Final report
A heartbreaking extract from the:
Final Report
Independent fact-finding mission into violations of human
rights in the
Gaza Strip during the period 27.12.2008 – 18.01.2009
For full report,click ‘links’ tab on mainmenu
"In the name of Allah, the merciful, the compassionate
Friday, as we all know, is God’s day for the Moslems. We began, my sons and I, Qassab, graduate of the faculty of engineering, department of construction engineering, at the Islamic university, and Ibrahim, first year at the faculty of accountancy, at “AlAzhar” university. It was a beautiful warm day. I awoke in the morning as usual, did the things that I needed to do, and then the boys awoke, and I asked them to do some chores for me. I decided that, with the help of allah, we would set out for the city together, before the end of the humanitarian ceasefire/truce that the Israeli army declared while it was entering the AlFukhary neighborhood, which is on the border of my private farming land. And so it was, after the Friday noon prayers, we took the things we needed for home and set out in the car, and after 200 meters, we passed a route that was blocked because of tanks and heavy mechanical equipment which had been used to surround the area the night before, and we managed despite the digging works to pass another 700 meters, and then we found a route that was being used by heavy mechanical equipment, it was a harder way than the one before, but because our car was a land rover jeep I managed to go through it, and I said to my children, “I am going to cross this road-hump, which looks like a sand roadblock” and I continued and said “I am not driving a Subaru” and I called for the help of allah.
All the way I took care to go according to the instructions, as they were written for me. From the AlUmur Mosque “AlReda” route we passed through the “Electricity” square [‘Muhawal alQahraba’]. I proceeded straight on, intending to pass through a side alley that I know well. I was surprised to discover an empty area, and when I looked to my left, I was surprised to see two soil roadblocks, with a tank in one of them. This was an unexpected surprise. I raised my hand as in greeting, no one stopped me. I continued driving for another 50 meters and then bursts of gunfire were shot at me.
