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Hebron - A city of conflict
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Wednesday & Thursday (December 12 & 13)
Well not too much to report of from my end. Being lazy at the hostel, doing laundry, shopping for gifts (with no luck) and sending back home some stuff from the post office is pretty much a summary of events. I am starting to enjoy Israel a lot though, the "European" parts of it are really appealing, such as coffee and cake, well that's pretty much the reason to be honest. Of the wide selection of beers is also something I am loving! I have managed to buy my Yasser Arafat souvenir t-shirt for a very good price as well, which I will proudly be displaying on the streets of the Jewish quarter of the city (yeah right!). We did also visit some of the other sights of the city such as Mt Zion (no very exciting) and also the City of David (probably even less exciting).
I have been on the lookout for some more nice photos but am really struggling to get inspiration at the moment, I think I went photo crazy the first 2 days in Jerusalem and have been finding it hard to get into the mood of taking photos ever since. Although enjoying Jerusalem I think I am ready to move on now, so there are a couple more daytrips to be made and then I will be on my way down to Egypt on Sunday. Friday (December 14) Today we planned another day out to the city of Hebron. Last time we visited (a week ago exactly) unfortunately it was a Friday which meant that much of the old city and also the mosque/synagogue (the main site for the city) were closed. We also did not get a guided tour of the city which, after speaking to various other people who had been there before, seemed like a good thing to do to get a true understanding of the city and the ongoing situation there. Basically Hebron is currently a "divided city", meaning there is a large number of checkpoints and barriers separating the Palestinians from the Settlers (Jewish migrants). There has been a great deal of tension here for going on 100 years that boiled over in 1994 and the city has since had security at a maximum. More on that later.
We first visited one of the glass and ceramic factories in the city. Hebron is famed for producing quality handmade glass and ceramics, so I bought a few souvenirs to send home as the prices were extremely cheap buying from the factory. We then went to visit the headquarters of the TIPH (Temporary International Presence in Hebron), which are a group of neutral peacemakers who offer tours of the city and a (supposedly neutral) explanation of the current situation in the city. However bad luck again for us, they were closed today. We then made out way back to the old city of Hebron which was a good 3 to 4 kilometre walk. Everyone on the streets were extra friendly to us for some reason, and we got given some falafels and biscuits by the store owners. I think having a Japanese female with us certainly helped! Whilst we stopped off in a supermarket (I was searching for Iced Coffee again - with no luck), the manager started talking to us and suggested we check out an organisation called CPT (Christian Peacemaker Team) who operated in the old city and may be able to give us a tour of the place.
Before long we met someone in the old city who offered to take us to the CPT, and of course we accepted his offer as we had no map or way of knowing how to find the place. The CPT ended up being a small office on the 3rd floor of an apartment buildings, we would have never found the place without the mans help. Once at the CPT, we met the couple who were assigned to the city who were an elderly Canadian couple but were extremely friendly. The husband of the two took us up to the rooftop which had a great view over the city where you could see the division between the Palestinians and the Settlers. Many of the buildings in the city had Israeli bunkers positioned on them with soldiers overlooking the city incase any violence erupted. The city had apparently been this way since 1994.
So what happened in 1994 you ask? Well tension in the city had always been high due to the Cave of the Patriachs. This site contains the graves of 6 very important biblical figures, most importantly Abraham and his wife Sarah. The graves had been occupied by a mosque (the Mosque of Abraham) for well over 600 years, the problem is that these sights are both holy for Muslims and Jewish people alike. In 1994, a Jewish man entered the mosque with a machinegun and opened fire on Muslim worshippers killing 29 and injuring 150 others. When he eventually ran out of ammunition he was reportedly beaten to death with a fire-extinguisher by the Muslims. Following the shooting, the mosque was closed for 12 months by the IDF (Israeli Defence Force) and a huge amount of troops were deployed to the city to keep a lid on the situation. When the mosque was reopened 12 months later, the Muslims were shocked and angered to realise that the mosque had a wall built literally right down the middle of it and a Jewish Synagogue was built on half of the mosques property. This understandably made the tension between the Palestinians and the Settlers soar, and a large military presence has been in the city ever since. All of the international peace teams assigned to the city, and there are lots of them, speak of the injustices and hostility towards the Palestinians by the IDF, which has caused a large amount of Palestinians to vacate the old city where the "border" between the Palestinians and Settlers is.
We got given a tour of the old city, the military checkpoints, the Mosque of Abraham, and then also the Jewish side of the city. Wandering many of the streets of Hebron was like visiting a war zone; dilapidated buildings, military bunkers and political graffiti absolutely everywhere - it was very surreal. All in all a very fascinating and interesting day which couldn't help but make you angry at the IDF and the Settlers and sympathetic towards the Palestinians. As much as I would like to take a neutral stance towards the situation in Israel I can't help but become more and more anti-Israeli and more pro-Palestinian. Perhaps staying in a Palestinian hostel, the Palestinian part of Jerusalem, and visiting many Palestinian cities has somewhat distorted my opinion it is difficult to find little if any international and not-for profit organisation support towards Israel and the IDF. Anyway I don't want to turn this blog into a political discussion so I won't go on any more.
Back at the hostel that night was Party night (just like every Friday night) which involved lots of crappy music and lots of alcohol to make the music sound less crappy.... A fun time was had by all. More thumbnails ...
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