On small humiliations: Israeli soldier shoves Palestinian woman

Mya Guarnieri Jaradat By Mya Guarnieri Jaradat December 4, 2011 | Edit

During a protest in the South Hebron Hills yesterday, Operation Dove reported that a Palestinian child was arrested, allegedly for damaging an armored military truck with a flag. Operation Dove also reported that an elderly woman was shoved by a young Israeli soldier.

Here is an illustrative photo from yesterday’s demonstration:

On small humiliations: Israeli soldier shoves Palestinian woman
Israeli soldier pushes unarmed elderly Palestinian woman (photo: Operation Dove)

The imprisonment of the boy is worth a post of its own. For now, I want to address the image above.

It may seem like something small. But the small humiliations, piled on top of one another, day after day, year after year, add up. And they remind us, again, that many Israelis are being taught to have little to no respect for the dignity or humanity of Palestinians. How else can you explain a young soldier shoving an elder, a woman who is, as this picture shows, unarmed?

As though the checkpoints and movement restrictions and demolitions and evictions and blockade weren’t enough, the small humiliations remind us, yet again, that there is no such thing as an enlightened occupation.

Mya Guarnieri Jaradat

Mya Guarnieri Jaradat is a writer and independent journalist based in South Florida after almost a decade in Israel/Palestine. Her book, The Unchosen: The Lives of Israel's New Others (Pluto Press) was shortlisted for the Jewish Quarterly Wingate Prize. Her reportage and commentary has been published in The Nation, The NY Times, Haaretz, Le Monde Diplomatique, Al Jazeera English, The Guardian and many other outlets. Her essays and fiction have appeared in Slate, Guernica, the Jewish Quarterly, Narrative, and The Kenyon Review. She is currently working on a memoir.

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