Izbet Tabib, ‘Isla

Izbet Tabib, ‘Isla

We came to Izbet Tabib at 15:30, for the demonstration against the war in Gaza and the occupation.  Two military jeeps stood at the entrance to the village, filled with soldiers, and also an ATV belonging to the Civil Administration.  Biyan told us the soldiers made a preliminary circuit of the village, asking about the planned activities.  But the demonstration didn’t take place.  We sat with Biyan, Musa, the children and another guest in the village’s protest tent and talked about the situation.  Yesterday soldiers entered ‘Azzun, youths threw stones, the soldiers fired at them, one of the youths was wounded and hospitalized in Rafadiyya Hospital in Nablus.

The children pasted photos of the war in Gaza on posters and made small black flags with the word “Gaza” on them.  Together we hung the photos in the protest tent, and the children said, “Ya, Nirit, shufi, lama kacha?  La ilaha ila allah.”

Everyone in the world has seen the terrible scenes of dead children and the huge mushroom clouds of smoke in Gaza’s skies – except for the citizens of Israel.  If we’d seen them we might not be so self-satisfied at our presumed righteousness and morality.