Standing nose-to-nose with one of the soldiers, I explained that we work for a humanitarian organization and simply wanted to go to our office. The soldier, screaming in my face and making threatening gestures with his M-16 machine gun, pushed me back and denied us passage through the checkpoint. Huddling in the icy rain and driving wind, we thought about our very limited options and decided to head back to our homes. Dejected, we turned around and, on a constant tank alert, drove back through the deserted streets.
The bitterness is potent in the air today, for it is the last Friday of Ramadan and many observant Muslims attempted to reach Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem to worship. But they were denied this basic human right of the freedom to worship by young, hot-headed soldiers of no more than 20 years of age, brandishing their American-supplied weapons at the checkpoints surrounding the city. And what about the three men I met at the Huwara checkpoint yesterday, handcuffed for hours and forced to sit in the mud? Or the group of workers in Nablus whose ID cards had been confiscated at 7am yesterday morning and who were still being held by the soldiers six hours later? Will they be remembered on this day?
What is the international community saying about the Palestinian man forced at gunpoint to strip naked and crawl on his hands and knees through the mud while the soldier looked on, laughing at his humiliation? Will the world stand up and demand justice?
The bitterness is potent in the air today, for it is the last Friday of Ramadan and many observant Muslims attempted to reach Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem to worship. But they were denied this basic human right of the freedom to worship by young, hot-headed soldiers of no more than 20 years of age, brandishing their American-supplied weapons at the checkpoints surrounding the city. And what about the three men I met at the Huwara checkpoint yesterday, handcuffed for hours and forced to sit in the mud? Or the group of workers in Nablus whose ID cards had been confiscated at 7am yesterday morning and who were still being held by the soldiers six hours later? Will they be remembered on this day?
What is the international community saying about the Palestinian man forced at gunpoint to strip naked and crawl on his hands and knees through the mud while the soldier looked on, laughing at his humiliation? Will the world stand up and demand justice?