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The reality of this situation is happening in Palestine. If you put people in a cage and poke them with sticks eventually they will act like animals.
Yes, and I saw this up close with the "settler tour". This takes place every Saturday in the old city section of Hebron, which is under full military control. About 30 soldiers will pour into the area through a locked gate. Approx. 50 settlers will follow after them. They then walk through the area, often vandalizing Palestinian shops, but really just engaging in nothing more than a gross show of force. They will wind through the old city and leave. I saw one couple pushing a baby in a stroller. I saw one girl wearing those floppy antennae things kids may wear on their heads at a carnival. It was almost like the settlers treated it as though they were touring a freak show. Traffic is shut down completely during the middle of the day just so they can do this.
What stuck out to me most, though, was the lack of humanity I saw in the eyes of the settlers and border police. Border police and IDF participate, but the IDF soldiers seemed to be there because they are required by law. The IDF soldiers, we noticed, would never look you in the eyes. They'd always turn away. The border police, though, seemed to enjoy this. We had one border police mocking the observers for wanting "peace in the Middle East" and for saying "we should all just love each other". I actually broke down when we got back because it was the same lack of humanity that I displayed when in Iraq. And the looks that the international observers received from the settlers were shocking. It still blows me away that they have such a problem with peace activists. We were yelled at. Our pictures were taken. But, in the midst of all of this, there was a Palestinian man running a street-side shop making this horribly greasy fried bread. We had made eye contact and he waved me over. He asked me where I was from and I told him. He said "oh, my sister lives in Chicago. She says Americans are great!" Then he gave me a free piece of the fried bread. The best part was that his sons were all standing there, seeing this act of kindness in such a horrible situation.
But, I'll post a separate thread on the settler tour in the coming days. It was a very tough experience, and when I really saw just how they were being treated like caged animals.