Brothers Entangled in Mideast Feud
By DINA KRAFT, Associated Press Writer
PETACH TIKVA, Israel (AP) - Two God-fearing brothers lived side by side in the West Bank,
and loved each other as brothers do, even those who disagree: One a Jew who believes the
land belongs to people of his faith, the other a Palestinian activist in a group committed
to expelling them.
Born to the same Jewish-Muslim mother - David Mercier and Munther Hafnay set their stars
by different fathers.
Mercier, whose father was Jewish, settled in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Elon
Moreh, and has recently come to embrace Jewish orthodoxy. Hafnay followed his Palestinian
father to the nearby teeming Balata refugee camp, and joined Hamas, the Islamic militant
group pledged to Israel's destruction.
Their beliefs diametrically opposed, they are now drawn together by blood. Palestinian
security officials suspect both of taking part in an Israeli spy ring and helping plot the
targeted killing of a Hamas activist last week by Israeli commandos.
The Middle East conflict is often cast as a black-and-white feud between Jews and Arabs,
but the complicated drama involving the half-brothers reflects the complex factors that
sometimes intervene.
Mercier is now in an Israeli hospital recovering from what he says were four days of
torture by Palestinian security officials, though they deny the allegation. Mercier spends
his waking hours fretting about his brother, who remains in Palestinian custody and could
face a firing squad if convicted.
``My brothers and I have the same God,'' Mercier said in an interview at his bedside in a
hospital in a Tel Aviv suburb. ``It's too bad there has to be war.''
It's not the first time family and faith have intertwined for the brothers, both born in
Lebanon.
Their mother Fawzia had a Jewish mother and Muslim father - making her Jewish by Orthodox
Jewish tradition.
Mercier, 50, was born to Fawzia and her first husband, a Jew. Hafnay, 44, was born to her
second husband, a Palestinian Muslim refugee. With him Fawzia moved to the West Bank, and
she now considers herself a Muslim.
Mercier is a doctor who trained and practiced for years in France. He moved to Israel five
years ago and was attracted to the Elon Moreh settlement for the warmth he found in its
tight-knit, fiercely Jewish nationalist community, and its proximity to the homes of his
mother and two of his Muslim half-brothers just walking distance away in the Palestinian
city of Nablus, where he was a regular visitor.
Although Mercier did not grow up religious, he now embraces his Jewish heritage and wants
to study its holy texts. Yet Munther Hafnay, a successful clothing merchant, is a devout
Muslim and a longtime activist in the Islamic fundamentalist Hamas, which is dedicated to
the destruction of the Jewish state.
Despite their differences, the affection was clear Tuesday when two of Mercier's other
Muslim half-brothers visited his hospital bedside.
Mercier's features, drawn tight from worry and pain, melted into a smile when his younger
brothers walked into his room. Mercier, who underwent open heart surgery less than two
months ago, rose unsteadily to embrace them.
The brothers' younger siblings say David and Munther are innocent, and have been targeted
simply because of the family's mixed Jewish-Arab lineage.
``We are one family,'' said Moataz Hafnay, one of the younger brothers. ``I have both
Jewish and Arab brothers. The most important thing is that they are my brothers.''
While in Palestinian custody, Mercier said Palestinian officials interrogated him for
hours and accused him of running an Israeli spy ring with the help of his three
half-brothers.
A small-boned, frail man, Mercier sat on his hospital bed with his legs crossed and spoke
of the four black days in custody as ``the trauma.'' In a voice cracking with emotion, he
spoke of the Palestinian security agent who beat him, handcuffed him in contorted
positions, and threatened him.
Finally he was told he would be tried as an international spy and put to death.
``I was in a state of panic, I thought my life was over,'' said Mercier, breaking down in
tears.
Mercier said that out of desperation he eventually signed a forced confession written by
the Palestinian security officials that he was an Israeli agent who recruited his brothers
and planned the assassination.
Now he fears that the ``confession,'' which he says was extracted by force and was
entirely false, will be used to sentence his brother to death.
A Palestinian security officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Munther Hafnay
had been working with Israeli intelligence since the 1970s, and had provided information
that helped the Israelis kill Mahmoud Madani last week.
But Shlomo Dror, a spokesman for the Israeli Defense Ministry, said neither of the
brothers had any connection to Israel's security establishment. Israeli pressure helped
win Mercier's release, and Israel was now trying to win Hafnay's freedom, he said.
``We told the Palestinian Authority (news - web sites) that (Hafnay) is not a collaborator
and we expect them to release him,'' Dror said.
Meanwhile, Fawzia Hafnay, 76, spends her days in her Nablus home frightened for the future
of her family.
``I have nothing but my sons,'' she says, weeping. |
