NEWS FROM
LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF
November 10, 2000
For more information contact Jonathan Frerichs at (410) 230-2802.
In this news release:
- Amid Missile Strikes on Shepherds Field: "We Are Trying To Help Children Keep Their Smile."
- Palestinian Casualty Figures Continue a Trend: Upper Body Injuries and, Now, 1,500 Disabled
Amid Missile Strikes on Shepherds Field: "We Are Trying To Help Children Keep Their Smile."
Baltimore, Nov. 10, 2000 -- The skies where angels once sang of peace shake these days with helicopters and missiles. Below, the YMCA on Shepherds' Field near Bethlehem is scrambling to provide comfort and counseling to traumatized Palestinians, especially children.
Helicopters rocketed three people at a house down the street yesterday in order to kill a Palestinian identified by the Israeli military as a local leader of the current uprising. Last week, for the second time in a month, the helicopters struck the YMCA itself. Two missiles plus many bullets hit dormitories, therapy rooms, offices and computers.
Staff of the Lutheran World Relief-related Rehabilitation Center were long gone, mostly deployed to schools and community centers across the West Bank. There they have been training hundreds of teachers and others in crisis intervention and trauma counseling.
"We are trying to help children keep their smile," says Nader Abu Zuluf, the Shepherds' Field director. "After weeks of violence in front of their eyes and seen again on TV, there are children who cannot speak, who vomit, who cannot sleep." In three regional centers, staffers lead training sessions in play therapy, art therapy and even theater for distraught teachers and parents.
Last weekend, just days after the helicopter attack on the compound, more than 300 local children attended a picnic at the YMCA. There was drama and dancing in the damaged buildings as Israeli forces looked on. "We were sending a message to the pilots and soldiers," said Abu Zuluf. "This is our response to their attacks."
The YMCA is also providing food coupons, redeemable at local wholesalers, for about 100 families left without income by the current closures of borders and businesses.
Abu Zuluf thanked Lutheran World Relief for being the first to send help in the current crisis. His program finds itself facing needs like those of the 'Intifada' years a decade ago, helping people disabled by gunshot wounds. During the years of peace talks since then, the caseload had shifted to therapy and vocational training for disabled people in general.
Palestinian Casualty Figures Continue a Trend: Upper Body Injuries and, Now, 1,500 Disabled
Baltimore, Nov. 10, 2000 - "As the conflict continues and the media war escalates, it is important to sometimes put things into perspective." With these words Augusta Victoria Hospital, the Lutheran World Federation hospital on the Mount of Olives, recently offered a tally of casualties suffered in the current unrest. Of the 144 Palestinians killed during October, one-third have been 18-year-olds or younger. Half have been between 19 and 29 years old and the rest, 30 and up.
Another Lutheran World Relief partner organization, a YMCA program for disabled people (see story above), reports that 1,500 Palestinians have been permanently disabled as a result of their injuries during the same period. The General Union of Palestinian Disabled gathered the statistic.
The LWF report noted that half of the fatal wounds were in the head and neck. The other half have been in the chest and abdomen. "These statistics would appear to indicate excessive shooting to kill as opposed to injure. This is generally consistent with injuries treated at Augusta Victoria Hospital," the Jerusalem hospital statement said.
A Palestinian human rights organization reported last week that 7,000 people have been injured. Other estimates cite 5,000 injured. Again, the injuries have been mostly in the upper body.
