Hebron: a totally different experience !
Jun 25, 2009 Trip | Author: Jehad
In Hebron, the experience was completely different than anything I have ever seen before. Despite the fact that I have lived in the West Bank for over a decade and have experienced the Israeli invasion in 2002 and the Israeli occupation policies, Hebron was still a whole different story. Touring the old city, we did not get only to see the effects of the Israeli occupation on locals, we got to experience the results of their policies ourselves. In less than 20 minutes of the tour, we had to pass through three or four checkpoints in order to get from a neighborhood to another. Even though it was annoying to pass through the checkpoints, I had to remind myself every time that people who live here had to go through this every single day, sometimes more than once a day in order to get out or get in to their houses.
We got to speak with many Palestinians who have experienced the aggression of settlers throughout the past nine years. We heard stories and watched videos of the actions the settlers have taken against Palestinians in that area and people who live there assured us that those actions are still taking place till now. Palestinian children were beaten up, shot at, and settlers’ children stood in their way to school trying to block their way by throwing stones at them and confronting them. Not surprisingly, the Israeli army stood there and watched protecting the settlers instead of stopping them from attacking school children.
Today, we took a tour in Dheisheh refugees camp and other parts of Bethlehem, we spoke to refugees in the camp who told us their stories. We are spending overnight in Dheisheh and leaving in the morning to Jerusalem where we are going to see the effect of the occupation on Palestinians who live in the East side of the city.
It hasn’t been a long time since this delegation started, it is our second day, but everyday I feel how important this movement is and I could see how it would affect the daily lives of the Palestinians. Every time we talked to locals here they tell us the same thing, they are people and they have a basic right to be free and live their lives just like anyone else in this world. I believe they are right, and they have the right to be free. However, I don’t think that the Israeli government shares this idea with me.
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