Redeployment Diary
28 December 1995
Gun culture in Ramallah
Postcard from Ramallah
Left: Any picture postcard of Ramallah during the last several years would not have complete without the presence of at least one or two soldiers carrying guns.
Their presence was unsettling and sometimes a little on the edge. It is hard to explain how much it permeated life here for internationals, never mind the Palestinians, who were the ones at the receiving end. One night in November 1994, I was walking back from someone's house one night
when I walked into a group of IDF soldiers. It was a city street, yet here they were! I wrote to a friend about it:
"Walking back from a get-together last night, I walked past a group of about eight IDF soldiers. It's got a whole different vibe on it when you meet them in the Occupied Territories than in Jerusalem or wherever. They're wired. It was pitch dark, and they were kind of coming off this building site. I saw the group out of the corner of my eye and heard the sound of boots crunching gravel and metallic sounds, and suddenly realised that this was not a group of Palestinians. At this moment, they shone a torch at me to identify me. I kept walking, trying hard not to look suspicious. It's funny, I don't usually worry about this sort of thing. With internationals there are boundaries that they are hesitant and to some extent, afraid to cross. Yet this time, I was aware of their potential power. It reminded me of that Bruce Cockburn song, 'How I spent my fall vacation':
In a Roman street on a full moon night I was sick and there was a young cop in a circle of yellow light
As we drew near he snapped the safety off his machine pistol and slid a trembling finger to the trigger.
I wanted to say something common but couldn't catch his eye,
He didn't want contact, he was trained to see movement.
'Don't shoot me man, I'm a graceful, slow dancer. I'm just a dream here, not real at all...' "
Children and guns
Left: Children question departing Israeli soldiers on redeployment day.For many, the occasion and atmosphere offered an opportunity to question the departing soldiers. Palestinians wearing official PNA badges who were working to control the crowds repeatedly broke up these discussions, seeming to want to avoid coverage of this phenomenon. Otherwise, journalists were given full access to the roped-off area. One mark of the 28-year-old occupation has been the fixation of Palestinian children with guns. The Israelis had effectively modelled 'power' to the population. Children play games such as "Checkpoint" and "Soldiers and Shabab" ["youth"] in the local schools. Many young people and others own guns, which entered the Palestinian areas via Israeli drug addicts and dealers, who sold the guns to finance their habit or sales.
Photo Op
Right: (hi-res double load image) Three boy scouts proudly pose with pictures of themselves, armed to the teeth, on 28th December 1995.One of the first things people rushed to do after the Palestinian police arrived is get pictures of them taken posing with an AK-47 rifle. On the streets, hundreds of police walk around with rifles, both in and out of uniform, making it hard to distinguish who is on duty. A scene familiar to tourists to West Jerusalem cafés, soldiers sit with rifles propped up against the walls in many of Ramallah's restaurants. In a clear violation of the Oslo 2 accord, rifles are also prevalent in the streets of the nearby village of Birzeit and, at times, significantly more than the 14 rifles allowed inside the police station for its protection in emergency.
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Photos: © Nigel Parry. All available.