Saturday, March 18, 2017
Okay, so here's the story on our trip to Hebron.
Cecelia, a volunteer from Norway, has worked with another volunteer agency. She contacted someone from that agency and he gave her the contact info for a guy who would show us around Hebron. His name is Mohatassam. There were seven of us going. We left at 8:30 in the morning We thought it would take 4 hours because we expected to take a bus to Ramallah and then a second bus to Hebron. However, we were able to get a service (shared taxi) directly to Hebron for 50 shekels each. A shared taxi leaves when it is full, but since we were seven, we filled it by ourselves. So, it only took a little over 2 hours to get to Hebron. We found a place to eat something and contacted Mohattasam. He met us there and then began taking us on a tour of Hebron.
Hebron has a settlement near it and another within the city itself. The settlers live above the Palestinians and they throw garbage and sometimes bleach down on them. So, there is mesh to prevent the garbage from landing on them.
There are very few houses belonging to Palestinians in the old city. The Israelis are trying to force all to move to the newer part of the city. Then, they rename streets and make a new historical narrative. The Palestinians tell their children the history, so that it won't be forgotten. There are only about 60 people living in the old part of the city. The IDF have their names on a list. If they are Palestinian and their name isn't on the list, they can't go. Also, if the soldier sees their name on the list, but wants to harass them, they can't go. He has the gun, so he wins. Sometimes the line at the checkpoint can get long. (They control how fast people can go through) and people are standing in the rain or hot sun for hours. There's a green or red light above the gate. The IDF control how many people can go through the gate. After you go through, you turn right into a little room. For internationals, that's when you show your passport and go through. Even for us, it's intimidating.
Hebron is the place where the Jews and muslims believe that Abraham (patriarch for both religions) is buried. There has been a mosque there. One day, a settler came in the mosque and killed 29 people while they were praying. Then, the Israeli government closed the mosque for eight months. They reopened divided into two sections: 65 percent is a synagogue and 35 percent is a mosque. You have to show ID before entering. Muslims can't enter the synagogue side and Jews can't enter the mosque side. International can enter either side. We went in the mosque side. Here is Abraham's tomb:
We slept in a Palestinian family's house. Three women (including me) and one guy were together in one house. The three other women slept in another house. Our house was nice. We slept in the family's living room. Eddy (the guy with us) slept on another floor with the teenage boys in the family. Here's where we slept:
The next day we had a traditional Palestinian breakfast, saw a few more places in Hebron and then took our shared taxi home. Here's the breakfast: hummus, fool (beans), eggplant dip, chick pea dip, falafel with lots of pita bread.
Okay, so here's the story on our trip to Hebron.
Cecelia, a volunteer from Norway, has worked with another volunteer agency. She contacted someone from that agency and he gave her the contact info for a guy who would show us around Hebron. His name is Mohatassam. There were seven of us going. We left at 8:30 in the morning We thought it would take 4 hours because we expected to take a bus to Ramallah and then a second bus to Hebron. However, we were able to get a service (shared taxi) directly to Hebron for 50 shekels each. A shared taxi leaves when it is full, but since we were seven, we filled it by ourselves. So, it only took a little over 2 hours to get to Hebron. We found a place to eat something and contacted Mohattasam. He met us there and then began taking us on a tour of Hebron.
Hebron has a settlement near it and another within the city itself. The settlers live above the Palestinians and they throw garbage and sometimes bleach down on them. So, there is mesh to prevent the garbage from landing on them.
There are very few houses belonging to Palestinians in the old city. The Israelis are trying to force all to move to the newer part of the city. Then, they rename streets and make a new historical narrative. The Palestinians tell their children the history, so that it won't be forgotten. There are only about 60 people living in the old part of the city. The IDF have their names on a list. If they are Palestinian and their name isn't on the list, they can't go. Also, if the soldier sees their name on the list, but wants to harass them, they can't go. He has the gun, so he wins. Sometimes the line at the checkpoint can get long. (They control how fast people can go through) and people are standing in the rain or hot sun for hours. There's a green or red light above the gate. The IDF control how many people can go through the gate. After you go through, you turn right into a little room. For internationals, that's when you show your passport and go through. Even for us, it's intimidating.
Hebron is the place where the Jews and muslims believe that Abraham (patriarch for both religions) is buried. There has been a mosque there. One day, a settler came in the mosque and killed 29 people while they were praying. Then, the Israeli government closed the mosque for eight months. They reopened divided into two sections: 65 percent is a synagogue and 35 percent is a mosque. You have to show ID before entering. Muslims can't enter the synagogue side and Jews can't enter the mosque side. International can enter either side. We went in the mosque side. Here is Abraham's tomb:
We slept in a Palestinian family's house. Three women (including me) and one guy were together in one house. The three other women slept in another house. Our house was nice. We slept in the family's living room. Eddy (the guy with us) slept on another floor with the teenage boys in the family. Here's where we slept:
The next day we had a traditional Palestinian breakfast, saw a few more places in Hebron and then took our shared taxi home. Here's the breakfast: hummus, fool (beans), eggplant dip, chick pea dip, falafel with lots of pita bread.
No comments:
Post a Comment