Hærværk mod lægehus
Nedenstående brev fra Dr Majed Nassar beskriver hvordan de israelske soldater angreb lægehuset i den kristne by Beit Sahour og ødelagde inventar, døre mv. Dansk-Palæstinensisk Venskabsforening har i 2001 støttet et børnehaveprojekt med tilknytning til lægehuset.
Dear Friends
On 16 Jan.2003, shortly after 10 p.m. the Israeli soldiers attacked the clinic in Beit Sahour. Until 13 Jan.2003, we had an emergency team staying in the clinic overnight. Although we were still under the curfew, which has been imposed since 22 Nov. 2002, we decided to cancel the night duty for a few days because of fatigue.
We heard an explosion and some pounding. The mayor of Beit Sahour called me and shortly afterwards other friends called me also and told me that the Israeli soldiers are pounding at the iron door of the clinic trying to open it. We had a very bad experience last April when Atallah Hayek from Beit Sahour was killed in very similar circumstances. He had driven to an apartment building he owned after neighbors called him to say that soldiers were breaking into it. He was shot fatally while still in his car, attempting to convince the soldiers that he would open the building for them, and bled to death before an ambulance could arrive.
We decided to wait.
I do not live far from the clinic and I could hear the commotion and pounding on the iron doors from our balcony. In the meantime, the soldiers threw a sound bomb, which detonated at the entrance of the clinic. We found the residue in front of the door. I received other calls a little later from neighbors telling me that the soldiers had entered the clinic. At around 11:45 I received a phone call from the soldiers:
“ My name is Captain so and so. I am in the clinic. And I want you to come to the clinic within five minutes”.
“ Yes, I know that you are at the clinic. But it is curfew and your soldiers will shoot.”
“ No they will not.”
“Make sure to tell them not to shoot. Besides how should they know that it is me?”
“When you come closer to the clinic just shout my name and the soldiers will know.”
“ My wife is coming with me, so take notice that two persons will be approaching.”
When we reached the clinic I shouted his name and we continued till we came to the entrance. There were at least 4 jeeps and one larger truck. Soldiers were surrounding the building. The soldier who spoke very good Arabic told us to stay outside until the soldiers finish the search. He said that they were looking for terrorists and that there might be shooting and that this was for our own safety.
Finally at around 1 a.m. about 12 soldiers emerged from the building and we entered the clinic together. All doors had been forced open and their frames damaged. Some were almost out of the wall. As the weather outside was rainy and muddy, every room had mud tracked through it. Even the operating theater was dirty. Luckily the soldiers did not damage any machines or instruments. The false ceiling was damaged in several places and hung down.
Before they left the soldier assured me that this had been necessary as it was a security matter. I told him that he had my phone number and he also knew the mayor’s phone number so we could have opened the doors for them and there would have been no need to break them all.
They left us behind, not very much afraid but sad to see the clinic in such a mess. Friends came and we stayed the whole night, as the clinic was completely open. As early as seven o’clock in the morning we started making repairs and cleaning up. Despite the ongoing curfew, we were able to finish the same day. In the evening everything was back as it was before.
The emergency team is back to work as usual. We continue.
Dr. Majed Nassar
Deputy Director, Health Work Committees
Palestine