What the BBC won't show: Israel Targets Children
Yesterday (15 July 2006) Israel gave the people of Ter Hafra village in
South Lebanon two hours to leave their village or face destruction.
Those who were able to flee went to the nearby UN base. The UN refused
to shelter these children, not wanting to take responsibility after the
Qana massacre in 1996 when Israel massacred the civilians taking
shelter in the UN headquaters.
Left on the open road without shelter these fleeing
civilians made easy picking for the Israeli airforce with their US
donated F-16 fighter planes. Most of the victims were children, their
bodies burnt in the precision targeted missle attack. The photos are
from Associated Press but it seems no western media is prepared to show
them.
She was three months old when her father, Sheikh Abdel Karim Obeid was abducted from their home in South Lebanon by Israeli commandos. Fourteen years later Mujahidah still waits, hoping that her father will come home...
On 28 July 1989, Sheikh Abdel Karim Obeid was kidnapped from his house in the village of Jibchit in Southern Lebanon. At 2.00 am Israeli commandos staged a well-planned kidnapping performed by over 30 men which took no more than seven minutes. Sheikh Obeid’s wife, Umm Sajed was tied and beaten up whilst his son Sajed, aged seven was threatened with a gun. A neighbour, Hussain Abu Zaid was killed as Sheikh Obeid and two others, a cousin Ahmed Obeid and friend Ashem Fahs were taken away. Throughout the entire kidnapping, Israeli fighter planes carried out a mock air raid over the village to hide the sound of the helicopters used to take Sheikh Obeid to “Israel”.
Sheikh Obeid’s “crime” was being an outspoken opponent of Israel’s occupation of Southern Lebanon. He was a well-known preacher and represented the views of the Lebanese people.
Sheikh Obeid has been held captive by the Israeli Defence Force, without charge and denied access to friends, family, and lawyers since July 1989. He and Mustafa Dirani, a disabled Lebanese national from the Bekaa valley, who was kidnapped in 1994, are being held on the pretext of gaining more information about an Israeli airforce navigator, Ron Arad, who was shot down during a bombing raid over Lebanon in 1986.
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London,
28 July 2003
The Islamic Human Rights Commission held a vigil outside the Israeli Embassy on Monday 28th July 2003 to mark the fourteenth anniversary of the kidnapping of Sheikh Abdel Karim Obeid. from Lebanon, by Israeli commandos.
The vigil was held at the junction of Kensington High Street and Palace Green. The Israeli embassy is across the road at No 2 Palace Green, which was cordoned off by the police.
Leaflets asking people to telephone, fax, and email the Israeli embassy in London demanding the immediate release of Sheikh Obeid and Mustafa Dirani were handed out. The reverse side featured the Boycott Israel Campaign leaflet listing the companies and brands supporting Israel that should be boycotted.
The public were supportive of the vigil, often stopping to chat, to find out more and to show their solidarity.
One passer by asked "Which country is holding her father?" pointing to the photo of Mujahidah on the leaflet. "Israel is holding him - 14 years now without charge". With a look of disgust, she retorted "Israel! Why doesn't that surprise me! So whats new?". The PR manufactured myth of victim Israel shrouded in a halo of holocaust untouchability has long shattered and ordinary people in the west now readily equate zionism with nazism and apartheid - something which has no place in a civilised word.
Placard reads "Free Sheikh Obaid - Hostage for 14 years." For many in the west "hostages" means the western hostages - Terry Waite, John McCarthy, etc who have all been released long ago - they dont realise that it was Israel that started the cycle of hostage taking in the middle-east and it is Israel that till today still holds hostages. In 2002 it even passed a law to specifically allow it to hold hostages "legally"- under Israeli law!
Israel's crime in abducting a man from his family and caging him with out charge for 14 years in complete breach of international law mustn't be looked at as a solitary incident - Israel's whole history is one of arrogance and devoid of any morality. The crimes committed in Lebanon cannot be separated from the ongoing crimes being committed today in occupied Palestine.
