Note: forwarded message attached.
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--- Begin Message --- From: Fahmi manasra < [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2001 10:02 PM
Subject: Urgent Call from the Wadi
Dear friends
Today I learned how a person can be driven to despair and act with complete
frustration, feeling severely crushed and despised. I have been living with
this hard situation in Palestine for nearly four decades but never has it
been this bad. Today we started to experience a new style of suffering in
our little village - Wadi Foquin - this village is known to many of you.
This is a small and peaceful village with about one thousand people living
here. The Wadi has experienced the Palestinian tragedy from the very
beginning, since the start of last century continuing through to the
establishment of the state of Israel and the last 53 years. The history of
the Wadi is known to most of those who have visited the village, however I
am writing now to deliver to all of you the latest crime committed against
this very peaceful, little village .
Today around sunset, the Israeli army used a big pile of stones and earth to
block the only road going in and out of our village. This pile is just
beyond the entrance to the smaller of the illegal settlements near us and
positioned so the settlers aren't disturbed by this blockade. Our narrow,
rough road doesn't even have a sign saying 'Wadi Foquin' so to people
passing by they wouldn't know we even exist! We are surrounded by illegal
Jewish settlements on one side and on the other is the state of Israel
itself. All this means that we are trapped in our village!
What a strange feeling you get in such a situation. You have a complete
sense of fear and anxiety with many thoughts wondering about what might
happen next. Are we going to be kept here to starve by the lack of food and
medicine or will there be a raid through which people might be arrested or
even killed? What makes us feel so crushed is that we know that all the
people here are so peaceful and no one is engaged in any intifada activity.
Not one rock has ever been picked up and thrown in any direction from here.
Despite this we are punished in such an unjustified and inhuman way!
We are wondering what would happen if this was being done by Palestinians to
the Israelis. How would it will be described by Israel and its allies?
They'd say it was terrorism. And why? Because it was against innocent
Jewish civilians. It would then be condemned by all the Western world. But
because it is done against Palestinians, a village full of innocent people,
nobody even cares! The West doesn't dare criticize the Israelis with a
single word even though the Israelis might now destroy a whole village!
SHAME to the 'civilized' world that has two plumlines to measure events in
Israel and in Palestine.
But we still have a little hope as we reach out and beg the people who
understand justice and believe in human rights to help us. Do we still have
human rights? We are just weak people under this state oppressing us with
institutional terrorism! We are human beings, created by God. We love life
and believe in justice and freedom for all mankind without any exception. We
are not the ones occupying other people's land or controlling their lives.
On contrary, we are occupied and controlled by merciless power. Right now,
more than ever, we long for salvation to come to free this last remaining
colony in the civilized world.
All the people of Wadi Foquin live with an overwhelming sense of panic. What
are we to do if we have an emergency now? What if someone is sick and needs
to get to a hospital? We do not even have a clinic in our village! This
evening, I met a lady in the village who is about to give birth. She and all
her family are worried about how to take her to a hospital when the time of
delivery comes. Do people in other places in the world feel as we do? Are
there any Israeli women who have this same kind of fear? I want to ask a
question is this terrorism or not? Tell me, who is the victim here!
We now appeal to all the friends of Wadi Foquin, the forgotten village. Our
village was completely destroyed once when the state of Israel was
established. We're the only Palestinian village allowed to be rebuilt even
though we now exist on a fraction of the land we formerly tended and loved
for generations. During recent months, the illegal settlers have been
stealing more of our land as they've been constructing a new road for them
which stretches right across our valley. As they've been dynamiting to make
the road, rocks and small boulders destroyed the newly installed irrigation
system (funded by an international charity). Two weeks ago further
dynamiting hit our village school making holes in the roof and causing walls
to crack. What more do we have to indure?
Do not wait! Please take immediate action to save us! We are innocent people
who are now, more than ever in need of your help. Please hear the cry of
this dying village. We know you can do something. Do not let us down. We
ask this in the name of God and of Jesus who demonstrated how we are to love
humanity. Please do something before the worst happens. Don't let it be too
late!
IN GOD'S NAME, I THANK ALL PEOPLE OF GOOD WILL WHO KNOW AND BELIEVE IN
GOD'S JUSTICE.
Fahmi Manasra
Messaqge forwarded by:
________________________________
Ravi Khanna, Director
1world communication
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