I was almost at the end of this book when the news on Shireen Abu Akleh's assassination was reported. It felt surreal. This book was written almost 40 years ago and the Palestinians are still fighting for their human rights and dignity. A lot of things had changed in the international arena, but the treatment by Israel towards the Palestinians sustained. The elaboration on Sabra-Shatila massacre was hard to read (as it was so inhumane), yet I'm glad the author penned this down for her readers.

Membaca buku ini saat Israel dengan brutal dan tanpa moral menggenosida rakyat Palestina di Jalur Gaza, seperti menelusuri kembali kejahatan demi kejahatan Israel yang hanya mengulang, bahkan lebih gila. Bukan hanya dari 1982 yang merupakan setting waktu buku ini (Pembantaian Sabra Shatila, September 1982), tetapi dari 1948.

- lanjut nanti -

Struggling to read this as I have a lot of assignments to do but managed to finish it within 4 days

Refleksi

1982-1988; Malaya: Aku sibuk main masak-masak; aku sibuk main polis sentri dengan kawan-kawan; aku belajar kenal huruf, kenal angka, muqaddam dan Al Quran; aku kumpul setem dan duit syiling sebagai hobi.

1982-1988; Sabra & Shatila, Beirut: Kanak-kanak sebaya aku tak cukup air dan makanan, kanak-kanak sebaya aku main baling-baling batu dengan tentera Israel, kanak-kanak sebaya aku kenal erti jihad, erti survival dan belajar menentang penjajahan; kanak-kanak sebaya aku kumpul serpih-serpih bom dan peluru dalam tubuh mereka.

*kesat air mata dan air hidung yang berjelejeh*

*lari ke pojok dinding lalu duduk peluk lutut erat-erat*

Oh, alangkah!

Kalau ada yang tanya, "takda ke orang Cina yang sokong perjuangan Palestin?", maka aku akan suruh dia baca buku ini, 'From Beirut To Jerusalem'. Ang Swee Chai lahir di Pulau Pinang, Malaysia. Dibesarkan di Singapura. Kemudian, berpindah, bekerja, dan menjadi warganegara British.

Beliau dibesarkan sebagai seorang penganut kuat Kristian, dan di awal hidupnya menjadi penyokong kuat negara Israel. Namun, segalanya berubah apabila beliau menyahut seruan untuk menjadi doktor sukarelawan ke Beirut, Lubnan pada tahun 1982.

Beliau ditugaskan di Gaza Hospital, berdekatan dengan kem pelarian di Sabra dan Shatila di Beirut yang dipenuhi dengan pelarian Palestin yang dihalau keluar dari tanah air sejak 1948.

Segala pandangan beliau terhadap Palestin dan Israel berubah apabila beliau menjadi saksi hidup kepada pembantaian (massacre) kem Sabra dan Shatila yang membunuh lebih 3,000 nyawa tidak berdosa orang Palestin.

Membaca buku 'From Beirut To Jerusalem' seolah-olah membaca peristiwa-peristiwa yang baru je berlaku dalam setahun dua ini. Padahal buku ini menceritakan, ditulis dan diterbitkan pada 1980-an.

Sesungguhnya segala kezaliman, keangkuhan dan kebangsatan yang Israel lakukan pada hari ini, sama sahaja seperti yang mereka lakukan sejak berdekad-dekad lamanya.

Ang Swee Chai menjadi saksi hidup, insan yang menyaksikan sendiri dengan mata kepalanya, bagaimana Israel dan proksi-proksinya menyembelih lebih 3,000 nyawa yang tidak bersalah.

Buku ini menceritakan bagaimana beliau dan rakan-rakan doktornya -- yang datang dari pelbagai negara timur dan barat -- dihalau keluar dari kem, hanya meninggalkan orang Palestin di dalam kem, mengepungnya, dan menyembelih.

