On Thursday, February 16th 2012, the state of Palestine experienced a national tragedy. Yet even in this politically turbulent landscape where the people are accustomed to the violence and tragic events that accompany 64 years of war, nothing could have prepared them for what happened on that day. After having just emerged from 29 days of continuous rain in January, the first time that it has rained to this magnitude in nearly 47 years, Thursday morning began with heavy fog cover and torrential downpour that limited visibility to only 3-4 meters. Driving to work, I could have sworn that someone was literally pouring water on my windshield. Yes, it was that bad.
Palestinian and Israeli rescue teams at the site of the tragedy.
At 8:30am, two buses carrying 150 kindergarten children from Shu’fat Refugee Camp in East Jerusalem, under Israeli control, had just left the Hizma checkpoint and were travelling towards Ramallah for a class trip to a public park, in torrential downpour. Wait it gets better; near the highway intersection between Jaba’ and Qalandia refugee camp, one of the buses collided with a semi-truck that was traveling from the other direction and swerved into on-coming traffic. At impact the bus, filled beyond legal capacity with roughly 60-75 children, overturned and burst into flames. It was first reported that 42 children were injured and 10 children, trapped in the flaming wreckage, burned to death. The Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, has since stated that 5 children and 1 teacher perished. It took 40 minutes for Israeli government and Palestinian authority ambulances, several firefighter companies and rescue helicopters to arrive at the scene. Most of the dead were charred beyond recognition.
As soon as the accident happened, Facebook, Twitter and Youtube were fed raw video footage, photos and brief news-bytes from hundreds of civilians with camera phones whom had converged at the accident to watch and just as quickly as the information was passed out through the internet, Israelis and Palestinians began pointing fingers at each other and politicizing in this tragedy. Hamas released a statement that referred to a “Zionist Truck” that intentionally targeted Palestinian children. Meanwhile Israeli extremists posted racist comments on Prime Minister Netanyahu’s official Facebook page and on Twitter praising the bus accident as revenge for the Fogel Family’s murders at the Itamar settlement in March 2011, while others commented that it wasn’t a big deal because “it was just Palestinians that died.”
Still others further politicized the event by blaming either Israel or Palestine or both for the fact that Arabs and Israelis are segregated and forced to use separate roads under an on-going “apartheid” and many Arabs quickly jumped into frenzy at the fact that “all Israelis” were celebrating the deaths of innocent children, when they were clearly not doing so. In fact Prime Minister Netanyahu expressed his sorrow for what had happened and offered to help the families. PA President Abbas did the same, and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad instituted 3 days of mourning and instructed the PA Ministry of Education to reform policies for field trips effective immediately across all Palestinians schools, public and private.
I hope that if anything would come out of this tragedy, it would be the reminder that we’re all on this earth for a short period of time, which I think shouldn’t be wasted on pointing fingers and engaging in conflict.
Now, there is a reason that an “accident” is called an “accident.” Call me crazy, but perhaps it has something to do with the fact that it was an unintentional act. We can blame the truck driver for being a wreckless driver, we can blame the school officials for scheduling a trip to an outdoor park in torrential downpour, and we can even blame them for filling a bus with 60-70 children when it was only intended to seat about 30. If we want to, we can even blame the treacherous roads, the lack of a real transportation authority and enforced regulations in the West Bank, we can blame the occupation, the segregated roads, the so-called “apartheid state,” the settlers, the PA ministries, the Israeli government. Heck, we can even blame Mercedes Benz for producing an inferior passenger bus if we dug deep enough. However, what’s the point? There are five little kids sleeping in freezers in one of 5 area hospitals and parents who have no idea if the black crispy corpse their looking at is their child or the child of the other parents.
Sometimes at the end of the day, an accident is just an accident. It has nothing to do with war, or occupation or on-going conflict. Sometimes it happened just because it happened and most Israelis and Palestinians can agree on that point. While there was finger pointing on both sides, the overwhelming majority of Israelis and Palestinians, Jews, Muslims and Christians alike, were horrified about what happened and have been expressing their grief and condolences to the families of all those involved. No child deserves to die in such a horrendous way, or any way for that matter.
