NEIGHBORHOOD DESTRUCTION IN PALESTINE
Part Two -- More on Beit Sahour
By Samia A. HalabyDocumenting an inspection tour June 29-30 and July 1, 2001
We climbed onto the third floor of this badly bombed house which once housed the Hanash families. The stairs were almost gone and the building was in danger of further collapse.
Our team was guided by a member of the Union of Health Work Committees. We visited a business man of Beit Sahour and he generously provided us with dust masks and dust suits. He told us that he happened to be experiencing some insomnia the night that the Hanash home was destroyed. He was standing by the open window smoking a cigarette. "It was dark. It was at night. We saw a big light. The entire Hanash family home front turned red like burning coal even though it was made of stone and then some seconds later collapsed."
From the Hanash house our team members looked at a panorama of the beautiful Palestinian landscape. In the distance we saw the home of Dr. Johnny Matarweh which we had just examined and photographed a few hours previously. It is the little white spot in the center of the right half of the picture. We could see it in front of us as we could see the Israeli military encampment which bombed both the Matarweh home across the wide valley as well as the house we stood in. The artificial hill on the far left is a pile of gravel which covers the Israeli military nested like an evil predator among the pastoral beauty and peace of the residential neighborhoods of Beit Sahour near Bethlehem.
Many homes are attacked from this same Israeli camp. The pictures above are from a third location that our team visited. It is the home of a Palestinian family who has completely rebuilt and repaired the damage. We were amazed at the stubborn optimism this demonstrated. Also, the family had saved all the shrapnel and reconstructed the missile for us. It was described as possibly measuring 150 centimeters originally.
Among the remains were two propeller sets to the missile. Across the street, we visited the Beit Sahour YMCA which had also been hit by from the same Israeli outpost and had been repaired. The YMCA serves the community in several ways including special training for those handicapped by Israeli attack from both the present and previous Indifadas. It has community sports programs for youth as well as housing the ancient Shepherd's Field where Christ is reputed to have prayed the night before his crucifixion.
Part One - Al-Bireh and Beit Sahour (Towns in The West Bank)
Part Two -- More on Beit Sahour
Part Three -- Beit Jala (A town near Bethlehem in the West Bank)
Part Four -- The Malalha Tribe
Part Five -- Rafah, A city in Ghazze on the Egyptian Border
Part Six -- Khan Younis, A Town in Ghazze
Part Seven -- Northern Ghazze
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