What happens when I emerge from the Tel Aviv bubble... looooong post

On Friday I went on a tour of Hebron, an area of the West Bank where Jews and Palestinians both claim the land. The group I went with is Breaking the Silence--when you're done reading this, you should check out their website. Breaking the Silence uses testimonials from soldiers that served in Hebron to illustrate what life is like for the Palestinians that live there. The reality is definitely eye opening and hard to deal with, but important to learn.

First I want to write about my experience getting to the tour. The tour left at 8:30 AM from Jerusalem, so my friend and I spent the night in Jerusalem. Once we got to the central bus station we had to take another bus to where our hostel was, close to Jaffa Gate. My friend and I get on this bus... it was just us and a few Orthodox people, but nothing out of the ordinary for Jerusalem. However, the bus filled up very quickly and we were the ONLY non-Orthodox people on this bus. Aside from the woman with her baby sitting next to me and two girls a few seats in front of us, we were also the only women. I was trying to follow the bus route on a map to make sure we were going the right way, but then I lost track of where we are and start to realize that we were in a very religious neighborhood... finally I saw a sign that said, "PLEASE DO NOT WALK THROUGH OUR NEIGHBORHOOD WEARING IMMODEST CLOTHING." While I wouldn't describe what I was wearing as immodest, I definitely stuck out. We were both wearing jeans, my friend was wearing yellow and I was wearing pink--thankfully we were both covered up, but I have never felt more out of place in my life. Sometimes in Tel Aviv you can forget that you're in the most religious country in the world... but that was definitely a reminder.

Onto the tour. Our tour guide was an ex-soldier who had served in Hebron... he started telling us about his experiences and the things he did. Hebron has an active IDF presence because of the Jewish settlements there, but there isn't a lot for them to do. The soldiers are taught from the first day of boot camp, "There's no better feeling than killing a terrorist" and that all Palestinians are terrorists. When they get to the West Bank they're ready for action, but since there's nothing going on there they get bored... and even though this isn't official military policy, the soldiers are basically given free reign to make life difficult for the Palestinians. They're supposed to "make their presence known," which they take to mean instilling fear. They do this by restricting the movement of Palestinians by closing off certain roads to them, just because, or stopping cars driven by Palestinians and taking their keys or even electric cables.

But in Hebron, the violence generally doesn't come from the Palestinians... it comes from the Jewish settlers who are angry that there are Palestinians on what they see as their historical land. Jewish settlers often attack Palestinians, sometimes kids that walk past the settlements on their way to school. The soldiers think they're in Hebron to protect the Jews, so a lot of times they don't notice or care or do anything when this stuff happens.

The tour took us to a Palestinian village, Susya--but I would hardly call it a village. Currently about 250 people live there but it used to be way more. The army basically tries to harass people living outside of the cities to get them to move into more urban areas, so a lot of people have moved to the nearest city, Yatta. The people we saw were living in the most desolate poverty I've ever seen... huts made out of canvas and sticks basically, with nothing inside but some mats to sleep on. The village isn't recognized by Israel as legitimate so it's not under the Palestinian Authority, it's under the military control. They don't have running water and they have electricity but not enough for a refrigerator--only a few lights and a tiny TV, and only because a humanitarian organization set it up for them. Anyway this village doesn't have water and some law says they're not allowed to collect rainwater. They used to have a watering hole but a nearby Jewish settlement poisoned the water so they can't use it. To get water they have to go to Yatta where they buy it from someone that gets it from some other Jewish settlers... 1000 liters costs them 300 shekels. Inside of Israel, 1000 liters of waters costs FIVE shekels. It's unbelievable...

Before visiting Hebron I wasn't totally ignorant about the situation, but I really regret not visiting earlier in the semester. It's very easy while in Israel, and in Tel Aviv especially, to ignore or forget the Palestinian side of the story. I wouldn't say that studying abroad here or visiting Hebron has changed my previous opinions, but both of these things have informed and complicated them. I don't think it's possible to be 100% pro- or anti-Israel, both sides are really problematic, and both sides are right and wrong about different things. But seeing the West Bank with my own eyes was like entering a different world... it was a darker, inherently unjust side of Israel... undemocratic, militaristic, and wrong. I'm beginning to understand why peace is so difficult to achieve here (I won't say impossible... but how can it be posible? Both sides are filled with hate, and both sides are justified in their own ways... even worse, both sides are filled with crazy extremists that drown out the voices of the moderates).

Anyway this post is getting way too long, but if anyone wants to hear more about this there's a lot I didn't get to write about. Tomorrow I'm going to Bethlehem, which is also in the West Bank, so I'm sure I'll have a lot to update. Pictures soon.