From: hernlem@chess.ncsu.EDU (Brad Hernlem)
Subject: Life As A Deportee
Reply-To: hernlem@chess.ncsu.EDU (Brad Hernlem)
Organization: North Carolina State University
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1993 20:38:15 GMT


The following are exerpts from an article entitled "Taking a stand in no
man's land" in the Jan. 4, 1993 issue of the Christian Science Monitor:

[...]

On Saturday night, an Israeli Army unit fired shells that landed only
500 to 1,000 yards from the camp, causing many to flee.

[...]

"Of course, I feel sad to be cut off from my family," says Ali Dado, a
storekeeper from Tulkarem in the West Bank who is married with four
children. "But I always have high spirits, even when I was in jail,
because I have faith in Allah. What has happened is the will of Allah."

Unlike many of the others, Dado -- who has an electrical engineering
degree from Swansea University in Wales -- was actually charged and
sentenced by an Israeli court in 1990 to 10 months' imprisonment for
belonging to the banned Islamic Hamas movement.

Most of the expelled have spent months in "administrative detention"
without charges or trial. But 49 of the exiles say they never had any
trouble with Israeli authorities until they were picked up and expelled
last month.

Ali Dado insists that after serving his sentence, he stopped being an
activist in order to concentrate on his rug and apparel business. Many
of the others say too that they are sympathizers and supporters, but not
active members, of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad organization.

"The Israelis claim we represent the first and second ranks of the Hamas
leadership, but this is simply not true," says Abdullah al-Zogg from
Gaza. "Their goal was to expel the educated Muslim classes, to behead
our community. Look how many imams and ulema are among us."

....100 of the 415 expelled are Islamic clerics of one sort or another.
About 170 have university degrees or similar diplomas.

[...]

One of the men of religion is Ahmad al-Hajj Ali Ahmad, a gray-bearded
head teacher at a West Bank school run by the United Nations. "I preach
in a big mosque in Nablus, and thousands follow me in prayer -- that is
my crime," he says. "I have been put in administrative detention seven
times without any charges. Once, they put me in jail for three months,
just for saying that the situation was very bad, for them and for us.

"They usurp our country, beat us, kill us, expel us, and then expect us
to remain silent," he adds. "To speak out is forbidden. I don't tell
people to go out and kill Israelis. But I do teach them about the
history of what is happening."


**********************

Exerpts from an article by Owen Bowcott of the Guardian News Service
entitled "Deportees braced for a long stay".

[...]

Local villagers smuggle in a small quantity of food ... Nothing,
however, has come over the Israeli-controlled border to the south except
the occasional distant, hollow echo of a rocket and artillery gunfire.

High above the canvas tents two Israeli jets thundered past, spilling
out a trail of flares to confuse anti-aircraft missiles.

"Even here they are still watching us," a Palestinian remarked.

Four deportees are recovering from shrapnel injuries received just
before Christmas when a peaceful protest march on the Israeli lines at
Zimria gate was turned back by mortar fire.

Amjed Zamel, 22, a car mechanic from Nablus, sat silently in his tent
with his lower face swathed in bandages. "His lower jaw was shattered
when a shell exploded near him as he bent down to pray," a friend
explained. "He can't eat, only drink liquids. 


Brad Hernlem (hernlem@chess.ncsu.EDU)