Posts tagged Shuhada Street

The day starts off as all of them do with an early meeting in Jerusalem. As I walk to our meeting place, religiously observant Jews are walking to shul for the Shabbat morning prayers. They often look me in the eye and affectionately say “Shabbat Shalom”. I wonder if they would behave the same way if they knew where I was headed for the day.

Our group is large. We have multipe vehicles and groups of three to ten people go to different farming areas throughout the south West Bank. Our plan is to assist Palestinian farmers and document any settler violence or IDF harassment. The farming work goes as planned and we have no problems with the settlers or the IDF on this day. Eventually all of the Ta’ayush groups meet outside of Susya.. At this point, there is a decsion to be made at this point. Some can continue to the heart of Hebron where there will be a protest against a weekly settler tour that takes place in the old city (the Cashbah) of Hebron or return to Jerusalem. I choose Hebron.

The situation in Hebron is one of the worst in the west bank. The old city lies in the heart of the city and is one of the most depressing examples of Israeli occupation. The main street running through the Palestinian part of the old city is called Shuhdah Street and it has been closed by Israeli authories and continued settler violence. The once thriving commercial center of the city now looks like a ghost town. The shops are boarded up and made have graffiti from the settlers. One can experience the occupation with all five senses in Hebron.

Youth Against Settlements is a national Palestinian non-partisan activist group which seeks to end Israeli colonial activistes in Palestine (building and expanding settlements) through non-violent popular struggle and civil disobedience which is based in the Tel Rumida neighboorhood of Hebron. Ta’ayush has done many joint actions with YAS including building a protest outpost just outside of Kiryat Arba. They decided that it is time to take non violent direct action to the Shuhadah Street.

Their idea was simple. Protest the closure of Shuhada Street to Palestinians and the illegal settlements in Hebron. The idea was to cross paths with one of the normal “Jewish settler tours” that take place on Saturdays. We would form a human barrier and block the tour. As we traveled to Hebron, the mood among Ta’ayush members was a little tense. Hebron is a serious area and in order to arrive at the protest destision we would have to travel through the H1 section of Hebron which is technically off limits to Israeli nationals. It was a risk that everyone was willing to take.

The protest started calmly with protesters standing in front of the gate where the tour usually enters, holding signs and chanting slogans in Arabic, English, and Hebrew; this continued for some time without any disturbance. Soldiers and Israeli police looked onto and videotaped the protest from pillboxes and rooftops nearby. Eventually the protest was declared over, but was then suddenly reignited with news that the settlers had managed to enter the Casbah through another entrance. The protestors then began to advance through the marketplace alleyways to where the tour was said to be but they were met by a line of soldiers who blocked their path. Protestors continued chanting and tried to push past the soldiers claiming that it should not be a crime to walk through their own city. Protestors tried several times to run around to different entrances into the market to prevent the tour from progressing, but each time they were met by a chain of soldiers and the face-off /pushing began again. Amidst the chaos of running back and forth, one Israeli activist was arrested for no apparent reason.

When the protesters re-grouped at the original location alongside the checkpoint gate, they formed a human wall in front of the soldiers by linking arms. The soldiers stood in front of the protestors, blocking them, in order to create a clear path for the settlers to exit the Casbah and pass through the gate back to Shuhada Street. The police then arrived and arrested two more Israeli activists as well as a Palestinian activist and resident of Tel Rumeida, Hebron. One of the arrests was particularly violent as the protestor was pushed to the ground and then dragged/carried away. The protest ended shortly afterwards. At 0200 in the morning all three of the Israeli arrestees were relased with no crime being charged. The Palestine arrestee is sitting in the Ofer military prison. The police are claiming that he assaulted an officer. It is unclear when he will be released and yet another example of how two sets of law govern the West Bank; one for Palestinians and one for Israelis.