Lockdown in Hebron

Hebron is in lockdown. Lockdown is a term used in U.S. jails when inmates are locked in their cells and cannot walk around the common areas or go outside. Sometimes they do it just to get an accurate count; other times it is punishment imposed after some kind of incident. In Hebron, the "incident" was last week's suicide bombers, who lived in Hebron.

The Israeli army had previously blocked most of the roads in and out of Hebron,but now they have finished the job. They have locked us down.

There are currently 4,082,300 registered Palestinian refugees, 32% are living in camps. Refugees make up 32.6% of the population of the West Bank. Over 60% of Palestinians live on less than $2.15 per day, the official poverty level here. There are 98 Israeli army check points and 99 road blocks, and the worst affected areas are Ramallah and Hebron. 50% of the total land mass of the West Bank is under the control of Israeli settlers. This land was confiscated from Palestinians.

This military occupation is harsh, leaving people in despair and without hope. But Palestinians retain their self-respect, and almost everyone here is engaged in some form of nonviolent resistance. Some people are also engaged in violent resistance.

One form of nonviolent resistance involves the roadblocks. We can get out of town by taking a cab to a roadblock, then climbing over the pile of rocks and dirt, then catching another cab waiting on the other side. We have to repeat this 2, sometimes 3, times to get to Jerusalem. Returning from Jerusalem on Sunday, we found that the army had put up yetanother barrier: barbed wire. We took a cab to the roadblock, climbed over it, then took a cab to the barbed wire, then walked around three sets of coiled barbed wire in the road about a half block apart. Then we caught another cab.

The whole town is being punished for the action of two residents. Another form of collective punishment involves aggressive I.D.checks. There are military check points all over Hebron, and Palestinian men are routinely detained. This activity has picked up noticeably since the suicide bombing. Today we witnessed Israeli border police parading aline of 35 or so young Palestinian men toward the check point nearest our apartments. The police made them squat in a line for an hour. When someone asked the officer in charge why the men were detained, his reply was, "because I want to."

The image of Hebron as a jail and the Israelis as our jailers fits the situation here. The violence of the jailer is well-known but rarely punished, while the violence of the inmate results in severe punishment for the whole population. The only difference is that most people here never committed a crime. They landed in this jail due to geography, international politics, ethnic origin, religion, and bad luck.