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The Daily Life of Kawther Salam ..: Hell Made in Israel - May 2002 :.. June,
2004
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Go To: Saturday, 4 May 2002 Sunday, 5th May 2002 Monday, 6 May 2002 Tuesday, 7 May 2002 Wednesday, 8 May 2002 Thursday, 9 May 2002 Friday, 10 May 2002 Saturday, 11 May 2002 Sunday, 12 May 2002 Tuesday, 21 May 2002 Friday, 24 May 2002 Wednesday, 29 May 2002 Saturday, 4 May 2002 On Saturday 4 May 2002, a construction worker called me. He said that his life in danger and he could not continue construction on my house. The settlers were breaking into the house and damaging his work. All the new glass was broken and the doors were damaged. One of the Israeli soldiers told me that the settlers planned to burn me in my bedroom during the night. He advised me to save my self. Sunday, 5th May 2002 On Sunday, at 7 a.m., I left my house and took some small possessions with me to live with my friend Dina Lee in Jaffo in Tel-Aviv. It took me 7 hours to travel from Hebron to Jerusalem. All of the roads and streets were blocked. The snipers were in the hills all along the way. The driver took the mountainous roads to drive in the middle of the fields through the surrounding villages. Thick dust covered the car preventing us from opening the windows. We were frightened as we drove through the fields. The car nearly capsized in So'er Wadi. I took 10 different cars between Hebron and Jerusalem. I walked many kilometers on foot in the fields in order to make it around of the block military posts that cut the roadways between the villages. Near Al-Obaydia village, a military war tank confronted me. Two Israeli soldiers stopped hundreds of old men and women caring for children. I was very tired and sweaty. The people told me that these soldiers had detained them for 4 hours. I asked them to open the way for me. I stopped in front of the soldiers and I beat the war tank with my hands. I asked them what they were doing and why they were enjoying harassment of civilian people under the brutal sun. The soldiers realized that I was opening my tape recorder. They looked at me and kept silent. Other soldiers were hiding in the tank. They raised their heads and were ready to shoot. All of them were around 18 years old. Then the soldiers asked me to leave. However, they opened the way for the civilians. The crowds of people rushed very quickly toward the cars and thanked me. One of them carried my things. I felt of the pain in my hands from beating tank with hands I arrived East of Jerusalem at 1:30 pm, after 7 hours of painful travel through the mountains. I called Nitsan, a friend. He came from Binyaminas, north of Tel-Aviv to pick me up from Jerusalem. Monday, 6 May 2002 Romi asked me if I wanted to return to Hebron. She said that she didn’t like the soldiers and didn't want me to live in Hebron. Romi appreciates my cooking, especially fish with rice and vegetables. Romi constantly asked me before she’d leave for school if I would be leaving or not and if I would return or not. Romi promised me that she would not serve in the army. When we were walking in the streets in Tel-Aviv she would say "ikhss khayal" which means “disgusting soldier.” Tuesday, 7 May 2002 Zahava Galon's office phoned me. She is a Member of Parliament. They informed me of Mr. Daniel Seaman, the Israeli Press Office Director response concerning my press card. They informed me that he again refused to renew my press card. He claimed that my staying in Israel is illegal. He said my press card renewal had expired while I was in Ireland and that he still doesn’t know which newspaper employs me here. Ms. Galon’s office told him that they had sent him newspaper letters informing him that I had worked with them as a journalist. He responded by stating that he would not help me to receive my press card. Ms. Galon said that Mr. Seaman is a "fascist", and that he is still a major general in the army. They said that Mr. Seaman’s response appeared be a threat to me. They were accused of supporting me to stay illegally in Israel. Wednesday, 8 May 2002 I cried today when I received an offer from Mr. Steven Neshyba and his wife to stay with them in Tacoma, Washington in the USA. Mr. Neshyba is a professor in the Chemistry Dept. in the University of Puget Sound. He said that after he and his wife read my appeal through my diary on Wed. 24 April, they decided to assist me. He wrote, "Would you consider staying with us in Tacoma, Washington?" They have a bedroom