Hebron

We visited Hebron last weekend as a group- me and six other volunteers. Hebron is well known (relatively) because since 1994, the city has been split up between Palestinians and Israeli settlers. This was after Dr. Baruch Goldstein, a settler, opened fire in the mosque at the Tomb of the Patriarchs, killing 29 and wounding 125 Muslims as they prayed (his grave is still venerated by settlers today). Following this, the city was split into H1 and H2, H1 where Palestinians can live, and H2 where both Jews and Palestinians can live, but Palestinians movement in the are is severely restricted. In this area, about 500 settlers live (the total pop. of Hebron is 250,000). There are 4,000 soldiers stationed to protect the settlers.

We had the pleasure of being toured around the city by a local girl named Sundas who a friend had referenced us to. Sundas lived with her family in H2, with settlers homes looking over her own. She told us when we arrived that she had been arrested the week before. A settler had tried to run over her 13 year old brother in his car, and when he failed he exited his car and began to beat the boy. Sundas tried to help her brother but couldn't, and eventually attracted the attention of some soldiers who stopped the fight. The settler claimed that Sundas and her brother had attacked him, and Sundas was arrested. She was detained and released without much trouble, because the particular settler was known for his aggression towards Palestinians. It was a shocking anecdote of everyday life in Hebron, where there are almost daily incidents of violence and property abuse from the settlers. We asked Sundas if anything happened to the settler afterwards, and she said of course not. "He is a settler, he is free".

In the old city, we saw the netting above the market, put in place to block the garbage, human waste, and acid that settlers thrown down onto the Palestinians. We saw streets that we could walk down but Sundas couldn't. We saw a settler in H2 carrying an automatic rifle on his back nonchalantly. We saw the synagogue in the Tomb of the Patriarchs, which is now split in two, and when we entered the gate Sundas was stopped as the soldier said "But you're an arab". She waited for us outside, and afterwards we walked the long route home because the direct street that would take us home is for settlers only. After the tour, her mother cooked us a delicious lunch with coffee and tea.

Comparatively, Nablus now seems so separated from the extreme struggle of daily life faced by other Palestinians. I've known about Hebron for some time, but witnessing it has an indescribable effect. The abrupt and unapologetic apartheid is shocking, to say the least, even enough to make you sick.