Walking through a road block out of the old city centre of Hebron, Fedi stopped suddenly in front of me. He had noticed that there were two Israeli soldiers harassing 3 Muslim little girls. The girls were not much older than 6 and the youngest looked about 4 years old.
With Fedi following, I walked over beside the children, holding out my hand and inviting them to come with me. They were backed up against the wall and the Israeli soldiers were holding their guns at the childrens’ feet. They were so obviously petrified that they did not know whether or not they should come with me. By this point a few more Palestinians had come over, as well as our group member Jill, and another international woman who spoke Arabic.
We finally got the children to come and the Israelis grabbed their arms and pulled them back. We learned that the children lived just around the corner.
A confrontation begun in the middle of the street under the hot sun as some Palestinians began yelling at the soldiers, who called for more back up. In no time 3 or 4 soldiers emerged out of nowhere. The soldiers went around the circle asking Palestinians "Are you Muslim, are you Christian?" Noor, a Palestinian travelling with us, responded, "Christian, but why does it matter? Are we not human? Are we not all the same?"
Meanwhile, the children were crying and terrified. They just wanted to go home. I will never forget the look in their eyes. I tried to calm them saying in Arabic, "My name is Margaret, what is yours?" They responded with their names, to the backdrop of the Israeli soldiers and Palestinian civilians yelling at one another.
The detention of the children, backs pressed against the wall with a gun waving in their face, would otherwise have been lengthier, but for the presence of internationals resulting in their release. However, Fedi, our leader, was detained and his ID confiscated to "check it", his brief detention ending only because he had a Jerusalem ID.
Our visit was a result of the attack the previous day on two Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) members in the nearby town called Tawani. The community had asked us to come and accompany some small children from school since the CPT workers were hurt. As Fedi was detained, we couldn't get there; moreover, we were made to wait for about 2 hours at a checkpoint.
Waiting at another of the multiple checkpoints, we saw hundreds of Palestinians stuck in the hot sun wanting to cross, with no hope of relief in the near future. Meanwhile, a woman trying to get into Hebron gave birth at a checkpoint since she couldn't walk through to catch a taxi on the other side. It reminded me of herding cattle before the opening of the pasture gate to the food and water waiting just on the other side.
-Margaret
Margaret Evans is a member of the Canadian Friends of Sabeel Young Adults group visiting Palestine and Israel.
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