his sister to which Ezzat responded, "Yes I do". The soldier then asked him to tell him where the gun was hidden and that if he told him where it was hidden that he would not tell Ezzat’s father. The soldier left the room with Ezzat’s sister. He then returned to the room on his own and hit Ezzat all over his body. He left the room once again and after a while came back offering Ezzat 10 Shekels in return for telling him where the gun was. Ezzat responded that he did not care about money. This made the soldier extremely angry and he took off his helmet and started throwing it at Ezzat from two metres away. Ezzat was in extreme pain. The soldier continued to hit him with the helmet and then left the room once again returning to slap him across his face and on his stomach. This continued for some time with the soldier leaving the room and returning to hit Ezzat and to question him over the gun.
Interrogation of family
Ezzat then witnessed the soldier in the black T-shirt and the female soldier leading his sisters and mother to one of the rooms close to the boys’ bedroom. They closed the door of the room but Ezzat could hear the soldiers shouting at them. He overheard the soldier telling the female soldier to hit his mother because she was refusing to take her clothes off to be searched. After the incident was over Ezzat’s sister informed him that they were all strip searched by the female soldier, while the male soldier waited outside.
Meanwhile, a soldier wearing black sunglasses entered the bedroom in which Ezzat was being held. He walked in pointing a rifle, a few centimetres away from Ezzat’s head. Ezzat was so terrified that he began to shiver. The soldier laughed and made fun of him. He asked Ezzat to tell him where the gun was and threatened to shoot him if he didn’t. Ezzat continued to maintain that there was no weapon hidden away. The soldier, getting agitated shouted at Ezzat, "for the last time, tell me where the gun is before I shoot you". Ezzat repeated that he did not have a gun. Hearing this, the soldier lowered his rifle and left the room. After about five minutes the soldier in the black T-shirt entered the room along with four other soldiers and said that they were leaving but would return.
The soldiers spent two and half hours in the house in total. After the incident Ezzat spent the night at his uncle’s house because he was too scared to sleep in his home. As a result of the physical assault Ezzat lost two of his molar teeth and is deeply shocked by the incident.
DCI/PS Statement
DCI/PS is appalled that Israeli authorities would subject a 10-year-old child to beatings, position abuse and threats over the course of several hours. The treatment of Ezzat falls within the definition of torture and other acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment as defined in the UN Convention Against Torture, to which Israel is a State Party. The treatment of Ezzat also infringes numerous other international conventions to which Israel is bound1, as well as Israeli military and domestic law2.
DCI/PS again calls on Israel to immediately ensure its compliance with the UN Convention Against Torture and to thoroughly and impartially investigate the allegations of torture and abuse of Ezzat and bring those found responsible for such abuse to justice.
DCI/PS also calls on the EU to make the upgrade of EU-Israel bilateral relations conditional upon measurable and confirmed progress by Israel to uphold the EU human rights standards in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
1. Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) – article 5; Fourth Geneva Convention (1949) – articles 27 and 31 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966) – article 7; and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) – articles 2(2), 3, 16 and 37(a).
2. Israeli military law establishes the specific offence of "ill treatment" which prohibits the beating or other abuse of any person in a soldier’s custody: see Military Adjudication Law, 5715-1955, Article 65. See also articles 378-382 of the Israeli penal code.
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Please send appeals in English, Arabic, Hebrew or your own language to Israel and/or the EU:
Israel
Urging Israeli authorities to comply with the UN Convention Against Torture and thoroughly investigate the allegations of torture and abuse of Ezzat and other Palestinian detainees and bring those responsible for such abuse to justice.
Appeals to:
President of the State of Israel
Shimon Peres, President of the State of Israel
Office of the President
3 Hanassi St., 92188
Jerusalem, Israel.
