Sneaking into Jerusalem

I bought a hiking book that has several hikes around the West Bank.  With everything going on, and all the intensity I need to make sure that I am staying grounded and have a release.  The way I do that best is by hitting the trails.  This weekend I got one of the guys I met at the market to drive me to a trail.  I figured I would give him the money rather than some random taxi.  I was planning on hiking alone but I think he was worried about me so he ended up just taking the day off and coming with me.  At the beginning of the hike, you walk down the mountain towards some train tracks.  On one side of the train tracks (where I started) is a Palestinian village.  On the other side of the tracks, there is no one but the Israelis control it. This land used to be farming land for the village but the farmers who own the land are no longer allowed on it.  The book said when u get to the tracks, don't cross them and if you do, the security will be down questioning you faster than you can say the name of the village where the trail head starts.   As I got closer to the tracks, I could see the Israeli security vehicle standing watch.  When I reached the tracks, behind me was the beautiful hill I had just walked down from the village and in front of me was another hill, that looked the exact same as the one I had just walked down but it was off limits.  Standing in the middle, knowing this, was an odd feeling.
 

We turned and continued the hike along the tracks and my friend told me that this is where people sneak across the green line to go work in Jerusalem or just to visit the Dome of the Rock.  They run across at night, when it is harder to see.  This is an area where the wall has not been completed yet so people can still cross if security doesn't catch them.  You see, the economy behind the wall is not so good.  People with high education, bachelors and masters can't find work. And when they do find work, the pay is not good.  So people want to work in Jerusalem where the pay is better.  Or like I said, they cross for religious reasons.  They want to visit Jerusalem which is one of the holiest cities (and coolest) on earth....so they run.  As he was telling me this, I was looking to the horizon, wondering what it looked like on the other side of the hill and how long it takes to run across to (sort of) freedom.  The landscape here is incredible.  It's truly a shame that they have destroyed it with a huge, ugly cement wall and have divided it.  Ten years ago, people could come and go as they please.  Freedom of movement.  Although there were problems, Jewish people and Palestinians lived beside each other. Now with the wall and its segregation, resentment, fear, and hatred of the other grow because there is barely any interaction.  If you don't meet people and have interactions, it's easier to hate them, fear them and judge them because they are the other.  Before we continued walking, I turned to look over my shoulder one last time at the Israeli vehicle on the top of the hill making sure to keep the status quo...keeping as many Palestinians on this side of the green line as possible.

So maybe you are wondering what happens when someone gets caught running across at night. Torture, interrogation, jail indefinitely, an ultimatum...who really knows? But to fast forward a little, that question was actually answered for me a few days later.  Or at least the answer to what happen to one person when they got caught running up that hill.  I met a guy a couple days ago and we went for dinner and argila.  We talked about many things. I told him went hiking this weekend.  I told him where and he was like, "oh yea I know that place, it's where you cross to Jerusalem." I guess everybody knows about this spot.  To back up, this guy is 22, he has a bachelor’s degree and works at a restaurant.  He was born in a refugee camp.  His father was also born in that same refugee camp.  His grandparents came to this refugee camp during the Nakba in 1948.   (Nakba means great catastrophe. This is when Zionist forces took over Palestine and refugees fled to surrounding areas.)  Typically, around the world refugees go back to where they came from after the war is over.  But when Israel established its government, it created laws to prevent the right of return for Palestinian refugees.  These laws break international law and this refugee crisis remains the biggest refugee crisis in the world. My friend is Muslim and him and his friends/family wanted to visit the Dome of the Rock, so a group of them set out one night to cross into Jerusalem.  (West Bank Muslims are not allowed to cross to the other side of the wall ever, except sometimes a few of them are given permission during Ramadan.). So this guy's heritage is on the other side of the wall and he is not allowed there.

He told me when they got to the bottom of the hill and crossed the tracks, they all ran. They scattered.  He said to make it across you have to run for forty minutes. He said the Israeli soldiers were so happy to catch him.  He was the only one in their group to get caught.  When they caught him, they threw him on the ground and started beating him, and kicking him.  They handcuffed him and threw him in their truck.  There were six soldiers, each with a fully automatic weapon, and there were six seats in the truck.   The soldiers all sat on the seats and they put him face up in the aisle where their feet were so they continued kicking him and beating him as they drove.  He was 21 years old.  He was bleeding everywhere and in so much pain.  The truck drove for about 40 minutes while they kept kicking him.  Then suddenly the truck stopped.  He was terrified and didn't know what was happening or where he was.  They took off his handcuffs and threw him out of the truck and left him on the side of the road.  Instead of taking him back to his refugee camp which is a ten minute drive from where they caught him, they drove him all the way up to Ramallah.  They did this just to mess with him because now not only was he a bloody mess but he somehow had to figure out how to get home.  This is just one story and I think a lucky story.  Some bleeding and bruises and an expensive taxi ride home but at least not jail.  All of this because he wanted to go five miles away to visit the second holiest mosque in the world with some friends. A place his grandfather was able to visit whenever he wanted.

In the same conversation, he told me his Dad had spent four years in jail.  They didn't tell his father what he was charged with. The soldiers just came in the middle of the night, pounded on the door, and took his father away for four years.  He was a teenager during that time and his mother was left with six kids to take care of and she didn't work so there was no income.  His father was supposed to be in jail for six months and the day before he was supposed to get out, his father was given papers by soldiers saying he had six more months and then six months later more papers for six more months and so on until four years later he was finally let out.  And when he was let go, he was still never told what his charges were. Just like the taxi driver I told you about in my last email.

He told me he doesn't think their will ever be peace.  He said he was completely hopeless.  I asked him what he thinks the solution is.  He said the solution is for the Jewish people to leave and for us to be allowed to go home. As he said this, he looked away from my eyes and looked down because I think we both know that is never going to happen.

I don't agree with him.  I believe there can be peace here and that the situation is not hopeless and that the Jewish people can stay, and the refugees can return, and there can be freedom of movement and equal rights for everyone.  I believe the hatred, fear and racism can end and that this society as trustees of the Holy Land can be an example to the rest of the world.  But I also believe there is a lot of work to do if what i believe will come true.