Love thy neighbor

Thus far my entries have been centered around my experiences in Hebron, which is in part due to the significance of these experiences. Following this theme, I am going to share one more adventure my friend Frank and I had during our homestay in Hebron. Thanks to the Natsheh family everyone in our group had an arranged overnight stay with a Palestinian family. Two friends of the Natsheh family, Samer and Fwas, drove us to one of their friend's apartment where we spent the night.

On the way, they decided to show us what it was like for a Palestinian to live next to Israeli settlers, so we payed a visit to the home of one of their friends, Hanny. He lives adjacent to a settler family, who are occupying the home of a Palestinian family, and an Israeli settlement. Although there is a parking lot next to Hanny's home, literally 20 yards away and through a gate, it is unusable by us or Hanny. Palestinians are barred from using the parking lot, so instead, we have to park on the street 1 km away from Hanny's home and walk through a large field to get there. However, the windy trail through the field is not lighted, so we have to navigate it in the dark. Further, the trail is incredibly uneven and covered with rocks, making an ankle sprain possible with every step. It took us about 25 minutes to walk to his home. For Hanny this is an everyday experience. He has to walk this route whenever he wants to leave or return to his home, day or night. The situation is no different for his children. Keep in mind this walk is always necessary, whether he is bringing groceries to his home or meeting an ambulance in an emergency. In fact, on one occasion his daughter needed to go to the hospital, but the ambulance couldn't park directly at Hanny's house, settler use only, so they had to carry her to the ambulance which was parked on a nearby road. Although their walk was perhaps 600 meters, which is slightly shorter than our route, it required negotiating a very steep grass/dirt embankment to get to the road.

One of the houses directly next to Hanny was recently abandoned by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) which occupied it during and after the 2nd Intifada after the Palestinian family who owned it fled for Jerusalem. The IDF left the residence only after suffering a defeat in the Israeli court system, requiring them to vacate the premises. On Hanny's other side is a home occupied by settlers. On one side of the settler-occupied home is an Israeli settlement, which is essentially a large apartment building, and on the other is Hanny's home. The Palestine family that once lived in this home recently left out intense fear of their Israeli neighbors. Because the home is directly adjacent to the Israeli settlement, resulting in alleged settler security concerns, it was illegal for the Palestinian family to be present in their backyard. Further, they couldn't be in their front yard because it abuts and accesses a settler-only street. Essentially, they were confined to the inside of their home.....so they fled and a settler family moved in.

Although a fence and a gate separates both the settler occupied house and Hanny's house from the Israeli settlement, Hanny and his son are constantly harassed. In fact, his wife and daughter are living elsewhere out of concern for their safety. Almost daily, rocks and eggs are thrown over the fence at Hanny, his son, and anyone else on his property. This recently included a Jewish delegation, who after standing in Hanny's backyard for 10 minutes, found themselves under assault. Hanny tried to report the continual harassment to the IDF, who have a military station directly on the other side of the gate and fence and next to the Israeli settlement. When he talked to them they responded, maybe it's Palestinian kids.........and did nothing.

The goal of the settler's actions are clear, get Hanny and his family to abandon their home. If the family abandons their home, a huge shift in demography will occur. Hanny's home is on top of a hill and at the base of the hill is a 2nd Israeli settlement, also a large apartment complex. One of the only things separating the 1st Israeli settlement and settler occupied home from the 2nd Israeli settlement is Hanny's home. Remove Hanny and they remove the major stumbling block to settler expansion in this area.

Tarik visits his father

After we had our short tour of Jewish Hebron (H2) by Rabbi Simcha Hochbaum, we met the organizer of our homestays for the night Tarik Natsheh, who also is Sammi’s brother, on the fringe of H2. This 20% of Hebron reminded me of a 21^st century ghost town, resembling London in the film 28 Days Later. The eeriness was unsettling if not unnerving. The only presence in this ghost town is the marshals, the Israeli Defense Force. They are visible on every corner and every abandoned building. Armed with M16s and dressed in full combat uniforms, streets become more reminiscent of East Berlin following WWII. Every shop on every street is closed and show no sign of life behind their sealed garage doors. The windows from the apartments above the stores are enclosed in metal cages protecting the children who are looking out at us this very day from the settlers who throw rocks at them and their families. As I stated earlier, within H2 reside 500-1,500 Jews and 25,000-50,000 Palestinians. All Palestinians have to go through military checkpoints, including passing through metal detectors and presentation of identification to enter H2. Once in H2, there are numerous settler only streets, thus making Palestinian travel on these roads illegal. Further, in other areas of H2 Palestinians are harassed by both the settlers and the IDF. Given the sociopolitical situation, I am going to go back to Tarik Natsheh and share with you our shared experience in H2.

