Dutch rappers visit Palestine and Israel

Checkpoints and roadblocks everywhere

We leave our hotel in East Jerusalem around ten o' clock in the morning. East Jerusalem is Palestinian territory that is fully occupied and controlled by Israel since 1967. During our journey we already had to pass tens of checkpoints. The rappers have noticed how young the soldiers are. On our way to Hebron we have to stop for a “flying checkpoint”. The Israeli military can block a road at any place and any time to check the indentity cards of drivers and their passengers. We are travelling in a mini bus with yellow Israeli numberplates. As soon as the soldiers notice that we are European, we can continue our trip. However, all the cars with the Palestinian white and green numberplates have to stop. They can expect a thorough search. The indentification papers need to be showed, people have to get out of the car, and all their luggage wil be opened, a procedure that can lead to a delay of several hours. Or even worse, if Palestinians are not allowed to pass.

About ten kilometres before Hebron we have to stop again. Hundred metres further down the road the Israeli army is using a bulldozer to create a road block. From now on the inhabitants cannot enter their village anymore from the main road by car. We feel ourselves uncomfortable, and our Palestinian guide advices us not to film in order to avoid the rage of the soldiers.

A couple of kilometres further our Palestinian driver wants to turn right to the main road that leads into Hebron. Big rocks block the entrance of the road the driver is used to take. Three months ago the rocks were not there yet. We have to look for another way to reach Hebron, where our guide Jawad will be waiting for us. The traffic in the city is hectic, the main road is fully packed with cars. We decide to leave the car and walk to the old city centre.

Israeli observation posts

We are impressed by the hundreds of market stalls on which the colourful merchandise is displayed. The smell of freshly picked vegetables, herbs, fruit and freshly baked bread are overwhelming. Everybody is looking at us, not because the Dutch rappers are also famous in Hebron. No, we are the only foreigners in the market. Children greet us with, “Hello, how are you”, and want to shake hands with us. At a crossing in the middle of town Jawad stops and points up hill to the right. At an estimated distance of almost two hundred metres live the Jewish settlers.

In 1994 Hebron was divided in two parts. In sector H1 live about 120.000 Palestinians and in sector H2 live about 30.000 Palestinians and 650 Jewish settlers. H1 was planned to be governed by Palestinians but is occupied by Israel. We are standing at the border of the two sectors. Look, says Jawad, the settlers shoot at us frequently. The building on the corner of the crossing is a crumbled ruin full of holes from the bullets that were fired by the settlers from the hill on the opposite of the building.

On our way to the old parts of Hebron we stop before we enter a narrow street with lots of shops and market stalls. Lange Frans is filming and while he turns around with his small camera he notices a military observation post, covered with camouflage netting, in his lens. Jawad advices Frans to stop filming, because it is not allowed to film military targets. In the narrow street it is very busy, it is as if everybody is shopping at this hour of the day. It would be easy to loose sight of each other, but Lange Frans towers above everyone, and in his blue shirt he is like a beacon for us. On our way to an old building right on the border of the two parts of Hebron, we see European women with a pushcart distributing food from the Norwegian Red Cross to poor Palestinian families. We climb the steep stone steps that lead up to the roof from where we have a view on the Palestinian and Israeli sector of Hebron. A soldier who mans the military observation post at less than twenty metres from us, becomes nervous of our presence. We hear him to make radio contact, most likely with his commander.

The Palestinian owner of the house tells us his story. The family has been threatened several times by Israeli soldiers, they want him to leave his home. A few years ago the soldiers refused entrance to the ambulance that was called to give medical aid to his pregnant wife. The baby died and after some time soldiers came to threaten him, 'Haven't you suffered enough? Why don't you leave your home?'. However, the family feels it belongs in Hebron and wants to stay in their home. During the following pregnancy of his wife, the soldiers threw teargas at her. Sadly, once again she lost her baby. The Palestinian man tells us that he will stay in his home and that he is happy that we have come to listen to his story. The rappers are impressed, and the feeling of what it means to live under occupation creeps under our skin. Downstairs we say goodbuye to Jawad. We will go to the Israeli side of Hebron to meet Yehuda, a 23 year old ex soldier who served in Hebron.

A tour guided by soldiers of Breaking the Silence

A checkpoint blocks a narrow street. We pass through a thick iron turnstile and see on the other side more than ten young Palestinian men, sitting with thair backs against the building. They are not allowed to pass the checkpoint. We ask why. “Because we are Arab”. Yehuda walks to us and starts to tell us his story, while two soldiers at a military post within a distance of 50 metres of the checkpoint are watching. Yehuda served as a commander of a unit that had to protect the settlers in Hebron. He is a member of “Breaking the Silence”, a group of soldiers that speaks out on the misbehaviour of the Israeli army.

Yehuda explains that there are several ways to protect the Jewish settlers in sector H2. With the method of 'sterilization', Palestinians are physically separated from Jews. Palestinians are not allowed to open shops. In 75 per cent of the sector Palestinians are forbidden to drive a car, and there are “no go” streets for Palestinians. The second way is through a curfew and military intimidation. On 520 of the 630 days a curfew was in force in 2002/3. He tells soldiers intimidate by driving in jeeps through the streets, by shooting in the air, invading houses and knocking on doors. Palestinians are made to feel that they are controlled by the military. And lastly the Israeli Government allows the settlers to be violent against Palestinians.

We stand on the old meat market in sector H2 in Hebron. All the Palestinian shops have been demolished. Their houses have been attacked and destroyed during a military operation where soldiers invaded one house after the other through the inside walls. The wholes in the walls are silent witnesses of this operation. While Yehuda is talking a unit of eight soldiers approaches us in a threatening way, as if they want to sweep the street clean. Yehuda tells us that fear for Palestinians dominates the soldiers. Their instinct tells them to punish Palestinians. Among each other soldiers say 'A good Palestinian is a dead Palestinian'.

Verbal violence of a settler

A very angry settler walks in our direction and starts to shout and scream at Yehuda. We stay at a distance and Yehuda signals us that is okay to walk on, because he does not expect to be physically attacked. We have to end our tour and we hear the settler shout at Yehuda 'You are a traitor. Because of you, Jews are dying.' After a couple of hundred metres the settler gives up and disappears. Yehuda walks us to another checkpoint through which we to return the Palestinian side of Hebron. At that moment three very young Palestinian schoolchildren want to enter the Israeli side of Hebron, the side where they live. They all have to open their colourful school bags for the soldier. A four year old girl looks up at us with her dreamy eyes. Although the soldier does not like it, Frans is filming the situation.

When we are back on the other side, in sector H1, Lange Frans and Baas B breathe a sigh of relief. The tension in the sector where 650 Jewish settlers live was tangible. We conclude that the price that 150.00 Palestinians have to pay for the protection of 650 settlers in high.