British children caught in West Bank crossfire

The Sunday Times ^ | April 14, 2002 | Nick Fielding

[pragmatic_asian]

A British mother whose four children are trapped in the West Bank town of Nablus after a bitter custody battle spoke last night of her fears for their safety. The children from Barry in south Wales are caught in the crossfire between Israeli forces and Palestinian gunmen, holed up in their Palestinian father's flat, which has been seized by Israeli forces.

"My children are very frightened," said Eileen Sutton, 41. "Israeli soldiers have taken over the top two floors of my ex-husband's house and are using it as a command post.

"The kids are not prepared for anything like this. They were brought up in a middle-class British home."

Sutton said she had heard gunfire in the background when she had spoken to them on Thursday. Since then the telephone has been cut off and contact has been sporadic.

Sutton, who works as a PA for a property developer in Barry, met Kamal Ibashi in 1980 when she was an 18-year-old secretary. They married 18 months later and had four children — Fatima, 16, Ahmad, 14, Maryan, 11, and Amjad, 10. In 1992 her husband said he was returning to Nablus, taking with him Ï90,000 in family savings.

In 1993 Sutton discovered that he had remarried in Palestine. "After that I told him he couldn't marry someone else and then come here and stay with me — but he could still see his children."

From 1997, Ibashi began ringing the children frequently, asking them to visit his family in Nablus. Eventually, Sutton agreed to a holiday there in 1999. When it came to leaving, Ibashi disappeared with the children and Sutton returned home, grieving for her children.

The Foreign Office later told her little could be done as the Hague Convention, which governs international child custody issues, did not apply to the West Bank as it is an occupied territory.

The Foreign Office says it is aware of the case and concerned for the safety of the children. It has offered to bring the children and their father back to Britain, but he has refused.

[pragmatic_asian]

I feel bad for the mother and the children, but it's their Muslim father that is putting them in harms way and refusing to send them to safety. That selfish oaf probably wants to use children he hasn't raised to win the Muslim version of a lotto or Who Wants To Be A Million Air Particles.

[xm177e2]

She should ask the Israelis to kidnap her children for her!

[BrooklynGOP]

"The kids are not prepared for anything like this. They were brought up in a middle-class British home."

What were middle-class British kids doing in West Bank?

[VOA]

Sutton, who works as a PA for a property developer in Barry, met Kamal Ibashi in 1980
when she was an 18-year-old secretary. They married 18 months later
In 1993 Sutton discovered that he had remarried in Palestine.

In a Private Gomer Pyle voice:
SUPRISE, SUPRISE, SUPRISE!!!

(She may be an innocent victim here...but I never cease to be amazed at some of
the truly foolish mating choices made by some humans.)

[homeschool mama]

**What were middle-class British kids doing in West Bank? **

Re-read the article. The father kept the children...refused to allow them to return to Britain.

[Drew68]

I find it hard to feel sympathetic to this woman's plight. She chose to marry a mohommedan. Six hundred years of history should have taught her that these people are barbaric savages. What did she expect? Fool.

Oops! I shouldn't have posted this. How dare I forget that Islam is Peace.®

[Moonmad27]

Catch the names of those kids - all Muslim names! So much for their father adopting any British culture. I feel sorry for the kids, but this is a story that is not unheard of when Western women marry Middle Eastern men.

[LibertarianLiz]

How many of these stories do we have to read or hear about before it gets through the heads of stupid women not to marry these guys.

[FreedomPoster]

Good question! You hear this story time and time again. Woman 1) marries the suave Muslim from the Middle Eastern he!!hole of your choice, 2) has kids, 3) gets divorced due to mistreatment after marriage, 4) husband hauls kids to Middle Eastern he!!hole, 5) from which they are never heard from again. I bet if you looked around the web, there's a support group web site for these folks where they compare notes and try to get the State Department to pressure the he!!hole du jour.

[screed]

and again and again and again.......

When will these women ever learn? In ANY situation where you find yourself saying "That will never happen to me," sirens and red flashing lights should be going off in your head. How many times does this EXACT SAME THING have to happen before people smarten up?

[BrooklynGOP]

Re-read the article. The father kept the children...refused to allow them to return to Britain.

I read it fine the first time. I was just stressing the point as to with whom the blame laid.

[uncbob]

How many times does this EXACT SAME THING have to happen before people smarten up?

18 year olds smarten up !!!!!!
What do you want the impossible ????

[screed]

18 year olds smarten up !!!!!! What do you want the impossible ????

Aye. Well put. I bow to your reason.

[Surrounded in Calif!]

Arafat is a mass-murderer!

Official Israeli Defense Force Website, Highly Informative click here