Realities Unfold in the Old CIty, Settlements and Sheikh Jarrah

We started off the delegation today with a tour of the Old City, visiting all of the holy sites was a great way to introduce everything. It was a reminder of historical and spiritual weight that drives the discourse of land ownership and "home." We saw the famous stations of the cross, the dome of the rock and the wailing wall. For Christians, Jews and Muslims, these are some of the most historically and spiritually significant sites on earth.

Women praying at the Western (or Wailing) Wall

On our way to the Dome of the Mount, we saw these riot shields. A small reminder of who holds the power here. 

The Dome of The Rock 

Ihsan is related to the family who historically holds the key to the Church of the Sepulchre. It is open from 4:30 am to 8:30 pm. We had the privilege of taking a look. Amazingly the person most connected to this land (the key has ben passed down in his family since 1187) was almost not let into the country.

A woman praying outside Jesus' Tomb

For the Muslim Palestinians in the West Bank (and the Christians as well, for that matter), visiting them is an impossibility due to restrictions on access to occupied East Jerusalem. We came across a few ideological settlers escorted by personal body guards subsidized by US funded NGOs. These are people who are living in the Old City as a political statement to prove the right of the Jewish people to this land, though it is illegal under international law and by the UN-designated borders. A few of them entered the Temple Mount (as is called by Israel, or Haram Al-Sharif, as called by the Muslims who worship there) again with armed body guards. As the entered, we heard many people engaging in a small of act of non-violent resistance. They chanted "Allahu Akbar" (God is great) as these settlers entered this holy site. It is becoming clear how even small exertions of power contribute to the systematic oppression of the indigenous people here.

A settlement in East Jerusalem, complete with gates and barbed wire.

An interesting contrast in some of the T-Shirts being sold in the streets of the Old City. "Free Palestine" next to "America Don't Worry, Israel is Behind You"

 We met with Jeff Halper and debriefed with him on his work as the head of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD). He talked about the power that language has around the occupation. For many Israelis, the word occupation is not in their vocubularly. Even the word “Palestinian” steals away the comfort of unquestioned ownership that Israeli Jews have the privilege to live with. Settlements are not a tool of colonialism in ther eyes, but simply Jewish communities. They are happy with the status quo, and who can blame them? White Americans turn a blind eye, or even a slightly sympathetic but complicit eye (myself included) to the atrocities the US government perpetuates in our name both in our own country and abroad. Jeff told us about the 28,000 Palestinian homes that have been demolished, and the many more with demolition orders on them now.

A demolished Palestinian home, that was once a 7-story apartment building.

A view of Jerusalem. You can see the apartheid wall in the background, and settlements sprinkled throughout. We were reminded that this wall is not, in fact, for security. It often divides Palestinan towns from other Palestinians, and does not lie on the actual (supposed) borders between Israel and Palestine. 

It became quickly obvious how well the implications of occupation are hidden from those who benefit from it. This pond is simply for show, while most Palestinian homes have their water shut off for many days out of the week. Aggressive wastefulness. 

Garbage collection does not occur in East Jerusalem, by law, for "security" reasons. 

 We also saw settlements where 300 year old olive trees had been uprooted and relocated. Settlements that are accessible by Israeli only highways, and that receive 92% of the municipal budget, though they make up only 60% of the taxes collected.

We made a stop to visit some of the graffiti on the wall. 

Finally we met with the Kurda family in Sheikh Jarrah, undergoing constant violence and harassment from the settlers in their neighborhood along with constant threat of their house being taken over. They described being bitten by dogs, shouted at, and attacked.The oldest member of the family predates Israel's conception. She was sent to Sheikh Jarrah as a refugee by UNRWA in 1956, but in 1999, Nahalat Shimon International, an ideological settlement organization claimed this their territory, and the Israeli government claimed they were living there without a permit. For months, even up to a year, displaced families nonviolently resisted by living in tents in the street after having their stuff thrown into the street, and were forced to pay for the labor of those who threw it. The most heavy of this visit was that Melissa Kurda's mother was there to share with us, and was obviously disheartened and losing hope-- and for good reason. She has been living under occupation for almost all her life, and talking with people like us for years. Things have only gotten worse for her and her family. She told her daughter not to waste time speaking with us, and she had every right to feel this way. We, however, have a responsibility to stand in solidarity, and prove to her that talking to us might not be useless. Her daughter encouraged us to use social media to tell their story, and to lobby, lobby lobby!

Daoud showing us a photo of undercover IDF soldiers pretending to be activists. They provoked a clash between settlers and residents, and proceeded to arrest the Palestinians engaging in nonviolent resistance. 

On the way out we saw this little Handela on the wall outside the Kurda house :)

Though this settler violence is a very real threat to Palestinians, and this should certainly not be denied, we also reminded ourselves to remember that they are a piece in the greater system committing these crimes. Especially the non-ideological settlers who live in settlements that are marketed as affordable housing for working class Israelis. They are not inherently evil, they are a part of an evil system that must be collapsed. Much of the time the realities of occupation are only apparent to those being restricted by it. The comfort of the status quo and the huge efforts in making occupation invisible to the unquestioning make it easy for this oppression to continue its destructive existence.