They keep hope in their hearts. After all, granddaughter Israel is too dear to them for that. But their common sense tells Ger and Clary van der Burg from Peize that the chance is small that they will ever be able to embrace Isra again.
Today is a day that they will mostly deal with just the two of them. The birthday of their granddaughter, who was kidnapped in August 2004 as a three-year-old toddler by her father Hasèn Aksema to his native Libya. But not after he first gruesomely robbed Marisse van der Burg, Isra’s mother and the daughter of Ger (73) and Clary (74).
Aksema was sentenced to life in absentia, but because Libya has no extradition treaty with the Netherlands, he has escaped the dance to date. This summer, his portrait, along with other life sentences, will be shown at several Dutch airports with the appeal to holidaymakers to look out for him.
The Van der Burgs follow it all, of course, but with the necessary reservations about whether it will ever yield anything. They concentrate more on their granddaughter, who is somewhere in Libya. They like the fact that two police officers make another attempt to draw attention to Israel in a personal capacity. They are happy with all the support. Although they do end up in a dichotomy, Clary says.
They lost their daughter and granddaughter in one fell swoop. “Of course you keep hope. That all that effort will finally pay off. On the other hand, it also opens up old wounds. Over the years you try to live with this whole story as best you can. What else are we supposed to do? But on days like these, the painful memories are inevitably rekindled.”
For a long time their hopes were pinned on diplomacy, which at one point was also hopeful. Especially when the then deputy honorary consul in Libya managed to arrange a meeting with Israel. During that meeting at the consulate, he gave Isra, among other things, a Miffy book, a present from grandfather and grandmother Ger and Clary.