Nablus:
(At a children’s activity recently in Nablus someone asked a room full of children how many had someone from their family in prison. Over half the room raised its hand.)
Military forces come in the night, each and every night to take our men, our fathers, brothers, partners, uncles and cousins. They are taken with M-16’s, without charge, in front of our teary wet, angry eyes in the middle of a deeply dark night. Soldiers bang at our door or simply blow it off with dynamite, enter our house, fire live rounds of ammunition over the heads of our sleeping children at 2 or 3 in the morning. The soldiers search the house, turn everything upside down, rip, break, and damage furniture and any expensive equipment, steal our money, jewelry and cell phones, hit our mothers, beat our fathers, make our brothers strip, and leave in possession of a yet another male from our community.
“Sami was arrested and my uncle…” Hussein says “Last night.” I swallow hard, search for words in the heavy silence and see his face. Sami and my last conversation begins to play again in my mind….“What is there to look forward to? More tanks, more death, more lost friends, longer prison terms, unemployment, closed schools, humiliation, military operations, violations and restrictions?” he quietly asked me.
(At a children’s activity recently in Nablus someone asked a room full of children how many had someone from their family in prison. Over half the room raised its hand.)
Military forces come in the night, each and every night to take our men, our fathers, brothers, partners, uncles and cousins. They are taken with M-16’s, without charge, in front of our teary wet, angry eyes in the middle of a deeply dark night. Soldiers bang at our door or simply blow it off with dynamite, enter our house, fire live rounds of ammunition over the heads of our sleeping children at 2 or 3 in the morning. The soldiers search the house, turn everything upside down, rip, break, and damage furniture and any expensive equipment, steal our money, jewelry and cell phones, hit our mothers, beat our fathers, make our brothers strip, and leave in possession of a yet another male from our community.
“Sami was arrested and my uncle…” Hussein says “Last night.” I swallow hard, search for words in the heavy silence and see his face. Sami and my last conversation begins to play again in my mind….“What is there to look forward to? More tanks, more death, more lost friends, longer prison terms, unemployment, closed schools, humiliation, military operations, violations and restrictions?” he quietly asked me.