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IDF jeep
This is NOT from our morning - do you think I'm THAT crazy to pull out a camera??? This morning we started our day off on a bad note. On our way to Ramallah to pick up Amber, the IDF was stopping various cars at the checkpoint. We had Fakher with us as we were dropping him off at work. I have to explain first - this is a checkpoint that is in the middle of a Palestinian controlled area, and this is the only route for people who live many of the villages to get to work in Ramallah. This is not a checkpoint between Israel and Palestinian areas. Usually, they will ask for ID, ask some questions and we are on our way. Today, we happened on a soldier who was being very aggressive. He asked where I was from, I told him Adri and I were from "Canada" and Fakher said he is from Jordan (because Adri's brother's and sisters were born in Jordan, they all have Jordanian passports). We handed our passprts to him, and he looked at Fakher's saying - "this not from Canada", eventhough we never said it was. He had us pull over. No problems so far. We walked over to the middle of the checkpoint, where we could see a young
Welcme to Bethlehem
Not the Bethlehem you would imagine? This is part of the wall that wraps itself around the city. man - maybe 16 - was being held in a small containment area. We asked the soldier why he was stopping us. His English was very poor, so all he said was there is 'problem". We kept pressing him as to why he was making us wait and staying there (he spoke a little Arabic), and he kept saying there was 'problem with passport' (speaking of Fakher's passport). Now, I have to say, honestly, this guy could not read English, Arabic, or Hebrew (he later admitted), so how could he know there was 'problem". As we were standing there, he went over to the young Palestinan who was in a small outdoor cement room (maybe 5 " x 5"), which had bullet proof windows, opened the door, started shouting at him - punched him in the shoulder and slammed the metal door on him as he stried to get out. Adri then lost his cool and started shouting at him that he has no right to treat anyone like that. The soldier became more aggressive and started yelling at us, and really pulled a power trip. At the same time, another soldier was talking to a driver who was standing
outside his car door. He started to push him and shove him into the door. He then shoved him hard into the car, slamming the door on him, literally. The tension started to rise more, and Adri turned to the young Palestinian who was in the containment room, asking him why they were holding him - the soldier went crazy - walked over to the boy, slammed the one window shut and shoved him on the ground and told him the sit on the floor (so we couldn't see him or talk to him). Adri started yelling even more that he is a human being and he can't treat him like an animal. He told us in was not our problem and that he's going to jail. He then came right up to my face and told me 'go to your car". I stood right in his face and shouted "no, I'm staying right here". He smirked and walked away. It was extremely hot and the young man was now fully contained in this little room. The other soldier, proceeded to take another person out of his car and slam him with the door. Adri then threatened to call someone
that would make them stop, and they simply ignored him. We then called Amber, one of our board members and Regional Director who lives in Ramallah and who's cousin works for the UN (her job at the UN is to protect abuse at checkpoints as it is a daily occurance) . We told her what was going on and that these soldiers were abusing people. She made some phone calls to some high ranking officials and after about 2 hours the commander showed up. The complete atmosphere changed. All the cars were then being allowed through without stopping (as it normally is) and the comander opened the door and windows for the young man. The other soldier that was pushing people into thier cars, came over offering us and the young man cold water. The soldier then started asking, even begging, for Adri not to make trouble, now realizing... I don't know what. That he was wrong? I doubt it. Maybe simply caught? The commander then went around asking the soldiers what they had done. They all denied they had done anything wrong. The comander released the young man, and told him to go home to his family. He then
Watching bedind the scenes
We had to use the laptop to want the film for this interview. Did I mention how hard it's going to be to select on 8 - 10??? tried to convince us that he gives specific orders never to hurt or mistreat any of the Palestinians and that this never happens. Israeli soldiers would never do this. We didn't argue. Did he truely believe this, thinking we were lying? Or does he have to convince himself of this to carry on?
The heatbreaking part for me was there was a 3rd soldier there. Literally looked 15, but would have had to been 18 to serve in the army. He was very quite, must have been on one of his first postings, and seemed to try and distance him from these 2 other soldiers. He was the calm withing the storm. All I could think about were our youth, past and future, that have and will participate in our program. One in that containment room and the other young man in the soldier uniform with an uzi on his shoulder. This is not a place for either of them to be.
Because of all of this, we were delayed in getting to Bethlehem to complete some more inerviews. We called ahead and the applicants waited. They know this life, they live this life, and are unforunately used
Amber and Jawad
Jawad is a Palestinian/French filmaker. He's assiting Amber as we filmed the wall at Bethlehem to it. This group was absolutely amazing. They were so open, so honest and really well spoken. Many of them have at least one family member in jail and many, if not all, lost someone close to them as a result of the conflict. One of them, from Hebron, told us 40% of the kids in his class are currently in jail. Some live in refugee camps. Some even live in camps with names such as H1 and H2. These kids have seen it all. And they still have hope. We are really going to have a hard time saying no to any of this group. Unfortunately we can only pick between 8-10 on both sides.
Tomorrow, we are off to Nablus for some more interviews!!!!
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Randy
non-member comment
Wow
Really makes you appreciate what we have here in Canada. Thanks for sharing this and keep safe you two.