Occupied Jerusalem – Fares Rajabi and his brothers had nothing much to offer their only sister on her wedding day, but to hold her hand while they carefully walked her to her groom, through the rubble of their demolished home. On May 10, Israel’s Jerusalem municipality bulldozers tore their family home to the ground, turning it to dust.
Nonetheless, Faris could not hide his joy for his sister, who would be moving to her new husband’s home, now her only shelter, after their family’s house was reduced to rubble and debris.
The bride, decked out in white, came out of their demolished home in Ein Al Loza, Silwan, surrounded by her extended family who insisted on being present, not only to share in her happy day but also to thwart Israel’s attempts at ruining her wedding. Earlier, an army patrol car raided the area, almost wrecking the entire day.
Residents of Silwan say they were deeply moved by scenes of Fares’s sister as she walked with her brothers among the ruins of her family home. The people of her town gathered around in solidarity with the family and to share in their bittersweet day.
Fares’s was just one Rajabi family targeted by Israeli occupation authorities who lived in the same apartment building. In all, 40 people called this building home, which Israeli authorities demolished under the pretext of lacking a building permit.
Fares, 34, was livid. “[Israeli] municipality teams did not even allow us to take out belongings out,” he said. “This building was established in 2000 and is comprised of three floors and five apartments. Apparently, it was not enough for Israeli authorities that we have paid a total of approximately ILS300,000 in municipal violations in addition to lawyer and engineer fees.”
The Rajabis were not the only Jerusalemite family forced to hold their daughter’s wedding under extraordinary circumstances, due to Israeli measures that violate Jerusalemites’ right to housing and freedom of movement more often than not.
In November of last year, Jerusalem Governor, Adnan Gheith was prevented from attending his only daughter Muna’s wedding, after the Israeli military order barring him entry into the West Bank was renewed.
Since 2018, Israeli authorities have persecuted Ghaith, slapping him with one military order after another, subjecting him to numerous procedures ranging from being barred entry into the West Bank, to prohibiting him from communicating with various leaders and personalities and putting him under house arrest in Silwan. This is over and above the dozens of arrests and summons for questioning he has endured over the years. These measures have had a profound effect on his family, which was forced to celebrate their daughter’s wedding without him. His only possible role was to walk her to the door of her Jerusalem home, where she was joined by her groom, who whisked her off to Ramallah, where the wedding party was being held.
At the time, the Ghaith family tried to wait until their father’s house arrest was over on November 21. They had already postponed Muna’s wedding more than once, once waiting for Adnan to be released from detention and then again because of his house arrest. Then days before the last house arrest order was due to end, occupation authorities renewed it. By then, it was too late to change the wedding date again and Muna was married without her father, on a day every father and family wait for.
Still, Adnan would not be completely deterred from participating in Muna’s wedding. On the day, when he walked her to her groom’s car, his entire family and residents from Silwan, gathered around, throwing an impromptu celebration at the entrance to their home, in the midst of Adnan’s tears as he bid his daughter farewell.
As for the Rajabi house, it is one among thousands targeted by Israeli municipal authorities in Jerusalem. Since the start of this year, the municipality has demolished scores of homes in several areas of the city, particularly Silwan, where also over 6,870 other administrative and judicial demolition orders have been distributed.
سلوان: زفاف من بين ركام منزل هدمه الاحتلال
تاريخ النشر: 18/06/2022
بقلم: مفتاح
القدس المحتلة - تقرير خاص - لم يجد فارس الرجبي وأشقاؤه الاخرون ما يقدمونه لشقيقتهم الوحيدة في يوم زفافها قبل أيام سوى أن يمسكوا بيديها ليزفوها إلى عريسها من بين أنقاض منزل العائلة الذي دمرته جرافات بلدية الاحتلال في العاشر من أيار المنصرم.
فارس لم يخف فرحته بزفاف شقيقته الوحيدة لأنها ستنتقل الى بيت زوجها وإلى مأوى جديد تؤوي إليه مع زوجها بعد ان حرمها الاحتلال بيت عائلتها وأحاله ردماً وأنقاضاً.
يقول:" رغم فرحتنا بزفاف شقيقتي الا أن هذه الفرحة تظل منقوصة.. كنت أتمنى أن تنتقل إلى بيت عريسها من بيتنا قبل أن يهدم، لكنه الاحتلال الذي يصر على أن ينغص علينا فرحتنا.."
خرجت العروس من ركام منزل العائلة في حي عين اللوزة بسلوان محاطة بعائلتها الكبيرة التي أصرت أن تكون حاضرة.. وأن تحبط محاولات الاحتلال إفشال العرس بعد أن داهمت محيط المنزل دورية كادت أن تفسد كل شيء..
