In 2016 I joined a delegation from Christian Peacemaker Teams (now Community Peacemaker Teams) in the Palestinian city of Al-Khalil/Hebron, where we accompanied children on their path to and from al-Ibrahimiya kindergarten. The school is adjacent to the Ibrahimi Mosque, which is situated above the Cave of the Patriarchs, a multifaith holy place that marks the traditional burial site of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, and Jacob and Leah. Palestinian families had discovered that sending their kids with international volunteers made residents of the nearby Jewish settlement think twice before throwing stones. That week, during my morning and afternoon accompaniment walks, there were no incidents requiring us to shield the students. But we did have to skirt around clusters of settlers, a few of them with rifles hung over their shoulders, who assembled along the path to taunt us.
One morning, when we reached an intersection at the edge of a settlement housing unit, I saw an older man rushing toward me. The other volunteers hurried the kids away, dashing with them down an alley, leaving me to face off with the man. I put my nonviolent de-escalation training into practice—slowing my breath to calm my nerves, resting my arms at my side with my hands unclenched, palms opened toward him. We had rehearsed, as a team, for this sort of situation. Our strategy was to keep the danger as far as possible from the children and, hopefully, to ease the tension. The man stepped up to me, his beard almost touching mine. “I am here in peace,” I said to him, softly yet firmly. Fuming, he spit at my shoes and cursed me, then headed back to his side of the street, returning to his compatriots.
I found my group waiting for me around the corner. One of the children entrusted to me by his parents that morning took one of my hands, another child took the other, and each of them reached out for their friends’ hands as well. They seemed unfazed after the incident in the street. We kept on walking, them climbing and jumping from rubble, stomping in puddles, all while they sang and laughed.
