Birth And Death At The Checkpoint

[Violet_Crumble]

By Gideon Levy


Ha'aretz
14 September 2003

Rula was in the last stages of labor. Daoud says the soldiers at the checkpoint wouldn't let them through, so his wife hid behind a concrete block and gave birth on the ground. A few minutes later, the baby girl died.

They wanted to call her Mira. All their children have names that begin with M, from Mohammed to Meida, their youngest daughter. They borrowed baby clothes from Rula's sister - their financial situation after three years of unemployment made buying new clothes out of the question - and they packed a bag to be ready for the birth. Now they are beside themselves with grief. Rula doesn't say a word and Daoud can't keep the words from pouring out.

Kafr Salem, behind the Beit Furik checkpoint east of Nablus, has been one of the most besieged locales in the West Bank over the past three years. It is rare that passage is granted to cars - even ambulances. A single dirt path leads to the village, and traffic there is usually prohibited, too. About 5,000 people live there, blockaded and beset by unemployment. An appeal to the High Court on the matter did not change the situation; the court approved the continuation of the blockade.

http://www.countercurrents.org/pa-levy140903.htm

[Darranar]

1. There is no excuse for this. None...

There was no security reason for leaving her waiting there.

[Muddleoftheroad]

2. How do you know that?

Were you there? Do you know her background? That of her husband? The security situation at that location?

[Darranar]

3. No, I don't...

but, you see, unlike you, when I see brutality by IDF soldiers I ndo not think that it is automatically towards a security threat.

Additionally, no one anywhere has indicated that they are a security threat. Not even the super IDf investigators who know exactly who is a terrorist and who is not.

[Muddleoftheroad]

4. Travel restrictions

Are common when dealing with irregular attacks. So, if there is blame to go around, the Palestinian terrorists who hide in the civilian population need some hefty credit.

[bpilgrim]

5. thats the same thing the imperial japanese said of the chinese

when they occupied them during wwII

something MLK could tell you if you were listening.

peace

[Muddleoftheroad]

6. No jackboots

Just precautions.

Again, that's why Israel is building a wall to keep out Palestinians. It's simpler.

[bpilgrim]

7. a kinder, gentler occupation, is always the claim

thought the atrocities always look the same... only thing that really changes is the scope it seams.

surly, not a distinction to boast about...

peace

[Resistance]

8. muddle wake up bud

The woman had to go hide behind a slab of CONCRETE and give birth on THE GROUND.

The ultimate point to be pushed is that BOTH these peoples share the same land and therefore MUST get back to the negotiating table. Forget the racist wall which steals MORE land that doesn't belong to Israel - no amount of terrorism or violence justifies the outright THEFT of land which is partly the purpose of the wall.

An INTERNATIONAL peacekeeping force MUST be put in place to lessen the biases and excesses which might be taken by a partisan army or militant group. The US should threaten to withhold some, or even all, of the billions in aid it sends every year to Israel, as a way to put pressure on the GOI to resume negotiations and STOP the war crimes and settlement building.

[Equinox]

17. Who knows, instead of a baby...

she might have had a bomb in her twat.

[Violet_Crumble]

15. Keeping them out of where?

You've been told repeatedly that this wall is being built deep into Palestinian territory, so why do you keep on pretending it isn't? And can you explain to me what threat this pregnant woman was to Israel? The checkpoints stopped her from getting from one part of the West Bank to another, not into Israel....

Violet...

[newyorican]

9. That's it...

defending the indefensible, the amen corners favorite pastime.

[Resistance]

10. yep

and they are the first ones to scream about how there is "no justification for terror"

[Muddleoftheroad]

11. I didn't defend and I didn't attack

I simply said we don't know. And, the truth of the matter is, we don't.

What we do know is that Palestinian terrorists try to sneak bombs into Israel on a regular basis. Naturally, Israeli security must try and stop that and doing so effectively takes time.

[newyorican]

12. read your own post...

it's a defense, pure and *very* simple.

Be a man, stand up for your wrong-headed positions and deal with it. Weasels need not apply.

[Resistance]

13. you are entirely misinformed

I have read personal accounts of Israeli soldiers purposefully taking their sweet time while holding up ambulances carrying patients in need of immediate medical attention. They take smoke breaks while women are in the middle of childbirth. They gunned down a kid at a checkpoint and then said "oops my finger slipped on the trigger". These are the stories that don't make the mainstream press, and these are the actions which you choose to defend.

Quit defending the indefensible.

[tinnypriv]

16. Dude, even FRIEDMAN is against the wall

C'mon, get with the programme.

If he is on-board, Congress can't be far behind, right?

Er...right?

[Equinox]

18. Like I said earlier...

I agree with Muddle...security is an issue.

The Palestinian woman might have had a bomb in her twat.

<end sarcasm>

[Jackie97]

14. Guilty until proven innocent, 'eh?

Not just for for the couple, but for their soon to be dead child.