May 2021 in Silwan

the other day i finally was able to visit some of my closest people in silwan - it has been over six months since i crossed the city to see them - much too long. when i arrived the young boys were gathered together, playing with discarded bits of weapons used by the border police in the area. little mohammad came over and showed my friend tal and i a rubber bullet - tal didn't believe that is what it was at first since it was so large. we went into zuheir's house to catch up over tea. we were all really happy to see each other but it was of course with the backdrop of the worsening situation in i/p. he told us that just a few days prior his sons were out in the nearby park between silwan and abu tor. there was some kind of gathering of israeli extremists that made zuheir's sons, palestinians, uneasy, especially in light of the horrific chants and 'lynchings' that have occurred, endangering palestinian lives (please note that the term 'lynching' here is not exactly the same as it is used in the united states). zuheir's sons ran into a jewish family living in abu tor that hurried to hide them inside their home until the rioters passed. the family subsequently called the police to report the extremists but no surprise nothing was done. luckily the sons returned home safely. but i worry for the safety of so many people i know here every day, because their existence is threatened just for being palestinian.

silwan - where does this neighborhood (actually it is it's own village) fit into the i/p conversations? silwan, known to many israelis or foreigners as "ir david," where archeological excavations are somehow justified by israeli institutions at the cost of evicting people - palestinians - from their homes just outside of the old city. this is a place i've come to know well, many of the local families taking me in as their own as we continued working together and painting the walls of homes at risk of eviction, or walls quite visible from across the valley - to amplify palestinians' voices and struggles - to look the occupation in the eye. we painted symbols of liberation and peace, as well as members of the human rights struggle from across the world, including eyad al-halaq, george floyd and che guvera, among others.

if you have followed me for a while you know that i am not silent about this issue. as a jew raised in the united states, i'm devastated by the atrocities perpetuated by israel and the united states. senseless violence is being used to terrorize the palestinian people and inflicting harm upon fellow human beings can never be justified. israel and the united states have successfully deluded many people with the idea of "security" and "self-defense." israel helped create hamas - its goal was and is to further divide the palestinian people, while hamas responds to the ongoing nakba with "terrorism." both the entities of the israeli defense forces and hamas use violence; they use propaganda; they use bombs. where does one draw the line between these two narratives?

anyway, there is much to speak on and not enough space in a single sitting. i've struggled with finding words for the current situation in i/p, as well as motivation to do anything much beyond of staying updated checking in with people here on the ground, and praying. i do not condone violence and i mourn all of the lives, palestinian and israeli, that are lost to senseless violence.