Posted on 04/04/2002 3:25:47 AM PST by kattracks
Full Title: A Jewish American says he was a human shield against advancing Israeli troops at a Palestinian camp near Bethlehem
JERUSALEM, Apr 04, 2002 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- Jewish American Rob Lipton spoke emotionally Thursday about the resilience he saw among the Palestinians and how he served as a human shield for the besieged people as Israeli troops threatened their West Bank refugee camp near biblical Bethlehem.
Lipton - a peace activist from Berkeley, California - was among about 20 foreigners who were evacuated from Bethlehem on Wednesday. They are part of a larger group of about 100 international activists who are in Israel showing solidarity with Palestinians.
After a series of bloody suicide bombings, Israel launched its weeklong offensive in the West Bank, seeking to wipe out militant networks. The foreign activists decided to go into various Palestinian refugee camps, hoping their presence would deter the Israelis from bombing the areas.
Lipton, 43, said he spent two nights in the Aida refugee camp, where he witnessed the Israeli invasion.
"The first night in the camp there was very heavy machine gun fire. The Palestinians did not return fire. They do not have heavy weapons, although I could hear the occasional pop pop of some small guns and then the giant roar of tank fire," he said.
The next day, the Israeli tanks and armored vehicles moved in closer and Lipton spent a sleepless night waiting for an attack.
"I was really afraid. But the reason I got through the night was I knew the Palestinians go through this every day," said Lipton, the co-ordinator for Jewish Voice for Peace, a U.S. organization calling for an end of Israeli's occupation of Palestinian territories and for America to suspend military aid to Israel.
"There were such wonderful people everywhere around us," he said. "The thing I admire the most is their fortitude and civility under duress."
He stayed in the home of a biologist who was born and raised in the camp and who recently returned from a stay in France. "He was a wonderfully urbane man living in a crowded but clean house, who writes poetry in French. He is soft-spoken and we had long discussions late into the night," he said.
Lipton stayed with the biologist's elderly parents in a children's center attached to the house. He slept on mats, was welcomed by neighbors and was treated to small but excellent meals.
"People were really pleased to have us there and provided us with wonderful food and hospitality," he said.
Fortunately Lipton said the expected attack never came and a few days later he decided to leave Bethlehem.
As a Jewish person, Lipton thinks many Israelis are "trapped in an ideology of fear," and he felt that his Jewishness has been turned into support for Israel.
He condemned the suicide bombings, but he said Israel's response to the attacks was wrong.
"Just because there is violence coming from one side, it is in no way comparable to the unbelievable state violence coming from the Israelis," he said.
By CELEAN JACOBSON Associated Press Writer
Copyright 2002 Associated Press, All rights reserved
Nice of them not to blow themselves up in his presence. That's hospitality.
He's right the Jews should just line-up and wait quietly to be blown up. How DARE they try to defend themselves.
When the murdering scum no longer needed his "shielding" they'd have done to him what they want to do to all Jews...it would have served him right!
Well, no need to read any further.
Some of them also wore black turbans. Females. It was dubbed a peace rally but it was a pro-Palestinian/anti-American rally.
We were there to counter rally for the NY police and firemen who served so well on 9/11.
These vermin are not for peace. They are illegal aliens, communists, stupid college students and old marxists who despise Israel and America.
The flag they chose to fly was the Palestinian flag.
If I didn't see it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it.
One young, white girl kept giving us the finger and then pulled her shirt up to show her breasts. Alas... there was not even a mouthfull.
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