Das Mail eines palästinensischen Christen,
erhalten am Mittwoch, 5. Juni 2002 17:40
Dear Friends,
the following story is written by the headmaster of
my school in Palestine. This story is a tiny small
example of what is going on in my land Palestine.
Well, it would be great if you read this story.
Thank you in advance.
regards,
Y.
P.S. I would also appreciate it too much if you could
forward it to other people, who still don't know the
truth. Thank you again.
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A trip to Ramallah
Short story, by Hani Odeh
On the 17th. Of May, I was invited to attend an
educational meeting in Ramallah conducted by the
Ministry of Education. The meeting was at 11:00 am.
Taking into consideration the difficulties on the way
between the Palestinians cities, which is guarded by
Israeli soldiers, because of the importance of the
meeting and the curiosity from my side to see Ramallah
after the invasion, I decided to go.
I couldn’t travel by my car, because there were many
checkpoints with numerous of blockades on the streets,
which force the traveler to change the car several
times on his way.
At 8.30 I found a place in a public car which went
slowly through the (Wadi Al-Nar). The streets were
dug, most of the asphalt was destroyed, and heaps of
soil were in the streets. The car was shaking all the
way while driving on the rocky roads.
In a loud voice I wondered :” what is that? How do
people pass this road every day?” The driver was
astonished and asked me if I was a foreigner?
“No, I am Palestinian.” I answered firmly.
A middle- aged man commented: “If you are a
Palestinian and don’t know what is going on the roads,
then how can we blame the outsiders.”
I sat silently in my place very shy of my ignorance
thinking of our tragedy and wondering “why should the
Israeli leaders do their best to invent ways for our
humiliation ?”
After a while I woke up from my meditation to see a
big iron gate installed in the road. The gate was
open, a number of soldiers guarded the place and only
one soldier stopped the cars to check the IDs of the
passengers. He was very slowly in doing his job, while
the other soldiers were chatting, looking at the cars
and laughing.
Again, I was astonished in a loud voice: “A gate in
the middle of the street!?” My thoughts immediately
traveled to America, where on most of the bridges
there are some kind of control and the cars should pay
a certain amount of money to pass the gate. “Do the
Israelis want to adopt the American system as a
gratitude for their support?”
The car stopped in the line waiting. One hour later we
managed to cross the gate, which was only 100 meters
away after we were checked by the same soldier.
Finally the car arrived in Abu-Dies village where we
should take another car to Ramallah.
Before switching on the motor the driver murmured:
“Oh, God we depend on you”. Not more than hundreds of
meters on the paved road the car entered a hilly,
rocky and dusty pathes. I was afraid that the car
would turn over. The cars had to follow in such bad
roads to avoid the soldiers in the main streets. What
was amazing that the soldiers could see the cars that
drove the by-pass roads without interfering. That
means the intention of the soldiers was to humiliate
people and not for safety reasons. After a long
distance in the wilderness, we reached the Ram-
checkpoint where there were hundreds of cars waiting.
Some on the line and some trespassed over the line.
The soldiers were not in a hurry, so they checked the
cars and the IDs of the passengers very slowly. Their
aim was to delay the people as long as they could so
that they wouldn’t reach their destination on time.
I inquired from the driver if it took time to cross
the checkpoint.
He answered seriously: “If we are lucky we need two
hours.”
I repeated: “two hours!!”
The driver and the passengers laughed at my ignorance.
One of them said: “Yesterday I waited on this
checkpoint for four hours.” He continued: “I am
working in Ramallah, I need about 8 hours and
sometimes more for transportation every day.”
“And what can you work after that”? I commented.
“I must feed my family”. He replied with frustration,
“I have five kids, what’s a hard life,, every thing is
becoming dreadful, it is not a life, death is better
than this life.”
Another one continued: “I don’t blame the “bombers”,
no work, no money, your children are starving in front
of you.. and you can’t help them, you can’t protect
them, this is our life, and then Sharon speaks about
peace, what peace does he mean?”
There were a lot of arguments among the passengers
about the situation, the checkpoints, the Israeli
leaders, and even the Palestinian leaders were also
blamed.
Every one had his own point of view regarding the
conflict. All the voices were full of anger and
frustration. Time went slowly, I would miss the
meeting. I left Beit Sahour two hours and a half prior
to the meeting. Usually, from Beit Sahour to Ramallah
through “Wadi Al-Nar, takes 45 minutes, so I thought
that time was enough to overcome all the
transportation obstacles.
