American in Palestine: "I will not be bullied or intimidated into shutting my mouth..."

Within a couple of blocks I became aware of a tank several blocks away pointing its huge gunbarrel directly down the street in my direction. My exit was effectively blocked.

Yesterday Paul Larudee and I made our way out of Nablus. Paul is a 56 year old fellow American from California. His flight from Jordan leaves Sunday, mine leaves from Tel Aviv early Wednesday morning. This will be the last time I go through the nasty, ugly Tel Aviv airport. Leaving Nablus when I did may have been my last opportunity for quite a while.

Six people from the ISM were making their way into Nablus as Paul and I were making our way out. Mary Kelly from Ireland stayed behind to organize the new group.

Leaving Nablus through the checkpoint was difficult. As we walked down the deserted, war torn street we encountered tank after tank. Several fired at us until they saw we were not Palestinians. I am not afraid of the Israeli soldiers. I will not be bullied or intimidated into shutting my mouth about what is happening or into not witnessing the horror in this war torn land.

It takes every ounce of restraint and discipline I have to pull myself back from the abyss of rage and anger about the injustices here. If I give into those emotions I will lose the battle I am fighting. Rage can blind a person to all reason and logic. I found this out in the devastated Old City of Nablus.