UN-Truth

This is The Wall in Dahiet al-Bariid today. This photo was taken from the Jerusalem side, — Dahiet al-Bariid is a small neighborhood on a hill that has now been divided, like Berlin during the Cold War, by The Wall. One part of the neighborhood is designated as part of Jerusalem, according to a ruling by Israel’s High Court of Justice (Supreme Court). The other part is doomed. It is now a backwater part of the West Bank.

Inexorable market forces are at work — though in full flux, as Palestinians gauge and wager on the odds. Buildings on both sides stand empty and abandoned due to uncertainty about the future. Abu Ra’ed, visiting yesterday morning, said that Abu Abdallah, the seller of kaak (delicious chewy white bread shaped in a U and covered with sesame seeds) now sells only 80 breads each morning on the Jerusalem side of Dahiet al-Bariid, whereas he used to sell 300 a day. Abu Ra’ed has abandoned his house — the one with the dusty salmon-colored roses that bloom in summer — and is trying to rent it to an “international”, while he and his wife have moved to a more convenient part of Beit Hanina, where they will not be stuck behind a checkpoint, and where he believes his “blue” or Jerusalem ID is more secure. On the Jerusalem side of Dahiet al-Bariid, landlords are demanding a minimum of $500 and above for apartments per month, while on the West Bank side of Dahiet al-Bariid, Palestinians can find places for $1oo or $200 a month (though “foreigners” are asked for $400 -$500).

Abu Firas said yesterday that he heard that families living immediately adjacent to The Wall were visited by friendly IDF and border police soldiers last week, and given flyers explaining that they should make preparations for their children who attend schools located just over the line in the West Bank side, because the opening in The Wall where heavy traffic still flows through at all hours will be sealed as of the 15th of this month. I don’t know how the children will get to school after that, or where they will go to school — it is a big problem for the families. It will also be a big problem for the priviledged daughters of West Bank families (including many of the wealthy elite from Ramallah), who send their girls to the prestigious Rosary Sister’s School (run by the Latin Patriarchy of Jerusalem, but accepting students of both Palestinian faiths — Christian and Muslim — if not of all faiths here).

Imad said that last week he met Captain Husam, visiting this part of The Wall and the opening, who said that it would be sealed in two to three months. Captain Husam has apparently replaced Captain Shadi, the elusive figure who gives out “numbers” for residents of the wedge of Dahiet al-Bariid belonging to Jerusalem.

Abu Firas says he thinks two-to-three months is a more realistic time for the final closure, because the IDF-contracted construction company who has built this part of The Wall is planning to reinforce The Wall on both sides, to avoid the danger of it falling (perhaps in an earthquake…)

Photo by Raja Mukahal – the marks of burning are not signs of protest, but indicate where residents burn their garbage, when collection is spotty…

I don’t know what will happen to transportation, either. Right now, there are pretty frequent passages of the rickety and careening white and green Palestinian mini-buses that leave across the street from the Jerusalem Hotel, in the vicinity of the major Damascus Gate Palestinian public transport hub, and going to Ar-Ram. It costs 5 shekels now to take this bus (no. 81), rather than the 4 shekels’ fare to the closer (to the bus station) destinations of Beit Hanina or Shoafat.

Photo by Raja Mukahal.

This is the view of The Wall in Dahiet al-Bariie, looking (from the Jerusalem side) east up the hill and to the clouds over the Jewish neighborhood of Neve Yacov, whose residents are presumably being protected by The Wall. Here, because there is more space between the Palestinian houses it runs through on both sides, The Wall is in its better-known manifestation — a massive eight-meter-high concrete structure.

(Some of the graffiti on this part of The Wall is in support of Fatah. This is not, after all, really Hamas country, but Hamas has supporters sprinkled everywhere — some commentators believe it is closer to basic Palestinian culture than the swaggering Fatah. But almost everybody — all Palestinians — are furious that there is such a rift between the two organizations, and are calling for reconciliation.   But that is not likely to happen before this gap in The Wall is sealed…)

Filed under: Israel, Middle East Peace Process, Palestine & Palestinians, Register of damages due to The Wall