Fatal Drive for a West Bank Family

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#006633" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="045d6c00ddvuru.jpg"> <div> <B>For Justice</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Calling for Justice and Human Rights for All</B></div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="6" COLOR="#6666FF" FACE="Arial" ><B>The March For Justice</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#6666FF" FACE="Arial" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#333399" FACE="Arial" > &nbsp&nbsp</FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > | &nbsp&nbsp</FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The March For Justice"><U>home</U></A></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp</div> <div> <B>Fatal Drive for a West Bank Family</B></div> <bR> <div> By Greg Myre </div> <bR> <div> [IHT, Paris - 27 March 2003]:</div> <div> BETHLEHEM, West Bank Israeli troops are a common sight on</div> <div> Palestinian streets, and George Saadeh, a Palestinian school</div> <div> principal, felt it prudent to slow down but sensed no imminent</div> <div> danger as he drove his family past two army jeeps parked on the</div> <div> side of a road near his home.</div> <bR> <div> He had no way of knowing his timing was so bad it seemed to defy</div> <div> the laws of probability. Moments earlier, Israeli troops had waged a</div> <div> shootout that killed three Palestinian men traveling in a beige</div> <div> Peugeot 305 sedan, including two members the militant group</div> <div> Hamas, Palestinians said.</div> <bR> <div> The Hamas men, Nader Jarawish, 35, and Ala Ayad, 24, were</div> <div> wanted by Israel. In many similar cases, soldiers have acted after</div> <div> receiving intelligence on the type of car a suspect is using, though</div> <div> Captain Jacob Dallal, an Israeli Army spokesman, said he did not</div> <div> know if this was the case in the Tuesday night shooting.</div> <bR> <div> Saadeh, his wife and two daughters, were also in a beige Peugeot</div> <div> 305 sedan, and as they headed to the supermarket on a wet and</div> <div> windy night, the soldiers apparently thought the car presented a</div> <div> threat. The troops cut loose with automatic rifles, putting at least 30</div> <div> rounds into the car, killing 12-year-old Christine Saadeh and</div> <div> wounding the three other family members.</div> <bR> <div> &quotWe were stunned - we couldn't believe they were shooting at us,&quot</div> <div> said Saadeh, 41, who was recovering Wednesday at Hadassah</div> <div> Hospital in Jerusalem with gunshot wounds in his abdomen and</div> <div> back. &quotI screamed that we were civilians. I looked behind me, and I</div> <div> saw Christine had fallen to the floor.&quot</div> <bR> <div> Saadeh's wife, Najwa, suffered only scratches, and their 15-year-old</div> <div> daughter, Marian, was hit in the knee.</div> <bR> <div> Dallal said the first Palestinian car opened fire on the soldiers,</div> <div> prompting the troops to shoot back. Saadeh's family then drove into</div> <div> a gun battle and were hit unintentionally. &quotWe do everything to avoid</div> <div> having a firefight in the center of a city, but we came under attack,&quot</div> <div> Dallal said.</div> <bR> <div> But the Saadehs and Palestinian residents on Jamal Abdel Nasser</div> <div> street, where the two cars came to a stop only 10 meters apart,</div> <div> offered sharply different accounts.</div> <bR> <div> The Saadehs, in separate interviews, said that they heard no</div> <div> shooting as they approached the army vehicles and that no other</div> <div> cars were immediately visible. The shooting erupted as the</div> <div> Saadehs' car passed in front of the troops and then began turning a</div> <div> corner.</div> <bR> <div> Saadeh, 41, graduated from the University of Southern California in</div> <div> 1983 with a degree in aerospace engineering and then returned</div> <div> home to teach. Last year he became the principal at the Shepherd's</div> <div> School, a private, Greek Orthodox school with over 500 students,</div> <div> kindergarten through high school.</div> <bR> <div> When asked about the conflict, he did not speak with bitterness or</div> <div> call for revenge, as victims of the violence sometimes do. He spoke</div> <div> softly and with sadness about the inability of the two sides to live</div> <div> together.</div> <bR> <div> He has Israeli friends in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, he said, but the</div> <div> violence and travel restrictions now made visiting impossible. Still,</div> <div> he sought to impart a message of coexistence at school.</div> <bR> <div> &quotWe teach our kids peace and love, and about democracy,&quot he said.</div> <div> &quotBut people are just getting crazy nowadays. It's really a shame</div> <div> what's going on.&quot</div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>