A group of us responded to a call yesterday afternoon about a Palestinian youth being taken by soldiers. By the time we got there, we noticed quite a sight.
Crowds of mostly young kids and young men were standing in front of soldiers, who closed a ring around a smaller group of people. An older looking man and woman in a hijab defiantly stood in the ring. Behind them stood their son, an eighteen year, who was we later learned accused of throwing a rock at a soldier. The parents, and another family member, to me summed up one of the character traits that I have seen so often among the Palestinian people- courage and resilience, and the unwillingness to give up one of their own.
We tried asking the soldiers to let the boy go, and the crowd kept getting bigger and bigger, although it was entirely peaceful. The soldiers pushed us away as they did with other Palestinians, and kept asking us to stand behind a certain point on the road. It was obvious they were getting frustrated. No one in the crowd was being violent, but people there also were clearly not afraid, and showing it.
Some of us managed to slip through, and position ourselves beside the parents. The crowd kept increasing in size, and suddenly there was some sort of a commotion. The boy suddenly took off running, and a bunch of other Palestinians with him, to add to the confusion. Realizing too late what happened, the soldiers gave chase, but by then he disappeared into one of the side streets.
The family invited us over to their house, and they treated us to a delicious supper of vegetables and rice and juice.
The boy crossed into the Palestinian side of Hebron, and acting on his father's advice, turned himself over to the Palestinian police. Unfortunately, they turned him over to the Israeli police, It was known this could happen, but the police are less likely to physically harm him than the soldiers, whom he probably embarrassed by getting away. It turns out also he didn't throw the rock... other ISMers who were in the market at the time remember being with him during when he allegedly did this.
Despite this, there was a very real fear that the soldiers may come at night time to pay the family "a visit", and in the guise of a "search", trash the house. Some of us stayed with them, to be present and document if they came, and by our presence hopefully reduce the damage they would do. Thanks be to God, we had a calm night and they did not come.
I have to admit that yesterday was probably one of my best days here. Almost every day, we watch these guys harass and stop and search random people. We see people being detained and arrested, many of them completely innocent.
This time, things turned out a bit differently. Things didn't go quite according to plan. For at least a few moments, their control was temporarily broken and the people took the power back.
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