Denver nurse 'human shield' - She's one of five Coloradans in Israel under sponsorship of Denver-based peace group
By John C. Ensslin, Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer
April 11, 2002
Beth Daoud paused for a few seconds during a telephone conversation Wednesday.
"Did you just hear that?" she asked. "That's machine-gun fire about two blocks from here."
It was late afternoon in Nablus, the West Bank city north of Jerusalem. Daoud looked outside the temporary medical clinic set up by a group of Palestinian doctors.
Outside, the streets were deserted. The crushed remains of a car were burning. In the distance, Daoud said she could hear an Israeli tank coming closer.
Daoud, a 35-year-old nurse from Denver, is one of five Coloradans in Israel under the sponsorship of the Denver-based Colorado Campaign for Middle East Peace.
Three days ago, Daoud walked three miles into the city. Her stated aim is to serve as a "human shield" for the Palestinian ambulance crews and a witness to the on-going Israeli military campaign.
As she spoke, a group of Palestinian men walked into the clinic. They identified themselves as former prisoners who had been released. She said they were asked to leave the clinic so it wouldn't be attacked.
"This is what they face," Daoud said. "There is no place they can go. There is no place that is safe for them."
A spokeswoman for the Consulate General of Israel said the observers are welcome, but she wishes they would observe more.
"We would like them to come also and visit an Israeli family that were constantly shot at," spokeswoman Meirav Shahar said. "We would invite them to visit the home of a family whose loved ones were killed or maimed by a terrorist attack.
"That is our reality. That is the Israeli reality."
In Bethlehem, Nancy Stohlman had spent a week experiencing a very different reality last week, holed up inside a hotel. She had arrived just before the Israeli military action started.
"Being invaded was absolutely horrendous," said Stohlman, a 28-year-old substitute teacher from Denver who left behind her 3-year-old son.
"Being in the hotel without electricity while things are exploding 360 degrees around you, it was brutal," she said. "I really understood for a split second what these people were going through."
Stohlman returned to Jerusalem earlier this week, one day before a suicide bomber on a commuter bus in Haifa killed 9 people and wounded a dozen others.
"I absolutely condemn the suicide bombings," she said. "But after being here, I understand the rage behind them and the feeling of desperation, the feeling that one's life means nothing."
FAIR USE NOTICE
This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml . If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.