Next the Israelis arrested her eldest brother, a 22 year-old artist, and imprisoned him for 4 years. Then they came back for Merna’s 18-year-old brother. Not content with that the military came again, this time to take her youngest brother – the ‘baby’ of the family – just 16. These were the circumstances under which Merna had to study.
As detention is based on secret information, which neither the detainee nor his lawyer is allowed to see, it is impossible to mount a proper defence. Besides, the Security Service always finds a bogus excuse to keep detainees locked up “in the greater interest of the security of Israel”. Although detainees have the right to review and appeal, they are unable to challenge the evidence and check facts as all information presented to the Court is classified. So much for Israeli ‘justice’.
To get to Bethlehem University, or any other, many students have to run the gauntlet of Israeli checkpoints. “Sometimes they take our ID cards and they spend ages writing down all the details, just to make us late,” said one. Students are often made to remove shoes, belt and bags. “It’s like an airport. Many times we are kept waiting outside for up to an hour, rain or shine, they don’t care.” The soldiers attempt to forcibly remove students’ clothes and they swear and shout sexual slurs at female students.
Five years ago the Israelis forcibly removed four Birzeit University students from their studies in the West Bank and illegally sent them back to the Gaza Strip. All four were due to graduate by the end of that academic year. There was an outcry from around the world and the Israeli Army Legal Advisor was bombarded with faxes and letters demanding that the students be allowed to return to their studies.
It was no great surprise, then, to hear from Bethlehem University a few days ago that Berlanty Azzam, a 4th year Business Administration student, was being held in detention by the Israeli military authorities with the intention of deporting her to Gaza “for trying to complete her studies at Bethlehem University.”
The 21 year-old was due to graduate before Christmas. On Wednesday night the most moral army in the world blindfolded and handcuffed her, loaded her into a military jeep and drove her from Bethlehem to Gaza, despite assurances by the Israeli Military Legal Advisor’s office that she would not be deported before an attorney from Gisha (an Israeli NGO working to protect Palestinians’ freedom of movement) had the opportunity to petition the Israeli court for her return to classes in Bethlehem.
“Since 2005, I refrained from visiting my family in Gaza for fear that I would not be permitted to return to my studies in the West Bank,” Berlanty told Gisha on her mobile phone before the soldiers confiscated it. “Now, just two months before graduation, I was arrested and taken to Gaza in the middle of the night, with no way to finish my degree.”
Next day, having heard nothing, I emailed again: “Update… She has been removed to Gaza blindfolded and handcuffed! What is the Embassy doing about this please?” Another 24 hours have gone by and the silence is deafening. Still, it’s not unusual for the Palestinian embassy to be fast asleep, out to lunch or off on holiday and no-one covering.
If this had been a Jewish girl deprived of her university degree and life chances Israeli embassies around the world would be instantly on the warpath hurling accusations of religious hatred and anti-semitism. But it’s the Jewish state screwing up the young life of a Christian, so that’s alright then.
By Guest Post • Nov 3rd, 2009 at 15:10 • Category: Children’s Corner, Ideas and Projects, Newswire, Palestine, War
As part of Let the Children Play and Heal, 120,000 children attended two-week summer camps throughout Gaza, which ended with music and dance performances.
This psychosocial support program was initiated by our partner Afaq Jadeeda (New Horizons) to address children’s psychological needs after the New Year’s assault on Gaza. Let the Children Play and Heal is giving tens of thousands of children and youth opportunities to express themselves though art, dance, music, story-telling, theatre and puppetry; to get support from the larger community; and to have fun and just be children.
Additionally hundreds of mothers have also been trained to help their extended families cope with the aftermath of the attacks, and a psychologist identifies and refers children who need individual counseling. All programs are free, thanks to the support of MECA donors.
More about the program from MECA’s Director:
Dear Friend of the Children,
As you probably know, I spent five days in Gaza last January right after the devastating Israeli attacks. I was there helping MECA deliver the more than six tons of food, medicine, and medical equipment – including an ambulance and wheelchairs – that you helped provide.
