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CounterPunch
January
7, 2003
A Letter to Bush from the Mother
of a Slain Palestinian
By Mrs. Ra'ida Rafiq
Abu Hasan
To the Honorable President George Bush
President of the United States of America
We hope that you can give us a little
of your valuable time so we may clarify for you how we are suffering
from Israel's persecution and oppression, and from the systematic
terror and state terrorism they are carrying out.
We hope that you will give this letter
the attention it deserves, and take note of the complete facts
herein. Mr. President, I am a teacher at a United Nations Relief
Works Agency (UNRWA) school. I have a son named `Amid `Azmi Ratib
Abu Hasan, aged exactly nineteen years and seven months to the
day at his death. He left our house to join his friends on April
10, 2002 after the invasion of the city of Jenin and Jenin Refugee
Camp. Our house is in the city about a mile from the Refugee
Camp.
We were startled when an Apache helicopter
pummeled our home for more than five minutes with heavy machine
gun fire. When the shelling stopped, it became clear that my
son and his companion had been killed, and another child was
critically wounded, as was an adult.
My family and I would like to clarify
the following points for you:
1.The neighborhood where we live had
not been the site of any militia activity or a single armed individual.
2.My son's execution, and that of his
companion, was in cold blood. Their execution was by means of
helicopters in a place where the Israeli Army could have easily
arrested them if it felt they were suspicious.
3. Is execution the appropriate punishment
for going outside when the Army forbids movement by means of
one of its "curfews?"
4. The Army prevented ambulances from
approaching and transporting the wounded.
5. In your opinion, is my son, the one
who had no weapons, the terrorist?
Or are the Israeli Army and their leaders
the terrorists?
Mr. President, human rights organizations
have documented this event and can arrive at the true facts.
We are prepared to send additional information if you would like
to know the truth. I hope that the investigation into this subject
will be complete, and that the killer's sentence will be a just
punishment.
With the highest respect,
The mother of the martyr `Amid `Azmi
Ratib Abu Hasan
Mrs. Ra'ida Rafiq Abu Hasan,
Teacher, Jenin Primary School for Girls,
Burqin Street
Jenin, Palestine
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