The Reality of Living Under Israeli Military Control in Hebron: the Excellence Center organised a trip to Shuhada Street to meet the Salayme family who still resides in the area despite harassment from the Israeli settlers just opposite of their house. The Salayme family consists of the mother, two daughters and Abed, the son. Marjo, an international volunteer, participating in the Human Rights program, says: “I saw Abed when he was giving a talk about life in Hebron in my university, and it was very interesting to see the reality on Shuhada Street finally in my own eyes.”
The reality in the H1, Palestinian controlled area, where Excellence Center is situated, is really different from the Shuhada Street in H2, which is under Israeli military control. Shuhada Street was once one of the liveliest streets in Hebron but is considered a ghost street now since all of the shops are closed, and Palestinians are denied entry. The organization Youth Against Settlements organises annual “Open the Shuhada Street” campaign, but unfortunately the street remains closed.
The settlers throw stones and dirty water at the Salayme house. They family also have had problems with electricity and water supply because of the settlers. However, they don’t want to leave the house. The mother of the family has been arrested many times because she wants to live in her own house. She has been offered a lot of money to move out, but she says no, and this is a problem for the Israelis.
The Palestinian ID system is vast and keeps changing all the time. Israelis claim checkpoints are there for safety, but this isn’t the case. The Israeli settlers are the only dangerous people there since they are above everybody else. They don’t even want internationals to visit the area to see the reality of Palestine. For example, Abed Salayme is only allowed to cross the checkpoint closest to his house because he was born Palestinian. He was born and raised in Palestine but internationals travelling to Palestine have many more rights. For internationals it’s very easy to cross checkpoints unlike for Palestinians. Internationals just need to show their passport and they are free to go. The international volunteer at Excellence Center visited the Salayme family one day after Eid, the celebration after Ramadan, which is why a Palestinian from the Excellence Center was allowed to enter H2 as well. He hadn’t been in the area for three years, and if he had tried to enter some other day, he probably wouldn’t have been allowed to.
When the family is asked about how the current situation is in Shuhada Street, they say it has only gotten worse as more and more families have left their houses. For example, a woman was forced to give birth in the checkpoint because the ambulance for denied entry. It’s really hard for the sick to go to hospital or children to go to school because of the checkpoints.
While talking about the harsh reality of living under the Israeli military control in Hebron, the family offered Arabic coffee and chocolate and the international volunteer says she is really grateful for everything they provided for her.
