Saturday was the last day of the camp and a house now stands where, two weeks ago, there was a pile of rubble and building waste. It looks all the more striking as this house stands now in the middle of several other piles of twisted steel and broken concrete, also previously homes that were in the past inhabited by Palestinian families. The stark brutality of the occupation and Israel’s policy of demolishing homes and driving out Palestinians is clearly revealed in this picture. But today there is also a sense of optimism and hope that a home for a family can rise again on their own land.
A last frantic push saw the remaining windows fitted, internal and external doors in place, the kitchen and bathrooms tiled, plumbing and sinks fitted and final painting and cleaning. The rubble around the house was cleared away and a large tent erected for the dedication ceremony.
The dedication of the house, the speeches, the keys handed to the family and the tree planting were all part of a final act of house rebuilding. All the speakers, Palestinian, Israeli and international, placed the rebuilding within the context of the war in Gaza and Lebanon, emphasizing that resistance to occupation and hegemony (US as well as Israeli) must take place at several levels simultaneously. Just as the invasion of Lebanon cannot be allowed to eclipse the ongoing attacks on Gaza, so the “big” conflicts should not conceal the steady erosion of Palestinian rights and even the Palestinian presence in the Occupied Territories, symbolized by house demolitions.
The moving ceremony was marred only by the fact that a troupe of young Palestinian dancers from the Shuafat refugee camp were prevented from performing because they were not allowed to pass an Israeli checkpoint. However a spontaneous dance started by Palestinian men and joined by some of the camp participants generated much laughter and singing. The dedication ceremony is always an important part of the work of the summer camp. It shows the local community that Palestinians and Israelis (with the help of international volunteers), can work together and it demonstrates in a concrete way ICAHD’s refusal to accept that Palestinians and Israeli’s must be enemies
Back at Beit Arabia, a final evening meal. Presents were then given to the family of Salim and Arabia and the camp organizers. A final discussion and reflection on what each participant in the camp has seen and experienced. Working on the house and visiting towns and cities in the West Bank has made all participants aware of the huge weight of the Israeli occupation and the terrible price paid by the Palestinians. All participants agreed that this has been a significant experience and discussed how to spread the knowledge in their own wider communities.
As this was being up-loaded we got word of of another two “routine” house demolitions in East Jerusalem. This, plus the dozens destroyed in Gaza over the past few weeks, is the constant background against which Palestinians live their lives.
One of the houses demolished today belonged to Fathi Abu Kaf, a man about 55 years old with heart disease. His physical condition is such that when the demolition equipment arrived, his family removed him from the scene so as to reduce the stress. He, his wife Faiza and their six children, one of whom is disabled, became the latest victims of Israel’s criminal demolition policy. The family’s representative, with the help of our colleagues at Rabbis for Human Rights, succeeded in delaying the demolition for one-half an hour to give the family time to pay a fine of 50,000 New Israeli Shekels (about $12,000) to delay the demolition further. Because it had to be paid at a specific post office which happened to have a long line today, the lawyer didn’t succeed to make it in the half hour. The court allowed another half hour but word of the reprieve didn’t reach the demolition site on time as the delay at the post office allowed the municipality to begin demolishing the house. Though the site commander was informed that the exorbitant fine was being arranged and would be ready shortly he refused to wait even another fifteen minutes, all it would have taken to keep a family housed. It was perhaps half destroyed when the court ruling freezing the demolition order came through, leaving the family out NIS 50,000 and with an uninhabitable half-house. Far from the headlines in Lebanon is this, just another day in occupied East Jerusalem.
Because of the need to suspend the building of the first home we began, plus the promise to that family that we would return soon to complete it, ICAHD requires additional rebuilding funds.
Checks can be sent to:
P.O. Box 2030
Jerusalem 91020, Israel.
Bank transfers to:
Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions
Bank HaPoalim
16 King George St.
Jerusalem, Israel
Account number: 565651
Branch number: 690
Swift code: POALILIT
For tax-deductible donations from the US, please make your checks payable to:
ICAHD-USA
P.O. Box 2565
Chapel Hill, NC 27515
ICAHD wishes to thank all the participants of the 2006 work camp for their support, hard-work, good will and solidarity. ICAHD’s 2007 work camp will be held again during the last two weeks of July (after the end of the Occupation, in’shallah). Contact us if you would like to participate in this life-changing experience!
