Abu Dis: A town in limbo

Adu Dis is a small town south east of Jerusalem. It has a permanent community of 10,000 plus 13,000 students at the Al Quds university campus, many of whom reside there during term time or at least during the week. Adu Dis is three miles or so from East Jerusalem and to get there used to take 10 to 15 minutes. People from Adu Dis used to come to Jerusalem on a daily basis to shop, to work, to socialise and to worship. Jerusalem was the city at the centre of their lives. Now all that has changed. 

With the building of the Wall, which snakes around the greater Jerusalem area, access to Adu Dis which was so easy and direct is now a long circuitous route. When we left Jerusalem on a Palestinian bus, instead of travelling in a south easterly direction we had to travel north, then turn east, back south and finally having skirted it on three sides we came west into Adu Dis. Instead of a three mile journey taking 10 minutes we covered 20 miles or more and the journey took over 30 minutes mostly on rough, narrow and winding roads. Our fellow passengers were courteous, helpful and reserved. They were mostly young people with Jerusalem IDs studying at Al Quds. 

But the protracted journey is not the only obstacle. Most people who live in Adu Dis are denied access to Jerusalem whatever route they take. To visit Jerusalem most of the residents apart from those with Jerusalem IDs would have to apply for a specific permit and most don't because they are generally refused. The town is in a kind of no man's land. Part of the town is in Area B (the area that after the Oslo agreement was policed by the Palestinian Authority and Israel) the other part is in Area C (total Israeli control). The result for Adu Dis is that no one pays it much attention in terms of the provision of services, but more than its fair share in terms of "security" interest. Those Adu Dis residents who live east of the Wall pay high taxes to Israel yet receive no services in return for the taxes they pay.  

When we visited Adu Dis we met Abed, who runs the Camden Abu Dis Association Friendship Centre. The Centre helps to provide some basic health services for the local population. The link with Camden also enables some young people from Adu Dis to come to London each year. They are hosted by the families of young people at secondary schools in Camden. All Camden secondary schools participate. I was struck by the commitment of the staff both Palestinian and British working in the centre, by their determination to help these young people experience the possibility of mixing with other young people from a very different cultural, economic, social and political background and the challenges they have to overcome to ensure this happens.  In addition to the financial challenges they experience running the centre, flights from Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv are not an option for them because they are not allowed to travel within Israel or use its airport. The flights to London have to be booked via Jordan. So they travel east into Jordan to fly west to London. I thought of the young people back home and the freedom with which they plan gap years and travel freely around the world unhampered by such considerations and restrictions.  

We met with Salah, a middle aged man whose family have lived in Adu Dis for generations. He spoke freely and without bitterness of the confiscation of 95% of the family’s land since the Israeli occupation following the 1967 war.  The land was taken for

Ø      military use

Ø      the building of settlements, most notable Ma'ale Adumim

Ø      the infrastructure i.e. roads which service the settlements 

Ø      the erection of the Wall.

He told us in a matter of fact way of his involvement in the 1st intifada, of his arrest and imprisonment eight times, of the 24 years when he was unable to leave the West Bank and of his joy when in 2005, following information from friends, he heard that he would be allowed to travel to Jordan. So he presented himself at the border and was allowed to leave Israel and enter Jordan. Thus he was finally able to fly to London. Jerusalem three miles away is still a forbidden city for him.

The University of Al Quds is Abu Dis's most valued institution. "Al Quds" is the Arabic name for Jerusalem, it means Holy Place. Al Quds has an excellent academic reputation and attracts Professors and academics from all over the world, many of whom give their services voluntarily. Students from Jerusalem and from all over the West Bank come there to benefit from its programmes of study. Despite its reputation and the academic tradition Israel refuses to recognise its degrees and a Jerusalemite hoping to graduate from here knows his/her hard work will not be acceptable to Israeli employers in Jerusalem or elsewhere in Israel. This does not appear to deter the university authorities or the students who choose to study there. The university has grown to 13,000 students very rapidly. Its name, its success, its popularity, its prisoner museum and its refusal to sell its site or cease its educational mission to Palestinians challenges the Israeli Authority.  The university and its student population is undoubtedly one of the reasons this little town receives so much attention from Israeli security personnel and so little in terms of services or infrastructure.

As I sat under the trees in the university campus mingling with the students and drinking coffee, the Wall which encircles this little community, loomed large in the near horizon. But no physical barrier can ever deprive these young men and women of the educational opportunities offered here to broaden their horizons and rise above the constraints, the restrictions and barriers they suffer under occupation. One confident student from Jericho spoke of the hardships suffered under occupation but was confident she would not allow it to dominate her ambitions or her future. Let's hope her confidence is realised.