Anat Hoffman, a Jerusalem City Council member, recalls a debate in the council chambers over sanitation. Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem were being short-shrifted on services — in comparison with Jewish residents in the rest of the city. A heated debate ensued about whether the council would upgrade services in eastern Jerusalem.
A Palestinian man was serving tea to some of the council members. Hoffman noticed that he listened intently.
One council member sought to close discussion by asserting that Palestinians didn’t want sanitation services — implying that their bathroom habits weren’t like Israelis’.
Hoffman saw the man’s tea tray begin to shake. The teacups clattered, as he trembled with rage and shame.
No one else noticed his response to the assertion — and the group moved to other business.
“But you see,” Hoffman said, “if we’d given the Palestinians in East Jerusalem equal services to begin with, we would be in a different position politically — on the question of Jerusalem.”
Her observation evokes the ancient dictum V’ahavta l’reachah k’mocho (love thy neighbor as thyself), highlighting the practical wisdom of the phrase; we often get the consideration we give.
Israel also applies a double standard to construction of housing in Jerusalem and the West Bank. The government refuses to halt settlement. Housing authorities have retroactively approved thousands of Jewish houses built without permits during the period of occupation. In stark contrast is the authorities’ policy of actively searching for Palestinian homes built without permits during the same period and demolishing them.
When Palestinian citizens of East Jerusalem and the West Bank apply for permits, they go through costly, time-consuming procedures which customarily end in rejection of their applications.
Facing severe overcrowding and fear of Israeli confiscation of land claimed by Palestinian families, Palestinians continue to build without permits.
Housing authorities have not given retroactive approval of Palestinian homes. They have demolished more than 1,800 homes in the West Bank, leaving more than 10,000 Palestinians homeless. About 2,500 more Palestinian homes are tagged illegal by the Jerusalem municipality alone.
Hebron’s Attrash family, whose home has been demolished eight times, rebuild each time. I met Salim Shawamreh, whose home has been demolished three times.
I viewed a videotape of the third demolition of Shawamreh’s home. In it his wife broke down and was rushed to Jordan in an ambulance. His family home was turned to rubble.
Jeff Halper, an Israeli activist against house demolitions, quotes another Palestinian facing homelessness: “Winter is coming. What will I do with the kids?…No matter what we do, we can’t win. They tell us to get building permits and we try. They tell us to pay taxes and we do…We are not active in politics and do not demonstrate or make trouble. Still they make life impossible for us, as if they simply want us to disappear.”
His despair is not uncommon. It could drive a lesser man to strap on a bomb.
Israel demolishes Palestinian homes and confines Palestinians in bantustans to maintain Israeli control of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
We might feel a God-given right to maintain that territory. However, God makes it clear in Torah that “Since the land is Mine…You are foreigners and resident aliens as far as I am concerned” (Leviticus 25: 23-24). If we refer to Torah for confirmation of our ownership of the land, that statement is sobering.
Moses admonishes us to remember that God “does not give special considerations or take bribes. He brings justice…and loves the foreigner…You must also show love toward the foreigner, since you were foreigners in the land of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 10: 17-19).
When Hoffman noticed the pain of the Palestinian tea man, and rebuked authorities for not attending to the needs of East Jerusalem, she was asking us to take the high road, loving the foreigner — noticing and attending to his needs.
Isn’t that the point of having an Israel in the first place — to maintain our covenant, behaving as God wants?
Juggling our justifiable need for security with the need to remain true Israelites b’tselem (in the image of God), let’s weigh in here on the side of love, noticing and attending to the needs of “foreigners,” of the Palestinians. Let’s pressure Israel to end house demolitions now.