Amjad Awwad Living the Surreal
by Carol Dabdoub
Amjad Awwad, found himself overnight in a surreal situation. He is a Palestinian Christian grocery shop owner living at the northern entrance of Bethlehem, an area that is taking the limelight of local and international news after a recent Israeli military order has been issued declaring it under full military control.
According
to plans obtained recently from the Israeli military administration, an
eight-meter high wall will divide the Bethlehem main road into two sections.
Although the entire northern area of Bethlehem, according to the Oslo
agreements, is in what is called Zone “C” (meaning Israeli military and
administrative control), the new plans will further divide that zone into an
additional area, which will be a “closed Israeli military zone”.
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This new division will put Mr. Awwad’s business in the current zone “C” on one side of the main road, while his residence, which is exactly on the other side, will be in the “closed Israeli military zone”. To cross the road from his home to his business and back he will be forced to obtain a special permit from the Israeli authorities.
We met with Mr. Awwad to talk to him and to learn more about this new situation, which threatens the entire Bethlehem District economically, socially and politically.
Q. When did you first hear about the new changes and plans?
A. Unofficially, we have been hearing about these changes and plans since November of last year (2002) but it was not until last Sunday (February 15) that we received official notification.
Q. Your area has been negatively affected by the permanent check point at the main northern entrance of Bethlehem from Jerusalem and the two-year old wall built around Rachel’s Tomb, keeping you out of direct contact with Bethlehem from the south. How will the new order and plans to build a new wall affect you further?
A. Our area, once the most flourishing commercial area in Bethlehem, has been deeply affected by the second Intifada and the checkpoints and barricades, with the closing down of 60 out of 70 businesses in the area. The residents, however, have stayed and managed to cope with the tough situation. Some of them, like me, have also managed to keep their businesses running. However today, with this new order, we feel that we will be slowly pushed out.
Q. How?
A. The area would be more or less like a prison and we will be locked up between three walls and a checkpoint. We will need a permit to go in and out and it will be difficult for people from outside the walled area to come to us. We don’t know who will be in charge of us, when it comes to services and civil matters. We have been told that our status would not change as “residents of Bethlehem”, but we will still have to apply for special permits [from Israel] to move around. How would a Palestinian ambulance apply for a permit in cases of emergency to enable it to reach us on time? What about the Palestinian police, if we need to call upon in the case of a robbery? What I think is that the Israelis will pressure us in all sorts of minute details so that we leave in the end. It is an indirect way of confiscation and dispossession.
Q. Will you leave?
A. My new situation will be very difficult. Without the wall it takes me less than 60 seconds to cross the street from my house to my business. In the very near future and under “normal” conditions— meaning no closures or long queues at the checkpoint—it will at least take me 45 minutes. I know it will get tough with the business getting slower. Yet, I will not leave. My home and business were not built by a government or as part of a settlement. My father worked hard for 50 years to secure the house and land around it. I worked for another 20 years to build the store and another two apartments. I was born here. I am deeply connected to and rooted in this place.
Q. What if you are offered compensation?
A. Even if. It is not about money; it is about existence. We are emotionally tied to our land and properties and whatever the compensation is, it will never make up for what I, and my father before me, have worked and lived for.
Q. How do you feel now?
A. I feel let down by everyone. I always believed that Bethlehem had a special status, being the birthplace of our savior. Such injustice cannot take place while the rest of the world is silently watching, oblivious to our sufferings. I do feel helpless, but I am not hopeless…Not yet.
Note: No clear or official information has been obtained on the status of the residents of the area. However, this new barrier will definitely limit the movement of the residents of this area, reduce their contacts with the surrounding area to a minimal, and eliminate any possibility for growth and/or any form of decent life, thus creating a new ghetto in Bethlehem.
For maps and more technical details on the Bethlehem wall, you can visit: www.poica.org The planned wall in Bethlehem is an extension to a bigger wall being currently erected around the West Bank creating an apartheid situation and enclave. To learn more about it you can visit : www.stopthewall.org.
Acknowledgment to:
Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem (ARIJ)
www.arij.org
Turbo Design / This Week in Palestine
www.thisweekinpalestine.com