Yesterday we travelled to Hebron along a new road cut into Palestinian farmland. I hope one of us will write about the roads here, about the brand new Israeli roads that Palestinians are forbidden to use and of course that includes ambulances. It’s all part of the big plan: build infrastructure to facilitate settlers whilst taking over crucial farmland from Palestinians and at the same time thwarting their movements, cutting off the North from the South of Palestine, fragmenting the country for the people who live there. It’s insidious this quiet linking up of illegal Zionist settlements that expand and expand. The members of the choir who have been here before are so shocked by the increase in settlements in the last 10 years. Things are getting so much worse.
In Hebron we were met by Issa Amro for a ‘guided tour’ on the corner of Shuhada Street, formerly a bustling high street, now blocked off by walls and a checkpoint. This has ruined the livelihoods of hundreds of people and encroaching settlements and takeovers of buildings have caused the closure of 70 per cent of small businesses in the old city in the last decade. In full ear shot of the soldiers, Issa started to talk. ‘My name is Issa and I am here to tell you about the occupation and the apartheid.” He proceeded to give a full account of the recent history of this beautiful ancient city. Half of all the checkpoints in the West Bank are in Hebron. Totally illegal Israeli settlements are developed and then guarded by the Israei Defence Forces. Within the last week , zionists broke into and desecrated the most famous mosque in the city. They do what they like with no accountability. As Issa said the policy is one of ‘’quiet transfer’, taking over the city centimetre by centimetre.
We climbed up a street the top of which had been taken over by settlers. We reached a point where a soldier had previously shot a wounded man in cold blood. We were greeted by an 80 year old man who lived on the street. He had been made to remove his clothes at a checkpoint. His brother lived 100 metres up the road but he was not allowed to walk up this part of the street to visit him. There were settlers living there and so it was apparently a ‘militarised zone’. Some of us found this totally incomprehensible as we stared up at apparently ordinary street of houses. Issa was also forbidden from walking up the street so he took us along a path through rough ground towards his home. We were half way up when a bunch of young lads appeared beside a fully armed soldier who barred Issa’s way. One soldier was quickly joined by others until a total of 7 fully armed soldiers faced us down the hill. Issa immediately got his phone out and started to film the entire scene. He has a map of the militarised zones in his pocket and refused to budge as he knew he was permitted to walk home this way and to take us there. He made the soldiers call an Israeli police officer who eventually came. He agreed that Issa was within his rights but still he could not pass. The soldiers changed the story several times and threatened Issa with arrest due to ‘provocation’. They then said none of us could pass ‘for our own protection’. We witnessed and videod almost the entire event. We could not have had a clearer lesson on the daily personal harassment, the controlling of movements and the totally unprovoked threatening behaviour meted out to Palestinians. We could not have had a clearer example of the way settlers, in this case 9 young men and women hanging around with apparently nothing better to do, call the shots.
Eventually we walked back down the hill ‘escorted by the soldiers and followed by a jeep, singing “only justice and equality can bring peace.”. We reached the checkpoint and sang all the way through. “Keep singing, keep singing “ Issa said.
I don’t think we have ever sung such an appropriate song at such a crucial time in our whole lives. We will never forget it.
Issa has been harassed walking home at least 5 times in the last month. He has been beaten up by settlers. He has spent time in Israeli prions. And he will never leave and never ever give up.
Watch us singing on twitter:
