Not Without The Proper Permit
To label the following revolting and a gross miscarriage of justice is too slight. It is simply utterly inhuman. From the BBC…
“An Israeli soldier has been removed from duty and jailed for two weeks for refusing to allow a Palestinian woman in labour to pass through a checkpoint.
The soldier was in command at the checkpoint outside the West Bank city of Nablus. The woman was trying to reach a hospital in the city.
She was forced to give birth at the checkpoint. Her baby was stillborn.
The Israeli army said the woman and her husband did not have the permit to allow the car to enter Nablus.
But the army said the incident, which occurred a week ago, could have been prevented.
It took an ambulance from Nablus 50 minutes to get to the checkpoint. At which point the baby was dead.”
Two whole weeks. Well that should certainly teach them a lesson.
A permit? You have to be kidding me. What about human decency? And spare me the IDF’s claim that the incident could have been prevented. You’re damn right it could have been prevented – by allowing the couple to get to the bloody hospital.
Was this an issue of security? Did the IDF commander at the checkpoint think that the child was going to be born with C4 strapped to it?
As disgusting as this is, you just know that there are people out there right now that actually believe it’s a good thing that the world was deprived of ‘another terrorist’.
My God, what have we become?
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September 13th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Chilling. And it is what happens when you dehumanize some people–the enemy. It is far too common when you remove the ability of people to think for themselves and to bend the rules….”just following orders”, a la Abu Ghraib and a host of other attrocities. It is “Brazil” in action….Gilliam’s film is more relevant now than ever.
What have we become? Whatever those in power would have us be.
September 13th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
That’s also about the same punishment they get for not shaving. Maybe I exaggerate and my friend’s brother’s jail term was only three days (I forget exactly, but how ever long it was sure seemed severe for a small cosmetic issue)….regardless of the detail there is obviously a messed up sense of what constitutes a serious crime. Disgusting.
September 13th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
It is terrible what happened and at least the person was jailed at all. I can imagine a scenario where soldiers of the world’s superpower would do the same thing and not be punished at all.
The law of not letting someone through simply because of documentation when they clearly need medical attention is quite ridiculous. I hope there is some sort of compensation for the family.
They could have at least escorted the couple. The military could have brought them to the hospital faster, if they cared about this poor woman, regardless of her ethnicity.
September 13th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
When will the world rise up to give the Palestinians the support they need to create a life? It has been 60 years since Israel took their homeland, 41 years since the ‘67 war and still Palestinians have an uncertain future. The path to to quell extremist Muslim rage and reducing the fertile ground for recruiting terrorists runs through the West Bank and Gaza. It’s the key that will unlock the solution moving power back to moderate Muslims and away from the extremists. It is another one of the Bush Administrations’ great blunders. Oh yea, I forgot. Bush promised a solution by the end of this year. I wonder when the last 28% of Bush supporters will wake up? Never!
September 13th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
This is not a one-time incident! 34 infant deaths out of 65 women giving birth at checkpoints since the year 2000? That’s a 50% death rate!
If the checkpoints prevent pregnant women to get to hospitals, a simple solution would be to train soldiers to recognize medical emergencies and either provide on-site care or respond accordingly in order to save a newborn’s life. History repeats itself… I would go as far as calling it a form of genocide.
September 13th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Wow. This saddens and disgusts me at the same time.
September 13th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
[quote comment="65000"]This is not a one-time incident! 34 infant deaths out of 65 women giving birth at checkpoints since the year 2000? That’s a 50% death rate!
If the checkpoints prevent pregnant women to get to hospitals, a simple solution would be to train soldiers to recognize medical emergencies and either provide on-site care or respond accordingly in order to save a newborn’s life. History repeats itself… I would go as far as calling it a form of genocide.[/quote]
I second that motion!
September 13th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
as a human being, this story deeply saddened and sickened me. as a mother of three precious boys, this disgusting disregard for human life angered me to the point of shaking. it also makes me wonder what kind of world i’ve tossed my children into. it makes me want to live underground and put them in a giant, protective bubble. deep sigh.
September 13th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
When I went to see the play, My Name is Rachel Corrie, I picked up a small guide that detailed the deaths of both Israeli and Palestinian children due to the conflict. The numbers of Palestinian children killed in this conflict are staggeringly larger than Israeli children. And all too frequently, infants die, because their mothers are refused access to roads that would allow them to give birth in hospitals. It’s a travesty of justice, inhumane, scandalous, depraved, deplorable, barbaric and the world sits by and lets it happen. I’m not sure which is worse.
I have been planning for years to go to the Occupied Territories to do some volunteer work. Acts like these only confirm the necessity of my going.
I’m so ashamed that my government offers Israel unilateral and unqualified support. And that to question Israeli aggression is to commit some kind of mortal sin.
September 13th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
Screeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaammm. Period.
