CPTnet
June 8, 2002

HEBRON REFLECTION: Occupation sickness

by Abigail Ozanne

 [Note: the writer was a member of the May 25-June 6, 2002 Middle East
delegation.]

On Sunday May 30, after hearing and talking about the occupation for four
days, I understood the existence of the settlements as a form of violence
against the Palestinians. I anticipated our meeting with a settler to be
with someone who really didn't approve of our work.

 I had not been well all day, and, as I arrived at Rivka's house in the
Efrat settlement, I was violently sick. She welcomed us to her home in a
beautiful, soft and gentle voice, offering me a washcloth and water to clean
myself up and a bed for me to lie down on. In a place where I expected a
tense and rigid welcome, instead I found a gracious, caring woman helping me
as I was ill.

Later that day, we made the long journey to Hebron. We took three taxis and
walked the last kilometer to the apartment. As I forced my aching body in
and out of taxis, around roadblocks, and down the dusty streets past
soldiers, I understood in a very personal way just what this occupation does
to the young, the sick and the old. Dehydrated, weak, and so sick that I
could not even keep water down, I was forced to walk nearly a kilometer,
because the Israeli army does not allow Palestinian vehicles to drive on
certain streets in their own land. Does this make Israel more secure? Is
this justice?