They blew up the house

they blew up the house

July 29, 2009 at 2:53am

They blew up the House !!


I thought I was having the luxury of talking about the demolition issue. I was even dragging myself into talking about it one more time from the Centre for Peace and Reconciliation.

I was blaming deep inside me my whole ideological conflict in the whole Israeli /Palestinian work and its real impact on this kind of exertion for detaching from this issue.

I needed a break of disengagement from all this involvement.

I was questioning all those ideological differences. But never gave up on our efficiency as people.

It is us who will adhere up to our cause and fight for it.

It is us who can and should resist,

It’s us who can create the difference.

Abu Eishe Majed…

Our interaction came on that house issue.

Maybe it is better to call it a house, it is no longer there, it couldn’t have been a home, they never endorsed it to be the home to those people.

I invited him to join a committee I am building for the proper housing and home demolitions issues. After an hour session, he left me overwhelmed, breaking all the stereotypes I had heard about from his being rich and capable.

He was well-off and competent and fighting with all his might to prevent what he believed strongly was a human subjugation to a straightforward right of living in dignity.

I was hearing him, listenening with approbation to how such a dramatic, traumatic situation can transform one man into a hero.

How one simple man, in spite of all the contentions of being affluent can do to fight for his right?

I was appreciative to his perseverance, his willingness and determination, to pay until the last dollar to hoard this house. He developed into more conversant in law and disorder, in rights and compulsions of this system.

And he was all set to encounter to the end.

Many saw him as a prevailing wealthy who is going to obtain his means with the authorities.

I was considering him as a model, as a brave man in skirmishing for his choice to fight for the house, even if it outlay him his life.

A house, like thousands others, a fight a man decided to put and utilize all his power to struggle for his right in it.

He refused to evacuate, he appealed to one court after another. He hired over seven lawyers he would drive to lawyers and legislators in Tel Aviv. He created a solidarity movement to prevent the demolition. .

He managed to mobilize the locals, legislators, community leaders, and religious leaders, volunteers who came and sat in solidarity at the house.

People marched in demonstrations in Jerusalem to protest house demolitions.

And the cause was just and couldn’t be more worthful.

It was a fight for the right of a haven.

A right for living in dignity in ones own house,

his own home,

land.

He stopped,

Delayed,

Deferred,

Conveyed all the essential explanations, vindications , clarifications to prevent and impede the demolition and win in a fair court.

I was scrutinizing the process with caution, with discretion and partiality.

If every Palestinian whose house was about to be demolished will fight with all his might, we will at the end win.

If we fight unceasingly for our rights we will ultimately get out.

We will eventually have a life with dignity.

Each with his own capacity and capabilities, educated, rich, poor, professional, intellect, businessman, tradesman, all…

But,

It never works this way.

Occupation is ferocious.

As if they are set to remind us, that no matter how far we go, they will always occupy us.

Occupation is a real gruesome disease.

It is like a fatal cancer.

No matter how you endeavour to alleviate it.

It will kill you.

They couldn’t demolish the house.

All ways, apparatus, methods, tools were used.

I have been observing this case as many other cases I adaged, the way this man was mobilizing everything was a model to real persistent resistance.

I am in no doubt that the primary thing anyone would utter, “why did he build without a permit”, “if he had the money why didn’t he do it the right way from the beginning”.

There was a building permit, it is factual that building surpassed the permit measures, however, what the man did was legitimate, and it goes into each one of us minds, when we pay hundreds of thousands for a piece of land in an area like Beit Hanina, and the authourity in case we have money so we can try our best with our money to make it as swift and feasible, so when we are ‘blessed’ it will be only a few years, we will be approved to construct on only a certain boundary. Exceeding would put us into a risk of either paying a fine, or demolishing the extensions.

Thinking and believing, that when we have the money we can employ the legal system to try to expand as much building as possible, is only legitimate.

In the case of this house, the building didn’t create any environmental threat; the space was enormous, only a fool would just build according to the limits.

