Exclusive: Father of American Killed in Ramallah Speaks Out, U.S. Remains Silent
http://www.islam-online.net/english/News/2002-04/04/article60.shtml
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U.S. citizen Suraida Salih is buried in a temporary mass grave in a Ramallah hospital. |
By Neveen A. Salem, IOL Washington correspondent
WASHINGTON, April 3 (IslamOnline) - On Friday March 29, the first day of Israel�s bombardment of the West Bank city of Ramallah, reports surfaced that the first victim of the attacks was a 21-year-old woman who was shot by Israeli soldiers as she was driving in her car with her family. What was not reported by news agencies, however, until much later, was that the woman was an American.
Suraida Salih�s father, Farhan, told IslamOnline via telephone from Ramallah that she was driving with her husband and her nine-month-old son when Israeli soldiers opened fire on them, killing her and pumping five bullets into her husband.
�The Israelis are killing everything, not just people. They are destroying trees, animals and people. They are destroying houses and buildings�everything. They are obliterating all of Ramallah and Beit Lehem [Bethlehem] in cold blood,� Farhan told IslamOnline, as sounds of what seemed to be gunshots or explosions could be heard over the telephone.
He told IslamOnline that the family had been locked inside their house unable to claim Suraida�s body until late Tuesday, April 2, a full five days after she was shot, when they helped bury her in a temporary grave in the parking lot of a Ramallah hospital.
As morgues are overflowing with Palestinian dead, the hospital has had to resort to temporary burial areas, as it is too dangerous for Palestinians to try to bury their dead in cemeteries due to the curfew and Israeli soldiers roaming the streets, Farhan explained.
Farhan gave the details of Suraida�s death to IslamOnline and via another telephone interview to American Muslims for Global Peace and Justice (AMGPJ), a Washington D.C.- based human rights organization.
He said he was providing statements to other Western media outlets in the hope that �Americans will realize that Israel is killing Americans too, and not just Palestinians, even though any deaths should be condemned and action should be taken to stop the bloodshed and the wasting of innocent lives.�
Farhan stated that an unknown wounded man came to Suraida's home in Ramallah at about 3:30 a.m. on Friday, March 29. Morad Abu Gharbiyeh, Suraida's husband, a journalist with the Palestinian Broadcasting Company, assisted the man and called for an ambulance. Paramedics took the wounded man and left their house by 4 a.m.
Morad and Suraida decided it would be safer for them if they went to Suraida's father's house, not far up the street from where they lived.
Suraida sat in the passenger seat holding her 9-month-old, Muhsin, as Morad drove their car. �A band of the notorious Mustaarabeen [�Arabized�], undercover Israeli soldiers dressed like Arabs, stood in the shadows of an upcoming intersection. As the car approached, the Israelis opened fire without warning, shooting Suraida in the head and the chest. She died instantly. Morad was hit with five bullets: two in his head, two in his shoulder, and one in his hand.
The Israelis, assuming that all the occupants were dead, left the scene. Morad regained consciousness to find his dead young wife slumped over their child. Miraculously, little Muhsin was unharmed.
"They killed her in cold blood�cold blood, and now my grandson will grow up not knowing the mother who gave birth to him,� Farhan said.
He also stated that U.S. officials in the region had not been helpful in helping his family. �I called the American consulate so that they could help me get Suraida's body, and they promised me on Saturday, and on Sunday, and today, and still nothing. I don't think that they care about us because we are Arab-Americans. If we were American Jews, they would put pressure on Israel. But for us, nothing," an anguished Farhan stated.
Omar, Suraida�s brother, also spoke of his aunt and uncle, Farhat Saleh and Selma Frookh, also Americans from northern Virginia, who went to Palestine for a visit, following their pilgrimage to Mecca during Hajj last February.
"They are an old couple, and right now they are alone in their home with no electricity or running water, and barely any food,� he said. �My uncle has diabetes, and my aunt has high blood pressure. I'm worried that they are in need of their medication, but they can't get any because the Israelis will shoot anyone who goes outside and breaks the curfew."
Farhan told IslamOnline that the curfew on Ramallah was lifted Tuesday for a short while, but that most residents were too scared to venture out of their homes as Israeli soldiers were still firing in the streets.
�We finally went out to the hospital so Morad could see Suraida before we put her in the ground. My daughter did not want to leave Ramallah. Her destiny was here.
�We buried her and two other women in one grave and about 24 men in the other grave, only temporarily until we can give them a proper burial,� Farhan said in a broken voice.
He also went on to state that Israeli soldiers continued to shoot near, and at times, at them, as they attempted to bury their dead family members and friends.
He called on the U.S. to let its people know that Israelis are also killing Americans.
�The U.S. cannot deny that my daughter is American. She and her brothers and sisters were all born in hospitals in Washington D.C. and Virginia. Why can�t they see that Americans are dying as well,� Farhan asked.
He also called on the U.S. to rethink its foreign policy towards the region and to end its blind support for Israel, stressing that all the Palestinians want is less than a third of their former homeland as provisioned by international law and U.N. resolutions calling for Israel to withdraw to its 1967 borders.
�They cannot say we are terrorists. We are peaceful and extending our hands towards peace and we are being attacked in the most savage and barbaric of ways by Israel and we cannot defend ourselves,� Farhan said.
�What are they [Americans] waiting for? The U.S.�s interests in the Arab world will cease to exist due to this blind support for Israel. The U.S. is supporting a country that does not care about it,� Farhan asserted. �It is a blind policy.�
He also went on to comment that neither Muslims nor Christians are immune to Israeli aggressions.
He stated how distressed he was over the death of the American priest killed in Bethlehem as well as over �the attacks on the church where our Prophet Jesus, God�s peace and blessings be showered upon him, was born.�
�The statue of Miriam [the Virgin Mary] has been assailed and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is not being respected. It is being shot at. Bethlehem�s mosques and churches are burning. Everything is burning. How can this continue unopposed?� Farhan pleaded.
Two more Americans were wounded Monday by Israeli gunfire in Beit Jala as they participated in a peaceful march in solidarity with the Palestinians. The State Department has said that they hope such incidents would not happen in the future.
There was no immediate comment from the State Department concerning dozens of American citizens who have been detained in Israel's round-up of all men between the ages of 16 and 64 in Ramallah and other parts of the West Bank.
Regarding Suraida, a State Department official merely said, � We are aware she was American, but are not offering any statements at this time.�
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