"When the World Isn't Watching"
It was a perfectly clear and sunny day in East Jerusalem and our Palestinian Israeli driver took a road through the hotly contested area of Silwan. Silwan is another Palestinian neighborhood that Israel has allowed Jewish settlers to occupy, taking, Palestinian land and homes. On this particular day in Silwan, my 12-year-old and I watched in horror as we passed by an area on the side of the road, where a group of Israeli soldiers were beating a group of unarmed young Palestinian men on the side of the road, with their batons. Everyone else passed by because this is a regular daily occurrence. For me, seeing it happen in person was something quite different than watching it on TV, and it was imprinted on my brain forever. My 12-year-old daughter who has many Palestinian friends in Jordan was also horrified. A few hours later, she sat on the ground and asked if we could just return to Jordan, because as she said, "I hate this city and I want to go home." I echoed her sentiment. Jerusalem is one of the bloodiest cities in history, and it was hard to watch people worshipping this land, while knowing the massive human rights violations taking place in this country.
Silwan, like many other neighborhoods in East Jerusalem has been annexed by Israel in order to build a "Biblical theme park," to entertain its millions of Christian pilgrims who come here every year to have their holy experience. (You can read about this from the link in the comments.) In order to build this park, Palestinian homes have to be bulldozed and more Palestinians lose their homes and become displaced. It's something that has been taking place since 1967, and is so common, it might only reach a small blip in the news, or for the Western media, not at all.
When there is war in Gaza, the world is keen to watch and easy to say hateful and slanderous things against the Palestinians. I have watched in horror at the response of my own country, the disgusting support and military backing from Biden, and the racism being spewed out of the mouths of Ron Desantos, Lindsay Graham, and many other politicians in the states who have made a call to "flatten" Gaza. The Palestinians are being dehumanized daily in the US media, and very few are taking the time to understand what happens the rest of the year when Gaza isn't the focus.
When the world isn't watching, daily in Palestine, Palestinian homes and property are being confiscated by Israel and turned into Jewish settlements. The UN has declared this illegal under international law, but the world does nothing. I know people personally who have lost their homes and property this way. But don't take my word for it. You can see updated monthly reports on the land grab at: Monthly Demolition and Displacement Reports - ICAHD
What would you do if this was your home, and it was happening to you?
When the world isn't watching, Israel arrests and imprisons children, sometimes from middle of the night raids when IDF soldiers enter a Palestinian home, terrorize those inside, beat children and arrest them. More times than not, these children are arrested for throwing rocks or saying slanderous words to IDF soldiers. Because the justice system in Israel is not the same for Palestinians, these kids do not have rights and are often left in the system. Such was the case for Christian Palestinian boy Shadi Khoury (because Israel doesn't care if you are Christian or Muslim), who was arrested and put in prison without charge last year. Children as young as 5 years old are imprisoned by Israel and approximately 2 children are detained each day. That averages to around 500-700 children a year.
"PALESTINIAN CHILDREN ARE TREATED IN WAYS THAT WOULD TERRIFY AND TRAUMATISE AN ADULT. SCREAMS, THREATS AND BEATINGS ARE NO WAY TO TREAT A CHILD OR GET ACCURATE INFORMATION FROM THEM."
SARI BASHI, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
You can read a report about this at: Child Imprisonment | Oceans of Injustice
What would you do if this happened to your child?
When the world isn't watching, Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza are not subjected to the same rights as Jewish Israelis. They do not have freedom of movement and have to take permission from Israel to leave their designated areas, which is very difficult to get. Israelis have an unlimited supply of water, but Palestinian areas have their water controlled. Israel controls how much food goes into Gaza. Israel also deprives Palestinian villages of healthcare and economic freedom, in an attempt to force them to leave. You can read about that here: Oceans of Injustice
These are just some examples of things happening daily to the Palestinian people.
Many Human Rights organizations have written extensive reports calling what is happening in Israel apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and genocide. B'Tselem, a Jewish human rights group, also detailed the atrocities in their report "A Threshold Crossed."
"For the past 54 years, Israeli authorities have facilitated the transfer of Jewish Israelis to the OPT and granted them a superior status under the law as compared to Palestinians living in the same territory when it comes to civil rights, access to land, and freedom to move, build, and confer residency rights to close relatives. While Palestinians have a limited degree of self-rule in parts of the OPT, Israel retains primary control over borders, airspace, the movement of people and goods, security, and the registry of the entire population, which in turn dictates such matters as legal status and eligibility to receive identity cards."
You can read the full report here: A Threshold Crossed: Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution | HRW
When Netanyahu came back into power, he made it clear what some of his plans were. "The Jewish people have an exclusive and unquestionable right to all areas of the Land of Israel. The government will promote and develop settlements in all parts of the Land of Israel---in the Galilee, the Negev, the Golan, Judea, and Samaria."
Some of these areas are currently Palestinian land.
Now you know.
