Dec 5 2008 fridayDec 5 2008 friday
An innocent Palestinian family, numbering close to 20 people. All ofthem women and children, save for three men. Surrounding them are a few
dozen masked Jews seeking to lynch them. A pogrom. This isn't a play on
words or a double meaning. It is a pogrom in the worst sense of the word.
First the masked men set fire to their laundry in the front yard and then
they tried to set fire to one of the rooms in the house. The women cry for
help, "Allahu Akhbar." Yet the neighbors are too scared to approach the
house, frightened of the security guards from *Kiryat Arba who have sealed
off the home and who are cursing the journalists who wish to document the
events unfolding there.
The cries rain down, much like the hail of stones the masked men hurled at
the Abu Sa'afan family in the house.
A few seconds tick by before a group of journalists, long accustomed to witnessing these difficult moments, decide not to stand on the sidelines. They break into the home and save the lives
of the people inside.
The brain requires a minute or two to digest what is taking place. Women and children crying bitterly, their faces giving off an expression of horror, sensing their imminent deaths, begging the journalists to save their lives.
Stones land on the roof of the home, the windows and
the doors. Flames engulf the southern entrance to the home. The front yard
is littered with stones thrown by the masked men. The windows are shattered
and the children are frightened. All around, as if they were watching a rock
concert, are hundreds of Jewish witnesses, observing the events with great
interest, even offering suggestions to the Jewish wayward youth as to the most effective way to harm the family. And the police are not to be seen. Nor is
the army.
Ten minutes prior, while the security forces were preoccupied with
dispersing the rioters near the House of Contention, black smoke billowed
from the wadi separating Kiryat Arba and Hebron. For some reason, none of
the senior officers of the police or the army were particularly disturbed by
what was transpiring at the foot of Kiryat Arba. Anyone standing hundreds of
meters away could notice the dozens of rioters climbing atop the roof of the
Abu Sa'afan family home, hurling stones. Only moments later did it become
apparent that there were people inside the home.
I quickly descend to the wadi and accost three soldiers. "What do you want
from me? The three of us are responsible for the entire sector here," one
said, his hand gesturing towards the entire wadi.
"Use your radio to request help," I said. He replies that he is not equipped
with a radio.
A group of journalists approach the house. A dilemma. What to do? There are
no security forces in the vicinity and now the Jewish troublemakers decided
to put the journalists in their crosshairs. We call for the security guards
from Kiryat Arba to intervene and put a halt to the lynch. But they surround
the home to prevent the arrival of "Palestinian aid."
The home is destroyed and the fear is palpable on the faces of the children.
One of the women, Jihad, is sprawled on the floor, half-unconscious. The
son, who is gripping a large stick, prepares for the moment he will be
forced to face the rioters. Tahana, one of the daughters, refuses to calm
down. "Look at what they did to the house, look."
Tess, the photographer, bursts into tears as the events unfold around her.
The tears do not stem from fear. It is shame, shame at the sight of these
occurrences, the deeds of youths who call themselves Jews. Shame that we
share the same religion. At 5:05 P.M., a little over an hour after the
incident commenced, a unit belonging to the Yassam special police forces
arrives to disperse the crowd of masked men. The family members refuse to
calm down. Leaving the home, one can hear a settler yell at a police
officer: "Nazis, shame on you." Indeed. Shame on you.
| Kiryat Arba | |
| Hebrew | קִרְיַת־אַרְבַּע |
| (Translit.) | Qiryat Arbaʻ |
| Arabic | قرية أربع |
| Name meaning | Town of the Four [Giants] |
| Government | Local council |
| Also spelled | Qiryat Arba (officially) |
| District | Judea and Samaria Area |
| Population | 7,000 (2007) |
| Jurisdiction | 5,000 dunams (5.0 km2/1.9 sq mi) |
*Kiryat Arba or Qiryat Arba is an urban Jewish community in the southern Judea region of the West Bank adjoining the city of Hebron.
dah ade blog dah budak ni....poyo
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