When people bought the apartments they went to the municipality to check out the permit, and they were given assertions that everything was ok.

What was unexpected, that in the interior of this system, there is no specific law that applies here.


There is only one law that is particularly premeditated for the Palestinians.

The law that grants the smallest clergy in the offices of the municipality grow to be a law maker.

So expecting that the law system will not create a constitution intended to bring Palestinians home down, was one more time, an imprudent ploy from us.

The Israeli power couldn’t get a bulldozer to enter the premises of the neighbours, who were assembled audaciously with the residents of the house.

And here again, the well-off and rationales ,thought that they were doing it the humanitarian, legal way , at the end of the day , they were one more time dodged to believe that Israel is a State of law.

Israel is a democracy.

Israel proved us all one more time mistaken.

Israel is only a State of Occupation.

Occupation

Professor Abdul Jawed form Beir Zeit University, used a new term to describe the Israeli actions against the Palestinians in one well put word: SOCIOCIDE, it is exactly our state at the moment, in reality this has been our state since 1948.

Sociocide carries with it, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, genocide, de-development, de-humanizing, and all state of occupation we can add to the list of Israeli actions against us.

They couldn’t demolish the house, they couldn’t get the bulldozers in, and they refused the appeals. The mobilizing of the people annoyed them; the persistence of this man aggravated them.

The residents were worried about their building foundations. Well, the Israeli Authority got inspired!!!

They exploded the house!!!!!

It is cleaner, faster, guarantees everyone’s evacuation, and assures terrifying and horrifying effects, and of course, this is an extra, pledges real and promising long time effects of threatening building foundations in the whole neighbourhood.

A way too more expensive method, tools, technicians, experts, who cares, the owner of the house will be sent the bill.

They blasted the house!

Another quick reminder from the occupation.

To all the privileged Residents of Jerusalem.

Maybe a Wake up call!

That we are not privileged.

We cannot be privileged under a State of Occupation.

They exploded the house!

My mind is still racing, screaming: they can’t!

Demolition is already a nightmare.

Exploding!!!!!

What shape of reality would we live with?

Apart from what is to happen to Majed, to his family, to the other owners and their families.

The rest of the families, who were smarter according to many, to evacuate a year ago. What about the neighbours?

The effect of the dynamite

the explosives on the foundations of the rest of the neighbourhood.

My children who were watching, who saw a beautiful house disappearing.

The same house they and I watched building from a distance. What will my neighbour who is finishing his house feel?

What if he too was building with a permit “disorder”?

They bombed and left!!

This time not departing the people with a “feeling” of fear, of threat that they are haunted by the same ghost of occupation that will keep haunting them,

But with a scar,

a bombard deep inside of us,

With a reality, no longer haunting us, but living inside us.

An occupation, that persists on residing within us.

A physical occupation, along with all social occupations they implanted in us.

An occupation that strangles us, suffocates us.

An occupation that insists to stay.

An occupation, that no matter how we think we resist,

In accordance with our humanity.

In opposition to what they taught us we would be considered terror.
They insist,

They insist on occupying us.

To all those privileged Residences of Jerusalem

Who didn’t have a chance to witness a demolition, or ever to bother to know about.

We have all been privileged to hear the blast.

They bombed the house!

They bombed at base of a security line; we were trying to build for ourselves, for our children.

We wanted; I wanted to believe that we can make a change.

We can create the change.

We have just received the reply

WE CAN’T.

Because they won’t allow us.

Would there be a tomorrow to think about ?

What are my children thinking?

They watched

They witnessed

They saw it all before their eyes

They didn’t need to be in Gaza

They didn’t need to be anywhere except home

How can I teach them peace, when it is all war?

A war we are not watching on TV,

A war we are watching from our windows.

A war with combatants from all colours and suits.

An army right down the street.

A war brought to our homes.

They bombed the house!!!!!!!!


Nadia Harhash

30-7-08