Hebron: The Epitome of Tension

(I have a lot to say here so beware, this may be a while!)

Staying holed up within Ramallah for one week is more than plenty for me. I finally ventured out to Hebron today, probably not one of the most touristy cities in the West Bank. To be honest, the only reason I went was because I was going with Abby, a prior alum of WCL who is completely and totally white. Why do I point that out? Because together, we acted as a safety net for the other without even realizing it when we made our plans.

Travel Partner
It’s obvious enough at this point that I’m racially targeted by the security forces. Several people have reached the conclusion that it’s much safer for me to travel in the company of other foreigners because then they question my American identity quite a bit less. The lower level of scrutiny makes sense in many ways. How many foreigners would in their right mind be traveling alone? Well my crazy activist types, but we’re a class of our own. In addition, groups or even pairs of tourists are a bit less suspicious regardless. It’s always that lonely traveler that gets picked on, so in some unfortunate logical senses, I can understand then not asking questions when I’m traveling with someone.

For Abby, an American Jewish woman, with my presence she was able to move around within the Palestinians much more smoothly, and they were even friendlier towards her. If anyone asked, we told them she was Christian. I should clarify here: it’s not a clear religious thing, where most Palestinians just don’t like you if you’re Jewish. We were also walking around in Hebron, one of the most volatile places in the West Bank outside of Gaza. She acted Christian for her own safety. Too bad I’m too stubborn to take off the scarf and act Hindu or something.

No seriously...
Hebron itself, for a bit of background is separated into two parts, Hebron A and B. One half is for the Palestinians and one half is Israeli. The problem arises when the Israeli settlers take law into their own hands and actually attack the Palestinians. We walked down the old city markets where the tops of the markets were covered by wire netting to prevent the rocks and debris that settlers would throw down from the rooftops. Not that this was enough though, now they throw boiling water, bleach, acid. Anything.

As we were standing there taking pictures of the area, a random boy selling some snacks began to point around and tell us more about the area. Granted, we didn’t know what he was saying bc he was only speaking in Arabic, but he did walk us around and pointed out the sniper nests on top of the buildings, as well as showed us parts of the streets that were blocked off with barbed wire to contain the Palestinians. There’s no reason I should be smiling in this picture.


We heard a variety of stories about injuries and such from the merchants and even shoppers who took every opportunity to stop and talk to us. They really just wanted to be heard honestly. So much so, there were two occasions where they just wouldn’t stop talking, or even better, follow us and go from just talking to trying to sell us anything they could. It was annoying granted, but at the same time in the process I bought a pair of really nice Bedouin earrings bc the guy lowered the price 5 shekels for every time I said no. Maybe if I kept going I could have gotten them for free.

Further along, we ran into one woman who spoke English very well, and she sent us on a mini tour to the rooftops so we could see the entire layout. It was interesting nonetheless, because as we got to the top we saw the multiple number of army check posts built on top of the houses.


Here's Abby with a check post in the background. At the same time we saw the immense Israeli presence in every direction, military, flags, settlement houses. It was crazy.

Hebron Massacre
Abby had two places in mind she particularly wanted to go, the first being the site of the Hebron Massacre in 1994 maybe? Essentially one of the settlers made their way into the Ibrahimi mosque and opened fire on the Palestinians praying there. Now the mosque is heavily guarded, and we went through two metal detectors to get in. I have to say, this was one of the few times I was content seeing the military guarding its entrance. For the past few years they have been working on renovating the mosque so it wasn’t as though we could see remnants of its past, and I’m sure none of the locals who use it would want that reminder every time they went in there anyways. There was a really cute little girl there, in a pint size Aba who just loved to watch us walking around and awing at the interior. We eventually asked her if she wanted her picture taken, and she happily nodded.

In the massacre, only 20 died, but the result was a horrendous increase in violence between the settlers and the locals. This time, the military was stuck right in between. Hebron, having such a unique dynamic in comparison to other towns in the West Bank, leaves the soldiers there in a particularly interesting situation. We spoke to as many as we could, and they openly told us, they were more scared of the settlers than the Palestinians. Why? Bc they’re the crazy ones. If you can’t tell already.

Be all that you can Be:
The soldiers that we mostly spoke to were located in the area right between Hebron A and B. I had heard about young Jewish boys coming over from America or Canada, but didn’t think that was what we’d run into. Turns out one soldier that we spoke to was Canadian, and the other from Atlanta, Georgia. Abby was telling me how they were friendly enough to talk to, but I couldn’t help but be apprehensive. She was right though, it’s not the soldiers that are the problems sometimes, but what they ultimately stand for. Not to say that it’s not the other way around in particular scenarios, my comment applies strictly to the case of Hebron.

The soldiers were just scared, but honest. They openly admitted that the settlers were the scariest part of their post in Hebron. The Canadian was clear to mention that the reason he chose to come over and serve this country was simply because he felt like he needed a Jewish state, although he didn’t agree with the country’s policies. I’m not sure if that would be enough to convince me to fight for any power, but his philosophies aren’t my point of discussion right now.

So, this street that we were on between Hebron A and B, almost felt like a ghost town. It was just a row of boarded up houses that were grafittied with stars of David. On some you could still see the bullet holes from past violence. The soldiers themselves told us the street used to be a Palestinian marketplace. Gee, I wonder what happened? They did add that the Palestinians weren’t moved from that area in particular; no one stayed because that street is surrounded by settlers.
Halfway down the street the police stopped us and what we were doing there. They insisted that for MY safety I not go any further otherwise it could be a threat to the silence and the peace. Of course, unless I wanted to take off my scarf. I was satisfied at that point and after knowing what some of the more intense settlers were capable of, I didn’t even want to venture out that far.

And then some Coolness
Our day rounded off with a trip out to the ceramic and glass factories where Abby wanted to buy some nice wine glasses. I was tempted to buy something, but I knew in the back of my mind Ammi would say, “where are you going to keep this?? And do you need it? I thought you didn’t have money”. Lol. Needless to say, I didn’t buy anything, and for the better. I’ll buy cool things when I have a house that I actually need to decorate. I’m almost at the point of over decorating my apt as is. Hehehe.

So long story short, it was an interesting day. Stay tuned for a long story about my next trip: Bethlehem.