Israeli soldiers in Nabi Saleh

I had a very interesting encounter and exchange with Israeli soldiers in Nabi Saleh. 

We started the weekly demonstrations in the early afternoon. There were about 50 protestors, about 10 of them were children. We headed towards the gate and soon after we started walking an army jeep showed up. Not soon after they started shooting gas grenades and sound bombs on us. I looked at the soldiers. They were very young. Two of them were women; really young women. They couldn't be older than 17 years old. 18 at most. 

I made a point to look them in the eyes with one question on my mind: why are you doing this? 

I stayed close to the soldiers because I've been told it's safer to be close to them because it's harder for them to shoot at close range. I looked at one of the women. She was short and had straight dark hair. She looked like she could be Asian. I walked beside her and asked her: why are you protecting oppression? Why are you protecting the occupation? 

You look like a nice young woman. I'm talking to you as a sister, a fellow woman. Please think. She looked at me with confused eyes. It felt like I was looking at a confused child. 

She said nothing, but I could tell that she was listening to what I said. I felt she was thinking and trying to reach something in her mind. 

March 27 2016