Spending My Shekels on Palestine

Before setting off to Jerusalem, I sat down and thought very carefully about how I wanted to spend my money in the city.

A lot of people who support the Palestinian cause are careful to boycott Israeli products but a lot fewer have the chance to actively support the Palestinian economy. Visiting Jerusalem would be my chance to throw in my shekels for the Palestinian economy so I want to make sure I get it right. Basically I need to avoid propping up Israeli businesses while I am there and although I am not spending thousands, if you put together all the money tourist spend it really does start to add up.

According to the Word Travel Market Global Trends forecast, by 2011 the number of tourist visiting the Middle East will have increased to 55 million people a year. These visitors are estimated to bring in revenue worth $51 billion to the region. Now, that is a lot of money. Spent in the right way a tourist's money could really help Palestinians, especially in Jerusalem where the economy is built on local businesses related to tourism. Hotels, restaurants, souvenir shops and stalls are where Palestinian Jerusalemites make their living and so when a Muslim like me visits, I have a real opportunity to positively contribute to its economy.

How do I support the Palestinian economy?

“It's really quite simple,” answers Mrs. Salhab from the Hashimi Hotel in Jerusalem. “Don't buy from the Jewish Quarter or stay in Israeli hotels and look for Palestinians wherever you are staying or eating. The Arab Hotel Association is really useful as it has a list of Palestinian hotels to stay in across the whole of Palestine.”

The Arab Hotel Association was established in Jerusalem in 1962, to represent Palestinian hotels and currently has 56 members with over 3,700 guest rooms. It also runs a center to train Palestinian tourism professionals to help them compete in an increasingly competitive industry. The Alternative Tourism Group of Bethlehem has also joined forces with other Palestinian organizations to come up with 'A Code of Conduct' which gives advice on how to support “a just and responsible tourism in Palestine.” It has some great suggestions such as using local guides, transportation and spending more time getting to know Palestinians and their way of life.

Another place to support the economy is the particularly vibrant Muslim Quarter in Jerusalem's Old City. You can buy almost anything from here, safe in the knowledge that you are supporting the Palestinian community.

Jerusalem's Economy after the Intifada

The tourism industry is now buoyed by streams of pilgrims and optimism about its future. As recently as 2000, the industry suffered a severe downfall as political turmoil erupted in the country and visitors kept away due to fears for their safety. In the wake of the Al Aqsa Intifada in 2000, the tourism industry fell by the unprecedented amount of 50% and four years later reports were stating that the volume of tourism was still some 45% lower than pre-intifada levels.

“After 2000 things were very bad, and not for a few months but for a very long time,” reaffirms Sarah who runs a Muslim-friendly hotel in the Muslim Quarter. “It took a long time for things to get better and in consideration of the economic situation worldwide and Gaza, things are remarkably strong.”

Even so, reports by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) noted that the Israeli security measures such as checkpoints, curfews and roadblocks fragmented the Palestinian economy and pushed it further into decline. A report by the World Bank this June 2009 also found that recent post-conflict economic recovery has been hampered by Israeli restrictions on Palestinian trade and movement. As a result, Palestinians are becoming more rather than less dependent on foreign aid.

In these circumstances, it is more important than ever that Muslims are supporting the Palestinian economy sustainable by visiting the holy city and investing in its economy. As Sarah add, “Jerusalem sees so much of everyone but it would be great to see more Muslim visitor, especially from the UK and Europe, supporting the Palestinian economy.”

Link to the Article online

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What's behind the Israeli Separation Wall? Implications for Jerusalem

Click here to enlarge © Arwa Aburawa

Walking around the ancient streets and spice markets of Jerusalem, it is easy to forget that this city is under Israeli occupation. Daily life flows smoothly between shopping mothers, kids at schools and old men sitting outside shops drinking coffee. Nothing really seems out of place, until you look a little closer. Firstly, there are Israeli soldiers walking through the market and streets, on buses, queuing at the post office and eating falafel- they are everywhere. Another thing that makes you realize that something is very wrong is the Wall.

Building a 'Greater Jewish Jerusalem'

Known as the Separation or Apartheid Wall, it is a menacing symbol of hatred and fear. How could anyone think it is okay to build an 8-meter high concrete Wall running over 723kms long around an entire community? A Wall that is trapping them into what is effectively an open-air prison? According to the International Court of Justice the Wall is illegal and in violation of the Right to self-determination, the Fourth Geneva Convention, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as well as various human rights and humanitarian laws.

