'Babes are in deadly peril' (From Barry And District News)

'Babes are in deadly peril'

A BARRY mother is pleading with the British Government to save her 'babies' from the clutches of war-torn Palestine.

Romilly Road resident Eileen Sutton's four beloved children, Fatima, 16, Ahmad, 14, Maryam, 11 and Amjad, 10, are being forced to live in two small flats with 35 other people while the conflict in the West Bank town of Nablus intensifies.

The 42-year-old, who last saw her family in 1999, just hours before they were snatched by her ex-husband, Kamal Ihbasheh, is now becoming increasingly desperate.

She told the News: "I met Kamal when he was a student. We married in 1980 under British law, and then in 1984 the Islamic way. Everything was fine until he disappeared in 1992, saying he'd gone home to work with his family. He'd actually divorced me under Islamic law and had married again in 1993.

"But we'd never fallen out, and he still came once a year to see the children." When in 1999, Kamal convinced Eileen to take the children out to visit him, she had no idea she'd be returning alone.

She added: "The night before we were meant to fly home, Kamal vanished with my children. I haven't seen them since. Kamal holds a British passport, and the children were born here. They are 100 percent British citizens."

The legal wrangles started to bring them home. But with the fighting getting worse, Eileen fears for her children's lives.

She said: "Kamal's family own a block of flats. Last week, the Israeli army took it over, moving everyone to the bottom floor, using the roof to fire at the Palestinians.

"My children haven't been outdoors for over a week. They've had no water, no electricity and only two toilets. They have food stock-piled, but how long will that last 39 people?"

This is the first hope in the last three years of getting her children safely away from her ex-husband.

She said: "If the British Government give the word, the Israeli army can escort my babies away from that horrific place.

"But they have to act now, before it's too late. My children need to be safe. They need to be home with me."

VALE MP John Smith has joined the desperate fight to rescue Barry woman Eileen Sutton's children from the Middle East.

As the safety of the four Welsh children caught up in the fighting in Israeli-occupied Palestine hangs in the balance, the Westminster man has appealed to the Foreign Secretary for help.

Mr Smith has demanded that Jack Straw calls in the Israeli ambassador to help rescue the four children, who are trapped in an Israeli army occupied house in the West Bank Town of Nablus. He wants them handed over to the British Consulate in Jerusalem.

Mr Smith told the News: "These children are British Wards of Court and have British passports. They are in the middle of a war zone - there are snipers and gun battles and civilians are being killed. The Israelis must remove the children and hand them over."

Speaking on Wednesday he added: "When I heard this morning that the Israelis had occupied the west bank city of Nablus the first thing I thought of was Mrs Sutton's children, caught in the middle of these terrible events.

"I understand that as Mrs Sutton talked to her children today she could hear gun shots and has warned them to stay away from the windows. These children in great danger."

Mrs Sutton confirmed she had been in contact with her four children and says that they have all been moved into the one room and cannot leave.

Though they have some food, electricity has been cut off and they are living on the contents of the freezer before the food goes off.