CPTnet
12 March 2005

HEBRON: Who is responsible?

by Christy Bischoff

The banging on our door was desperate and loud. The young boy sent to get
us explained how the soldiers were in the market closing down all of the
shops. I could feel my heart beat faster. The shops that are left in the
Old City have seen many a hard day. Most shopkeepers are older men who have
no where else to go. Because of checkpoints and curfews they do not make
much money, yet they sit out each day trying to sell a bit of goat cheese,
vegetables, or hand made clothing.

As we caught up to where the soldiers were, I wanted to know why, and how,
they could impose a closure on the shopowners. The young Israeli soldier
boy looked sheepishly at me and said, "It is not me who makes the orders; I
just follow them." He told me they had orders to close all of the shops,
because of the shooting three days earlier of two Israeli border police. He
didn't know for how long--maybe two weeks. "It will not be a curfew," the
soldier said, "we're just closing all the shops, so maybe next time the
shopkeepers will tell us if they know something." My heart started to hurt
as I saw the old Palestinian shopkeeper slowly getting off of his stool to
put his vegetables inside, resigned to this fate. I asked the soldier,
"What will these men do, they have nothing else, how can they not work for
two weeks?" His eyes were dark and quiet. "I don't know, I like these
people, I just have to follow orders," he said and walked away.

Who is responsible? Is it only the military commander who orders the shops
to be closed? Is it the soldier who actually closes the shop? Is it Ariel
Sharon and his government backed by the United States? Is it the gunman who
shot the border police? Is it the unjust system that has already closed so
many shops in the Old City? Is it you? Is it me? I am not sure blame is
useful, but at what point do we each take responsibility for our part in the
injustice that is throughout our world? When do we stand in the Light to
face the darkness? When will we be able to live in such a way that we will
no longer follow the unjust orders of this world?

For now, the shops in the Old City remain closed, the emptiness of the
streets screaming for us all to wake up.