Dancing For Justice

Gush Shalom

It was a unique demonstration: songs instead of speeches, dance instead of condemnations.

On Saturday night (29.8.09), a small protest vigil was to be held in front of the tents of the two families which had been evicted from their homes in East Jerusalem. But instead of the expected few dozens (judging from the plastic chairs arranged in advance), hundreds of Israelis, Palestinians and international activists arrived. A group of Palestinian singers started to sing songs about Jerusalem, and young Arabs danced the national folk dance, the Debka. The Jewish protesters joined in the dancing and clapping.

The police, who were there to prevent “disturbances”, were embarrassed and stayed at a distance. From time to time they threatened to clear the street by force, but decided to abstain.

But it was far from being a festival. The event took place in front of the darkened building, from which the family of Nasser Gawi has been evicted. The father recounted how, three weeks ago, about 400 policeman appeared at 4 o’clock in the morning, and masked special anti-terror policemen blew the doors open with explosives. They threw the 53 members of the extended family literally into the street. Since then they are living under an awning on the sidewalk, opposite their home. Their meager possessions and mattresses are stored there, too.

This affair reflects the glaring injustice of what is now called justice in Israel. The judicial reason for the eviction was that a hundred years ago, Jews acquired some of these plots. On these grounds, an eviction order was issued against the Palestinians, refugees from West Jerusalem, who were settled there by the Jordanian authorities in 1956.

On the other hand: in West Jerusalem there are hundreds of houses which belonged to Arabs, who were driven out during the 1948 war. Not one of the Jews living in them now is being evicted, and not a single house has been restored to its Arab owners.

The eviction of the Palestinians from their homes, as well as the building of whole new neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, are parts of a plan to “Judaize” East Jerusalem, in what resembles a campaign of ethnic cleansing. The clear aim is to destroy any chance for peace, since everybody knows that peace is impossible unless East Jerusalem becomes the capital of the State of Palestine.

While the demonstration went on, the house was dark and empty. An armed security agent looked on from behind the bars of the gate.

The organizers of the protest promised that from now on, a demonstration will be held there every Saturday evening.