CPTnet
April 26, 2003

HEBRON: Our suffering is from Bush

By Dianne Roe

When Marilyn, a visiting journalist from Chicago, asked if she could witness
some of the activities of Hebron's Jewish Community (the Israeli settlers)
vis-a-vis the local Palestinians, I invited her to join me in a Saturday
school patrol with the Palestinian elementary girls at Qurtuba School,
located between Beit Hadassah and Tel Rumeida, two of the most militant
settlement enclaves of the Jewish Community.

Marilyn and I arrived at the school about a half hour before school
dismissal and I introduced Marilyn to the headmistress Ferial Abu Haikel. I
remembered the many times Ferial had described to me incidents of settlers
harrassing children and teachers in the school.

"Marilyn wants to witness how you are suffering from the settlers," I
explained to Ferial.

"We are suffering from Bush," she replied.

I nodded slowly. Her statement was not meant to be directed against me; she
still had her warm welcoming smile. For the past nine years members of our
team have witnessed vicious attacks by settlers on Ferial, her family
members, her staff at the school, and the little girls who attend the
school. We have documented these attacks in our reports. But I understood
Ferial's words. "We are suffering from Bush." The recent letter from Bush
to Sharon has undermined United Nations resolutions and shattered any hope
Palestinians have for their future. And the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the
massacre in Falluja has increased the hatred of America throughout the
world.

After we walked some of the children to their homes, Israeli settler
children once again pelted us with stones. Then we visited with the Abu
Aisha family whose two young boys had been beaten by settlers the previous
Tuesday. The children hardly remember the attack. They now talk about the
Americans. Even the children say their suffering is from Bush.