Palestinian horror story

The tragedy of Israel and Palestine’s intractactable conflict is writ small in this fine investigative work.

- JENNY NICHOLLS

On a rainy day in February 2012, Abed Salama received the kind of phone call every parent dreads. His 5-yearold son Milad had been excited about a kindergarten trip to a play centre on the Jerusalem-Ramallah road in the West Bank. But, Abed learned, there had been an accident. A bad one. Milad's bus had been hit by a jack-knifing truck-trailer that slid across a rough road in the rain. The old school bus overturned on to its doors, trapping the children inside. Then it caught fire.

It took 20 minutes for passersby to get the driver, teachers and children out of the burning bus. During this time, one of the rescuers was fatally injured and several children died. Not a single firefighter, soldier or police officer came to help as dying children were dragged to safety, despite frantic phone calls to emergency services and the army checkpoint with a water tank just seconds away. There was an Israeli police headquarters nearby and the burning bus was surrounded by Israeli settlements stocked with fire engines and ambulances.