September 13th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
West Back checkpoints
“According to the Israeli human rights group B’tselem, there have been at least 38 cases since September 2000 of Palestinians who have died after medical care was delayed as a result of Israeli restrictions of movement.”
- link.
“Waiting times vary greatly, depending on the security situation. Sometimes people pass with hardly any delay; at other times they may have to wait an hour or more before being called through.”
“Sometimes checkpoints are closed altogether.”
- link.
September 13th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Of course I meant “West Bank” checkpoint…
September 13th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
I cant touch this at all, other than saying human decency left the Palestinians since the Balfour Declaration. And realistically I don’t see it ever coming back.
September 13th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
“Has the light gone out for you
Because the light’s gone for me?” (Radiohead, Bodysnatchers)
Yet another proof of how Israel views its Palestinian neighbours. And they want a peaceful resolution….
Of course it becomes a feritle ground for “extremist Muslim rage” - but I see it as pouring out of frastration of people trapped, disabled, and dehumanized in the minds of the world.
The masterminds behind the groups responsible for the “extremist Muslim rage” do not stem from Palestine, but have instead used that situation to their own advantage.
September 14th, 2008 at 4:26 am
This is not a single tragedy that happened due to human failure or the wrong decision being made - such is every day life in the occupied territories. The same can be said about israeli soldiers regularely getting away with nothing for having killed a palestinian. This is, since palestinians - in the zionist paradigm - are not to be viewed as humans, but as enemies, be it a man, a woman or a small child.
In Palestine, the modern world is foiling its self-established moral values since it refuses to give up its watching status to this very day.
September 14th, 2008 at 4:33 am
[quote comment="64999"]When will the world rise up to give the Palestinians the support they need to create a life? It has been 60 years since Israel took their homeland,[/quote]
That is acutally much more than 60 years ago. The land taking had started way back in the 80s of the 19th century. But you are right of course, pointing to the mile stone in palestinian history, that was the foundation of Israel and the beginning of the Nagba, making it a fact that hundreds of thousends of Palestinians had irretrievably lost their homes and many of their loved ones.
September 15th, 2008 at 8:02 am
My theatre company in Ottawa has produced a play called My Name is Rachel Corrie. It runs until the 20th of September. All in all hasnt created too much controversy here in Ottawa, which is nice, since I dont find it controversal at all. However there is one man that keeps protesting us for being “terrorist huggers”…unreal… he had a letter printed in the Citizen today
“Play propaganda
The Ottawa Citizen
Monday, September 15, 2008
Re: My name is Controversy, Sept. 12.
Citizen reviewer Patrick Langston hit the nail on the head when he criticized the play My name is Rachel Corrie that “Toward the end of the play, she [Rachel Corrie] delivers a pro-Palestinian diatribe. Wednesday’s audience grew restless and … the production flagged.” Indeed, the piece is nothing short of political propaganda masquerading as theatre.
It is regrettable that Mr. Langston did not provide the readers with the true context of Rachel Corrie’s activities in Gaza, namely shielding fugitive terrorists, obstructing security forces on an operation to detect terrorists’ tunnels designed to smuggle explosives, and providing the Gazan terrorists with anti-western propaganda. A photo of Rachel Corrie burning U.S. flags, to the delight of Gaza children, is on record at http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/5864_Teaching_the_Children
- - -
In our democratic society, one is free to propagate one’s views within the framework of the law. I would be the last person to support censorship. The question arises, however, whether the taxpayer should be forced to fund organizations that knowingly participate in pro-Jihad, pro-terrorist propaganda. The federal government and the City of Ottawa fund Arts Court, where the play is being staged, and I object to my tax money being abused by Arts Court.
Joseph Alexander Norland
Ottawa
© The Ottawa Citizen 2008″
Makes me sad that there are ignorant and hateful people in this world.
September 15th, 2008 at 11:23 am
- Samsaidhey: I also live in Ottawa and have long since decided to stop reading our local newspapers in any sort of serious way. The review of your play is no surprise coming from the Citizen. I mean, this is the city that had a whole radio show devoted to discussing how using tax dollars to open a new library was frivolous and wastefull (Lowell Green anyone?).
I have a hard time understanding where these people get their ideas.
September 15th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
- Just Amanda: I know…this city is frustrating - well Im sure all cities are - it still does amaze me the ignorance level of people though….As for our lovely Ottawa - After all this city did elect larry o’brien… If you have a chance you should come check the show out… Tomorrow night we have a great panel following the performance. Its called “Jews working for justice in solidarity with Palestinians” With guest speakers Arthur Milner and Diana Ralph. The panels are free if you just want to attend that and begin at approx 5-10 minutes following the end of the play… so around 945pm.
On Wednesday it is “Working for Peace: What you can do” with Ben Saifer, Marjorie Robertson and Bahija Reghai.