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August 10, 2001/Av 21, 5761, Vol. 53, No.44
'Human shields' placed in line of fire
GIL SEDAN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
JERUSALEM - Anisse Hadoli lives with her husband and two of their five children in the heart of the West Bank village of Beit Jalla facing the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo.
When the almost-nightly counterpoint of Palestinian gunfire and Israeli retaliatory shelling begins, the Hadolis seek shelter on the ground floor of their old house.
The shrieking noise of the bullets and the thunder of shells have magnified the terror of simple people who don't care much for the intricacies of the conflict. All they know is the horror and the feeling of helplessness that no one really cares.
In recent weeks, however, the Hadolis have company from abroad.
The guests are young people from around the world who have come to live with Palestinian families on behalf of the International Solidarity Movement, an umbrella organization of groups vowing to perform "nonviolent" resistance to "Israeli occupation."
Most of the volunteers are American. Later this week, reinforcements are expected from France. They will be followed by groups from the United Kingdom and Italy.
Although no one says so explicitly, it is believed that the volunteers are attracted to Beit Jalla and the adjacent city of Bethlehem because of their Christian nature.
Damage to historic Christian sites in Beit Jalla or Bethlehem likely would be magnified ten-fold in the international media compared with similar damage elsewhere.
That, Israeli analysts suggest, is precisely what Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat wants, hoping to provoke a tragedy that will trigger international intervention in the conflict.
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