Eyewitness: Israel is prohibiting even joy

This morning, Gaza woke up to a silent sky, without bombs or surveillance drones. We welcome these advancements in negotiation that have brought a four-day pause in aggressions and will bring both Palestinians and Israelis back to their families. This 'pause' is not sufficient though, and we must continue to work toward a ceasefire, the release of all hostages, and an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

As I anxiously watch the news cycle this morning, I can't help but think about the words being used to explain this current hostage/prisoner exchange. On 7 October, around 240 Israelis and foreign nationals were kidnapped by Hamas in a terrible criminal act against international law. In the current deal, 50 of them will be slowly released over the next four days in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners, women and children under 18 years old.

There is very little talk about why Israel has these 'prisoners' in the first place. The word 'prisoner' implies that they have committed some kind of crime. But many of these Palestinians being held in Israeli jails were kidnapped off the street, taken under very vague circumstances including the "intention to throw stones," and are held hostage for years without charge or trial.

I watched it happen several times in 2017 and 2018 in Hebron. I had started meeting up regularly with the neighbourhood kids to play soccer. There are no safe places in Hebron, let alone public spaces for recreation (the Israeli occupation turned a local school's playground into a parking lot), so we played in the street. We even started talking about setting up a tournament of sorts, friendly competition across neighbourhoods. Until the soldiers came out and started arresting the boys, one by one. First, it was Sami, then Saadi, then 12-year-old Mohammad. We cancelled the tournament and laid low for a while, but Ahmad had to sleep at his friend's place because the soldiers were raiding his house at night looking for him. We still tried to meet up for tea at one of the boy's homes but when we went out to get snacks, six soldiers ambushed Ahmad from both sides of the corner store. He managed to get away, so they took Ma'moon instead. He's one of four brothers, all of whom have been kidnapped and held in Israeli jails for off-and-on years.

These children just wanted to play. And yet the Israeli occupation has robbed them of play, of education, of job opportunities, and mental health stability for the rest of their lives. Since 1967, the Israeli occupation has made one million arrests of Palestinians, out of a population of just over five million.

As Israeli and Palestinian families prepare to receive their women and children back home today, Al Jazeera has just reported that Palestinians-and only Palestinians-are prohibited from celebrating upon the release of their children and family members. And yet, I'm sure, Palestinians will receive their family members with exuberant joy, knowing full well that their children could be kidnapped by the occupation again tomorrow.

May all the 8000 Palestinian hostages and the 240 Israeli and foreign national hostages be freed. May Palestine be free.

Hannah Redekop is a CPT Communications Associate.

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Christian Peacemaker Teams: https://cpt.org/