Day 2—October 14
Old City of Jerusalem
We spent much of our first full day sightseeing in and around the Old City of East Jerusalem. We started at the Mount of Olives, where Jesus was said to have entered Jerusalem; and later visited the Church of Paternoster, where the Lord’s Prayer is displayed on the walls in dozens of different languages; the Sanctuary of Gethsemane; and the Church of All Nations, where Jesus was said to have been betrayed and arrested. Related photos
We made our entrance through the Old City wall at the Lion’s Gate. We visited several Stations of the Cross along the Via Dolorosa, and wended our way through the Muslim, Jewish, and Christian quarters to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a glittering hodgepodge of the shrines and sacred ornaments of a variety of Christian sects—Greek Orthodox, Catholic, Armenian, Egyptian Coptic—each of which guards its turf jealously.
Walking through the streets of the Old City, it was striking to see the diversity of people living in such close contact—Orthodox Jewish men in long black coats, beards, and black hats; Muslim women wearing hijab—head scarves and loose-fitting robes; Greek Orthodox priests with their distinctive angular hats; giggling schoolgirls and boys in a variety of uniforms; and just about everyone in between—all going about their business with nary a glance at the starkly different styles and cultures reflected around them. And everywhere are the machine-gun-toting soldiers of the Israeli Defense Forces.
In the middle of the Muslim Quarter, Ramzi pointed out a large house with an ostentatious display of Jewish and Israeli symbols, including a long white and blue cloth with the Star of David in the center, and a gigantic menorah on the roof. The house is owned by none other than Ariel Sharon, although he does not live there. The intended message was loud and clear: "We own every inch of Jerusalem and don't ever forget it."
We made our way to a site overlooking, from a distance, the Wailing Wall, which is believed by some to be the remains of the Jewish Second Temple destroyed by the Romans in 70 C.E. In deference to Orthodox Jewish practices, men and women pray in different areas along the Wall, separated by fences. Entrance to the Wailing Wall area is restricted by security gates. We, as foreigners, could have walked down to the Wall itself, but since Arabs are not allowed to go near it, Ramzi could not have accompanied us, and we decided not to go. Just beyond the Wailing Wall, we could see the spectacular gold-colored Dome of the Rock, built in the 7th century on the spot where Muslims believe the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven. The Dome of the Rock was once a magnet for tourists, but since the latest intifada began, Israeli security guards allow only Muslims to enter, banning even Christian Arabs.
Ramzi said this was the first time he had been to the Old City in one and a half years. The devastation of the tourism industry was obvious—many of the narrow streets were deserted except for shopkeepers watching over their lonely, untouched merchandise. Many of them would call to us to come into their stores and look over their souvenirs and other wares. Several of them gave Ramzi hearty greetings, as he had once passed through regularly while leading his tour groups.
We ate a delicious lunch of falafel sandwiches at an outdoor café. The proprietor was very happy to see a group of tourists stop in. He was very cheerful and friendly, and casually chatted with us in English as we ate. One very persistent street vendor finally persuaded Susan and me to purchase necklaces. Everyone recognized the desperate situation of the vendors, and wanted to help, but soon realized what a hopeless cause it would be with our few measly shekels and dollars.
Most of the group rode in the van back to St. George's, but Don, Jeannette, and I chose to walk back through the Old City and out the Damascus Gate, where a lively market flourishes (although Jeannette says it is much smaller now than a few years ago). Along the way we saw some Israeli soldiers stop a group of Palestinian boys and demand to see their identification papers. The boys complied rather submissively and then continued on their way. Related photos
Israeli Coalition Against House Demolitions
Back at St. George’s, we met with Naama and Tanya, two representatives from ICAHD (Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions). Jeff Halper, who heads the organization, was out of town and unable to meet with us during our visit, but Naama and Tanya proved wonderfully knowledgeable and articulate, and proceeded to describe the dire situation in the Jerusalem area regarding the relentless construction of settlements and “bypass” roads. They discussed the Israeli policy of “quiet transfer”, which aims to squeeze the Arab population out of the Greater Jerusalem area by surrounding their residences and farms with Jewish settlements, and then dividing and isolating them with bypass roads, all the while confiscating more and more Arab land. As the Arab inhabitants are pushed into ever-smaller pockets of land, the Israelis construct Jewish-only bypass roads to connect the settlements and further restrict the movements of Arabs. The "legal" excuses used to confiscate the land are often such things as declaring Arab residential and agricultural areas “open green spaces”, “nature preserves”, or “security zones”, then demolishing their houses and uprooting their olive trees and other crops. All of this is done without a penny of compensation for the dispossessed Arabs. Later, the areas will be rezoned so that Jewish settlements can expand there. One goal of the Israelis is to create an overwhelmingly Jewish Greater Jerusalem engulfing East Jerusalem and the Old City, in order to prevent the inclusion of these areas in a future Palestinian state.
The bypass roads are built on the most direct routes, and Arab property in wide swaths along both sides of the roads is confiscated for “security” reasons. These direct roads are closed to Arabs, who are then forced to take long, out-of-the-way back roads to reach nearby towns, making travel time-consuming and arduous. In this way, some Arab villages were reluctantly abandoned because they were made completely inaccessible to the outside, and the inhabitants had no way to survive there. Every day, the Israelis confiscate more Arab land this way, but accomplish it so methodically that the world pays little notice. If the Israelis had simply rounded up the Arabs and expelled them from their land they would likely have heard a huge outcry from the international community, as such behavior constitutes an obvious war crime. But by doing it slowly and surreptitiously—acre by acre and house by house—Israel draws little attention for their conduct.
