Marginalized….excluded and secluded
These are the three words that jump to my head, the moment I spot a neighborhood such as, Nabi Samuel, Khalayleh; and going to the other extreme of geography; Jahaleen Bedouin clans.
Of course, to most, these names do not mean anything, and actually, they never said anything to me…and sadly speaking there must be tens if not hundreds of such neighborhoods around the country.
The three locations I mentioned are in Jerusalem if Maale Adumim and its Gush were part of Jerusalem so would be the Jahaleen. Also, if Modiin, Givat Zeev, Giv’on are in Jerusalem, then Khalayleh and Nabi Samuel are.
As usual between what is and what is there, is a line of shrewd vicious reality that even geographical separation does not necessarily show.
I would rest my case on this occasion on Al Khalayleh, since Nabi Samuel, which is very close, might be likely known to activists as well as Jahaleen. But to those who are likely to me and never thought of what lies within the valleys and on top of mountains and in between walls and fences, it is worth to add aside from marginalized, excluded and secluded, that such neighborhoods not only live with the absence of fundamental rights and means of survival. The fact that they survive only says how resilient these people are. Practically everything is forbidden to these people. I would advise for a reference to a map, indicator, no indicator but you wild symbol, but it is likely that with each settlement block or just a solution you happen to encounter, there is a neighborhood as such in that area.
When you are in Europe, and you take a bus or a train, you actually may not buy a ticket because they randomly inspect. However, when they do and catch you without a ticket, you are damned with an excellent. So most people do not even dare to think to get into a bus without having a ticket.
This is exactly what it feels like going to Khalayleh neighborhood. We went there, and I have not seen a single checkpoint all the way from Beit Hanina to the location. We were driving through the beautiful roads of 443 and probably others that are parallel to Modiin that takes settlers to Givat Zeev. I suddenly found myself on a road that had Palestinian plates on the cars. It felt outrageous … seriously; the cars looked like invaders to me. I was a bit of disillusioned not exactly understanding where I was. I was technically in Jerusalem. Settlements surround the area “naturally,” and for an instant, I was thinking what are, these people doing here (I mean the Palestinians). Suddenly everything seemed reversed. This person lived there forever and found themselves secluded, marginalize, and imprisoned but with no gates or keepers. It is an open prison where people do not even need a wall or a gate or a fence or a soldier to give those rules or guidelines or discipline them. They know where their maximum access line is.
Being in what is called a democracy, imagining myself as an Israeli, I will not be able to raise my eyes into a human being after realizing that there are people who are practically locked in their villages so nearby and everywhere!!.
From the other side, you ‘re officially under the partial authority of the PA, mentioning area c here. I will also not tire you or me in further explanations. This is a community with 700 people with not a single school or ever a daycare, with not a single clinic. People can only have access to the outside world (the west bank) through a nearby checkpoint that serves as a borderline. They have mobile clinics that may come once a week, so if they are lucky, they get sick on that day. Garbage, of course, is never collected.
From another side, you look at the people, and you see persistence their eyes… to be honest, I don’t know why, I could not but think of Syrian refugees who took refuge to the see escaping Daesh, something I keep asking myself about … how hard could it be …to avoid one harsh, miserable reality to another that is hollow and unknown?
Living in such neighborhoods seem like the hollowness unknowns of living. From outside things, seem okay. You might likely not even notice they exist….from inside, you see people who are struggling just to have the minimum, essential of what life is ….. Living with fundamental rights.
Reblogged this on Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News.
Life, liberty, and property are basic rights. Is clean water a basic right? Is health care? Is housing? I question the latter. A person with a shovel and some land has the right to dig a well. Governments restrict well digging and thus deprive people of free water. A person with access to a river might have a right to dip some water out of the river and boil and filter it. A person might have a right to pick up some dead wood to build a fire to purify water. A person might have a right to catch some rain or to dig a pit, line it with plastic, and store rain water. As for medical care, the only way a person can claim a right to medical care is if someone else is forced to deliver medical care. Housing can only be provided if someone else is forced to build it. Otherwise a person might have a right to negotiate for housing and medical care. I don’t know how they can be rights if other people are not forced to provide it. We define so many things as basic rights that require force at some point. Government provided water treatment plants are financed with force. Subsidized health care is provided by force. Government education is the same. Paved roads are provided by force.