Middle Eastern tug-of-love

By Iolo ap Dafydd BBC Wales' Europe correspondent in Nablus

A clash of cultures, and a tug-of-love over four children between two parents who have moved on to other partners.

That is essentially the story of the Ihbasheh children.

A not uncommon story found in many parts of the world, but this is slightly more striking as it is between Wales and the Israeli controlled West Bank of Palestine.

Fatima Ihbasheh: 'Happy' in Nablus

The youngsters - Fatima, Ahmed, Maryam and Amjad ranging in age between 10 and 16 - were brought up in Barry in South Wales.

Their mother Eileen Sutton was married in Barry to their Palestinian father Kamal Ihbasheh - who has a British passport.

He owned a restaurant in the town before becoming more embroiled in his family business in Nablus.

There, his father was carrying on the bakery tradition that Kamal's grandfather started.

This now thriving business, is about to be expanded, under Kamal and his brothers' control.

There should be enough money left, they hope, to complete a family project - building and then donating a mosque to the Muslim authorities of Nablus.

Kamal Ihbasheh: Children's safety

The split between the parents came after Kamal spent more of his time in the Middle East.

Now remarried with five more children, he decided to keep his Welsh children at his home after they and their mother Eileen Sutton visited for a holiday.

He claims not to keep his children as unwilling captives "It was not a kidnap. I do not call it a kidnap" he told me, and went on to say their stay on the West Bank is temporary.

But the four are still wards of court in Britain and Ms Sutton keeps battling to win back custody of her children.

But Palestine is not a signatory to the Hague convention on civil rights, and neither the British Consulate in Jerusalem nor the British Embassy in Tel Aviv can do much apart from occasional visits to the youngsters to check on their welfare.

Under the conditions, they seemed remarkably well - despite having lived in a war-zone for 19 months.

For 22 days in April their home was taken over by the Israeli Defence Force.

The roof of the house, which commands a strategic view over the old city below, was used to fire at and fight Palestinian militants.

The front door was bashed open with sledgehammers and the house searched by armed Israeli soldiers before the shooting began.

Israeli tanks roll into Nablus

"It was scary when they came in, " said Fatima, the eldest, "It was scary the way they came, and how they came in.

"After they were here, we got to know them, they were OK with us because we were British."

They lived two floors below the soldiers for a time, before leaving for a safer house in the city.

"I don't think I did anything wrong," claims their father, "I did not kidnap them."

We briefly met the eldest boy -Ahmed - as we prepared to journey back to Jerusalem before nightfall.

He is a tall lad, with a typical teenage roughish attitude.

I asked him what he'd been studying late that afternoon. "Physics.." he said with a smile, " And it was boring!"

Eleven-year-old Maryam was the most subdued.

It had been "difficult, very difficult " with the soldiers in their house, she said, and she gave a simple answer to what she missed most about Wales.

"Mum " she said and quickly looked up at her father.

No Palestinian can leave the West Bank, or even their towns at the moment.

Sporadic fighting

Ramallah's siege has been lifted but the one at the Bethlehem's Church of Nativity siege is still going strong, and sporadic fighting flareing up now and again.

We crossed Israeli checkpoints by walking across dusty roads, a sort of "no man's land" which divides where Palestinians and Israelis can go about their business safely.

While filming Fatima's interview on her home's roof, we heard the rattle of gunfire rolling across the dusty Judean hills.

"It's normal," she said.

"I'm not angry I'm here, I'm angry what's happening while I'm here. I've been happy yeah, still it's not Britain, it's Palestine, it's Nablus.

"I'm not used to it, it's not my hometown - I find it different," Fatima said softly in her detectable South Wales lilt.