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Apostate Jew dines with Arafat in besieged compound
The Jerusalem Post ^ | Monday April 1, 2002 | Melissa Radler

Posted on 04/01/2002 12:21:56 AM PST by nickcarraway

Apostate Jew dines with Arafat in besieged compound

By Melissa Radler

NEW YORK (April 1) - The family of Brooklyn-born Adam Shapiro rejoiced on Saturday night upon hearing that the volunteer medic was released after treating Palestinian wounded and dining with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat in his besieged Ramallah headquarters.

Shapiro, 30, a co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement, which organizes non-violent protest against what it calls Israeli occupation, entered Arafat's headquarters on Friday evening to treat and evacuate the wounded. He also negotiated the entry of a Red Cross ambulance and a doctor.

Shapiro told the New York Post he feared for his life until the IDF permitted him to leave the compound on Sunday morning, after he ate a sparse breakfast of bread and cheese with Arafat.

"We expected at any moment a shell would come through the wall. There was nothing we could do about it," he told the New York Post.

He described a scene of carnage in the compound, including blood-splattered walls and rows of dead Palestinian guards in the hallways. He said 60 guards and 40 staffers were in the building with Arafat, and their only source of light during the nights of bombardment was from cigarette lighters.

His parents, Stuart and Doreen, and his brother Noah, a lawyer, had gathered in their Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, apartment on Saturday night when they received a call from Shapiro telling them he had safely left the compound.

Noah Shapiro told the New York Times his brother's belief in the teachings of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. motivated him to help the Palestinians.

"He's passionate about it, and wants to show there is a way to protest without suicide bombings," he said.

Adam Shapiro, who told various news outlets he does not consider himself a Jew, previously worked for Seeds of Peace, a summer camp that brings Jewish and Arab teenagers to Maine every year to learn about coexistence. He also taught English in Yemen and led tour groups through the Muslim country.

For the past three years, Shapiro has lived in Ramallah. He said he plans to wed Huwaeida Arraf, an American-born Palestinian, in May.


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: arafat; israel; middleeast; plo; terrorism

1 posted on 04/01/2002 12:21:57 AM PST by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway
Some people have grown up in a world without consequences for personal behavior. Maybe it's to do with coming from a rich family in a rich city in a very rich country and being poor in values. Making Peru, Chiapas, Ramallah or some other Third World the canvas in which to "find one's self" is the 21st century's equivalent of the English toff's Grand Tour.

Fitzgerald must have had them in mind when he wrote:

"They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made."

2 posted on 04/01/2002 12:41:58 AM PST by wretchard
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To: wretchard
That always reminded me of the Clintons. (And being related to Daisy, and all, I should know)
3 posted on 04/01/2002 12:54:08 AM PST by nickcarraway
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Comment #4 Removed by Moderator

To: nickcarraway
ADAM'S ADVENTURE HAS BEEN MEMORIALIZED IN SONG
5 posted on 04/02/2002 4:21:17 PM PST by doug from upland
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