• Ei tuloksia

Chapter 2: Personal Mode

2.3 Spiritual

These anti-Arab attitudes explain not only the legalistic rationale behind the house demolition policy but also why certain neighbourhoods, like Silwan in East Jerusalem, have become a battleground for control between Palestinian and Israeli Jewish families. The legalistic rhetoric is but only a singular discourse in justifying the expropriation of Palestinian property. Religious sentiments are simultaneously called upon to add a further, more culturally appropriate layer of justification in this endeavour. Prior to 1990 the Wadi Hilweh/City of David neighbourhood in Silwan did not have any Jewish residents. Over the past two and a half decades, the neighbourhood has since undergone a dramatic demographic transformation, with Jewish settlers controlling over a quarter of the same area.112 Flagrant disregard for good governance practices have overseen this slow but significant transformation in the area’s demographic makeup as “the Jerusalem Municipality leads an open policy of discrimination against the

107 Darwesih, M., Human Rights and the Imbalance of Power: The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict,

http://www.berghof-foundation.org/fileadmin/redaktion/Publications/Handbook/Dialogue_Chapters/dialogue9_darweish_comm.p df, 2010, pp. 89

108 Chomsky, N., in Chomsky, N., & Pappe, I., On Palestine, Penguin Books, USA, 2015, pp. 99

109 Israel Democracy Institute (IDI)., The 2008 Israeli Democracy Index: Auditing Israeli Democracy Between the State and Civil Society, www.idi.org.il/sites/english/ ResearchAndPrograms/The Israeli Democracy

Index/Documents/2008DemocracyIndex.pdf, 2008, pp. 49

110 Ibid, pp. 54

111 Levy, G., Survey: Most Israelis Jews Wouldn’t Give Palestinians Vote if West Bank was Annexed,

http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/survey-most-israeli-jews-wouldn-t-give-palestinians-vote-if-west-bank-was-annexed.premium-1.471644, Oct 23rd, 2012

112 Rapoport, M., Shady Dealings in Silwan, Ir Amim, http://www.ir-amim.org.il/sites/default/files/Silwanreporteng.pdf, May 2009, pp. 39

Palestinians…in favour of Jewish settlers.”113 At its current rate of settlement, Silwan will undergo a complete metamorphosis from an Arab neighbourhood, connected to the Palestinian expanse of East Jerusalem, to a Jewish neighbourhood comprising a vital part of West Jerusalem. Founder of the NGO Terrestrial Jerusalem, Daniel Seidemann describes this process as a government-backed attempt to convert the enclaves of Jewish settlers in the neighbourhood into a “renewed pseudo Biblical theme park.”114

The religious significance of Silwan explains the tension taking place in the neighbourhood.

Situated in close proximity to the third holiest site in Islam - Al-Aqsa – the compound also happens to be connected to the most sacred site in Judaism – the Western Wall. Both of these important religious monuments play their part exacerbating the recent surge in toxicity between Palestinians and Israelis as the former accused the latter of attempting to change the current status quo around the area.115 Israel’s continued occupation impedes directly on most Palestinians’ spiritual practise as access to the most important religious sites in Christianity and Islam are restricted. Whether it be the Al-Aqsa Mosque for Muslims or the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for Christians, Arabs with a Palestinian ID card are subject to military-issued movement permits, whilst Palestinians with a foreign passport are subject to a number of restrictive visa requirements.116 Israel's concentrated effort to restrict an individual’s right to religious practice coincide with overt attempts to re-Judaize neighbourhoods next to holy sites sacred to both peoples. Taken as a totality, such measures inflame existing animosities and contribute to the disintegration of religious co-existence.

