British ‘human shields’ under threat in Ramallah
Sunday-Times, March 31, 2002
March 31, 2002
British ‘human shields’ under threat in Ramallah
A group of British students from Sussex University were pinned down
in three houses in Ramallah last night after trying to act as human shields
for Palestinian families, writes Tom Robbins.
The seven were staying with three families close
to Yasser Arafat’s compound after travelling to the Middle East five days
ago. They are part of a group of several hundred Europeans, mainly from
Italy, France, Belgium and Switzerland, who are spending Easter in Ramallah
in an effort to discourage troops from attacking civilians.
One group of three Britons, who are staying with
a family of six about half a mile from Arafat’s headquarters, have not
left the house for 48 hours as tanks patrol the streets. Yesterday they
said a sniper was stationed 200ft from the house, and a neighbour was shot
in the shoulder through her kitchen window. Electricity and water supplies
have been cut.
“Things are getting worse by the hour,” said Ramy
Aly, 24, from Hounslow, west London, who is a Sussex graduate and now works
as an internet designer in London. “There are a lot of tanks . . . everyone
here is very worried and we are just waiting for them to knock on the door,
or break it down. Everybody’s nerves are on edge.”
With him in the house are Osama Muttawa, 25, who
is studying philosophy and linguistics at Sussex, and Rudy Al-Fekaiki,
37, a housewife who has left her husband and two young daughters at home
in Cobham, Surrey.
“We have pillows and mattresses covering the windows
and we are listening to the BBC World Service and playing cards,” said
Muttawa. “My family are worried, obviously, but they are proud. They told
me it was the right thing to do but the wrong time — we did not realise
that the day we got to Ramallah it was going to be invaded.”
Salma Karmi, a female Sussex student, is staying
in another house close to Arafat’s compound. Yesterday the house was searched
by soldiers who, the students said, turned out drawers, and kicked over
chairs.
Dan Glazebrook, the president of the Sussex University
students’ union, is in a third house with other students and cannot leave
because of a curfew.
Copyright 2002 Times Newspapers Ltd.
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