A couple of weeks ago, I was reading the online version of The New York Times and browsing the ‘great homes and destinations’ section, when I came across an article titled “In Jerusalem, a New Life and Home”. Immediately interested, I clicked on the link and started to read, but two sentences into the article, I could already feel my resentment bubbling. I would never have believed that reading a simple ‘house and homes’ article could elicit feelings of anger and frustration.
The article described an American Jewish couple who left their lives in Atlanta, Georgia, to retire in Jerusalem. After renting homes for a few years, they bought an 818 square meter plot of land in the Baka’a neighborhood of west Jerusalem where they spent three years designing and building their ideal home. The end result was beautiful - a modern home which happens to look just like a Middle Eastern villa.
Judging by the description so far, the article sounds like your average, light and entertaining account of the universal hunt for the perfect home. What infuriated me about this piece was the fact that the couple involved showed no indication that they cared or were even aware of the fact that the neighborhood they had chosen to live in was once Palestinian in its composition.
The only allusion to its past was a sentence in which the author described Baka’a as a neighborhood ‘popular among English-speaking and French immigrants’ who are attracted to the neighborhood because of its ‘eclectic Middle Eastern architecture dating from the early 1900s’. The couple who designed the house was inspired by the ‘thick stone walls and arched entries of traditional Arab homes’, yet they saw no irony or hypocrisy in stating so.
Palestinians will envy this couple. They will envy the fact that this couple had the right to leave the States, buy a piece of land in Jerusalem, build a three storey home on it, and settle down happily. No Palestinian can buy property in what is deemed an Israeli neighborhood. The official reason is that only Israeli citizens or Jews entitled to immigrate under the Law of Return can purchase state lands — and 93% of land in Israel is designated as state land. Of course, any Palestinian will also add the obvious - they shouldn’t have to buy land that they were originally expelled from.
I can only imagine what someone like Um Kamel El Kurd would think if she read this article. She used to live with her parents in the Talbiyeh neighborhood of west Jerusalem, but was expelled from her home when Israel conquered the western part of the city in 1948. In 1956, with the help of UNRWA, she and her husband built their own dream house in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of east Jerusalem. Little did she know that 52 years later, her family would be evicted from their home on the grounds that the property they had lived in since 1956 allegedly belonged to Jews before 1948. Having nowhere else to go, the El Kurds set up tents for the family several times, only to have them repeatedly demolished. On November 23, 2008, just two weeks after they were evicted, the husband and father, Abu Kamel El Kurd, died of a heart attack. Devastated, Um Kamel, accompanied by about 30 activists, tried to return to her original home in Talbiyeh. While she was under no illusions that she would actually get her home back, her visit to the neighborhood raised questions about reciprocity over the rights of Palestinians and Israelis.
Many of the residents who were expelled from west Jerusalem managed to settle down in east Jerusalem after 1948, but in 1967, Israel extended its control over the eastern part of the city, illegally occupying it. Since then, thousands of homes have been demolished, and thousands more are under threat of demolition for multiple ridiculous and perverse reasons. In Silwan in east Jerusalem, 88 houses are slated for demolition because they were built without Israeli-issued permits. What the Israeli government has deliberately ignored, however, is the fact that many of those houses were built before 1967 and even before 1948. Just a few days ago, another plan by the Israeli-run municipal council of Jerusalem and an Israeli settlers’ association called Aterat Cohanim was uncovered. The plan will target Palestinian homes in Batn Al-Hawa, also in Silwan, where a new illegal settlement will be built. The 5,800 square meter Batn Al-Hawa neighborhood is home to 60 Palestinian residential buildings built on the area before 1948.
Reciprocity would suggest that if Israelis can claim homes in east Jerusalem neighborhoods like Sheikh Jarrah, than Palestinians should be able to claim homes in west Jerusalem neighborhoods like Baka'a and the German Colony. However, I think it is safe to say that most Palestinians have given up on the idea that they will be fairly treated by the Israeli government.
Just a week after the New York Times article was published, the UN released a report calling on Israel to freeze all pending demolition orders in east Jerusalem. The report revealed that of the 70.5 sq. km. of east Jerusalem and the West Bank annexed by Israel illegally, only 13% was zoned for Palestinian construction, and this land is mostly already built up. At the same time, 35% has been expropriated for Israeli settlements, even though all settlements on occupied land are illegal under international law. Another 22% is dedicated to green areas and public infrastructure, while the remaining third is untouchable. The report highlighted the difficult and expensive process Palestinians must go through to apply for a building permit. Very rarely are permits actually issued. To date, the UN estimated that at least 60,000 Palestinians are at risk of losing their homes to Israeli demolition orders.
