July 15, 2002

One day there was a lift of curfew on Bethlehem from 9:00 till 15:00 hrs, so I left my house in east Jerusalem and took the collective transportation (cars of 7

Click here to see photos

passengers) from Abudeiss (to the east of Jerusalem), to take the alternative road, given that I can't pass through the checkpoint by Jerusalem. After the car was filled with passengers, we moved. Keeping my optimism, that I am going to work so at the end of the month I will have some money to pay the rent of the house at least, probably, I was happy. We crossed Abudeiss, and there is a checkpoint on this alternative road where only Palestinians pass. Well, they (Israeli occupation soldiers) have of course to do the daily work of humiliation or just to make us keep in mind that they are there, thinking of us, and also that we remember not to have bad ideas... They took the IDs, controlled those who were in the car, opened the baggage, recorded the names, and asked information on radio... All were good palestinians. So we passed.

After 15 minutes another checkpoint. Well it was not really a checkpoint. A military jeep was from our side “protecting” a bulldozer which was digging the main road so that only good bulldozers pass and not any stupid car. They know that palestinians are inventive so they should think of something to pass through. However they will not be allowed to pass while the soldiers are there of course. That would be too simple. So, the soldiers “asked” all the cars to turned around and return to where they came from. Some people thought, well they would allow us to pass on foot, so they paid the driver and got out the car and walked till the jeep where they also sent back and not allowed to pass. Well it seems that the rules of the game change all the time. Why should these stupid palestinians leave the car and go on foot. They should find away with the cars. It would be easy to walk around the big hole made across the street, so that is not interesting. I will not of course talk about children, old people, women and sick people. This is a stereotype. After all we are under occupation, not in vacation. At least not today. So we shouldn't exaggerate... There is a limit to what Israeli occupation soldiers could do. Isn't it?

SO before we continue, let see some photos

Well, I forgot to tell you, I left my house at 8 :15 in the morning, and I arrived to work at 13:37. I worked till 14:30 because the curfew would be reinstalled at 15:00 hours. Well, a long journey to work only for one hour. That wouldn’t pay the transportation really. But well, it was another exciting day with the Israeli occupation army.

I wonder how would you feel if you have to fill such holes using your hands?

Well, a stupid question. Of course it would be a new exciting experience for you, not a daily life, or let’s not exaggerate again, probably a weekly life… So at the end, you will wash your hands of course, that’s if there is water in the house…

The next time I will tell you what happened on my way back… If you are still interested? Or even not interested. I will tell it anyway. You can chose not to read it, but you would miss the excitement…

Peace be upon you all,

Should I say occupation as well… No of course not, otherwise I would be out of business and you well have the same things to tell as me.

So peace and love be on you…

Abed

PS. It happened that I have the camera with me. So the story is documented. We couldn’t take photos of the main actors because the zoom is not good enough and they were a bit shy to allow us to see them more clearly…