Jerusalem

Tuesday 7th February

Today we visited Jerusalem. We went to Sabeel, which is an ecumenical liberation theology organisation and Omar led us on a journey around the city doing an alternative "Way of the Cross". It was informative and powerful.

 

Omar took us to the ruined, abandoned village of Lifta. He told us the story of how whole villages were visited in 1948 by Israeli militia and people were forced to leave. More than 400 Palestinian villages were emptied and most were destroyed, this one for the moment still remains. The inhabitants became refugees.

Today the ruined houses are largely used by drug addicts.

As we stood on the hill trying to absorb the horror of what had happened we noticed some beautiful birds flying from bush to bush.

 

We went on to the the Ministry of the Interior and heard about some of the bureaucratic problems that Palestinians encounter and the everyday humiliations and obstacles in life, for example when a Palestinian woman from East Jerusalem married someone from the Palestinian territory, the marriage wasn't recognised and the children have not been able to have birth certificates.

We went to have a look at the separation wall up close. It is big and grim. It cuts communities in two. It is in the wrong places. It is apparently not very effective and does not seem to have any purpose but to disrupt lives.

We went to the Hebrew University and looked out over Jerusalem.  

We returned to Sabeel for a very nice lunch and then went for a short walk to a place of house demolition.

 

Apparently most Palestinian houses in East Jerusalem are built without permission because the Israeli authorities won't give permission for many houses to be built. They then force people to demolish their homes or do it for them and charge them.

The financial cost for the family is so high that those who have their homes demolished often have to flee the country. The family that lived here are now in Jordan.