In March 2015 the Heinrich-Boell-Foundation joined support for a speaking tour during the week of the “Open Shuhada Street” campaign
By Thimna Bunte
Since 1994, the formerly flourishing Shuhada Street in Hebron’s historic centre is turned increasingly into a ghost street. It became a symbol for Israel’s policy of Human Rights violations and segregation in the occupied Palestinian territories. In this situation, Youth Against Settlements (YAS) advocates in nonviolent ways for Human Rights and equality in Hebron. One of the cornerstones of their work consists of the “Open Shuhada Street” campaign that takes place each year in February. Abed Salayma, activist of Youth Against Settlements, and Mufid Sharabati, resident of Shuhada Street, traveled to Germany this February in order to carry out a Speaking Tour (or, as the group calls it, a “SpeAction tour” as it involves some elements other than speaking as well). They talked about the Human Rights situation in Hebron, their approach of nonviolent resistance and what people in Germany can do to support their cause.
35 people of all ages listen to Abed Salayma in Frankfurt’s Club Voltaire. The 22 year old activist from Hebron explains how he is stopped at Israeli military checkpoints four times a day in order to get from his home on Shuhada Street to university and back. He has to remove his belt, mobile phones, wallet etc..: “It’s as if we had several airport security controls directly in front of our door. But all we want is to live in dignity in our own city.” To the numerous stories about restrictions of the freedom of movement, Mufid Sharabati adds his experiences of violent attacks from settlers and soldiers on him and his family. When he tried to expand his house in 2013, he was beaten by Israeli soldiers so severely that he sustained spinal fractures and a blood clot in his brain. As a consequence, he will never be able to work again. The soldiers were never held accountable. “The worst moment though”, he continues, “was when a group of young adolescent settlers tried to kidnap my five year old son and niece. I am very grateful to our neighbors for hearing the girl’s screams and saving both children. But these are just some of hundreds of stories that the residents of Shuhada Street can tell.” Like in most cases, the settlers were also not prosecuted. Abed Salayma explains that the settlers are subject to Israeli civil law, while Palestinians live under Israeli military law.
Abed and Mufid present to their audiences how Hebron was divided in two parts in 1997. While H1 is inhabited exclusively by Palestinian residents, H2 encompasses around 600 radical Jewish-Israeli settlers living in five settlements in the centre of the Palestinian old city. Though illegal according to international law, the settlements in Hebron as other settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories get full support and protection by the Israeli state. The settlements in Hebron’s old city are connected via Shuhada Street with Kiryat Arba, the largest settlement in the Hebron area. Since in 1994 Baruch Goldstein, a Brooklyn-born settler from Kiryat Arba shot 29 Palestinians during the Friday prayer in the historic Abraham’s mosque, Shuhada Street was closed little by little for the Palestinian population. Today, it resembles a ghost street. More than 1800 shops are closed, the military welded the front doors. More than 1000 households are abandoned, the remaining families are forced to take long detours and are often only able to reach their houses via their neighbors’ roofs or front doors. Palestinians are allowed to walk, but not to drive on parts of the street; but the largest area of the street is closed to them. “Because we are Palestinians!”, says Abed Salayma. “Foreigners, Israelis and Palestinians with foreign passports are allowed to walk on Shuhdada Street. We as residents of the street are not.”
Mufid Sharabati points out that in the past neither diplomatic negotiations nor violent resistance led to an improvement of the situation. Therefore, YAS take a third path, the path of nonviolent resistance. It is important for them to emphasize that they are not fighting against Israeli individuals, and surely not against people of Jewish faith, but against the system of military occupation that is executed by the Israeli state. In the context of their nonviolent resistance, they carry out different activities: From direct actions such as demonstrations or blockades, the yearly “Open Shuhada Street” campaign, the documentation of Human Rights violations, to the creation of spaces for living. For example, based on voluntary work, YAS renovated an old Palestinian house in H2 and opened a kindergarten inside. Now, around 40 children do not have to pass checkpoints any longer to get to their kindergarten. Abed Salayma elaborates how important it is that the Palestinians stay in Hebron and its old town: “If the occupation is about a quiet expulsion of Palestinians, staying here is already a form of resistance. Therefore, there is a slogan saying: Existence is Resistance.”
During their SpeAction tour in Germany, Abed Salayma and Mufid Sharabati implemented 22 events during 12 days in nine cities. The events ranged from school workshops, public events at the invitation of Human Rights organizations and groups working on Israel/Palestine, to a meeting with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. But in addition to speaking, the program included for instance street events in cooperation with activists from the Human Rights working group of KURVE Wustrow, Center for Training and Networking in Nonviolent Action. By means of short street theatre plays, passers-by were confronted with the simulated closing of shops.
During their SpeAction tour, the YAS activists tried to raise awareness of the Human Rights situation in Hebron and their approach of nonviolent resistance. In addition, they encouraged their audience to become active for Human Rights in Hebron and the occupied Palestinian territories. This included a letter asking political representatives to campaign for the opening of Shuhada Street and the full compliance with Human Rights in Hebron. They also extended an invitation to visit them in Hebron, because, as Mufid said: “You can only fully comprehend the situation in Hebron, if you have seen it on site with your own eyes.”