The Palestinian doctor who moved Israelis with the story of how his three daughters were killed in an airstrike on Gaza has returned home. He went to the coastal strip to inspect his destroyed home where he was reunited with his other surviving children.
Dr. Ezzeldeen Abu al-Aish brought accounts of the war's tragedy to Israeli living rooms during the three weeks of the Israeli offensive. The televised reports, for many viewers made him the voice of Palestinian suffering.
The widowed doctor had eight children before the tragedy. He lost three of his daughters and a niece when an Israeli shell hit their home in the northern Gaza town of Jabaliya.
"Look at these girls! Who is going to hate these girls? Who is going to hate them? Why they killed them? Why, why they killed them? Why? Why?"
The 55-year-old doctor was back in Gaza to pick up his three unharmed children. They stayed in Gaza, while he accompanied another two wounded daughters to an Israeli hospital after the attack. Broken hearted he grieved at the cemetery where his three daughters are buried. He wept and prayed with his relatives, full of grief and despair. He said he wanted to meet Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak to hear firsthand why his children were killed and hurt.
Ezzeldeen Abu Al-aish, Palestinian doctor, said, "They were playing with time to have ceasefire. Time was critical, time was critical. It was supposed to be Friday afternoon to have ceasefire."
Dr. Abu al-Aish works at Gaza City's Shifa Hospital. He is a known peace activist who has been involved in promoting joint Israeli-Palestinian projects. He is also an academic who has studied the affects of war on Gaza and Israeli children.
The Israeli military is investigating the case in which his family residence was bombed. But no answer can reverse what's happened and bring back the lives of those that have been tragically lost.
(CCTV January 23, 2009)
