Emotional Argument

For my Argumentative Writing class we were asked to construct an arguement using one of the three audience appeals. These appeals are pathos/emotions, ethos/character and logos/logic and reasoning.

For the assignment I chose to make an emotional argument about the right to freedom of movement and how we are all entitled to it, even Palestinians.

Freedom. We talk about freedom a lot, particularly here in the United

Sates. We enjoy freedom of speech and assembly, freedom of religion,

freedom to buy and sell arms as well as countless others. Yet, what

about the freedom of movement, the freedom to enjoy going from point A

to point B without being harassed, denied or stopped. Too few are

aware of what a luxury it is to enjoy such travel. Yet, there is one

group of people who recognize all too well what a privilege it is, for

it is one they have been denied for the past 60 years and those are

Palestinians living in the West Bank or Gaza, an area also known as

the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).

With hundreds of checkpoints spread throughout an area the size of a

postage stamp there is not one town, village or person who is not

affect by them. Routine aspects of life, like going to work or school,

buying food and visiting the doctor have been made into trips or

terror or simply trials of patients and fortitude. Here is one medic’s

heart wrenching account of trying to get a severally ill patient to

the hospital for the treatment he needed:

“Yesterday [Monday, 2 July], at 2:15 P.M., I arrived with the

paramedic Taher Tahboub, 35, in the ambulance with license plate

62308-91, at the tunnels checkpoint in Bethlehem . We were

transporting Yousef Harbi 'Abd al-Qader 'Ashur, 20, who was suffering

from an accumulation of fluids in his lungs and was in critical

condition. Yusef's father was with him in the ambulance and we were on

our way from al-Ahli Hospital , in Hebron , to al-Makassed Hospital ,

in East Jerusalem .

We arrived at the checkpoint after coordination between the Red

Crescent and the Red Cross. The Red Cross was supposed to arrange the

crossing of the ambulance to the Israeli side. When we arrived at the

tunnels checkpoint, a border policeman with dark skin stopped us. He

yelled at me in Hebrew to go back to where I came from. I told him in

Hebrew that I was driving a patient in critical condition and that in

a humanitarian condition such as this he had to let me pass. The

policeman told me that I was not allowed to go through the checkpoint

to Jerusalem . I told him that only a few days earlier, after

coordination with the Red Cross, I had passed through this checkpoint

to Jerusalem . The policeman wasn't convinced and insisted that I

leave the place.

I didn't leave. I parked the ambulance on the right side of the road,

about seventy meters from the checkpoint. Taher and I called the Red

Crescent in Hebron and Bethlehem and asked them to coordinate between

the Red Cross and the Israeli side so we could pass. The Red Crescent

official in Bethlehem promised to take care of it and told us to wait

next to the checkpoint.

About three quarters of an hour later, around 3:00 P.M., a border

policeman, who appeared to be Druze, approached us and asked about the

patient's condition. He opened the ambulance door and looked at the

patient lying inside with a tube for draining fluids attached to his

chest. It was obvious from the appearance of the patient that he was

in a very critical condition. The policeman was not convinced and said

that a Palestinian ambulance was allowed to cross an Israeli

checkpoint only if the patient was in a life-threatening condition. I

emphasized to him that the patient was in a life-threatening

condition, but he said "No, he can wait." I asked him if he was a

doctor. He didn't reply and went back to the checkpoint.

Around 3:45 P.M., while we were waiting for an answer from the Red

Crescent in Bethlehem, a third policeman came and asked us to move

away from the checkpoint. The policeman was nervous. We moved back

about 200 meters and stopped next to the entrance of the road that led

to Beit Jala. We continued to wait for the Red Crescent's reply.

Around 4:00 P.M., the Red Crescent notified us that there was no point

in continuing to wait, and that we should return the patient to

al-Ahli hospital in Hebron . They promised they would continue to try

to coordinate the transport of the patient for tomorrow. We returned

the patient to al-Ahli hospital. He was exhausted from the long wait

at the checkpoint.

The next morning, a Red Crescent ambulance took the patient to the

tunnels checkpoint where a Jerusalem Red Crescent ambulance was

waiting and took the patient to al-Makassed Hospital. (Hashhash)”

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that a person has the

right to move freely within their own state yet this man’s testimony

is just one many collected by the Israeli Human Rights group B’Tselem

that illustrate that Palestinians are being denied this right. Were

this to happen on the streets of America or anywhere else in the

developed world the citizens would be up in arms. Access to timely

medical care is a right not a privilege. It is meant to be given to

all mankind not just those thought to be worthy.

Is it not time that Israel allows Palestinians enjoy the same rights

as the rest of us?

Works Cited

Hashhash, Musa Abu. B'Tselem. 3 July 2007. 8 September 2011