The
Christian Peacemaker Team of which I am a member for the summer went
to visit the family of Shefa, a widowed mother of four grown
children living in an area of East Jerusalem called A'zariya. In the
Bible, this area is known as Bethany, and Shefa lives just a few
doors down from the tomb of Lazarus (that guy that Jesus raised from
the dead). Shefa is a Christian who as done the Hajj (it’s a long
story, but suffice it to say that there are both Christians and
Muslims in the family).
Shefa's
family consists of 50-year-old Assa, Khalil, the middle son, Kefah,
the unmarried 30-year-old daughter, and Ashraf, at 27 the youngest.
Ashraf married and later divorced a US citizen, becoming a US
citizen himself and living in the States for the past 11 years.
Shefa’s
family has seen a lot of hardship during this last Intifada. The
area they live in has always been part of Jerusalem, but the Israeli
government is trying to shut them out. A'zariya doesn't really have
any economy of its own to speak of. Most people used to work in
Jerusalem but now, since they don't have Jerusalem IDs and the new
"Security" Wall is being erected almost within sight of
their house, there is no more work. Even the modest tourist visits
to Lazarus' tomb have slacked off. Everyone in the community is
struggling.
Shefa,
well into her 60s, if not beyond (she doesn't remember her
birthday), has a heart condition, but there are no hospitals in
A'zariya. She needs a permit to go see her doctor or get her
medicines. Permits, which are generally only good for the day, can
be very difficult and time consuming to come by. No one knows what
will happen if there is an emergency and she needs to be rushed to
the Mount of Olives hospital in Jerusalem. Now travel for work or to
visit family member living elsewhere within the West Bank (Hebron,
Bethlehem, Ramallah, Nablus) also requires these permits. If you
lived in some parts of East Jerusalem and raised a family, you could
find yourself in a situation where your wife and your older children
have Jerusalem IDs and you and your younger children have West Bank
IDs. You would need a permit to even see one another.
Most
of Shefa’s children are unemployed. Khalil, the middle son, was
lucky enough to find work on the grounds of the Sisters of Nagrizia
Convent (soon to be locked away on the Jerusalem side of the Wall).
He had saved enough money to buy some land, and was slowly building
a house on it. He, like many others, took a chance by building the
house without a permit, since Palestinians are generally unlikely to
actually receive a permit to build, even after paying the fees and
submitting the permit requests. It was almost complete when the
Israelis came and demolished it.
His
home was almost complete when the Israelis came and demolished
it. |
|
Then
Ashraf, who was visiting from the States, was stopped by the
Israelis. He showed them his US passport, telling them that he was
visiting family, but they demanded to see his Palestinian ID, which
he no longer carried. Unsatisfied, the Israelis looked him up on
their computer and found his old ID number. They confiscated his
passport, telling him he would only get it back when he was leaving
the country.
To
top it all off, Ashraf got word that he was being called up for
active service in Iraq. As a new US citizen, he was required to
signup for the Reserves. He left Palestine to join the US military
at the end of August. I asked him what he would end up doing in
Iraq.
"I'm
a truck driver," he said, "I think I'll be hauling
missiles around."
I
tried to stifle my groan. It is hardly the safest job in Iraq.
When
I told the family that I had been in Iraq for five months and this
was translated for Shefa, sitting cross-legged on her couch, the
elderly woman shook her head at me, and I could tell that she
thought I was foolish to go to such a dangerous place.
Before
we left, Ashraf lowered his voice. "My mother thinks I'll just
be returning to the States at the end of August," he told us,
"She doesn't realize that I'm going to Iraq."