يقول أهالي بلدة سلوان أن المشاهد المؤثرة لزفاف شقيقة فارس وهي تغادر عائلتها من بين أنقاض منزل العائلة حركت فيهم مشاعر كثيرة من التضامن مع العائلة والالتفاف حولها ومشاركتها الفرحة..
كانت سلطات الاحتلال استهدفت هذه العائلة مع أسر أخرى تنتمي لنفس العائلة، وأقامت في بناية سكنية مكونة من نحو ٤٠ نفراً قبل أن تهدمها الشهر الفائت بزعم البناء دون ترخيص.
يقول فارس البالغ من العمر (34 عاما)، وهو أحد سكان تلك البناية أن جميع من كان يقطنها من أشقائه باتوا بلا مأوى. ولم تسمح لنا طواقم البلدية الإسرائيلية من أخذ حاجتنا وقاموا بطردنا من المبنى". يضيف:" المبنى قائم منذ العام 2000، وهو يتكون من ثلاث طبقات تشتمل على خمس شقق سكنية." لم يشفع لنا لدى الاحتلال قيامنا بدفع نحو 300 ألف شيكل مخالفات للبلدية، بالإضافة إلى أتعاب المحامين والمهندسين.
فصل جديد من المعاناة عاشته العائلة لا يقل إيلاماً ًعن هدم منزلها قبل شهر.. وهي واحدة من فصول معاناة يعيشها المقدسيون عموما في سلوان حيث عشرات العائلات مهددة منازلها بالهدم وحيث أطفال يكتبون كل يوم هناك قصصاً من المعاناة مسببها الاحتلال…
لم تكن عائلة الرجبي المقدسية الوحيدة التي تزف ابنتها في طقوس زفاف غير عادية سببها الاحتلال الإسرائيلي الذي ينتهك حقوق المقدسيين في السكن والتنقل وحرية الحركة، ما ينغص عليهم في كثير من أحوالهم الحياتية.
فقد سبق، أن حرم محافظ القدس عدنان غيث في تشرين الثاني من العام المنصرم من المشاركة في زفاف ابنته الوحيدة منى، بعد تجديد قرار منعه من دخول "الضفة الغربية" وتجديد الإقامة الجبرية لمدة 4 أشهر.
ومنذ عام 2018 تلاحق سلطات الاحتلال محافظ القدس عدنان غيث، بقرارات عسكرية متتالية، وتخضعه لإجراءات عديدة تتراوح ما بين "منع دخول الضفة الغربية، منع التواصل مع قيادات وشخصيات مختلفة، فرض الإقامة الجبرية في مكان سكنه في سلوان، إضافة إلى عشرات الاعتقالات والاستدعاءات، وبالتالي كانت انعكاسات هذه الممارسات كبيرة على حياة المحافظ وعلى علاقاته مع محيطه وحتى داخل أسرته التي احتفلت في ذلك اليوم بزفاف ابنتهم "منى" دون أن يشاركهم فرحة الاحتفال والحضور مكتفياً بإيصالها إلى مدخل بيته لتنقلها سيارة العريس في موكب إلى رام الله حيث تقرر أن يقام الاحتفال هناك.
عائلة غيث التي ترقبت انتهاء فرض الإٌقامة الجبرية على رب العائلة في الحادي والعشرين من تشرين الثاني المنصرم، واضطرت لتأجيل حفل الزفاف أكثر من مرة في انتظار خروج الأب من قيود الاعتقال والإقامة الجبرية، وقبيل أيام معدودة من انتهاء مدة الإقامة الجبرية عادت سلطات الاحتلال لتجدد أمر الإقامة الجبرية عليه، وبالتالي حرم من مرافقة ابنته في يوم زفافها وفي لحظة فرحها التي انتظرها الوالد وانتظرتها العائلة معه.
بيد أن المحافظ غيث، لم يحرم نفسه بالمطلق من مشاركة ابنته فرحتها، حتى وهو يودعها إلى سيارة العريس التي أقلتها إلى رام الله، وفي ذلك اليوم تداعي أهالي سلوان وعائلة غيث الممتدة وكل أصدقائه ورفاقه إلى تنظيم احتفال كبير عند مدخل البيت وقريبا من ساحته الرئيسية وسط دموع المحافظ الذي ودع كريمته وهو يتمنى أن يكون معها.