Tel: +972 2 6707211
Fax: +972 2 5610033
Email: president@president.gov.il
Salutation: Dear President
Prime Minister of the State of Israel
Ehud Olmert, Prime Minister
Telephone: +972 2 6753277
Telephone2: +972 2 6753547
Email: eulmert@knesset.gov.il
Saluation: Dear Prime Minister
Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs
Ms. Tzipi Livni, MK
9 Yitzhak Rabin Blvd., Kiryat Ben-Gurion, Jerusalem 91035
Fax: + 972 2 5303367
Email: sar@mfa.gov.il
Salutation: Dear Foreign Affairs Minister
European Union
Urging the EU to pressure Israel to immediately ensure its compliance with the UN Convention Against Torture and thoroughly investigate the allegations of torture and abuse of Ezzat and other Palestinian detainees and bring those responsible for such abuse to justice.
Urging the EU to make the upgrade of EU-Israel bilateral relations conditional upon measurable and confirmed progress by Israel to uphold EU human rights standards in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Making the EU aware of the recent inclusion of Palestine/Israel as a priority conflict for the implementation of the EU Guidelines on Children and Armed Conflict, and of the subsequent reporting tasks on child rights violations incumbent upon EU diplomatic missions and EU institutions in the field.
Appeals to:
Mr. Bernard Kouchner, Ministre des Affaires Etrangères
Ministère des Affaires Etrangères français
37, quai d’Orsay, 75 007 Paris, France
Email: bernard.kouchner@diplomatie.gouv.fr
Personal Representative for Human Rights (CFSP) of the EU Secretary General/
High Representative Javier Solana
Ms. Riina Kionka
175 Rue de la Loi BE 1048 Brussels, Belgium
Fax. : +32 2 281 61 90
Email : riina.kionka@consilium.europa.eu
The Commissioner for External Affairs and European Neighbourhood Policy
HE Ms. Benita Ferrero- Waldner
Email: relax-enpinfo@ec.europa.eu
Why I am not surprised at all about this?? Why I'm not surprised that news say it was some loonatik soldier making suicide??
I had the change to talk with my friend today on msn. I sensed despair in her. I'm feeling desperate too! It is still beyond my understanding that Israel does these things and no one seem to be able to stop them.
What will happen next? This question I have been asking my self many times in these few days. I am sencing that something bad will happen, something what will stay in history.
What will happen if Israel makes "precautionary" strike to Iran? What is Iran's devastating counterstrike? Will it lead to a world war 3?
I think the whole world is on the edge of something now and we all have scary times ahead of us. More scary is life
now in Palestine, I've read from the daily news how many lives are lost now in the time of truce and how many people has been captured and sent to prison.If I could only help!
To my friend and her friends and family I wanna say; I pray for you every night and think of you every day! I wish you all have strenght to face the new morning and hope for better tomorrow! If I could make your life any easier I would do my all and more!
I'm feeling so powerless to be unable to help yo
u more, I'm feeling frustrated and angry too. And sad and desperate. But I know nothing good can ever happen if we don't believe in it, so I will strenghten my believe in peacefull Palestine and I hope you do too and I will challenge the whole world to believe in it, so maybe it will someday happen!I see now that we have nothing more then hope, there is no one to turn for help and no one to make them stop. We have only God who can help us in this. From Him we must ask for help.
Dear friend try to hold up there, I wish I could come and take you away from there or even give you one careless day! But all I can do is to write this blog and hope more people would read this and see how much you and your people suffer and maybe someday it will end..
before anything.. i would like to thank you my friend for being so caring and so kind to us, i am sorry about what you have been through because of all this; the sadness, the worries and above all the change of treatment from people around you. i pray that the truth shines it's light some day upon all of us in this world and speaks for you and us. it's been such a long 2 past weeks with a lot of news regarding the situation, tears have overcame my eyes many times lately not because i was weak [we all are at some point], it was because of the ignorance and the way the media manipulates this whole thing. the media is a huge weapon now adays, a weapon that not many are aware that it's aiming at them! the events here are endless that i cant state them all but i want to talk about the day the president of France was leaving Tel-Aviv. president Nicolas Sarkozy visited the West Bank and met with our president [Mahmoud Abbass] they chatted about a new solution that includes Jerusalem as a capital for 2 countries [Palestine and Israel] and president Sarkazoy explained that he disagrees with the building of new settlements on Palestinian lands [which is very brave from France's side], he then went to Tel-Aviv to discuss that with the Israeli side, while he was leaving the airport with his wife gun shots were heard and all the guards ran to him asking him to get into the plane!