for guests, and if I have a driver’s license, I can borrow their old pickup truck. There would be many details to work out, of course. For example, how long I would stay and what my visa status would be. He said that it wasn’t much to offer and he realizes that I don't know him at all. He has a wife named Penny and 2 two small children, age 6 and 8 years old. I cried when I received this letter. It was quite touching. I know the world is full of decent human beings, but in the Occupied Territories, Palestinians are not considered as human beings. Before Mr. Neshhba sent me his letter I received another letter from an Austrian man. A man named Mr. Ramin invited me to stay a while in Austria to take a vacation. Thursday, 9 May 2002 Yarden Dankner invited me to stay with her in Arsarof in Tel-Aviv. She arrived and transported me from Dina's. Yarden used to invite me to stay with her. However, today it was a special invitation. She spoke with me about her project with Michael Pundak that is called "Child to Child." Yarden and Michael are peace activists. They try to create plans to help Palestinians under siege. They decided to lead the peace activity "Child to Child." Today, thousends of Israelis believe that war is not the correct path and our hope is that together we can find a route to peace. Under this activity "Child to Child", Dankner and Pundak wrote: “We are Israeli parents and children who decided to send gift boxes to Palestinians children to demonstrate our belief that war is not the right path and our hope that together we can find a route to peace.” In the coming weeks, with the assistance of non-political Israeli, Palestinian and international organizations, we will be sending packages to Palestinian children. If you would like to join us by making a gift package, please follow these guidelines: Contents: Select a few items from the following list and send with a blank card, paper and self addressed envelope: Cereal, instant soup, cookies, toothbrush and toothpaste, a coloring book, and chocolate. I admire what Dankner and Pundak are doing. They decided to send these items to Hebronite children who have been living under the curfew for 500 days. In Hebron, Palestinian children were constantly attacked and harassed by Jewish settlers. There are some Israelis, though, who are against what they are doing and the presence of the settlements in the Occupied Territorries. Friday, 10 May 2002 I'm still enjoying my time with Elai and Yarden in their beautiful house on the beach. Our friend, Mekal Pondak invited us to have dinner with her family. She said, “You should meet my brother Ron, the famous politician of the Oslo secret negotiations, and Director of the Perez Peace Institute. When Mekal introduced me to her brother Ron, he laughed and started telling her stories about me. Ron knows me well as a journalist and as a member of the Perez Peace Institute club. Mekal told me about her son Iyal, who refused to serve in the IDF. Iyal said his mother supported him in this decision. It was a long process between him and the IDF which took over one year until he proved his point to an IDF psychologist. Iyal's mother said she faced by many problems after she was interviewed by Ha'aretz newspaper with other Israeli mothers who supported their sons not to serve in the IDF. Mekal said, “We born to be a peaceful family and we should like this.” Saturday, 11 May 2002 When the IDF sent Itan to serve as a reserve soldier in the occupied Territories near Hebron, he spent a couple of days trying to convince the officer that he couldn't serve in the army. Itan is my neighbor in Tel-Aviv. He said, ” I have a twins- Roi and Idor, and no one is taking care of them. I can't serve as a soldier near Hebron. I have a friend living there.” Itan said he told his friends about me. He said, “I will not shoot my friend. I can't do this.” Itan talked with me about his feeling this way. He said he was worried that I would to be identified as a journalist and his friend during the couple days he served near Hebron. He said, "I was worried they would recognize you with being identified with me." I was there just to convince the IDF that I couldn't serve in the army.” Sunday, 12 May 2002 I was on an Israeli beach, below the ruins of the ancient city of Appolonia. It is near the Sadni Mosque in the beautiful area of Arsuf. The beach is littered with much trash. I believe that many Jewish hearts in the middle of this trash have left their bodies. I realized that when people without hearts are unconcerned