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| Middle East |
| Goof is trapped with Arafat... |
| 2002-03-30 |
War and politix make strange bedfellows, don't they? Adam Shapiro, a 30-year-old volunteer medic originally from New York City, entered Arafat's headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Friday to evacuate Arafat guards wounded in exchanges of fire in the Israeli assault, said his Palestinian fiancee, Huweida Arraf. Just walked in off the street and offered to help, and they said "Hell, yeah!" As the famous Cuban philospher R.Ricardo once said, "I dun bliv it." When the Israeli troops and tanks took over the compound - an area about the size of a city block - and sealed it off, Shapiro was trapped. Arraf said Israeli troops prevented Shapiro and another foreigner, Caoimhe Butterly of Dublin, Ireland, from leaving the compound. Something about lying in the bed he made, no doubt... The Israeli military said it was unaware of foreigners in Arafat's headquarters, but said no one was permitted to enter or leave the compound, except in humanitarian cases. "Come and talk to me when you have something important to discuss." One Palestinian was killed and more than two dozen wounded in Arafat's headquarters during the Israeli assault, launched as part of a large-scale military operation after a string of Palestininian attacks. Four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers were killed elsewhere in Ramallah Friday. Surprised the casualties were so low. 'Course, most of them probably got out of Dodge about the time the pieces of the hotel boomer were starting to hit the floor. Shapiro, a member of an international solidarity movement with the Palestinians, spent the night sitting on the floor in a room in Arafat's three-story office building. "He's physically fine, although worried and a little scared," Arraf told The Associated Press by telephone from Ramallah. I'm not Jewish, but I have to ask: What the hell's somebody named Shapiro doing expressing his solidarity with the Palestinians? Explains loads about how he happened to be there, why the thugs let him in, and how his mind works. Shapiro communicated with his fiance by cell phone, sometimes by text message. He told her that two of the wounded Palestinians in the compound need oxygen, including one who had suffered a mild heart attack. Maybe they should come out with their hands up. Maybe Shapiro should, too. Arraf last spoke to Shapiro at 9 a.m. Saturday, but since then has lost all contact with him. Earlier, Shapiro had called her to tell her about the meal he had shared with Arafat."I don't think there's a lot of food. He was like 'I just had breakfast with the president,'" Arraf said. Gosh. Something to tell your children about before they explode. Shapiro, a native of Brooklyn, has been living in the West Bank town of Ramallah for three years, said Arraf. And his neighbors just live him, we're sure. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |