by the International Center of Bethlehem © 2001
Kawthar
After not seeing her for a long time, I was glad to see Kawthar in front of Nativity Church. Kawthar had taken the course for the Bethlehem 2000 escorts, learning to guide guests in the Bethlehem district. On 23 October when the solidarity convoy from the Jerusalem churches came into Bethlehem, the tanks disappeared and gathered near Rachel's tomb. Kawthar, with Wathek, her son, and later with Wael, her husband, who all live in the Al-Aza refugee camp, told me:
For the first time in four nights we can get out of the room, where 40 people sought shelter, my relatives as well as neighbors. Outside there was terrible shooting and shelling.
The other day my mother suffered from an acute heart trouble, because she has diabetes and her medicine run out. The ambulance was prevented from coming into the refugee camp. At one point the tanks moved back, and the ambulance driver decided to come in. Nobody was sure about the Israeli snipers... The driver took the decision alone and came. My mother was evacuated at last... Today we are happy, because we can leave to another house outside the camp. The solidarity convoy was our chance...
Monday, 29 October I visited Kawthar's home in the refugee camp. She just had started to clean the kitchen.
The sleeping room is my most beloved room; I protect it. I let nobody in. Now the shattered pieces of the mirror are everywhere. We put sandbags in the northern window to protect the room from shots coming from the Rachel's Tomb. Now the Israeli soldiers shot from the Paradise Hotel into the salon, the kitchen and the sleeping room...
Seeing the damage, the first thing for me was to think: where do I start to clean up? This is our way: we go on. All the meat we prepared for the 1st of Ramadan - it was rotten in the shot-up refrigerator. The meat was worth 500US$. We had no electricity, no telephone. I learned the lesson: I will not prepare again so early.
To the world I want to say: be sure, they will not achieve their goal. They can destroy our home again; we will rebuild it a thousand times!
The family recently bought a new boiler after the last gun battles a month ago. During this invasion, snipers shot from both directions at the camp, east and west, from both the Paradise and Intercontinental Hotels. Not only that, no one could move inside the camp during the incursion. Moreover, there were no water tanks, boilers or other installation which remained undamaged on the roofs. From the area of Kawthar's home, gunmen do not shoot. Nevertheless, Wael's pigeon coop on the roof was shot also. Several of his pigeons were killed.
reporter: Andreas F.
Kuntz
webmaster: Andreas F. Kuntz