I cry with you Abu al-Aish

The deaths that opened the hearts of many Israelis.

So many deaths in this bloody war between Israel and Hamas have been in vain. If anything can be a consolation to Dr. Ezzeldeen Abu al-Aish at this unimaginable hard time, is the fact that the death of his 3 daughters opened a channel between Palestinian hearts to the mainstream Israeli hearts.

It happened last night, and the events were broadcasted live in prime time to homes across Israel. I can tell that my elderly parents, whose town was under Hamas missile attacks for more than 2 weeks now, were sobbing on the phone.

I believe that the tragic death of Dr. Abu al-Aish's daughters was not in vain. It opened the hearts of many other Israelis (According to polls 72% of the population believes that the war against Hamas is justified) and made them see not only the ugly face of war, but their opponent as a human being and a brother.

I can tell Dr. Abu al-Aish that many in Israel cried with him last night. And that when the fire ends soon and when we all start to pick up our pieces, his voice and the images of his daughters being rushed to Israeli hospitals will stay burnt in Israeli awareness.

The Palestinians are not beasts, neither are the Israelis. The war is, and some political and religious leaders are.

We will have to reach for each other, heal the wounds together, build trust a little by little and start a dialogue. There's just no other way.

I cry with you Abu al-Aish.

From The Associated Press:

Dr. Ezzeldeen Abu al-Aish, a Palestinian doctor who trained in Israel, has been a regular fixture on Israeli television during the 21-day-old war against Hamas militants, bringing witness accounts of the medical crisis facing Gazans to Israeli living rooms.

His report Friday was drenched in grief as he sobbed through a cell phone that three of his daughters and a niece were killed by an Israel Defense Forces shell.

"I want to know why my daughters were harmed. This should haunt (Israeli Ehud Prime Minister) Olmert his entire life," Abu al-Aish said on Israel's Channel 10, speaking through a cell phone in Hebrew as he has throughout the war.

Gazan officials identified Al-Aish's deceased daughters as 22-year-old Bisan, 15-year-old Mayer and 14-year old Aya. His niece was identified as 14-year-old Nour Abu al-Aish.

At least two other daughters were injured.

Throughout the war, Abu al-Aish had put a face on the Palestinian suffering, making regular reports by cell phone to Israel's Channel 10. He is a rarity among Palestinians, a Hebrew-speaker who trained in two Israeli hospitals - the Soroka hospital in Beersheba just 18 miles from Gaza, and Tel Aviv's Tel Hashomer hospital.

His tragedy prompted numerous calls of concern to the station, many from
people who know him.

"We all know and love him well at Soroka, and we really hope the situation gets better," Dr. Shaul Sofer, head of the ER at Soroka who taught Abu al-Aish.

Abu al-Aish, a 55-year-old gynecologist, also is a known peace activist who was involved in promoting joint Israeli-Palestinian projects, and an academic who studied the affects of war on Gazan and Israeli children. He works at Gaza's main Shifa Hospital.

During the call-ins, Abu al-Aish often spoke of his fears for his eight children as Israeli shells punished not only the Hamas militants they were targeting but civilians who live in the crowded enclave, unable to leave. His wife reportedly died recently of cancer.

When Channel 10 called him on Friday, he answered the phone crying that his house in the northern Gaza strip town of Jebalia had been hit by Israeli shells and his daughters killed. Eighteen members of his extended family were in the house at the time.

Israeli TV said initial reports indicated that a sniper had fired from either the family's building - which friends quoted by TV said they doubted - or nearby, and the Israeli infantry responded with a tank shell.

Abu al-Aish was able to arrange the transfer of two injured daughters to Israeli hospitals - something that has been extremely rare during this conflict. The Israeli army also for the first time allowed a Palestinian ambulance to go straight to the Erez border crossing, where the injured were transferred to Israeli ambulances.

From there, they were taken by helicopter to Tel Hashomer hospital in Tel Aviv.

"Everyone knew we were home. Suddenly we were bombed. How can we talk to Olmert and (Foreign Minister) Tzipi Livni after this?" Abu al-Aish told television reporters at the border crossing.

"Suddenly, today when there was hope for a cease-fire, on the last day...I was speaking with my children, suddenly they bombed us. The doctor who treats Israeli patients."

ENDS

From a press conference Dr. Abu al-Aish held in the hospital

'My children should be the last to die'

Dr. Abu al-Aish arrived at the Sheba Medical Center where he works as a gynecologist on Friday night. "I had three beautiful daughters who loved to help people. They were soldiers of peace," he said.

"I hope this is the end. If this death satisfies the leadership, my children should be the last to die," he told his colleagues at the hospital.

Abu al-Aish was not at home when the tank hit the building, and learned of his daughters' death when he got there.

"I wanted to devote my life to the girls. I only lost my wife several months ago," he told the many friends who arrived at the hospital.

Many of the doctor's acquaintances – including reporters, human rights activists and physicians who have worked with him – arrived at the hospital immediately after the incidents.

Radio host Gabi Gazit, who had spoken to him many times since the start of Operation Cast Lead, said, "It's this ugly war. A doctor is sitting here, I would almost call him a Zionist Palestinian, and grieving the loss of his three daughters, wanting to know what this happened."

'He believes in coexistence'

Dr. Liat Lerner-Geva, Director of the Women and Children's Health Research Unit at the Gertner Institute, who has worked with Dr. Abu al-Aish on his research, told Ynet, "I don't know how this man will get back on his feet after this tragedy."

She said that she had tried to contact the doctor immediately after watching the report on television.

"He returned to Gaza on Thursday before the operation began. He went to see the children and was supposed to return to Israel on Monday, but on Monday he could no longer return.

