Back to Abu Dis

I went back to Abu Dis with three other members of the Ecumenical Accompaniment program to hear presentations in English by students, who have been studying English with EA Helle Preisler in order to become more effective advocates against the Occupation. Students in the class included two unemployed men, who have university degrees but are unable to find jobs in the fields for which they have trained, a teacher, and a lawyer.

To travel to Abu Dis from Jerusalem we took a Palestinian bus (number 36) to the Abu Dis checkpoint, where the Separation Barrier cuts off Abu Dis from Jerusalem. On the ride out I was amused by watching four ducklings in a box on the dashboard of the bus, as they scrambled out of the box and were put back in by a boy, who was apparently bringing them home from school.

The road to Abu Dis from Jerusalem goes through the Kidron Valley and curves around the Mount of Olives. Disembarking at Abu Dis left us behind the Mount of Olives on the south side at the bottom of the hill. The street going up the hill has private fences on the Abu Dis side, and these connect the Separation Wall on the bottom of the hill with the Wall on the top.

The Separation Wall

At present, there are three ways to get to Abu Dis through barrier created by the Wall and the private fences. The first is a new opening created in a private fence, where someone has cut out one of the vertical bars and bent the two bars on either side of the hole outward, to create a somewhat oval shaped hole that reasonably sized people can step through. We saw people from our bus doing just that. But we walked further up the hill to the second way to Abu Dis.

This way involves stepping up onto a wall that is about three and a half feet high, and which is perpendicular to the Separation Wall, walking carefully along the six inch width of this wall past the Separation Barrier, and then jumping or stepping down on the other side. People were coming and going via this passage along the wall when we arrived. But as we lined up to cross, three Israeli soldiers suddenly appeared standing on the wall, having climbed up on the Abu Dis side and crossed to the Jerusalem side. One of them was older and clearly in charge. He looked at the four of us, two Swedes, a Dane, and an American, and said, "Shalom." And although we were taken by surprise, we replied, "Shalom."

I thought the Israeli soldiers might prevent us from crossing, but the officer had a bemused look on his face and paid no attention to us or any of the others who were crossing the wall. So, we climbed up, stood next to the soldiers, stepped around the Separation Barrier, and jumped down, as others did the same, all with the Israeli soldiers watching.

The third option for crossing to Abu Dis from the Jerusalem side of the Separation Barrier is slightly further up the road. It involves going through the gate onto the grounds of a monastery, and then stepping through the broken stone fence of the monastery into the street that leads away from the Separation Barrier.

Crossing the Separation Barrier was only an inconvenience for us, but I should note that there were no soldiers there checking papers or detaining or beating people, as we know has happened many times in the past. And we had our international passports. We were not trying to cross with West Bank IDs.

Consider now the Israeli plan to complete the Separation Barrier around Abu Dis in July. This will mean "plugging" the crossing points that now exist, so Palestinians going from Jerusalem to Abu Dis will have to go via Ramallah or Bethlehem. The trip from Jerusalem to Abu Dis that now takes half an hour will then take an hour and a half. And it will cost each traveler considerably more for the two or three vehicles that will be required to make the trip.

Once on the other side, we walked down into the center of Abu Dis and stopped on the other side of the Wall, across from where the bus had left us off at the bottom of the hill. I took photographs that reveal the deep shadows cast by the 9 meter high Separation Barrier even in the early afternoon, and the closed shops near the Wall. A mosque is next to the Wall on the Abu Dis side, whereas a church across the street from the mosque is now next to the Wall on the Jerusalem side. The only church serving the Abu Dis community of Christians is now inaccessible for most of them, who are living in Abu Dis with West Bank IDs.

Walking along the road beside the Wall led us to the new Palestinian Parliament, which is also close to the Separation Barrier. It is a sad irony to find this symbol of greater democracy in Palestine being constructed at the same time as the massive Separation Barrier that divides the Palestinians, who are within the municipality of Jerusalem. Please understand that the Separation Barrier is not on a border between Israel and Palestine, but divides Palestinians from other Palestinians, leaving some members of a family on one side and others behind the Wall on the other side. It also separates Palestinians from their schools, hospitals, and religious sites.

The Separation Wall through Abu Dis is on the back side of the Mount of Olives and is only a fifteen minute drive from the Old City.

