Three weeks of anguish for professor grieving for his Palestinian family

VALDOSTA - The Palestinian-Israeli conflict has been especially devastating to a Valdosta professor, who in the last three weeks has had his mother die, two nephews placed in an Israel jail and his sister&#39;s home occupied by Israel soldiers. <br> <br> Mouyyed Hassouna, a political science professor at Georgia Military College and Valdosta State University, says he feels like he is living ``the damage of a lifetime.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Hassouna was born in Palestine in 1959 and came to the United States in 1984 as a graduate student. <br> <br> Just a little more than a week ago, he was told by American Red Cross volunteers in Palestine that his mother, Amina Hafeeza Hassouna, a disabled diabetic, had died from a lack of medication. The last time he saw her was in August 2000. <br> <br> Two weeks earlier, his nephews were put in an Israel jail and held for seven days. <br> <br> Hassouna said Israeli soldiers were ordered to round up all men between the ages of 14 and 65 and hold them. <br> <br> He claims they ``were fed two pieces of dry bread a day only. They were not allowed any water.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Now, he&#39;s concerned for his sister&#39;s safety. Israeli soldiers took over her house on April 8, banishing her and her daughter to the basement. <br> <br> He says, ``Families are completely divided and isolated over there. Everyone is completely cut off from each other.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Hassouna compares the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to America&#39;s Revolutionary War. <br> <br> He says they are ``fighting for the same basic freedoms and liberties. They are fighting for their own Declaration of Independence.&#39;&#39;

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