Dear Friends,
I would like to thank the tens of people who called and sent emails to ask how I was doing. Thank G-d I feel better and returned home after having been in the hospital.
The many beatings by the expulsion forces dressed in black who kicked us and
beat us with their clubs during yesterday's expulsion from Bet Hashalom,
paralyzed me completely and the paramedics feared my neck and spine had been hurt. I was rushed to the Shaarei Tzedek hospital. Thank G-d, after different tests in the hospital all tests were shown to be ok.My body obviously hurts very much but that will pass in the next few days.My fighting spirit on the other hand has only increased and was strengthened after I had the honor to spend the entire last week, together with thousands of others, in Bet Hashalom.
We had the honor to get to know the 14 wonderful families who have been living in Bet Hashalom for the past year and eight months and the many other activists from Kiryat Arba Hebron. I am telling you, there are not enough words to describe those wonderful Jews. They gave us the most incredible lesson in hospitality and in love and total devotion to the Land of Israel. In addition, I want to salute the wonderful hundreds of youth who came to Bet Hashalom and strengthen them.
I would like to address the lies and disinformation coming out of Ehud Barak's office and being spread by the media. We are being told that the expulsion from Bet Hashalom went by "smoothly and was done within an hour".
It is important to announce that this is a complete lie . The truth is that against all expectations, the expulsion from Bet Hashalom took them at least four and a half days. As you recall, many expulsion troops already arrived in the area on Monday and it was clear that they planned to do it Monday night.
But thanks to the thousands of loyal Jews who came and stayed in Bet Hashalom, and thanks to the hundreds of youth who did not stay indifferent to the attacks by the Arabs, the planned expulsion was prevented and postponed.
This lasted till Thursday. Every day over a thousand people stayed in bet Hashalom and the government, understanding that this is not going to be as simple as they thought, just added more and more troops to the area.
In addition, the government did not expect that the planned expulsion would start such fierce demonstrations all over the country. There were daily protests all over the country by hundreds of jews outraged at the thought of the upcoming crime.
I am convinced that had we managed to keep over a thousand people in bet Hashalom also on Thursday, the expulsion would not have taken place and may this be a lesson for us in the future.
In addition, it is hard to say that the expulsion is over with. Yes, they managed to take us out temporarily from Bet Hashalom but since the expulsion there are demonstrations and disorder by loyal Jews protesting all over the country and hopefully this will just be the beginning. We must make sure that the government pays a heavy price for the expulsion of Jews so that in the future they will think twice if this is worth it for them. The message is clear: If it took so many days and so many forces to expel Jews from just one house-don't even think you will ever again be able to uproot Jews from an entire community. In addition to the protests all over the country, the bet Hashalom residents have already announced that they plan to go back to Bet Hashalom today, even if it means living in tents in the vicinity.
I am writing those words the day after the expulsion from Bet Hashalom. I am sure that in the next few days we will have many more conclusions and thought about what happened here so we can learn for the future struggles.
In conclusion, the expulsion forces who behaved like brutal violent monsters indeed managed to bruise our bodies but we are the ones who please G-d will give them the final blow. Our main revenge will please G-d come on February 10, election day, when the people of Israel will expel this anti-zionist, anti jewish bolchevic regime and will bring to power a national government. Let's just hope that this time, the new elected leaders will not disappoint us and will really be loyal to the Land of Israel, the People of Israel and the Torah of Israel.
Shabbat Shalom
Nadia Matar, co-chair of Women in Green and member of the Committee for the Struggle for Bet Hashalom
Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד
ANALYSIS / No other word than 'pogrom' for settler acts in Hebron
ReplyDeleteBy Avi Issacharoff
Tags: Hebron, settlers, Israel News
An innocent Palestinian family, numbering close to 20 people. All of
them 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
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ffective 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.
I find it hard to believe that Jameel approved this posting, despite his coverage of the Hebron situation. I check this blog to read what Jameel thinks about the Hebron situation, not to read what Joe Settler thinks and certainly not to read what Nadia Matar thinks.
ReplyDeleteGlad that Nadia is okay. It's a sad day when the defense minister is more concerned with banishing his own people than deal with enemy missile attacks in sderot.
ReplyDeletehttp://aaronkatsman.blogspot.com/2008/12/once-again-jew-banishes-jew.html
Anonymous: Sorry - I've had a very busy last few weeks.
ReplyDeleteI'll be posting more next week.
To the anonymous who posted about the "pogrom" -- Shame on you.
ReplyDeleteYou weren't there, you have no clue whats going in Hevron, you probably think the Jews should have been kicked out of the Peace House, which was legally purchased.
The Hevron situation is very complex, and the entire farse you saw this week was executed by Ehud Barak for political grandstanding.
He wanted lots of noise, blood, and rock throwing -- to make him and his party look more "appealing" to the leftists who get their kicks by seeing Jews bleed and getting thrown out of their homes in Hevron.
I'm willing to be in next week's polls, you'll see Labor rising at Meretz and Kadima's expense.
Jameel can't you tone down the rhetoric a bit about the leftists who "get their kicks by seeing Jews bleed and thrown out of their homes". While the situation may be complex in Hebron, what Avi Issacharoff wrote about in the Haaretz article did happen, and maybe you should write about that or at least discuss it rather then the constant rants against the police.
ReplyDeleteDefinition - Pogrom: An organized, often officially encouraged massacre or persecution of a minority group, especially one conducted against Jews.
ReplyDeleteThat would better describe what the government did the rightful owners and residents of the peace house.
my thinking
ReplyDeleteJameel, they had video on the news last night of settlers pulling guns on Pals in the middle of an argument. While many settlers may be taking the non violent route in this situation, you certainly can't say that about everyone. In situations like this, a few bad apples do make a difference.
ReplyDeleteIt's the wild west. Yes it's complex, but I don't see much complexity being explored here. You really need to limit joe settler's views because they really take over the blog.
Amen to Abbi.
ReplyDelete