East Jerusalem

This is Um Kamal. She lives in a tent since November last year after that Israeli Jews occupied her house where she has lived with her family for ages. We met Um Kamal in her tent and got her story told for us by a translator. Um Kamals husband where in a wheelchair and when the soldiers came to evict them from their house he fell down the stairs with the wheelchair. The soldiers wouldn't let the son take care of his injured father and it took eight hours until he got to the hospital. After two days he died from a heart attack. Um Kamal lives now in her sixth tent, Israeli bull dozers destroyed the other five that she rebuilt one after one. Even if her experience is painful and hard she smiles and seems really strong and the translator certifies this. "She gets her power from people like you, of course from God and her family but when she see that there are people that care and want this to change she feels stronger" he says.

Um Kamal is not alone. The same day we visited more families in the same area in East Jerusalem that are waiting for the soldiers to evict them from their homes. One man has lived in his house with his family for 56 years but now they received the papers which confirm that they will be evicted anytime. He has all the papers that confirm that he is the owner of the house but the Israeli settlement politic are going dodge ways to make it impossible for the Palestinian to affect their situation. Many of the Palestinians are in a judicial process for many years but most of the time the Israeli win. Um Kamal is telling us that when they got evicted a soldier came up to her crying and told her that he saw them but a false stamp on her papers and that he is so sorry. False stamps and high taxes that must be payed to the occupying power are today some of the ways to do Jerusalem to a Jewish city. The biggest victims in this crime against the Palestinians are the children. Many children do not go to school because of the situation and the uncertainty makes it hard for those who go to concentrate. If Israel will destroy all the houses and evict the families they plan to around 4500 children will be homeless.

All Palestinians that we are talking to are mentioning the discrimination against Palestinians. The settlers in East Jerusalem increase all the time. In the Old City, American Jews and Christians are buying hoses, selling them to the Israelis and they evict the Palestinians. The train that Israel is building through Jerusalem and the occupied areas is just another insurance that Jerusalem will stay Jewish under Israeli power. The hope of a two state solution is far away. With 470 000 Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank and with an Israeli settlement politic that encourage more people to move to the settlements there will soon not be any land to build a Palestinian state on.

When I asked Um Kamal what she wanted me to do to help her she just said that I should tell her story further so the world will be aware of what is happening. I hope I reached a few now.