Spring Team 05 Report "Replace Correctness with Reality"

Spring Team 05 Report "Replace Correctness with Reality"

April 8, 2005
by Henry
(name protected while team is in the field. Henry is an American Jew serving on the Michigan Peace Team)
Bil'in, Occupied West Bank

Today produced an image that will forever be imprinted on my mind, and possibly on the camera held by a nearby peace worker. Supporting the community members of this beautiful hillside village, about 20 internationals and a dozen Israeli peace activists joined 120 villagers in their demonstration against the wall and illegal settlement one-mile away. The march was planned despite no scheduled wall construction for Friday. As the march neared the settlement, soldiers appeared, drawing rock fire from the town's youth. Prior to their appearance, the local people planned to light tires and already burnt out vehicles to demonstrate their frustration that the Israeli government was thumbing its collective nose at the Palestinians and the world by continuing their illegal wall.

The soldiers skillfully and methodically pressed their weapons superiority by
walking, and sometimes running - but always firing sound grenades, tear gas and rubber bullets - at the demonstrators. As observers, it was often difficult to
adhere to the "no running" rule, since the rock throwers would dash back behind
the observers, causing a very tense and potentially deadly game of leap frog.
While walking/jogging back, the friend with camera heard a shot and felt his
left arm move "about two feet back". His camera had been struck with a rubber
bullet and was rendered inoperable. Sony Corporation's warrantee policy will be
tested in the coming months.

The terrain was very hilly, and as more soldiers joined the fray, it became
difficult also to determine where our source of harm came from. Retreat was the
only sensible option, and all participants in the protest moved back towards the
village center. Sensing that the army had "won" by dispensing the crowd, our
group became more relaxed. When I spied a local homeowner gesturing to sit with his family in their small open courtyard, I invited myself and teammates to join in. Soon his son distributed about 15 glasses of tea, and we were enjoying the sun, and friendly conversation. When soldiers appeared down the road, we were surprised: hadn't they won? For what purpose were they entering the village?

Did I mention that the homeowner had 2 or 3 small children, 2-4 years old? Did I say that my own spoken words were to calm the folks, convinced absolutely that the soldiers would just walk past? Have I changed my mind forever which already referred to the Army as the Israeli Defense Forces?

What happened next is not in dispute: a woman soldier pointed her rifle at us
all, and then after the briefest of hesitations threw not one, but two
percussion grenades right at the children. "No, No!" was shouted before she
threw. "There are children here!" But to no avail.

Another soldier pointed his assault rifle in my direction and the fear and
terror still linger. Children crying, adults crying, and who's going to pay for
removal of the tea stains on my trousers?

Really, I should not joke. My thoughts drifted to 1948, and "so this is how it
happened". Without observers, would this have been typical village
depopulation"? Will things change in our lifetime - soon? -that will permit
this Zionist expansion machine to shred the lives of innocents, in their
insatiable appetite for land without people? Do the parents of Rachel Corrie
believe this has already occurred?

Where is the world? How can reasonable people allow this thuggery to continue?
How can "peace and justice" groups allow the Palestinians to be ignored, while
our governments look the other way and praise the "democracy" of Israel and the "peace" of Ariel Sharon? Now who's joking?

Holding myself to a literary standard, I have always referred to the Israeli
Army as the Israeli Defense Forces. No longer. They will be called, as the
locals refer to them, as the Israeli Occupation Forces. My experience Friday
has replaced literary correctness with reality. And these thugs deserve a lot
more.