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Palestinian
Teenager Tells Of Horrific Experience in Besieged Church
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| Palestinian boy Jihad explains how he escaped from the besieged Church of the Nativity |
BETHLEHEM,
West Bank, April 16 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Food rations
are scarce and the smell of decomposing bodies permeates the air, the
night air is regularly pierced by Israeli loudspeakers, but the 250
Palestinians besieged in the Church of the Nativity will never
surrender, a Palestinian teenager who managed to escape from the
Church told The New York Times Wednesday, April 17.
Jihad
Abdul Rahman, 16-years-old, said it was the terrible smell and the
cold, that forced him to make his escape from the church, which has
been surrounded by Israeli occupation troops since April 2.
Approximately
240 people have taken refuge inside the 1,400-year-old basilica for
more than two weeks.
Once
busy with the buses of pilgrims visiting one of Christianity's most
sacred places, the entire area of Manger Square, has been completely
destroyed by the Israeli army.
The
Israelis claim they will maintain the siege until they capture about
30 resistance fighters inside who are wanted by Israel.
Abdul
Rahman’s report fits in with others received by telephone from
officials, monks and others within the church.
The
teenager said the intestines of one severely wounded man were exposed,
and were giving off a horrific odor. Another man's leg was severely
wounded by shrapnel, and gangrene seemed to have attacked the flesh
around the exposed bones. No one washed, and there was only one toilet
for everyone.
The
bodies of two Palestinian policemen who were shot dead have been
stored in one of the caverns below the church — although not the one
in which a 14-point star of silver marks the spot where Christians
believe that Mary gave birth to Jesus.
Late
Wednesday, the Israelis finally sent an ambulance to evacuate two men,
including the man with the abdomen wound and another with epilepsy.
Both were taken to a military hospital.
The
Israelis have also detained some wives and mothers of men inside,
Palestinians said, and were broadcasting the information over
loudspeakers to them.
Abdul
Rahman said he went to the church on April 3, the day after the
Palestinians took refuge there, to bring bread and cigarettes to
neighbors from the Dheisheh camp. A side door was still accessible,
and he was allowed in. He stayed the night. In the morning, however,
the Israelis blasted the door and sealed off the escape route.
In
ensuing days, the Israelis took up positions all around the Nativity
compound. Tanks were parked on Manger Square, and snipers took up
positions on surrounding roofs.
Using
loudspeakers, the Israelis soon began to terrorize those inside the
church with sounds of approaching helicopters, tanks, and barking
dogs. They also repeatedly played a tape, in Arabic and English,
urging the monks to come out and telling the Palestinian men that if
they came out, their mothers would stop weeping and would cook them
good meals.
The
Israelis also fired stun grenades and long bursts of gunfire.
The
noise made sleep impossible through the night, Abdul Rahman said. Food
was one small portion of rice or noodles a day.
On
Monday, April 15, at about 1 p.m., he jumped over the wall of the
Greek monastery. Israeli soldiers immediately fired at his feet, and
then ordered him to strip, and climb over the second wall.
He
said he was handcuffed, blindfolded and taken to a military base for
questioning. He said they asked him whether Ahmed Mughrabi, a leader
of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, was inside. He said no.
They
asked him about weapons, and about food supplies. Finally, they
released him to a United Nations official, Wednesday, April 17.
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