Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Pray For Fadi



exerpt;
"Several minutes after the explosion, the guards opened the second entrance and asked everyone to exit. I was afraid of being lynched. I'm an Arab and there had been a terrorist attack. I knew that as soon as someone recognized me as an Arab, I would be attacked and killed."

Worried sick about his friend, he decided to bolt. He did not hear from her the following day, and had no one to call. He did not know her parents and was afraid to call the police or hospitals. On Sunday, 36 hours after the attack, "I saw her picture on the front page."

He returned to working at the store, sleeping in the abandoned building and roaming the streets. "I went into a deep depression," he says. "I ate out of the garbage like a junkie. I was very angry about this bombing. Instead of fighting soldiers, they go and kill kids. I was angry with all the Arabs. I also stopped talking with the illegals. I was ashamed of being born an Arab. I wanted to be a Jew."

He got tattooed shortly after the bombing. "I had it done in a shop in Rishon Letzion. I asked the man to put the Israeli flag with her name on my chest, and 'Kahane lives' on my back. He said he wouldn't do it. I offered to pay double, but he said money was not the issue. He asked me if I was sure I wanted to have it done, and if I realized what I was doing to myself. I said I did, that I hated Arabs and wanted these tattoos on my body. So he agreed."

Hafash says he does not regret it.....
Hafash showed the court his tattoos, and was sent for observation in Abarbanel. Dr. Natan Caspi, the psychiatrist who examined Hafash, told the court that Hafash is not fit to stand trial. This diagnosis resulted in his case being dismissed, but created a more serious problem for Hafash: According to regulations, a patient who cannot stand trial must be transferred to a hospital in the area of his residence - in Hafash's case, the psychiatric hospital in Bethlehem. But Caspi's conscience would not let him allow this to happen: He is convinced that when the tattoos are discovered, Hafash's life will be in danger.

Hafash says he would rather "commit suicide in Abarbanel than get murdered in Bethlehem," and has even tried to realize this threat. Caspi, in council with the head of his department, Dr. Clara Shield, turned to the Health Ministry's Tel Aviv district psychiatrist, Dr. Uzi Shay. Shay was not impressed by the danger facing Hafash in Bethlehem, and insisted he be transferred.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/846730.html

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