di Gideon Levy
5 NOVEMBRE 2016
Sintesi personale
La brevissima vita coniugale di Raheeq Birawi negli Stati
Uniti era intollerabile. È per questo che lei ha preso un coltello e si è
recata a un checkpoint israeliano tre giorni prima del suo previsto ritorno in
America?
Gideon Levy e Alex Levac 4 Novembre 2016
Voleva morire? Lei era stanca della sua breve vita
coniugale, che ha avuto inizio con una luna di miele kitsch ed è continuata
come un inferno a San Francisco? Aveva paura di tornare dal marito in
America che, secondo la madre, faceva
uso di droghe e la picchiava? Era Raheeq Birawi – una bella 19enne dalla
cittadina di Asira al-Shamaliya, vicino a Nablus, una giovane donna di una
famiglia povera i cui genitori sono separati – stanca della sua nuova vita
nella gabbia dorata americana? È per questo che ha preso un taxi collettivo per
il posto di blocco Tapuah ? E, soprattutto, voleva o no morire?
Quando qualcuno cerca di suicidarsi, ovunque nel mondo si
tenta di salvare lui o lei. Nei territori occupati, tuttavia, la situazione è
invertita: le Forze di Difesa israeliane o la polizia di frontiera sono pronte
aiutare i palestinesi – soprattutto, le donne palestinesi – a realizzare
i loro piani di morte. Nel caso di Raheeq Birawi, erano particolarmente felici
di farlo: i poliziotti di frontiera le hanno sparato più di 30 proiettili, uno
dopo l’altro, per assicurarsi 30 volte che il suo desiderio di morte si
avverasse.
La sua storia non è unica: una grande percentuale delle
donne armate di coltello uccise da Israele negli ultimi mesi ai posti di blocco
e alle fermate degli autobus nei territori aveva motivazioni simili.Asira
al-Shamaliya è una città collinare. La casa della madre in lutto è una
struttura in pietra in affitto, a un piano, con pareti umide e camere quasi prive di mobili. Qui la madre single Zahra Birawi vive
in condizioni di povertà, e qui Raheeq è cresciuta insieme con le sue cinque
sorelle e un fratello. Il loro padre, Shajia, un operaio edile in Israele, si è
separato da Zahra anni fa e si è risposato. Vive anche lui in Asira.
Diverse bandiere palestinesi sono ora attaccate al
portico. Insolitamente nessuna
organizzazione ha rivendicato la responsabilità per il destino di questa
sfortunata shaheeda (martire). Gli aerei della Israel Air Force facevano cerchi
nel cielo e un rumore assordante mentre eravamo seduti sotto il portico con
Zahra che piangeva . Il contrasto tra i jet sofisticati in aria e la situazione
miserabile era eclatante.
Vestita di blu, il viso stanco e addolorato, la madre in
lutto ha 47 anni. Quando ci mostra le immagini di se stessa al matrimonio di
sua figlia a San Francisco, solo lo scorso marzo, è difficile riconoscerla. “La
tristezza cambia la faccia”, ha detto l’investigatore di B’Tselem Abed el-Karim
Saadi, che ci ha accompagnato.
Circa tre anni prima, AG, originario degli Stati Uniti è venuto ad Asira per chiedere la mano di
Raheeq dopo che le loro famiglie si erano accordate e si sono fidanzati.All’inizio di
quest’anno, madre e figlia si sono recate in California per la cerimonia di matrimonio. L’album di
nozze rivela la felicità di quel giorno
Dopo una breve luna di miele
Raheeq confidò a sua madre che il marito era cambiato drasticamente e
faceva uso di droghe . . La sua vita era
diventata un inferno.. Inoltre aveva scoperto che si era già sposato, forse più
di una volta
Il 21 agosto, circa cinque mesi dopo il matrimonio, Raheeq è
tornata ad Asira, per le nozze di suo fratello. La madre afferma di aver notato
segni neri e blu sul suo viso. Quando l’ha interrogata, la situazione è
diventata chiara: Raheeq aveva paura di tornare dal marito. Zahra ha telefonato
alla famiglia negli Stati Uniti, ma questa ha sostenuto che Raheeq si stava
inventando tutto e che il marito non le aveva fatto del male.
