Qalandiya, Mon 6.10.08, Afternoon

2:30 till 5:00 PM

Our shift was short due to other commitments.

We arrived at the mosque at Nebi Samuel and were amazed at the number of cars and taxis parked there. Dozens of ultra-orthodox Jews emerged from those vehicles. The apparently came to pray at the time of the High Holidays at the grave of the Prophet in the synagogue next to the mosque.

We turned right towards the remnants of the Palestinian village, which had been there before the Six-Day War. At the entrance to the village were two rather well kept houses, especially one of them, surrounded by a flowering garden. Beyond we entered another (darker) world – barren rocky soil covered with scrap metal and garbage. A few structures, mostly sad looking and many shacks erected from corrugated iron, planks and plastic sheets in various stages of disintegration. A stone structure the size of a room had a sign stating that this was the schoolhouse.

We went over to talk to Akram, owner of a small grocery shop, which supplies the meager needs of the inhabitants. Akram was born in the village about fity years ago. His wife and children cannot stay with him in the village and live in Bir Naballa. Until a couple of months ago he could visit them from time to time, but since the ‘Fabric of Life Road’ has been in use to which there is no access, he can only visit them via the fields in roundabout ways. The reason, why his family cannot live with him, is that there is no possibility to enlarge existing buildings or - God forbid - build a new home. The shop has a small hole in the wall which is hardly large enough to house him. Like in other places the lands in Nebi Samuel belong to the state and the residents, in possession of green Id’s don’t even have any rights. Any attempt to build or renovate in order to slightly improve the living conditions is immediately doomed to demolition.

We walked around a little in the village and talked to another inhabitant who said that huis fate had improved somewhat recently since his father had died and his house of two rooms had become available so that he could bring his family to live with him in the village… He showed us a house where the owner had tried to add a small kitchen. What we saw was a tiny house with a gaping hole next to it – the remains of the kitchenette. The man also told us that he had been unable to get a work permit for the last 18 months.  At that time there was a fight between two men in the village; one was injured and bleeding. Without thinking twice he loaded the wounded man into his car, called for an ambulance and notified the police that he was driving with a wounded man to the CP. Upon arrival at the CP there was indeed an ambulance to pick up the wounded man, but the sad story of our friend only started there. He was immediately arrested and blamed for causing the injury. The pleas of the wounded man who even told the police who in fact had been guilty did not help. He was put into custody for an entire week and is not entitled to receive a work permit since. Finally last May he received from the authorities an official announcement stating that his file had been closed and he was told that with this paper he should apply to the Border Police base in Shuafat in order to delete his name from the black list on the computer. The only problem is that he has no permission to get to Shuafat….