Yesterday evening in Hebron, approximately one thousand Palestinians- men, women and children- took part in a demonstration commemorating the murder of Ali Saad Dawabsha, the eighteen month old Palestinian boy who was burned alive by settlers last week. The protest was very loud, yet peaceful. A truck playing music drove slowly ahead, with a guy on it who was kind of like a DJ and led people in singing and yelling. The people behind the truck chanted. There was a second truck somewhere in the middle of the crowd, I guess to make sure people were saying the same thing, Most of the chants were against Israel and the settlers, the anger being very understandable.
The sea of yellow flags showed that the rally was organized by Fatah, a political faction of the Palestinian Authority. I do not support Fatah (for mostly the same reasons I don't support Hamas, plus the issue of their corruption), but many Palestinians do. I don't know how many people at the demonstration were truly there because they supported Fatah, and how many came out because to express their anger at the murder of the child.
The demonstration moved through several streets in Hebron, but was confined to H1. Unlike the protests organized last year by Hamas, the leaders kept the people very far away from H2. Although some yelled "death to Israel", care was taken not to allow clashes to take place.
After the demonstration ended, some twenty teenagers, most of them between twelve and sixteen years old, ran into Bab E Zawiya and began to throw rocks and bottles at the checkpoint. Unlike in Kafr Kaddum or Bethlehem or Nabi Saleh, it was completely spontaneous. The soldiers responded by shooting teargas into the market and throwing sound bombs. The fighting continued, and a soldier ran out into the street, shot a rubber coated steel bullet, and ran back. He did this several times.
We kept very far from them when we filmed, for two reasons.
The first is that when it is dark, there is a bigger chance of accidentally getting shot by a soldier who may mistake you for a shebab.
The second reason is the shebab themselves.
Unlike in the villages and cites like Ramallah or Bethlehem, the youth in Hebron who are fighting the soldiers, in particular the younger kids, can get very aggressive, even with people they very well know are on their side, but are foreigners. According to some Palestinians I spoke to, some of them come to fight not for national or political reasons, but because it is fun. Watching them running towards the checkpoint, yelling and whooping and whistling, reminded of me boys running to a party.
While for us male activists, the worst we have ever faced from the youth is hostile stares or at times cursing or being accused of being "Jews" (as if in itself that is a bad thing), and, very rarely an occasional rock thrown our way (rocks that are always small and are never thrown directly at us but just close enough to make us jump); some of the female activists have been at times talked to in a dirty fashion and even touched inappropriately. One of the shebab tried hitting the thighs of one of the female ISMers last night with a Palestinian flag, and our Palestinian friend, Hatem, who was with us, smacked him hard on the back of the head, and yelled at him. We made sure to be with Palestinian friends last night, whom the shebab have a respect for, or at least fear enough not to mess with. Even so, many of us did not go anywhere near them or the clashes.
This kind of behaviour among shebab taking part in clashes is unique, in other parts of the West Bank they are usually very disciplined, and respect foreigners. In many of the villages, they also make sure to position themselves away from the people who are marching peacefully and want no part in the fighting- not that the soldiers really care, since they shoot gas at everyone.
The kids who act this way in Hebron of course do not represent most of its population, or even most of its young people. For many Palestinians who live in the city, their behaviour is a source of embarrassment.
The clashes lasted for about thirty minutes, then everyone went home.
No comments:
Post a Comment