Stillness in the Olive Grove

One way that my companions and I serve here is to provide protective accompaniment to Palestinians while they’re carrying out their regular lives. Members of our team have been accompanying Palestinians picking olives the last few days. 

This morning I was in an olive grove when I heard a rifle shot and then angry yelling. Two IOF soldiers were at the base of the trees, screaming and pointing. The duo quickly turned into a group of seven, all carrying automatic weapons and pointing them at us harvesters. The men demanded we stop and then they separated the internationals from the Palestinians. 

The soldiers grabbed the Palestinians by their necks, shoving their faces down as they pushed them forward. They yelled and demanded compliance.

The internationals were treated very differently. We were unharmed. As minutes and hours passed in the desert sun, the internationals were offered shade and water. The Palestinians were refused these needs and the soldiers told us “they can swallow their spit,” and the interrogations and detainment continued. 

I found a spot on a tarp and sat next to the olives. The people next to me were still and frightened. The armed men demanded our phones and took pictures of our passports, even though it is prohibited by law. They would not identify themselves nor tell us why we were being detained. One of the international women picked up her phone, and they threatened to shoot her if she did it again. 

I knew I needed to remain calm and keep my head clear, when a grasshopper jumped onto the tarp with me. This caused an immediate and urgent-feeling and reaction inside of me. I wanted to jump up and run away from it or quickly squish to feel safe again. I have had a debilitating fear of bugs for most of my life, and that grasshopper triggered that fear in the most intense way.

But in that moment I realized the parallel in front of me. Even though I hate bugs, in nature I am in their home. It would be cruel to harm this defenseless being, something that belongs here. 

This is true of the Palestinians as well. This is their home. They were not harming anyone, just as the grasshopper wasn’t harming me. As I looked around at the violent harassment of the Palestinians, I did not understand why they were being treated this way. My heart screams in agony every day that my fellow brothers and sisters are being tortured, attacked, threatened, murdered, and my brain can’t comprehend why this is happening…simply because they’re existing.  

There is nothing else I can do in this moment. So, I sit on a tarp and watch a grasshopper as my heart breaks, until I’m forced to leave my Palestinian friends behind to meet whatever fate the soldiers decide that day.

Forced to abandon my friends with their oppressors