It should also be recognized that Israeli paramedics and the local IDF battalions were at the scene helping their Palestinian counterparts to sort out this mess and for that, this Palestinian thanks them for their assistance.
I hope that if anything would come out of this tragedy, it would be the reminder that we’re all on this earth for a short period of time, which I think shouldn’t be wasted on pointing fingers and engaging in conflict.
Filed Under "Bus Accident", "East Jerusalem", children, Facebook, Hizma, Jaba', jerusalem, Kindergarten, Netanyahu, Qalandia, racism, ramallah, Tragedy
Thank you for sharing this story – such a powerful message "I hope that if anything would come out of this tragedy, it would be the reminder that we’re all on this earth for a short period of time, which I think shouldn’t be wasted on pointing fingers and engaging in conflict."
Posted by halasaleh1 | February 29, 2012, 11:31 amhi. so sad. nabil, please change date to "2012". you have 2011, which is confusing.
Posted by ralphiesmom | February 29, 2012, 9:47 pmThanks for the feedback – noted.
Truly tragic indeed. Palestinian/Israeli roads are known to be among the most treacherous in the ME. It's now 8:30am in Ramallah, again torrential downpour…actually an "ice storm." I'm listening to the radio and they just said that there were 4 accidents in the West Bank already. Hope no one was hurt.
Posted by @NabilRightHere | March 1, 2012, 2:33 amYeah, a very massive story. Thanks much.
Posted by Muslim Girls Names | May 2, 2012, 11:14 amI think We do not blame on the rain
Posted by Visit website | July 17, 2012, 6:42 amThis is a great posting. It was very informative. I look forward in reading more of your work. Also, I made sure to bookmark your website so I can come back later. I enjoyed every moment of reading it.
Posted by iUniverse | July 18, 2012, 6:09 amI must appreciate you for the information you have shared.I find this information very useful and it has considerably saved my time.thanks:)
Posted by Four Hour Body Diet | July 24, 2012, 9:03 amlet me, this is getting me informed topmost! good write up!
Posted by true hair remedies | August 22, 2012, 10:21 amI am happy to find this post very useful for me, as it contains lot of information useful for my research.
Posted by hairloss in women | November 7, 2012, 4:24 amPA President Abbas did the same, and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad instituted 3 days of mourning and instructed the PA Ministry of Education to reform policies for field trips effective immediately across all Palestinians schools, public and private.
Posted by cellphonespysoftware | November 13, 2012, 12:04 amThis is a great posting. It was very informative. I look forward in reading more of your work. Also, I made sure to bookmark your website so I can come back later. I enjoyed every moment of reading it.
Posted by cellphonespyware | November 13, 2012, 5:09 amWith lots of wonderful options of North Experience Jakcets Outlet, you will be ready for all seasons and all sorts of climate conditions.Obtainable in only about every single shade from pink to orange, sky blue to lime green, this slim coat undoubtedly delivers a bit a thing for everyone.Hat, the particular size can influence the actual degree involving in shape.Karen Millen Dresses Neck marriage ceremony this year set off the rate of growth in retro type with the appeal of asymmetric solitary glenohumeral joint wedding ceremony attracts everybody's consideration, once again going back to fashion trends.Within the cold of winter,it truly is essential to have the protection from North Encounter Jackets.They even touched the actual He Damon the particular Hollywood celebrity.
pull discount ralph lauren
Posted by josef | December 3, 2012, 6:59 amStill others further politicized the event by blaming either Israel or Palestine or both for the fact that Arabs and Israelis are segregated and forced to use separate roads under an on-going “apartheid” and many Arabs quickly jumped into frenzy at the fact that “all Israelis” were celebrating the deaths of innocent children, when they were clearly not doing so. In fact Prime Minister Netanyahu expressed his sorrow for what had happened and offered to help the families. PA President Abbas did the same, and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad instituted 3 days of mourning and instructed the PA Ministry of Education to reform policies for field trips effective immediately across all Palestinians schools, public and private. タイヤ交換三重
Posted by blogc2011 | December 6, 2012, 11:13 amThis is really good effort on this subject the article is written so well.I would like to thank you for the efforts you have made in writing this article
Posted by Birmingham Parking | January 16, 2013, 11:54 amMany companies have begun to exploit the economic potential of this media form stronger. Currently established with the Socio computer science and a scientific discipline that is particularly concerned with issues relating to social media.
