Suicide Bomb Survivors Face Worlds Blown Apart

[GabysPoppy]

JERUSALEM -- Alona Shaportova immigrated here from Ukraine with her parents when she was 10. Soon she was speaking Hebrew, English and some Arabic, as well as Russian.


Ask Alona how old she is today and she hesitates, and begins to count out loud, "One, two, three, four" until she gets to 17. She looks to her mother for verification and gets a nod of approval.

Counting is a chore for Alona, reading is impossible, and she can manage only slowly to write her name. Two years ago, Alona and a friend were at Tel Aviv's popular seaside Dolphinarium discotheque when a Palestinian wearing explosives and copper ball bearings blew himself up outside, killing 21 people, mostly teenagers, and wounding 100 others.

Alona was among the most critically injured. When five ball bearings smashed into her head and face, her left eye was shattered, the teeth on the left side of her mouth were knocked out and the left side of her brain was torn away, leaving her paralyzed on the right side and mentally impaired for good.

The blond-haired, blue-eyed girl, who once thought of becoming a model, now has a plastic prosthetic and a mop of curls that artfully cover the missing part of her head.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64587-2004Jan30.html?nav=hptoc_w

[ithacan]

1. this is sad,

another victim of Likud's policies...

[Muddleoftheroad]

3. Those wacky Likud guys

Wearing those bombs and blowing up people.

Oops, those are Likud members, they're Palestinians.

[Darranar]

6. Yes, the same way...

that those wacky Palestinian terrorists make the Israelis drop bombs on them.

[Muddleoftheroad]

7. They do, with every terror attack

And of course refusing to try and stop said terror attacks.

[Darranar]

18. No, they don't...

such strikes are carried out at the order of the government, not Hamas.

And the suicide bombings are ordered and carried out by the Palestinian terrorists.

Neither faction is forced to do anything.

[Muddleoftheroad]

24. You are wildly incorrect

Hamas is supported and tolerated by the PA -- the quasi-government of Arafat's. His refusal to take action leaves Israel with no choice.

[Darranar]

25. They have plenty of other choices.

[Gimel]

26. Yes,

They might wipe out the total Palestinian population with a few bombing sorties, or they could build a fence to keep the terrorists from entering Israel.

Choices in between might include setting up checkpoints to detect any terrorists entering, sending troops into Palestinian areas to arrest terrorists, you get the picture. It's like what's happening now.

[drdon326]

27. Darranar...

i want to hear the choices they have....iyho.

pray tell.

[Darranar]

29. They don't have to go after the terrorists at all.

[drdon326]

30. Rather than give us one sentence soundbites....

could you expand on your idea that israel doesnt have
to go after the terrorists at all ??

feel free to expand on ALL your other ideas.

i'm truely interested.

[Darranar]

31. What's there to expand on?

I wasn't suggesting it, simply pointing it out.

[drdon326]

32. Wait a minute.....

your exact quote...

"They have plenty of other choices."


what CHOICES are you refering to ??

[drdon326]

33. Darranar....

i'm going to hold my breath until i get an answer.
lol

[Darranar]

34. I have already provided one...

there are, of course, others.

[drdon326]

35. This is like pulling teeth.....

please tell me what are the others....of course.

[drdon326]

36. Unbelieveable.

.

[Dark Star]

4. No, you must have misunderstood.

This is referring to the Palestinian Authority policeman who murdered several Israelis, critically injured others and died in the process. He blew up a bus.

[LARED]

5. I see your point but

I've always wondered how thoses polices strap bombs on themselves.

[Blitz]

22. Another victim

Of Oslo.

[drdon326]

2. I'm sure....

there will be *someone* here who will take up the cause
of Alona..... like the endless posts of Saint Rachel.

[plurality]

8. i feel for all the victims of this tragedy, especially this one

From the same article, at the very end.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64587-2004Jan30_3.html

The Bus Driver

Not all victims of suicide attacks are Jewish. Sometimes the shrapnel finds someone like Yasser Hirbawi, an Israeli Arab who lives in East Jerusalem.

