Life under occupation

Everybody is talking about Palestinian terrorism, violence, etc. There is no question about its existence, and there is no question about the growing support of suicide attacks inside Israel by many sectors of Palestinian society. I don't support these massacres and the ideology behind them. But on the other hand, one cannot ignore the circumstances that led to such a phenomenon. What do most Israelis know about the situation here in the West Bank? Who is talking about the problems the people face every day as a result of the military occupation?

I want to mention one example. Shortly after the bomb attack in Jerusalem, the soldiers totally closed the street between Ramallah and Bir Zeit. People who were walking through the checkpoint were prevented from going home to Bir Zeit. Some Palestinians and internationals tried to negotiate with the soldiers, but their "answer" was smoke bombs and tear gas, thrown into the crowd and injuring at least one person. Not a single stone was thrown.

One soldier said to me, not without a smile on his face about the crying kids and people running away, that this happened because of the bomb attack. Revenge toward innocent people who are on their way home? This checkpoint has been a problem for a long time, but since then, it is getting worse and worse. Soldiers harass Palestinians here every day, throwing tear gas at pedestrians and changing their "policy" of closure every few hours. Taxi drivers were forced to sleep in their taxis because they couldn't go back to Bir Zeit. A lot of Palestinians are now afraid to leave Bir Zeit because they don't know if they can come back or not.

This is not a life; it's a prison. Even if this is only a small example, it shows one of the daily problems of the people suffering here. I wish more people would recognize these things and observe what living under occupation means.

Dagmar Lieske

International student, Bir Zeit