Palestinian Children Are My Heroes

I'm not sure how to begin today's post. There really are no words.

We arrived in Tuwani around 9AM. There is a full-time CPT team that lives in Tuwani and they had been asked by local Palestinians to join the walk to Tuba (where the school is).

I ended up going with Joy, one of the full-time staff, up to one of the hills where we could videotape the walkers and call the media if necessary. We had a clear view of the road the children/internationals would be walking and it was our job to call the CPT staff when we saw military and/or settlers. (We saw both)

We were there about 30 minutes before the walkers came into view and what I saw was completely different than what I had imagined. In my mind, I had pictured big, brave internationals shepherding small, frightened children on the road. I imagined that walkers would try to be as indiscreet as possible.

Joy and I actually heard the walkers before we saw them. There were over 60 children walking and almost 20 internationals. The children were whistling, cheering, banging drums, and carrying flags. It was unbelievable.

Their teachers were walking with them and all were chanting in Arabic. I didn't understand what they were saying, but the message was clear.

They were boldly proclaiming that they have the right to walk to school. They were announcing that, despite the fact that the army can arrest their fathers and brothers and the settlers can beat them with baseball bats, they refuse to be afraid. They refuse to be violent. I stood at the top of the hill and watched the bravest people I have ever seen. And I wept.