As lawyer Daniel Seidmann said in an interview on this subject, “Final-status questions must be dealt with in the framework of a moratorium on these kinds of actions.” If, on the other hand, Israel continues with its land confiscation and demolition plans, it risks inflaming a situation where tensions are already very high.
I drove through the Baka’a neighborhood just a few days ago. It truly is a lovely area, the streets lined with old Palestinian homes built in the unmistakable Arabesque style. The only thing to suggest they are no longer Palestinian is the Israeli flags draped over them reassuring the passersby that Israel occupies them now.
The people united will never be divided
Date posted: April 30, 2024
By Joharah Baker
I was born in the United States and lived there through early childhood, but since returning with my family to Palestine, I have never wanted to go back. The United States has always evoked mixed feelings in me. I have a certain nostalgia for the place of my birth but my overall sentiments always culminated in a sense of resentment for this so-called superpower that has systematically aided in my people’s oppression, occupation and dehumanization.
That is, until present day. The scenes of American university campuses breaming with students in kuffiyehs, waving Palestinian flags and resisting the brutality of the police and their own university administrations, has uplifted my spirit in ways I cannot fully articulate. In a word, what is happening on US campuses today is validation of our people, of Palestine and of our struggle. To those who live comfortable lives in free countries, this may sound like an exaggeration, but for my people, who have been denied their very right to exist, who have been demoralized, demonized and dehumanized, this is huge. We are seeing students of all races, creeds, backgrounds and religions, calling for an end to the genocide in the Gaza Strip and marching for a free Palestine and divestment from the Israeli occupation. We are hearing Jewish voices, debunking Zionist propaganda and its below-the-belt attempts to conflate anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. We are being validated for our struggle, for our resistance against oppression, occupation and settler-colonialism and we are finally being heard and seen.
Students have always been the litmus test for social and political justice. Rallies and demonstrations on university campuses have been the driving force against imperialist wars throughout the ages, the Vietnam War being the best example. However, what is so incredible about this movement is that American students are not directly involved in Palestine. Students are not being drafted into an army to fight on foreign soil, so the stakes are not as high for them at the personal level. What is happening today is the direct result of the intersectionality of struggles and the belief that no one is free until all of us are free. This is a force far more powerful than a genocidal regime will ever be.
The scenes from university campuses in the United States and now in Europe, juxtaposed against the crushing images from the Gaza Strip, are a balm for our wounded hearts. We feel a kinship with these incredible Gen Zs who have put their very lives on the line for Palestine. We send them love, energy and solidarity as we watch them being thrown to the ground, handcuffed and arrested and we burst with pride as we hear them chant ‘Free Palestine”.
This is a moment in time that must not be squandered. May these American university protests spread like wildfire throughout campuses across the world, putting to shame both Zionism and American imperialism, which has allowed this racist ideology to survive. The Palestinians have never wavered in their determination to liberate their land from Israeli occupation and oppression, whether they do it alone or with the help of friends. Today, thanks to the beautiful people all over the world who have championed our cause alongside of us, a free Palestine is not only an inevitability, it is just around the corner.
Who will hear their screams?
Date posted: April 01, 2024
By Joharah Baker for MIFTAH
When Israel claimed women were sexually assaulted on a mass scale on October 7, the world exploded. Almost the entirety of Israel’s genocidal war was based on these and other allegations, many unsubstantiated. We all remember the infamous’40 beheaded babies” story, do we not?
This article is not about Israeli allegations per se, neither will it only focus on violations against Palestinian women. This is about a world that is immediately up in arms when one side merely alleges atrocities while it turns a blind eye to actual documented violations against the “other”.
In Gaza, it is painfully clear that we indeed, are ‘the other’. How else can anyone explain the muted cries of women being stripped, raped, starved and murdered practically in real time, on our phone screens, documented in UN reports and described in horrific detail in eyewitness testimonies? There is no other explanation than that Palestinians are what Arundhati Roy calls “Children of a lesser God”. We are the victims of deep-rooted colonialism, one whose geographic demarcations may have vanished but whose insidious, dehumanizing mentality still prevails and manifests in the ugliest of manners.
For nearly six months, Palestinians have endured unspeakable atrocities at the hands of Israel’s occupying army. Today, the Gaza Strip has been reduced to an emaciated shell of what it once was. As Gaza is being systematically decimated and ethnically cleansed, the world, for the most part, looks on. Barring sympathetic supporters and a few well-intended but timid political actors, nothing has been done to stop the carnage. Palestinians once believed there was no way the world would allow Israel to erase Gaza off the map, no way it could see a live-streamed genocide and do nothing. But that is exactly what is happening.
