Is a ceasefire in Gaza the end of this tragedy?
by gracedaisy
Its been some time since I’ve written, and I guess this week has been one were I slowed down a little, and tried to digest much of what i’d seen and exerienced here, if its possible to ever even begin to make sense of it all. I decided to extend my stay by two weeks, which isn’t a lot of time, but seemed like the right thing to do for me, to allow the chance to cope with the bombardement of information, tragedy, frustration and sadness.
In the past days the Israeli government announced a ceasefire in Gaza, and as I see the worlds attention and fervour and anger on this issue, I can’t help but feel a sense of anxiety that this will ease and pass as the world convinces itself that a ceasefire in Gaza is the solution to the problems this region is seeing. Perhaps this will be yet another story that leaves the headlines of the daily news, and people will slowly forget the affects and outcomes of this war, or the constant violation of human rights that occurs in the occupied land of the West Bank. For me, and for many others I am sure, it is clear that what has happened in Gaza over the past two weeks, is representative of the shocking treatment of the Palestinian people, the complete disregard for human rights, international law and essentially a basic humanity, at the hands of the Israeli government, and its supporters in the US and internationally.
So what can we learn from what has happened in Gaza? The crisis, is far from over, and I am hesitant to even begin to analyse its impact, when we don’t even know the number of dead, or when it will in fact end. Yet its important, before the anger and outrage of the international community dissipates, to contemplate the bigger picture, to recognise that the invasion of Gaza is not an isolated action, but rather one that has a wider context and implications. I strongly believe the Israeli regime is far too sophisticated and agenda-driven, to have carried out this massacre without a foreseen outcome, even it is not the one they are sharing with the world. If they do in fact withdraw now, what they are leaving behind them is a region utterly destroyed in all regards – the morale of the people is crushed, some of the key personalities in the Hamas leadership have been killed, infrastructure (hopsitals, schools, roads, public buildings and so on) have been destroyed, and most importantly lives have been lost, families have been broken, people have been wounded and torn apart emotionally and physically. Is this in fact what Israel had hoped for?
Beyond Gaza, lies the other Palestinian “territory” of the West Bank, the place I have been travelling through, trying to build my knowledge of this conflict, the people, the impact of the policies of the Israeli government here, and their constant military presence. This week I saw more examples of all these things, of the fact that this is an ongoing strategy of occupation and oppression, the most striking with my visit to Hebron.
I had always heard that Hebron was an important place to see, to understand the extent of the occupation in the West Bank, and to experience the most extreme examples of Zionism. Hebron is the largest city in the West Bank and has a population of approximately 180,000 people, among them around 500 Jewish settlers in the center of the city itself. It lies in the land of Judea, and is therefore is one of the four holy cities in Judaism. Since 1967 there has been a presence of Jewish settlers in the city, who are to be differentiated from the Palestinian Jews, who apparently lived in the city in the early 20th century. As always, its not the Jewishness of the people that is the problem, but the fact that the Jewish that are settling there, are Zionists who believe the land of Palestine is rightfully theres. Typically, the settlers in Hebron, are reknowned for being the mst extreme, and often violent. They have on a number of occasions forceably occupied Palestinian homes, and the current situation sees the Israeli army keeping a constant presence, to protect the settlers from the anger of the locals, and in fact the opposite. Just a month or so ago, it was the Israeli army which evacuated a group of settlers from a Palestinian home, sparking of a spate of violence between the two parties.
Hebron itself though, is one of the most spine-chilling examples of the occupation of Palestinian ands and homes, freedoms and security. The once bustling old city, is now marked by the presence of armed Israeli military, of empty stores, of securit checks, and restricted movement for the local population. The entire streets of what was the Gold Souk or market, have been barricaded, closed, and the shops left empty, so the Jewish settlers living above street level in these buildings can do so without fear of interacting with the local population. Palestinian shop owners have been prevented opening and running their businesses, and the locks of these shops have even been welded shut. The streets are nearly empty, particularly of foreigners or tourists and anyone who might bring some income into the city. Shopkeepers eagerly watch my approach, as do the many kids, teenagers and young men selling braclets, flags, or embroidered purses or simply asking for some money. I heard the sentence “just one shekel” uttered to me by numerous kids under the age of five as I walked the streets. A shekel is the equivalent of less than 20 Euro cents.