"He would arrive in Israel and stay with friends three nights a week. Although he had permits, they would always give him trouble at the crossings. He believed in coexistence and practiced it in his work," she said.

Dr. Abu al-Aish's study examined the treatment of Palestinian children at Israeli hospitals. As opposed to Israeli children who are released after a short while, the Palestinians children usually remain hospitalized in Israel for a long time because the treatment and follow-up cannot be continued in the Strip.

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Comment by pilar g on January 18, 2009 at 8:26pm: I feel so sorry about this piece of news... I have never understood, why the price for peace costs so many lifes, so much sorrow and grief specially to the civil people. Are the politicians so unable to sit down and agree the best conditions for people, is that so difficult?
I do hope that the attitude of peace people will change the world conflicts. Pilar G

Comment by Asmaa on January 18, 2009 at 7:39pm: dear David

thank you for this add,, our hearts bleed for all the people who were the victims for this stupid war,, well as you said,, politicians are to be blamed,, why should chidren die,, what are they tring to prove??????!

Comment by Ana on January 18, 2009 at 7:28pm: I mind everybody; bu what I mind most, are children. Perhaps what is happening to them, has a meaning that I am unable to understand.
See in " Grupo de Poestas Hispanos" a poem I have written for them.
They are the seeds for the future an they are a piece of heaven, here on earth. They are our teachers, and...
I cannot say any more just now.
Ana

Comment by Sonja Verbist on January 18, 2009 at 6:44pm: We are one, we are all connected. When we kill someone, we kill part of ourselves. When we hurt someone, we damage ourselves.
The people we fight, do they not live on the same planeth under the same sun and moon. Do they not have the same dreams and hopes as us ?
If we grasp this concept and talk about peace with this in the back of our minds, then the road peace will be open and everone who ever died in a war, will not have died in vain. Sonja

Comment by Sabriyah Fatimah on January 18, 2009 at 6:21pm: May God continue to give Dr. Ezzeldeen the ability to work for peace and persevere despite this tragedy. We Muslims say- Inna ilahi wa inna ilayhi rajaoon (We belong to Allah and unto Him we return) when we hear of a death to help put it all in perspective. If their deaths soften even one heart toward peace, then they will not have died for nothing. I am also crying with my brother and want you all to know that I also cry when I hear of tragedy on the other side. We are all human. We are all brothers and sisters in this huge human family.

David, you have once again spoken the truth that needs to be heard- "The Palestinians are not beasts, neither are the Israelis. The war is, and some political and religious leaders are."

Comment by Jeremy Routledge on January 18, 2009 at 6:16pm: I saw Abu al Aish on Al Jazera and I thought what a wonderful man and what a tradegy, not only his daughters but all those killed on both sides, but his example, His pain and his speaking from the heart to both sides must guide us and say, this is not the way to make peace- bombing each other. When will we ever learn. Why not now?

Comment by d'Odémont Chantal on January 18, 2009 at 12:23pm: Toutes ces morts d'innocents sont terribles et on ne peut que prier pour une paix durable..cette fois-ci,bien que j'en doute vu l'escalade de la violence..induite par des extrémistes qui ne veulent pas de la Paix..dans cette partie du monde..ni pour les Palestiniens ni pour les Israeliens qui pourtant la mérite autant chacuns!!

Comment by Manuela Christener on January 18, 2009 at 3:57am: May you know that you are loved and love is the only thing that can prevail....
I really feel for this sad story, even there are so many sad storys, the world is changing. The angels are watching. They are here with you... Love Manuela

Comment by María Ascensión on January 18, 2009 at 3:42am: I hope the words can more than arms.. I hope some day the men be seeing their big mistake!

Ascen.

Comment by toeg on January 18, 2009 at 2:59am: My pain goes out to all who suffer. This never needed to happen. None of it. All the deaths here have been in vain and that's the worst tragedy of all. Hamas was elected as a political voice for the Palestinians. They are the legally DEMOCRATICALLY elected body for the Palestinians. And they are not JUST a terror group. Millions of fair minded people don't vote for murder, they vote for change and Hamas gave them hope.

But even if old prejudices still exist about Hamas, answer me this: WHY is it that the leader of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov, can BOIL HIS ENEMIES ALIVE and get invited to sit with George Bush at the White House??? If Hamas boiled Israeli soldiers alive, would they be accepted then??? Should we ask Hamas to put down their rockets that fall in Gaza as much as in Israel and go for the accepted terrorism methods demonstrated by the great ally Islam Karimov??

This war is for nothing. All have died in vain. All sides show hypocrisy to the max. I've cried so much for all those souls who have perished, I have no more tears. Only emptiness fills my mind now. Thousands dead, many more thousands wounded and tens of thousands scarred for life, and for what??? I have friends who have lost family members, loved ones, childhood friendships, all gone. All shelled, all blown away, all dead.

I think the Western "democracies" owe it to the world to tell them what parts of terrorism are acceptable and what parts aren't. Apparently, boiling people alive is okay. Waterboarding okay. shelling homes with tanks and ships okay. Missiles fired at mosques, hospitals, UN safe havens, ambulance drivers and care givers are okay.

What's not okay? Rockets fired in the air that aren't directed anywhere and being in the way of missiles, shells, and bullets.

All this bloodshed and death. I have no more tears. I have no more hope. I have no more prayers. Just more carnage and more death. Everyday more carnage and more death. All for nothing. All for vain. At least tell the democratically elected Hamas what terrorist rules it can use that won't cause more problems. If need be, I can find the number of Islam Karimov and send it to Hamas so they can talk to a real terrorist that has been applauded and awarded by the West.