Hours pass. It's raining. Israeli soldiers eat candy bars and chit-chat with one another. The families are not allowed to speak. It becomes dark. The Israeli soldiers blindfold some of the Palestinians and bind their hands. They throw them into the back of jeeps. The Palestinians are on their way to Israeli administrative detention. They are held without charge for three months, for questioning. This means interrogation and torture. The torture, I am told by friends who have survived it, involves being bound to small chairs while beaten or made to stand on tip-toes with their hands cuffed high up on walls for days on end. They are hit and screamed at. Some are made to "confess" to "crimes." Many allude to sexual assault. No one will tell me exactly what has happened to them. They look down and say they want to forget. Some smile, their eyes turn bright and wet, and say, "this is the life."

The Israeli military has reinvaded Bethlehem and has put all West Bank Area A under curfew. Area A, under Oslo, is what Palestine was "given" sovereignty over. During the night the soldiers drive through the camp shouting from a loud-speaker, "All families in Aida Camp, you are under curfew. You are not allowed to leave your homes." Who is this arrogant occupying army and why are they allowed to exist. The Israeli soldiers call out, "Al-Akbar," which is part of the call to prayer for the Muslims in the camp, at all hours. They laugh and shout and gun the engines of the tanks.