CPTnet
September 16, 2001
HEBRON: More than watchmen wait for the morning

by Anne Montgomery

"Watchman what is left of the night?"
The watchman replies,
"Morning is coming, but also the night.
If you would ask, then ask;
And come back yet again." (Is. 21:
11-l2)

I returned to Hebron prepared in a worsening situation for confusion rather
than clarity, problems rather than solutions. I was not prepared to
follow so immediately a path of tears and blood through the streets in the
evening, walk frightened children to school in the morning and, finally,
climb over rooftops with the grieving relatives of two Palestinians, both
shot in the head.

As so often happens, with roof and street vulnerable to both settler and
army guns, exact facts are elusive, but not the pain of children breaking
into tears in the street or of a grandmother gesturing her grief over a boy
she had helped raise from infancy.

As always happens, even under curfew, the pain and confusion spread from
house to house and also among the soldiers, for two had previously suffered
wounds, one's leg badly shattered by a pipe bomb. The following morning,
unsure of new orders, they at first prevented some children from going to
school while others feared to leave their homes or ran in little groups
while we watched to prevent harassment. As they finally rushed into the
building the principal called out a warning, not about what they might
carry in, but about what they might find "planted" there - not to touch.

In the night between death and "life-as-usual" uncertain, confused,
anxious the big guns had broken all silence as we continued our
"life-as-usual" and completed the interrupted time of prayer and
meeting, considering requests for information and offers of help by
gracious friends. In the deeper night of our own helplessness, a
reflection of the discouragement around us, we can yet thank for the hope
they offer, the hospitality of those here who have so little themselves,
and, above all, for the invisible love that works through all.

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in God's word I put my hope.
My soul waits for the Lord
More than watchmen wait for the morning.
(Ps. 30: 5-6)

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