Two hours passed without reaching the checkpoint. I
blamed myself for coming. That trip is only a wasted
time. How shall I come back? Where shall I stay in
Ramallah this night? One more hour passed till we
reached the soldiers at the checkpoint. They asked
about our IDs. I heard some noises and the passengers
were looking at the hill where some youngsters were
crossing the hills naked, only with their pants. These
youngsters were in hurry to their work and they
couldn’t wait some hours in the cars for their turns.
They left the cars to cross the checkpoint from behind
the soldiers to take another transportation waiting at
the other side. For their bad luck, the soldiers were
waiting for them. Usually in such a case the soldiers
shoot them and if they have mercy , they ask them to
take off their clothes.
I thought:” Is it possible to ask me to take off my
clothes? It is better to be shot than doing this.”
I thought “the Israelis are so clever to convince the
world that they are taking a precautionary measures
against the Palestinians who are terrorists by
resisting the civilized Israeli occupation.”
Many thoughts came to me : “The blockades which
prevent the access to the Palestinian cities leaving
thousands without work, the humiliation at the
checkpoints, asking the youngsters to walk naked in
front of the people claiming they may be wearing
explosive belts; invading the cities, destroying
houses, killing and arresting prominent figures, all
these and more aren’t state terror?”
After about three hours of waiting nervously,
impatiently and worrily, we reached the soldier who
looked at our IDs.Suddenly he threw them with
arrogance in our faces shouting: “It is forbidden to
non-Ramallah residents to enter Ramallah.
In order to force the driver to turn back, he kept the
ID of the driver with him.
The driver turned back but he said laughing : We could
go from the hills but we must walk some minutes and
take another transportation.
“Isn’t dangerous?” One asked.
“Depend on God, depend on God,” the driver murmured.
It was some minutes after 3:00 o’clock p.m., the
meeting was supposed to finish at one o’clock. “Why
should I walk in a dangerous road to enter Ramallah, I
was curious to see the city but I had no chance.”
The word “chance” occurred to my mind. Do the
Palestinians have any chance?
Usually the word chance is interpreted as good luck,
but for the Palestinians it means bad luck. His bad
luck let him be born in this part of the world, his
bad luck put him under the Israeli occupation, and his
bad luck let him suffer in such a terrible way in his
own land!
“It is better to return home”, I was nervous again
when I thought of how many hours it would take me to
reach back home.
In the car I was looking at the destroyed roads, then
on the hills on both sides, what a nice landscape we
have in Palestine,” the Holy Land.” Because it is the
most beautiful land in the world, Jesus chose it for
His carnation. Jesus spent his time here, the
disciples too.. The message of peace was spread all
over the world from here, this land is supposed to be
the land of “Paradise,” but alas! it has converted to
be the land of “Hell”. Who blames whom for this
destruction.. the occupation should be blamed and no
one else.
>From Ramallah to Abu-Dies, it was quick, I changed the
car which drove through Wadi Al-Nar, the car went
slowly in the wilderness till we reached the iron
gate. It was closed, no access, no soldiers.
One of the passengers asked how we can go home.
I said with astonish in a loud voice:“ Should we go
home on foot for such a long distance?”
The driver laughed and said proudly as if he was
provoking the soldiers “You should leave the car here,
and walk on the opposite hill to the main road” He
continued:”We can always find ways , it is our land.”
Among the passengers was an old lady, with a low voice
she wondered “How can I climb the mountain. I can’t
walk”.
The driver answered gently,, I am very sorry, my
mother, they will help you, don’t worry.”
She murmured “ May God punish those who caused these
difficulties, we didn’t face such a situation even
during the Turkish mandate. God will revenge from
Sharon.
I took the lady’s hand and climbed the hill walking
slowly and slowly till we reached the main road, while
the old lady was cursing the situation, and asking the
help of God. At the same time she didn’t forget to
thank me asking God to protect me and give me
strength.
At 7 p.m. I was at home loosing a whole day on the
road between Ramallah and Beit Sahour which is less
than 80 Km. to and fro.
I was thinking of all the events happened that day and
asking why should the Israelis behave in such a brutal
way towards us. Is it to stop the violence as they
pretend or to create it? Does the hardship of life
create peace or war? How could the soldiers as human
beings enjoy the humiliation of the Palestinians? Or
they don’t consider them human beings?
Many thought and questions occurred to my mind. But I
couldn’t find any answer. The reality is beyond any
description. We are in jail, three million
Palestinians are in jail divided into many cantoons.
I know that many people are working in Ramallah, how
can they go to their work! Are they going to lose
their work in the coming months? What shall we do?
Does the Israeli government expect us to surrender or
they are provoking the Palestinians and especially the
youngsters to …….?
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