The streets of Ramallah are completely
still, the bright sun reflecting off the pavement and the stone
of the buildings forcing the viewer to squint and ultimately turn
away. The brilliance of the color of the flowers in my garden
- purple, yellow and pink - creates a kind of noise rising up
until I turn my gaze away. I can hear the birds chirping their
songs, the call undisturbed but for the occasional sound of armored
personnel carriers (APCs) moving about or the crack of machine
gun fire and the echo of the bullets whizzing through the air.
Out the left window of my kitchen the minaret of the local mosque
stands tall, but the sound of the call to prayer is no more. And,
of course, this enforced, imposed serenity in this previously
bustling city, is periodically punctuated by a roar from above,
for the planes heading on to Tel Aviv still fly overhead.
Naturally, one looks to the sky at these
times, expectantly looking for the jet, the contrast of the sound
to the powerful silence imposing itself on one's mind and spirit.
But the stranger contrast, the one that stings and forces your
head to dip down and your shoulders to slump is that of the difference
in movement. For Ramallah, like almost all Palestinian cities,
has become a virtual prison of homes.
Ramallah has always been a city of movement,
even before it was properly a city. Decades ago, Ramallah was
a kind of weekend getaway and summer spot for Palestinian Arabs
seeking to escape the bustle of Jerusalem and other cities. More
recently, Ramallah has emerged as the main center of congregation
of Palestinian-Americans returning home to build their nation
and have their children grow up in their ancestral land. And Ramallah
is where most international organizations and companies have set
up offices in Palestine,thus generating a feeling of constant
movement as new faces replace older ones in the sizable expatriate
community.
But now, this has all ceased, with the
imposed curfew by Israeli forces. Now they are the only ones to
move, for anyone caught breaking curfew "will be punished"
as the loudspeaker on the military jeep announced today.
As I walk through the streets of the city
(I along with other internationals here consistently break curfew,
refusing to acknowledge the authority of the Israeli occupation
forces) I am constantly reminded of being a in a zoo. Not that
the Palestinians are animals, but this is precisely how the Israelis
are treating the Palestinian population - locking up over 700,000
people in their homes throughout the West Bank. As I come upon
a house or apartment building, kids rush to the windows to peer
out, often behind child-proofing or design-inspired bars barring
the windows. Sometimes people will venture to go outside into
their gardens or front yards, and dare to come as far as the outer
walls to their property. Always, they will shake hands or speak
with you. And in true spirit of Palestinian hospitality, each
person is greeted with a "t'fadalou" (basically, "you
are welcome inside"). And in the outlying areas of the cities,
away from the concentration of the soldiers, some will come outside
into the street, but always held back by an invisible leash, and
all ears open and listening for the sound of the jeep or an APC
or a tank. When these arrive on the scene, everyone rushes back
inside,
for all know of what happened in Jenin (where a number Palestinians
in the market were shot and killed) and that was when curfew was
lifted!
And what are we to do, those of us who
watch on the evening news or read in the newspaper about the events
in this region?
Is the promulgation of a jail sentence
on an entire people acceptable simply because it has happened?
People who have yearned for freedom for over 50 years are now
locked away, patrolled by their jailers - the same jailers who
refuse to remove their occupation and oppression and grant freedom
to the men, women and children of Palestine. And while these people
are locked up, the planes continue to fly overhead.
We cannot
accept that an entire people should be jailed. The lack of outcry
against this situation in which Palestinians find themselves belies
the fact that treatment of the Palestinian people as animals or
criminals is acceptable. And the planes keep flying overhead.
