Life on the Israeli Riviera • Part 5

Since 1967, Israel has demolished more than 7000 Palestinian homes in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, leaving some 40,000 people homeless. Since October more than 500 homes have been destroyed by tank fire, missiles and army bulldozers. Last week alone, the Israeli Civil Administration demolished 28 houses on the West Bank This week it's East Jerusalem's turn: 19 houses belonging to Palestinians are slated for demolition.

To protest the resumption of politically motivated house demolitions by the Israeli government approximately one hundred Israelis and two hundred Palestinians held a peaceful rally this evening. The recent demolition orders have threatened the homes of several Palestinian families in the village of Um-Tuba, south of Jerusalem. The village overlooks the new Israeli settlement of Har Nof, which is being built in violation of the Oslo agreements and UN resolutions. Palestinian Minister Faisel Husseini and Jeff Halper, the Coordinator of the Israeli Coalition Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) addressed the rally. Both men spoke out against the continued illegal building of settlements for wealthy Jewish Israelis and the recent demolition of numerous Palestinian homes in the same areas. The houses threatened by demolition in Um-Tuba are inhabited by impoverished Palestinians whose only option was to build tiny single room homes for their families on land they own. The Israeli goverment has declared the land exclusively a ‘green area’ and therefor illegal to build on. The speakers pointed out that the tragedy unfolding at Um-Tuba/Har Nof is a microcosm of the greater tragedy of the Palestinian people who are living under continuing occupation while seeing their patrimony swallowed up by the subsidized luxury apartments and villas of the Israeli settlers.

In his remarks, Jeff Halper pointed out that house demolitions represent a cynical use of law and planning for purely political purposes. Immediately after the 1967 war a third of the land in East Jerusalem was expropriated for Jewish building. Of the rest, more than half was frozen as "green areas." Thus the 200,000 Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem are squeezed into small enclaves, unable to build modest houses on their own land, while the government builds tens of thousands of housing units for Jews only in the eastern part of the city. 80% of the building violations in Jerusalem occur in West Jerusalem; 80% of the demolitions happen in East Jerusalem. And while whole houses are demolished in the Arab sector, this never happens among the Jewish population.

At the conclusion of the rally several of the Jewish participants volunteered to sleep in the houses in order to be present to protest the arrival of bulldozers. The message was distributed later in the evening through an email network that more volunteers are needed to spend a night in the threatened homes. Hospitality has been offered by the villagers and Orient House in East Jerusalem is providing security.

Life on the Israeli Riviera • Part 4

So now our so-called liberal newspaper, Ha’aretz, is describing Jewish terrorists as ‘hooligans’, ‘extremists’, and hot-heads. None of the English lessons I had at school defined certain words by the ethnic or religious status of the people being described. Earlier this week our home grown terrorists exploded a bomb inside a Palestinian shop in Hebron, then yesterday two Palestinians are shot while driving their car on a public highway. It seems to me that these activities are identical to the bombings and shooting that the Tanzin, Hamas and others have been perpetrating on the Jewish public. Now we have Kach offshoot, ‘The Committee for the Security of the Highways’ committing terrorist mayhem. Where will it end? Are we sliding into the anarchy of Lebanon?

I took my family to a Street Fair last Friday while many of my colleagues were off to the Land Day Demonstrations at Araba and other Palestinian towns. I felt a little guilty that I wasn’t participating but it was my daughter’s birthday. The Fair was in Pardes Hanna about half way between Tel Aviv and Haifa. It reflected some of the dramatic changes in Israeli society over the past ten years. The fair is perhaps best described as combining the atmosphere of a New Age Festival with a Renaissance Fair. There were jugglers and stiltwalkers, a harp player and a one-man band. The food was rustic and organic and many participants wore costumes that were a blend of the Middle East and Medieval Europe. A good time was had by all.

Apparently the Land Day demonstrations went off successfully and peacefully without my participation. The police kept their distance and allowed the local Palestinian leaders to control the ‘hot-heads’ that might want to throw stones or damage property.

The Jews of Israel are now feverishly preparing for the Seder (Passover feast) and the ritual recital of the Haggada which retells the story of the slavery and Exodus from Egypt. But what of the quasi slavery of our Israeli prostitutes and foreign agricultural and construction workers. Will we remember them as we sit with our families on Saturday night and remember our own oppression so long ago? Will we stop for a moment and reflect on the oppression and hardship of others, of our cousins across the green line? My own family is also busy cleaning and preparing for the Seder, our first since making Aliyah (immigrating) last summer. We will be hosting a family from Peru who also immigrated are currently staying at the Merkaz Klita (Immigrant’s Hostel) which is not the best place to celebrate a holyday. The apartments are tiny, the children noisy, and sometimes the neighbors are of questionable character. So we will share our table with another family of new Israelis and wonder anew at the miracle of the Exodus and the realization of the dream, ‘Next year In Jerusalem’ which has been forever recited at the Seder. Perhaps the Palestinians in exile also have a mantra of returning to Jerusalem. We will ponder this as we read the Haggada this year.

Perhaps we all need a new mantra:
‘This year we’ll share Jerusalem’