Hebron

(Young Hebronite woman waving Palestinian flag. Behind her on the left is the Israeli military watch tower that guards the entrance to the now closed off Shuhada street. Behind on the right is one of the old Hebron streets. See more photos of the protest at "My photos")


Yesterday, Saturday 3/28 I went to a protest in the West Bank town of Hebron. This weekend there were many protests all over Israel and the West Bank to honor Palestinian Land Day. March 30, 1967, the Israeli government announced a plan to seize 20,000 dunams, or 5,000 acres of Palestinian land. Six unarmed Palestinians were killed by Israeli soldiers in the protests against the announcement. This day is to honor their deaths and to fight against the discriminatory land policies of Israel.

Anyway, I went to a protest there this past Saturday. An Arab-Israeli Parliament member was there, and had a face-to-face yelling match with the military commander who was trying to kick us out. Dressed in a suit, he had a crowd of tv cameras, photographers, and protesters behind him, and would not stop until the soldiers resorted to force, tear gas, and sound bombs. It was both depressing to see a parliament member powerless in his own country and utterly inspiring to see him be such a badass.

Hebron is hands-down the most heated town in the West Bank for many reasons. Check it out on Wikipedia for a general background. Ultra-religiosity in both the Jewish settlers and the Muslim population, enormous military presence, and unending harrassment by settlers to the Palestinians all are some reasons why life in Hebron is hard for the Palestinians there. The settlers in general, but especially in Hebron, are generally regarded as unreasonable, racist extremists, even by Israelis. Watch the video below to see what Hebronites have to endure every day while living there. Simple things like going to school are not simple for Arabs in Hebron, they have to fight their way through everything.



Things to notice in the video: The people wearing the tan vests are foreign activists who escort Palestinians and try to act as human shields. The soldiers- they don't do anything to stop these little hate-filled children from throwing stones, and that's because they are ordered not to. They are told by their commanding officers that they can't do anything unless they pose a threat to the soldiers themselves. So instead they yell at them, usually to no avail (notice the policeman in the parking lot yelling at the boy throwing stones), they try to put themselves between the two groups, or they don't do anything. My Israeli friend here said he once tied a settler kid to a tree to make him stop :)

It's the children that upset me the most. They are taught by their parents from day one to hate the Arabs, just because they are Arabs. It's not as if these kids' parents were there, they would have told them to stop. They were probably watching from their house windows, cheering them on. Yes, there is hate from the Arab Hebronites side as well, but it is in no way an equal fight. This is one example where you just can't be objective or neutral- it's just plain wrong.

Check out HEB2- it's an experimental video project that posts candid video footage of Hebronites' lives online.