Issue 21
Spring 2001
"Don't worry, you're not the target. The little children are the target"
by Dan Richards
Since the beginning of the Israeli-imposed siege, the only way from Ramallah to Jerusalem has been through Qalandia refugee camp, the site of regular clashes. Recently, while driving back from Ramallah with family and friends, including Sabeel’s Swedish volunteer, Mi Helen, we were "caught in the crossfire." It took us over an hour to get through the camp, due to the new Israeli checkpoint by Qalandia airport.
As we passed through the camp, we witnessed "clashes" between 5 young boys hiding behind a shipping container and 2 Israeli soldiers, who were positioned behind the airport fence in their protected guard tower about 100 meters away. The boys were playing a dangerous game, poking their heads out from around the container, waving and making faces at the soldiers. In the beginning, the two soldiers responded to the boys’ taunts by firing rubber-coated steel bullets in the direction of the boys as well as hundreds of cars and pedestrians trying to pass through the camp. The boys, aged about 10-13 years old, posed no risk to the heavily armed soldiers. They did not throw stones; even if they had thrown stones, they would not have reached the soldiers anyway.
After we passed the shipping container, we heard a loud bang and felt something hit our van from the direction of the soldiers. Our friend, Mirvette, who was sitting closest to the place where the rubber-coated steel bullet had hit, screamed out loud. As soon as I was sure that everyone in the van was ok, I kept going for fear of being hit again. When we reached the Israeli army checkpoint, we stopped and inspected the damage. Thank God that no one was hurt, and there was only a scratch on the van. The soldier at the checkpoint asked us if we were hit by a stone. When we told him we were hit by a rubber-coated steel bullet coming from the direction of the guard-tower, he reassured us, "Don’t worry, you’re not the target. The little children are the target," making a sign with his hand to show that the "target" only reached up to his chest. At about this time, the snipers in the guard-tower switched to live ammunition, so I shouted at the soldier to stop them from shooting, that no one was even throwing stones and even if they did, they could not reach the guard-tower. He just shrugged and waved us on.
Dan Richards is Sabeel's webmaster.