Statements by the Israeli government that the Separation Barrier is for security purposes are simply not credible, when you see the reality in a place like Abu Dis. Where the Separation Barrier is on the Green Line, then it functions like a security fence along a border. But here the Separation Barrier, which is a monstrous Wall that goes through a community of homes and shops, is a form of collective punishment. It is simply intended to make life more difficult for the Palestinians, so they will give up and move elsewhere.

English Presentations

When we arrived at the Jerusalem Center for Democracy and Human Rights, which is on the Abu Dis side of the Wall and soon will be cut off from Jerusalem, we greeted the students and then sat and listened as they spoke in English about various aspects of the Occupation. A teacher described the affect of checkpoint closures on the high schools and colleges in the area. In 2003 this curfew was imposed almost every day, after a student attending one of the schools in Abu Dis was allegedly involved in a terrorist incident inside Israel. The school teacher explained, however, that for the exam week in May the administrators of the schools, the students, and the fathers of students cooperated in resisting the closure, so the young people could take their exams and finish their studies.

Another Palestinian explained how the checkpoints and Separation Barrier contributed to the high rate of unemployment in the area. He was a university graduate, but he had only a West Bank ID card and now could not travel to Jerusalem to look for work. Also, because it is so difficult to travel in and out of the area, businesses are leaving Abu Dis, as the checkpoints and closures interfere with the movement of both materials and employees. As a result, the unemployment rate now in Abu Dis, he said, was 65 percent.

A third man talked about how having to buy water from an Israeli company has led to higher prices, less water for Abu Dis residents, and a metering system that is on the other side of the wall. He also asserted that the quality of the water they are now receiving has deteriorated.

A fourth Palestinian man commented on the legal problems that confront Palestinians, who are arrested by Israelis and subjected to Israeli military law. International law requires an occupying power to provide notice to the families of those who are arrested, and to allow visits by family members and a lawyer. But usually the Israeli army does not follow these rules. In addition, the sentences imposed by military courts are longer than civilian courts would impose, and those seeking to defend themselves often are not shown the evidence against them before it is presented, for the army claims that doing so would compromise Israeli security.

The English spoken by the young Palestinian men was far from perfect, but it was intelligible and the case they made against the Occupation was a strong one. I had heard it before, but it was different to hear these men describe how the Occupation was personally affecting them. All had been humiliated at checkpoints, some of them had been arrested and been imprisoned, some had suffering beatings from Israeli soldiers, and two were unemployed. All were also suffering from the general poverty of the area, which has been exacerbated by the Separation Barrier that is surrounding them.

Hope

The professional men in the class were very grateful to Helle for helping them improve their English, for they realize that Palestinians have to tell their story to the world to help others understand the injustice they are experiencing. These men have taken one step forward in facing that arduous challenge. And to celebrate their achievement, we went out for pizza in an Abu Dis restaurant. There were only two other persons in the restaurant, as few residents of Abu Dis have the money now to dine out. So, the owner was delighted to have our party of ten, and he charged us a very reasonable rate as well.

Leaving was difficult. Some of us are going back to our homes in the West, where the difficulties of life in Abu Dis can easily be ignored, if not forgotten. But the Palestinians who must live in Abu Dis have to face these difficulties, and they also have to accept that the completion of the Separation Wall around Abu Dis will make their lives even worse.

If I had not known these men, but had simply encountered them on the street, I might have suspected them of being dangerous. But having talked with them, and listened to them, I knew that they were courteous, engaging men, who were simply trying to make life better for themselves and their families.

When I asked what they would like me to communicate to those I know back home, one of them replied: "Tell them we must resist the Occupation, because we are people like you who love freedom. We must assert our fundamental human rights, because the Israelis will only negotiate with us if we are putting pressure on them. Please help us enjoy the freedom that you enjoy."

The facts on the ground here seem hopeless, to most of the people in our program. Yet, this Palestinian living behind the Separation Wall in Abu Dis had hope. "We trust that God is just, and we know people can change. We hope someday to live with Israelis in a democratic society that allows us all to be citizens, and to travel and live where we are able and wish to go. We know it will happen some day, Inshalla (God willing)."

Bob Traer, 8 May 2005

The views expressed above are personal and do not necessarily represent the World Council of Churches. If you wish to publish or disseminate this letter beyond personal friends, please contact the EAPPI Communications Officer (eappi-co@jrol.com) for permission to do so. Thank you.

Photos from this visit to Abu Dis are at http://christian-bible.com/Ethics/photos.abudis.htm. 

For other Letters from Jerusalem, go to http://christian-bible.com/Ethics/lj.letters.2005.htm. 

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