Living with Settlers
“We love peace and everybody who wants peace is welcome. All people are brothers. We must learn to live together.”
“Go back to your home” a child who recently became a settler in Hebron, asserts. The receiver of the hostile words is an older Palestinian father who wants to go to morning prayers in the local mosque.
On Monday 19 March, hundreds of settlers accompanied by Israeli military, moved into a Palestinian-owned house in Hebron’s Old City. The house carries the name –Beit Ha Shalom (House of Peace). The purchase and the legality of the ownership are still unclear and both are currently under investigation by the Israeli authorities. According to Israeli law, any purchase of property in the West Bank has to be approved by the Defence Minister. UN OCHA and Peace Now report that no such approval has been given and settlers are given protection by the military and are allowed to stay in the house by the Israeli Government.
“Six buses with 250 settlers and 50 soldiers came in the evening”, says Mohammed Al-Jabaarey, the oldest son in one of the Palestinian families that has now become the closest neighbour to a settlement. It was a total surprise for him that Israeli settlers would even consider moving into the building, which has been owned by a Palestinian man for more than 40 years. The house has been under construction for the last 10 years. His father on the other hand, Abu Hafez Al-Jabaarey, claims to know that the third party involved in the sale was a “collaborator”.
The Al-Jabaarey family has lived in the area for almost 20 years, however with the new neighbours their lives have already started to take another turn. The family can no longer use the road leading up to their house between 7 pm and 7 am.
A ladder is set up at the back of the house so the family can bypass the settlement. Hafez Al-Jabaarey fell down once and was injured while climbing up the ladder and jumping down from a concrete fence to the other side, to use an alternative path.
Hafez Al-Jabaarey is afraid to go to morning prayers as the settler kids once put a string across the road of his house, as well as verbally harassing and touching him. The Israeli military and police are present outside the settlement 24-hours, but they do not interfere when the settlers insult Palestinians.
In spite of the difficult situation, Abu Al-Jabaarey is as calm as this occupation is long, while he shares his thoughts about the future, with eight internationals sitting in front of his house drinking tea. He is a professor in Religion at Hebron University, and knows Islam as well as Judaism and Christianity. He does not agree with those who claim that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is about religion. It is rather a result of politics.
“We love peace and everybody who wants peace is welcome. All people are brothers. We must learn to live together”, he says. Powerful words from a man whose family is having trouble with the new settlers next door.
The name of the settlement – The House of Peace implies something friendly. A browse on the website of The Jewish Community of Hebron sets another tone as it clearly spells out that the idea of acquiring the house is to make Hebron and Kiryat Arba, the near by settlement, "Like a City Bound Together”, for the Israelis.
Under the Professor’s tranquil surface lies anxiety for what will happen. We are “worried about the future”, and the Palestinians in the area fear that the neighbourhood will become like Tel Rumeida, where Palestinians are being attacked and harassed on a daily basis by settlers.
“Our life has become miserable”, Mohammed his son says.
Both he and his son lack faith in a prompt ending of the illegal occupation. They have lost faith in the Oslo Accord and a two-state solution. Abu Al-Jabaarey thinks the key to peace lies within both people. There is a need to establish awareness and new perceptions on how to end the occupation, as it is yet not in anyone’s minds.
“Palestinians and Jews must live together”, the Professor says.
Photos: Andreas Apell
A Palestinian resident near the new settlement.
Palestinian women pass the occupied house, as settler youth work on it.
A soldier guards the settlement.
A ladder leads to an alternative path, as using the road is prohibited for Palestinians.
