Letter to PM Ariel Sharon by Nadia Matar Jerusalem, May 6, 2002 To our Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon- This Sunday you are going to the States. We still do not understand why you are going. It seems that you are voluntarily leading yourself and all of us here in Israel into a deadly trap. Yes, to be honest, many of us are very worried that your trip to the States will be one that will lead to yet another capitulation by Israel. I say "yet another capitulation" because all we have seen till now, over the past weeks and days, are capitulations by the Israeli side. The military victories of operation "Defensive Shield" have completely lost their initial effect: Arafat is unfortunately still around, and has been turned into a victim and a hero. Israel, which over the past year and a half has been burying hundreds of victims of Arab terror, has been portrayed by the antisemitic world as the oppressor and the devil, because it finally began to defend its citizens. Yes, the Israeli military victories of operation "Defensive Shield" have basically turned into political defeats, and Israel, the victim, is once again being asked to make more and more concessions to the Arab terrorists. With this in mind, I was thinking what message to give you on the eve of your trip. I was thinking about this question while teaching my son to ride his bike. All I kept telling my son was: "If you want to be able to ride your bike on your own, you have to lift your head and look straight ahead without loosing your balance. Be sure of yourself, don't be scared, and ride". Prime Minister Sharon, you are at the steering wheel of the country. You can make the Jewish bike fall and break or you can make it ride on its own. When in the States, lift up your head; be a proud Jew who knows that this Land belongs to the Jewish people - don't be scared, don't look down; don't lose your Jewish balance - look straight ahead . To make your task easier, I suggest you bring along a picture of little Danielle Shefi HYD. Danielle; 5 years old; was murdered by an Arab terrorist monster, last Shabbat in Adura while playing in her bedroom with her mother and her 2 little brothers. A delegation of Women in Green went this morning to pay a shiva call to the Shefi family. Over the past year and half Women in Green has been going to most shivas of victims of Arab terror to pay our condolences. The sights are always heartbreaking; but today it was simply unbearable. I am still crying when I recall what Shiri, the mother told us: It was Shabbat morning. Shiri and her 3 children were in the small children's bedroom. Little Danielle was excited to go to shul. She was all dressed up. Her mother had just made her hair. All she needed was to put on her Shabbat shoes. Shiri bends down to put the shoes on her gorgeous little girl. To her shock and horror she suddenly sees a man, dressed as an IDF soldier, running into the house towards the bedroom with a big machinegun. He stands at the door of the room and starts spraying the room with bullets. Shiri sees that Danielle is wounded. She is still alive. She's bleeding from the head. So is her second son, 4 years old. Shiri jumps up; pushes the Arab terrorist out of the room and closes the door. She orders the children to be quiet and to hide under the bed: "Quickly, go under the bed and be quiet. We have to make the Arab terrorist think we are dead." Shiri relates how, miraculously, all 3 children were completely quiet; even the one and a half year old baby. For some reason the terrorist did not come back to the room - he stayed out of the house, spraying his bullets all around. Shiri realized she had to make a phone call to alert the IDF. She crawled to her own bedroom, fearing the terrorist would see her, took her cellphone and came back to the children's bedroom. Danielle was breathing very slowly, obviously badly wounded. Her 4 year old son seemed to be in bad shape too, constantly closing his eyes. Shiri reached the forces on the phone and urged them to come as soon as possible. At the end of the phone call Shiri saw little Danielle take her last two breaths. She was dead. Her 4 year old brother had closed his eyes too. Shiri thought her son was dead too. Meanwhile outside, the men were running from shul to see what was going on. Yaakov Shefi, father of Danielle, understood something was going on in his house. He ran and saw a soldier at the entrance of his house. He asked him: "What is going on?" The soldier started spraying bullets in Yaakov's direction. Yaakov immediately understood that this was the terrorist, dressed like an IDF soldier. Miraculously he wasn't hurt. Yaakov ran to get help. After a while - Shiri says it seemed like hours - the paramedics entered her house and told her it was safe to go out. They told her that her 4 year old son was still breathing and was out of danger. The baby was fine too. Danielle - little 5 year old Danielle was dead. Her brain had completely fallen out of her head, but her face was calm and peaceful. Shiri recounts how only then she realized that 3 other neighbors had been murdered too, in their bedroom or in the street. Thousands participated in Danielle's funeral. All were crying when Yaakov, the father, standing in front of the little grave, trembling, shouted: "Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad! You were only 5 years old but you were an entire world. Today is a day of mourning not only for us, the family, but for all of Am Yisrael - because Danielle was murdered only because she was a Jew" Prime Minister Sharon - In Washington you are going to be asked to make concessions to those vicious murderers who murdered Danielle HYD. You are going to be asked to reward the murderers of Danielle, 5 years old; and of Yaakov Ishran and Koby Mandell, 14 years old and the Schyveshuurders children, Ra'aya 14 years old, Avraham Yitzhak 4 years old, Chemda 2 years old, and baby Shalhevet Pass and baby Yehuda Shoham 5 months old and all other hundreds of victims of Arab terror. Hundreds of men, women, children and babies who were murdered and thousands who were wounded by an enemy who wants to destroy our country completely, and annihilate any Jewish presence in the Middle East. When they ask you to make concessions - pull out little Danielle's picture, look at it intensely; raise your head proudly and say "Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad" The Land of Israel belongs to the People of Israel as it is written in the Torah of Israel. No - I will not make any concessions. I will not reward Danielle's murderers. Never again." Nadia Matar co-chair Women in Green http://www.womeningreen.org