A "Divided City" or a "City Divided"?
Even before arriving in Israel/Palestine I was excited about visiting certain cities like Hebron, Bethlehem, Tel Aviv, and Jerusalem. I have now well and truly settled myself into the pace of Palestinian life in Bethlehem for the last 12 days through working with a local refugee youth centre, living with a local family, attempting to learn Arabic, and interacting at a more personal level with locals in Bethlehem. So I guess you could say I have chosen "my side,” and I am very satisfied with it—although I do not like the idea of being boxed into a particular side and what it implies.
As part of the Palestine Summer Encounter programme our group had a chance to visit Jerusalem and be exposed to some Israeli organizations: groups like ICAHD, Rabbis for Human Rights, and Taayush that try to advocate and assist Palestinians and Israeli Arabs in the most productive ways they can through nonviolent campaigns and demonstrations. I thought it would be refreshing to leave Bethlehem for a day and experience more of an open community that is home to Jews, Muslims, and Christians in the old city of Jerusalem. The day started off pretty optimistically when our bus whizzed past the "security" checkpoints in Bethlehem without a whiff of a problem and onto the most sought after city in the Middle East: Jerusalem.
One instantly notices the improvement in everything tangible around them outside, from roads, buildings, cars, and traffic systems to cleanliness, portraying the typical image of a western city. Not before long, we landed into West Jerusalem where we met our tour guide from ICAHD on a busy street where cafés and shops bustled. Although the journey to that point was short, I had overwhelming feelings of unease and found it impossible for anything I was seeing to resonate with me. I tried to focus on all the detailed facts and figures that were so clearly explained to us by a young Israeli settler, who has also chosen her side like me. She pointed out the discrepancies in all the services provided to the Palestinians in East Jerusalem compared with the settlers in the same area and then in contrast again with other Israeli citizens.
The information flew fast and strong from the 3-hour tour around east Jerusalem, and 2 days afterward, I am still coming to terms with what I observed. If there was one action I wish of every international that visits Jerusalem for religious purposes or otherwise, it is to visit East Jerusalem and observe how Palestinians live, who pay the same if not higher land taxes as the "true" Israeli citizens, to see what they receive in return from the Israeli authorities.
I did not study Political Science or International Relations but see no relevance for these viewpoints when analyzing the situation in Jerusalem where people's civil rights are being suppressed by such a discriminatory government. I do not view people in two different lights but rather from a humanitarian perspective where politics and religion have no place. Therefore when two people live within the same city but have drastically different rates of education, unemployment, and voting then huge injustices are being played out in society.
The use of the term “democratic state” for Israel from the reflection of my own personal eye-witness account of Jerusalem and in particular East Jerusalem leaves an unsettling feeling in my stomach. I felt uncomfortable in West Jerusalem when the family I am living with in Bethlehem are waiting for water for over 15 days now and the people in settlements use the resources to supply a water feature [fountain] in the middle of their paradise oasis.
Living in Bethlehem has awakened me to the inequalities that exist for the same Palestinians across the wall that reside under the Israel authorities alongside their well-watered western Israeli counterparts.
Submitted by: YOS
