April 30, 2003

Soldiers in Bethlehem

[Bethlehem, West Bank]

A moment before a round is fired.

A little boy stopped me on my walk to the Christmas Lutheran Church this morning. He said "police" -- which got my attention, but then he said "nickel", so I thought he was just fooling around. I continued on my walk to the old souq. I rounded a turn and immediately two soldiers had rifles drawn on me. Instantly my hands were up. There were about a dozen soldiers in the area. Some were crouched with aimed rifles behind walls. A few were in jeeps. One held an aerial photograph of the buildings in the vicinity. Several buildings were marked in the picture. The photo was pretty detailed, so I'm guessing it must have been taken from the drone that occasionally flies over. The soldiers opened the back of the jeep to ask me to get inside. But it was full of soldiers, so they asked me to come to the door window instead. They asked if I didn't know there was curfew in Bethlehem. I told them I did not know. They told me to look at the empty streets -- didn't that look unusual? Yep, I admitted that I didn't see many people out this morning. Then they asked me questions for about twenty minutes -- what was I doing in Bethlehem, who did I work for, what happened to all the volunteers in the area, how long I had been in Bethlehem, etc. They were not rude or angry. They eventually told me to go back home. On my way, I passed the kid who wanted a nickel, so I thanked him for his good information. And we warned two old men who were slowly walking in that direction. Later the soldiers made their way down my street. Today I counted about five explosions and several gunshots. Felt like old times in Bethlehem.