Interview with Nadia Matar, Chairperson, Women in Green
In preparation for my Hebrew program on Arutz 7 that is broadcast every Thursday morning, I asked to interview Livnat Ozeri, the widow of Nati Uzeri, may the Lord avenge him HY"D, who was murdered two months ago by Arab killers, who came on Sabbath eve to their house, which is on Hill 26 in Kiryat Arba - and murdered Nati,HY"D.
The following is the chilling testimony of Livnat Uzeri, that she gave in a telephone interview with me. I wrote down the entire interview, and I hope that I did so accurately.
(For anyone who is not familiar with Hill 26: on this hill Nati,HY"D, built his modest home with his own hands, and it was there that he lived with his wife and children under difficult conditions. There is a stone house next to the house, and about 30 meters further away there were two more small structures inhabited by the young people who worked together with Nati on the hill, where they planted trees, vegetables, etc. In short: a farm in the full sense of the word, in which much work and sweat and much love of Eretz Israel were invested. After Nati's murder, Livnat, despite the extremely hash conditions, continued to live there with her five orphans, in order to continue her husband Nati's life work, and thereby show the Arab enemy that they will not succeed in breaking them. The young people also continued to live on the hill, and helped Livnat to develop the place and guard it. There are always two guards on the hill.)
The following is her testimony:
"On Sunday night, March 23, 2003, I went to sleep about 11:00 p.m. My five children had already gone to sleep earlier. About 10 minutes later, the guard knocked on the door, and told me that something didn't look right to him - a lot of [security] forces are arriving. I got up, managed to put on my shoes, when suddenly the door was broken in (without knocking). The soldiers entered the room in which the children were sleeping, and began to conduct a search. They did not speak to me, they did not show me an order, nothing. I asked what they wanted. They did not reply. They took various items from the room, like weapons (the hill's weapons), and MIRS communication devices.
"After a few minutes, most of the soldiers left, in the direction of the young people's buildings. Two soldiers remained there with me, and they photographed me all the time with a video camera, without speaking. My threeand a half year old child woke up and began to cry. I took him in my arms, and I sat next to the fireplace [the only source of heat in the house - N. M.] that was still burning a bit from the evening. The child began to cry that he was very cold. I asked the soldiers to close the doors - since both doors had been forced in and stood wide open in the extremely cold night. The soldiers did not respond.
"A policeman entered and asked, 'Where is Uriel's coat?' (Uriel is one of the young men.) I told him that the coat was in the stone house, and that I would bring it. I went out to the stone house with my child in my arms, where I was told that the reason for the raid was to find several young men, and I saw several of the young people standing outside. They were being searched. I entered the stone house to find the coat. In the stone house - still with my child in my arms - I decided to sit on the bed for a second in order to rest. The soldiers begin to report on their radio that "the woman is starting to barricade herself in the stone house!" This is how they reported, despite their seeing that I was shaking all over from the cold, with my child in my arms, and I only sat for a second in order to rest, so that I wouldn't fall.
"It is important to note that we later learned that a large portion of the soldiers were Special Patrol Unit (Yasam) policemen disguised as soldiers! The Special Patrol Unit commander of the Samaria and Judea Region, named Herns, commanded the "operation" to remove me and the children from the house.
"I immediately rose from the bed and told them: 'Don't report incorrect things. I sat for a second to rest, and I'm already going out now.' I left the stone house in order to return to my house, where the children were still sleeping. When I went past the police van, they told me that I had to enter the car immediately. I told them that I could not leave the children alone in the house. They forcibly pushed me into the police car.
"And then the soldiers went to bring the children from their beds. Despite my request to bring them myself, since these are children 11 years old and younger - and there is no need to explain the trauma that a child experiences when his father has recently been murdered, and strangers take him out of his bed to a police car in the middle of the night! - they refused.
"In the meantime, I see that they filled another police car with the young people and drove away. "I understood that they were taking us someplace else, and I therefore asked to bring diapers, a bottle, something to drink and eat, for the children. They did not agree.
"And so I find myself in a police car, in the middle of the night, almost midnight, in the freezing Hebron cold, with my five children - dressed in pajamas, without socks, without shoes, without a coat, and without a sweater. They forbade me to bring warm clothing or blankets for my children. We began to drive. I asked them where they were taking us. 'You will know later on, we have a long drive,' they replied.
"It is important to note that everything that I have described until now was accompanied by much bad talk and speech by the 'soldiers' against us. They laughed at me. When I asked questions, they shouted at me: 'Sit still,' and the like. "When I wanted to know where they were taking us: Are you taking me to my parents? They answered: 'This is what you want, OK, we'll take you to your parents,' in order to shut me up. "I asked to call my parents - all the time they told me, 'In a little while you'll call.'
