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CounterPunch
September
21, 2002
Anniversary
with Life in Palestine
by
AMELIA PELTZ
Living under a twenty-four hour a day, military-imposed
curfew often puts me into a reflective, somewhat philosophical,
if not self-indulgent frame of mind. Perhaps its the confinement.
Perhaps its the continuous shooting, shelling, and horrendous
roar of the tanks and jeeps driving around. Or maybe the depressing
reality that an entire population--the Palestinians--has been
condemned to a life of oppression and dispossession, sanctioned
by a world that will not stand up to the might of Israel and
the United States.
I suppose that today the source of my
meditations stems from the fact that it is my birthday. A birthday
spent under military curfew, listening to gunfire, and rationing
food and water. A birthday in Palestine.
As the news of another suicide bomber
filled the air waves, I felt a growing sense of rage at the reporters
who claimed that this attack shattered a period of "relative
calm". While Israelis may have been going about their daily
lives, enjoying the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur,
Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza have continued
to suffer the most brutal and unjust form of occupation. Since
the beginning of the new school year in late August, thousands
of Palestinian students have been forced to spend more days at
home under curfew than studying in their classrooms. In Nablus,
one of the most besieged cities in the West Bank that has been
under curfew for over 80 days, students have not been allowed
to attend school for even a day. Not one day.
The economic, social, and political stranglehold
over Ramallah continues to deepen every day. With the majority
of economic activity suspended due to the extended curfews, poverty
continues to rise unabated. Curfews mean that no one can go to
work, to school, to the doctor, to visit family or friends--unless,
of course, they take the chance and break curfew--something that
many people, myself included, frequently attempt. What other
choice do we have? The choice is between remaining caged in our
homes like dangerous animals or trying to carry on with life
as best we can. We chose life.
But to chose life in Palestine comes
with risks, often life-threatening ones. On Tuesday, I was in
Jerusalem and going back home to Ramallah when I got a phone
call informing me that shooting had broken out in the centre
of town--Al Manara--and also near my house in Al Bireh. After
crossing the hateful Qualadiya checkpoint I got into a taxi for
the ride up to Ramallah, which by now was under military curfew.
Instead of taking an alternative route, the driver decided to
head up the main road, passing Al Amaari refugee camp. As we
neared the camp an Israeli tank appeared on the horizon. Quickly
the driver turned down another road that would take us part way
around the camp. As we emerged back onto the main road we found
ourselves caught between three tanks. The driver quickly stepped
on the accelerator in an attempt to get out of the area. Just
as we drove behind one of the tanks, the vans engine died. And
at that moment, one of the tanks started to reverse right into
us. All the while, soldiers where shooting live ammunition at
young children who where throwing stones. For a moment, it seemed
like the scene out of one of those old black and white movies--the
kind where the car gets stuck on the railroad tracks just as
the train is rapidly approaching. But this was no movie--it was
very real. By some miracle, the driver got the van's engine started
again just as the tank was inches from hitting us. We quickly
sped off, looking back at the mayhem that the soldiers with their
American-made tanks and machine guns were causing in the refugee
camp.
Relating this story to a friend later
in the evening, the response was "Well, I suppose that's
a typical day in Palestine. At least you are alive!" Indeed
I am. Alive to celebrate my anniversary with life in Palestine.
Celebrating one's anniversary with life
against the backdrop of death would, I suppose, make anyone stop
to contemplate such a paradox. But then life seems to be filled
with such contradictions these days. While the regime of George
Bush & Co. scream about the crimes committed by Saddam Hussein,
a much more dangerous man is on the loose in the Middle East:
Ariel Sharon. A man who authorized the murder of over 800 Palestinians
in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon. A man who
has encouraged the massacre of Palestinians throughout the West
Bank and Gaza since his ascent to power last year. A man who
possess nuclear weapons and who would not think twice about using
them. A man who has laid out plans for the violent expulsion
of all Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza. Why isn't the
world on a crusade to stop this man before all traces of Palestine
and the Palestinian people are erased? Or does the world only
go after dictators who don't support American economic interests?
Life takes on a whole new meaning in
Palestine. What many people take for granted--the right to work,
the right to an education, the right to food, clean water and
medical care--often becomes a matter of daily survival here.
What many people consider the basics of life have become the
essence of life in Palestine.
And so it has become a day of being grateful
for those basics of life. Of sharing in the struggles, the hopes
and the fears with my Palestinian family and friends. Of celebrating
what we still have and not all that we have lost. Of celebrating
my anniversary with life in a country that continues to defy
death.
Amelia Peltz
can be reached at: atpeltz@attglobal.net.
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September
20, 2002
Joan Hoff
Debating
War:
the Forgotten Tradition
Norman Madarasz
Lessons from a Cyncial Master
Jean Chretien's New York
State of Mind
Mitchel Cohen
Toxic Wastes
and
the New World Order
Peter Lee
Why Bush
Wants This War
Bruce Jackson
20 Questions
About Bush's
War Against Arabs
Krystal Kyer
Greenwashing the Marketplace
September
19, 2002
Ron Jacobs
Cheney's
Vermont Breakfast
Ilija Trojanow
/ Ranjit Hoskote
Who Cares
for Human Rights?
It's a "Just" War
Jordy Cummings
How
to Silence
Pro-Palestinian Voices
Salam Rahal
The Rape
of a Nation
Richard Falk
& David Krieger
War with
Iraq:
It's Not Bush's Decision
Ralph Nader
How Congress
Can Fight Corporate Crime
Kurt Nimmo
Bush Senior:
Hating Saddam, Selling Him Weapons
September
18, 2002
Rep. Cynthia
McKinney
Goodbye
to All That
Jeffrey St.
Clair
Cancerous
Air
Born Under a Bad Sky
Ben Tripp
Smoking
Gun
of a Hatchet Job
Peggy Thomson
20 Years
After:
Sabra and Shatila
Thomas Mountain
September
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William Cook
Yet Another
Bush Doctrine
Kathleen Christison
Israel's Other Voices
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