Hungry and Thirsty for Justice: Incident at Checkpoint 56

As we were out to visit friends this evening, we walked out of H2, Israeli Army controlled section of Hebron, and into H1, the Palestinian Authority controlled part of the city.

While we were leaving H2, many Palestinians were trying to enter it. Many Palestinians who live in H2 have jobs in H1. Others have family and friends in the divided city, and during Ramadan especially many families and friends get together. People were entering into H2, going through the checkpoint.

Suddenly, when the crowd lulled for a few seconds, a Palestinian teenager stepped forward. He threw two rocks at the checkpoint, missing it completely, and then ran off. For about five minutes, people kept coming in without any changes.

All of a sudden, an angry soldier came out, and demanded to know who threw the rock. When no one answered, he announced that the checkpoint now will be closed, and put a chain to stop people from entering the gate. The Palestinians began asking to be let in, saying that no one in the crowd threw the rocks, and the person who did so was long gone. The soldier took out a sound grenade, pulled out the pin, and threw it into the crowd. It made a very loud BOOM noise. Other soldiers then climbed up on the roof, loading their guns. Things looked very tense. After about 20 minutes, they began to let people in again.

There is a camera set up by the military, which looks down on the area in H1 where people come in from. If the soldiers wanted to identify who threw the two stones, it would have been very easy for them to do so. Instead, about a dozen people who had nothing to do with his action were punished.

I have no idea who the kid was who threw the stone, or why he did what he did. Maybe he was harassed one to many times by the Army. Maybe he knew someone who lives in H2 and who can't go to sleep at night without fearing what the soldiers and settlers will come up with next. Maybe he was bored or frustrated with something else, and he thought that throwing two rocks would be a fun stress relief. Maybe he did it for another reason that I don't know.
I don't know whether he thought through what consequences such an action could have on the others waiting to get in. In my personal view, it was an irresponsible and inconsiderate thing to do. Also, as a pacifist, I am opposed to all forms of violence.

Having said this, the violence of these two rocks thrown at the checkpoint pales in comparison to the daily systematic violence that Palestinians face in this city. The humiliation of the random stops and being searched and held up at checkpoints. The fear of facing settler attacks at eleven at night, or being pulled out of one's workplace and hauled in to a military base for something you didn't even do. The pain of being beaten and kicked behind the closed doors of a room in a police station or army base. The necessity of having to deal with water shortages and random stops by soldiers or Border Police. Other problems that most people would not even consider.

The degradation, humiliation and harm caused by the occupation is all a systematic and ongoing form of violence. Unlike a kid who, in my opinion, stupidly and irresponsibly threw these two rocks, the perpetrators of this violence don't fear any punishment or retribution from anyone.