We started off the formal tour with a visit to Arafat's grave and a look at his compound. Ironically right next to the compound was a new building. Mohamed likened it to the past and the future. The old Palestine wanted war to get the land; the new Palestine wants peace and just live. We don't have to be friends; we just have to live. If only the Israelis would cooperate. I am sure that Mohamed believes what he says and is the kind of person who could make a peace work. It was interesting to compare his words with those of the tour guide in Independence Hall in Tel Aviv. She also wants peace and seemed to be like the kind of person that would make it work too. Like him she too believes that her people want peace and if it were not for the other side, there would be peace. Ha, such is life. It's always the other guy.
We then met with business men intent on bringing business to Palestine. They told us about a new planned community just outside Ramallah. It was like stepping into the 23rd century. I had trouble wrapping my mind around the plan. Check out the link for Rawabi. The project is well underway. But there are several literal and figurative roadblocks for the project. The first and most important is the development of a decent road linking Rawabi with Ramallah so that trucks providing the raw materials for this new town of 60,000 inhabitants can be built. They have been working on it for over a year with promises from the Israeli government but nothing finalized. The issue is that the road will pass through Area C which is land under total Israeli control. I polled the group when we returned to the bus: yes or no, Israel will let the road be built. What do you think?
We returned to Jerusalem for lunch. After lunch we checked out the weekly protest at Sheikh Jarrah. It is an area where Arabs have been evicted to the street with settlers moving to their homes.
The attempts to colonize the Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem are backed by the city mayor, Nir Barkat, and by the Israeli government. As we know Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused president Obama’s demand to halt construction in East Jerusalem until the city’s final statues is decided.
Among the protesters today were former Knesset speaker Avrum Burg, and author David Grossman. And my favorite blogger Bernard Avishai. I spoke with both him and Burg for a few minutes. I was totally excited: such a groupie. I recommend subscribing to Avishai's blog. But what kind of groupie am I? I didn't even take his picture.
The demonstration was small due to hard rain and ended early but for me it was a dream come true. I have been following home evictions and the protests. It was nice to see Jew and Palestinian working together to make change. I got a ride to synagogue after the protest with Noam and she talked to me about the history of the protest and how it has changed over the almost 2 years it is has been going on. The details escape me but what I understood again that in Israel nothing is as simple as it looks at first blush. Many groups support the demonstration but often they are also marginalized groups with their own agenda which might be in conflict with the Palestinians. It remains important that the Palestinians run the show since the evictions effect their lives directly. We can support but must remember, we are guests in their home.
As in all demonstrations there was a small counter demonstration, in this case, Orthodox Jews.
thank you. We love you. Great job with the BLOG.
ReplyDeleteRuthie and Connie