about pollution and have no respect for the beauty of nature, then the condition of war becomes more acceptable. Anyone seeing all these people without hearts lying on beaches full of trash can only conclude that these Jewish hearts are out of their bodies. They are lying on the beach just waiting for their hearts to return to their bodies. Why don’t the Jews want to keep their hearts in their bodies? Why don’t they try to understand and respect their Palestinian neighbors? Even the stones on the beach feel the pain of the people in this area. Tuesday, 21 May 2002 Did a military police officer rape a Palestinian man? The IDF soldiers on 17 May arrested Asad Saed Al Hemoni, who is 30 years old. On 28 April 2002, Mr. Al-Hemoni was transferred from Al-Naqab prison on the day before the appeal in the military court session in Beit El. Mr. Al- Hemoni said, "On my return from Al-Naqab to Offer prison, I was accompanied by two officers. When I felt the need to use the toilet, the officer from Al-Naqab gave me permission but the other said no and insulted me. I told him that I had asked in a polite way to go to the toilet but he continued to curse at me. He said, “I will show you what you need. Follow me.” This officer asked a military policeman to accompany them. They took him to the back of the toilet and the officer put on gloves and smeared Vaseline on them. He then asked Mr. Hemoni to take off his pants, but he refused. The officer asked the military policeman to take off Mr. Hemoni's pants but he too refused and said, "I am not ready to do something illegal." The officer told him to leave and then demanded that Mr. Hemoni take off his shirt. He did so. Then the officer handcuffed his hands behind him. He then proceeded to rape and torture Mr. Hemoni. As a result Mr. Hemoni sustained injuries including a badly bruised left hand. As Mr. Hemoni screamed, other police officers arrived and took him to a medical clinic. He was told to keep silent because he was being accused of beating the officer. At the first opportunity to meet lawyers visiting the prison, he filed a complaint that was forwarded to the Red Cross and Al-Damer Human Rights Organization. The jail administration began an investigation and informed Mr. Hemoni that he was accused of beating the officer. He said, "How could I do this with hands cuffed?" On 20 May 2002 Mr. Hemoni called me on my cell phone and told me the story. I have called some Israeli Parliament members who advised me to write the story and send it to them. I decided to publish the story in Al Ittihad newspaper in Haifa under Appeal to the Israeli Parliament Members, a Military Police Officer Raped a Palestinian man in Offer Prison. The story was published on Friday, 24 May 2002. Mr. Isam Mekhol, a Member of Parliament phoned me. He said, "I will send the complaint to the Police Ministry and to the Israeli State Observer after I speak about the issue during the Parliament session. Mr. Mekhol sent me a copy of his letter. He said, "After that I received telephone calls from the Israeli TV and Radio and another from an Italian journalist". Friday, 24 May 2002 It took me 10 hours to arrive in Hebron. The teapot in my kitchen was full of urine with terrible odors. All the glass in my windows was broken. A new barbed wire was placed on my roof to prevent the construction man from fixing the damaged water tanks on my roof. My neighbors told me that the IDF soldiers had broken into my house with other settlers the last couple days. Nazeha Abu Dahoud, the woman whose husband was killed on 30 December 2000 was in my house. The IDF killed him when he was living in my house with his wife. She told me that she filled a complaint with the TIPH, the Temporary Presence Observers in Hebron She said they smelled the mess and saw the urine in the teapot in my kitchen. She said that she knew the settlers and soldiers who broke into my house. Wednesday, 29 May 2002 The military investigation committee came to investigate me in Hebron. My lawyer, Lea Tsemel, arranged for the meeting to be held in the Israeli headquarter in Hebron in the DCO office. The investigator arrived on time, but the DCO officer protested. He claimed that the committee didn't send him any advance notice of the meeting and this would delay their work for one hour. The investigator was busy and he would not listen to my testimony. He didn’t understand English or Arabic. I provided him with some papers and he said he would work on translating it and get back to me. -> Back to Overview -> Home |