CPTnet
25 June 2005
HEBRON: What a difference five years makes
by Rusty Dinkins-Curling
Words cannot express what my eyes have seen in these first days in Hebron,
but I'll try.
When I was here five years ago the Palestinians used the words "shway,
shway" or "little by little" to describe how the Israeli settlers and their
government allies were taking their land away. From one day to the next you
couldn't see much difference. A few acres were confiscated here, a closed
military zone (often the first step of land confiscation) was declared over
there. A few days later a road is blocked, a house is demolished or an olive
orchard is bulldozed. It is the pace of the turtle, slow but sure, rather
than the quick leaps of the rabbit.
But after being gone for a little over five years the long term effects are
evident and devastating. I began to see the difference when the taxi to
Hebron was leaving Jerusalem. The Israeli settlements on the outskirts of
Jerusalem had grown dramatically. By the time we got to Bethlehem, it was
apparent that Bethlehem would soon be surrounded by settlements. The new
"neighborhoods" of Efrat had spread out so far that I thought it was a whole
new settlement--not the Efrat settlement I had visited before.
Yet, most startling was the difference I saw in Hebron. Little seemed to
have changed as I put on my red CPT hat and walked towards Bab iZaweyya. The
streets were crowded, businesses seemed to be healthy, people greeted me
with typical Palestinian warmth. Two teammates, Jerry and Donna, met me at
Bab iZaweyya and we continued to walk south into the Old City of Hebron.
("Al
Khalil," in Arabic, and "Hebron" in Hebrew both mean "friend of
[God]--referring to the patriarch Abraham.) Two blocks down Shalaleh Street
the crowds were gone, businesses were closed, shop doors were padlocked.
The farther we walked the more deserted, the more desolate it got. Finally
we took the now unfamiliar right turn into the chicken market where our CPT
office and apartments are. There was one little shop door opened in the
whole chicken market, but none of the chicken shops were open. Other than
the one shop keeper, no one was there. As we rounded the corner I could see
that the opening to Shuhada Street had been barricaded with ten-foot
concrete barriers and a high fence with razor wire at the top.
The once bustling "souk" (Arab market) of the Old City of Hebron is now a
virtual ghost town. I could hardly hold back the tears as we walked up the
steps to the CPT office. How devastated must the people who live here feel?
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