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Letter from Hebron

Published 29 October 2009

Life for Palestinians on the West Bank can feel as isolated as life for Gazans

In the heart of the old city of Hebron four men sit around, sipping coffee in a shop thick with smoke. The walls are chipped, the floor is dirty and behind the two tables there is only one stove for heating drinks. In any other city this would be an entirely unremarkable café. But this is Beit Romano, a desolate square at the entrance to the Old City, which has been abandoned by local Palestinians.

All the shop shutters are down and the few people passing through hurry along, eyes downcast. An Israel Defence Forces watchtower looms in the corner of the square adjacent to the raised buildings belonging to an Israeli settlement. The modern settlement buildings sit uncomfortably with the boarded-up and run-down Palestinian shops below.

Not every shop is closed, though. In full view of the soldiers in the watchtower, one man brazenly serves coffee. Muhammed, who runs the coffee shop, was first imprisoned by the Israeli army for fighting and political activity in 1976. He later ran a printing press, criticising both the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority over the Oslo Accords.

Surrounded by settlers

Muhammed has been detained seven times since then and claims to have been tortured, which has left him with permanent headaches and a visible nervous tic. His resistance now takes a different form. "I am an old man and too old to fight," he says. "Now I serve coffee to anyone who will come in. And I talk to anyone who will listen."

He remembers the vibrant, busy souk before the settlement was built. It used to weave through the narrow streets, full of spices, meats, vegetables and fabrics.

Now, about 450 Jewish settlers live in the area surrounding the old souk; the numbers have been growing since the mid-Nineties. Although the settlers make up only about 1 per cent of the city's population, the zone where they live, the size of roughly 15 per cent of the land on which the city stands, is guarded by Israeli troops, there to protect them. New roads and bypasses have been built for them so they can live entirely separately from the rest of the Palestinian city.

A regular customer at the coffee shop, Ahmed, takes visitors on tours around the Old City. Articulate and with near-perfect English, he points out every watchtower and boarded-up street. "All I do is show people. I do not explain the history as it doesn't matter what happened before," Ahmed says. "I want to show people what is happening now, so they can see for themselves."

Netting has been threaded over the top of one street to protect it from the rubbish thrown down by the settlers living above. A sea of rubbish has collected in the netting, almost blocking out any sunlight. According to Ahmed, rubbish is not the only thing that has been thrown down. Sometimes the settlers also discard urine and boiling or dirty water. Netting cannot protect against that.

Blank cheque to leave

One Palestinian family still lives in the area, surrounded by settlers. All the other Palestinian houses have been abandoned, and opposite a soldier parades on the roof of the new flats. Over a cup of coffee, Abdul, the father of the family, recounts being threatened with guns, his children suffering violence in the street and being verbally abused in his home every day.

A few months ago, a group of settlers shot through the back door to Abdul's house with guns. Although no one in the house got shot during the attack, a bullet missed his son by inches and the boy fell over from the shock, banging his head and leaving him with a permanently damaged eye. The family has also been offered a blank cheque to leave, which it has refused. Because of all this, Abdul's wife has left him and taken their youngest son with her.

When asked, given everything, what would make him leave, Abdul laughs, and then replies very seriously: "I will die here. The only way I will leave is if they kill me. This is my home."

Beit Romano is also home to Muhammed and his coffee shop. The café struggles to cover its costs, but then the point is not to make money. With every coffee Muhammed serves, he is resisting the occupation. "We cannot be arrested for drinking coffee. People see us and see that we are not afraid. Then maybe other people are not so afraid."

And it seems that other people in Beit Romano are taking courage from Muhammed's coffee shop. Just down the street, a grocery has opened.

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4 comments from readers

dwilder
29 October 2009 at 14:01

It seems that Ms Wood still has a thing or two to learn about Hebron. First of all, Beit Romana is not

a square; it is a building constructed by a Jewish man named Romano in Hebron in the 1870s. It housed two yeshivas- Torah Academies prior to the 1929 riots and massacre which left 67 Jews murdered in Hebron. Today the building is home to Yeshivat Shavei Hevron, with over 250 men studying there in this JEWISH building.

Also, it should be noted that Jews have lived in Hebron for hundreds and thousands of years. The

neighborhood where my office is located was initiated by Jews in Hebron in 1540 - almost 500

years ago.

And as far as 'surrounded' goes - Hebron's Jewish community of 800 Jews is surrounded on all sides

by Arabs, who shot at us for 2.5 years from land we gave them in January of 1997; among other

events, sniper-killing a 10 month old infant girl. It must also be said, in the name of fair journalism,

that Ms. Wood mand no attempt to hear, or speak to the 'other side' - namely myself, as spokesperson

for the Hebron Jewish community. I hope that next time she will take her work more seriously, check

her facts - all the facts - and also make room for another point of view.

David Wilder

Spokesman

The Jewish Community of Hebron

hebron@hebron.com

James Dickins
01 November 2009 at 11:47

To help stop the ongoing attempts by Jewish settlers and the Israeli army to ethnically cleanse large parts of the West Bank, join the Palestine Solidarity Campaign:

http://www.palestinecampaign.org/index2b.asp

There are a number of Jewish organisations, such as the American-based 'Jewish Voices for Peace' which actively support Palestinian rights:

http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/

For a discussion of the steps take by David Wilder’s group to ethnically cleanse parts of Hebron, see the following article by Mario Vargas Llosa:

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/mario-varg...

Khan
04 November 2009 at 01:12

dwwilder,

If I hear the Israeli we are victims line again I think I am going to puke. You are not the victims her and anyone with a little intelligence can see that.I am glad to see that many Jews are coming out today to criticise their governments policies against the Palestinians.

About time.

Allegra
04 November 2009 at 09:26

The way Israli settlers behave in Hebron is a disgrace to both Israel and the Jewish people. UN agencies have documented the unbelievable violent acts that settlers commit on a daily basis against local Palestinians. There are pictures showing settlers launching their dogs on a Palestinian mother and her toddler as she passes on the street, and of settler children having fun beating up an old Palestinian lady. Such people are not mentally balanced. They are giving an atrocious image of Israel abroad.

The worst is that they are extremely aggressive against the Israeli soldiers who are there to protect them.

I fail to understand the logic of using Israeli soldiers to protect a handful of settlers who have stolen houses from the local Palestinians, in the Palestinian old city of Hebron. I grew up with the idea that the right to property is sacred, and now I see these people stealing property at gunpoint, I feel deeply ashamed. Not in my name.