What will happen?

I am finding that it is important not to write about events as they are occurring unless I am an eye witness.  First reports from friends or news media may be based on little evidence and a lot of speculation.  But now I can tell you of the news from the day I arrived in East Jerusalem until this morning - from Saturday Oct. 3 to Tuesday, the 6th.

     The Palestine Red Crescent Society reported that over the weekend 96 Palestinians were shot with live fire or rubber coated steel bullets.  Of these I don’t know how many died or will die, but here is what I have read:

     On Saturday evening, inside the Old City in front of the Austrian Hospice where I often stay and where my friend Doris was staying, a 19 year old Palestinian man attacked a group of settlers - their very presence a provocation in this Muslim section of the city. He stabbed one of them, grabbed his gun and shot 2  settlers, killing them, and wounded 2 others before he was shot dead by Israeli police or army. One does not know if this attack was pre-meditated or a spontaneous act of rage. (Note: Settlers are easily identified by their habit of carrying guns, rifles slung over their shoulders.)

     A Palestinian from nearby Shuafat village filmed the incident, and is now being sought by the Isreali army. For having documented the attack, he is seen by Israel as a criminal, so his village will be searched -usually a violent procedure - until he is found.

     Subsequently, the family of the attacker was told that their home would be demolished as collective punishment (a violation of International Law), and they could chose to demolish it themselves (much less expensive, since they would be billed double if Israel does the job) or leave that task for Israel to carry out. The Halabi family self-evacuated their home and started the demolition on Sunday.

     In the early morning of Sunday, maybe 4 a.m., another Palestinian teen was trying to pass by a group of settlers just outside the Old City. Instead of letting him pass, they surrounded him and accused him of attacking them, and yelled “Terrorist. Shoot him!”  Israeli police intervened and shot the teen to death as he appeared to be running away.

     The above comes in the context of Palestinians under 50 years old having been restricted from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque, their most holy place, during the 8-day Israeli Sukkoth Holiday.  And since the above events Israel is heightening the tensions by forbidding all Palestinians who do not reside in the Old City from entering its gates, which means they cannot get to the Al-Aqsa Mosque either.

    On October 2nd Palestinians near Nablus shot and killed 2 settlers. Since then, 10 Palestinian demonstrators were shot by Israeli soldiers with live ammunition. On the same day, settlers from the right-wing Yitzhak settlement torched several acres of Palestinian olive trees while Israel, not protecting the farmers’ land, closed the nearby checkpoint to all traffic.

       On Oct. 4, soldiers kidnapped a 23 year old Palestinian engineer from his hospital bed in Nablus.

    Yesterday, Oct. 5, a 13 year old Palestinian boy returning home from school was shot in the chest by live ammunition. He died.  This happened half a mile from where we were at the Museum. After that there were incessant sounds of gunfire and teargas until nightfall, and again all day today, the day of the funeral for the boy. The window of our office is closed to keep out the teargas.

     Perhaps the best way to close this chapter is to tell you the story of the waiter who served me and Loren dinner last night. Loren had chosen a nearby restaurant because, being in a hotel, it would have to be open.  Almost all other businesses were observing the general strike which was called to honor the dead Palestinian youth.  We chatted with the very pleasant, skinny young man who took our orders.  He lives in Ramallah, which means he has a permit to work in Jerusalem, but it also means he has to go through a notorious checkpoint to get here and home again. We expressed our concern for his safety, given the past 24 hours of violence and calls for protests, and he answered, “I don’t worry for my life; just my wife does.”  “So, you are married?” “Yes, four months ago.”  His words echoed in my heart. It should not be that a recently married young man does not care if he lives or dies.