On Being Overcome

There are some moments where it gets too much, when it overcomes you. Tonight's one of those times.

Today I went to join the olive harvest once more but I saw more guns than I picked olives. We were driven away by settlers and soldiers. In every place where the settlers attack the harvesting Palestinians the military come and close of the area - a closed military zone. This just means that the settlers get what they want - the Palestinians are prevented from reaching their olive trees.

There were no shots fired today, no tear gas, just intimidation. The soldiers used their M16s and the settlers used their numbers to drive us out, onto the road. There was so much media - international and local. There were many photo opportunities: people yelling, chanting, arguing; soldiers shoving, laughing and joking; settlers yelling, smiling and taunting. So many photo opportunities.

Snapshot: You're Either With Us or Against Us

There was an Israeli activist in the protest today. He gave us some leaflets, but they were in Hebrew so we couldn't read them. However, he explained to us that he was part of a group that was against the settlements. When the Israeli soldiers were driving us away, a group of settlers approached the man and began to argue with him. One of the other Birzeit students who was there explained to me later how the settlers began to shove him. She said that the army came to separate them but instead of telling the settlers off for assaulting an Israeli citizen, the soldiers pushed the man into his car and ordered him to leave. I saw him as he drove away, he winked at us and said 'you do good work'. His comment seemed to be directed at M., one of the leaders of the Stop the Wall Campaign. M. did not react to this. Maybe he did not notice.