Holocaust survivor finds West Bank barrier ’deeply, deeply troubling’

By CATHERINE MATACIC The Kansas City Star

Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein is used to being called anti-Semitic.
She is also used to being called a "self-hating Jew."

Those are some of the responses the 79-year-old from St. Louis gets for
traveling to Israel to protest government policies toward Palestinians,
she said Sunday in a speech at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

"Jews as a whole know what suffering is … and now it seems that the
Holocaust victims and their children or grandchildren are becoming the
victimizers," Epstein said. "That is deeply, deeply troubling."

In June, Epstein joined a group called Women of a Certain Age to visit
towns affected by the security barrier Israel is building in the West Bank.

Proponents say the concrete-and-barbed wire barrier, which will
eventually stretch for 425 miles, is key to preventing terrorist attacks
in Israel. Those who oppose what they call "the wall" say its location
will be devastating for Palestinians living in its path, isolating them
in islands surrounded by security checkpoints on all sides.

Epstein joined Palestinians and Israelis to protest the barrier in the
West Bank city of A’Ram, where, she said, a hill of rubble dominates one
end of town - the houses and buildings demolished to make way for the
barrier, which will run down the center of the main street.

As Epstein and other protesters marched toward the hill, they saw
soldiers gathering on top. The protesters came closer and the soldiers
covered their faces with shields.

Suddenly, tear gas rained down and rubber bullets struck many in the
fleeing crowd, Epstein said.

An ambulance was called to evacuate those who had severe injuries.

Epstein said the barrier reminds her of what she experienced in Nazi
Germany, where she lost both parents after escaping to England in 1939.

"Somebody helped me get out of Germany," she said. "If nobody had done
anything for me, I might have met the same fate as my parents. I can’t
be a bystander."

To reach Catherine Matacic, call (816) 234-7814 or send e-mail to
cmatacic@kcstar.com.