Separated by the apartheid wall

[IndianaGreen]

Separated by the apartheid wall

April 6, 2010

TELL US about your situation and why this story is so important in the context of what's happening here in the Bethlehem area, especially in Aida camp, which is right up against the wall, cutting the land of families here in half.

MY FAMILY is separated from each other. We used to live in the refugee camp here, and in our other house that used to be within five minutes walking distance from here. Since the wall was built, we can't communicate as a family. Some of us live in this house in Aida, and the others live in our other house on the other side of the wall.

I have six brothers and three sisters. Two of the brothers, including me, and one of our sisters, are allowed by Israel to live in the house on the other side of the wall. No one else is allowed to be there. Now it sometimes takes two hours to cross the checkpoint in Bethlehem to see our family in Aida camp. Other times, the Israelis close the checkpoint entirely and we can't see each other at all.

HOW DID the Israelis choose who was able to live in the house on the other side of the wall?

THEY SAID it was purely because of "security reasons," and we still don't know why some got permission and some didn't. Also, we can't add anything to the house; we can't build onto the house. At any time, they can come and take my permission and say it's for "security reasons."

DO YOU have a special ID card now? Such as a Jerusalem residency card? How are you identified as someone who lives on the other side of the wall?

I STILL have a West Bank Palestinian ID, with a special permission slip for just the Tantur area . If Israeli police catch me anywhere else other than at my house, or if they catch me working inside Jerusalem, they will take my permission away. I can just be inside the house, and nothing more.

http://socialistworker.org/2010/04/06/separated-by-the-wall