Random Pali Tales of Reality: Part 2

Photo from: shouball.com

It was a pretty typical day. I had planned to go eat breakfast with my youngest aunt in Hebron, so we decided to go to one of the more well known Falafel joints, Malik El-Falafel (King of Falafel). It’s not very typical that people in my city go out to eat breakfast in restaurants, but I figured it would be something different for my aunt, so whatever. We get through halfway through breakfast, when I look up and notice a main in plain clothes carrying an M-16, heavy weaponry by Palestinian standards. This alerts me, as Israel does not allow Palestinian police (or any Palestinian for that matter) to carry such weapons just like that.

Most Palestinian Authority (PA) police carry light AK-47s and that’s basically it. It’s very rare where you will see PA police and IDF soldiers in the same area. It’s not like anything will happen if such an event takes place. The PA has been collaborating with the IDF for a while now to keep the situation “stable” in the Palestinian Territories. Don’t get me wrong, when the PA police have any shortcomings in "security," the IDF is more than happy to step in and show who is boss, but that doesn’t happen very often as the Palestinian Authority has recently been very effective at arresting people, breaking up protests and using “persuasive methods” to keep things calm in the territories, all while doing very little to protect Palestinians from aggressions from the IDF and/or armed Israeli illegal settlers.

I kept staring at the plainclothes weapon carrier waiting to figure out what’s going on. He entered the restaurant followed by another plainclothes man but with a soldier’s helmet. Finally, two IDF soldiers entered the restaurant, back to back, and things began to make sense. But still, what were they doing there? We were well within what is known as Area A, where the IDF does not frequent. Ever since the Intifada ended not too long ago, the IDF hasn’t had a “reason” to come into central Hebron. I started hearing speculations from people around me to why they would bother to come into deep “hostile” (and I really emphasize the quotes on that one) territory. “Maybe they are here to arrest some wanted people,” one person suggested. “Maybe they are special forces,” said another. Not paying attention to my aunt anymore, I continued to monitor the situation, ready to take out my English in case they start hassling people. The one in charge of the armed group had no weapons on him, spoke fluent Arabic and was smiling at the owner of the store. I was confused. Soon enough, everything became clear to me, as the leader of the group paid the restaurant owner and walked out of the restaurant with a big bag of Falafel. The rest of the “platoon” followed him out and they were on their way in their military jeep that passed by the restaurant minutes later. The air of the restaurant became calmer and I could feel many people releasing a sigh of relief. “Did they pay?” joked one of the guests. The restaurant owner responded with a smile, “Yes, they did. It’s the guys with the Palestinian Authority that don’t pay,” he responded with disappointment on his face. Everybody in the restaurant burst out laughing, as all of them tragically knew how true that really is.

As for me, I was left a bit angered by the whole thing. Bastards, I thought. Have they no shame? They occupy my people and then casually stroll in to buy Falafel, in military formation? Don’t they have enough Israeli great “Falafel” shops to buy from in their own privileged cities and settlements? What stuck in my mind was that smile that the group leader had. That condescending belittling smile. That smile…with which that they play us and the rest of the world. I grabbed the table edge gritting my teeth for a moment, sighed and continued eating humus with pita, as it’s meant to be eaten, and finished my conversation with my aunt before we paid and headed back home.