Defenders of the Wall reply that Israeli is simply exercising its right to protect itself from Palestinian suicide bombers. Maybe. But why is Israel building the Wall deep within the West Bank annexing nearly 50% of Palestinian land in the region, pushing Palestinians out of Jerusalem as well as incorporating illegal Israeli settlements into a 'Greater Jewish Jerusalem'?

Daoud Hamoudi of Stop the Wall, the anti-apartheid organization based in the West Bank, explains that as Jerusalem is the political, economic and spiritual center of the country, Israel realized that it would need to have control over it. “Because Jerusalem is such an important center, Israel began to isolate it from the beginning and annex it.”

“More recently in 2002,” he adds, “scientists reported to the Zionist movement that by 2025 the Palestinian population will become 60% in historical Palestine and the Jews will become a minority at 40%. So they took a decision that they needed to reduce the Palestinian population to 30%.”

Pushing Palestinians Out

Within Jerusalem specifically, the Palestinian population currently stands at around 33% and the Zionist movement decided that this would need to be reduced to 8% in the coming 25 years. The plan for a 'Greater Jewish Jerusalem' details the methods and policies that would bring such a reduction in the Palestinian population.

“The first policy they implemented is the Wall which annexes the settlement blocs into Jerusalem and isolates the Palestinian neighborhoods and you are taking about almost half of the population of Jerusalem, around 120,000” says Hamoudi. “They also manipulated natural growth of the cities so that Arab cities grow outside the center whilst Jewish neighborhoods grow towards Jerusalem.”

This means that Palestinian neighborhoods surrounding Jerusalem now have to cross the Wall to enter Jerusalem and so they begin to rely on major cities further out in the West Bank, totally severing their connection with Jerusalem. “The farmers would normally depend on Jerusalem to sell their produce but they now have to depend on places like Ramallah in the West Bank. They are isolating them into ghettos.”

Bringing Israeli Settlements In

The second implication of the Wall and securing a 'Greater Jewish Jerusalem' is that it is absorbs major illegal settlement blocs which sit around Jerusalem. This includes the largest Jewish Settlement, Ma'ale Adumim which has a population of around 35,000 and plans to grow to 50,000. In fact Hamoudi reported that the Zionist movement wants to bring another 1 million Jewish immigrants to live in these blocs, in an attempt to resolve the 'demographic issue' and secure Jewish dominance across Jerusalem.

Settler roads have also played a part in this demographic 're-balance.' “Maybe in the States or Europe roads and highway networks are something normal but here it is not,” states Hamdoudi. “These roads are not only confiscating lands they are also isolating people from their lands. For example in Silwan [a Palestinian neighborhood in Jerusalem] they will destroy around 92 homes under the name of 'development' to build a park for settlers and a highway to make it easier for settlers from Bethlehem to reach the Wailing Wall.”

This re-drawing of Jerusalem is a political effort to dominate the Holy City with a Jewish majority at the expense of the Christian and Muslim Palestinians. “What was East Jerusalem will become 31% of the Greater Jewish Jerusalem” Hamoudi elaborates. “Also within this area, they have confiscated around 45-65% as Green land which cannot be built on and State lands for settlements. So that leaves them with only 10% of the Greater Jewish Jerusalem.” At only 10%, the Palestinians would become a very small minority at the mercy of the Israeli state which threatens the very future existence of this historic community in Jerusalem.

Lemon Trees and Security Walls: Life Under Conflict in Palestine

Lemon Tree movie poster.

Title: Lemon Tree
Year: 2008
Director: Eran Riklis
Leads: Hiam Abbass, Ali Suliman, Doran Tovery and Rona Lipaz-Michael
Language: Arabic and Hebrew
Length: 106 minutes

"Trees are like people, they have souls, they have feelings. They need to be talked to, need tender loving care." (Abu Hussam in Lemon Tree)

Set on the West Bank's Green line, Lemon Tree, is a poignant film of one Palestinian woman's fight to save her lemon grove from Israeli destruction. "It's based on a few true stories that I encountered," explains the film director Eran Riklis, "plus hundreds of thousands of stories that are similar, in sense of the Palestinian person trying to protect his house, his land, his trees."

While the story of Palestinian struggle is not new, what is unique here is the film's ability to portray tragedy without being melodramatic and to humanize the Palestinians without demonizing the Israelis. Rather, Lemon Tree highlights the ultimate brutalization of both the Palestinians and Israelis due to the tension and constant fear in which the two societies live.

The film follows the story of Salma Zidane (Hiam Abbass), a Palestinian widow who makes a meager living from a lemon grove inherited from her father. Salma's quiet and isolated existence is turned on its head when the Israeli Defense Minister and his wife move into the neighborhood.

