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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. | | | | Photos
of Sheikh Obeid taken before his kidnapping (left) and after several
years of captivity in Israeli Sarafan prison (right). Not only has he
been tortured but remains in solitary confinement. For more information
on the conditions detainees face in Israeli prisons please see the
photo-account on Khiam Prison.
A former detainee of Sarafan has described it as "worse than Khiam".
Sheikh Obeid is not alone - there are nearly two thousand Muslim and
other abductees held by Israel in the same manner.
The
Campaign to Free Sheikh Obeid has been in existence for some seven
years and is run by the Islamic Human Rights Commission. The Islamic
Human Rights Commission Rights calls for the unconditional release of
Sheikh Obeid and Mustafa Dirani. There should be an immediate end to
their hostage-status and the trial of those persons responsible for the
acts of hostage-taking. *
Alternate spellings for Sheikh Abdel Karim Obeid: Shaikh 'Abd al-Karim
'Ubayd, Sheik Obeid, Sheikh Abdulkareem Obaid, Sheikh Abdul Karim ‘Ubayd |
Vigil
to mark the 14th anniversary of the abduction of
Sheikh Abdel Karim Obeid
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.
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