[News] "When I'm big will I go to jail like Daddy?"

[Anti-Imperialist News]

"When I'm big will I go to jail like Daddy?"
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9437.shtml

Joy Ellison writing from al-Tuwani, occupied West Bank, Live from 
Palestine, 3 April 2008

[]

A Palestinian boy watches as a man argues with an Israeli soldier as 
he tries to travel through the
Old City of Hebron, the West Bank, 21 January 2008. (Mamoun 
Wazwaz/<http://maanimages.com/>MaanImages)


"Momma, when I'm big will I go to jail like Daddy?"

That was little Adam's question for his mother when I came to visit 
their house, just before leaving the village of al-Tuwani for a brief 
trip home to the United States. Adam is three years old. His mother 
tells me that he wants his father to come home from jail and bring 
him ice cream. "Adam is upset," she says. Looking at her eyes, I can 
tell that she is too. So am I.

Adam's father was arrested on 28 March, just a few days ago. A group 
of eight to ten Israeli settlers from Havot Ma'on, an illegal Israeli 
settlement outpost, came inside the village of al-Tuwani where they 
found Adam's father and his grandfather. The settlers sprayed them 
with an aerosol substance, which I can only imagine was pepper spray. 
They hit Adam's father in the eyes. Soon, the settlement guard 
arrived, a man everyone in al-Tuwani knows all too well. He was 
followed by the Israeli army and total chaos began to unfold. The 
settlement guard accused Adam's father of breaking his sunglasses. 
While the settlers who attacked Adam's father and grandfather stood 
by, Israeli police arrested Adam's father. They didn't listen to the 
Palestinians who witnessed the settler attack. They didn't question 
the settlers. The police forced Adam's father, still seriously 
injured, into a police van and took him away. There was nothing 
anyone could do.

Sitting in Adam's house, I try to find a way to convey my feelings of 
anguish in my limited Arabic. Adam's mother is unfailingly gracious. 
Making terrible situations seem funny is an art practiced by many 
Palestinians and perfected by Adam's family. Somehow, we laugh while 
we drink our tea. Then Adam's mother tells me how the settlement 
guard threatened Adam's father. "If he sees him again, he will kill 
him," she says. "Then, he said, there will no more problems." My 
mouth drops open upon hearing this threat on Adam's father's life. My 
Arabic fails me utterly. "Really? That's bad," I say. Adam's mother laughs.

"Momma, when I'm big will I go to jail like Daddy?" Adam asks.

"No, when you are big, God willing, this will be Palestine." she 
answers, smiling.

I wrap myself in the words of this beautiful and strong woman and 
praise God that she still has hope.

Joy Ellison is an American activist with Christian Peacemaker Teams, 
an organization that supports Palestinian nonviolent resistance. She 
lives in al-Tuwani, a small village in the South Hebron Hills which 
is nonviolently resisting settlement expansion and violence. She 
writes about her experiences on her blog, "I Saw it in Palestine" at 
<http://inpalestine.blogspot.com>http://inpalestine.blogspot.com.




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