One-Eyed Terrorist

By Reverend Doug Kraft, December, 2010

An old man uses one hand to lean against the turnstile. A gauze patch covers his left eye and part of his cheek and forehead. His son holds his other elbow, giving him support.

Inside the booth, a young soldier looks annoyed and bored. He slouches so he can rest his head on the chair back. His feet rest on the shelf against the wall. With his right hand he can reach across to type a few keys on the computer or open the turnstile. With his left hand he holds the old mans papers. “Your permission to be in Jerusalem expired yesterday,” he says. “I can’t let you back into Bethlehem.”

Another soldier stands behind him with a machine gun. The checkpoint is a hundred meter labyrinth of turnstiles, check booths, metal hallways and fences.

The old man’s son explains patiently: “The hospital kept my father an extra day after his operation. They would not let him go until now. He is tired and weak and only wants to go home.”

The soldier yawns and repeats, “His papers have expired.”

We’ve been standing there for ten minutes as this scene unfolds. The others in line are angry and indignant at the old man’s treatment. But not surprised – the scene is all too familiar. They argue the old man’s case to the guard in the booth and to the supervisor who gazes down impassively from the catwalk above, gun in hand.

If we were to ask why the old man is being detained, officials would say, “Security.” As in our country, “security” is used to cut off further conversation. But we might press the issue anyway. After all, what threat is a tired, one-eyed, old man who is trying to leave the country rather than enter?

The answer: “He should have his papers in order.” In truth, it probably took six months to get permission to go to the hospital for a minimal time. His papers were as in order as possible.

Such bureaucratic obfuscation is used hundreds of times a day across the West Bank to limit travel, bulldoze homes, turn off electricity and water, rip up olive trees, arrest children and more. It’s no wonder that some of the Palestinians pack up their families and leave the country.

Bureaucratic obfuscation is just one of the many tools they use. Jimmy Carter calls it “apartheid.” But it is the most sophisticated ethnic cleansing the world has experienced.

And we are complicit. Without over $5 billion in US aid, Israel (a tiny country one fifteenth the size of California) could not continue its program of driving out indigenous people.

The Christmas message is, “Peace on earth, good will to all.” Peace and security are not possible without human rights. And human rights are not possible without good will and respect for the worth and dignity of every person.

Thich Nhat Hanh, said that when we see clearly, we know what to do and what not to do. It’s clear to me we need to stop supporting Israel’s ethno-racist programs.

This Christmas season, may we all see with clearer awareness and play our role in bringing peace, good will and dignity to all.

Namasté,

Doug