CPTnet
7 January 2007
HEBRON REFLECTION: Suffer the little children

by Janet Benvie

I dislike the expression "boys will be boys" because it is often used to
excuse bad behavior. However, I want to adapt it and say "children will be
children"--not to excuse bad behavior, but because I have noticed that,
despite cultural differences, children around the world are similar in many
ways.

"Children will be children," yes, but when they live in a land under
military occupation, childish behavior can have lethal consequences.

A few weeks ago I watched a group of Palestinian schoolboys, about ten years
old, approach an Israeli army checkpoint. They were laughing and giggling
and looked full of mischief. All but one moved through the checkpoint and
the lone boy ducked down under a gate at the side of the checkpoint, then
ran full speed up the road towards his school. The soldiers noticed him
immediately, shouted at him to stop and one aimed his gun. I stepped
towards the soldier, but at that moment, to my relief, the boy stopped. He
strutted back to the checkpoint, a large grin spread across his face. Had
they, as children do, goaded each other into participating in a small
rebellion against authority?

Last week, I witnessed a similar incident. Israeli soldiers were detaining
a group of schoolgirls about 100 yards from their school gate. The soldiers
do not usually stop the children there, and they looked confused by the
situation. A small girl, six or seven years old, nervously moved away from
the group, then ran as quickly as she could towards her school gate. She
did not stop when the soldier shouted. The soldier raised his gun, but she
probably did not notice, she was so intent on reaching her school. Had she
been, as young children often are, anxious about being late for school?

Children here, as they do all over the world, play with toy guns, crouching
in doorways and alleyways here in the souq. Sometimes they jump out at
unsuspecting passers by, sometimes even at Israeli army patrols.

I wonder how long it will be before one of the young, nervous Israeli
conscripts, some little more than children themselves, shoots another
Palestinian child.

I wonder how long Palestinian children will have to live with military
checkpoints on every street corner, and with armed soldiers patrolling their
streets and invading their homes.

I wonder how long our governments will continue to support this occupation
and arm the occupiers.