Yesterday, 27 July 2005, I witnessed for the first time the horror and tragedy of not one, but two house demolitions. Early yesterday morning I was informed by some colleagues that two homes in the village of Al Khader were going to be demolished shortly. We quickly organized a group and left the office to stand in peaceful protest and solidarity with the families of these homes.

When we arrived at the "protest" there were already a group of locals gathered and we added to the mix 3 Americans and 5 Palestinians. Collectively, our group began the descent towards the Israeli jeeps that were ready to confront us. Led by the Palestinian flag, we marched directly up to the Israeli soldiers and one of our group 'leaders' informed them that this was a peaceful protest and all that we wanted was to stand with the families while their homes were being demolished. Unfortunately we were met with soldiers that were not concerned with acting non-violently and they immediatley began physically pushing the men on our 'front line' back. This prevention of our ability to move was not only infuriariting but illegal as well. The
soldiers also forcefully tried to take the Palestinian flag out of the hands of one of the men, telling us some non-sense about being able to stand there, but not being able to hold the flag if we were going to remain in the area. When they realized the flag was not going to be surrenderd, we began again trying to work our way closer to the site through rational and peaceful discussion. As our 'leaders' continued speaking, the steady sound of voices was soon sliced and shattered with a noise that completely broke my heart.

I heard first the screeching of the demolition crane followed by the torturous squeaking of the bulldozer - and in front of my very eyes I watched as a home was completely destroyed. As my eyes took in the evil sight, my ears went deaf and my head began to spin. It was as if the entire world had stopped moving and I was the only one who existed in that moment, just me and that crane, that horrible, ugly, monstrous crane. In this same moment I realized that I could no longer hold it together. I fell to my knees and sobbed. My heart was so full of grief and my head was so full of confusion. How could any human possibly do this to another? How can the men, operating those vehicles sleep at night? How did such evil ever become okay in this world and where were all of the people who did not think that this was in fact okay? Even though I was surrounded by many people, I felt so alone. My heart was in painful agony for the families, the Palestinian people and humanity in general. I did not think that my tears would ever run dry.

As I looked up through my blurred vision, I saw that most of the Palestinian men had gathered in a line, standing face to face with the IDF. As the demolition continued, I watched as these men grabbed the hands of those next to them, intertwined their fingers and raised their arms symbolizing to the family that this tragedy was not going unnoticed. Of course the realization of how many millions of people would live their lives completely oblivious to these disgusting acts of terrorism and humiliation made my tears flow even more.

After both homes were demolished, the soldiers continued to refuse entry to the sites. However, I played my American card and told them that I was going up and that it was probably not wise to stop me. As I walked towards the rubble of the homes my heart was pounding. I turned a corner and saw the first heap. Stone, steel, wood, all kinds of material whose purposes were now indecipherable. It was hard to tell that this had actually been a home. Three children were sitting on top
of the rubble, not saying a thing, just looking. I couldn't handle it, I turned to leave. As I was turning to escape the horror before me, I saw out of the corner of my eye, under a tree with his face in his hands, the owner of the home. He must have been around 70 years old. He was weeping.

Next to this man was a pile of chairs and table, some tapestries, etc. Asking my colleague about this pile he replied "It's what they were able to salvage in an hour. That's how quick the notice is. The IDF shows up with the caterpillar and crane and tells them they have one hour. After that, if they aren't out of the home, the IDF claims that they cannot be held accountable." As a friend so accurately said after the event, "The house demolition was more then an act of state sponsored terrorism by the State of Israel. The demolition of these people's home was a direct action taken by the Israeli government to continue to handicap, humiliate, weaken and ultimately destroy the fabric of Palestinians livelihood and existence in Palestine. When one does not have a home, what are they to do?" These families, not only lost their homes, but they lost everything they could not haul out of the house in an hour....including their sense of security and hope.