Israel's Apartheid Wall, Again

 A Section of Israel's Apartheid Wall in the occupied Palestinian West Bank, Separating Palestinian Villages from an Illegal Israeli Settlement

I've posted pictures of the Wall before, I know. But every time we drive past a section I am struck again by the madness of it. Sometimes the average Palestinian will say things like, "I wouldn't mind the Wall if it was built along the 1949 armistice borders, on Israeli territory," in a fit of there's-nothing-I-can-do-anyway.

"They can do what they want, khalas, as long as they just leave us alone," they add, weary of having their territory confiscated, occupied; their homes demolished; their every step monitored and their movement restricted. Blue IDs for Jerusalem Palestinians, green for West Bank Palestinians. Yellow license plates for Israeli-registered cars, white for Palestinian cars. Color codes that decide whether you can pass through military checkpoints or not. If you have rights or not.

Maybe I haven't been here long enough, but there's nothing nothing nothing anyone can ever tell me that will make me think this is even remotely acceptable. Any argument--security-related or otherwise--that justifies separating one human being from another by a huge concrete wall can never make sense to me. I believe that the most dangerous, destructive, and also probably the most seductive idea that we humans ever had is that the social group we belong to is superior to others. Especially when this idea becomes so strong that we imagine that we need to separate ourselves from others in order to protect our identity, our superiority, the privileged world we've created for ourselves on the expense of our neighbors.

Seriously. I thought we had learned from colonial projects of the past, of segregated societies in South Africa, America, Germany and where ever else your skin color or your birthplace or the name of your parents or grandparents decided on which side of a concrete wall you could be, or what part of a bus you could sit in. Apparently not.

Don't Forget Gaza

I am plagued by a guilty conscience as I go to bed at night with the rain pouring outside, lightning flashing, and the thunder roaring. My bed is soft and warm and dry. I have a solid roof over my head, and windows that keep the wind and the rain outside.

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of people in Haiti don't even have a bed anymore. And families in Gaza, just a little more than two hours away from me, live in makeshift tents since the Israeli war one year ago. The continued siege makes it impossible for Gazans to rebuild their homes: borders are sealed and building materials aren't let through. Pending some kind of solution, their roof and walls are made out of blankets and plastic sheets, and their floor is mud.

Yes, mud. The rain storms have drenched the refugee camps in water. Temperatures drop to or even below zero at night.

And I lie in my bed with the heater on. I lie there with these images before my eyes (follow link, and click on the picture to see more). I'm going crazy with guilt. What am I doing to change any of this? How can I go on when I know that this is happening so close to me?


We mustn't abandon Haiti. Nor Sudan, Congo, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Afghanistan, or any other place in the world where there are displaced people who had to flee from their homes, had their homes destroyed, don't have a roof over their heads or access to the basics in life. And we can't forget about them as soon as the media stops reporting about them because there is a new conflict, or a new earthquake or flood. Just like we can't forget about Gaza.

Israeli Settlers

I went to Al-Khalil this weekend. The West Bank city more popularly know outside the Arab world as Hebron. Where Israeli settlers have occupied Palestinian apartments, homes, streets, neighborhoods, schools and put up military outposts on rooftops, at street corners, on top of the Ibrahimi Mosque.

Israeli Soldier Posing for My Camera

Israeli Soldier Guarding Rooftop of Occupied House

See, Israeli settlers don't just occupy West Bank hilltops, they go into Palestinian cities and occupy homes and buildings. They take over, and harass the local Palestinian population until they have no other choice but to leave if they want to live their lives in some kind of dignity.

Settler-Proof Net and Israeli Soldier on Rooftop

In the old city of Hebron, like in Jerusalem, Israel puts up a protective net over the streets so that the trash the Jewish settlers throw down on Palestinians will not hit them in their heads. A normal state would prosecute any crazy person wild enough to throw trash down on the heads of people from the windows of the houses they do not even rightfully own, but Israel puts up a net.

A Torn Israeli Flag outside Occupied Second-Floor Apartment

Israel doesn't prosecute. They support the settlers with soldiers that escort them where ever they go, guard entrances to schools and mosques they occupy, and place military outposts on rooftops to keep the city under surveillance.

Lone Palestinian Woman on the Streets of the Khalili Souk

The streets of the centuries-old souk that in any other West Bank city would be bustling with commerce on all days except Fridays, are eerily quiet in Hebron. Shops are closed because business just isn't good when Jewish settlers harass shoppers.

Little Palestinian Boy Playing on the Streets of the Khalili Souk

Ever so often, a hoard of Israeli settlers get escorted by Israeli soldiers through the old city. The Israeli soldiers walk first, clear the way by waving their guns at children, women and men, and the settlers walk after, smug with notions of superiority.

Israeli Settlers Escorted by Israeli Soldiers

Tarek and I stepped aside when they came. Didn't say a word. Settlers stared. Walked past us haughtily. Their eyes icy cold with contempt and disdain for everybody who is not them. One settler spat at Tarek. My cheeks burned and my heart pounded. A soldier pointed his gun at me. I decided I didn't want to risk my life and put my camera away after taking one more blurry shot.

Israeli Soldier Pointing His Gun at Me

Why settlers settle in Hebron? There's a mosque there, the Ibrahimi Mosque, where a bunch of Jewish, Christian and Muslim patriarchs and their wives are buried: Abraham and Sara, Isaac and Rebecca and Leah, and Jacob (did he have a wife?). The settlers have cordoned off parts of the mosque and you have to pass through a military check point to go inside. Of course, only Jews and maaaaybe non-Arabs are allowed into the Jewish part, but Tarek and I went to the Muslim part.

The First Military Check Point Outside the Ibrahimi Mosque

Holy tombs or not, I cannot for the world understand that there are human beings who imagine that they are so superior to the rest of us that they have the right to forcibly take over the homes, neighborhoods, schools and lands of others. As if there are those who are better than others. So that they need to separate themselves from us by excluding our very presence.

But even more difficult to understand is that the state of Israel is allowed to encourage and support the Jewish settler takeover of Palestinian homes, neighborhoods, schools and lands, and still maintain normal relations with the rest of the world.

It's like South Africa, people. Apartheid. It's time for serious, all-encompassing sanctions directed at Israel. It's time to cut Israeli military, economic, and diplomatic relations with all nations. And if our leaders won't act, WE can act. By boycotting Israeli goods and services, and buy-cotting Palestinian dito. Ask your local grocer for Palestinian olive oil, for olives, couscous, sun dried tomatoes, flowers, vegetables and fruits. And always, always ask where the avocados, oranges, grapefruit, lemons, mango, persimmons, grapes, and figs come from before you buy them--Israel is a big exporter of these fruits.

Don't work with Israeli universities, don't go see Israeli artists, shows or sport events, don't buy Israeli literature, avoid foreign companies who do business in the occupied Palestinian territories. Check with your local Palestinian solidarity groups which companies and products to avoid. Because nothing will change until it becomes too expensive for Israel to continue its Apartheid policies.