War veterans plead for peace

Two disabled men from Palestine and Sudan who are taking part in a symposium on War and Disability being held in Sharjah, appealed to the international community to take tangible steps to achieve peace in their countries and other parts of the world and spare people war and disability.

The two men came to Sharjah to attend the event being organised by the Sharjah City for Humanitarian Services at the House of Poetry as part of the 13th Hope Camp which ends today.

"The international community should interfere to protect the Palestinian people and spare more deaths and disabilities among the innocent unarmed Palestinians in the Occupied Territories," said Palestinian Zakaraiyya Al Taweel, who addressed the audience from his wheelchair.

Al Taweel, a former teacher, said that he had sustained very serious injuries while taking part in the first Intifada in 1988. "It was a very hard experience, but I always feel proud for it was for a sacred national cause."

Al Taweel added that more than 3,000 Palestinians had been left disabled during the current Intifada, compared to 15,000 in the first Intifada.

He said that the Palestinian people are facing very hard times under Israeli occupation. "The Israelis have gained experience in killing innocent people or causing severe disabilities. They choose the very sensitive parts when they shoot at civilians for the purpose of disabling them if they fail to kill them."

Al Taweel said that the number of disabled people had increased greatly among Palestinians due to the use of new weapons and strategies by the Israeli troops.

"There are more than 70 disabled people in the camp where I am living. However, the Intifada will continue and we are expecting more people to die or be disabled."

Recalling his personal experience, Al Taweel said that he still remembered the moment he was shot in his spine on March 16, 1988.

"The bullet is still in my body. They shot me at 11am and left me bleeding until 7pm without providing me with any kind of treatment. They handed me over to my family after 68 days which I spent in the Intensive Care Unit at an Israeli hospital without making any noticeable improvement."

Al Taweel explained that he still needed some physical treatment and psychological rehabilitation although he had improved a lot after a seven-month rehabilitation course at the Al Hussain Medical City in Jordan.

Recounting some experiences peculiar to someone in his condition, Al Taweel revealed that after becoming disabled, he refused to use a wheelchair for more than two years.

"I was very reluctant to be in a wheelchair at the beginning, as I did not want my children and wife to look at me as a weak man in a wheelchair," he said. However, I finally surrendered to the idea and here you see me in a wheelchair."

Al Taweel admitted that one of the major difficulties that he faced ever since becoming disabled was loss of physical control.

"It was only yesterday when we went on a tour of Dubai in a group and I refused to leave the bus because I knew that I would be embarrassed as I would not be able to control myself since I still have serious nervous problems."

Al Taweel recalled another incident in Sharjah this week when a passerby tried to give him some money when he saw him in his wheelchair near the Central Market.

"He thought that I was begging, but I told him that I was actually waiting for my colleagues who were in a nearby market."

Al Taweel stressed that the international community should stop the Israelis from violating human rights and causing more suffering to the Palestinian people.

"They should hold them responsible for the disabilities they have caused thousands of innocent Palestinians."

Badruddin Ahmed Hamid, Executive Director of the Abrar Organisation for the Support of War-Disabled People in Sudan, urged the international community to stop wars in the world and work harder to settle all disputes between countries and communities peacefully.

"More than 50 per cent of the disabilities in the world are caused by war. There is no house in Sudan that has not been affected by war, as disabled people can be seen everywhere in our country," said Hamid, a former army officer who is now in a wheelchair.

Hamid explained that he was injured in the battlefield in 1994 during the 47-year-old war in the South of Sudan.

"When my soldiers came to my support, I told them to leave me alone, as I expected to recover very soon. However, it is more than seven years now and I am still in a wheelchair," he said.

Hamid, however, has been strong enough to overcome his disability, although he has failed to achieve his ambition of going back to being an officer in the Sudanese army.

He chose academics and has obtained a BA in law and now plans to continue his post-graduate studies in the same field.