Saturday, March 10, 2018
Yesterday afternoon a 24 year old man (who’s disabled) was shot and killed in Hebron. Every Friday there is a peaceful demonstration to end the occupation. Some younger children started throwing stones (at a military fortress where all the guards are armored, inside an armored tower, inside an armored base). Some military persons came out and intentionally shot this young man who was not participating in the demonstration and standing off to the side.
Old City of Hebron, seen from a rooftop
Today we visited Hebron. We went very early in the morning so as to leave before noon – the time when demonstrations usually begin. Hebron is one of the most noticeably segregated cities in Palestine. After the 1994 massacre in the Abrahimi mosque (as well as many other acts of violence growing throughout the months and years ahead), in 1997 the Oslo III Agreement divided the city of Hebron. Ever since then the divide has grown worse. There are streets that Palestinians are not allowed to walk on, the main market street was closed (permanently shutting down 2,000 stores, leaving all goods inside to this day), establishing 123 barriers and checkpoints throughout the city for Palestinians to go through, and that’s just to name a few.
Inside the mosque.
So backing up a bit: the Abrahimi Mosque is also partially a synagogue. In the caves below there lie the bodies of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, and Jacob and Leia. It is a holy site for all three monotheistic religions. This is the religious site located in Hebron and thus can be a source of conflict. The two religions share a building, the Synagogue getting 60% of the compound, the mosque getting 40%. In order to get to the mosque, you must go through at least one checkpoint. This means, that the Israeli “boarder patrol” have the ability to restrict Muslims from entering the mosque if they choose.
The man on the right is holding the same rifle as the military personnel.
Walking through the city of Hebron was like entering another world. The market street (Shuhada St) that was shut down for Palestinians is now a Jewish pedestrian mall. But the buildings were never opened. It’s like a ghost town. Since the homes above the shops are still active, but Palestinians can’t walk on the streets, many have to climb into their homes on ladders through a window on the opposite side of the house. Israeli soldiers walk through the streets everywhere in their full armor and with all their weapons. One of their scare tactics is to randomly search people (Palestinians) and even raid their homes – they don’t need any sort of permission or written note. Even the settlers (Israeli Jews, mostly)are obligated to carry a gun with them everywhere they go. So fathers walking home from prayers have their child in one hand and an assault rifle in the other.
One of the ways the settlers try to attack Palestinians is by throwing water, sand, rocks, and garbage at them. The wire was put up by an international relief organization. However, it doesn’t always hold and some Palestinians can be wounded by the aggression.
The hardest part about the day was having to watch our guide (who is Palestinian) leave us to take a different route since he was legally not allowed to walk on the same road as us.
After we walked through Hebron, we visited the Christian Peacemaker Team, an organization requested by the community to be present at all times and bear witness to the atrocities. Their whole purpose is to observe and watch for any human rights violations, count them, and report them to UNICEF and the broader world. They count things such as children detained on their way to school in the morning, settlers attacking Palestinians, military personnel searching Palestinians without cause, etc. They are also present at different times to help increase safety. Simply by having international people around, the Palestinians are safer and the Israeli military will behave themselves – not always, but often.
Tent of Nations welcomes everyone.
Finally, we had the privilege of going to the Tent of Nations. A Palestinian farm that has existed on the hills of the West Bank for over 100 years. The Israeli military wanted to take the land to use for settlements but the owners won’t let them. To try and get them off the land, they have cut off their electricity, water supply, roads, bulldozed their fields, attempted to bulldoze their home, threatened them, raided them, and robbed their harvest. However, the family has stayed strong in their pursuit of practicing peace. They have gone through the Israeli military courts as instructed and incurred millions of dollars in legal bills – currently on their 27th year of the “postponed” trial for their land. The farm now gets support from around the world and so is able to care for their legal bills and continue to function.
Tent of Nations farm
It’s hard to see pain and destruction in such a beautiful place with wonderful and hospitable people. However, Tent of Nations helped me to find some joy and re-commitment to my purpose in coming on this pilgrimage: I believe in peace, blindly, but I believe in it. I know that if enough people believe it can happen and work to create it, eventually it will come. The Tent of Nations sees each new attack as an obstacle that they have to get creative with. Israel cut off their electricity, they built solar panels; Israel cut off their water, they dug cisterns; Israel says they cannot build, they transformed the caves underground into meeting rooms. Their commitment is inspiring. If you’d like to learn more about them, visit http://www.
~ Monica Shaffer