By one of the houses of Nabi Saleh, a local boy and girl watched IDF soldiers chasing demonstrators through the village. At one point, one of the soldiers turned to the boy and reached his hand to him. The soldier was left apprehensive when the child did not respond to the apparent gesture of good will. Moments later, I took pictures of the girl and one of the other soldiers. The soldier turned to me and asked why I am taking pictures of him, claiming he didnt do anything to girl. He said (In Hebrew): “Do you really think I will harm the girl?”.

As I know that these soldiers read my blog, I would like to address them directly here:

What you are unable to realise, it seems , is that you enter the village as an occupying power, armed to the teeth, shooting the brothers, families and friends of these children. You come in the middle of the night, your faces covered, invade their homes, explode stun grenades, and take their brothers and fathers away. Do not be surprised if these children find it hard to overcome this ongoing terror that you inflict on them and respond to what in your eyes is a gesture of kindness. The only way you could really reach out to these children is to drop your weapons and refuse to serve in an army that opresses another people and occupies its land.

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