"I saw that we were traveling towards Jerusalem, through an Arab village, so as not to enter Kiryat Arba! "When we reached the Gush Etzion area, that is, after driving for about 30 minutes, the smaller children, especially the five year old small girl, asked to stop to go to the bathroom. They did not let my children go to the bathroom.
"When we entered Jerusalem, I saw that we were traveling in the opposite direction from where my parents live. They inform me that it is not possible to drive to my parents. "We passed through all of Jerusalem, and I saw that we are starting to travel on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway. "I begged them that at least they allow the children to stay with my grandmother (who lives in Givat Shaul) - take me where you want, but please, have some compassion on the children, let them go to my grandmother. "They answer me with an emphatic No - it is not possible to bring them to my grandmother.
"We drove along, without their telling me to where. They only told me: 'This will take several hours more.' We came to the Rosh ha- Ayin area. In the police car, they receive a telephone call ordering them to return me to Jerusalem. "(I later learned that their destination was the city of Ariel, where the state had prepared an apartment for me! That is, they wanted to exile me to Ariel - a place far from home, and far from the family.) "It was my father, Shaul Nir, who had heard about the raid and who did not know where they had taken me, who successfully exerted pressure, thanks to many telephone calls, to have me returned to Jerusalem.
"And so, in the middle of the night, they put me out of the police car on a street in Jerusalem, with my five children, without even knowing whether my grandfather and grandmother were home. I was without my handbag, without a key, without money, without a telephone, with five children freezing in their pajamas. They put me out near my grandmother's house, and left.
"All this time I had no idea of what was happening on the hill. I did not know that on the hill bulldozers demolished my house and the rest of the hill - and obliterated every Jewish trace there. It was only the following day, when I learned of the destruction and returned there, that I saw the horrible sight: everything was destroyed. The house, the furniture, everything was gone. I had lost all the contents of the house. All the plantings were wiped off the face of the earth. "Incidentally, for three hours they would not let me go near the ruins, even though all that I wanted was to try and find a few more items - perhaps I could find the children's coats, clothes.... Some of the agricultural equipment was ruined, another portion (like parts of the tractor), were left abandoned on the hill, unguarded - so that the Arabs could steal them.
"That's it. That's all that happened."
I asked Livnat if she wanted to add anything, and this is what she replied:
"It is written in Exodus 22:21[-23]: 'You shall not ill-treat any widow or orphan. If you do mistreat them, I will heed their outcry as soon as they cry out to Me, and My anger shall blaze forth and I will put you to the sword, and your own wives shall become widows and your children orphans.'
"When I returned to the hill with my 10- and 12-year-old children, I said to the soldiers and policemen there: 'I will overcome my personal pain. But what is so painful is the hillul Hashem [desecration of the name of God] that was committed here. Seeing that the Arab houses are still standing, while Jews destroyed houses of Jews - this is an indescribable pain. God will judge those responsible for the injustice that was done here."
Aviva Nir, Livnat's grandmother, wanted to add a few words:
This horrifying incident raised associations from another time and place - from not so long ago - for Avivah Nir. In her words: "Then, they took the Jews without telling them anything, without letting them have a drop of water, without shoes, without blankets.
"This is how they took my granddaughter and the children to the police car, forcibly, in the terrible cold, without water, without clothes. And when she asked them: 'Where are you taking me?' - they answered her: 'A long way.' It is so difficult for me to believe that Jews are capable of doing this to Jews.
"I warmly opened my house to my granddaughter, the widow, and the five orphans, because they were left without any home, without clothing, without money. Livnat did not tell you, but I will: all the money that was in her purse and the contributions in dollars that people donated from abroad after the murder- everything is gone. All the money was stolen.
"Now Livnat and the children are with me. But I don't have the strength to care for all the children alone. Livnat's mother has left her work for a while and she helps me and Livnat to care for the children. In addition, we do not have the financial means to carry the burden of all the expenses entailed in the raising of five children. Food, clothing, and all the rest ... everything has fallen on us. We would be very glad if the public could help.
"That's it - I don't have the strength to talk any more. Wickedness knows no bounds. It is intolerable to think that Jews are capable of doing such things to other Jews. I only pray to God, the Deliverer of widows and orphans, to take proper care of the wicked."
-----------------------------------------------
The public is asked to help Livnat Ozeri and her five children to make a new start.
Mizrahi Bank
Givat Shaul branch
Account no. 178597,
on the name of "Yisrael and Avivah Nir" (the grandfather and grandmother of the widow Livnat)
Checks, clothing, or anything else can be sent to:
Yisrael and Avivah Nir
14 Hayyim Vital Street
Givat Shaul
Jerusalem 95470
=================
Prime Minister:
tel. 02-6705555 fax: 02-6705475 asharon@knesset.gov.il
Chief of the General Staff (Ramatkal):
tel.: 03-5696601 fax: 03-5696777
Minister of defense Shaul Mofaz,
tel 03-697436