Sebelum dihalau itu, Swee Chai sempat dihalang oleh salah seorang pesakitnya untuk mengambil anaknya keluar dari kem sebab dia tahu apa yang akan jadi kepadanya selepas itu. Swee Chai telahpun mendukung bayi tersebut, namun diacukan senapang oleh tentera proksi Israel ke kepalanya untuk dikembalikan kepada ibunya.

Selepas pembataian Sabra-Shatilla 1982 itu, beliau dan dua rakannya bersama-sama mengasaskan Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP). Sepanjang hidupnya selepas itu, beliau berulang alik di antara UK, Lubnan dan Palestin, menjadi aktivis yang bertungkus-lumus mendukung perjuangan rakyat Palestin yang terkurung di tanah air sendiri dan juga pelarian yang tersebar di negara sekeliling.

Itu hanyalah secebis daripada kisah yang diceritakan dalam buku ini. Memang best baca buku ini. Tulisan dan bahasa beliau juga kemas dan sedap. Very highly recommended.

A brave experience of Dr. Swee telling us about the cruelty of war. She wrote about her experience in Lebanon when she voluntereed in a medical team during the war.

Pas tadi bongkar-bongkar, mendadak nemu buku ini. Agak lupa-lupa ingat sih ceritanya. Pokoknya ada dokter yg dikirim ke medan perang dan buku ini tentang pengalaman beliau selama di sana, ngerawat anak-anak korban perang.

Buku bagus. Serius!

sobering and heartbreaking read

I have listen to story on wars, see the photo of wars.

This books give war a different meaning. a depth meaning. that war is not just a word. there is so much things about war, there is so much death,suffering and misery.

Youngsters should read this book, so when they heard of dispute, they know what it can end like, and hopefully motivated to have no war.

Sad, angry, depressed, hopeful, were few of the thousands of emotions aroused reading ‘From Beirut to Jerusalem’, a memoir by Ang Swee Chai. Through her passion, love, perseverance, bravery, and determination, the world is indeed greatly indebted for her work both as a doctor and also as a witness to the massacre suffered by Palestinian refugee in Sabra-Shatila during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982.

Her maternal grandfather was a conservative and traditionalist, he believed that an educated woman will not make a good wife. But her mother was a defiant daughter, register herself to school and went to become a teacher. Her father ran away from his grandfather in mainland China refusing to marry a girl arranged for him and went to became a journalist in Singapore. During the Japanese invasion on Malaya, both of them met in the Outram Road prison in Singapore.

After Japan was defeated, they settled as a family. When her mother was pregnant, she went back to her hometown in Pulau Pinang to give birth to her. She was raised in Ayer Itam district in Pulau Pinang with her younger brother, Lee Cyn. They eventually moved back to Singapore following their father’s work. Raised in poor family, her mother raised her with discipline, she then continues her studies in medical school. She married Francis Khoo, a lawyer and activist. Francis was accused to be a communist, he fled Singapore in 1977 avoiding arrest under Internal Security Act (ISA) and took refuge in Britain.

Her parent was areligious but they allowed their children to choose a religion of their own. She embraced Christianity during her studies in medical school.

Ang was well versed about Israel even before volunteering. The church has taught her that Israel was God’s chosen people, and the return of the Jew to Israel was a verification of biblical prophecy. There are many reasons why she supported Israel, one of it was the oppression of the Jew by the Nazis, and the Nazis were Japanese ally during world war, with the creation of Israel the Jew can defend themselves, its a realization of justice from God.

She was prejudiced towards Palestinians, the church has told her that they were terrorist, an old foe, the Philistines of the Old Testament. She was a bigoted, self-righteous fundamentalist Christian, like many Christians she rejoiced in the military triumph of Israel. But that morning in Sabra and Shatila, God destroyed that self-righteousness.

In her memoir, she recreated that journey, from a bigoted Christian fundamentalist to peace activist and friend of the Palestinian people. It started in 1982 when she watch the horror of Israeli invasion and bombardment of the people of Lebanon through British television. The killing of women and children shook her to the core, she resigned prom her hospital in Britain, pack her bag, and went to Beirut as a medical surgeon volunteer.

