chapter 9 - stories from palestine
Stories from Palestine
"Here we are like animals, we just eat and sleep and wait to die." --man from Tel Rumeda
In Tel Rumeda, a neighborhood in the city of Hebron in the south of the West Bank, Palestinians live their daily lives in fear of Israelis who occupy settlements on both sides of their homes. During the day, gangs of Israeli kids roam the streets and throw rocks and eggs and punches at the Palestinians kids on their way to and from school and their homes; if the Palestinians throw back, they are taken to the nearby military base by soldiers and beaten. One of the human rights workers I worked with there had been there for 6 months, and she said she had never seen a Palestinian kid throw a rock or a punch in defense of themselves because they fear the consequences. So when the colonist kids attack them, they just run as fast as they can. At night, the Israeli colonists shoot bullets and rocks through their windows, and soldiers enter homes in search of nothing and destroy the personal possessions of the families who live there. Colonists walk around in their Orthodox prayer shawls and kippehs on Shabat, the Jewish holy day beginning from sundown on Friday and lasting through Saturday, with large automatic guns around their necks; if a Palestinian were to carry a gun in a similar manner, or was found to have a gun, he/she would be shot on site with no questions asked. My last day in Tel Rumeda, I watched as a soldier laughed and played games with the Palestinians kids who were crowded around him...why they weren't afraid of him, I don't know. Soldiers have been known to defend both Palestinians and internationals from colonist attacks, and have often been attacked by the colonists themselves...can you imagine? Later this soldier asks one of the boys to uncover the plate of food he is carrying home before he leaves the checkpoint. I ask why he does this. He says there could be a bomb inside. I ask him why he is so afraid of Palestinians, afraid of the little boy he was just joking with a few minutes earlier. He says, "Islam is a violent religion. There are problems with Muslims all over the world. This little boy will probably grow up to become a suicide bomber, just you wait and see."
"All we can do is try. There are lots of ways to try." --man from Assira
In Assira there are 100 million cats and they wrap their grapes in pajamas. The man who is hosting us, Kassan, sees me taking photos of the brightly dressed fruit, and he says "It's to keep the bugs away." Assira is known throughout Palestine for having the best olive oil; before the second Intifada (2001), people came from Israel, Egypt, Lebanon and all over the West Bank to buy their olive oil. After the second Intifada, Assira lost everything. No one is permitted to come there to buy the oil anymore, and settlers and soldiers burn the olive trees to the ground. Kassan tells a story about an old man who took his donkey up the mountain to harvest his olives. On the way back to the village, he was stopped by a soldier who looked in his bag and asked him what he planned to do with the olives. The old man told him he was taking them to sell in the village. The soldier told him he wasn't permitted to take the olives. The old man tried to protest, to tell the soldier that the olives came from his trees, and it was the only income he had. The soldier repeated that he couldn't take the olives with him. The old man attempted to pass the soldier anyway, and the soldier shot his donkey in the head. When the old man began to cry, the soldier beat him so badly he broke his legs, and the man died in the hospital a few days later. Kassan tells me another story of a family who harvested olives all week long, and were stopped by soldiers on their way to the village. The family had six sacks of olives with them, their livelihood for the rest of the year. The soldiers ran over the sacks with their humvee. Kassan tells me how Assira feels they have been forgotten; not even journalists will make the trip to Assira, because they say the checkpoints and long walk up the mountain make it too difficult and not worth their time - they tell him that the troubles in Assira happen everywhere in the West Bank everyday, and that it isn't news anymore.
magan
"Here we are like animals, we just eat and sleep and wait to die." --man from Tel Rumeda
In Tel Rumeda, a neighborhood in the city of Hebron in the south of the West Bank, Palestinians live their daily lives in fear of Israelis who occupy settlements on both sides of their homes. During the day, gangs of Israeli kids roam the streets and throw rocks and eggs and punches at the Palestinians kids on their way to and from school and their homes; if the Palestinians throw back, they are taken to the nearby military base by soldiers and beaten. One of the human rights workers I worked with there had been there for 6 months, and she said she had never seen a Palestinian kid throw a rock or a punch in defense of themselves because they fear the consequences. So when the colonist kids attack them, they just run as fast as they can. At night, the Israeli colonists shoot bullets and rocks through their windows, and soldiers enter homes in search of nothing and destroy the personal possessions of the families who live there. Colonists walk around in their Orthodox prayer shawls and kippehs on Shabat, the Jewish holy day beginning from sundown on Friday and lasting through Saturday, with large automatic guns around their necks; if a Palestinian were to carry a gun in a similar manner, or was found to have a gun, he/she would be shot on site with no questions asked. My last day in Tel Rumeda, I watched as a soldier laughed and played games with the Palestinians kids who were crowded around him...why they weren't afraid of him, I don't know. Soldiers have been known to defend both Palestinians and internationals from colonist attacks, and have often been attacked by the colonists themselves...can you imagine? Later this soldier asks one of the boys to uncover the plate of food he is carrying home before he leaves the checkpoint. I ask why he does this. He says there could be a bomb inside. I ask him why he is so afraid of Palestinians, afraid of the little boy he was just joking with a few minutes earlier. He says, "Islam is a violent religion. There are problems with Muslims all over the world. This little boy will probably grow up to become a suicide bomber, just you wait and see."
"All we can do is try. There are lots of ways to try." --man from Assira
In Assira there are 100 million cats and they wrap their grapes in pajamas. The man who is hosting us, Kassan, sees me taking photos of the brightly dressed fruit, and he says "It's to keep the bugs away." Assira is known throughout Palestine for having the best olive oil; before the second Intifada (2001), people came from Israel, Egypt, Lebanon and all over the West Bank to buy their olive oil. After the second Intifada, Assira lost everything. No one is permitted to come there to buy the oil anymore, and settlers and soldiers burn the olive trees to the ground. Kassan tells a story about an old man who took his donkey up the mountain to harvest his olives. On the way back to the village, he was stopped by a soldier who looked in his bag and asked him what he planned to do with the olives. The old man told him he was taking them to sell in the village. The soldier told him he wasn't permitted to take the olives. The old man tried to protest, to tell the soldier that the olives came from his trees, and it was the only income he had. The soldier repeated that he couldn't take the olives with him. The old man attempted to pass the soldier anyway, and the soldier shot his donkey in the head. When the old man began to cry, the soldier beat him so badly he broke his legs, and the man died in the hospital a few days later. Kassan tells me another story of a family who harvested olives all week long, and were stopped by soldiers on their way to the village. The family had six sacks of olives with them, their livelihood for the rest of the year. The soldiers ran over the sacks with their humvee. Kassan tells me how Assira feels they have been forgotten; not even journalists will make the trip to Assira, because they say the checkpoints and long walk up the mountain make it too difficult and not worth their time - they tell him that the troubles in Assira happen everywhere in the West Bank everyday, and that it isn't news anymore.
magan
posted by miss magan at 12:28 PM
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