Susan Atallah
July 13th,
2002
I truly lost count of how many incursions we have been exposed to accompanied by curfews since March 2002. We have lived through many hardships in our lives under occupation, but never this cruel. I started to ask people around me for the real reason behind being under curfew. Nobody knows! The ironic thing is that the Israeli army is so creative at disrupting our normal lives and making us more miserable and depressed. I think that some Israelis are even delighted to know about what is happening to us, others don’t even know what their government is doing against us, and that others don’t agree at all with what is going on.
Let me give you an example of how life is for us: Wednesday 10th
July, we read on the local TV stations that there will be a curfew-lifting from
9:00-3:00 the next day. Now everybody started to plan their lives according to
this time span and announce it on TV, like the weddings, the funerals, the
children clubs, the university schedule for the students, etc. Bethlehem
started to become alive Thursday morning and everybody was rushing to finish
everything at least at 2:45 so as to be home before or at 3:00. I was able to
squeeze my lecture at Bethlehem University at 1:00 o’clock because one teacher
was not able to make it. At 2:30 the university campus was deserted. I arrived
home exactly at 2:50 and at 3:00 o’clock sharp Bethlehem became like a
graveyard again except for a few rushing cars who are trying to race home
before the tanks and armored vehicles did their round to make sure that all
Bethlehemites are back to their cages. At 3:05, the local TVs announced that
curfew will not be imposed until six o’clock. We had an extension of freedom! How generous of them!
Today, Saturday 13th we were allowed our freedom again from
9:00 –5:00 and everybody planned their day accordingly. At 2:00 o’clock it was
announced again that this time span is reduced and curfew will be imposed again
at 3:00.
When you have the power and the right ally then you can do what you
want without being judged.
We’ll wait tonight to see if they will lift up curfew tomorrow Sunday
or the day after, and then we will plan our day accordingly. And this is how
life is for us, Palestinians.
If you were to live our life, how would you feel?
I’ll leave you
to think about it.
Update by
Toine van Teeffelen (July 20)
This last week
is a good illustration of what Susan writes about the previous week. First of
all, there is still an around-the-clock curfew in Bethlehem and other West Bank
cities only interrupted by opening hours which are twice a week. There has been
no easing of this arrangement, as many abroad think. The exact opening hours
remain unclear due to a combination of rumours and, it looks, a purposeful policy
of the Israeli army to create chaos in civil life. For instance, today,
Saturday 20/7, we were supposed to have a lifting of the curfew from seven till
five, as announced yesterday. In the morning rumours said it would last until
four, the Palestinian Ministry said that, no, it would stay until five; then
the Israeli army announced that it will be until three apparently in
retaliation to the killing of a settler today in Hebron. At 15:00 a kind of gaz
‘bombs’ was used in Beit Jala to drive people from the streets, and many
panicked and went in a hurry to their houses. Many are of course not familiar
with the various changes in time and are frightened by the army jeep
loudspeakers which say that they have to move from the streets. Meanwhile,
during the opening hours the streets are full with cars; drivers are frustrated
and car accidents happen.
Nobody knows
what will happen in the coming days. The Palestinian administration who is in
contact with the Israelis announces that the coming days people are allowed to
go out from seven to five, but such announcements can change any time.
Especially
families with many kids at home who do not have a garden to play in, are
victims of the closure. Students who have to do their final exams at Bethlehem
University do not know how to plan their days. A great many Bethlehemites face
financial as well as psychological problems. There are countless people with
headaches or pressure on the breast. Even to go out of the country is next to
impossible as one has to register for a month-long waiting list to cross the
Allenby Bridge to Jordan. People feel as if they are treated like animals,
chicken, allowed to go out for a while and then driven back into their shack.
The general opinion is that the Israeli policy is aimed at inducing people to
leave.