March 30, 2003

Sad Times, Christine Shehadeh

[Bethlehem, West Bank] As is common here, this was another difficult week. Tuesday, the Bethlehem community was saddened by the shooting death of 10-year-old Christine Shehadeh. If you subscribe to my newsgroup, then you already know the story. Basically, the Israeli Army was carrying out an operation in Bethlehem where there was an exchange of gunfire between them and some Palestinian men. (Well, BBC and Reuters said there was an exchange of gunfire, but local witnesses tell me that there was no shooting at all from the Palestinian side.) Christine was riding in a car that passed by the scene. The army reported that they were afraid they were about to be fired upon, so they shot first, killing Christine and seriously injuring her father and 15-year-old sister in the car. The army reported the killing as a "tragic accident." According to MIFTAH The number of Palestinian children killed by Israeli troops since September 2000 has reached 487. That is a heck of a lot of tragic accidents.

I attended the funeral, and it was one of the saddest things I've ever seen. The students from Christine's girl's school were openly crying, and it really hurt my heart. Some of Christine's schoolmates are my own friends and students. I was glad to have some private time to myself after the funeral. Man, something is seriously screwed up when 487 Palestinian children have been killed. And of course I know that there have been too many Israeli children killed too. One kid -- Israeli or Palestinian -- is too darn many.