نشير هنا، إلى أن منزل عائلة الرجبي هو واحد من آلاف المنازل التي تستهدفها سلطات بلدية الاحتلال في القدس، ومنذ مطلع العام الجاري أقدمت بلدية الاحتلال في القدس على هدم العديد من المنازل في أحياء المدينة المختلفة خاصة في سلوان، حيث يتهدد الهدم الفوري هناك مئات المنازل في أحياء البلدة المختلفة، إضافة إلى أكثر من 6870 أمر هدم إداري وقضائي لهدم أحياء سلوان، من بينها حي عين اللوزة الذي توجد فيه حوالي 180 منشأة تجارية وسكنية من ضمنها مسجد القعقاع.
The world will pay for our genocide
Date posted: July 13, 2024
By Joharah Baker
On a recent advocacy trip to Europe, I was asked by a young university student how to respond to his parents who shrug off the genocide in Gaza as something that is “unfortunately inevitable”. While this student maintained that his parents realized this was not an ideal situation, he admitted to struggling with their nonchalant attitude about the annihilation of the Palestinians. My answer was brief and to the point, albeit emotional. “Tell them: is this the kind of world you want to live in? Where a state can freely annihilate an entire people with impunity? Is this the world you want your children and grandchildren to inherit?”
The young man was well intentioned and he was clearly grappling with this existential conundrum. Jewish, he grew up in a household that believed in Israel and the Zionist project, but having witnessed what this entity and its ideology is capable of, he shifted course and is now trying to convince his parents it is their moral imperative to do the same.
Now over two months after this encounter, as Palestinians and many around the world continue to reel from the horrific scenes coming out of Gaza, this young man’s question has repeatedly crept back into my head.
In the past nine months, Israel has provided a sneak-peak into the world it envisions: one that does not question it, regardless of its atrocities; one where the word Palestine, along with its people, are wiped from map and memory. The Gaza slaughter is a foreshadowing of this new world order, which does not include us.
As the genocide grinds on mercilessly, the dead, wounded, missing and displaced soaring to unimaginable heights, a terrifying truth has dawned on us Palestinians: there is no question anymore whether the world will allow our extermination to happen or not. The answer is provided every day and with every unchecked massacre.
This world that really is callous, watching the slaughter of innocent men, women and children without blinking an eye. Or worse, they justify the rivers of Palestinian blood as “concerning” but immediately follow this up with the hackneyed phrase: “Israel has the right to defend itself,” or, “…but Hamas.” Where is the argument for the Palestinians’ right to self-defense against a brutal military occupation that has stripped them of rights and dignity for decades? Does that never calculate into the equation? Apparently not.
This is nothing new. Colonialist powers have always maligned the people under their colonization, dehumanizing them through language and deed as a means of justifying their annihilation. Indigenous peoples all over the world understand this painful reality, from New Zealand, to North and South America, to Africa and of course, Palestine. We are the “terrorists”, and the “human animals”, so our deaths will not matter.
This is where the world has it all wrong. To the parents of this young man who found his own humanity and compassion for the plight of Palestinians and was desperately seeking answers to how this compassion could be passed on to his parents, the answer is clear. The world will pay for this genocide in more ways than one, humanity being the first casualty. If “never again” signifies anything other than its literal meaning, then it means nothing at all, and this is a dangerous and slippery slope for everyone. If Israel is allowed to get away with mass murder and remain a nation among nations, who will stop Israel or others from doing this to another people ? Those who greenlighted this genocide from day one, unwittingly created a beast that will turn on them the first chance it gets.
The people united will never be divided
Date posted: April 30, 2024
By Joharah Baker
I was born in the United States and lived there through early childhood, but since returning with my family to Palestine, I have never wanted to go back. The United States has always evoked mixed feelings in me. I have a certain nostalgia for the place of my birth but my overall sentiments always culminated in a sense of resentment for this so-called superpower that has systematically aided in my people’s oppression, occupation and dehumanization.
That is, until present day. The scenes of American university campuses breaming with students in kuffiyehs, waving Palestinian flags and resisting the brutality of the police and their own university administrations, has uplifted my spirit in ways I cannot fully articulate. In a word, what is happening on US campuses today is validation of our people, of Palestine and of our struggle. To those who live comfortable lives in free countries, this may sound like an exaggeration, but for my people, who have been denied their very right to exist, who have been demoralized, demonized and dehumanized, this is huge. We are seeing students of all races, creeds, backgrounds and religions, calling for an end to the genocide in the Gaza Strip and marching for a free Palestine and divestment from the Israeli occupation. We are hearing Jewish voices, debunking Zionist propaganda and its below-the-belt attempts to conflate anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. We are being validated for our struggle, for our resistance against oppression, occupation and settler-colonialism and we are finally being heard and seen.