Undoubtedly, however, the most evident breakdown in religious co-existence between Jewish Israelis and Palestinians is the situation in Hebron. Located south of Jerusalem in the West Bank, Hebron is the final resting place of Abraham, the patriarchal forefather of all three monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. During the Oslo process, The Hebron Accords officially divided the city into H1 and H2 blocks. Israel was assigned control of the latter and the PA the former.117 A consequence of these agreements is that Israel effectively

113 Ibid

114 Ibid

115 Hanna, M., Al-Aqsa Status Quo at the Heart of New Violence,

http://www.aljazeera.com/blogs/middleeast/2015/10/al-aqsa-status-quo-heart-violence-151020113442046.html, 20th October, 2015

116 PLO State Affairs Department., The Annexation of Tourism: Israel’s Policies and Their Devastating Impact on Palestinian Tourism, www.nad-plo.org, accessed 10/01/16, pp. 9

117 Israel and Palestinian Authority: Hebron Accords (January 15, 1997), in Laqueur, W., & Rubin, B (eds)., The Israel-Arab Reader, Citadel Press, UK, 1969, pp. 522-523

has total control over the site of Abraham’s burial which is both an operating Synagogue and Mosque. IDF soldiers have consistently aggravated this power by unilaterally closing the Mosque side of the site to Muslims during Jewish religious holidays,118 as well as preventing the Muslim call to prayer so as not to disturb illegal settlers during festivities.119 Settlers in Hebron are particularly renowned for their religious fundamentalism and clear disdain for their Arab co-habitants. Often the most hostile and violent, the xenophobic religious-nationalist psyche of the Hebron settlers is frequently encouraged by the IDF protecting them.

Consequently, the atmosphere in the city is the tensest in any throughout the former Mandate, since “Hebron is the only Palestinian city that has Israeli settlers in the heart of its built up area, side-by-side with Palestinians.”120

Hebron’s settler community is comprised of a meagre 400-500 people residing in 4 illegal settlements. Within H2 alone, roughly 40,000 Palestinians live alongside the few hundred Israeli settlers with a total of nearly 200,000 living across areas H1 and H2. The interaction between Palestinians and Israeli settlers is less than minimal, explaining why the latter are under constant military protection. At any one point in H2, 2000 IDF soldiers are deployed to provide all around the clock security for the Israeli settlers, a ratio of nearly 4:1.121 Violence and discrimination from both security forces and settlers fuels the utter collapse of relations between the two communities and compounds the personal sense of loss and victimization amongst Palestinians. Between the beginning of 2012 and November 2013, 700 Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces and settlers.122 More recently, within a period of little over a month, statistics reveal 22 residents had been murdered by security forces from the 1st October to 8th November, 2015.123 Incidences of settler violence and harassment towards Palestinians occur on an almost daily basis under the noses of the security forces who are not shy in

118 IMEMC., Israel to Close Ibrahimi Mosque to Muslims for Passover, http://www.imemc.org/article/71148, April 6, 2015

119 Middle East Monitor., The Occupation Banned Adhan at Al Ibrahimi Mosque 54 Times Last Month, https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/5/0006693/the-occupation-banned-adhan-at-al-ibrahimi-mosque-54-times-last-month, December 3rd, 2010

120 Freidman, L., & Etkes, D., Hebron – Settlements in Focus, http://peacenow.org.il/eng/content/hebron-settlements-focus, October 2005

121 Marcuse, R., After Birthright: Hebron – 500 Settlers, 2000 Soldiers and the Tensest Place I’ve Ever Been, http://mondoweiss.net/2010/09/after-birthright-hebron-500-settlers-2000-soldiers-and-the-tensest-place-ive-ever-been, September 17th, 2010

122 OCHA., The Humanitarian Impact of Israeli Settlements in Hebron City,

https://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_hebron_h2_factsheet_november_2013_english.pdf, November 2013

123 Lendman, S., Israel Terrorizes Hebron Residents. Settlers Urge Soldiers to Kill the Palestinians, http://www.globalresearch.ca/israel-terrorizes-hebron-residents-settlers-urge-soldiers-to-kill-the-palestinians/5487354, November 8th, 2015

vocalising that their mandate is to protect Jews not Palestinians.124 The latter’s inability to equally impose the law has cultivated an ugly culture of impunity.125 Former prominent figures in the PLO, such as Hanan Ashrawi go so far as to accuse the IDF as colluding with the settlers to make life unbearable for Palestinians.126 The near exemption of settlers before the law means a miniscule population of 400 is able to terrorize and hold hostage an entire city of Palestinians as they face little consequence for their actions.127