There has been a changing of the guards to all the new army guys are a little bit jittery. They're really harassing the Palestinians. Today I went down to checkpoint 56 just before sundown to check on the situation there. They have a habit of detaining people when its Iftar. Iftar is the first meal for Muslims to break their fast each night. So that being said, I stumbled upon checkpoint 56 to find they had detained a man. He had documentation that he has Angina which means he can't go through the metal detectors. Thankfully his family came and gave him a cigarette and some bread. I asked the soldiers what was going on and why this man was being detained. They claimed the only spoke Hebrew. Which is a crock of shit. I haven't run into a soldier yet who cant speak at least a little English.
Some other soldiers came along and filled me in on the details. Apparently they had to wait for the commander to come along. Half hour later the commander comes along and within five minutes, it was sorted. Note to the Israeli Army recruiter: please consider raising the minimum IQ requirements to above 40. The crazy part about the check points in Tel Rumeida (the neighbourhood occupied by the settlers and protected by the army) is they're strictly there to harass.
There are checkpoints at all the points that Palestinians who live in Tel Rumeida have to go through in order to get home. The cab I got from the centre of town to the apartment, all I had to cross was a roadblock made of stones. So the security argument is complete BULLSHIT! It's strictly to make life as hard as possible for the Palestinians who choose to still live here. The area occupied by the Isralis is a ghost town. What was once a bustling market is now shadow of it's former self. Shop doors are welded shut with Stars of David spray painted on them.
We also make a mosque run every other day. The mosque is the Ibrahimi Mosque. A very holy sight for both faiths therefore host to some of the worst secular tensions in the area. There was a shooting a few days ago. The army fired on some Palestinians claiming a kid came in there with a fake gun and fire cracker. Right. This place is also the scene of the 1994 massacre by Baruch Kappel Goldstein. Baruch went on a rampage on February 24th 1994 killing 29 and injuring 150. I think the settlers actually have a monument dedicated to this piece of filth.
The other thing we do to occupy our time is guard Issa's house. The land this place is on is amazing. 1000 year old olive trees and roman walls surround the building. An amazing view of the old city which I'll try and post if I can ever get to a computer that isn't so slow it times out. The army and the settlers have both occupied this house. Issa won it back in court which is an absolutely huge victory. If we don't maintain a presence, there's a fear they'll burn it down. As it is, the worst we've had to put up with is some rock throwing in the back and some serious mosquitos.
Got word of a demonstration going on in Bilin on friday. Apparently it's really good out there because the protest groups are really well organized and come out in serious numbers. Not sure if I'm going to go out there or not. Some of the dudes here have been here for three weeks and are in serious need of a break. I might hold down the fort here and let them do their own thing. My only regret is I don't have as much time as I'd like.
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