Housing and Human Rights

This morning we met with Ashraf from Israeli Committee Against House Demolition (ICAHD), a group founded 10 years ago, established in response to housing demolitions in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. They try to connect housing issues with the bigger picture of injustice beyond Palestinian suffering.

He told us stories of resistance to demolition and the importance of rebuilding. One family he met has rebuilt their home 5 times after it was demolished. Another family had rebuilt a few times but the last time it was demolished the father had a heart attack soon thereafter. The mother has vowed not to leave her land and lives in tent where her home used to stand.

Jerusalem is separated by a wall - the West side is the Israeli side and the East side is the Palestinian side, yet settlements encroach on the East side. Additionally, Palestinians cannot cross from one side to the other very easily (because some Palestinians were living in West Jerusalem before the wall, they continue to live there) so many families are separated from each other. Imagine not being able to see your grandchildren, brother, sister, or parents even though they live in the same city...

The West Bank he described today is not a Palestinian territory but little islands of Palestinians separated from one another by roads that are controlled by Israel. As one of my tour group members described, the West Bank is like a house and Palestinians live in the rooms but Israelis control the hallways. Tomorrow we go to the West Bank and I am looking forward to seeing for myself.

In the afternoon we visited B'tselem an Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories. The name B'tselem means "in the image" because every human is created in the image of God (from Genesis). This organization investigates reports of human rights abuses and provides reports but engages in no political or activist work.

B'tselem's analysis prioritizes Israeli settlements as the biggest human rights issue in the Occupied Territories, the issue from which all other issues stem. Settlements are housing communities built in the Palestinian Territories, subsidized by the Israeli government, which violte Internationl Law and the Geneva Conventions. Some of the other issues are control of water, separation barriers (the wall), accountability of military abuses, and restriction of movement. We may be able to tour a settlement later in the week.

Both organizations we visited with spoke of the positive impact of the new American administration is having on settlement-related human rights abuses. In the last month they have closed some outposts (small settlements) because of pressure from President Obama and America.

Today was full of a lot of information-gathering which was incredibly valuable but I look forward to meeting actual people and hearing their stories.

Join Team Shiphrah:
Read more about Land Settlements and human rights abuses
Meditate on what it means for every person to be made in the image of God
Read more about ICAD's work