The Minister's officious security team quickly set up a watch-tower over the area but their fears over “Arab terrorists” is lurking in Salma's lemon grove entailing its destruction which is soon ordered.

Salma avows to protect every remaining tree and with the help of local lawyer Ziad Daud (Ali Suliman), she takes her protest all the way to the Israeli High Court. Although Salma is determined to save her trees, which she continues to tend to even when forced out of the grove at gunpoint, her case looks hopeless, as one lawyer states, "Lemon trees and the Defense Minister, a lethal combination."

Hiam Abbas as Salma

Communities in isolation; Communities in conflict

A turning point comes when Miri, the Defense Minister's wife, publicly expresses sympathy for Salma's plight. The case subsequently becomes headline news, even reaching Europe, where campaigners decide to take up Salma's cause.

Despite the mounting tensions on either side, a mutual bond of respect and understanding develops between Miri and Salma. Their shared experience of isolation and growing detachment from friends and family, means that they are able to recognize each other's loneliness, and understand the pain of separation.

In fact, this sense of isolation and division which exists not only between people, but also across entire communities, is Lemon Tree’s central theme.

The most obvious example of this division is between the two neighbors, who seem to live in entirely separate worlds, though they live on the same street. Despite the huge impact they have on each other's life, the Defense Minister has threatened Salma's livelihood, and she has taken him to court. They never actually sit down and talk to each other.

Even Salma and Miri, who clearly have sympathy for each other, barely exchange a word. This is a clear metaphor for the growing segregation between the Israelis and Palestinians and the increasingly isolated communities in which they live.

The "Apartheid Wall" which now separates Israel from the West Bank, as well as the existence of over 500 checkpoints and roadblocks which indiscriminately affect the Palestinians, make a positive interaction between Palestinians and Israelis absolutely difficult.

There is also a simmering conflict between the Defense Minister and his wife, who complains that they barely spend time together, and voices her suspicion that he is being unfaithful. Miri's obvious sympathy for Salma, and the build-up of the media storm, places further strain on their relationship.

While Miri challenges the logic behind the destruction of Salma's lemon grove, the Minister states that he is unwilling to challenge the Secret Services' decision, which, he reminds her, has been made for their very safety.

This disagreement between the Israeli couple is a microcosm of the deep divisions within the Israeli society with regards to resolving the “Palestinian issue” and the future of the Israeli state.

It reflects the common dispute between certain Israelis who feel that everything must be done to keep Israel safe (even if that means that the Palestinians should suffer), and those who feel that the very notion that safety can be bought at the expense of others' freedom are suspects.

Surprisingly, the film does manage to throw in some humor; be it dry and gut-wrenchingly ironic. In one scene, the Defense Minister decides to host a house-warming party for his Israeli guests, with Arabic music and traditionally Arabic food- all Kosher, naturally.

The irony is not lost to the viewer, especially when the chef also realizes that he has forgotten to bring lemons, and all the eyes turn to Salma's orchard with bright fruit.

Palestinian Suffering and Hollywood Endings?

My only critique of Lemon Tree is that it fails to explore the systematic discrimination, and sometimes outright brutality, that Palestinians face on a daily basis. The recent war on Gaza, and the blockade which continues, illustrate the brutal force that Israel can launch against the Palestinian people.

The World Bank's overview of the Palestinian economy also asserts that nearly half of all Palestinian families now live below the poverty line. The reason for this dramatic deterioration, is the "multi-faceted system of restrictions on the movement of Palestinian people and goods, which the Government of Israel argues essential to protect Israelis." (World Bank, November 2004).

Palestinians also face an array of crippling bureaucratic regulations on everything, including planning applications for housing permits, citizenship, identity cards, and visas. These restrictions, whether subtle or spectacular, are simply not acknowledged in the film.

The recognition and media attention that Salma’s case receives also seems to be a little contrived and unrealistic in a country where house demolitions are widespread and serious human rights abuses occur without reprisal.

However, I still understand why Riklis - director of the critically acclaimed film, Syrian Bride, decided to use a story which was subtle and unspectacular. This means that there are no clear "good" and "bad" guys to simplify the story and we can not dismiss one person's concern at the expense of another’s.

To put it quite plainly, it is more representative of the real conflict and the more commonplace struggles that we just do not hear of in the news. Even the final decision by the Israeli High court seems ambiguous, it is not going to save all Salma's trees, but it is no happy ending. As we are reminded by Salma’s lawyer, happy endings are possible only in Hollywood.

