COMMUNITY


A view from the West Bank


I


was recently in the small village of Al Ma’asara to


observe the weekly dem- onstration against the en- croachment of the Israeli separation barrier. This takes place every Friday and has done for several years. This village, along with several others just south of Bethlehem, has lost valuable agricultural land (reputed to be 850 acres from Al Ma’asara alone) to the ‘Wall’. The demonstration started off with a social gathering in a va- cant house, with locals and in- ternationals mixing with a fi lm crew from a Palestinian tel- evision station. When the time came to start, a few of the ones up front waved smallish Palestinian fl ags but nothing more and we set off walking up the narrow main road, a fairly motley crew of about 30, of all ages and nationalities. At the crossroad at the far end of the village things changed! Out of the blue, we were ‘charged’ by three Israeli Army vehicles, which appeared di- rectly in front, and soldiers confronted us with machine guns at the ready. They formed a cordon across the road and stopped us dead in our tracks. Still, all was calm among the Palestinian group, who did


38


Oban’s David Mitchell has been living as an ecumenical observer in the West Bank region, watching how Israeli/Palestinian tensions develop. This month he tells West Coast Review about his experiences.


not move. I should clarify that ecumenical accompaniers do not


take part in demonstra-


tions, we just observe from a ‘safe’ distance, so my two col- leagues and I remained back from the front line. That didn’t help when the Israeli soldiers started throwing sound bombs (concussion grenades). The front line simply stepped aside and the grenades rolled to our ‘safe’ place at the back! These devices make a very loud and frightening noise when they explode but by and large do no harm unless they are very close.


When this failed to disperse the


demonstrators, things


got more serious. We were charged again but the soldiers


this time


mined to catch someone for arrest. They


It is quite


seemed deter- fi red tear gas


over our heads and chased the stragglers; but folks, I can tell you I was not one of the stragglers.


amazing just how fast you can run when there is a soldier with a gun in hot


David Mitchell. 07_t37dav01


pursuit. We ran through back gardens, jumped garden walls and fences, and generally act- ed like children having been caught stealing apples. And during this time my more ex- perienced colleague said she heard sounds like rubber bul- let shots or live rounds being f i r e d .


No-one


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