Meeting the Military: Hebron

(Metal mesh covering protects Palestinian shops
from rocks and garbage thrown from Israeli settlers' apartments above.)

Yesterday we went to Hebron, a city now divided into a Palestinian controlled area and an Israeli controlled area.

There is much to say about Hebron, and I hope one day I will have the energy and clarity to say it. Right now I am exhausted from all we have taken in. (Settlers' trash, stones thrown onto Palestinian-shop lined street, restricting Palestinian access to water, multiples of Israeli soldiers to "protect" each settler in the area...)

The moment that may forever be etched in my memory was coming face to face with members of the Israeli military: we were walking, chatting casually, enjoying the day, and then suddenly I looked up and about two feet away from my face was a group of five, maybe six Israeli soldiers.

They carried big guns and were ready to shoot. The sound of their boots on the stone path caused ripples of silence around them. The one in the front, his eyes pierced mine. In that moment my heart stopped beating and lungs stopped inhaling. I felt a surreal faintness.

Their way, their look, their presence said hate. That is a strong word, and I use it cautiously. I promised myself I would say on this blog what I saw and experienced, and that was it.

Soon tears involuntarily appeared on the tips of my eyelashes and down my cheekbones.

In those soldiers eyes, I saw the cops who shoot and kill unarmed black men in the Bronx. I thought about how many peoples have suffered under military occupation. And at that point, as we continued on to the mosque, a place of historical religious significance, I couldn't help but think how little religion has to do with the conflict, the occupation, here. It's quite a backdrop, undoubtedly, and it certainly raises the stakes. But what I've seen here is evidence of a brutal, ongoing oppression and occupation of one group of people by another. Any religion that condones that is not one that deserves the title.