Jews and Arabs Work Together to Help Residents of Jabel Mukaber

Most news reports from Israel don’t cover peaceful demonstrations or joint Israeli-Palestinian activism; the media believes that what sells is conflict and bloodshed. So it falls to sites like this one to bring to people’s attention the joint activities and peaceful protests of many Jewish and Arab organizations.

The traditional Arab villages which are part of and in proximity to the Jerusalem municipality have had an especially difficult time as the new wall separating the West Bank and Israel has been constructed. Some villages have been literally cut in half with the separation wall running down their main roadway.

Jabel Mukaber, which lies just beyond Talpiot Mizrach, has been especially hard hit. The main part of the village has been included within the Jerusalem Municipality but the area just across the street from what is said to be the border, the area known as Sheikh Sa’ed, has been separated off from the village. Residents of Sheikh Sa’ed work in Jerusalem and so are now cut off from other family members, their neighbors and their places of employment.

Many have slept in the houses of friends in order to be able to retain their jobs. Rabbis for Human Rights in Israel joined with other organizations in protesting the route of the wall through the village and has encouraged the residents to take the army to court. Indeed, the Israeli lower court sided with the residents and the army has appealed the case to the Israeli Supreme Court.

Interestingly, the Jewish neighbors of Jabel Mukaber have rallied to the support of the village and more than 1,000 Jewish residents came out to demonstrate with them. According to RHR-Israel the residents of Sheikh Sa’ed are now inviting their Jewish friends to sit with them when the Supreme Court hears the case. I, for one, find the sight of Jewish and Arab neighbors sitting together as the High Court of Israel decides an issue of justice a stirring image of what reconciliation might look like, but my guess is that it will go unreported.