I am so proud, as you should be, at the enormous difference we are making in the lives of thousands of children and their families.
Still, I must tell you that every single day I am haunted by images from that journey four months ago. The horrifying injuries I saw. The silence of suddenly orphaned children just staring into space or searching though the rubble of their destroyed homes looking for cherished belongings. I think of the schoolchildren sitting next to desks with candles marking the places where their friends sat just weeks or days before.
I think, also, about the many children I have heard or read about – as I’m sure you do -who have suffered almost unimaginable inhumanity. Like the small children found starving next to the bodies of their dead mothers while Israelis soldiers prevented rescue workers from reaching them.
Most of the children may heal from their physical injuries over time, but it is the invisible wounds – the deep psychological trauma they suffer from the brutal Israeli assault – that’s of the gravest concern to me today.
Every family in Gaza has witnessed or experienced the horror in some way. Children have seen their loved ones turned into shattered corpses, their homes turned to rubble. As a result, some have stopped speaking or eating. Children of all ages experience terrifying nightmares, bed-wetting, or are unable to sleep at all.
I hope you feel, as I do, that we must do whatever we can to address the profound psychological injury the children in Gaza bear in the aftermath of Israel’s 22-day assault.
The best hope for helping the children overcome their trauma is to involve their families and community in their healing through multiple forms of therapy.
That’s why I’m writing to you today to ask for your generous support once again..
New Horizons — Afaq Jadeeda in Arabic — is an extraordinary organization the Middle East Children’s Alliance has worked with for many years. New Horizons provides a creative environment for developing the kids and teenagers personalities psychologically, culturally, technically and socially. They have developed outstanding programs to deal with aggression and despair – the two most common expressions of trauma among Gaza’s children.
MECA has helped New Horizons start summer camps, sports teams, and after-school programs. This past January, while the war on the people of Gaza was still underway we were able to send in $30,000 for New Horizons to prepare and deliver hot meals to families whose homes were destroyed.
Our friends at New Horizons have sent us their plans to launch a major community mental health project they are calling Let the Children Play & Heal, with a goal of reaching at least 50,000 children. I’m asking you to, please, make a special gift today to enable them to to:
- Send teams of staff and volunteers to hundreds of schools and day care centers to work with children through painting, singing, drama, and dance. For more than a decade New Horizons has been using the arts to help children living with violence, loss and trauma
- Bring in psychologists to train the teams and to identify and refer children for counseling at community mental health clinics.
- Train approximately 500 mothers to work with their extended families on how to use play to help children express and resolve aggression, anxiety and grief.
- And distribute 10,000 booklets to the community about coping with the psychological trauma of the war.
The project will cost $76,000, and they are counting on you and me and hundreds of other MECA supporters to make sure the children’s psychological injuries do not become permanent – with disastrous consequences for the children, their families and Gaza’s future.
New Horizons has given us a tremendous opportunity to help heal tens of thousands of children who might otherwise be facing a lifetime of profound anxiety, rage and an inability to cope with daily life. I hope you’ll join me in telling New Horizons that, together, we will Let the Children Play & Heal.
I realize, especially in these difficult times, that your contribution may mean some personal sacrifice for you, and I am deeply grateful. I know – because I was told over and over again in Gaza – that your continued support means so much to people who are struggling to rebuild their lives after the most horrifying violence and destruction.
Many thanks on behalf of the children,
Barbara Lubin
Founder and Director
P.S. A recent UNICEF study concluded that that mental health, anxiety and stress are the main health problems in Gaza, essentially affecting the entire population. With your help now, the New Horizons community initiative will be able to make an enormous difference in the lives of so many children and families who may not have visible injuries, but are nonetheless in terrible pain. Please send your special contribution in the enclosed envelope to MECA within the next ten days. Thank you.
Make a secure online donation to this important program for children in Gaza.
http://www.mecaforpeace.org/article.php?id=492
Tagged as: children, gaza, Palestine, play therapy
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