Living under curfew

Susan Atallah in Bethlehem
24th June, 2002

We use expressions and words that control our lives that others don't even know their meaning or can't even relate. For people who don't know what curfew means: it means that Israeli soldiers roam around town in their tanks and armored vehicles announcing a military curfew and anybody who defies this order will be shot. So people are forced to stay caged in in their homes until mercy comes their way; every three days, we are given a few hours to do our shopping and then come back to our homes, which have become our prisons. Everything comes to a stand still, like a paralyzed body. Nobody knows what it means to be a prisoner in your own home until you experience it. What a depressing feeling! A home, for most people, means a haven where they can come after work and relax. A home is a place where you welcome friends and families and have a nice gathering. But for us, the Palestinians, our home has become our prison. Life outdoors is denied us. A summer vacation means just that, a vacation. Families go to beaches, to parks, to restaurants, to clubs, etc. and enjoy. We are denied basic rights that everybody else takes for granted.

My friends abroad always ask me what they can do to help us. They feel helpless when they hear the news about the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict. All they can do is pray for us and for peace to prevail. I think that only prayer will be powerful enough to put an end to the bloodshed in this country. It seems to me that our situation is too overwhelming to them and too complicated that they feel paralyzed. They don't know why violence erupts on a daily basis in the Holy Land. I say that Injustice breeds violence. Oppression breeds violence. Peace does not come out of void; it has to be pursued and implemented. It has to be a goal that comes from the inside of a person and not something that is imposed depending on people's whims and interests. When power is misused for evil reasons, then you say goodbye to peace. You can't exercise power over the weak to satisfy your ego. This is all against God and His teachings. When people realize that, only then, they can work towards peace. People's lives are valuable and you can't oppress, crush and grind those lives because of an ideology that is against all human rights. You can't think that you are superior and the others are inferior. God's creation is equal in God's eyes and who is Man to decide who's better than who. I believe that only God can intervene to put an end to this situation; I pray for all parties concerned to open up their eyes to see the other as a human being who has rights to freedom and dignified survival. After all, this is God's Land and He made it Holy; we shouldn't desecrate it with our human selfishness.

Am I philosophizing this time? Staying at home for too long because of the curfew? Maybe, but I think it's the right thing to do.

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