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'Negative Incursion'
Ten years ago when the peace process first started,
I; like many other Palestinians was ready to give
peace a chance. As the peace process developed, the
events that followed filled me with worry: the worry
of losing my city, Jerusalem, and the right of exiled
Palestinians to return to their home land. The days
went by and in my eyes things only got worse: more of
the land was taken; more Israeli settlements appeared
on Palestinian land, more killings.
On the 28th of March 2002 I was in Ramallah when the
major Israeli Incursion happened, I was shocked;
everything around me looked so different. Every street
and square I visited was dark and empty; no one was in
the streets that day except the Israeli army and its
tanks. I felt depressed and cold. The only Palestinian
I met on the road that day was an old man. He was shot
dead. I never new his name, but I had seen him walking
around those same streets before. That night I could
not take away his face from my memory, and many
questions without answers rushed inside my head. It
was that night that my hopes for peace died.
(Rula Halawani)
© 2003 Rula Halawani
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