Students have always been the litmus test for social and political justice. Rallies and demonstrations on university campuses have been the driving force against imperialist wars throughout the ages, the Vietnam War being the best example. However, what is so incredible about this movement is that American students are not directly involved in Palestine. Students are not being drafted into an army to fight on foreign soil, so the stakes are not as high for them at the personal level. What is happening today is the direct result of the intersectionality of struggles and the belief that no one is free until all of us are free. This is a force far more powerful than a genocidal regime will ever be.
The scenes from university campuses in the United States and now in Europe, juxtaposed against the crushing images from the Gaza Strip, are a balm for our wounded hearts. We feel a kinship with these incredible Gen Zs who have put their very lives on the line for Palestine. We send them love, energy and solidarity as we watch them being thrown to the ground, handcuffed and arrested and we burst with pride as we hear them chant ‘Free Palestine”.
This is a moment in time that must not be squandered. May these American university protests spread like wildfire throughout campuses across the world, putting to shame both Zionism and American imperialism, which has allowed this racist ideology to survive. The Palestinians have never wavered in their determination to liberate their land from Israeli occupation and oppression, whether they do it alone or with the help of friends. Today, thanks to the beautiful people all over the world who have championed our cause alongside of us, a free Palestine is not only an inevitability, it is just around the corner.
Who will hear their screams?
Date posted: April 01, 2024
By Joharah Baker for MIFTAH
When Israel claimed women were sexually assaulted on a mass scale on October 7, the world exploded. Almost the entirety of Israel’s genocidal war was based on these and other allegations, many unsubstantiated. We all remember the infamous’40 beheaded babies” story, do we not?
This article is not about Israeli allegations per se, neither will it only focus on violations against Palestinian women. This is about a world that is immediately up in arms when one side merely alleges atrocities while it turns a blind eye to actual documented violations against the “other”.
In Gaza, it is painfully clear that we indeed, are ‘the other’. How else can anyone explain the muted cries of women being stripped, raped, starved and murdered practically in real time, on our phone screens, documented in UN reports and described in horrific detail in eyewitness testimonies? There is no other explanation than that Palestinians are what Arundhati Roy calls “Children of a lesser God”. We are the victims of deep-rooted colonialism, one whose geographic demarcations may have vanished but whose insidious, dehumanizing mentality still prevails and manifests in the ugliest of manners.
For nearly six months, Palestinians have endured unspeakable atrocities at the hands of Israel’s occupying army. Today, the Gaza Strip has been reduced to an emaciated shell of what it once was. As Gaza is being systematically decimated and ethnically cleansed, the world, for the most part, looks on. Barring sympathetic supporters and a few well-intended but timid political actors, nothing has been done to stop the carnage. Palestinians once believed there was no way the world would allow Israel to erase Gaza off the map, no way it could see a live-streamed genocide and do nothing. But that is exactly what is happening.
Then, when we thought things could not get any worse, something unfathomable emerged from the deathtrap of Gaza. When this happened, we were certain it would be the turning point in this hellish nightmare. Well-documented reports, corroborated by the UN and eyewitnesses on the ground, told of harrowing stories of sexual assault against Palestinian women in Gaza.
We were paralysed with horror when we heard of women being raped by Israeli soldiers in northern Gaza, assaulted and stripped in front of their families. What’s worse, we all know that in times like these, the undocumented atrocities will far outnumber those documented. Who knows what horrors will unfold once the dust settles in Gaza; no doubt they will be so horrific, our entire nation will be traumatized for years to come.
The real question here is not how Israel’s soldiers perpetrated such gross violations. I think by now we can all agree that this depraved military establishment and its political echelon to boot, has dehumanized and vilified Palestinians so much and for so long, they will justify just about anything. No, the question is more about the moral compass of the rest of the world. While alliances and political interests are always part of the equation, even when the issue pertains to basic human rights, nothing can better explain the blatant hypocrisy, double standards and loss of collective humanity than the deafening silence today.
Our women have not only been killed, starved and displaced, they have been exposed to the very violations that sparked global outrage and a genocidal war against an entire population under occupation, unprecedented in modern history. This is not only unacceptable, it is an indelible stain on humanity. Sexual violence is a crime so heinous it is imperative to condemn and prevent, no matter the perpetrator or the victim. That must always be the baseline in any argument.
Palestinians will never get past this genocide; it is not something you can come back from. However, be assured, this is not only about the Palestinians. The world’s women, the majority of so-called feminists who have remained disgustingly silent, must know this: when you do not stand up for women, all women, no one will stand up for you in your time of need.
