"He has buried his head in shit"

Today I rediscovered what a small world we live in. Yesterday was really depressing and I will post about it later, but today made up for that simply because I found the point of carrying on that I had briefly questioned.

We are still in Jerusalem and we don't venture to Bethlehem and on to Hebron and the South Hebron Hills until Sunday. So today, as it is a Friday, it followed that we should stand vigil with the Women in Black in West Jerusalem and then go onto the weekly demonstration at Sheikh Jarrah. I have been to both in the past and it was good to be there again to catch up with the friends I have made before and to find out what's new, both good and ill.

There were a good number of people at the West Jerusalem roundabout. A mixture of old faces (and sadly the members of Women in Black are getting older and fewer) and new EAs as well as other internationals. There was also a woman on the other side of the road with an Israeli flag and the usual mixture of verbal abuse and thumbs up from passers by.

I went to stand on a wall next to a younger Woman in Black who turned out to be 64 and we got talking. We discovered we had a very great deal in common. Her mother, like mine, had been a refugee from the Sudetenland in 1938 and had come to the UK. Her mother had also married an Englishman and at some point her family had also lived in Golders Green, North London! It was like finding a old friend and we enjoyed each other's company for the rest of the hour. Hopefully we can continue our new friendship though email and Facebook.

I asked Nomi if she had seen the film 'The Gatekeepers' and she had of course. She told me that Netanyahu had refused to view it. I responded by suggesting he was burying his head in the sand. She replied "No, not the sand. He is burying his head in shit!" She also quoted the Arab MP, Ahmed Tivi, who had said "To be a victim of those who were victims is the worst thing." She said she felt optimistic, but when I asked her for an example of something positive, she sadly could not think of anything except the hope that the new government would be more left-wing.

What is just so wonderful about these few Israeli women is that they stand for an hour at this West Jerusalem roundabout every Friday between 1.00 and 2.00pm whatever the weather and whatever the abuse they receive, with their placards against the occupation and they do so year after year without fail. To do so in the face of so little hope is inspiring. To do so, not in occupied territory, but in Israel itself where so many others refuse to hear or see what their leaders are doing just a short distance away from them, is brave indeed.

This Palestinian man stands in front of the home that
was taken from him.

Sheikh Jarrah is in East Jerusalem, which has been annexed by Israel. It seems that many years ago some Jews did live in the area, but left it to move into the newly created Israel and now they want to return to those old homes; at least they want to take them back from the Palestinians who now live in them. These Palestinians moved into the empty houses when they were made refugees from Israel in 1948 and were forced to leave their homes there, which are now inhabited by Israelis. The response to the demand of the Israelis that they get their old property back is, 'yes of course, if we can have our old property in Israel back in return'. As far as Israel is concerned the Palestinians have no right of return so that is impossible. Meanwhile the Israelis are arriving and are evicting them from their homes  and literally onto the street with nothing. Total injustice and hypocrisy.

So every Friday there is a demonstration consisting of evicted families, Israeli activists, other Palestinians and internationals like ourselves and EAPPI. Last time there were arrests of activists by the IDF, whereas on this occasion, the IDF allowed the demonstration to continue and even some harassment of the Israeli squatters. Sadly that is unlikely to change anything and meanwhile the remaining Palestinian residents continue to fight to retain their homes.

Netanyahu and other Israelis as well as all their supporters around the world refuse to see that this is not the behaviour of those who truly live in a modern western democracy. Such behaviour can only be described as the work of the sort of tyrannical regime that they are so quick to accuse others of.