Back in Hebron

I'm back in Tel Rumeida for a few days, not sure for how long but they always like a larger group for Saturdays as this is often a day that the settlers kick off. As I turned up at the end of the street to watch the children out of school a few apples were thrown at the kids from the settlers house. As I went to look at what was thrown (it wasn't obvious at the time) a soldier shouted at me but I didn't understand, he translated saying get out go away you are not allowed here. But of course, we are and I told him that and stayed. So of course, my ID was checked, once, twice, three times within about half an hour, twice by the same guy. And there I stayed, watching the settlers go past, who incidentally argue that they are peaceful despite the fact that they often attack Arab children on their way back from school and spit at internationals. What I want to cover here is some things that have been said about internationals in Palestine and our reasons for being here.

Many call our presence here 'anti-Semitic', I allegedly am a communist or an anarchist, looking for trouble - etcetera etcetera. The internationals here are violent and support Palestinian violence, according to one or two websites, who often make fun of the death of activists out here. We deliberately set out to cause trouble etcetera etcetera. None of these things are true I'm afraid, I'm not a communist or an anarchist or anti-Semitic. I'm pro peace and I'm not even necessarily saying that the Jews cannot live in Hebron. However I don't see why they should be able to live in Hebron at the expense of the Palestinians, forcing them to go through checkpoints to their own homes, shutting down the main street of shops and constantly questioning them.

If I hit a settler with anything around here then I would be, quite rightly, would be arrested. If I had spit at someone or used terms such as 'nigger' in front of my parents then I would have been in deep trouble. I don't imagine the child here today will get punished. And yet as a Breaking the Silence document detailing parents often not disciplining their children is and not exactly caring. The people who wrote this document however aren't the anarchists or communists but soldiers who were posted in Hebron, detailing some heartbreaking stories of how they prevented a wedding from happening, stopping Palestinian children going to hospital when ill in emergencies and other such events. What happens here is despicable but most of those who disagree with me won't argue the relative merits of the Jewish population being able to stay here with army protection. I'll simply be called an anti-Semite, in favour of suicide bombings, working for a terrorist linked organisation, perhaps say I deny the holocaust (I don't incidentally but I equally don't see why the Palestinians should pay for the atrocities of my home nation). And that will be the end of the argument.

The reason I suppose is that there aren't very many good reasons for the Jewish population to be able to run amok like they do here, or in fact any reasons at all. If anyone can give me these reasons then I'd be happy to hear them. If a two-state solution is implemented this will become part of Palestine, I can't see any reason why this shouldn't be the case. I'm straying into dangerous territory here as I don't want to dictate how a peaceful settlement should be worked out but there seem to be some undeniable things. Yes there are some sites of Jewish heritage in the local area but this does not mean it needs to be part of Israel - I'm sure rights of access can be secured. That isn't to say that the Jews here will be forced to move out but Israeli soldiers would no longer be able to stand outside their settlements. That Jewish people who commit crimes against Arabs or other Jews (and vice versa) will be prosecuted fairly regardless of race or religion. Checkpoints would be shut and the main street here would be reopened.