Welcome to Palestine!
Although the sign certainly appears ominous, I have only one reaction upon passing these signs: excitement. These are a fancy little addition Israel has added along the streets of Palestine warning when the streets enter "Area A" territory. Sorry for the quick history lesson, but it's important. After the Oslo II Accords Palestine was separated into 3 types of territories: Area A (only 3% of the West Bank) is under full military and civil control by the Palestinian Authority. Area B contains land which is under Palestinian civil control but under joint control by both the Israeli and Palestinian militaries. Area C, which is a majority of Palestine, is under full Israeli civil and military control. Passing those red signs warn that I'm leaving the jurisdiction of Israel. Frightening for my university, parents, and government, but by all personal accounts it's one of my favorite parts of "Israel".
This past Saturday was my second time entering into such territory. However despite going with a tour guide (for my own safety) this was much less tourist oriented than my first time crossing into Bethlehem. I was off to Hebron.
I went through an alternative tourism group who pairs travelers with locals who show you around the city. I was joined by a 30-something Austrian embassy worker from Tel Aviv and his mother. The three of us walked around the Old City of Hebron, through the market, and just enjoyed spending the day in Palestine along with our local guide who is a school teacher outside of Bethlehem during the week.
This is a picture of myself, the woman traveling to Hebron with me, a local shopkeeper, and our guide for the day.
The main site in Hebron is the Abraham mosque/church/synagogue. It's the city where Abraham lived and the mosque/church/synagogue is located on his tomb. Locally Hebron is called الخليل which means "friend" in Arabic because Abraham is considered the 'friend of God'. The building has gone through different phases historically between being a church, mosque, and synagogue. Now it is split between the Muslim and Jewish communities in Hebron.
The Muslim part of the site. Israel has created a checkpoint which you can see on the left where Muslims have to get checked before they can go into the mosque to pray. For "safety reasons" I'm told.
The synagogue side of the structure. On the left you see two IDF soldiers who stopped us from going any closer since we aren't Jewish.
Inside the Abraham mosque. Behind me is the mihrab and to my right is the minbar where the imam talks from on Fridays. It was originally Saladin's minbar.
After the mosque our guide briefly left us on our own so we could enter the kilometer or so of street that Israel had seized from the Palestinians. They welded all the shops shut and threw out the locals so that a few Israeli's could move into a settlement there. It was one of the most surreal moments I've had while traveling. The streets were deserted and there was Israeli propaganda posted everywhere amongst the few remaining signs and buildings that hinted toward the Arab life that used to exist there.
The empty Israeli controlled street in Hebron.
Standing in the deserted streets.
One of the shops the soldiers welded shut with Jewish graffiti next door.
What was even stranger is when a Jew did decide to walk outside they were accompanied by flocks of soldiers. In the photo below there are at least 13 soldiers just to accompany two Jews who were walking in the street. It's just a really weird thing to observe and wrap your head around. Also, Hebron is supposed to be Area A where it's illegal for Israelis to be, but yet they're controlling certain parts quite significantly.
I'm aware that settlers are not representatives of all of Israel or of the entire Jewish population. That would be like saying the Westboro Baptist Church represents Christianity or Americans. I don't mean to point fingers at anyone in this post, merely express what a strange situation I observed while in Hebron. What was even harder for me personally is that most of these extremist settlers in Hebron are actually Americans. Hearing a Palestinian tell me that I'd get to meet my fellow people while walking around was such a painful thing to hear. The fact that a part of my identity overlaps with these people despite feeling so polar opposite from them made it harder to accept their behavior.
The soldiers accompanying the two men walking around.
For lunch we visited a local Palestinian family who cooked homemade Arabic food for us. They had been living on a specific piece of property for years when a settlement decided to set up right on the edge of their property just uphill of them. The settlers blocked off access to their house, blocked their water supply, and in general tried to make life as tough as possible for the family living there. There was no shortage of horror stories of violence toward the family.
The IDF stopped us and interrogated us when we tried to walk near the settlement to get to the Arab man's house for lunch. A soldier collected our passports, asked us a bunch of questions, and just seemed obscenely suspicious of our desire to eat a home cooked meal. On our way out of the neighborhood the same solider had the audacity (knowing I was an American due to obtaining my passport) to tell me he'd be interested in a green card.
The Palestinian family who provided us lunch is in the house on the lower left. The bright orange building is the settlers' apartments.
Despite the hardships and the tension in Hebron the locals are incredibly friendly and welcoming. It's hard to walk around without being welcomed into a shop for tea or coffee and the locals are bilingually chatty. They were amazingly good about putting up with my basic Arabic speaking skills and both encouraged and corrected me along the way. The driver who took us through the separation barrier checkpoint was so pleased with my conversational skills he even offered to drop me off in my neighborhood so I wouldn't have to catch a cab on Shabbat!
One of the most interesting locals I met was Abed Abu Muhammad. He is one of the few shop owners left near the Abraham mosque and near the Jewish settlement. Despite being offered lots of money he refused to leave his shop and home. He was literally born inside those walls and over Arabic coffee and conversation he was keen to tell me to look at the stone beneath our chairs. "See that rock?" he'd knock on the ground, "The stone is tough. Palestinians are tougher." He has been there so long Israel refuses to grant him permission to leave Palestine for travel because he attracts so many visitors. The locals refer to the Israeli checkpoint near his shop as "Abed's checkpoint".
Sitting with Abed, one of the few shop owners left after he invited us in for coffee.
Hebron is clearly a city of polarities. As much as my post swings bipolarly between paragraphs so too did my entire day. It was an exhausting trip full of emotional stories and experiences but also really amazing locations and people. Maybe it's not where the adverage person would spend their free time, but I'm glad I got the chance to.
No comments:
Post a Comment