The Spirit of the Internet Weekly

From: “Gush Shalom”
Date: Wed Nov 28, 2001 2:03 am
Subject: A vigil - and the day after

GUSH SHALOM - pob 3322, Tel-Aviv 61033
http://www.gush-shalom.org

Tel-Aviv, 27/11/2001

An early evening hour at the drab parking lot opposite the Defence Ministry. A simple piece of carton, on which five photos of children were pasted, photocopied and enlarged from the previous day's paper. Mourning candles lighted with difficulty against the prevailing strong wind. Five hand-written first names: Sultan - Muhammad - Anis - Amer - Akram. They all had the same family name, El-Astal, the five children from Khan Yunes Refugee Camp blown up last week by an explosive device which Israeli Army sappers had set up at night. A booby-trap set up on a path which is used by Palestinian fighters but also by children on their way to school.

As we were setting up the little makeshift shrine on the pavement, a security officer came out of the huge compound across the street, the place where that fatal placing of explosive charges was reportedly discussed an approved along with dozens of other raids and stratagems. He was a young man, polite and courteous. “How many are you? Do you have a permit?” We quoted the law that up to 50 people don't need a permit to hold a quiet vigil. (Actually, in the course of one and a half hours the number rose to a hundred, but no interference.)

The people who answered the call of Gush Shalom stood mostly silently in a long line behind the photos and flickering candles. “Shame!” said, the signs, and “Five children dead - who is responsible?” and “Judicial Investigation Now” and “The Occupation kills Israeli and Palestinian children”. Some held aloft bigger candles, torche lighting the fast darkening street. We were lucky with the weather - the pouring rain of the early afternoon did not come back. There weren't many reactions from the passers-by. Most of them looked at us with a puzzled face, not producing an immediate reaction. A motorist did not like what he saw: “Why don't you mourn the Jewish children?” he asked out of the open car window. How can you answer that, while sounding neither exasperated nor apologetic? How to reiterate calmly and insistantly that a child is a child, and that mourning a Palestinian child is not and cannot be in contradiction to mourning an Israeli one?

A crew of the Israeli TV First Channel arrived towards the middle of the vigil. They did a thorough job, taking in the candles, the photos, the signs, the faces of the activists. But none of the footage was shown on the evening news, two hours later. “The five children? That's old news. It happened four days ago!” a news editor told us.That was about twenty-four hours ago. The intervening time did produce a new hot item: two young Palestinians ran through the streets of Afula shooting at random civilians, killing two young Israelis who happened to be there, before being themselves shot down. A retribution it was claimed to be; a retribution certain to bring counter-retribution and counter-counter-retribution, further steps in the long and weary cycle which has already gone on for so long. And General Zini, the new US mediator, is beginning his mission here.Could Zini act as a credible Peace maker, even while his country is waging brutal war in Afganistan? Could he grasp what should have been an obvious truth - that only when there is created again some hope will the populations of both sides force their leaders to stop the cycle of bloodshed? Hope that we can disentangle from this deadly embrace which is called occupation.

If you got this forwarded, and would like to receive our emails directly you can subscribe by sending a blank message (from the address where you want to receive them) to: Gush-Shalom-subscribe@topica.com

In order to receive Hebrew [not always same as English] mail to: test_gush-shalom.org-subscribe@topica.com

If you want to support Gush Shalom's activities you can send a check or cash, wrapped well in an extra piece of paper, to: Gush Shalom pob 3322, Tel-Aviv 61033. NB: Don't do it via New Israel Fund. They “had to” drop us. For more about Gush Shalom you are invited to visit our renewed website: http://www.gush-shalom.org/ -\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/- NB: Did you already sign the Petition to Free Palestinian Child Political prisoners? http://www.PetitionOnline.com/dcips/petition.html SUBSCRIBE YOURSELF: mail (don't use reply) to Gush-Shalom-subscribe@topica.com.

Return to Opinions Return to December 4 page

[Home] [World Events] [Take Charge] [Links] [Hagerty Home Page] [About Us] [Store] [Search] [Site Map]
[What's New]