Removing U.S. Embassy from the neighborhood is a legal right [Archives:2008/1202/Opinion]

Hamdan Al-Aleyi
Undoubtedly, we have certain duties to do for the sake of our neighbor, Embassy of the United States of America in Sana'a, which is part of the neighborhood's rights and duties. According to Prophet Mohammed (Peace be Upon Him), ethics of a Muslim individual must be positively reflected on the way he deals with a Jewish neighbor, who frequently insults him and throws waste in front of his house. The Prophet Mohammed had been peaceful and lenient while dealing with non-Muslim residents even if they proved to have been insulting Muslims.

There are certain issues, which we must not ignore or be careless while dealing with, most notably as such issues arose at the expense of public peace and interests of residents living near the U.S. Embassy in Sana'a. There are simple solutions to such a problem and these solutions may be limited to the statement “Removing the embassy” not “disbanding the embassy”.

Human armor to protect the embassy

We suffer a great harm. We will no longer tolerate our interests being hurt on the ground. The damage is worse than the cost paid for these events, which we don't have connections with. We strongly believe that we, as residents in the vicinity of the U.S. Embassy, have become a human armor to protect the U.S. Embassy in our zone.

Why the embassy is not removed from such a densely populated area to another scarcely populated area that seems to have no houses, schools, institutes, parks or trade stores. Having been removed, the embassy will be more fortified and people's civil interests will be securer.

What is the sin of those trade shops' owners whose sales were negatively affected following blockage of the road starting from Sheraton Hotel Intersection through the Tourist City until the Sa'awan City? What is the sin of those living between two security cordons in order for tem to suffer a lot while attempting to reach their homes via farer alternative roads?

Which sin committed by women, who get intimidated thousand times per day when hearing even the sounds of firecrackers in streets since they usually fear that the Embassy may be under attack. They fear that any attack targeting the U.S. Embassy may affect their homes in the same neighborhood, thus killing or wounding children before the elderly. Which sin may be attributed to schoolgirls enrolled in the school near the embassy?

What is the sin of children, who have been deprived of playing in a public park near the embassy? What is the sin of children, who have been deprived of moving between homes in the neighborhood and rewarded with automobile fossil and terrible accidents? This is the direct result of changing directions of any incoming cars from the main street in front of the embassy's building into small feeders inside the residential area.

Which sin may be attributed to foreigners working in Yemen and others residing in the Tourist City in order to fear being attacked like what happened to an innocent Indian victim in the most recent terrorist attack against the Embassy while she was walking in the street?

Think about removing the embassy into another area

I am not intending to calculate, assess and record sufferings of those intimidated citizens living in the same neighborhood where the U.S. Embassy is located because I am not able to calculate all the physical, moral and material damage in a single article. However, I would like to highlight some of the sufferings, which are endured only by those who are neighbors of the U.S. Embassy in Sana'a.

I urge residents of the area to loudly voice their concerns and sufferings on a daily basis as they may persuade all those involved to think about removing building of the U.S. Embassy into another safer area. This is a workable solution that may help make the embassy well fortified and consider people's interests.

Source: Al-Masdar.com
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