Zahra non ha voluto interferire : . “Ho dato ai miei figli
la libertà di avere opinioni personali
senza imporre le mie idee” . Raheeq ha deciso alla fine di tornare dal
marito domenica 23 ottobre insieme alla
madre, che aveva pianificato di rimanere con lei per circa un mese. La famiglia
del marito in America ha inviato i biglietti.
Il 19 ottobre, l’ultimo giorno della sua vita, Raheeq ha viaggiato in un taxi condiviso per recarsi a Ramallah. Il volto della madre è pieno di lacrime.
Sospira: “Possa Dio punire i malvagi.”
Verso le 11:00, il vicino di Zahra, che lavora nell’intelligence
palestinese, ha telefonato chiedendo se la polizia palestinese fosse venuta a
casa sua. Quando Zahra, perplessa, ha domandato perché lo stava chiedendo,
quale fosse il problema – il vicino ha appeso rapidamente.Appresa la verità più
tardi, ha incominciato a piangere e a gridare
Da allora Zahra non ha avuto un momento di pace.
I soldati israeliani sono arrivati il giorno dopo a casa
del padre di Raheeq, hanno ritirato il permesso di lavoro israeliano e hanno
avvertito la famiglia che, se ci fossero state manifestazioni, avrebbero
demolito la loro casa. Aqeed, il fratello in lutto di Raheeq, il figlio di
Zahra e Shajia, è stato arrestato questa settimana dalle forze di sicurezza palestinesi, appaltatori
ed esecutori della sicurezza di Israele, dopo un post su Facebook di un giovane
della città di Tamun che stava
progettando di vendicare l’uccisione di sua sorella. Aqeed non è ancora stato
rilasciato.
Raheeq è stata uccisa al posto di controllo Tapuah dalla
polizia di frontiera dopo che presubilmente aveva tirato fuori un coltello e
si era avvicinata a loro. La polizia di frontiera ha detto ad Haaretz
che l’incidente è sotto inchiesta, aggiungendo che, “quando la terrorista è stata neutralizzata, i
soldati hanno smesso di sparare.”
Un’indagine interna da parte dell’IDF, pubblicata la scorsa
settimana, ha rilevato che in quattro
casi, nelle ultime settimane, i i palestinesi sono stati uccisi o feriti
dall'Idf o dalla polizia in modo
improprio. L’inchiesta ha rivelato che in tutti e quattro i casi si sarebbe
potuto anche evitare di sparare. Uno dei
casi trattati nella relazione è stato quello dell’uccisione di Raheeq
Birawi.,uccisa con più di 30 proiettili
dopo aver tirato fuori il coltello .
La madre ha visto la
foto della figlia uccisa con un coltello nella mano destra . Sottolinea che lei
era mancina e trova difficile credere
che la figlia avesse tirato fuori un
coltello, e ancor meno che volesse uccidersi o danneggiare qualche soldato.
“Forse le hanno sparato perché era la più bella nel taxi,”Israele ha mantenuto
il possesso del corpo di sua figlia, in conformità con la pratica spregevole di
impedire i funerali che potrebbero degenerare in disordini. Zahra vuole che la
figlia abbia una degna sepoltura, ma non ha idea di come fare per chiedere il
corpo.
E’ possibile che Raheeq abbia voluto morire per non tornare
dal marito in America? “No,” Zahra afferma. “Amava la vita. Ed era una
credente. Anche in America ha continuato a pregare Dio. E' impossibile
che volesse morire “.Appena due settimane prima di essere uccisa, Raheeq aveva
festeggiato il suo 19° compleanno.Il marito non è venuto ad Asira e lui e la
sua famiglia non hanno nemmeno parlato con la madre per telefono E ancora una volta lei borbotta: “Dio,
punisci i malvagi, punisci i malvagi.”