Prison Walls and Finding Freedom

Although it might have been easier to portray this story as a battle of David and Goliath, the reality is that in the end they both sacrifice something dear to themselves. Salma loses some of her trees although she seems to gain more determination, confidence and even strength through her struggle. However, what the Defense Minister loses is much more significant; not only his wife who leaves him in the end, but also his freedom.

Israel may be building walls to keep the "Palestinian threat"out, but it has also built its very own prison, and thereby is holding its citizens captive. The ending illustrates this without any ambiguity.

In the closing sequence, the Defense Minister sits silently smoking; watching as the curtains are drawn away from his window, instead of Salma's lemon grove, all he sees is cold solid wall.

Lemon Tree, which won the Audience Award at the Berlin Film Festival, is a beautifully made film, perfected by a formidable cast. Hiam Abbass, who plays Salma, brings an elegant dignity to her role, and helps this drama seamlessly combine the political with the personal.

Ali Suliman, who some may recognize from the Oscar-nominated Paradise Now, as well as Doran Tovery (Defense Minister) and Rona Lipaz-Michael (Miri), also gives strong performances which keep the story engaging.

That Riklis managed to create such a balanced and honest exploration of the conflict in Palestine/Israel, is a magnificent achievement, and on that note alone, Lemon Tree is a must see.

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Arwa Aburawa is a freelance journalist based in the UK, who specialises in local politics, Palestine, climate change, women's rights, and arts & culture. She can be contacted via her blog: http://voiceagainstempire.blogspot.com/ or website: http://arwafreelance.wordpress.com/

Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation. Book Review

Reviewed by Arwa Aburawa, Manchester

Saree Makdisi is no historian; he isn’t a political commentator, activist or even a semi-political writer. He’s a professor of English literature at UCLA, and whilst you may think that this disqualifies him from adding to the already crowded field of the Palestine/Israel conflict, his work is quite simply a breath of fresh air. His book, Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation, isn’t about historical findings it doesn’t contain in-depth political analysis, rather it is a book about the daily struggle of ordinary Palestinians dealing with passes, permits, curfews, checkpoints and closures. The loss of control over their inner and outer lives and how the occupation has become as it were an everyday occupation. It explores how the Israeli state has isolated Palestinians from their land, livelihoods and each other and how they can regain their freedom through a single, secular and democratic state solution.

The introduction sadly ignores convention by failing to address the historiography of the conflict, to explain the chapter structures or aims of the book. This leaves the reader feeling a little bit lost as the layout of the chapters is quite unusual. The book goes headfirst into the personal story of Sam Bahour who received orders from the Israeli government to leave his home, family and livelihood in the West Bank and never to return. As Makdisi states these stories of personal struggle may not be spectacular “since they occur on an individual and intimately personal scale”, “silently and invisibly” but they are pushing the Palestinians to the edge of dissolution (p.5-6). “A politically charged vision, having assumed the neutral and technical language of administration procedures and bureaucratic regulations, is played out in government offices, at roadblocks and checkpoints, and in planning applications; housing permits; citizenship, identity and residency documents- and, of course visa stamps” (p.5). This political vision is of Israel as an entirely Jewish state, aiming to solve the ‘demographic problem’ of the Palestinian people by making their lives unbearable in the hope that they will simply leave.

The first chapter titled “Outsides” explores how the construction of the Wall has created clear boundaries around who belongs whilst pushing Palestinians ‘outside’ their lands and also ‘outside’ a normal, peaceful existence. It looks particularly at the ‘Seam Zone’- an area between the 1967 border and the wall- and how 60,500 Palestinians who now live in this area are denied access to their own land and emergency medical care (p.24). The extent of the devastation is illustrated by personal accounts of accidents turning into fatalities when Israeli soldiers refuse to grant access to hospitals without ‘relevant permits’ (p.23-8). Makdisi also explains how the Oslo agreement played a vital part in this ‘hyperregulation’ as it institutionalised the checkpoints, curfews, roadblocks which have “led to ever-greater immobilization and paralysis, political infighting, soaring unemployment, and economic collapse” (p.85).

“Insides”- the second chapter- considers the personal and intimate impact of the bureaucratic controls which dictate “who one is, where one can go, where one can live and work” (p.102). This is demonstrated through the demolition of homes, the separation of families without the correct permits and family unification papers. Hence “all the normal markers of inside, home life- the relationship of family members to each other, the legality of their existence as a family, the security of their most intimate domestic space- are undone” (p.119, emphasis added). Another aspect of this is the fact that illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied territories are strategically implanted to fragment the pre-existing Palestinian communities. Even Jewish homes are specifically designed to encourage surveillance and inspection -and therefore control- of the surrounding Palestinian population (p.122-4).