Posted by Biomass Heating | February 6, 2013, 1:23 pmThe violence resulting from the conflict has prompted international actions, as well as other security and human rights concerns, both within and between both sides, and internationally. In addition, the violence has curbed expansion of tourism in the region, which is full of historic and religious sites that are of interest to many people around the world.
Posted by Junk Removal Glasgow | February 7, 2013, 10:18 amWithin Israeli and Palestinian society, the conflict generates a wide variety of views and opinions. This highlights the deep divisions which exist not only between Israelis and Palestinians, but also within each society.
Posted by Glasgow Architects | February 7, 2013, 10:29 amLater this month, or in early November, we publish our biennial report on the UK car body repair market. Published since 1994, this report has seldom made happy reading for those in the industry and this year’s is no exception.
Posted by New honda for sale | February 8, 2013, 12:32 pmRain water harvesting is something people have become more aware about, over the years as consciousness about the environment has grown. It can help to save money while conserving natural resources; both of which are provided through the humble rainwater tank.
Posted by nutrisystem discount | February 17, 2013, 7:19 pmIt was alternately rainy and drizzling, and constantly overcast. But it was summer at the beach which is always fun so here is how we spent the weekend. Perhaps you can get some ideas from out wonderful rainy beach weekend.
Posted by bague createur | February 18, 2013, 8:53 pmRain means you get wet, and you get wet at the beach when you go swimming anyways. As you might guess, we went swimming. It was awesome despite the weather, and we got no wetter than we would have other wise…
Posted by presse en ligne | February 18, 2013, 8:54 pmI have the same opinion! It is a nice article for me!
Posted by yachts | February 25, 2013, 9:19 amHat, the particular size can influence the actual degree involving in shape.Karen Millen Dresses Neck marriage ceremony this year set off the rate of growth in retro type with the appeal of asymmetric solitary glenohumeral joint wedding ceremony attracts everybody's consideration, once again going back to fashion trends.Within the cold of winter,it truly is essential to have the protection from North Encounter Jackets.They even touched the actual He Damon the particular Hollywood celebrity.
Posted by e-papierosy | March 6, 2013, 9:59 amIn fact Prime Minister Netanyahu expressed his sorrow for what had happened and offered to help the families. PA President Abbas did the same, and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad instituted 3 days of mourning and instructed the PA Ministry of Education to reform policies for field trips effective immediately across all Palestinians schools, public and private Most popular Ford auto insurance
Posted by blogc2011 | March 8, 2013, 5:59 pmThe key piece when it comes to rainwear has got to be the old faithful wellington boots. But forget the boring designs from yesteryear as we've found some great designs from UK online clothes shops.
Posted by abercrombie france | March 8, 2013, 9:05 pmMany a car enthusiast will have found themselves debating whether or not to wax their car during days of consecutive rain. For one thing, we know that rain is capable of easily stripping off protectants we apply to our car. Whatever wax you use be it synthetic or carnauba it is not going to last long with continuous rains.
Posted by paris | March 8, 2013, 9:06 pmUnlike the Prime Minister's office in many other nations, the Palestinian Prime Minister does not serve as a member of the legislature while in office. Instead, the appointment is made independently by the ruling party.
Posted by best essay writers | March 19, 2013, 3:41 pmGet the latest Tech News, online & find Latest Gadgets Reviews, Upcoming products News & Reviews, Mobile Phones, Apps, Tablets PC and Technology News …Science and Technology
Posted by Susan | April 3, 2013, 9:51 amGet the latest Tech News, online & find Latest Gadgets Reviews, Upcoming products News & Reviews, Mobile Phones, Apps, Tablets PC and Technology News …Science and Technology
Posted by Susan | April 3, 2013, 10:02 amI wish to say that this article is awesome, great written and come with almost all important infos. I would like to see more posts like this .
Posted by gray hair | May 2, 2013, 10:09 am