October 30, 2002
The Israeli military regularly practices collective punishment: the “crimes” of one person are used to punish entire families, clans, villages, and a people.
Be careful what you wish for. Yesterday, the Israelis learned the whereabouts of a wanted Hamas activist from Tubas. He had been hiding out in his cousin's home. They surrounded the house, used his father and brother as human shields, and entered the house. When he surrendered, they killed him. They also destroyed large portions of the house in the process. No one denies his political activities or affiliations. No one denies that he was wanted - for six months now, he has evaded capture. But forget due process when it comes to Palestinians - whether cold-blooded assassinations or indefinite, charge-less "administrative detention" of prisoners, Palestinians aren't granted the most basic of human rights. The war crimes of the Palestinians - the suicide bombings, the armed attacks on citizens - are paraded before the world, and rightly so. But those of the Israelis don't even warrant news coverage - they're that common. Status quo.
At school we also learned disturbing news that last night one of Zababdeh's liquor store owners was shot in what seems to be a theft/hold-up. Men came in and started taking bottles, and when they were pressed for payment, they shot up the store a bit, hitting the owner in the lower jaw. They sped off as the man's family came to see what happened. He eventually got to a hospital in Haifa several hours later (hold-ups at checkpoints are par for the course) and is alive but with a severely damaged jaw. We have been frankly surprised that the decimation of the PA infrastructure and police force hasn't resulted in more crime like this. But maybe that's just because we're from Chicago. Here it seems that intact and strong family and clan ties running through and across villages tend to keep such things in check naturally. Maybe, but many people were very distressed by this.
On a happier note, today we also learned that Fr. Hosam, the Anglican priest of Zababdeh and Nablus, will be traveling to the States next week, speaking in Chicago. We couldn't be more pleased. He is not only compassionate, eloquent, and faithful, he is also a good friend. We hope a lot of people take advantage of his presence to hear his first hand account of Christian life and ministry these days, particularly under curfew in the besieged city of Nablus.
The curfew in Jenin was lifted between 2 and 6 in the afternoon - four hours of "freedom". Perhaps our kids from there will be back tomorrow. In the evening, Marthame was walking through the village as F-16s flew overhead - not unusual, it happens regularly. Not long after they flew off to the South, there was a bright flash from over the hills. Marthame assumed something was being bombed in Tubas. But when the rains came, we knew it was lightning. Sometimes it's hard to tell!