Vulnerability of Palestinian inner space is portrayed by the personal story of Maryam al-Natsheh, whose home was intruded by armed Israeli settlers in Hebron. Her nine-year old son, Falah, was beaten up whilst her other son Ahmad was stabbed in the back; shockingly such attacks are common occurrences (p.139-40). These policies form part of an Israeli strategy to ‘encourage “voluntary” transfer’ and so displace yet another Palestinian family.

‘Outside In’ the third chapter looks at how certain Palestinian communities have become virtual open-air prisons. For example, Israel’s tight regulation of Gaza’s borders, imports and exports, agriculture, electricity has cut them off from the outside world and destroyed any hope for economic and social recovery (p.156). They are subject to frequent Israeli raids and bombardments, arbitrary curfews and closures which block the export of agricultural products and the flow of medicine and medical equipment. As a result, “more than half of the families in Gaza now eat only one meagre meal a day” (p.166-70). Such disproportionate military reactions to Palestinian resistance and the ‘collective punishment’ of entire populations have been condemned as war crimes by the U.N.’s Special Rapporteur on Human Rights John Dugard (p.176-7).

Inside Out, the fourth chapter highlights how Israeli settlers- under the protection of Israeli soldiers-are taking over entire cities such as Hebron and forcing Palestinians out as part of a permanent process of dispossessing Arabs. Israel’s policy of ethnic cleansing is confirmed by the fact that “Palestinians are routinely denied building permits, and their homes are frequently demolished- but there are government incentives making it easier for Jewish individuals and families to buy or rent space in settlements built in the occupied territories” (p.12). Recent access to Israel’s military archives has also allowed academics to reconstruct the true extent of the Nakba and confirm the basic Palestinian account of 1948 as a war of expulsion. This has allowed shocking statistic to emerge which demonstrate the true extent of dispossession; for example 531 Palestinian towns and villages have been destroyed or depopulated since 1948 (p.233).

The personal accounts which illustrate the deeply individual impact of the occupation are central to the book’s theme. They are honestly touching, poignant, even haunting and their words will stay with you. For example Laila el-Haddad who waited at the Israeli controlled border with Egypt for hours on end, day-after day describes her experience:
“There is something you feel as you stand there for hours at a time, waiting to be let through the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing. It is something of your humanity slowly drifting away. It is gradual, but unmistakable. And you are never quite the same again” (p.158).

Moshe Nissim’s - an Israeli soldier who operates armoured bulldozers- horrifying, honest statement depicts the unnerving malice which simmers in the mind of the aggressor: “I got a real kick out of every house that was demolished because I knew that dying means nothing to them, while the loss of their house means more to them. You destroy a house and you destroy forty or fifty people for generations. If one thing bothers me about all this, it is that we didn’t wipe out the whole camp” (p.184).

Whilst the book does focus on personal stories, it is not at the expense of clarity as there is enough history and politics to ensure the novice readers can understand the conflict. Major historical events such as the Nakba, the 1967 war, the Intifada and Oslo are all covered throughout and the final chapter focuses on more recent events such as Annapolis, the electoral success of Hamas in 2006 and the subsequent siege of Gaza. The final installation also elaborates Makdisi’s conviction in a one-state solution which grants both the Palestinians and Israeli’s equal rights- including Palestinian refugee’s right of return- to help secure a just and lasting peace.

The only drawback is that the book is repetitive in places, especially in its effort to condemn Israel as breaking human rights as defined by international law. Makdisi constantly repeats U.N Security Council resolutions, alongside Geneva Conventions, International Law and the International Court of Justice as if Israel could be shamed into submission. Overall, however, this book is a vital shift from an academic audience to the general public who will require a readable and humanist portrayal of the on-going conflict. It is powerful, thought-provoking and deeply moving.

The harrowing accounts of oppression, personal attacks, deaths, control and crippling sieges which Palestinians face gives you real a sense of the suffocation of life occurring. Nonetheless the author maintains that there is room for hope as the struggle for equality within a single, secular state is a cleaner, more popular and ultimately more powerful struggle- which will succeed with a little compromise from either side (p.292). As he puts it so eloquently: Palestinians have to realise that they will never recuperate Palestine as it was before the arrival of Zionism, and Israelis will never realise a purely Jewish state- they must both put their two impossible ideals aside for the sake of a common future (p287).

Arwa Aburawa, Manchester

Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation
BY SAREE MAKDISI,
W.W. Norton & Company, 2008,
ISBN 978-0-393-06606-7,
pp.343,
£15.99

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