Upon my return to Bi’lin all of my friends and ‘family’ greeted me with smiles and a loving embrace as we celebrated with a large cooked meal. Even after all of my travels and despair I finally felt calm again being back in Palestine, a population that feels like my own people. By midnight people at the gathering dispersed and went home to their families as me and the other activists went to the community center to edit our work and talk to our own families back home. With little not no rest I still felt fully awake at 3 am and decided to go relax at my friends house.
Half way to your destination my Palestinian friend stopped when we were in the middle of the graveyard behind the village mosque as if sensing something in the air.
I asked him “What is it?”
After a pause and deep inhale he looked through the tree and said “Something is not right.”
We stood silent for a seconds and then the phone call came in. A house on the other side of the village was being raided.
We quickly turned around and sprinted back in the direction that we came from. The cool night air rushing down my lungs left me with the idea of how many kids find themselves in positions like this? When we reached the house the military had already blocked everything off with 3 armored cars and squads of soldiers in the field surrounding the house. There was nothing I could do. Every time I raised my camera it was blocked by a bright glair from a soldier’s flashlight and every time I moved closer to the house I was pushed back until I was grabbed at the chest by a soldier who said “Stop or you will be arrested!” The 3 stars on his shoulder showed he was the commander and there was no joking in his voice. I was at a loss. For only 3 seconds a man appeared from the house being pulled by soldiers until he was locked in the armored Jeep. Even with all of the cameras and video recorders no clear image was able to capture the man being taken away behind the towering wall of monsters in green who hide behind guns. Just as fast as the Jeep pulled away into the night the foot soldiers disappeared into the fields. Monsters in green who disappear into the inked night to hide behind their walls.
In a last act of desperation the mother runs after them to the edge of her balcony screaming “Why did you take my son from me!? Imagine your own child being stolen from you!”
Right before they disappeared into the fields she gave her last cry of accepting her loss, “How can you do this to me!?”
A cameraman waiting for help after being injured by a thrown stone.
They were gone as quickly as they came. The man they arrested was nicknamed ‘Sox’, a friend who welcomed me back home only hours ago at my welcome back gathering. The military has been trying to arrest him for quite some time so he has been fleeing his home in fear of imprisonment. He could not stand to be in hiding away from his family for so long and decided to spend a night or two with them before disappearing again.
He was stripped away from us all in the middle of the night for protesting against the apartheid wall that stole his land and I don’t know when I will see him again or what lies ahead in his future.
At the end of it all the mother lay on the floor weeping praying for the grace of god to help protect her son and bring him home. There was nothing I could do to comfort her. I could not even talk to her or hold her hand and tell her everything will be OK because I am a man and I am forbidden to make contact with a married muslim woman. My heart felt as if it’s weight was ripping it in two as I did the only thing I was allowed to do... say good night as we left her crying on the ground for her lost son. An overwhelming feeling of anger, hatred, sadness, failure and helplessness all mingled into one and the only thing that kept me from crying was writing this message to you.
Monsters in green who hide behind walls and guns.
I will never be the same person again.
awesome work
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