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INTERN BLOG: Under Siege: One Bedouin Family’s Struggle to Live in Israel
In the early 1950s, a Bedouin Arab named Atif Mohammad Sawa’ed (Abu Walid) bought a parcel of land from the Shafa ‘Amr municipality, 25 kilometers east of Haifa, hoping to build a home for his new wife and his family. The land he bought lies on a hilltop, no more than two kilometers south of Shafa ‘Amr in the Lower Galilee. It is a beautiful place, and at that time it was uninhabited. From the front steps of the home he built, you can see the shimmering blue waters of the Mediterranean, the urban sprawl of Haifa, and if you look north on a clear day, you can even see into Lebanon.
14/12/2012
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Where Can We Live?
In light of the recent home destruction in Bir al-Maksour - in which the discriminatory zoning measures applied by the Israeli government make it impossible for the Arab Palestinian minority to have adequate housing – it is time for a deeper look at this complicated issue to help us understand why a citizen of a democratic state has to stand idly while bulldozers roll through his home. Before analyzing the current status of building codes and municipal zoning regulations, it is important to better understand the legal precedent for the odd arrangement that has arisen. On May 14, 1948, David Ben Gurion, as head of the World Zionist Organization and chairman of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, declared the establishment of Israel. In the Israeli Declaration of Independence, the dual-role of the Jewish people as a religion and a national group was codified into the institutions of the state. Due to this unique distinction, Israel would become a democracy, ostensibly with protection for the existing Arab inhabitants, and a Jewish state. However, the codification of Judaism into state institutions has, over time, led to a division in the legal system and the development of apartheid. In 60 years of struggle with Palestinian nationalism and wars with its Arab neighbors, Israeli leaders have sacrificed the integrity of the Declaration of Independence by forgetting this critical clause:
28/9/2012
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“All the World’s a Stage”- The Story of a Palestinian Citizen of Israel after Her Release from Prison
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Discrimination Diary Series, No. 4
Taghrid Sa’adi, 25, a Palestinian woman from Sakhnin in the Galilee, is beginning to rebuild her life after spending six and a half years in prison for security- related offenses. After a flurry of interest in her case from the local and Arab media, Taghrid must now start he life almost from scratch, as if she were born at the moment she stepped out from the gates of Sharon Prison. “Before I was arrested, my dream was to study nursing and work as a nurse so that I could help people who were sick or in need,” Taghrid recalls, in a comment that might be taken from an educational television program for children. The reality of life for the Palestinian citizens of Israel, however, is that questions of politics, security, and the struggle for their basic indigenous rights cannot be evaded. Perhaps this explains why Taghrid was unable to move toward her dream in Israeli reality. She now plans to work as a journalist in order to raise the political and social consciousness of the Palestinian citizens of Israel. “I learned a lot during my time in prison, but the most important thing is the bond between myself, as a Palestinian living inside Israel, and my people in the West Bank and Gaza. I could sum it up by saying that I have been reborn. Any problem I may face in the future will be insignificant compared to the things I have experienced and to the lack of the most basic conditions in the Israeli prison.”
18/4/2008
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A Kafkaesque Journey to the Tomb of the Prophet Habil
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Discrimination Diary Series, No. 3
In the present article we focus on the situation faced by the Druze citizens of the State of Israel. For over 50 years, Druze citizens have been unable to visit their holy places and relatives in Syria, due mainly to Israel’s refusal. In their frustration, Druze citizens began to undertake such visits without securing the necessary authorizations from the Israeli authorities. As a result they have been subjected to irritating and unnecessary questioning and interrogation. Sheikh Abu Hasin Kamal Zeidan from Daliyat al-Carmel, one of the sheikhs who participated in the visits, describes this situation in the following terms: “This is an intolerable situation that leads us to feel that we may have to think again about our attitude toward the state we live in.”
24/3/2008
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Olive Trees in “Zion”
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"Discrimination Diary" Series, No.2
In the United States and other Western countries, the symbol of the campaign for nuclear disarmament has gradually become a recognized emblem of peace. In the Middle East, however, peace is symbolized by a dove bearing an olive leaf... On 13 November 1974, when Yasser Arafat spoke at the UN Assembly in New York for the first time as the representative of the Palestinian people, he made his famous comment: “Today I have come bearing an olive branch and a freedom fighter’s gun. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand.”... On 14 June 2007, bulldozers from the Ministry of the Interior and the Israel Lands Administration uprooted dozens of olive trees belonging to the residents of the Arab village of Al-Mashhad in the Galilee, claiming that the land had been confiscated in favor of the Jewish city of Nazareth Illit (Upper Nazareth).
12/2/2008
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Little Arafat
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Discrimination Diary Series, No.1
After Fathi’s son had been attending a child daycare center for several days, the daycare worker telephoned him and said: “We have a problem with your son… and after the other parents found out, some of them have removed their children from the center.” She continued: “One of the daycare workers opened your son’s bag and found out that he is called Arafat. She spoke about it with her relatives, who also have children in the center, and in response they removed their children from the center because there is an Arab child there.”
25/1/2008
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