Words from Palestine

I returned to Palestine several days ago. I was held at the airport for about an hour and was refused the standard 3 month visa, but was given a one month visa and will apply for an extension. I am still in the Old City of Occupied East Jerusalem, waiting for my team mate to arrive and we will make our way to our village.

There is much talk of impending war. As I have not been out of the old city I can only relate what I am hearing on the street here. People believe there will be a war this summer.
The Israeli Occupation Forces are confiscating Palestinian Identification cards. It is difficult to explain how serious this is. In the United States, if you lose your ID you just get a new one. Here, if you lose your ID you might never get a new one, and if you do it could take, literally, years. If you are stopped without an ID- and if you are a young male you WILL be stopped, you go to prison or are deported to Gaza or Jordon, without your belongings, without your family even knowing what has happened to you.

Equally disturbing, the Occupation Forces began war game exercises in the villages of the West Bank this week. Their reasoning: they believe the settlers are going to rise up against the Palestinians and the Palestinians will respond with terrorism. Consider the terminology here. The settlers, illegally occupying Palestinian land, are going to “rise up” and the Palestinians, who have nothing except rocks and courage for justice to defend themselves, are going to respond with “terrorism.”

One man whom I spoke with asked me why Americans are allowing their tax dollars to be spent on Israel’s illegal occupation “Why, why,” he said, “so much money given to Israel which uses it to oppress and kill us. Tell me why”
And I am standing on his land, with all the privileges afforded my American passport, privileges he is denied in his own land, and I have no answer.