A truck crashed into a
Palestinian school bus, killing at least nine people including eight children
By Dr. Mazin B. Qumsiyeh
February
17, 2012:
West
Bank
We had a really bad day today.
Nine Palestinian very young children were killed and 40 other
children injured (some severely) in one horrific fiery traffic accident today
and another child was killed in a separate traffic accident.
The day started with me breaking a glass and then having to talk
to a lawyer about a notice I just received to go to military court on 1 April
(more on this later as it becomes clear what I will be charged with).
Then I am rushing to do interview live on an international TV station then
driving to Ramallah for an important meeting and then to my afternoon classes
at Birzeit University.
Well, I never made it to the Ramallah meeting because the road
was blocked for this horrific accident; an Israeli licensed trailer truck
(driven by an Israeli Arab citizen) carrying fuel hit the Palestinian bus
carrying children on a trip head on and the bus turned over and burst in flames
(the bus burned not the trailer!).
This happened near the Palestinian village of Hizma and the
villagers rushed to save the children. The Israeli cars could double back and
go through the wall on the Israeli only roads. We in the Palestinian cars
had to wait as ambulance after ambulance took the dead and injured away
Forgetting about my own personal troubles, I thus started to
think based on the issue of compassion and dignity more. A story like
this should generate compassion and it certainly helps us identify decent human
beings (like the Israelis and Palestinians of all religions who helped save the
lives of so many children).
But why did so many ignore it or feel no compassion because it
is not their children or belong to their self-identified (fictional) group.
A 33-year old Palestinian Khader Adnan is on his 61 days of
hunger strike (because he is held without charge in so called administrative
detention by Israel). How many will care if he dies or care now about him?
Regardless of his background, isn’t he someone’s husband,
someone’s father, someone’s son, someone’s uncle?
Below is a letter from a friend about Khader Adnan’s
situation.
These and other stories that break our hearts do not seem to
elicit even a blip of compassion and care from millions who may tangentially
hear about these things. Some people say there is “compassion fatigue”
among some of us but I disagree.
I believe once you have true compassion for fellow human beings
you can never tire of it; compassion here is defined as compassion for all human
beings not selected members of your “tribe”, “nation”, “religion” or other
concocted group identity (to me this is the opposite of compassion).
Eleven years ago (4 June 2001), I published this letter in
Haaretz titled “Sincere condolences” about another tragedy which is relevant
here:
“Upon
hearing the news of the wedding party turned to tragedy by collapse of the
building in Jerusalem, my shock and sadness were intense. It only got worse and
turned to tears when I later saw the video footage and read about the alleged
construction problems. The video footage reminded me of the footage of my
sister’s wedding. I was touched by the ordinariness and beauty of this event
and then the tragedy that ensued. I grieve for the victims and my thoughts and
prayers are with the families and with you all.
Please
accept my sincerest and humble condolences. I am a Palestinian American who
works for human rights, including the Palestinian refugees’ right to return to
their homes and lands. I believe that all people of Israel/Palestine must and
will eventually live in one democratic and secular state with a constitution
that protects all its citizens and treats them equally.
We are so similar and it is a shame that political ideas
(Zionism and other forms of nationalism) divided us. In 1967, as a 10-year old
child in Beit Sahur, I witnessed something that still touches me to this day ~
a reunion between my grandfather and his Jewish best friend from high school.
Two old folks who had not seen each other between 1948 and 1967.
Two old folks who cried like children. Both are gone now. I thought of this,
and how much I miss the wisdom of my grandfather as I saw the recent events and
the tragedies and the victims of violence in our homeland.
My grandfather wrote to me in 1974 that if he was to give me one
piece of advice for the future it would be to realize that the world changes
and that we have to remove our own shackles, which come to us from society and
culture.
It is time we started thinking and reflecting carefully on the
futility of separation, nationalism, and militarism.
It is time to insist on and teach ourselves to live together in
equality and humanity. If the Berlin wall tumbled, Apartheid in South Africa
was dismantled, and Europe is unifying, why can’t we do the same?
Imagine if the billions of dollars we spend on weapons were
spent to better our economies, desalinate sea water, develop closer
relationships and friendships, and provide therapy for the over 17,000 injured
in the recent violence.
In the midst of our tragedies, let us work together for a better
world.
Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh
teaches and does research at Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities in occupied
Palestine. He serves as chairman of the board of the Palestinian Center for
Rapprochement Between People and coordinator of the Popular Committee Against
the Wall and Settlements in Beit Sahour He is author of “Sharing the Land of
Canaan: Human rights and the Israeli/Palestinian Struggle” and “Popular
Resistance in Palestine: A history of Hope and Empowerment”
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The Kahal is Communism, the Kahal is Zionism, the Kahal is Talmudic Jew hatred for all gentiles, who they call goyim or cattle to be destroyed them- the Jew master race of tribal Jew racists.
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