wfn.org | How Many Bombs Can One Home Take?

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Contact: Fr. Raed Abusahlia
Chancellor of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem
P.O. Box 14152  Jerusalem  91141
Tel.  (972 2) 628.2323 or 627.2280
Fax  (972 2) 627.1652
E-mail: nonviolence@writeme.com
E-mail: Latinpat@actcom.co.il
Website: http://www.lpj.org/
Website: http://members.nbci.com/nonviolence

By Dr. Maria C. Khoury

BEIT SAHOUR, West Bank,  March 3, 2001--As the air raids began to destroy 
Beit Sahour in early October, Maher Al-Atrash, the Acting General Director of 
the Latin Patriarchate Schools in Palestine, did not think they would 
continue to bomb his Beit Sahour home consistently throughout the last five 
months of this current Intifada. 

Maher and his wife Jane, who also works for the Beit Jala Latin Patriarchate 
School administrative office, live only 200 meters away from an Israeli 
military camp.  Their lives are constantly on edge and lately in danger.

Maher was required to attend the schools commission meetings in Jordan headed 
by Professor Bart McGettrick of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre on 
October 12-14, 2000.  It was a pleasant family get away from the shootings 
and killings.  

However, once in Jordan and with the completion of the commission meetings, 
eventually one needs to return home.  Getting home was a prolonged 
experience, full of wait, harassment, hassle and excessive hours and days to 
cross over the bridge with three small children.  The bridge between the East 
Bank and the West Bank has been closed for over a week due to the Israeli 
siege in Palestine. 

Sometimes, getting stuck out of your home is worse than being stuck inside 
your home.  Either way, it's a denial of one's basic right to movement and 
freedom. When Maher and his family did reach home they were not able to stay 
even one night because heavy shooting and bombing in his neighborhood and an 
Israeli missile landing directly in his living room forced them to run away. 

Specifically, they survived unharmed throughout three hours of massive 
shooting before they left to safety for his sister's house in the middle of 
the night.

Eventually Maher fixed the damage to the house and in mid January when things 
were actually not getting any better, the family moved back into the Beit 
Sahour house along with the other few hundred families that relocated during 
the months of heavier shooting.  

However, twenty of these families could not return to their homes at all 
because of the severe damage and destruction to their properties.   The 
bombings and the shootings have become so "regular," "normal," for us here in 
Palestine, that we think of them as rain coming down and sometimes the rain 
goes away only to come back. But this rain is so deadly.

Was it worth returning home?  Is it possible in the Holy Land to think "home 
sweet home?"  Last week Maher's house was bombed again and this time 
unfortunately he can't think of returning home; he must keep his children 
safe.  The house next door, belonging to Fr. Aktham Hajajin's first cousin, 
was destroyed completely from the bombs and intense fire.

Maher's four year old son, Maroun, keeps asking (in Arabic) "When are we 
going back to our house?  When will we play with our toys again?   When will 
we go down our slide again?"  He is one of the thousands of little children 
that have not had a good night sleep since the beginning of the Intifada when 
the images of death and the massacre against Palestinians hit their 
television screens.  They have not had a peaceful day since they stopped 
showing cartoons on TV and began broadcasting the killings and shootings. 

Maroun's sleep is so short that it's not even a quiet sleep.  His dad 
confesses that actually he just can't sleep at night.  His sleep is simply 
too short for a four-year-old.  He is also scared to death to be alone so he 
insists on sleeping with his mother and father.

Maroun started receiving psychological services at the YMCA in the Bethlehem 
area because at night he constantly speaks about death.  His behavior at 
school and at home has become aggressive.  This once polite and happy child, 
who is one of our preschool students at the Beit Sahour Latin Patriarchate 
School, damages everything in his site.  Also, it's not unusual to wake up at 
midnight and start screaming out of fear.  His father thinks this behavior is 
a reaction to the constant Israeli brutality, the nightly shootings, the 
daily images of killings on TV and the fear he probably senses in his 
parents' eyes.

Beit Shaour with over 15, 000 inhabitants is 85% Christian. It is the largest 
Christian community in the Holy Land.  Four local churches in Beit Shour 
represent the Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic and the Protestant 
denominations.  

Most people here are frustrated. They have experienced and seen the Israeli 
occupation and brutality daily since their birth.  They see how the Israelis 
control all the roads, the airport, Jerusalem since l967, all the natural 
resources in the area and they directly control their lives too. 

"This is not a normal life.  Palestinians in the last eight years since the 
Oslo Peace Agreement have seen nothing implemented on the ground. The 
situation is very bad," says Maher, who has been working in the education 
office in Ramallah for the last nine years.  Many days he can not even travel 
from his home to his office.   When he does come, he spends double the time 
on the road and shows his identity card sometimes seven times.

Recently at the Patriarchate two special visitors, a major in the U.S. army 
and a retired colonel, who are members of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher 
joined the Pontifical Mission.  After visiting Maher's neighborhood, they 
could not believe that the Israelis were using such weapons of destruction 
and carrying out such severe attacks in civilian areas.  

They specifically said that what they saw in Beit Sahour was intense and 
excessive use of power on civilians.  They could not believe their own eyes 
as they saw the damage in this Beit Sahour community.  In the same evening 
they met with the patriarch to express their condemnation and anger 
concerning these unjust attacks.

Thus, this very tiny spot on earth where in the Bible is referred to as 
Shepherds Field because it is here that the angles proclaimed the Good News 
to the world, is suffering terribly from the Israeli injustice and Israeli 
brutality.  

And therefore, we pray that the Prince of Peace and the Lord of Love bring 
about a miracle during this Lenten Season in this sacred land so that peace 
may prevail for all the little children that cannot sleep at night like 
Maroun.  Because "…with God all things are possible,"  (Matthew 19:26) and we 
have great faith "…The Lord blesses His people with peace." (Psalm 29:11).

===
For a related story, see article posted earlier "Patriarch Begs: Bomb 
Churches Not Homes."