Gideon Levy
Haaretz Correspondent
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VERSIONE IN INGLESE
Trapped in
an abusive marriage in U.S., Palestinian commits "suicide by soldier"
haaretz.com|Di
Gideon Levy
Did she
want to die? Was she tired of her short married life, which began with a
kitschy honeymoon and continued as a hell in San Francisco? Was she afraid to
return to her husband in America, who, according to her mother, used drugs and
beat her? Was Raheeq Birawi – a pretty 19-year-old from the town of Asira
al-Shamaliya, near Nablus, a young woman from a poor family whose parents are
separated – tired of her new life in the American golden cage? Is that why she
took a shared taxi to the Tapuah checkpoint in order to end her life? And,
above all, is it even important whether or not she wanted to die?
When
someone tries to commit suicide, everywhere else in the world, including
security forces, try to save him or her. In the occupied territories, however,
the situation is reversed: There’s nobody like the Israel Defense Forces or the
Border Police when it comes to helping Palestinians – mainly, Palestinian women
– carry out their death plans. In the case of Raheeq Birawi, they were
especially happy to do so: Border policemen fired over 30 bullets at her, one
after another, to make sure 30 times over that her death wish would come true.
Her story is not unique: A large percentage of the knife-wielding women killed
by Israel in recent months at checkpoints and bus stops in the territories had
a similar background and motives.
Asira
al-Shamaliya is a hilly town. The home of the bereaved mother is a rented,
one-story stone structure, with damp walls and rooms that are empty of almost
any furniture. Here single mother Zahra Birawi lives in poverty, and here
Raheeq grew up together with her five sisters and a brother. Their father,
Shajia, a construction worker in Israel, separated from Zahra years ago and is
remarried. He also lives in Asira.
Several
Palestinian flags are now taped to the porch; a death notice was issued by the
town council. Unusually, no organization has taken responsibility for the fate
of this unfortunate shaheeda (martyr). Israel Air Force planes circled in the
sky and made a deafening noise while we sat on the porch with Zahra, whose
tears kept flowing. The contrast between the sophisticated jets in the air and
the miserable situation here was egregious.
Dressed in
blue, her face tired and grief-stricken, the bereaved mother is 47. When she
shows us pictures of herself at her daughter’s wedding in San Francisco, just
last March, it’s hard to recognize her. “Sadness changes one’s face,” said
B’Tselem investigator Abed el-Karim Saadi, who accompanied us.
About three
years earlier, A.G., a U.S. native whose family has its roots in East
Jerusalem, and who owns a cell phone store in San Francisco, came to Asira to
ask for Raheeq’s hand after their families agreed to the match, and they got
engaged.
Early this
year, mother and daughter traveled to California. First they spent a month in
Sacramento with the groom’s family, and then they went to San Francisco for the
marriage ceremony. The wedding album reveals a colorful picture of a different
reality: the couple in their wedding finery, the happy mother of the bride,
dressed up and elegant, dancing in a hotel banquet hall, a fairy-tale event.
Zahra says
that at first she actually liked her daughter’s groom. After the wedding, she
returned to Asira, while the young couple spent their honeymoon in Hawaii. But
the honeymoon was very short-lived. After they returned to California, Raheeq
told her mother that her husband had changed drastically. Raheeq, whose name
means “nectar,” became a battered woman. Her life became a hell, according to
her mother. Her husband took back the gold jewelry he had given her for their
wedding, selling it so he could buy drugs. Once she was even hospitalized,
because of pills her husband gave her, according to Zahra.
Raheeq
wanted to become a modern woman, and asked to learn to drive, but her husband
forbade it. He is 34 years old and only recently did Zahra learn that he was
previously married, perhaps even more than once. For his part, his mother,
Raheeq’s mother-in-law, suspected that she was flirting with his brother, her
brother-in-law. Raheeq was alone in her distress.
On August
21, about five months after the wedding, Raheeq returned to Asira, for her
brother’s nuptials. Her mother says that she noticed black and blue marks on
her face. When she questioned her, the situation became clear: Raheeq was
afraid to return to her husband. Zahra phoned his family in the United States,
but they claimed that Raheeq was inventing everything and that her husband
hadn’t harmed her.