In August, Hirbawi was driving a bus for a tourism company when he stopped next to public bus No. 2, which had a bomber on board. Hirbawi felt the blast, which hurled him down the front steps of his bus, and brought the vehicle's small, mounted television set crashing down on his head and back.

snip

Hirbawi, 40, is under doctor's orders not to work. As an Israeli citizen and a victim of terrorism, he qualifies for financial compensation. But he hadn't received any, he said, and has survived -- taking care of his wife and six children -- only with the help of his brother, who owns a grocery store.

The reason, he believes, is because he is an Arab, not Jew.

"I tell you the truth, if I had been Jewish, I would be getting everything I am owed from the national insurance," Hirbawi said. "A Jew doesn't have to wait six months. Unfortunately, we have to wait. We are discriminated against. They don't treat everyone equally here."

Hirbawi is angry. His family has lived in Jerusalem for generations. He said he had never run afoul of the law. "I live in Jerusalem, I pay my taxes and everything," he said. "I was wounded just like any other person, just like the Jews.

"The bomb," he added, "did not discriminate between Jews and Arabs."

[plurality]

9. no one wants to talk about the discrimination of this terror victim?

[Lurking Dem]

10. Okay.

I think it's horrible and I hope that the fact this has now garnered international media attention will aid him in getting his due.

[drdon326]

11. Ditto

or he can appeal for help from his 'nobel-ness',arafat,
for support and some of that $ 3,000,000,000.....since
his situation is directly because of arafats complicity
in the terrorism.

[plurality]

13. since he's an Israeli citizen I don't see how Arafat has bearing on this

Maybe he should go to Sharon, mister "Man of Peace", his Prime Minister, the figure head of Israel the "flower of democracy" in the Middle East.

[plurality]

12. If you call being relegated to the end of a 3 page article...

"international media attention", unfortunately, it appears most people didn't read the entire article to find this little gem. Of course this is par for the course in American journalism. Like when all the papers did their recount reports that had headlines of "Bush wins recount!" But in small print at the end of the article they have, "but Gore would have won if all the votes were counted."

[Gimel]

28. No, but

I can tell you endless stories about bureaucratic problems in Israel, red tape and waiting months for compensation due to Israeli Jewish citizens. I think the man gets his compensation, but just has to wait like everybody else.

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[plurality]

17. no, I actually care about all victims in this idiotic war

The problem I have is that if you read the article it is painfully obvious that government treatment of these victims is disparate. All the Jewish victims receive free medical care, disability payments, etc, while the Arab is able to survive solely by his brother's charity. I'm sure it's not written into the law that Jews receive medical care while Arabs don't but all it takes is beaureaucratic hold ups and red tape to prevent Arabs from getting the same treatment. It's called de facto as opposed to de jure racism and it's a common occurance. Here's another example.

http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2000/03/15/Opinion/Opinion.4023.html

(March 15) - Last week's High Court decision which obligates the residents of Katzir to allow an Arab family to purchase a plot in the settlement has struck at the very heart of the Zionist enterprise. Moreover it has, once again, raised the major contradiction which is rooted in the definition of the State of Israel as a Jewish state and a democracy at one and the same time.

The case in question involves an Arab-Israelis right to by land in a town in northern Israel. He was told he Arabs need not apply. Although 10 years latter the courts have said he must be allowed to buy the land, he continues to be denied the right to purchase land.

Here's some more

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=185923&contrassID=2&subContrassID=4&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y

Baka al-Garbiyeh has some handsome, three- or four-story houses, with ornate balconies, strong, proud pillars and striking red-tile rooftops. A'adal and Iman Ka'adan live in a pleasant, spacious seven-level house; but the couple says that it is an optical illusion. The houses may look pretty, but they are opulent prisons: There's no way out of them. Baka al-Garbiyeh indeed has a run-down appearance, like a third world market town.

Following the government's decision this week to allow the establishment of Jewish-only communities, where Arabs are not allowed to live, the world media has streamed to the Ka'adan's home. A'adal, a congenial-looking, softly-spoken, 48-year-old, meticulously arranged interview slots for each journalist. The phone didn't stop ringing.

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[drdon326]

20. Really !!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=116&topic_id=3424

[Darranar]

21. I didn't know that any DUers voted in that poll...

care to prove it?