Check out these Angry Babies images:
the youngster is released
Image by Michael.Loadenthal
here, the young Palestinian man previously detained by occupation soldiers is released, forced to return to his village having been denied the right to cross into Nablus to attend classes at al-Najah University.
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earlier in the day, when i was at the internet cafe, i had a disturbing experience with a man who has become a good friend since i spend nearly an hour a day with him for the last few months. he stormed into the office angry, which is a state i had never seen him in. he threw down a knapsack and sat in his swivel chair sulking and cursing, running is hands backwards through his hair. this man works and is in school all day. he wakes up and goes to school, then leaves school and goes to work, leaves work and goes to school, and later leaves school and comes back to work where he stays until the cafe closes at 1am. so needless to say, he has little time to go see his family who lives near jenin.
so over the last few days he got his ducks in a row, finished his school work early, and took off work to go see his family. he has not seen his family in more than three months, and he keeps saying how much he misses his mother and brothers. so today, he went to school with his knapsack, and went off north to see his family for the first time in three months. in order to get to the villages near jenin, you need to pass through beit iba checkpoint. problem is, today, occupation forces decided to close beit iba checkpoint.
he waited for hours, and no movement. he went up to speak to the soldiers, hoping that his pleads would allow his passage, but no. so defeated, he lowered his head, turned around and came back to nablus. when i saw him, he was so sad and so angry. ‘fuck them, fuck the soldiers,’ he said over and over again. he is a real gentle man who when he doesn’t see me for a few days calls me and tells me that he misses me. it was really hard to see him like this. just another day living under foreign occupation, with your life in the hands of a foreign army.
from blog entry:
occupiedlove.blogspot.com/2006/10/nablus-craziness-kidnap…
this society is beautiful. people will wait 4 hours to pass a checkpoint, but if a parent holding a baby enters, those who have waited will part and not move until the baby is allowed through. incursions, collective punishment and direct violence have taught the people to look out for one another, to act for the whole.
i saw it today at the checkpoints, and i’ve seen it in homes all around. every day i meet people in nablus, balata, askar, evicted from 1948 palestine. they left haifa, tiberias, jerusalem, elot and the like. they moved into camps and cities. this collective suffering had formed a collectivity of unity. water is passed from hand to hand through checkpoint crowd more congested then nazi train cars.
when we delivered 4 bags of pita, hummus, meat, lebaneh, and water to the 7 men in detention at beit iba checkpoint, they shared it amongst themselves, then with the man in isolation, and then delivered us back enough food for all 5 of us. they refused to take any more then they could eat and refused to leave is without a lunch, despite the obvious fact that we bought the food for them. the only way we were able to make them keep the four bottles of water is be refusing to extend our arms over the razor wire to grasp the black plastic bags. they drank it quickly.
from blog entry:
occupiedlove.blogspot.com/2006/11/journal-community-check…
ISM report on a day of craziness at Beit Iba checkpoint:
www.palsolidarity.org/main/2006/11/02/cp-chaos/