Zahra
didn’t want to interfere, and didn’t try to tell her daughter what to do. “I
gave my children freedom, without forcing my opinion on them,” she says when
asked whether she tried to pressure Raheeq not to return to America. Raheeq
decided in the end to return to her husband, with whom she had spoken only a few
times during her trip home. In one conversation, he promised her that he would
allow her to learn to drive, if only she would come back.
Raheeq was
scheduled to return to San Francisco on Sunday, October 23, together with her
mother, who planned to stay with her there for about a month. The husband’s
family in America sent the tickets.
On October
19, the last day of her life, Raheeq woke up in her father’s home. She went out
to the drugstore, and returned to her mother’s house and told her she was going
to Ramallah to do some shopping for the trip and to get some documents. Raheeq
traveled by shared taxi from Asira to Nablus, where she boarded another minibus
to Ramallah.
The
mother’s face is full of tears. She sighs: “May God punish the wicked.”
At about 11
A.M., Zahra’s neighbor, who works in Palestinian intelligence, called and asked
whether the Palestinian police had come to her house. When Zahra, perplexed,
wondered why he was asking that, what the problem was – the neighbor quickly
hung up. Minutes later Shajia, her estranged husband, called from his place of
work in Taibeh and said his wife had told him that she heard that something bad
had happened to Raheeq.
He said
that his new wife had tried to call Raheeq, and an unfamiliar voice answered
her. Shajia asked Zahra to contact the Israeli-Palestinian coordination
headquarters to find out what happened to their daughter, but Zahra, helpless,
didn’t know where to call.
Once again
she mutters to herself and weeps silently. She goes on to say that meanwhile,
her brother called and told her that there were rumors that Raheeq was killed
at the Tapuah Junction. She says now that she started shouting and crying.
People began to gather around the house and then she understood that the rumors
were true. Since then Zahra hasn’t had a moment’s peace.
IDF
soldiers arrived the next day at the home of Raheeq’s father, confiscated his
Israeli work permit and warned the family that if there were demonstrations,
they would demolish their house. Aqeed, Raheeq’s bereaved brother, the son of
Zahra and Shajia, was detained this week by the Palestinian security forces,
Israel’s security contractors and executors, after a post on Facebook by a
young man from the town of Tamun mentioned that he was planning to avenge his
sister’s killing. Aqeed has not yet been released.
Raheeq was
shot at the Tapuah checkpoint by Border Police after she allegedly pulled out a
knife and approached them. A video clip showed her lying on the road, with the
echoes of repeated shots being fired in the background. The Border Police told
Haaretz that the incident is under investigation, but nevertheless stated that,
“from the moment that the terrorist was neutralized, the fighters stopped
firing.”
An internal
investigation by the IDF that was published last week noted four cases in
recent weeks in which Palestinians were killed or wounded, during which
soldiers and Border Police acted improperly. The investigation revealed that in
all four instances, those forces could even have refrained from shooting altogether.
One of the cases covered in the report was that of the killing of Raheeq
Birawi. The report notes that the border policemen fired over 30 bullets at her
after she pulled out the knife and walked toward them.
Zahra has
not seen the video posted online in which the policemen are seen emptying their
magazines on her daughter, even as Raheeq lies in the road. Zahra only saw the
picture of her daughter’s body and her blurred face. The mother adds that in
the picture there’s a knife in her daughter’s right hand, but notes that she
was left-handed. Zahra finds it difficult to believe that her daughter pulled
out a knife, and even less that she wanted either to kill herself or harm any
soldiers. “Maybe they fired at her because she was the prettiest one in the
taxi,” she says.
Israel has
retained possession of her daughter’s body, in accordance with the despicable
practice of preventing funerals that could escalate into riots. Zahra wants her
daughter to have a proper burial, but has no idea how to go about asking for
the body.
Is it
possible that Raheeq wanted to die in order not to return to her husband in
America? “No,” Zahra asserts. “She loved life. And she was a believer, even in
America. She continued to pray to God. There’s no chance that she wanted to
die.”
Just two
weeks before she was killed, Raheeq celebrated her 19th birthday.
Her husband
didn’t come to Asira after his wife was killed, and he and his family didn’t
even speak to the bereaved mother by phone when she was mourning. And once
again she mumbles: “God, punish the wicked, punish the wicked.”
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