In Beirut, Dr. Ang Swee Chai served at Gaza Hospital, Palestinian refugees named their hospital with their town in Palestine, its a symbol of longing to their homeland from where they were expelled by the Zionist colonialism. Many of the camp residence were refugees who fled the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948. The hospital situated near the Sabra and Shatila camp. Here, she witnessed the kindness of Palestinian people, the gentleness they showed toward their guest, she also saw their courage, resolution, patience, and resistance against Israeli aggression and occupation.

Before the Sabra and Shatila massacre, Palestinian fighters from Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) agreed to evacuate from Beirut as a condition of a ceasefire. Dr. Ang noted “this is the first time that I realized that PLO fighters (who she preconceived as a terrorist) have a home and family in Lebanon, they withdraw and left their wives, children, siblings and parents”. The Palestinian gave away their weapon, the roads are cleared from any barrier. On 14 September 1882, water and electricity supply were restored. They believed in the promised of United States and western powers, that they will be let to live unharmed. They were wrong.

The next day, the camp were encircled by Israeli army and under siege, Israel coordinated Phalangist militia to enter the camp and massacred the people, children, baby, women, old people were brutally murdered. Dr. Ang realized the scale of barbarity and hope that the PLO did not withdraw on the first place, so they can defend the camp people. But it was too late. She recollected this barbaric massacre in her memoir which was first published by Grafton Books & Times Book International in 1989.

Reading her memoir really shock reader’s emotion to the core, your tears will be flowing like a river as she collected her horror, by page 70 your tear will run-out dry, there is so much to take. The story of a people exiled from their homeland in 1948 only to be massacred again by the Israelis in 1982, Dr. Ang could not help but ask, where should they go?

She recalled a story on the height of the killing, there was a woman and a child brought into the hospital, the woman was shot on her stomach and badly wounded. After operation, she needed a blood transfusion. She overheard that the nurse told the doctor that the blood pint given to her was the last, and the child need blood transfusion of the same blood type. She refused the blood pint so that the child can have it and asked for painkiller instead. She died shortly after.

She also written a story about a boy named Mahmoud, who was her patient before the massacre, he injured his wrist whilst helping his father rebuilding their house. After the massacre, when she walked down the road in the camp, Mahmoud appeared, ran toward her and hug her, he was so happy to know that she was alive. Soon, children began to appear around her, they saw her camera and asked for a photo, they wanted the world to see that although their house have been destroyed, their parent massacred, they still can smile and raised their hand with victory sign. Their courage was astonishing.

Dr. Ang Swee Chai then became a co-founder of Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), she became an activist and regularly invited to talk about the plight of the Palestinians. Her experience in Lebanon changed her life completely, she became the witness of Sabra-Shatila massacre which taught her to never relent in the face of injustice. In her letter to her husband, Francis Khoo she wrote “we are just two small persons in the history of liberation..I saw the face of death, I saw their power and ugliness, but I also saw fear deep inside their eyes, the children of the new generation will come, and they are not afraid”.

My friend told me about how she met Dr. Ang Swee Chai accidentally in toilet without knowing who she really is. At that time, she already past 50 and has been famous for her charity works and bravery in helping people especially in Palestine. Reading her book is like reading what's been kept deep in her heart. Intense and personal but you can sense the sincerity of hers via this. I am glad and proud that she is part malaysian and still consider herself one. I cried most when she described Shatilla Massacre and how she has been taken away by Zionist Army . She left her patients at hospital Gaza feeling helpless knowing they can't defence themselves. That's exactly turn out to be. The zionist shot almost everyone at the hospital. This book is depressing and uplifting in the same time, of how cruel the world can be and how there are people who cares to destroy that cruelty. Hats off to non Palestinian doctor who actually gives a damn to what happened in Palestin and actually do something about it.

I ever hear about Lebanon before but after I read this book, I really realise how cruel they destroy lebanon, and what is that for? nothing......But I admire the struggle of Swee Ang Chai, Lebanon and Palestina people, the destroyed but they rise again and again...Salute swee Ang Chai for what did you done