After we met just inside a military checkpoint in H2, we briefly visited the mosque in the neighborhood. Ironically, the mosque, where in 1994 a Jewish settler killed 29 worshippers and wounded 125 others, is directly adjacent to the area synagogue. After we left the mosque we were standing on the street discussing this area with Tarik. In conversation we discovered that his father had passed away from a heart attack in 2000 and had been one of the leaders of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Tarik’s father, who in no uncertain terms was his hero, had been laid to rest in a cemetery that was roughly a block and a half away from us and was clearly visible from where we were standing. However, he had not visited his father’s grave since a month after his death. This was not by choice, but was instead dictated by the Palestinian reality. Immediately after passing through the stone gates into the cemetery, he was assaulted by Israeli soldiers and was lying on the ground with M16s pointed at his head. The physical and verbal message was clear, never return to this cemetery and he didn’t, until today. We made a decision to accompany Tarik to the cemetery, so he could visit his father’s grave once more. Although the road to the cemetery was closed to Palestinians during and after the 2^nd Intifada, the presence of internationals made the journey possible, as soldiers are unlikely to take action when internationals are present. We entered the cemetery within sight of several soldiers and escorted Tarik to his father’s grave. His appreciation was clear and his emotional response so powerful that it became one of the most powerful experiences of my own life and something I will never forget.

Map of Israel and the Palestian Occupied Territories

Rabbi Simcha Hochbaums

On the same day I heard Sammie Nache’s story as a Palestinian in Hebron, we met with a Jewish settler in Hebron, Rabbi Simcha Hochbaum, who is also the Director of Tourism for the Hebron Fund. Simcha has a much different story and perspective of the Jewish community’s history in Hebron and their relationship with the neighboring Palestinians. The following is his view of Jewish history in Hebron.

In 1648, the Jews had to move out of Hebron because of intense discrimination. In fact, Jews in this area have always faced discrimination from the local population (e.g. lack of adequate hospital services). By the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries Jews were once again present in Hebron. Then, in 1929, a Jewish boy was murdered by the Palestinians. Following his murder 66 Jews were killed and 67 others were injured, and the British kicked all remaining Jews out of Hebron. However, one person remained, Franco, and he vowed to bring Jews back to Hebron. In the wars of 1948 and 1967 against the Arabs Jewish synagogues in Hebron were destroyed, and the land was subsequently used to hold animals. As a result of the post-synagogue land becoming animal pens, defecation occurred there and in both the Muslim and Jewish faiths this is viewed as ultimate disrespect. In the three decades following the 1967 war Jewish settlers came back into Hebron, supported by the Israeli army. In 2001, during the 2nd Intifada, a Jewish baby was murdered by a Palestinian sniper. The sniper later admitted he was aiming for and wished to kill the baby. This was the worst of several violent altercations between the settlers and Palestinians. This incident resulted in an enormous escalation in violence between the settlers and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), and the Palestinians.

Simcha’s future vision of Hebron is one where tens of thousands of Jews live. He believes that peace is not possible with the current Palestinian leaders who promote, along with local Muslim religious leaders, pushing all Jews into the Mediterranean Sea. Further, he states that in the PLO charter there is no stated right for Israel to exist. Therefore, peace has to come from below, from the people not from the leaders, and from a desire for something different than the status quo. He also said there are things that Jews and Muslims have in common, including modesty and a desire for peace.

Difference between Israelis and Israeli setters

At the beginning of my last blog I should have given some background into the difference between Israelis living in Israel proper and Israel settlers. I am considering Israelis individuals who live in the state of Israel as defined by the 1949 Armistice Line which separates Israel and Palestine. The separation border is called the green line. In the map on this page Palestine is represented in green and Israel in white. Israeli settlers are individuals who live in colonies on the land designated as Palestine by the UN in 1949. The settler movement occurred primarily after the Six Day War in 1967 between Israeli and the Arab nations.

Sammi in Hebron

Sammi was one of two brothers whose family graciously allowed our group into their home and organized homestays for us for the night. Sammi lives in Hebron which is in the southwestern corner of the West Bank (visible on the profile map). The city of Hebron contains 180,00 residents and 300,000-500,000 people in the metropolitan area and is nearly all Muslim. There are between 500-1000 Jewish settlers in Hebron, and they reside close to the city center in a total of four settlements. In the mid-1990's, Hebron was broken up into two areas H1 (Palestinian Authority controlled) and H2 (Israeli controlled). The H2 zone contains all of the Israelis in Hebron and roughly 25,000 Palestinians. In terms of size, 80% of the land area in Hebron is H1 and 20% is H2. Therefore, roughly 0.5% of the population controls 20% of the land area in the city.......Rewind

Part 1 - During the 1st Entifada, 1987-1993, Sammi was a young boy, no more than 10 years old. He was playing soccer on the street with some of his friends and during the game a car of Israeli settlers drove past them on the street. The settlers stopped, got out of the car, and proceeded to beat Sammi. Not only did Sammi get assaulted as a child, he had to suffer the humiliation of urinating in his own pants. It is important to note that during the 1st Intifada there were no suicide bombers and the revolt was largely nonviolent......Fast forward

Part 2 - In 2003, during the 2nd Intifada, Sammi was outside of his home on the street and several Israeli Defense Force (IDF) soldiers approached him. They told him they were looking for twelve kids who were throwing rocks. The soliders asked Sammi where kids were, and he replied that he had no idea what they were talking about. The soliders told Sami to go find the kids. He retorted, you're the police you find them. Not liking his response, they took Sammi into a garage where they proceeded to severly beat him with their fists, legs, and butt ends of their M-16s. The severity of the assault left Sammi bedridden for two days.

IFBP Delegation Reports

If you are interested in hearing about our delegation's experience from the perspective of other people on the trip, check out our delegation reports at http://www.ifpbdel.org/del26/default.html. Thank you