Beside the Fourth Station of the Cross along the route ascribed to Jesus on his way to crucifixion is an Israeli check point. We sat in the cafe opposite and watched as young Palestinian males were routinely stopped and searched, often up against the wall behind, as their ID details were taken by the military. Even a lad of about 12 or 13, passing with his family was subjected to this, reassured on release with an arm around his shoulder from his mother.
What was interesting, and to me shocking, were the reactions of some of the pilgrim groups as they passed. There were smiles, thumbs up for the soldiers and selfies taken. We challenged one member of such a group asking why she thought the soldiers were there and got ‘Yeah, well, yeah’ and a shrug. Would it have been so very different two thousand years ago? Was the situation then, a violent military Roman occupation, so very different from the one imposed today by the Israeli authorities? And it’s hard to challenge authority, religious or military; it’s easier to ignore it. As it was then, so is it now.
I shook the hand of one young man as he was released and I felt just a little bit like Simon of Cyrene.
For several years Caroline has been picking olives in support of Palestinian farmers during the October harvest. She has experienced first hand the violence visited upon the Palestinians on a daily basis by the illegal Israeli settlers. carolinepickard6@gmail.com