La mamma di Tom Hurndall, scrive su
www.Palestinemonitor.org Tom è il
volontario dell'ISM. Ad Aprile a Rafah (Gaza) portava in salvo dei bambini.
Un cecchino israeliano lo ha colpito alla testa. Da allora è in coma.
Fate girare per favore e chi vuole traduca.
Elisabetta Filippi
(Servizio Civile Internazionale)
Rafah in miniature
Six months after my son was shot by Israeli troops, the British government
has yet to condemn the act
Jocelyn Hurndall
The Guardian
October 20, 2003
Last Thursday, I delivered a letter to Mr Blair expressing my despair at the
Israeli government's lack of response to our call for a full inquiry into
the death of my son, Tom. While working as a photojournalist, Tom was shot
in the head by an Israeli commander in Rafah, Gaza. He had been walking down
a calm civilian street where 20 children were playing when snipers began
shooting at them. He was carrying the children to safety when he was shot,
and was wearing a fluorescent human rights jacket. He posed no threat. His
brain is severely damaged and he will not recover.
Following our traumatic seven-week stay in Israel as we watched our son on
the verge of death, we submitted a report to Israel's judge advocate general
through the British Foreign Office, and requested a fully transparent
inquiry. We included 13 eyewitness statements and considerable photographic
evidence of Tom just before and after he was shot.
It has now been six months since Tom was shot, and three-and-a-half months
since his case was handed to the Israeli judge advocate general. As yet, we
have heard nothing apart from a collection of unutterably bland excuses.
"The complexity and subtleness of the examination process," we are told,
"demand due consideration and considerable time"; and "There was another
suicide bombing and so he [the judge advocate general] has a lot to deal
with."
We note the sense of urgency with which Britain condemned and apologised for
the British passport-holding suicide bombers; we note, too, the speed with
which America dispatched FBI agents in response to the bombing a week ago
which killed three US security personnel at the Erez checkpoint in the Gaza
Strip. In Tom's case, as in Rachel Corrie's and others, there has been no
urgency at all, and yet the need to ensure that evidence is carefully
assessed and gathered is surely no less crucial.
Why should it be for grieving parents to have to arrange interviews with the
13 eyewitnesses to the shooting, or to gather photographic, ballistic,
forensic and medical evidence?
The British government ought to have been proactive in collecting and
protecting evidence. But while it dragged its feet, the Israeli army
demolished the tower from which Tom was shot to move it a few metres down
the bor der. This action alone will make it almost impossible to dispute the
claim that the sniper who shot Tom had no clear line of vision. Six months
on, eyewitnesses have dispersed, some have even found themselves
inappropriately detained and then deported.
The tragedy that has befallen Tom and our family is a microcosm of the
wide-scale terror felt by thousands of other families in the occupied
territories.
I am in ineffable distress after the loss of a son. But I have a regular
income, food, running water, electricity, an intact roof over my head,
access to a hospital, the knowledge that gunfire is unlikely to endanger my
other children on their journey to school and that my sleep is unlikely to
be broken by gunfire or the sound of tanks. I have a decent life.
Last week the Israeli army's incursion into Rafah - the largest since the
beginning of the intifada three years ago - left 120 houses demolished,
1,500 civilians homeless, eight dead and 60 injured. Afterwards, I received
an email from Anees, one of Tom's friends in the city, telling me that his
house has been demolished. He and the 26 members of his extended family are
among those left homeless and very afraid that theIsraeli army may come back
at any moment. It was this young man who, in a state of com plete anguish,
lifted Tom from the ground after he was shot.
Why won't Tony Blair represent the interests of his citizens and put
significant pressure on Ariel Sharon to conduct a full and transparent
inquiry into Tom's death? Polite requests will not do. And why won't he
challenge Mr Bush's support ofIsrael, a regime which is cruel beyond human
understanding? I have seen it for myself: the demolition of houses, the
destruction of olive groves, the process of depriving people of the ability
to earn a living, the closure of checkpoints, the destruction of water
supplies and electricity, lethally enforced curfews, humiliation, terror. In
short, the dehumanisation of a people.
It should not be necessary to experience the terror of Palestinians in order
to act. Britain finds it acceptable to indulge in a facade of diplomacy by
ab staining from two critical UN security council votes: one condemning
Israel's policy decision to assassinate or expel a state leader, Yasser
Arafat; and the other seeking to bar Israel from extending a security fence
deep into the West Bank. Both these issues have received worldwide
condemnation - on what basis can Britain justify being unclear or undecided
about its position on these questions?
I can't help recalling Mr Blair's resolve, when deciding to go to war with
Iraq, that he did not wish to be accused of inaction or for this to be on
his conscience at a later date. Where does his conscience lie now in
relation to Britain's inaction over Palestine?
Tom Hurndall, 22, remains in hospital on life support after an Israeli
soldier shot him last April.
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