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Ten Palestinian men were standing by the wall at the Israeli checkpoint north of Bethlehem. I couldn’t see their faces because the Israeli soldiers made them stand facing the wall with their arms above their heads. The fault of these men, who ranged in age from 25 to 35, was that they had sneaked out of Bethlehem to go to Jerusalem five miles away to find a day’s work. However, they were caught before they could sneak back to their homes in Bethlehem.
When my turn at the checkpoint came, I showed my U.S. passport. The soldier smiled at me and wished me a nice day. I passed through the checkpoint without humiliation, but that Sunday evening I kept wondering what happened to the 10 Palestinian men. How long did they have to stand out in the street with their arms over their heads on this cold February night?
They were definitely luckier than the two Palestinian construction workers who were killed by settlers on their way to work in an Israeli settlement near Bethlehem, and perhaps more fortunate than those caught by Israeli soldiers trying to sneak in through the fields and consequently brutally beaten up. Some, instead of getting home that evening, had to stay that night in a hospital treating their wounds.
These heartbreaking scenes could be witnessed on the outskirts of every Palestinian city and village. All major Palestinian cities and towns have been under a stricter siege for the last four months, since the latest wave of violence began. Approximately 3 million people are trapped in their cities and villages. They are not allowed to travel to Israel, and frequently they are not allowed to travel to other Palestinian cities. In some cases, such as in Hebron and in Beit Jala, Palestinians cannot even travel by car from one neighborhood to another within the same city.
One must ask the question: Is the siege a security measure or is it a crime against a whole population?
Israelis claim that the closures are necessary to stop Palestinian terrorism. In reality, the closures increase hate, bitterness and mistrust, which lead to increased acts of violence and revenge that snuff out the lives of many innocent Israelis and Palestinians.
Over and over again, it has been proven that the siege is a collective punishment imposed largely upon a Palestinian population that is not engaged in acts of revenge and violence against Israelis. The few Palestinians who plan violence against Israel know how to avoid checkpoints and army camps, and they enter the heart of Israeli cities with unusual skill and ease. Closures do not stop terrorists; they only stop hard-working Palestinians from getting to their jobs and fields.
The siege is having a devastating effect on every aspect of Palestinian life. Take, for example, what is happening in the city of Hebron. Because of the presence of 100 Jewish families there, all 40,000 Palestinian inhabitants of the city are under strict curfew. This means that no Palestinian vehicle can go in or out of the city during the curfew, not even ambulances that may need to transport critically ill or severely injured Palestinians.
A case in point is Sawsan Ahmad Jaber, a Palestinian woman who was in a coma. Her mother could not find an ambulance to take her to the hospital, so Jaber was placed in a garbage truck and driven over rough roads for hours before reaching the hospital. In normal circumstances, the drive to the hospital would have taken five minutes. Jaber received the needed treatment, but another citizen of Hebron was not as fortunate. Ahmed Abd Alkhader Sbitani, who found an ambulance to take him to the hospital, died because Israeli soldiers refused to let the vehicle pass through the checkpoint.
The closures are slowly strangling all aspects of Palestinian life: economic, social, educational and even religious.
As pastor of a church in Jerusalem, I can see how the closures stand in the way of freedom of religion. Palestinian Christians who wish to worship in Jerusalem cannot cross Israeli checkpoints to get to their churches. The Arabic Sunday night service at our church died out because Palestinian Christians couldn’t come from Bethlehem or Ramallah to attend it. Only a small fraction of Muslims from the occupied territories who attempt to worship at Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem make it through Israeli checkpoints. In protest, many conduct worship services near the checkpoints.
A serious casualty of the siege is the education of Palestinians on all levels and especially that of schoolchildren. Kawthar Salam, a reporter from Hebron, reports: "As of today, 41 schools are closed; three of these schools have been turned into military bases. Israeli soldiers use the schools to fire live ammunition, plastic bullets and tear-gas canisters at Palestinian stone throwers. This means that 14,000 Palestinian students are denied an education. Now they stay in homes that are much like prison cells. These children are being abused. But they are getting a different kind of education; the Israelis are teaching them hate and violence. This is not good for our children, and it is not good for the future of our coexistence in this land."
At Bethlehem Bible College, where I serve as dean of students, we often suspend or cancel evening classes because teachers and students cannot make it through the checkpoints.
The true purpose of the closure is to break the will of the Palestinian people and to bring their leadership to its knees. In this way, the Israelis aim to force the Palestinians to make major concessions in ongoing peace negotiations. A whole nation is severely punished and bruised in order to accommodate the expansionistic passions of another nation.
The closure of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is a crime that must be stopped. Peace and reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians cannot be realized as long as one side of the divide functions as the jailer of the other side.
Men and women who yearn for peace and justice in this land must act to stop the closure of the Palestinian territories and pray for an end to this evil occupation.
The Rev. Alex Awad and his wife, Brenda, are missionaries with the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, serving at Bethlehem Bible College and East Jerusalem Baptist Church. After six years of repeated applications to the Israeli government, Awad, a Palestinian American, received an official visa for his missionary work in 1995.
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URL: http://gbgm-umc.org/news/2001/feb/NationunderSiege.stm