CPT Dilemma

Dilemma
At Tuwani, Palestine
2005 July 2

The soldiers had set up a “flying checkpoint”, with warning blinkers, tire hazards, and a flaming oil pot. They were still hunting for the Palestinian gunman who had killed two settler boys eight days earlier.
“We know who the killer is. We have information that he may be sneaking this way from Juwiyya tonight.” Juwiyya is a tiny hamlet of three or four families one mile north of the highway.

Just as Mary and I walked in the door of our shack, Mary’s phone rang. It was Monica and Sylvia, our Italian teammates. “Hani (not his realname) is in Juwiyya. He is starting to walk home to Tuwani.” We knew that, given the nearby settlers, walking at night is always somewhat dangerous around Tuwani, even without soldiers looking for a gunman. And Hani is our team’s best friend, and the only English speaker, in the village. We immediately turned around and headed down for the highway.

A minute later, Mary’s phone rang, again. This time it was Hani himself. Mary argued, “Hani, the soldiers might still be around. It’s not safe. Please wait until dawn.” But we also understood the insecurity of his wife and young children alone in their home just below settlers who have attacked, not just Palestinians, but internationals five times in the past year.

All four of us reached the village road at the same moment. Together, we walked, and debated what to do. Monica’s goal, as I understand it, is, by accompaniment and physical solidarity, to protect the Palestinians from the soldiers as well as the settlers. As a Gandhian, my goal is, by compassion and truthfulness and trustworthiness, to transform the soldiers from enemies into allies of the Palestinians. But Monica was struggling to understand my English. And I, alas, speak no Italian.

Just as we reached the highway two minutes later, we saw a very dim flashlight slowly bobbing and weaving its way towards us from the north. A moment later, Sylvia pointed to our left, “Flash (your) light (over) there.” One hundred yards away, two small red reflectors blinked back at us. An Israeli jeep was hiding in the dark, waiting to surprise the Palestinian gunman. We suddenly realized, nearly in a panic, that someone, probably our friend Hani, was sneaking, in the dark, straight into a potential ambush.

We only had a few seconds left to decide. I wanted to run to the soldiers and shout, “Our friend is coming. Don’t shoot.” Monica wanted to run to Hani, so the soldiers wouldn’t shoot. If you had been there, what would you have done?