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  • CHINGFORD: Mother Describes West Bank Gunfire Horror

    CHINGFORD: MOTHER DESCRIBES WEST BANK GUNFIRE HORROR
    By Carl Brown

    Guardian
    11:39am Tuesday 2nd February 2010
    UK

    A MOTHER-OF-TWO has described the terrifying moment Israeli soldiers
    fired bullets during a peace protest near Bethlehem.

    Catherine Arakelian, of St Egberts Way, Chingford, flew out to the
    Middle East for a 10 day trip earlier this month with Christian Arab
    charity Holy Land Trust, which peacefully campaigns against oppression
    of Palestinians.

    Mrs Arakelian attended a protest in the village of Al Massarah,
    which involved campaigners walking 40 minutes out of the village and
    demonstrating in front of Israeli troops.

    She said the protest, which happens every Friday, was on this occasion
    particularly large.

    The campaigners finished their peaceful protest, which involved flag
    waving, and as they began to walk back to the village, Mrs Arakelian
    said the Israeli army decided to act.

    She added: "All of a sudden they started rolling razor wire across
    the road, to stop us going further away and then they fired shots
    above our heads to try and get us to go back to the village, which
    is where we were going anyway. They also threw smoke bombs to scare us.

    "It was very scary, I have never been anywhere close to a group of
    young soldiers who themselves looked frightened and I did not know
    what a smoke bomb was.

    "The whole point of the Palestine Peace Movement is that it is
    non-violent, but the media got the pictures they wanted of people
    running away and of conflict."

    Mrs Arakelian said she and her fellow campaigners did not know why
    the army acted in the way it did.

    The 48-year-old, who is standing as the Labour candidate in the
    Chingford & Woodford Green constituency at the general election, added:
    "When we touched down in Luton on the way back I felt free.

    "Here we have freedom of expression, movement and association, we
    don't always realise in this country how important these freedoms are."

    During her visit Mrs Arakelian also visited the Armenian quarter of
    Bethlehem and met a Muslim family in danger of losing their home to
    Jewish settlers.

    Despite the terrifying moment with the army, Mrs Arakelian, a
    practising Christian, described the trip as "amazing spiritually
    and politically."

    Mrs Arakelian will be speaking about her trip at a meeting at 7 Hatch
    Lane, Chingford, on Thursday, from 7.30pm.
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