My guide, a local Palestinian man, took my to the famous Ibrahimi Mosque, where the tomb of Abraham is located. This site is sacred to Jewish and Muslim worshippers alike. Before 1994, it was open to Muslim worship only, but in that year a Brooklyn born Jew, Baruch Goldstein, entered the Mosque and opened fire, killing in the region of between 39 and 52 Muslims (Israeli and Palestinian sources differ) and wounding another 150.Following the attack, the Israeli army imposed a curfew on the 120,000 Palestinians living in the city, while the 400 Jewish residents were allowed to move around freely. Today, the site is split between parts for Jewish and Muslim worship, but it is the local Muslim Palestinians who must pass through 3 checkpoints and security checks to enter the Mosque. The road that leads to the Mosque, which the settlers use to access it, has also been entirely blocked off the local Palestinians.
When I arrived in Hebron, the city was reeling from yet another tragic incident. The day before, a 15 year old Palestinian had been killed with two bullets to the back of his head, following clahses with Israeli military personnel. Media organisations reported that Israeli soldiers provoked the youths, who then responded with stone throwing, which was met with live rounds. The family buried the boy quickly, on that same day, after the evening prayer, to avoid any clashes which have often occurred at the funerals of youths who have died in similar inicidents. There have even been reports of settlers arriving at funerals to provoke the locals.
It is hard for me to understand the motivations of these settlers, though I can usuall empathise with most people. They have come to live in Hebron, in the firm belief that they are the rightful inhabitants of this holy land. Some orthodox Jews strongy appose this approach, and don’t believe that the return of this land to the Jewish people can be done through force. But this particular brand of ultra-militant, extremist zionists have taken the homes and buildings they occpuy in Hebron by all means. As we walked through the city, we were suddenly approached by a group of young, teenage settlers, flanked on all sides by Israeli soldiers, carrying M16s. They are an intimidating site, and as we were forced to pin ourselves up against the walls of the narrow streets, and the group passed by, I heard he clear american english of the teenagers. They were clearly first-generation Israeli, having moved here from the states to live in this manner. This is in fact how the settlers living here move through the streets, the Israeli soldiers acting as a buffer to the violent interctions that might be provoked on either sides.
The most harrowing example of the tensions and injustice in Hebron, I experienced when we visited the home of a family my guide knew well. They live in the old city – where the homes are entered via a narrow stone stairs, that leads to the rooms of the homes above street level. These steps lead onwards to the highest point in the building, where there is a terrace, and views around the city, and towards the nearby settlements. This particular family, live in close and terrfying proximity to an Israeli settlement. Their neighbours in fact have been responsible for numerous atacks. Most recently, they crossed over the roofs onto the terrace of the house, and set fire to a small room at the top of the building. All the remains now, are the charcoaled remains of the walls, and shards of the koran, which they symbolicaly burnt in a tin bucket. They children of the family, aged between 2 and 10 years old, immediately draw me attention to it, and try to urge me to take photos of the ashy room. As a result of these numerous attacks, there is an Israeli soldier posted on a regular basis on the roof of this house, and the family are not allowed to lock the doors of their home. I sat with the children of the family for a while, whom the father apparently has intentionally introduced to as many internationals as possible, to help them overcome the fear they once had of anyone who was not Palestinian, fearing they would harm them. One child from the family died in a fire lit by settlers, while another died after a tear gas cannsiter was fired into the house by Israeli soldiers. My guide told that one of the boys, maybe aged 6, had serious psychoogical problems as a result of the ongoing conflict and living in fear, and would bang his head against walls repeatedly.
Hebron is a sad city, one full of poverty, fear, distrust. One old lady followed us for some time, asking our guide in Arabic where we were from. He replied that we were Irish and German. She continued to probe, and asked him if he was sure we weren’t really Jewish. For some time she followed us eying us suspiciously, and not responding when I tried speaking some arabic to her. But then, I guess such suspicion is understandable in the circumstances that the local population are living.
Maybe its hard to understand how this is all connected to Gaza, if you haven’t been following the complicated history of this conflict, and from none of the super biased sources that are out there. Israeli troops have pulled out of Gaza, the world community is relieved and outraged in equal measures, and there is now talk of the humanitarian relief that will be needed. In Ireland, significant politicians were calling for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador and an end to trade links with Israel as a result of the war in Gaza. I would ask that this momentum is maintained, and that the international community of activists, clarifies its demands on this issue, and continues using the leverage of economics to put pressure on the Israel government to discontinue its practice of oppression, apartheid and human rights abuses in all of the Palestinian Territories. It is only then, when the Palestinian people are no longer under attack, that they will be in the position to build their own leadership, and in turn be in a position to negogiate for a solution to this conlifct. So long as the abductions, the murders, the illegal settlements, the acquisiton of land and resources, the impingement on the right to freedom of religious worship, to the freedom of expression, and all the other most basic rights that any democracy worth its salt can offer, continue, there will be no resolution to this conflict. And sometimes it seems, that money and economics are the only thing that people and particularly governments stand up and take note of.