So the Arabs are forced out in ever-greater numbers. What Israel annexed and calls “East Jerusalem” actually includes a large part of the West Bank that was never practically or legally a part of Jerusalem. The Israelis refuse to include this area in any land-for-peace negotiations. When one hears of Barak’s Camp David offer to the Palestinians of 95% of the West Bank (or 96%, or 97%—the numbers vary from account to account), it must be remembered that even if the number was truly that high, this area—extending east toward Jericho and virtually cutting the West Bank in two—was not included in the calculations. But as Naama points out, even prison inmates have access to 95% of prison grounds. Guards need only control the perimeter, watchtowers, and a few other strategic locations for the area to become a prison rather than just another residential community. And this, she says, is precisely the case with the Barak's "generous" offer.
ICAHD has tried to stop house demolitions, but has been largely unsuccessful. The Israelis will issue confiscation orders, but then may not demolish the homes for a day, month, year, or many years. No one knows when they will do it, since they provide no advance warning. This unpredictable process frustrates even the best-organized resistance efforts. The bulldozers and soldiers will typically arrive in the early morning hours and give the family 15 minutes to remove all their belongings and leave before the house is demolished. ICAHD and other human rights groups have succeeded only in delaying some of the demolitions through the court system, but rarely, if ever, preventing them. ICAHD has tried to help impede the demolitions by sending volunteers into the homes, but have succeeded only in gaining minor delays. ICAHD members have also been prevented from traveling to Arab areas to help with complaints or participate in demonstrations when IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) soldiers stop them at checkpoints and claim, untruthfully, that their destination has been declared a “closed military zone”.
The Israelis claim that all the new bypass roads and settlement construction are necessary to accommodate “natural growth”, but this is untrue, according to ICAHD. Many of the new roads have little traffic and the settlements few inhabitants. ICAHD says that it is only part of the strategy to put “facts on the ground” and try to make the incorporation of East Jerusalem into a future Palestinian state all but impossible. The Israeli government offers large financial incentives for people, mostly new immigrants from Russia, to move into the settlements, and many are not aware that their homes were built illegally on confiscated Arab land.
We then drove to the huge Kalandia checkpoint in the north part of Jerusalem, which the Israelis have continuously expanded and made more restrictive. It is the major access point to Ramallah and other Palestinian areas, even areas still within Jerusalem, and thousands of Palestinians must cross through every day to get to jobs, buy provisions, visit relatives, receive medical care, etc. It is highly disruptive for the Palestinians who live in the area. Rarely are any vehicles now allowed to drive through, so the only way across for most Palestinians is to walk. They must wait in long lines to have their IDs checked, which can sometimes take several hours. There are large clusters of taxis on both sides of the checkpoint, since people must take one taxi to the checkpoint, cross the checkpoint on foot, then take another taxi on the other side to get to their destination. This situation makes transporting merchandise extremely difficult, as the items must be unloaded on one side, carried across the checkpoint, then reloaded on the other side—assuming the Israelis allow them to cross in the first place. Related photos
We had dinner in the evening with Rabbi Arik Ascherman, the Executive Director of Rabbis for Human Rights and an American who emigrated to Israel. He is a member of the Reform Movement of Judaism, while his wife is a rabbi in the Conservative Movement. These two movements have many members in the United States, but have few members and are struggling in Israel. Rabbi Ascherman explained that Rabbis for Human Rights does not take a political stand on the occupation, but tries to alleviate Palestinian suffering by working to prevent such things as home demolitions and expulsion of Bedouins from their ancestral lands.
Rabbi Ascherman told us that the Israeli peace movement has largely died, and that many on the left feel “betrayed” by the intifada and suicide bombings. On the other hand, he also said that some of the Israeli government’s actions could be interpreted as attempts to sabotage peace overtures from the Palestinians. He noted that whenever the various Palestinian armed factions have been set to announce a cease fire of some kind, the Israelis have acted immediately to assassinate a prominent person, bomb a civilian area, or commit some other provocative action, thereby enticing the Palestinians to retaliate and continue the cycle of violence. He says a deep sense of insecurity pervades Israeli society, despite Israel's overwhelming military power relative to Palestinians and other Arabs. In addition, although the number of intifada-related Palestinian casualties is 3-4 times higher than that of the Israelis, Israelis perceive their own casualties as astronomically high (consider that the ratio of Palestinian to Israeli dead in the first Intifada was more like 25:1). Rabbi Ascherman believes these feelings contribute to Jewish support of extremist policies and harsh measures against Palestinians.
Rabbi Ascherman mentioned that he speaks often to American Embassy officials, and that they are aware of the unbearable human rights situation facing the Palestinians and are trying to convince the Bush administration to intervene and rein in the Israelis—but with little apparent success.
The Rabbi confessed that he “gets no pleasure” from discussing Israel’s darkest secrets with visitors like us, and he appeared somewhat defensive at times. He said he is opposed to withholding US military aid as a way to pressure Israel to change its behavior because he thinks it would only worsen the humanitarian situation within Israel. He believes Israel would respond by simply diverting money from social programs to pay for all the weapons it now receives free from the US. He shrugged off the suggestion that were the US to cut off or reduce its aid to Israel, the occupation might become unaffordable and unsustainable.
Rabbi Ascherman stated that he considers himself a Zionist, and that his work with Rabbis for Human Rights is meant to help transform Zionism back to its original “humanitarian” ways. He suggested that we make another trip to Israel in the future, but plan to include Jewish Americans in our group next time—presumably to afford us a more desirable perspective than the one we’re getting on the current trip. The Rabbi stayed to talk late into the evening, and we felt honored to receive so much of his attention. Related photos