Then, when we thought things could not get any worse, something unfathomable emerged from the deathtrap of Gaza. When this happened, we were certain it would be the turning point in this hellish nightmare. Well-documented reports, corroborated by the UN and eyewitnesses on the ground, told of harrowing stories of sexual assault against Palestinian women in Gaza.
We were paralysed with horror when we heard of women being raped by Israeli soldiers in northern Gaza, assaulted and stripped in front of their families. What’s worse, we all know that in times like these, the undocumented atrocities will far outnumber those documented. Who knows what horrors will unfold once the dust settles in Gaza; no doubt they will be so horrific, our entire nation will be traumatized for years to come.
The real question here is not how Israel’s soldiers perpetrated such gross violations. I think by now we can all agree that this depraved military establishment and its political echelon to boot, has dehumanized and vilified Palestinians so much and for so long, they will justify just about anything. No, the question is more about the moral compass of the rest of the world. While alliances and political interests are always part of the equation, even when the issue pertains to basic human rights, nothing can better explain the blatant hypocrisy, double standards and loss of collective humanity than the deafening silence today.
Our women have not only been killed, starved and displaced, they have been exposed to the very violations that sparked global outrage and a genocidal war against an entire population under occupation, unprecedented in modern history. This is not only unacceptable, it is an indelible stain on humanity. Sexual violence is a crime so heinous it is imperative to condemn and prevent, no matter the perpetrator or the victim. That must always be the baseline in any argument.
Palestinians will never get past this genocide; it is not something you can come back from. However, be assured, this is not only about the Palestinians. The world’s women, the majority of so-called feminists who have remained disgustingly silent, must know this: when you do not stand up for women, all women, no one will stand up for you in your time of need.
A new day will come
Date posted: February 14, 2024
By Joharah Baker
I once heard that anger is not a real emotion, but a cover for other feelings such as sadness, disappointment or fear. You need to peel back that outer layer to understand what is really going on inside.
Strange how this has lately resurfaced for me, but I think I know why. Lately, I and surely, millions of other Palestinians, have been filled with a blinding rage -- at Israel, at the United States, and at the world overall. This is a rage that is all-encompassing, the depth of which is palpable at the cellular level, permeating every molecule and every atom of our being. The genocide in the Gaza Strip has grated our emotions raw and we are left stinging and burning from our head to our toes.
Our anger is like a huge magnetosphere and we are all trapped inside, but its walls are translucent and we can see the source of our rage mocking us from beyond. We Palestinians are angry because we are so disappointed and we are angry because we are disillusioned and we are angry because we are drowning in sorrow.
Our disappointment lies in the fact that the world has failed us in the worst possible way and has allowed the unspeakable to be committed against us. Genocide is the ‘mother of all crimes’ and, contrary to the promises, the conventions and the historical lessons the world was supposed to learn, it has been committed over and over again. The Palestinian genocide, however, is unique in at least one way: it is live-streamed, which means no one can claim ignorance and everyone has a responsibility in stopping it. Hence, our disappointment is not limited to countries, Arab or otherwise, or to international and human rights organizations. It has spread to everyone in our orbit; acquaintances and people we thought were friends, but whose silence towards our slaughter is a deafening betrayal. Our sense of disappointment has discolored every relationship it touches because every relationship for us is a dichotomy: you are either with or against genocide and either support Palestine in word and deed, or not.
Our anger is a thin veil concealing our disillusion with the international community and its institutions, supposedly established to protect people in situations precisely like ours. We have confirmed what we knew all along, that these organizations were constructed for some and not all, for colonial powers and not those who suffer beneath them. Even when the highest court in the land rules in our favor, the Global North ensures that its ruling will not be implemented to save us, the oppressed, indigenous brown people whose lives apparently do not matter.
And finally, our anger is a survival mechanism to shield us from our own grief. Our sorrow over the murdered men, women and children, defenseless, homeless, starving and shivering in the cold, is so deep, so immense, we ourselves cannot fathom it. If we dare peek behind this anger and truly feel a fraction of the aching in our hearts, it will paralyze us for sure, because no people can endure the magnitude and scale of such suffering and not lose their minds.
We Palestinians know we cannot let go and that a new day is near. We know we must hold on just a little bit longer, because Palestine depends on it. We are no strangers to oppression, suffering and sacrifice and we know the price of our freedom has and continues to be painfully high. Still, we also know that a life without shackles and the yoke of oppression around our weary necks is the only life worth living.
