Details Emerge About American Woman Shot Dead By Israeli Soldiers
By Raeed N. Tayeh - April 1, 2002
American Muslims for Global Peace and Justice
In the Name of Allah: Most Gracious, Most Merciful
American Muslims for Global Peace and Justice
A GLOBAL PEACE EXCLUSIVE
Details Emerge About American Woman Shot Dead By Israeli Soldiers
By Raeed N. Tayeh - April 1, 2002
It was reported widely on Friday, March 29
that the first victim of Israel’s latest siege on the West Bank city of
Ramallah was a woman who was shot while driving her car. What most media
outlets did not report, however, are the circumstances of the woman’s death,
as well as her identity.
Suraida Saleh, the 21-year-old woman gunned
down by Israeli soldiers, was an American, born in Washington, DC. The
details of her death have emerged in an exclusive interview that Global
Peace conducted over the telephone with Suraida’s brother and father. Both
are locked inside their home in Ramallah, along with other members of their
family, and have been unable for four days to retrieve Suraida’s body from
the morgue to give her a proper burial.
Omar Saleh, Suraida’s brother, explained what
happened in the early hours of March 29, when the Israeli military invaded
Ramallah. The following is a summary of the incident:
An unknown wounded man came to Suraida’s home
in Ramallah at about 3:30 a.m. Morad Abu Gharbiyeh, Suraida’s husband,
a journalist with the Palestinian Broadcasting Company, assisted the man
and called for an ambulance. Paramedics took the wounded man and left their
house by 4 a.m. Morad and Suraida decided that it would be safer for them
if they went to Suraida’s father’s house, not far up the street from where
they lived.
Suraida sat in the passenger seat holding
her 9-month-old son Muhsin as Morad drove their car. A band of the notorious
Mustaarabeem, undercover Israeli soldiers dressed like Arabs, stood in
the shadows of an upcoming intersection. As the car approached, the Israelis
opened fire without warning, shooting Suraida in the head and the chest.
She died instantly. Morad was hit with five bullets: two in his head, two
in his shoulder, and one in his hand. The Israelis, assuming that all of
the occupants were dead, left the scene. Morad regained consciousness to
find his dead young wife slumped over their child. Miraculously, little
Muhsin was unharmed.
Wounded, Morad took Muhsin out of the lifeless
arms of Suraida and began walking towards the home of his in-laws, in the
foggy darkness of that morning, but he collapsed, and both he and his son
fell to the pavement.
Suraida’s family heard a commotion outside
and looked in horror to find that the bleeding man lying in the street
was their daughter’s husband. They called for an ambulance and rushed to
help him. Israeli soldiers held up the ambulance for two hours at a checkpoint
however, refusing to let it pass. They finally made it to the scene and
took Morad and his son to the hospital. They were able to save Morad, and
he is now in stable condition, but that is little compensation for the
loss of his wife and his child’s mother.
Suraida’s father couldn’t hold back his anguish
and heartache over the loss of his daughter, and the manner in which she
was killed. “They killed her in cold blood—cold blood, and now my grandson
will grow up not knowing the mother who gave birth to him. I called the
American consulate so that they could help me get Suraida’s body, and they
promised me on Saturday, and on Sunday, and today, and still nothing. I
don’t think that they care about us because we are Arab-Americans. If we
were American Jews they would put pressure on Israel. But for us, nothing.”
Omar also spoke of his aunt and uncle, Farhat
Saleh and Selma Frookh, also Americans from northern Virginia, who went
to Palestine for a visit following their pilgrimage to Mecca during Hajj
last February. “They are an old couple, and right now they are alone in
their home with no electricity or running water, and barely any food. My
uncle has diabetes, and my aunt has high blood pressure. I’m worried that
they are in need of their medication, but they can’t get any because the
Israelis will shoot anyone who goes outside and breaks the curfew.”
Two more Americans were wounded on Monday
by Israeli gunfire in Beit Jala as they participated in a peaceful march
in solidarity with the Palestinians. The State Department said that they
hope such incidents won’t happen in the future. There was no immediate
comment from the State department about dozens of American citizens who
have been detained in Israel’s round-up of all men between the ages of
16 and 64 in Ramallah and other parts of the West Bank.
* Note to journalists-Global Peace can put members of the media in contact with Americans in Palestine, including the family of Suraida Saleh, as well as families here in the United States whose loved ones have been detained by Israeli soldiers.
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