ramblings

I think I’m losing it…seriously…i think I’m forgetting the meaning of words like “peace” and “ceasefire” and “routine”. Today I had a day off and went to meet a friend of mine from Bethlehem who has recently started a new job with UNESCO in Ramallah. We met for a long lunch and then went shopping in Ramallah’s busy town centre. Then the army arrived. Bulldozers first, shunting parked cars out of the way, some into shop fronts. Close behind were the armoured jeeps. No announcements: tear-gas, then sound grenades, then live fire. A helicopter above, backing up he ground troops with overhead fire. We were caught so unaware that I have to admit we both panicked and fled with other shoppers, young and old into the nearest store. We flinched and held hands with every gunshot and explosion from the other side of the metal shutters. .

Of course, we needn’t have worried. This was just a “routine arrest operation”. So tell me, am I losing it? Have I been here too long? What exactly is routine about four dead people and twenty seriously injured? Routine to me was mothers and children, on holiday from school, going about their business, buying food and clothes, meeting friends for lunch….right?

Today in Palestine: Ramallah raided, Bethlehem raided, Tubas raided, two villages close to Bethlehem raided, four dead, 35 injured, 9 arrested, so far. But Israel wants only peace and to protect itself from terrorists. A new colony approved in the West Bank to house the illegal Israeli “settlers” removed from the Gaza strip; 55,000 new Israeli houses to be built on land stolen from the village I volunteer in, the village that now has an unemployment rate of around 75%….peace?

Like I say, i really think i’m losing it, I hear the words Israel speaks but my eyes won’t let me believe them…anyone any advice for a confused girl?