next day in the news it said that a soldier had killed himself while the frensh president was leaving past Tuesday! well; in between the lines let's ask ourselves why would a normal soldier kill himself at that time and place and while no one is paying attention to him?!! what caused that guard to do such a thing? and most importantly how would it be suicide if the fire came from a far distance?!!! if Charles De Gaull was alive, would he believe that that soldier killed himself?
maybe i was not there when the whole thing happened, for sure i am not a politician nor i am an investigator but; i'm not dump nor i am blind. to me it's not a surprising thing for the Zionists who killed their own president Isaac Rabin while [singing with his people] and after signing a peace agreement with the Palestinian side to kill another country's president for trying to work some solutions with the Palestinian side...i guess the settlers weren't happy with that! this is not accusing anyone this is logical thinking... words that hit my brain in it's way while searching for peace!
as for the truce the countless breaks by Israeli side are very clear on the news' sites that we have on this blog, they are discussing the decision of exchanging some children, women and other prisoners for the release of an Israeli soldier held by Hamas. gas is still coming very short that hardly covers any basic needs of Gaza Strip with the 1.4 million human being; people who breathe like you do, not much food nor all of the agreed on checkpoints-to-open opened. i do not know what's going to happen after the end of the truce becomes declared. seems we're lost in an eye of a tornado, called "terrorists" because we are there facing death with no where else to go but try survive the cone of destruction, what a world to be in!
Today's news shows more violations against ceasefire.A 36 yeard old woman was shot in the leg while she was tending her sheep in north Gaza.
Israeli settlers launched two home made projectiles towards a Palestinian village.
Israelis shoot 9 yeard old with rubber bullets during peacefull protest near Ramallah.
These sad news make me so sad and helpless. Is it ever going to end? What could I do to help this situation?
My heart and mind is still astounded about the fact that world does not care what crimes is commited there everyday.
Is there any hope for the people of Palestine? If the world has no hope for them; how could they have?
One of my dreams is to see Palestine free and peacefull as it once was and to go visit the historical places and meet the kind people there.
I have seen pictures of the brave freedomfighters in internet and you can see from those pictures, even they wear maskes, but you can tell some of them are just young boys. But many of them have no other choise. There are no work, no hobbies, no safe, nothing normal; only evil and powerfull foreign military targetting who ever they want and no one is safe.
I wonder does Palestinians kids dream to be famous soccer player, or respected engineer?
Or is their only dream to see peace in their homeland?
They grow up in this insecurity, killing and bombing; knowing that the next day it could be them or their mothers who ends up shot to the head by the Israelis.
Their life from the very beginning is full of horrible things they witness and experience. I would concider it very careless if no one took any actions against these crimes and to defend their family, home and land.
But to some of the people here in "our side" of the world, taking these actions are concidered more crimes then the crimes committed by the Israelis. To some people it's ok if a foreign soldier shoots Palestinian kid, but when the father of that kid goes and shoots that soldier, that is act of terrorism!
How disturbed is this scene?
Sometimes I think; maybe people get some drug in their drinking water to be so calm and uncaring, sometimes even to be so stupid! Or what is the explanation to this situation? All the world has access to numerous human rights reports, numerous documentarys, documents, pictures, stories, news and all, it's all available to all of us, but why isn't it helping Palestine???
We have to have faith for peacefull and free Palestine. Maybe now it feels like distant dream, but someday it has to be possible! I keep dreaming of that..
And for my dear friend there; I will pray for you and your family and the whole country of Palestine! I hope you are ok and nothing bad has happened to you thes
e days.I dream about you and I get the chance to meet someday. It would be wonderful to meet the person who I feel so close now. To talk face to face with you, to meet your parents and the rest of the family. See happiness on your eyes and hear you laugh :)
