Wednesday, September 01, 2010

They Have Checkpoints in New York?

You may have read several stories of Israeli soldiers causing deaths of Arab women or their babies at military checkpoints, like this one:

Birth and death at a checkpoint

Rula was in the last stages of labor. Daoud says the soldiers at the checkpoint wouldn't let them through, so his wife hid behind a concrete block and gave birth on the ground. A few minutes later, the baby girl died.

...The road was deserted, but a taxi driver who was idling there took them to the checkpoint. Daoud says there was no one waiting. This is a regular checkpoint: a yellow iron gate - always closed, but not locked, several concrete blocks, camouflage screens, a shooting post, a post for the soldiers, barbed wire, sand and dirt. Rula and Daoud got out of the taxi, which quickly turned back toward the village, and stood there alone before the soldiers.

"Let us through," Daoud said. Here is his account of what happened: "I said to the soldiers, 'My wife is about to give birth. I'm waiting here for an ambulance that is supposed to come from Nablus. Let me through.' At first, they didn't answer. Then one soldier said: 'Sit here on the ground, you and your wife.' We sat down next to the barbed wire fence, on the ground. There were seven or eight soldiers and two jeeps and they had food and tea or coffee. They stood and talked and they all ignored us, except for one soldier.

...About 15 meters separated the soldier from the woman, and Daoud was in the middle, between the two of them. "He had his weapon out, threatening me: 'Bring her here.' And I'm trying to convince him that she is giving birth. She was afraid of the soldier with the rifle. "I gave birth, I gave birth,' she screamed. I said to her: 'Now they'll shoot me.' She stopped screaming. She had already given birth, behind the rock. She was quiet for a few minutes and then she started to scream again: 'The girl died, the girl died!

"The soldier came over and saw her from up close. He looked and didn't say anything. I said to him: 'Now can I bring a car from the other side?' The ambulance hadn't arrived, but there were a lot of cars and any car would have taken her to the hospital. He mocked me: 'Perhaps you'd like me to bring you a car?' I got away from him and started to run toward the cars, on the other side of the checkpoint. In all my fear for my wife and pain over the baby, I was hoping that maybe they could save the baby if we got her to the hospital.

"I ran toward the cars, I went about 300 meters. I didn't even look back. And then I brought a car 20 meters away from the yellow gate of the checkpoint. I felt uncomfortable for them to see her in this state, even the taxi driver. I burst out crying and she cried, too. The umbilical cord was on the ground, between the baby and the mother. The girl was in her arms, all covered with blood. Even Rula's scarf was covered with blood. Everything was all bloody. And the umbilical cord was full of sand and dirt.


Is it the "occupation" that provides the 'excuse' for these soldiers to act this way?

Well, see what happened in New York:-


An 11-year-old Brooklyn girl died after her mom was detained by a man in uniform as she tried desperately to rush her to a hospital. "She was my angel. I cannot believe my baby is gone," the devastated mother, Carmen Ojeda, said of daughter Briana. The NYPD is trying to determine whether the man was a cop, auxiliary officer, traffic agent or private security guard.

The tragedy happened after Briana suffered an asthma attack at 5:15 p.m. Friday at a playground in Carroll Gardens. "We have all the equipment in the car but nothing was working. Her eyes started to get really, really big," Briana's heartbroken dad, Michael, told The Post.

Carmen Ojeda called 911 but couldn't wait for the ambulance and took off in her car.
To break free from heavy traffic, Ojeda turned the wrong way on a one-way street, and hit a parked car.

She then flagged down a marked car and the uniformed man got out and screamed, "What the f - - k are you doing going down the wrong way?" Michael said.

"My wife screamed at him, 'Help! My daughter needs CPR.' "

The man "smirked" and responded, "I don't do CPR," Michael said.

The mom said she pleaded to be allowed to continue to Long Island College Hospital while the girl was "still breathing," but he tried to box her in.

Good Samaritan Scott Voloshin, who performed CPR on Briana on the way to the hospital, told WABC/Channel 7 he's certain the man was an NYPD officer.

Whoever stopped Ojeda eventually followed her to the hospital. After a doctor broke the news that Briana had died, the "officer" ripped up a ticket he had been trying to give Carmen, Michael said.


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